The correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto with Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

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THE CORRESPONDENCE OF
MARCUS CORNELIUS
FRONTO

WITH MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS,
LUCIUS VERUS, ANTONINUS PIUS, AND
VARIOUS FRIENDS

EDITED AND FOR THE FIRST TIME TRANSLATED
INTO ENGLISH BY

C. R. HAINES, M.A., FS.A.

IN TWO VOLUMES
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PREFACE

Tuis, the first edition of Fronto in English, has
been a work of more than ordinary difficulty. Before
a satisfactory translation could be attempted a new
text had to be formed based on the labours of
Studemund, Brakman, and Hauler. The single MS.,
which alone is available, is part of a palimpsest in two
volumes made up of leaves from various old MSS., the
Fronto leaves being arranged anyhow, besides being
incomplete, full of lacunae and erasures, and gener-
ally difficult, sometimes impossible, to decipher. A

first-hand acquaintance with the original, which is

‘partly at Milan and partly at Rome, has been im-

possible, and the facsimile of the Vatican portion will
be seen, by anyone who inspects it, to be of small
use to an editor.

Little could have been done for a fundamental
improvement of Naber’s standard text without
Dr. Hauler’s numerous contributions to its recension,

based upon his laborious examination of the Codex,
ν

PREFACE

and I cannot but acknowledge my very great debt
to him in that regard. Much help has also been
given me by J. W. E. Pearce, M.A. Oxon., and
Miss M. D. Brock, Litt.D. Dublin.

C. R. HAINES.

PETERSFIELD,
February, 1919.

vi

CONTENTS

PREEACH 0609S ees he 2 ee ea Ge ν νιν Vv
INTRODUCTION — 4-4: do WS Ro ee νυ νιν ix
FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN ...... .. ΧΧΗ
BIBLIOGRAPHY . oc cp τ ee ce ee Rt
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE... ........-84 lii
SIGUA. τὸ πον ee a ee ee aoe | ewe ego Ἀν

THE CORRESPONDENCERE .......... 2.28868 l

>

INTRODUCTION

Tre has not dealt kindly with Fronto. For more
than a millennium and a half his name stood high in
the lists of fame. On the strength of ancient testi-
mony he was looked upon as the Cicero of his age;
if not indeed his equal, yet as an Isocrates to a
Demosthenes. Eumenius,! writing late in the third
century, described him as “not the second but the
alternative glory of Roman eloquence.” A century or
more later he is singled out by Macrobius? as the
representative of the plain, precise, matter-of-fact
style, contrasted with the copious, in which Cicero is
supreme, the laconic, which is the province of Sallust,
and the rich and florid, in which Pliny the Younger
and Symmachus luxuriate.

Jerome? about the same time, speaks of the
subtleties of Quintilian, the fluency of Cicero, the
serious dignity of Fronto, and the smooth periods of
Pliny. A little later Claudius. Mamertus‘ recom-
mends Plautus for elegance, Cato for gravitas, Gracchus

1 Paneg. Const. 14: Romanac eloquentiae non secundum sed
alterum decus.

* Saturnalia, ν. 1. He says tenuis quidam et siccus et sobrius
amat quandam dicendi frugalitatem, and he ascribes the siccum
genus to Fronto, as an orator, no doubt. This was the style

of Lysias.
8 Kpist. 12: gravitatem Frontonis. 4 Kp. ad Sepandum.

1X

INTRODUCTION

for pungency, Chrysippus for dialectical skill, Cicero
for eloquence, and Fronto for splendour (pompa).
Sidonius Apollinaris! attributes gravitas to Fronto
and pondus to Apuleius.

Though Fronto’s reputation stood so high for 300
years after his death, scarcely a line of his works
had survived, as it seemed, to modern times, until in
1815 Cardinal Mai discovered in the Imperial Library
at Milan a palimpsest MS. containing many of his
letters, the existence of which in classical times had
indeed been occasionally intimated, though little was
known of their contents.

When deciphered the work proved to consist mostly
of his educational correspondence with his royal
pupils, afterwards the joint Emperors Marcus Anton-
inus and Lucius Verus. There were included,
however, one or two letters between Fronto and~
their adoptive father, the Emperor Pius, and some,
chiefly commendatory, letters to the orator’s friends,
of whom the only one whose answer is preserved
was the historian Appian. Some of the letters
are in Greek. In judging this correspondence it
should not be forgotten that Fronto disclaims the
habit of letter-writing, and declares that no one
could be a worse correspondent than himself.?

It would, therefore, not be. fair to estimate
Fronto’s eminence as an orator from these letters
alone, though, of course, they throw light on his

1 Epist. iv. 3. 2 Ad Amicos, i. 18,

INTRODUCTION

mind and powers in general, and his theory of
rhetorical art in particular. They labour under the
limitation of having been mostly written to pupils,
and chiefly in connexion with their studies. They
are of a private, domestic, and professional nature,
and coloured by the relationship between a courtly
master and his royal scholars.

The early editors of the book, who were dis-
appointed with the nature and contents of the work,
_had no good word to say for it or its author, but
their indignation and contempt were certainly not
justified.1 The volume was well worth recovering,
and is here presented to the English reader for the
first time.

On discovering the MS. in 1815, Mai, the librarian
of the Ambrosian Library at Milan, lost no time in
producing his first edition of it. But the work
was done too hastily and carelessly. He alsoseems to
have injured the MS. by a too free use of reagents to
bring out the faded characters.”

Becoming librarian of the Vatican library a few
years later, Mai found a second volume containing
more leaves of the original Fronto Codex. These he
published with the previous portion in 1823. The
Vatican leaves being in better condition than the

1 See Hauler, Wien. Stud. (1912), 24. p. 259; Frohner, Phil.
v. 1889 ; and Brock, Studies in Fronto, p. 5, for a much more
favourable view.

2 Hauler, Wien. Stud. 12 and 31 (p. 267), and Naber,

Proleg. viii., xiv. But Stud. Epist. ad Klussm. Ὁ. 6, seems
to differ on this point.

xi

INTRODUCTION

Ambrosian ones, and the editor besides being now
more skilful in deciphering the palimpsest, and having
taken more pains with his work, the result was more
satisfactory. Moreover, the older portion was some-
what improved through a fresh inspection of the MS.
by Peter Mazuchelli at Milan, and also because Mai
availed himself freely of the critical labours of
Niebuhr, Heindorf, and Buttmann on the moiety
already published. In their edition of 1816 they
had sometimes divined, without seeing. the MS.,
the correct reading, which Mai had missed with it
under his eyes.

The old Codex of Fronto must have been dismem-
bered and its leaves mixed with others of the same
kind before being used for a second writing upon
them. For the two volumes of the Acta Conceli of
the first Council of Chalcedon, in 451 a.p., in which
the Fronto fragments are found, contain besides the
Fronto leaves, which are the most numerous, parts of
seven speeches of Symmachus, a portion of Pliny’s
Panegyric, some scholia on Cicero, Moeso-Gothic notes
on St. John’s Gospel, fragments of a tract on the
Arian Controversy, and a single page apiece of Juvenal
and Persius. The monks in using the leaves for a
second script have generally turned them upside
down. When this is not the case, the writing is
more difficult to read.

