Romans and Aliens

If you are looking for a good sourcebook on Roman society and cultural attitudes, I highly recommend ROMANS And ALIENS by J.P.V.D. Balsdon (with his full name being John Percy Vivian Dacre Balsdon, it's understandable why the man preferred to publish acronymously). Written in an entertaining narrative form (with sources linked by endnotes), the book details Roman relations with its neighbors and subject peoples, from the early years of the Republic up to to the period of the Late Empire. The following is a breakdown of the contents of ROMANS And ALIENS: Preface Chapter 1. Romans, the Gods' Own People; Rome, Capital of the World (I)....Romans in Italy (II)...Romans on their history (III)..The city of Rome (IV)...The city populace (V)....Life in Rome Chapter 2. Snobbery Begins at Rome Chapter 3. The Roman Outlook 1: The Greeks Chapter 4. The Roman Outlook 2: Other Peoples (I)...North and South (II)..East and West (III).Other peoples in particular (IV)..Patrons and clients Chapter 5. Romans Abroad Chapter 6. Enslavement and the Purchase of Slaves Chapter 7. Admission: Becoming a Roman (I)...Enemy deserters, allied fighters (II)..Automatic grants of citizenship (III).Freedmen (IV)..General reasons for granting Roman citizenship (V)...Becoming a Roman Chapter 8. Expulsion From Rome, Italy or Your Homeland (I)...Deprivation of citizenship (II)..Expulsion of aliens from Rome (III).Exiles Chapter 9. Communication 1: Latin and Greek (I)...Survival of variety of spoken languages (II)..The spread of Latin in the West (III).Greeks and Latin (IV)..Spoken Latin (V)...Latin in the Eastern Empire (VI)..Spoken Greek Chapter 10. Communication 2: Barbarous Languages and Interpreters Chapter 11. A Problem of Names: The Polyonymous Romans (I)...Romans, the people with three names (II)..Changing names (III).How Romans referred to other Romans (IV)..Foreigners and Roman names Chapter 12. A Bad Press For Rome (I)....Greeks (in particular) and Romans (II)...Liberty, servitude, words, words, words (III)..Material complaints (IV)...Roman offensiveness and insensitivity abroad (V)....Romans: a liking for loot (VI)...The Romans and their ghastly bad taste (VII)..Roman success: all a matter of luck (VIII).Bricks to throw at the Romans .......(a) Skeletons in the Roman cupboard .......(b) Tu quoque (IX)...Anti-Roman writing .......(a) Historians .......(b) Lucian .......(c) Martyr-literature, especially in Alexandria .......(d) Prophecies of Roman disaster Chapter 13. A Generally Good Press for Rome Chapter 14. Different Peoples: Their Looks and Habits (I)....Looks (II)...Colour (II)...Clothing (IV)...Drink, cooking, food, vegetarianism (V)....Homosexuality (VI)...Eunuchs (VII)..Circumcision (VIII).The seven-day week (IX)...Polygamy (X)....Monotheism and aniconic religion (XI)...Religious spread (XII)..Seeing into, even controlling, the future .......(a) Oracles .......(b) Dreams .......(c) Astrology .......(d) Magic .......(e) The critics