I could not have written this book without the generous support of Princeton University for sabbatical and additional leave of absence, and also for funding research assistance that was ably provided by Sarah Cotterill and Neil Hannan; the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, for a 2012 Fellowship; and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), Stanford University, for a 2012/13 Fellowship. CASBS provided a stunning space in which to write and all manner of logistical support, including the excellent library services of Tricia Soto and Amanda Thomas, and offered opportunities to talk through the ideas of the book with many people, including Deborah Tannen, who pressed me to define politics in the introduction, and Mark Vail, who read a first draft of my attempt to do so. For their enormous intellectual and temporal generosity in commenting on earlier drafts of this book, I am deeply indebted to Paul Cartledge and Malcolm Schofield, who each read the whole (and further still to Malcolm for reading a revised version of three chapters as well), and to Valentina Arena, Kinch Hoekstra, Jacob Lipton, Chaim Milikowsky and Victoria Pagán, who each read a substantial part. While their comments were invaluable in helping me to revise the book, as was a reading of the book at copyediting stage by Neil Hannan, I take full responsibility for errors. I am more generally indebted to discussions of ancient Greek and Roman political ideas with too many friends, colleagues and students over the years to name here. It was a pleasure to work with my agent, Jonathan Conway, and the Penguin commissioning editor for Pelican, Laura Stickney, whose imagination and energy have helped to inspire and shape the book, and with Donna Poppy, who was a skilful and knowledgeable copyeditor. Finally I thank all the members of my extended family and family-like friends, above all Andrew Lovett, for all that he is, and gives, to me.