Plutarch's How to study poetry opens a window on to many aspects of reading practice in the Graeco-Roman world; we hope that this edition will not only make this work better known and more accessible, but that it will also encourage modern readers to reflect upon the presuppositions which they themselves bring to their reading, and upon the history of those presuppositions.

The origins of this edition are as follows. For several years DR had intended to produce an edition and had prepared a draft commentary, but felt unable to complete the task. RH has taken over and expanded the whole. DR's notes have either been simply reproduced or subsumed into new discussions; except on a couple of occasions or when textual suggestions are involved, no attempt is made to distinguish between the contributions of the two editors. Most of the Introduction is the work of RH. In keeping with the style of Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics, we have also tried to foreground our understanding of what the text means, rather than the names of earlier scholars who have helped or hindered its exegesis; an important debt, however, to the edition of Ernesto Valgiglio (Turin 1973) should be recorded.

Particular thanks are due to Andrew Dyck, Pat Easterling, Doreen Innes and David Sedley. Michael Sharp and Elizabeth Hanlon of Cambridge University Press have been supportive and imaginative as ever.

Plutarch

P. was a native of Chaeronea in Boeotia where he lived most of his long life (c. 45 – c. 120 AD) as the head both of a leading local family and of an informal philosophical ‘school’, modelled to some extent upon the Academy at Athens and devoted principally to Platonic philosophy and related learning; in his youth P. had studied in Athens under the Platonist Ammonius of Alexandria. P. also served as a priest at Delphi, and his three surviving ‘Pythian dialogues’ (Moralia 384d–438e) attest to his deep concern with, and knowledge of, the rituals and underlying theology of the oracle. Apart from his intimate familiarity with the intellectual life of Athens, P. also made, it seems, several visits to Rome and was on good terms with a number of influential Romans. Through one of them, L. Mestrius Florus, P. received Roman citizenship as (probably) L. Mestrius Plutarchus, and to another, Q. Sosius Senecio (consul 99, 107), he dedicated the vast enterprise of the Parallel lives, the works for which he is best known.

As well as the Parallel lives, most of which are preserved, we also possess a corpus of some seventy-eight miscellaneous works, several of which are certainly not by P., which are today known collectively as the Moralia; the title is owed to a subset of these works which may go back even to late antiquity, but which was finally brought together and placed at the head of his edition, under the label τὰ ἠθικά, by Maximus Planudes in the late thirteenth century and which has a much richer textual tradition than most of the rest of what we call the Moralia.

1 εἰ μέν, ὡς Φιλόξενος ὁ ποιητὴς ἔλεγεν, ὦ Μάρκε Σήδατιε,14d τῶν κρεῶν τὰ μὴ κρέα ἥδιστά ἐστι καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων οἱ μὴ ἰχθύες, ἐκείνοις ἀποφαίνεσθαι παρῶμεν οὓς ὁ Κάτων ἔφη τῆς καρδίας τὴν ὑπερώιαν εὐαισθητοτέραν ἔχειν.e ὅτι δὲ τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίαι λεγομένων οἱ σφόδρα νέοι τοῖς μὴ δοκοῦσι φιλοσόφως μηδ' ἀπὸ σπουδῆς λέγεσθαι χαίρουσι μᾶλλον καὶ παρέχουσιν ὑπηκόους ἑαυτοὺς καὶ χειροήθεις, δῆλόν ἐστιν ἡμῖν. οὐ γὰρ μόνον τὰ Αἰσώπεια μυθάρια καὶ τὰς ποιητικὰς ὑποθέσεις ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Ἄβαριν τὸν Ἡρακλείδου καὶ τὸν Λύκωνα τὸν Ἀρίστωνος διερχόμενοι περὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν ψυχῶν δόγματα μεμειγμένα μυθολογίαι μεθ' ἡδονῆς ἐνθουσιῶσι. διὸ δεῖ μὴ μόνον ἐν ταῖς περὶ ἐδωδὴν καὶ πόσιν ἡδοναῖς διαφυλάττειν εὐσχημονοῦντας αὐτούς, ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν ταῖς ἀκροάσεσιν καὶ ἀναγνώσεσιν ἐθίζειν,f ὥσπερ ὄψωι χρωμένους μετρίως τῶι τέρποντι, τὸ χρήσιμον ἀπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ σωτήριον διώκειν. οὔτε γὰρ πόλιν αἱ κεκλεισμέναι πύλαι τηροῦσιν ἀνάλωτον, ἂν διὰ μιᾶς παραδέξηται τοὺς πολεμίους, οὔτε νέον αἱ περὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἡδονὰς ἐγκράτειαι σώιζουσιν, ἂν τῆι δι' ἀκοῆς λάθηι προέμενος αὑτόν,15a ἀλλ' ὅσον μᾶλλον αὕτη τοῦ φρονεῖν καὶ λογίζεσθαι πεφυκότος ἅπτεται, μᾶλλον ἀμεληθεῖσα βλάπτει καὶ διαφθείρει τὸν παραδεξάμενον. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν οὔτ' ἴσως δυνατόν ἐστιν οὔτ' ὠφέλιμον ποιημάτων ἀπείργειν τὸν τηλικοῦτον ἡλίκος οὑμός τε τὸ νῦν Σώκλαρός ἐστι καὶ ὁ σὸς Κλέανδρος, εὖ μάλα παραφυλάττωμεν αὐτούς, ὡς ἐν ταῖς ἀναγνώσεσι μᾶλλον ἢ ταῖς ὁδοῖς παιδαγωγίας δεομένους.

