In the Parallel Lives Plutarch does not absolve his readers of the need for moral reflection by
offering any sort of hard and fast rules for their moral judgement. Rather he uses strategies
to elicit readers' active engagement with the act of judging. This book drawing on the
insights of recent narrative theories especially narratology and reader-response criticism
examines Plutarch's narrative techniques in the Parallel Lives of drawing his readers into the
process of moral evaluation and exposing them to the complexities entailed in it. Subjects
discussed include Plutarch's prefatory projection of himself and his readers and the
interaction between the two Plutarch's presentation of the mental and emotional workings of
historical agents which serves to re-enact the participants' experience at the time and thus
arouse empathy in the readers Plutarch's closural strategies and their profound effects on the
readers' moral inquiry Plutarch's principles of historical criticism in On the malice of
Herodotus in relation to his narrative strategies in the Lives. Through illustrating Plutarch's
narrative technique this book elucidates Plutarch's praise-and-blame rhetoric in the Lives as
well as his sensibility to the challenges inherent in recounting reading about and evaluating
the lives of the great men of history.