On the first page of both volumes is found the in-
scription, Liber S. Columbani e Bobio. Bobbio lies in

Xi]

INTRODUCTION

a secluded valley of the Pennine Alps, near the
scene of the battle of the Trebia, where Saint
Columban founded a monastery at the beginning of
the seventh century, and formed a good library con-
taining not only Latin works in Saxon characters but
many classical authors in their own script, such as
Cicero, Juvenal, Persius, and Fronto. The Fronto
Codex was, we may suppose, purchased by Columban
in Italy. In the same library there was another book
of Fronto’s, entitled Cornel: Frontonts Elegantiae
Latinae, which was extant as late as 1494.) It was
lexicographically arranged. Possibly it was one of
the works of Fronto mentioned below.

The Vatican volume (No. 5750), contains a Latin
version of the Acta of the Council of Chalcedon to
nearly the end of the first session, written about the
tenth century. The volume contained 292 leaves of
which two are missing at the beginning and four at
the end.

The Ambrosian volume (E. 147) is larger and had
480 pages of which are now wanting twelve at the
opening and sixteen at the close. There must have
been a third volume of the Acta, somewhat smaller
than the others, possibly of about 230 pages, the
whole work thus comprising with the other two
volumes about 1000 leaves.

The Fronto part of the Vatican volume, as we have
it, is 106 leaves, of the Ambrosian, 282. The thirty-

1 See Raphael Maffaeus Volaterranus, Geogr. iv. ad finem.
xiil

INTRODUCTION

four pages missing from these two volumes would
probably have contained about twenty Fronto leaves.
As the Fronto leaves are more numerous in the
Ambrosian volume than in the Vatican according to
the proportion 496 : 733, it is likely that in the third
volume there would have been a corresponding in-
crease of them. The whole might therefore have
cqntained about 580 Fronto leaves. But the quater-
nion marks, still visible in the margin of the MS.,
show that there were at least 42} quaternions or
680 pages, in the original Fronto Codex.! Even if
the third volume were forthcoming, we should still be

- about one-seventh part short of the Fronto Codex.

44

What we have contains something like four-sevenths © ἢ

of the whole work, but some part of this has not been
deciphered, and not a little is obliterated for ever.

Dr. Hauler, of Vienna, has been engaged upon the
study of the MS. for more than twenty years, and we
must wait for the final word on our author until his
edition is published. It will certainly revolutionize
the text. He has been given unusual facilities by
the Italian authorities in his work, and the leaves of
the Vatican MS, have been especially washed, cleaned
and pressed for the purpose of photographing it in
facsimile, ae

As far as possible the new readings which
Dr. Hauler has made public in various periodicals
have been incorporated in this work, together with

1 The speeches of Fronto must have been in a separate
Codex, if in the Bobbio library at all.

Xiv

INTRODUCTION

the important, if rather hastily compiled, notes of a
fresh collation of the MS. by the Dutch scholar,
Professor Brakman. In spite of Dr. Hauler’s keen
eyesight and prodigious industry, certain of his
restorations do not command complete confidence,
especially in cases where we find the other inspectors
of the Codex, Mai, du Rieu, and Brakman support-
ing an entirely different reading.

The original Fronto Codex has two columns of
writing to each page, each column containing twenty-
four lines of fifteen to twenty-one letters each.1

As the Greek in the Codex is written without
accents, the MS. must have been produced before
᾿ the seventh century, and probably in the sixth. The
alterations made by the reviser of the copy show that
the copyist was a careless one; nor did the corrector
notice all the errors. Some letters are given twice
over,” as if a second exemplar had been used.

A few of the Fronto leaves seem themselves to
have had a previous writing on them,® and these
must themselves have been palimpsests before being

1 The Fronto leaves in the Vat. volume are numbered 1-4,
13-16, 29, 30, 79-128, 131, 132, 137, 138, 141-160, 165, 168,
173, 180, 185-190, 227, 228, 241, 242; in the Ambrosian,
65-76, 81-110, 133-138, 143-152, 155-158, 161-163, 179, 182,
195-198, 213-262, 287-308, 311-314, 319-856, 373-408, 411-
414, 417-436, 443-446.

2¢.9. Epist. Graec. 1 is found in Ambr. 56, Vat. 166, 165,
and Ambr. 157, 158, 163, 164.

8 See Hauler, Vers. d. dewt. Phil. 41, 1895; p. 85. He
thinks a speech of Hadrian’s underlay a page of the Principia
Historiae in the Fronto Codex.

xv

INTRODUCTION

used for the Acta Conciliz. Moreover, our Codex
of Fronto was revised and annotated by a certain
Caecilius. Besides correcting mistakes, and adding
various readings from at least two other exem-
plars,! he gives explanatory glosses and occasionally
suggests emendations.2 Further, to our manifest
advantage, he used the margins, which are free from
the second writing, for setting down numerous words
or passages, that struck him, sometimes verbatim,
sometimes in an abbreviated or paraphrased form.
The writing of the text and the corrections are in
uncial letters, the marginal additions in sloping
cursive. Caecilius endorsed each separate section
of the work except the Epistulae Graecae and
(apparently by inadvertence) 4d Verum Imp. i.

Indices were probably prefixed to all the separate
books of letters, of which are extant only those to
Ad M. Caes. iv., v; Ad Anton. Imp. i.; Ad Pium;
Ad Amicos i., ii. They are valuable as supplying
the opening words of letters that are lost, but they
do not in all cases seem to correspond with the
succeeding letters.

From Fronto to Marcus as Caesar there are fifty-
six letters or parts of letters, and nine to him as
Emperor, besides the four De Eloquentia. From
Marcus seventy-one and seven respectively. To Verus
as Emperor eight, and six from him, and six to Pius

1 There are over forty of these variae lectiones.

2 The corrector did not revise the Greek letters, but there
is a remarkable gloss at the beginning of Zp. Graec. 1.

xvi

INTRODUCTION

with two answers. There are forty letters to friends,
two being in Greek, and one answer (from Appian) ;
two in Greek to the mother of Marcus; the set
piece on Arion; the two specimens of nugalia, the
De Bello Parthico, the Principia Historiae, and the
Greek λόγος ἐρωτικός.

There are few traces of Fronto’s letters in such
subsequent writers as have descended tous. It is
certain that Minucius Felix, who was probably a
fellow-countryman of Fronto’s, knew something of
him, for in his Octavius he quotes his declamation
against the Christians, and calls him Cirtensis noster.}
Capitolinus,? or his authority Marius Maximus, pro-
bably had an eye on what Fronto says, when he
mentions the habit that Marcus had of reading in
the theatre, and where he calls him durus. How-
ever that may be, it can hardly be doubted that
Nazarius? in his Panegyric on Constantine recalls,
though in a confused way, what Fronto says about
the Parthian king and Verus in his Princima
Histortiae. Symmachus too, another orator of the
same century, shews some signs of being acquainted
with Fronto. Augustine, himself an African, is sup-
posed in a letter to the Citrtenses to refer to the
mention of Polemo by Fronto.*

1 Mai, Pref. to ed. 1823, p. xxxiii., and Schanz, Rhein.
Mus. 1895, p. 133, adduce certain supposed parallelisms. If
there is anything in them, the Octavius could not have been
written before 166 at least.

