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When Plutarch composed his Parallel Lives at the turn of the second century , he pioneered a biographical method based on direct ethical comparison . By pairing eminent Greeks with Roman statesmen - Alexander with Julius Caesar , Demosthenes with Cicero - Plutarch illuminated character through structural symmetry . When John Dryden and his circle translated these biographies into seventeenth - century English , they recognized that Plutarch's comparative vision required a corresponding syntax . To convey moral equilibrium , the translators mobilized intricate syntactic parallelism , matching coordinate clauses and rhythmic balances across every chapter . The architecture of the prose became an exact reflection of Plutarch's comparative philosophy . Syntactic parallelism operates by aligning grammatical units of identical structure , creating a cadence that pleases the ear while clarifying intellectual contrast . In Dryden's rendering , descriptions of martial valor and political ambition unfold through matched pairs of infinitives , correlative conjunctions , and balanced participial phrases . When contrasting Caesar's impulsive daring with Alexander's calculated audacity , the prose aligns their virtues and vices in parallel clauses . The reader does not merely read about two men ; they experience their comparative merits through an ongoing grammatical see - saw that weighs virtue against hubris with judicial impartiality . Beyond aesthetic harmony , parallelism serves a profound epistemic purpose in classical history . Symmetrical phrasing establishes cognitive equivalence , prompting the reader to seek deeper thematic connections between disparate historical events . When the narrator declares that what Alexander won by the sword , Caesar consolidated by legislation , the balanced predicate structures elevate mundane military history into universal political science . The syntactic equilibrium assures the reader that neither Greek nor Roman receives unmerited favoritism , reinforcing the biographer's reputation for philosophical dispassion . Nevertheless , achieving effective parallelism requires delicate modulation . Mechanical adherence to rigid tripartite formulas or repetitive antithetical pairings can quickly exhaust the reader , transforming vigorous biography into tedious rhetorical exercise . The masters of classical prose avoided this trap by varying sentence length and periodically breaking the symmetry with an unexpected periodic clause . In their hands , parallelism was not an ornament , but a flexible instrument of psychological portraiture . Reflecting on Plutarch's symmetrical prose challenges you to examine how balance governs your own comparative writing . When analyzing competing theories or historical case studies , do you use parallel syntactic patterns to highlight core distinctions ? How does grammatical symmetry enhance the perceived objectivity of your analytical arguments ? What techniques can you use to sustain syntactic variety while maintaining structural balance in complex paragraphs ?
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