The Parallel Lives of Plutarch (c. AD 45-120), a vast retrospective series of biographies of Greek and Roman statesmen, have always been one of the most widely read of the works which survive from classical antiquity. They were written when Roman imperial power was reaching its height, and are sophisticated examples of a renaissance classicism - linguistic, literary, philosophical and historical - which formed a Greek reaction to Roman domination. The Parallel Lives thus 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. In this new study discussions of Plutarch's literary techniques and moral conceptions are combined with case studies of a number of paired Lives (Pyrrhos - Marius, Phokion - Cato Minor, Lysander - Sulla, and Coriolanus - Alkibiades). As the author demonstrates, the parallel structure of the Lives is not only vital to their interpretation but also reflects a Greek attempt to appropriate and make sense of the pasts of both Greece and Rome.

达夫（Timothy E. Duff），英国雷丁大学希腊语教授，于剑桥大学基督学院获得博士学位，曾在普林斯顿大学、哈佛大学、柏林自由大学等多所一流大学担任过研究员职位。主要研究领域为希腊历史、希腊与罗马史撰及传记、罗马帝国时期的希腊语文学，尤其是普鲁塔克。目前主要关注以下几个方面的问题：普鲁塔克著作的结构、语言及叙事；古代传记作品等。主要著作有：《普鲁塔克的对比列传：探索德性与恶行》（牛津大学出版社，1999）；《希腊与罗马史家》（布里斯托尔古典出版社，2003）；以及《普鲁塔克：亚历山大传》（企鹅出版集团，2012）等，另有论文多篇。