2 Vu. Mar, xv. and xxii. 5; see below, p. 206.

3 He speaks of Antoninus, but he means Lucius Verus.

4 Epist. 144: et nos cx illis litteris recordamur. ᾿
XVil

INTRODUCTION

Servius, the fifth-century commentator on Vergil,
quotes Fronto for one or two usages, but his quo-
tations cannot be identified with any passages in
our extant letters. A contemporary grammar-
ian, Charisius,! however, undoubtedly quotes from
Fronto’s letters as we have them. Ρ. Consentius,
another grammarian of the same period; quotes a
sentence referring to Rheims, which may very
possibly come from a lost letter to Victorinus.
Niebuhr thought that Sidonius Apollinaris, a learned
and eloquent bishop of the fifth century, imitated
Fronto here and there.

The last author to refer to Fronto was John of
Salisbury in the twelfth century. He quotes an
obscure remark of his concerning Seneca, that “he
was so successful in abolishing error that he seemed
almost to create again an age of gold and call down
the Gods from heaven to live among men.” But
Fronto, as we know him, has no word of praise for
Seneca.

We cannot tell who made and published this
collection of letters, but it is impossible to subscribe
to the view of Mommsen that it was Fronto him-
self.2. Several letters are misplaced: one that was
certainly to the Emperor with his answer appears
under the heading Ad M. Caesarem ; and some that
are related to one another are widely separated.

1 See Index. He also quotes from Fronto’s speech, Pro

Ptolemacensibis.
2 Hermes, viii. p. 201.

XVill

INTRODUCTION

Mommsen considered that the letters were in the
main arranged chronologically, but this can only be
allowed with large deductions. For instance, some
of the earliest letters come quite at the end of the
book. The correspondence with Pius is put after
that with his successors. But there is obviously
some attempt at systematic arrangement. The
letters that belong to the year of Fronto’s consulship
are grouped together and placed first. In more
than one case several letters bearing on a single
subject are found placed in juxtaposition in their
proper order, as with the letters relating to Herodes.!
In the separate books the letters are arranged, with
obvious exceptions however, in some chronological
order ; but the letters of a second book, for instance,
do not follow those of the first, but begin a new
series. The various ailments, also, of Marcus and
Fronto are a guide in some cases. Some letters can
be dated by means of the speeches of Marcus alluded
to in them. As for instance the mention of his
Caesar speech by Marcus in Ep. Graec. 6 (p. 18)
dates this letter as written in 139-140. The speech
referred to in Ad M. Caes. iii. 7 (p. 34) is probably a
speech of thanks for his first consulship in 140, and
the one in v. 1, 2, that for his second consulship in
145 or for the Trib. Potestas in 147.?

1 See pp. 58 f.

2 For further discussion of this subject, see article b
C. R. Haines, ‘‘ On the Chronology of the Fronto Correspond-
ence,” in the Classical Quarterly for April, 1914, vol. vili.,
pp. 113 ff.

X1X

b 2

INTRODUCTION

The only letters which can be dated to a precise
year, except those which mention Fronto’s consulship,
are Ad M. Caes.i. 8, written when Marcus was twenty-
two, and Ad M. Caes. iv. 13,1 written when he was
twenty-four. The latter forms a sort of turning
point, not only in the correspondence but also in
the life of Marcus. To Fronto’s infinite chagrin he
broke with rhetoric and betook himself wholly to
philosophy, at about the time (147 a.p.) when he
became in reality, though not in name, co-emperor.
At all events, whether from a slight coolness in
their relations or owing to increasing ill-health on
the part of Frontoand increasing duties on that of
Marcus, the character of the correspondence changes
with Book V. Most. of the letters are short, some
being mere messages, and many of a quite trivial
character. The illnesses and ailments of master and
pupil figure largely in them. Fronto’s rheumatism,
for it was this and not gout, had become chronic by
that time.

On the accession of Marcus and Lucius the
correspondence resumes some of its former character.
There are no letters to Lucius earlier than 161,
when he became Emperor, but Fronto must have
written to him often enough before. But only the
later ones were preserved, as the main object of the
publication seems to have been to shew Fronto’s
intimate relations with the Court. We could wish

1 See pp. 37, 217.
XX

INTRODUCTION

for more correspondence with Pius, but two of
Fronto’s letters to him are among the best of the series.

Fronto became tutor to Marcus after his adoption
by Hadrian in 138. None of the letters we have can
be dated before 139, when Marcus became Caesar.
The marriage of Marcus, which took place most
probably in 145, and the various births of his children
enable us to give approximate dates to many of the
letters in Book V. The letters Ad Amicos can only
be dated with reference to the proconsulships or
other governorships of the recipients, many of them
being letters commendatory, recommending friends
to the notice of the governor of a province.

The more important oratorical and historical pieces,
with the letters on the Alsian holiday and the death
of Fronto’s grandson, a characteristic and interesting
piece, fall between 161 and 166, in which year or
the next Fronto probably died.

Excluding Fronto himself, who could have collected
and published the correspondence? The only person
in a position to do this seems to be Aufidius Victorinus,
the life-long friend of Marcus and Fronto’s son-in-
law. We have evidence that Fronto kept copies of
some of his letters, and Victorinus, as Fronto’s heir
and one of the leading men in the reign of Commodus,
was in a specially favourable position for acting as
his father-in-law’s literary executor. |

The object of the compilation was not only to
bring into prominence the position of Fronto as

Xxi

INTRODUCTION

Magister and Amicus to the Imperial Brothers, but
also to put on record his views on oratorical and
literary style, in fact his whole theory of rhetoric,
which there is no reason to think he ever formulated
in any special treatise.

The letters are valuable not only for what they
tell us of Fronto and the light they shed on the
literary tendencies of the age, but also for their
picture of the young Marcus, whose character and
rule will always have an interest for mankind. As
Pater has said, these letters recall for us “the long
buried fragrance of a famous friendship of the
ancient world.”” We find here a young man and an
older one, with a genuine affection for one another,
exchanging kindly thoughts on their children, their
health, the art of rhetoric, and the ancient writers
of their country, while here and there we get a
glimpse into the penetraka of the imperial court, or
read a page from country life at Lorium or a visit
to the seaside.!

