Historical comparisons are a favorite exercise assigned by history lecturers for their students, who are asked to compare and contrast great personalities from history. A tougher assignment is to decide which of the two is greater than the other.
Rabbi Dunner cites a Midrash on Parshat Noach which unfavorably compares Noah with Moses, and offers the insightful explanation of Rabbi Meir Simha of Dvinsk, author of Meshekh Hokhma.