Patronage is a social practice of considerable importance in most Mediterranean societies today. Few historians of ancient Rome would deny its existence during the early Empire: patronage of communities has been studied in a full-scale work, and in its personal form it is mentioned frequently in political and social histories. But patron-client relations between individuals have not yet received the systematic treatment that this study aims to provide for the period from Augustus to the Severan emperors. As the title indicates, municipal patronage falls outside the scope of this work, and patronage of freedmen is also excluded on the ground that, in being subject to legal regulation, it differed fundamentally from voluntary associations between freeborn men. Further, owing to the nature of the evidence, the aristocracies of Rome and the provinces will claim the greatest part of our attention; patrons and clients lower on the social ladder certainly existed, but they left little record of their activities (except perhaps in the special case of Egypt). No attempt has been made to examine all provinces comprehensively, since it seemed that much could be learned from an intensive study of a single area of special significance, the North African provinces.

This volume originated as a doctoral dissertation written at the University of Cambridge, where I received help and encouragement in an environment made stimulating by Professor Sir Moses Finley and by teachers and fellow students too numerous to list. I wish to thank those who read and commented on various chapters: Mr D. Cohen, Dr R. Duncan-Jones, Professor Sir Moses Finley, Professor F. Millar, Professor M. Ostwald, Mr S. Price, Miss J. M. Reynolds, Dr B. D. Shaw, Mr W. Turpin, and Mr C. R. Whittaker.