A hundred years ago Mai? expressed a confident
expectation that one day the letters would be
arranged in their approximate chronological order.
A first attempt has here been made to do this.3

1 For some interesting and attractive items, see pp. 58-66,
150, 174-184, the De Fer. Als., the De Nepote Amisso, ete.

5 Pref. to ed. of 1823, p. xviii.

δ For various views on the chronology, see Mommsen in
Herm. viii. pp. 198 ff.; Brakman in Frontoniana, ii. pp. 24—42 ;
Pauly-Wissowa under ‘‘ Fronto” ; Naber, Proleg. xx.—xxxi.

xxii

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND
THE MAN

Atmost all that we know of Fronto is drawn
from the book before us. The probable date of his
birth is 100 a.p., and in any case before 113 a.p.
He was born at Cirta, now Constantine, in Numidia.
This was a Roman colony, and his name being
Cornelius, he was doubtless of Roman descent,
though he jestingly calls himself “a Libyan of the
nomad Libyans.” His brother, who is mentioned
several times in the Lelters, was named Quadratus.!
Of his youth we are told nothing, but he no doubt
studied at Alexandria, for at a later time he had
numerous friends there. He mentions as his parens
and magister the philosopher Athenodotus, but it
was not philosophy, which he disliked, that he
learnt from him, but an inordinate fondness for
similes, or as he calls them, εἰκόνες. 53. Another master
named by him is Dionysius the rhetor, whose fable
on The Vine and the Holm-Oak he quotes. He tells
us that he took late to the study of Latin literature,
in which he afterwards came to be such an adept.

1 See inscription (U.Z. L. xv. 7438) on conduit pipes from
the Esquiline hill, where his Horti Maecenatiant (see Index)
were situated. 2 See Index and pp. 131 ff.

Xxili

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

An inscription found at Calamae (Guelma) in
Numidia,! of which city, as of Cirta, he was a patronus,
gives us the earlier part of his cursus honorum, from
which we learn his father’s name Titus, the name of
his tribe Quirina, and that he was successively
triumvir capitalis, quaestor in Sicily, plebeian aedile,
and praetor. The office of quaestor gave him a place
in the Senate.

In 143, under Pius, he became consul suffectus for
July and August, the consul ordinarius for which
year was Herodes the eminent Athenian rhetorician,
himself like Fronto a tutor to the young princes,
Fronto’s lesser honour gave occasion for the jesting
allusion of Ausonius? to the consuls in whose con-
sulship Fronto was consul.

From his place in the Senate he tells us that he
extolled Hadrian studio impenso et propenso in speeches
that were still read many years later.2 But he con-
fesses that in this he courted rather than loved him.
His great reputation,* but no doubt his character
also, induced Pius on his accession to choose him as
the instructor of his adopted sons in Latin and oratory:

1 Corp. Inscr. Lat. viii. 5350.
. ® ‘Unica mihi amplectenda est Frontonis imitatio: quem
tamen Augusti magistrum sic consulatus ornavit, ut prae-
fectura non cingeret. Sed consulatus ille cuiusmodi? Ordin-
ario suffectus, bimestri spatio interpositus, in sexta anni
parte consumptus, quaerendum ut reliquerit tantus orator,
quibus consulibus gesserit consulatum.” In Gratiarum
Actione, ad med. 3 See Ὁ. 110.

4 Dio, lxix. 8; Lucian, De Conser. Hist. 21, ἀοίδιμος ἐπὶ
λόγων δύναμει.

χχὶν

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

He remained for the rest of his life on the
most intimate and affectionate terms with the court,
and there is no evidence that he abused his position
in any way. He was not, however, above flattering
his royal pupils on occasion, for he could scarcely
have believed himself, when he attributed to Marcus
the abilities of the great Julius or to Lucius the
military genius of a Marius or a Vespasian. Still at
times he could tell Marcus some home truths, and at
- all events impressed both his charges with his
sincerity and love of truth.! It was more excusable
in Marcus to overrate, as he did, Fronto’s oratorical
gifts, and to set him beside Cato, Gracchus, Sallust,
- and Cicero, asserting that he alone of present-day
orators talked Latin.”

When the time came for Fronto to receive a pro-
vincial appointment, the lot gave him Asia. He
made preparations to take up his duties there, but a
more than usually serious attack of illness supervened,
and he was obliged to beg off his appointment.

His political life being now ended, Fronto devoted
his remaining years to his profession of eloquence
and to literature. Aulus Gellius® gives us a picture
of him as one of the recognized leaders in the in-
tellectual salons of the time, where questions of
literature and archaeology were habitually discussed.
He is there seen surrounded by all the great authors

1 Ad M. Caes, iii. 12, Ad Verum, ii. 2 (verique amorem).
2 Ad Μ΄. Caes. ii. 18; Ad Ant. i. 4.
3 Noctes Atticae, ii. 26, xiii. 23, xix. 8, 10, 13.
XXV

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

and critics of Rome, and regarded as an oracle on
linguistic and grammatical questions, and in his letters
we find him always inculcating a careful precision in
the use of words and a deference to the authority
of older writers.

How far was his great reputation as orator and
pleader justified? Unfortunately we have no speci-
men, even approximately complete, of his oratory,
whether forensic or epideictic,on which to base a
verdict. The longest extract extant is from a speech
respecting oversea wills, possibly delivered before
the Emperor's Court of Appeal. There is besides
the well-known fragment of an indictment of the
Christians,! preserved by Minucius Felix in his
Octavius, which reads like a set declamation, or an
episode in a speech on behalf of some client. But
we do not know how far the writer has given
Fronto’s words verbatim.

The interesting and important letter to Arrius
Antoninus on behalf of Volumnius Quadratus? is an
example of legal causidicatto. There remain besides
a few sentences quoted by the orator himself? from
his speech of thanks to Pius in 143, and a simile,
perhaps from the same speech, quoted by Eumenius,

' Octavius, ix. It seems probable that the section im-
mediately preceding this, and describing the ‘‘Thyestean
feasts” attributed to the Christians, also comes from the
same speech. Some think the whole of the anti-Christian

olemic of the Octavius is drawn from a Frontonian source.

See Schanz, Rhein. Mus. 1895, 114-36.
2 Ad Amicos, ii. 7. 8 Ad M. Caes. i. 8, pp. 118 ff.

χχνὶ

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

where the success of the Roman arms in Britain is
referred to.! Moreover we have, preserved on a
palimpsest in the Palatine Library, a few concluding
words of a speech of thanks for the Carthaginians,
some years later.2. It was evidently one of his
pompaticae orationes.

Of other speeches we have a mere mention: the
Pro Ptolemaeensibus, from which Charisius preserves a
single grammatical form; a speech against Herodes
in 142, of which we do not know the title ; one Pro
Demostraio Petittanu; several in behalf of Saenius
Pompeianus and other friends;* and speeches on
behalf of the Cilicians and Bithynians, the latter in
its revised form giving details of his past life, the
loss of which is to be regretted.* His most famous
effort, according to Sidonius Apollinaris, was the
speech against Pelops, probably a physician of
Pergamus, mentioned by Galen.

It will be seen from this short summary that we
have really no material for judging Fronto’s capacity
either as advocate in the courts or as orator in the
Senate. Dirksen® denies his juristic competence,
but few will believe that he was not perfectly con-
versant with Roman Law. How otherwise could he
have gained his commanding position at the bar in
an age which produced such eminent jurists and was

1 See below. He made many speeches in praise of Pius.

? On the occasion of Pius’s liberality to the city after a
great fire. See Capit. Vit. Pii, ix. See pp. 232, 238.

