A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

My greatest debt is to four scholars who have done so much to il-luminate the history of the principate: Professors T. D. Barnes, G. W. Bowersock, C. P. Jones, and F. G. B. Miliar. Whatever is good in this book is due largely to their example and their friendly advice. Its pro-totype was a D.Phil, thesis supervised by Professor Miliar and ex-amined by Dr. J. F. Matthews and Mr. E. L. Bowie, whose kind vigilance detected numerous sins of omission and commission. For ad-vice on certain legal problems in Fronto's letters I was fortunately able to draw upon the expertise of Professor A. M. Honore. And at a critical stage in its development this book was read with benevolence and greatly improved by Professors A. R. Birley, T. J. Luce, and R. E. A. Palmer. I am grateful not only to all of them for their en-couragement, but to all the friends and colleagues who have con-tributed to the happy years at Oxford and at Princeton of which this book is but one small product. The main contributor to that happiness has been my wife, to whom I dedicate the following pages.

Princeton March 1980

Brought to you by | New York UniversityAuthenticated | 216.165.126.139Download Date | 5/26/14 7:27 AM

Brought to you by | New York UniversityAuthenticated | 216.165.126.139Download Date | 5/26/14 7:27 AM