It is worth any number of 'Arts of War' or 'Minor Tactics'." Ralph Waldo Emerson called the Lives "a bible for heroes."

The individual biographies have their own receptions in addition to responses to the work as a whole. The life of Antonius has been cited by multiple scholars as one of the masterpieces of the series. Peter D'Epiro praised his depiction of Alcibiades as "a masterpiece of characterization." Academic Philip A. Stadter singled out Plutarch's