The aim of this article is to study why Plutarch makes use of the literary tradition of symposia to
place the legend of the Seven Sages. Instead of that we should expect, given the hold of Plato
over his work, Plutarch relegates philosophical argument to a type of dialogue focusing on
aspects of practical wisdom. In our opinion, the explanation of this apparent contrast must be
analyzed from a double and complementary perspective: first, by considering the protagonists of
that fictitious meeting, the Seven Wise Men, the paradigm of archaic wisdom, which combined
both practical and intellectual learning; second, as a result, the suitability of form and content to
a symposiac framework deeply rooted in the literary tradition, just as it is attested by the early
patterns of the fourth century BC: Xenophon and Plato.