the ancient world which is more interesting than the one here chosen.
Yet, so far as I know, there exists no sufficiently popular work
dealing with this period alone and presenting in moderate compass a
clear general view of the matters of most moment. My endeavour has
been to represent as faithfully as possible the Age of Nero, and
nowhere in the book is it implied that what is true for that age is
necessarily as true for any other. The reader who is not a special
student of history or antiquities is perhaps as often confused by
descriptions of ancient life which cover too many generations as by
those--often otherwise excellent--which include too much detail.

I have necessarily consulted not only the Latin and Greek writers who
throw light upon the time, but also all the best-known Standard works
of modern date. It is perhaps scarcely necessary to state that in
matters of contemporary government, administration, and public life my
guides have been chiefly Mommsen, Arnold, and Greenidge; for social
life Marquardt, Friedländer, and Becker-Göll; for topography and
buildings Jordan, Hülsen, Lanciani, and Middleton; nor that the
Dictionaries of Smith and of Daremberg and Saglio have been always at
hand, as well as Baumeister's _Denkmäler_, and Guhl and Koner's _Life
of the Greeks and Romans_. The admirable _Pompeii_ of Mau-Kelsey has
been, of course, indispensable. I have also derived profit from the
writings of Prof. Sir W. M. Ramsay in connexion with St. Paul, and
from Conybeare and Howson's _Life and Epistles_ of the Apostle. Useful
hints have been found in Mr. Warde Fowler's _Social Life in Rome in
the Age of Cicero_, and in Prof. Dill's Roman_ Society from Nero to
Marcus Aurelius_. A personal study of ancient sites, monuments, and
objects of antiquity at Rome, Pompeii, and elsewhere has naturally
been of prime value. Those intimately acquainted with the immense
amount of the available material will best realize the difficulty