4 For the mention of these, see Index.

5 Opp. 1, pp. 243 ff. and 277 ff. exvii
XVil

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

almost the heyday of Roman Law. Not but that
Fronto was, first and foremost, an orator, whose ob-
ject is not justice but persuasion. It cannot be denied
that in the extract from the speech on wills he in-
dulges in fancy pictures and ignores obvious and
material facts. Still his presentment of the case is
certainly not without point and vigour, though it is
over-elaborated and smacks too much of the art of
rhetoric.

The letters on Matidia’s will and the Falcidian Law
are in their mutilated condition too ambiguous to
assist us in our enquiry as to Fronto's legal attain-
ments.

Fronto’s ideals in oratory were high. The most
difficult test of an orator seemed to him to be that
he should please without sacrificing the true principles
of eloquence. Smooth phrases for tickling the ears
of the hearers must not be such as are offensive to
good taste, a feebleness in form being preferable toa
coarseness of thought.! In spite of his insistence on
style and the choice of words, Fronto knows well
enough and affirms that noble thoughts are the essen-
tial thing in oratory, for the want of which no verbal
dexterity or artistic taste will compensate, It was his
deficiency in “high thought’s invention” that forced
Fronto to concentrate his attention on the form and
eke out the matter with the manner. Needless to
say he has at his fingers’ ends all the tropes and

1 Pp, 37,
xxviii

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

figures and devices of the art of rhetoric, and his
knowledge of the Roman language and literature was
profound.

It has too hastily been assumed that he slighted
the great writers of the best age, except Cicero and
Sallust, and totally ignored the silver age authors
except Lucan and Seneca. But he constantly imitates
Terence, recognizes the literary eminence of Caesar
and quotes him with approval,! calls Lucretius sublime,
quotes him, and ranks him with his prime favourites,
quotes Horace, whom he calls memorabilis, more
than once, shows an intimate knowledge of Vergil,?
and borrows from Livy. He also shows some
acquaintance with Quintilian, Tacitus and Juvenal.

Fronto has been repeatedly called a pedant, but he
was a true lover of his own language and guarded it
jealously from unauthorized innovations and ignorant
solecisms. His aim seemed to have been to shake
the national speech out of the groove into which the
excessive and pedantic purism of Cicero, Caesar and
their followers had confined it. To do this effectually
it was necessary to call in the aid of the great writers
of an earlier age, such as Plautus and Ennius and Cato.
But this sort of archaism was nothing novel. Thucy-
dides was a thorough archaist, and so was Vergil,
and Sallust was eminently one.’ As the cramping

1 Aul. Gell. xix. 8. 2 Aul. Gell. ii. 26.

3 Bacon ‘‘ spangled his speech with unusual words,” and
Ben Jonson says that Spenser ‘‘in affecting the ancients writ
no language.”

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FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

effects of the Ciceronian tradition tended more and
more to squeeze the life out of the language, the
ingrained feeling that “the old is better” gradually
spread among the leaders of literary thought. An
immense impetus was given to this tendency by the
versatile Uttérateur Hadrian, who openly preferred
Ennius to Vergil and Cato to Cicero.

But Fronto, fond as he was of old words and
ancient locutions, insisted that such must be not
only old but more expressive and appropriate than
modern ones, or they must not be preferred. He
himself confesses that he used only ordinary and
commonplace words. No one in his opinion has a
right to invent expressions—he calls such words
counterfeit coin. He availed himself of old and
established words, that were genuine Latin and had
all the charm of novelty without being unintelligible,
drawing largely on the vocabulary and idiom of
Plautus, Ennius, Cato, and Gracchus, and interspersing
his familiar letters with quotations from Naevius,
Accius, Pacuvius, and Laberius. But this was not an
affected or repellent archaism, such as Seneca and
Lucian mock at.1 Fronto’s attitude somewhat re-
sembled that of Rossetti, who declares that “he has
been reading early English ballads in search of stun-
ning old words.”? It is of such words that Fronto is
thinking when he speaks of words that must be
hunted out with toil and care and watchfulness and

1 Seneca, Hp. 114; Lucian, Demonax, 26.
2 See Brock, Studies in Fronto, p. 1032.
XXX

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

by the treasuring up of old poems in the memory.
He explains that he has in mind the “ inevitable”
word, for which, if withdrawn, no substitute equally
good could be found. Some old words would
certainly have no modern equivalent, as for instance
in English the word “hansel.”” ‘The best words in
the best places” would be Fronto’s definition of
oratory, as it was Coleridge’s of poetry.

It is a prevalent but mistaken idea that Fronto
disparages or underrates Cicero. He may personally
prefer Cato or Sallust, but he recognizes the pre-emin-
ence of Cicero’s genius. It is quite possible that if we
had the works of the older ‘writers, we also should
prefer their simple dignity and natural vigour even
to the incomparable finish and opulence of Tully.
However that may be, Fronto credits Cicero with
almost every conceivable excellence except the due
search for the precise word.? He calls him the greatest
mouthpiece of the Roman language, the head and
source of Roman eloquence, master on all occasions
of the most beautiful language, and deficient only
in unlooked for words. He candidly confesses his
own inferiority. Of his letters he says “ nothing
can be more perfect.” He calls them /ullanae and
remtsstores, and seems to envy their careless ease.5
But in practice he disavows the structure of the
Ciceronian sentence and the arrangement of its

Ὁ. Ts 2 P. 4, 8 Ad Amicos, i. 14.

4 When he bids Victorinus compare his Pro Bithynis with
Cicero’s Pro Sulla. Ad Amicos, i. 14. 5 See p. 122.

XXxi

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

words. He breaks up the flowing periods of Cicer-
onian prose and introduces new and abrupter rhythms.
For older cadences he substitutes cadences of his own,
though he occasionally prides himself on imitating
the Tullian mannerisms.1_ Where he affects the stac-
cato style, and the historic present, as in Arion, the
result is as unpleasing as it is in modern English.
In some cases, for forensic speeches, he recommends
a deliberate roughness and studied negligence at
the end of sentences; but in epideictic displays
everything must be neatly and smoothly finished off.2
Circumlocution and inversions he utterly condemns.
Next to the {choice of words their natural and
perspicuous arrangement counts most with him.

This makes his work easy reading. Such difficulties as
_ we find are chiefly due to the mutilated condition of
the text in our copy. We have often not only to
interpret but to divine what was written.

It has been supposed that Fronto set himself
purposely to renovate and remodel the language by
recalling old words and obsolete idioms,‘ and by
transferring into the literary Janguage colloquialisms
from the common speech. But the zovella elocutio
of which he speaks seems rather to mean a fresher,
more vivacious diction, and a more individual form
of expression: in fact originality of style. The

1 Brock, Studics in Fronto, p. 141, and Droz, De Fiontonis
institutione oratoria, Ὁ. 64; and see p. 110 below, and dd
Anton. i. 2. ΣΡ, 40. 3 De Urationibus, ad fin.

4 cp. Horace, Ars Poet. 70.

