Abbreviations. The following abbreviations are used in the footnotes:

BL: British Library

BN: Bibliothèque Nationale

DBI: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani

DNB: Dictionary of National Biography

ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

OED: Oxford English Dictionary

OLD: Oxford Latin Dictionary

TLN: Through line number

Bibliographies. These are simply checklists of the primary and secondary sources quoted in the text. They make no pretence of being systematic guides to the critical literature on the themes I discuss. Readers in need of such a guide in the case of Shakespeare should consult the World Shakespeare Bibliography, and in the case of Hobbes should consult the ‘Bulletin Hobbes’ issued annually online by the Hobbes International Association. My bibliography of printed primary sources lists anonymous works by title. Where a work was published anonymously but its author's name is known I place the name in square brackets.

Classical names and titles. I refer to ancient writers in their most familiar single-name style, both in the text and bibliographies. I transliterate Greek titles, but all others are given in their original form.

Dates. Generally I follow my sources, except that I date by the common era, and treat the year as beginning on 1 January rather than 25 March.

Gender. I try to use gender neutral language so far as possible. But sometimes it is clear that, when the writers I discuss say ‘he’ they emphatically do not mean ‘he or she’ and in those cases I have felt obliged to follow their usage to avoid altering their sense.