Editing for publication is a little-known occupation. The common impression is that it consists of correcting grammar and punctuation, which it does, but the job has many other aspects that make it endlessly absorbing. If you are suited to it, editing is the best fun you can have at a desk.

What makes a good editor? Editors share a defining characteristic: they love ideas and words and books. In a world of increasing specialisation, most are generalists. Reflecting the female domination of the book industry, most of them are women.

Two contradictory stereotypes prevail. One is the Jackie Onassis type, who has languorous lunches with celebrity authors and swans about with the literati at the best parties. The other is the eagle-eyed, anal-retentive, obsessive frump who flays inoffensive manuscripts with her punitive pencil. In fact, editors who fit either of these stereotypes don't get far. Editors have been compared to midwives, surgeons and even chameleons, but the most apt simile is inorganic: ‘Good editors may be likened to those crystal-clear prisms which form a vital part of a pair of binoculars. They are not there to alter the view or change the scene, but to make it clearer and closer.’

Many books about editing tell you what to do, but few of them tell you how to go about it. Previous chapters have explained editorial tasks such as appraisal, substantive editing, language editing and proofreading. This chapter discusses production methods, hardware and software, and explains how to work with paper and electronic documents.

Screed or screen?

Editors agree that hard copy is easier to read than a screen and that they are more likely to detect errors in hard copy. Some jobs are still done entirely by hand, but most of the time editors work on screen using Microsoft Word. Before beginning work on screen many editors read, or at least skim, the whole manuscript in hard copy and note the editorial problems. It is inefficient, though, to fully edit on hard copy and then key in the corrections.

The screen encourages you to focus on fine detail ??? words and sentences ??? and you can lose the threads that link paragraphs and chapters to make a good book. After you???ve edited on screen and are reading through the printout, it may be quite plain that paragraphs are in the wrong order, or that a statement contradicts something said a few pages back, or that a connection needs to bemade with some earlier mention. Books edited entirely on screen may be bitty,with the information chunked in screenfuls rather than in paragraphs, sections and chapters.

Completeness and consistency make a publication fit for purpose, to use the terminology of the Trade Practices Act. Readers feel cheated when they are referred to a non-existent illustration or are unable to follow information to its source. The editor is responsible for overseeing the integrity of a publication, as Chapters 13 and 14 of the Style Manual explain. Of course completeness and consistency apply to all parts of the publication, but here we survey the non-text items; proofs and quality control are discussed in the next chapter.

