E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project Gutenberg
Online Distributed Proofreading Team
by
1924
The reception accorded to my Life in Ancient Athens has led me towrite the present companion work with an eye to the same class ofreaders. In the preface to the former volume it was said: "I havesought to leave an impression true and sound, so far as it goes, andalso vivid and distinct. The style adopted has therefore been theopposite of the pedantic, utilizing any vivacities of method which areconsistent with truth of fact." The same principles have guided me inthe present equally unpretentious treatise. I agree entirely with Mr.Warde Fowler when he says: "I firmly believe that the one great hopefor classical learning and education lies in the interest which theunlearned public may be brought to feel in ancient life and thought."
For the general reader there is perhaps no period in the history ofthe ancient world which is more interesting than the one here chosen.Yet, so far as I know, there exists no sufficiently popular workdealing with this period alone and presenting in moderate compass aclear general view of the matters of most moment. My endeavour hasbeen to represent as faithfully as possible the Age of Nero, andnowhere in the book is it implied that what is true for that age isnecessarily as true for any other. The reader who is not a specialstudent of history or antiquities is perhaps as often confused bydescriptions of ancient life which cover too many generations as bythose—often otherwise excellent—which include too much detail.
I have necessarily consulted not only the Latin and Greek writers whothrow light upon the time, but also all the best-known Standard worksof modern date. It is perhaps scarcely necessary to state that inmatters of contemporary government, administration, and public life myguides have been chiefly Mommsen, Arnold, and Greenidge; for sociallife Marquardt, Friedländer, and Becker-Göll; for topography andbuildings Jordan, Hülsen, Lanciani, and Middleton; nor that theDictionaries of Smith and of Daremberg and Saglio have been always athand, as well as Baumeister's Denkmäler, and Guhl and Koner's Lifeof the Greeks and Romans. The admirable Pompeii of Mau-Kelsey hasbeen, of course, indispensable. I have also derived profit from thewritings of Prof. Sir W. M. Ramsay in connexion with St. Paul, andfrom Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles of the Apostle. Usefulhints have been found in Mr. Warde Fowler's Social Life in Rome inthe Age of Cicero, and in Prof. Dill's Roman_ Society from Nero toMarcus Aurelius_. A personal study of ancient sites, monuments, andobjects of antiquity at Rome, Pompeii, and elsewhere has naturallybeen of prime value. Those intimately acquainted with the immenseamount of the available material will best realize the difficultythere has been in deciding how much to say and how much to "leave inthe inkstand."
For the drawings other than those of which another source is specifiedI have to thank Miss M. O'Shea, on whom has occasionally fallen thedifficult task of giving ocular form to the mental visions of one whohappens to be no draughtsman. For the rest I make acknowledgment tothose books from which the illustrations have been directly derivedfor my own purposes, without reference to more original sources.
I am especially grateful for the permission to use so considerable a
number of illustra