It is a pleasure to record the assistance which I have received from friends, colleagues, and institutions during my work on this book. First thanks are owed to James Diggle, who read each section of the commentary as soon it was ready. Lyndsay Coo, Michael Reeve, and Martin West read the complete typescript, and Malcolm Davies and Neil Hopkinson substantial sections of it; Scott Scullion and Alan Sommerstein commented on the Introduction and discussion of the staging of Ajax's death.

I am grateful to the staff of the Hallward library in Nottingham, the Bodleian, Sackler, and Taylorian libraries in Oxford, the British, National Art, and Institute of Classical Studies libraries in London, and the Universiteitsbibliotheek in Leiden. The kindness of All Souls College, Oxford, allows me especially easy access to Oxford libraries. Almut Fries, Timothy Janz, and Jo Willmott gave me permission to cite their unpublished DPhil and MPhil theses. David Butterfield, Almut Fries, Ranja Knöbl, Kyriaki Konstantinidou, Helen Lovatt, and Cressida Ryan acquired books and articles for me in Berlin, Cambridge, Göttingen, and Munich. I have received gifts, or extended loans, of books or microfilms from Luigi Battezzato, David Butterfield, Angelos Chaniotis, Christopher Collard, Malcolm Davies, the late Aubrey Morley, Camillo Neri, Stan Owen, Andrea Rodighiero, Donald Russell, Alan Sommerstein, Christopher Stray, Simon Swain, Martin West, Nigel Wilson, Benjamin Wood, and Hugh Wright.