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 readersâ active engagement with the act of judging. This book, drawing on the insights of recent narrative theories, especially narratology and reader-response criticism, examines Plutarchâs 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 Plutarchâs prefatory projection of himself and his readers and the interaction between the two; Plutarchâs presentation of the mental and emotional workings of historical agents, which serves to re-enact the participantsâ experience at the time and thus arouse empathy in the readers; Plutarchâs closural strategies and their profound effects on the readersâ moral inquiry; Plutarchâs principles of historical criticism in On the malice of Herodotus in relation to his narrative strategies in the Lives. Through illustrating Plutarchâs narrative technique, this book elucidates Plutarchâs 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.