Books by D. A. Russell

Plutarch's "Lives" and "Morals", written around 100 AD, provided portraits of the major figures of his day. This text shows Plutarch in his historical context as a scholar of the past, philospher and moralist. The "Lives" are then discussed with specific examples in more detail.

Classical literature contains a good deal of scattered literary theory. This book attempts to analyze the main themes against their historical background. It discusses ancient beliefs and theories relating to inspiration, the poet's message, the rhetorical approach and other areas.

This book sets the practice of declamation in its historical context, describes the conventional, though often bizarre, themes of the speeches and discusses the declaimers' public performances, rhetorical theory and knowledge and use of classical literature and history. This book will be of interest both to students of classical literature and to historians of ancient society and education.