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FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

patina of antiquity which he wished to give his
work need not necessarily be thought to disfigure
it; and his minute accuracy in the use of words is
surely more deserving of praise than of blame. He
prided himself on distinguishing the nice shades of
meaning in allied words, and insisted that his pupil
should be exact in his use of words, knowing well
that clearness of thought is dependent on definite-
ness of expression. The extracts from Aulus Gellius
given at the end of the book show us‘ the care
with which Fronto distinguished the meaning ot
words, of which there is further evidence in the De
Differentits Vocabulorum,' if that work is his, as it
may well be. It was possibly written for the use
of his pupils, that they might not misuse words
apparently synonymous, such as the various terms
for sight and perception. In this connexion it
may be noted that Fronto set great store by the
careful use of synonyms, and they abound in his
correspondence, but are seldom so colourless as, for
instance, our “tied and bound,” “let and hinder,’
“many a time and oft” or so run to death as
‘by leaps and bounds ”’ or “in any shape or form.”
Eloquence was to Fronto the only thing that
mattered in the universe. It was the real sovereign
of the human race. Philosophy he disliked and even

1 Printed in Mai’s edition of Fronto, with another work
attributed to Fronto, the Exempla Elocutionum. This consists
of phrases from Terence, Vergil, Cicero, and Sallust. We
know that he made extracts from Cicero, Ad Anton. ii. 5.

XXxili

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

despised, though he admitted that it inspired great
thoughts, which it was for eloquence to clothe.!
Philosophy and rhetoric contended for the soul of
Marcus in the persons of the austere Rusticus,? the
domestic chaplain of Marcus in the Stoic creed, and
the courtly Fronto. But the result was a foregone
conclusion. Marcus before he was twelve had already
made his choice;* and though he tried loyally to
please his master and learn all the tricks of rhetoric,
yet his heart was always far from the wind-flowers of
eloquence.‘ He aroused his master’s ire by asserting
that, when he had said something more than usually
brilliant, he felt pleased, and therefore shunned
eloquence. Fronto pertinently rejoined, “ You feel
pleasure, when eloquent; then, chastise yourself,
why chastise eloquence?” Again when Marcus in
his ultra-conscientiousness avows a distaste for the
obliquities and insincerities of oratory, Fronto is
clearly nettled, and counters smartly with a reference
to the irony of Socrates.

In spite of all Fronto’s efforts Marcus in his
twenty-fourth year finally declared his decision. He
could no longer consent to argue on both sides of
a question, as the art of oratory would have him
do. There is no doubt that his master was bitterly

1 De Elogu. i. ad finem.

2 Under him as Praef. Urbi, about 163, Justin Martyr and
his companions were condemned.

8 Capit. Vit. Mar. ii. 6.

4 Thoughts, i. 7; 1. 17, ὃ 4.

XXXIV

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

disappointed, as he honestly believed he could make
a consummate orator of Marcus.

A few words require to be said now as to Fronto’s
method of instruction. He began by taking his
pupil through a course of old farces, comedies,
ancient orators and poets, and Marcus was en-
couraged to make extracts from the authors that
were read. Cato, Gracchus, Ennius, Sallust, and
Cicero were especially studied. The first was Marcus's
favourite, but Fronto preferred Sallust before all.
In letter-writing Cicero was recognized as supreme,
and the “tullian” style of his more familiar letters
was looked upon as worthy of imitation.

Verse-making was regularly practised as an aid
towards oratory. Only hexameters are mentioned
in this connexion, and Vergil, who is both archaistic
and intensely rhetorical, was no doubt the model.
Horace was apparently read but Marcus took a
dislike to him.!

Similes, or εἰκόνες, formed an important part of
Fronto’s oratorical armoury. He always had numbers
at command on every conceivable subject, some
appropriate, and many ingenious, but others far-
fetched and out of place. He clearly regarded them
as indispensable, and gives elaborate instructions as
to their use.2. They could scarcely have been of
much use in his forensic speeches, one would think.

The next step was to use the Commonplaces of

ΤΡ, 140. 2 Ῥ, 36.

ΧΧΧΥ
ε 2

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

Theodorus for the manufacture of maxims or γνῶμαι.
One aphorism a day was the allotted task. The
object was to strike out some neat epigrammatic
sententia, such as are characteristic of Sallust, and to
turn the same thought freely and boldly in various
ways, often from one language to another. Truth to
say, Fronto is himself extraordinarily deficient in
sayings of pith and moment. He imitates the
panem et Circenses of Juvenal and perhaps the cupido
gloriae novissima exuitur! of Tacitus, but the most
striking of his own maxims are noticeable chiefly for
their rhythm, such as pleraque propria venustate car-
entia gratiam sibimet alienam extrinsecus mutuantur, and
longeque praestat secundo gentium rumore iniuriam
neglegere quam adverso vindicare. We do not know
which maxim of Marcus it was that Fronto declared
worthy of Sallust,? but this is a not unsuccessful
one: turpe altoqui fuerit diutius vitsum corporis quam
animé studium ad reciperandam sanitatem posse durare.®
Translation from one language to another forms
part of the curriculum. Original composition in
history was also recommended by Fronto, and Marcus
himself seems to have had some aspirations in that
direction, Too much stress was laid upon the out-
ward trappings of rhetoric, such as alliteration, oxy-
moron, antithesis, paronomasia, paraleipsis, and every
variety of trope or figure. And in the use of these

1 Tac. Hist. iv. 6, and De Elogqu. i. ad med. below.
2 P. 12. 3 Ad M. Caes. iv. 8.

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FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

for his rhetorical flights Fronto is ever urging Marcus
to “be bold, be bold, and evermore be bold.” !

Finally came the writing of themes and contro-
verstae, in which the pros and cons of any question,
historical or fictitious, are discussed as by a forensic
speaker.

Whether after all this study Marcus became a
really accomplished speaker is not known. We have
too little to judge by. But at all events he had
mastered thoroughly the principles of the art,? and
that he was straightforward, sensible, and practical
in his official orations is certain. The Senate, the
soldiers, and the people alike heard him with
eagerness.®

There are several passages in this work where
Fronto tries his hand at descriptive narrative, and
two in which he essays the réle of historian. But his
view of history, and how it should be written, was
thoroughly mistaken. His eyes are not on the facts,
but on the best way to show his rhetorical skill in
commonplace or panegyric. His efforts therefore in
this direction are useless as history and of no account
as literature. The descriptive passages are more suc-
cessful, the best being the apologue on sleep, tran-
slated by Pater in his Marius the Epicurean. A
favourable specimen is the mutilated passage referring
to Orpheus at the beginning of Ad Marcum, iv. Arion

1 Ennius, see p. 10.

2 Dio, lxxi. 35, § 1. He shows his skill in rhetoric even in
the Greek of the Meditations. 8 Ad Anton. i. 2.

XxxVvii

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

is technically skilful but lacks distinction, and the
Ring of Polycrates is decidedly tame. The Prasses
of Smoke and Dust and Negligence are mere tours de
force, but they throw light on his theory of rhetoric.

After so long and close an intimacy as these letters
reveal we are surprised to find so meagre a mention
of Fronto in the gallery of Worthies, from whom he
learnt enduring lessons, which Marcus sets at the
head of his Thoughts. It is nothing but this:

‘¢ From Fronto, to note the envy, the subtlety, and
the dissimulation, which are habitual to a tyrant;
and that as a general rule those amongst us who
rank as patricians are somewhat wanting in natural
affection.”’!

