Numerous debts, which it is a pleasure to acknowledge, have been incurred in writing both this book and the Ph.D thesis on which it is largely based. Keith Hopkins supervised the inception and completion of the thesis with his customary incisiveness; if this book can lay any claim to clarity or elegance, it is largely due to him. As part of the Cambridge regime of musical supervisors, Mary Beard and John Henderson, in their different but equally stimulating ways, also directed my research for a time. I am grateful, too, to John Crook, Peter Garnsey, Fergus Millar, Paul Millet and Andrew Wallace-Hadrill for their comments and criticisms. Friends from other disciplines, David Feldman, James Laidlaw and Paul Taylor, in particular, have also been generous with their time and helped me to negotiate a number of theoretical problems. My sister Elisabeth kindly read and commented on a draft as well.

Over the last two years, my colleagues in the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Bristol have provided me with a challenging and supportive environment in which to think and write. Particular thanks go to Denis Feeney, Duncan Kennedy, Charles Martindale and Thomas Wiedemann, who read and commented on draft versions of the book. I cannot claim to have succeeded in answering all the criticisms offered but know I have learnt a great deal from the attempt.