Thomas North (1535–1604) was an English translator best known for his translation of Plutarch's Parallel Lives. Working from Amyot's French version, he rendered the biographies and sayings of Greek and Roman figures in rhythmic Elizabethan prose, vivid in language and sharp in characterization, and in this way brought classical biography to a wide English readership. The influence of North's translation extended beyond translation itself: Shakespeare's Roman plays, including Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra, show its traces in plot, detail and wording, and scholars generally hold that Shakespeare came to Plutarch mainly through North's English version. The library also holds his work Five Years in Texas, which differs in subject from the translation; public information on it is limited, so it is not discussed here. On the whole, North gave English literature lasting material and idiom through a single translation, and his standing rests chiefly on his role in spreading classical biography.