We find no trace in these letters of the former
part of this obligation but there are references to
φιλοστοργία, in which Fronto says that the patricians
are wholly deficient.2 He was himself a notable
exception. Marcus calls him philostorgus.2 His de-
votion to his wife and daughter, and to Victorinus,
her husband, and their children, shows him to us in
a very amiable light. He was very fond of children,
and his love for Marcus and Lucius was deep and
abiding. |

We cannot help liking the old man for his honest,
kindly disposition, and his loyalty to a high ideal of
friendship.* He always showed the greatest affection

1 Thoughts, i.11. 23. Ad Verum,ii.7. #3 De Fer. Als. 4.

4 See his letter to Pius about his friend Censorius and the
letter to Appian.

XXXViii

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

for the young pupils who from time to time lived
under his roof, and readiness to help them in their
careers. He was the centre of a large literary coterie,
and his personal friends were devoted to him, while
his services as advocate had attached to him many
influential friends in the provinces, especially in
Cilicia and Africa.

Though not really wealthy compared with many
other patricians of his time, and very far behind
his rival Herodes in this respect, he had by his
profession and by taking pupils and also through
good management, aided by legacies, gathered a
competence sufficient not only for his own wants but
for the helping of his friends. He owned one or
more villas near Rome and probably estates in
Africa. His Horti Maecenatiani on the Esquiline
could have been no mean residence, and he was
able on one occasion to spend as much as £3000 on
new baths there.!

The family life of Fronto was a singularly happy
one in the mutual affection of its surviving members,
though death deprived him of five out of his six
children (all daughters) in their infancy. The sole
surviving daughter, Gratia, married Aufidius Victor-
inus, one of the best and most capable men of his
age, who afterwards committed suicide under Com-
modus. One child of this union died, aged three,
in Germany, where Victorinus was governor, about

1 Αἱ]. Gell. xix. 10.
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FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

165 a.p. One son certainly, and possibly a second,
survived to manhood. The former, M. Aufidius
Victorinus Fronto, was brought up in Fronto’s house
and lived to be consul in 199, and in an inscription !
to his son at Pisaurum recalled his grandfather as
‘ orator, consul, and master of Marcus and Lucius.”
We hear of an eloquent descendant of Fronto’s, Leo
by name, in the fifth century at Toulouse.?

Mommsen and others have supposed that Fronto
lived till the year 175 at least, and possibly longer,
because in the De Oratonibus he mentions coins of
Commodus, but it is necessary to explain the allusion
in some other way than as implying the date of
Commodus’s participation in the Empire. For it is
certain that no letter in this correspondence, as we
have it, can be dated later than 166, and we find
Fronto’s health getting worse and worse, and the
loss of his wife and grandchild in 165 also affected
him greatly. There can be little doubt that he
predeceased Verus and died in 166 or 167. His grate-
ful pupil Marcus rewarded his love and fidelity with
equal affection, and on his death obtained, permission
from the Senate to set up his statue in the Senate-
house and kept his bust among his household gods.®
No representation of him has come down to us.

He founded a school of disciples who imitated his
methods in oratory and language, and he playfully
alludes to his secta.t The Frontonian tradition had

1 Corp. Inscr. Lat. xi. 6334. 2 Sidon. Apoll. Ep. iv. 21.
3 Capit. Vit. Mar. ii. § δ, 4 Ad Anton, i, 2.

xl >

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

a vogue of a least 300 years, as Sidonius Apollinaris
mentions the Frontoniani in an obscure passage.! |

The great service that Fronto did to his country-
men was to leave their language a freer and more
plastic instrument of speech than he found it, by
reinforcing it with those elements which were in
danger of atrophy for want of use, or were being
wasted by being left outside the pale of good
literature. Moreover by minute accuracy in the
use of words and careful definition of their meaning,
he gave precision and clarity to the language, which
was a work well worth doing, and deserving of
credit.

To the reader his style is easy and perspicuous,
and far less abnormal and fantastic than that of his
fellow African Apuleius. Unfortunately Fronto lacked
originality of thought, and his humour is rather
heavy, but his fatal foible lay not in his leanings to
archaism but in his faith in εἰκόνες, which disfigure
even the real pathos of his dirge over the loss of his
grandson, and lessen the force of his special plead-
ing for Volumnius of Concordia, though in his

1 Ep.i. 1. ‘‘ Nor did Jul. Titianus picture Cicero’s whole
epistolary style in a worthy image (by means of a serics of
fictitious letters) under the names of noble women. On this
account all the Frontonians, as rivals of their fellow-disciple,
because he followed the languid (Ciceronian) style of speak-
ing, called him the orators’ ape.” Here the style of Cicero’s
letters, which Fronto calls remissior, easy or careless, seems
to be disparaged. See Barth, Advers. xlvii. 9, and Nieb.,
Introd. to his ed. of Fronto, p. xxiii. The word used by
Sidonius is veternosus. How Cicero’s style could be called
languid or senile (veternosus) is incomprehensible. ᾿ i

xh

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

criticism of Seneca they find an effective place. He
never grasped the fact that comparatio is not ratio.
Whether he was proof against the seductive powers
of the simile in the speeches which earned for him
the epithets gravis and siccus we do not know, but
the fragment on overseas wills is not free from this
favourite device. One thing seems highly probable,
that, if the bulk of Fronto’s speeches should ever be
recovered, we should form a much higher opinion of
his abilities. As it is we can say of him, and this is
surely much, that he was vir bonus dicendt peritus.

xiii

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. M. Cornelit Frontonis Opera inediia cum Epistulis item
tneditis Antonini Pit, M. Aurelii, L. Veri, et Appiani, necnon
aliorum fragmentis. Invenit et commentario praevio notisque
tllustravit Angelus Maius. Pars prior. Pars altera, cut ad-
duntur sev edila seu cognita eiusdem Frontonis opera: Mediolani,
regiis typia, 1815, 4to.}

This first edition only contained the Fronto leaves from
the Ambrosian Codex with a facsimile page of the MS.,
followed by the two works previously attributed to Fronto,
viz. De Differentiis Vocabulorum and Exempla Elocutionum,
together with the passages in Aulus Gellius where Fronto is
mentioned.

2. M. Cornelii Frontonis Reliquiae ab Angelo Mato primum
edilae: meliorem in ordinem digestas swisque et Ph. Buttmanni,
1. F. Heindorfii ac selectis a Mati animadversionibus instructas
ierum edidit B. G. Niebuhrius, C.F. <Accedunt Liber de
Differentiis Vocabulorum et ab eodem a Maio primum edita
Q. Aurelit Symmachi octo orationum fragmenta: Berolini,
MDOCOXVI.

This was a great advance on Mai’s edition, many of his
erroneous readings being corrected, the text itself emended
in various places, the dislocated fragments better arranged,
and valuable notes added.

3. M. Cornelii Frontonis et M. Aurelii Imperatoris Epis-
tulae: L. Vert et Antonini Pii et Appiani Epistularum reli-
quiae: Fragmenta Frontonis et Scripta Grammatica. Editio
prima Romana plus centum epistulis aucta ex codice rescripto
bibliothecae pontificiae Vaticanae, curante Angelo Maio: Romae,
MDCOCXXIII.