Eliminate meaningless variation

A large part of copyediting consists of imposing consistency on the linguistic and visual elements of a publication. The rationale for this is that meaningless variation distracts the reader. He may not consciously notice, for instance, that enquiry is sometimes spelt inquiry, but too many such variations will disturb him at a subliminal level and impede his absorption of the meaning.

The editor establishes an appropriate style, or follows house style, and ensures it is applied consistently throughout. As you gain experience you will do this routinely, knowing which expressions are likely to give trouble. You must ensure consistency not only in spelling but in all the matters listed in Standard E of Australian Standards for Editing Practice - the expression of numbers, the style and wording of the headings and captions, the layout of lists, quotations and tables, and so on.

The terms ‘substantive editing’ and ‘structural editing’ are commonly used as synonyms, but shades of meaning can be distinguished. Substantive editing, being concerned with the substance of the book – content and expression as well as structure – is the more comprehensive term. This type of editing requires close consultation with the author and publisher.

Here we examine what substance and structure mean for print and screen publications; methods for substantive editing are described in Chapter 9.

Substance

It is not possible to edit a book unless you can comprehend it. An editor should be able to deal with any publication intended for the educated general reader, but specialist or groundbreaking works might challenge the limits of your understanding. If your knowledge of the topic or your cognitive ability is less than that of the intended reader, say frankly that you're not up to the job and allow the publisher to find an editor with suitable expertise.

The requirements for substance and structure are discussed in Chapter 4 and language is covered in Chapter 5. This chapter explains in detail the tasks that make up the process of editing. They are divided, somewhat arbitrarily, into copyediting, language editing and substantive editing, but there is always considerable overlap and the editor may perform elements of all three on each pass through the manuscript.

Copyediting: a twelve-step program

Copyediting is the heart of the editorial process, comprising the essential tasks that must be done to prepare any document for publication – correcting spelling and grammar and checking for inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Copyediting can take place at various levels, depending on the quality of the original document and the time and money available. It includes language editing and it blurs into substantive editing. The advice given here is for the sort of manuscript that comes with the optimistic instruction, ‘It's just a straight copyedit – shouldn't need much at all.’

The profession of editing for publication has a broad reach, spanning literature, education and business services. Since its function is to clarify communication, it lies at the heart of the knowledge economy.

Text is being displaced in the dissemination of information – largely because it is often clumsy and ineffective. Editors add value to raw text; we transform information into knowledge. But editorial skills, properly applied, do not draw attention to themselves, and therefore they are overlooked and undervalued. Editing is crucial to the effective presentation of information and the lucid discussion of ideas. The editor knows how to make a product that is functional and fit for its purpose. We conceptualise the kind of publication that will best do the job for the given resources – whether it is a marketing brochure, a website, a textbook or a novel – and we bring it into being.

The profession has taken the future into its own hands. In 2001 editors nationwide adopted Australian Standards for Editing Practice which codify the knowledge that editors bring to the job. Admirably succinct, they are statements of principles with wide ramifications that need to be unpacked. The Standards can be regarded as beacons on a rockey shore; The Editor's Companion takes them as its reference points for a detailed chart of the coastline.

The freelance lifestyle offers both the pleasures and the irritations of working at home. As a no-collar worker you wear what you like, you work when you like, you control your working environment and equipment, you don't have to commute, you avoid meetings and office politics. The disadvantages are equally obvious: you need to obtain enough work to survive, your income is uncertain, it is difficult to maintain a smooth schedule, there are no workmates down the corridor, and you need to separate your work from the demands of the household.

This chapter surveys the concerns of freelance editors. Further guidance can be found in books on freelance writing and journalism, self-employment, working from home, and small business management: look in business bookshops or under Dewey 650s in libraries. It is advisable to obtain specific professional advice on matters of finance, tax and law.

I think I'll go freelance

Some experienced editors choose freelancing as a career option; others are forced ntio it by retrenchment or dabble for extra income in retirement. Not everyone is suited to self-employment: being good at editing is not enough. Do not think of becoming a freelance editor unless you have the personal qualities that make editors such paragons, as listed in Chapter 1, and competence in the knowledge listed in Australian Standards for Editing Practice.