Young men fresh from reading plutarch at university began sharing stories about what the troll said to the woodcutter , and publishing collections of these m rchen , as folk tales were called .
According to the works of greek and roman historians , including plutarch , chandragupta as a youth helped the macedonians in their invasion of india , but later spoke too boldly to alexander , who ordered him to be put to death .
Plutarch ( ancient greek historian ) is said to have given the first definition of piracy as - 'an illegal attack on a ship or coastal town , that was not of a warring nature , but for plunder of monetary gain alone ' .
The roman historian dio cassius reported that cleopatra 's body was embalmed as antony 's had been , and plutarch noted that on the orders of octavian , the last queen of egypt was buried beside her defeated roman consort .