The Character of Tradition in Plutarch's On the Malice of Herodotus

This article considers some of the literary-critical and rhetorical premises that inform Plutarch's On the Malice of Herodotus, including various Platonic and Aristotelian notions behind Plutarch's attack on Herodotus' purposes and character. I suggest that the treatise's patina of traditionality has the effect of softening Plutarch's censure, normalizing it according to certain literary-critical standards. I also show that while the essay locates itself in the critical tradition, Plutarch does not merely replicate past concepts, and that his admixture of concerns is well embodied in his essay's closing comparison to the bard-figure.