I am very grateful to the friends and colleagues who provided comments and feedback during my work on this volume, notably Benjamin Biesinger, Wolfgang Havener, Ted Kaizer, Myles Lavan, who also generously shared forthcoming work of his own, Mathew Owen, and Rik Van Wijlick. Closer to home, I would like to acknowledge the help of Norbert Gildenhard who read through an early draft, offering comments and corrections page by page, and Paola Ceccarelli who volunteered to design the map. I had hoped to include a reprint of Catherine Steel’s superb analysis of the Lampsacus episode (‘Being Economical with the Truth: What Really Happened at Lampsacus?’, in J. Powell and J. Paterson (eds.), Cicero the Advocate, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 233–51) in this volume; unfortunately, problems to do with copyright interfered, but I am nevertheless very grateful for her personal agreement and support. Alessandra Tosi and Corin Throsby at Open Book Publishers have simply been wonderful in accommodating this rather unusual project as well as its urgent time frame. I also benefited much from the speedy endorsement and feedback offered by the two anonymous referees. As previous work, this volume profited considerably from the library resources of the Philologische Seminar of Tübingen University, and I am once again extremely grateful to Professor Maennlein-Robert for offering hospitality. My most significant debt is to three PhD students in the Department of Classics & Ancient History at Durham University. Zara Chadha, Louise Hodgson, and Lauren Knifton generously volunteered to read through the penultimate draft, provided invaluable annotations, and agreed to join in a series of workshops (‘having fun with Cicero’) devoted to discussing issues to do with the volume large and small. Their eagle eyes spotted more embarrassing mistakes than I care to remember; and their good sense and sensibility vastly improved the final product. Their critical engagement with the commentary and ability to improve upon my own reading of Cicero exemplify my notion of this volume’s ideal reader. It is thus a particular pleasure to dedicate this book to them and their spirit of intellectual camaraderie.
