Plutarch's Lives: Exploring Virtue and Vice

by Tim Duff

Overview

This book lucidly explains how the Parallel Lives of Plutarch (c. AD 45-120) are more than mere ‘sources' for history. The Lives offer us a unique insight into the reception of Classical Greece and Republican Rome in the Greek world of the second century AD. They also explore and challenge issues of psychology, education, morality, and cultural identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198150589
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/16/2000
Pages:	444
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 5.50(h) x 1.13(d)

About the Author

University of Reading

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. I. The Moralizing Programme The Programmatic Statements of the Lives
2. Moralism in Plutarch's Lives
3. The Soul of a Plutarchan Hero
4. II. Exploring Virtue and Vice: The case Studies The Lives of Pyrrhos and Marius
5. The Lives of Phokion and Cato Minor
6. The Lives of Lysander and Sulla
7. The Lives of Coriolanus and Alkibiades
8. III. Writing in Parallel Synkrisis and the Synkriseis in the Parallel Lives
9. The Politics of Parallelism
Appendix 1 Plutarch and Ancestors
Appendix 2 Plutarch and Chronology

Editorial Reviews

"The structure of the argument is intelligent and its conclusions convincing... It is a book that will be used, as well as read, by scholars and if it succeeds in resuscitating the idea of actually reading Plutarch's corpus it will have been proved itself a major achievement."—Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"The appearance of Tim Duff's book is an event in Plutarchan studies.... To be frank: students of the Lives will need to own this book, which is now the starting point for subsequent debate about Plutarchan moralism in his biographical writings."—Ploutarchos

"This intelligent, learned, and lucid book will undoubtedly (and deservedly) have an immediate and profound impact upon studies of the Lives. In its sensitive and nuanced attention to the texture and detail of Plutarch's writing, as well as its methodological reorientation, it raises the stakes substantially. No serious Plutarchan scholar (as they say) will want to be without this one."—The Classical Review

"This excellent book by an able scholar will set a new standard in Plutarch studies.... It is an outstanding contribution to the field."—American Journal of Philology

"[a] valuable analysis of Plutarch's Parallel Lives...While the scholarly tone of the volume will win it primarily a graduate student and professional audience, there is much of value for undergraduates as well in a work that offers a fresh view of these perennially-fascinating works."—The Classical Outlook

From the Publisher