1 One of three copies only on thick bluish aper, is in the
Cambridge University Library. It contains Mas 8 autograph.

xliii

BIBLIOGRAPHY

This, besides the same facsimile and supplements as the
Milan edition, has a second facsimile page of the Vatican
M§,, the Caecilius signature, and a few lines of the Palatine
palimpsest, containing part of Fronto’s Actio Gratiarum pro
Carthaginicnsibus, the whole of which fragment, as far as it is
decipherable, is given at the end of the volume:

4. Lellres inédites de Mare Aureéle ct de Fronton retrowvées
sur les palimpsestes de Milan et de Rome: traduites avec le texte
latin en regard et des notes par M. Armand Cassan : 2 vols.,
Paris, 1830.

This is a most disappointing edition.1 No improvements
are made in the text and the translation evades or omits all the
difficulties. But the notes, with their numerous illustrative
passages from the older Roman writers, are useful.

5. In 1832 the Vatican portion of Mai’s Roman edition was
published at Zell by Schultz. It had no new features.

6. In 1867 8S. A. Naber brought out the serviceable edition,
from which everyone has since derived his knowledge of
Fronto. Its title was: M. Cornelii Frontonis et af. Aurelit
Imperatoris Epistulae: L. Veriet T. Antonini Pii et Appiani
Evistularum Reliquiae: post Angelum Maium cum codicibus
Ambrosiano et Vaticano iterwm contulit α΄. N. du Rieu : recen-
suit Samuel Adrianus Naber: Lipsiae, 1867.

This was a great improvement on previous editions, the
text being based on a fresh inspection of the MS. by du Rieu
in 1858. But it left a great deal still to be desired. Owing
to certain perverse ideas, especially about the date of
Marcus’s marriage, the editor went far astray in his chron-
ology of the correspondence. The main indices, taken almost
entirely from Mai, are totally inadequate.

The following translations of selected letters from the
correspondence have appeared in English :—

(a) Selections from Fronto's Letters, translated into English:
Rome, 1824. By J. McQuige. This contains paraphrases
rather than translations of some twenty-three of the letters.

' A. Pierson, in his edition of Marcus Aurelius, 1843, has
reproduced seventy of these letters, with trifling alterations.

xliv

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(5) Dr. W. H. D. Rouse, in an Appendix to his edition of
Meric Casaubon’s translation of the Meditations of Marcus
Aurelius, published in 1900, has given us an excellent version
of some entire letters and parts of many others.

(c) Miss M. Ὁ. Brock, Litt.D. Dubl., in her Studies in
Fronto and his Age, published in 1911, has translated more
than thirty letters, mostly in full, with the text opposite.
Her rendering gives a very good idea of the original, and
the whole book is most helpful to the student of Fronto and
his literary claims. -

Besides the above, P. B. Watson, in his Life of Marcus
Aurelius, London, 1884, gives versions of several passages
from the Correspondence, but he is an unsafe guide as to
Fronto’s meaning, his knowledge of Latin being inadequate.

A more scholarly contribution to the same subject is that
of Hastingr Crossley in his Fourth Book of the Meditations
of Marcus Aurelius, London, 1882, an appendix to which
contains a number of select passages from the letters
admirably Englished with a running comment.

Finally, Robinson Ellis published at Oxford in 1904 a
lecture on The Correspondence of Frunto and Marcus Atrelius.
It translates a considerable number of passages from various
parts of the work with connecting comments.

The more important contributions to the study of Fronto
beside the above are as follows :—

Alan, H., Coniccturae ef Animadversiones: Dublin, 1841.
Observationes in Frontonem : Dublin, 1863, 1867.

Anon., Index Phil. Leutschianus, i. 60 ff.

Bahrens, E., Fleckh. Jahrbuch, 105, pp. 632-4 (1872).

Beck, J .W., De Different. Script. Latinis (on the Ve Nominwm
Verborumque Differentiis of Fronto(?)); Mnem. x. 9:
review of Brakman’s work.

Becker, G., Jenaer Lit. Ztg. 1874, p. 631.

Beer, Rud., Anz. d. philos. -hist. Kl. der k. Akad.d. Wiss.: Vienna,
1911, nr. xi. ‘‘ Uber den aeltesten Handschriftenbestand
des Klosters Bobbio.”

Beltrami, Ach., Le tendenze leticrarie negli scritti di Frontone:
Milan, 1907. “1] ‘numerus’ 6 Frontone,” in Riv. di
fil. 36, 1906. See also Berl. Phil. Woch. xxx. 1; Bibl.
Phil. klass. 1908, p. 61; Classict ὁ Neolatini, v. 1.

xlv

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blase, H., Archiv 7. latein. Lexicographie (Wolfflin), 9, p. 491
(1898).

Boissonade, Biographie Universelle, xvi. 121 ff.: article

‘‘ Fronton.” See also Cassan’s translation of Fronto, ii.
. 382.

icaknan: C., Frontoniana, Seriesi., ii.: Utrecht, 1902.

Bursian-Miller, Jahresbericht tiber die Fortschritte der kilass.
Alterthumswissenschaft. Berlin, 1873: 2, 1820; 7, 172;
18, 172; 27, 8; 40, 232; 55, 238-240; 84, 189, 192,
106-203.

Cobet, C. G., Mnem. 3, p. 305 (1875) and 5, p. 232: see also
Bursian-Miller, Jahresber. 2, 1320.

Yornelissen, J. J., Mnem., N.s. 1, pp. 91-6 (1873); 13, pp.
115 ff. (1885).

Crossley, H., Hermathena, 5, p. 67. See also above.

Crutwell, C. T., History of Roman Literature, pp. 463-5,
Lond. 1887.

Daunon, Journ. ὦ. Sav. Sept. 1816, pp. 27 ff.: review of Mai’s
edition (1815).

Dareste, A. C., De rhetore Ael. Aristide, 1843.

Desrousseaux, A. M., Rev. de Phil. 10, pp. 149 ff. (1886).

Dircksen, H. E., Opp. 1, pp. 243-253, 276-280.

Dobson, J. F., Classical Quarterly, Jan. 1912.

Droz, E., De ΔΜ. Cornelit Frontonis institutione oratoria.

Ebert, Ad., ‘‘De Frontonis Syntaxi,” Acta Semin. phil.
Erlangensis, ii. 311-354 (1881); Bl. 7. ἃ. bayr. Gymn. -wes.
xix. 527-30 (1883).

Kckstein, F. A., Allgemeine Encyclopdédie (J. ὃ. Ersch and
J. G. Griiber), Section 1, Pt. 51, pp. 442 ff. See also
Naber’s edit. p. xxxiv.

Egger, E., Fragmenta ad Stoicorum et rhetorum historiam
conyruentia, 1852.

Ehrenthal, L., Quaestiones Frontonianae : Kénigsberg, 1881.

Nickstadt, Cornelii Frontonis Operum nuper in lucem protrac-
torum notitia et specimen, Jenae, 1846. See also Niebuhr's
edit. pp. 293—4.

Ellis, Robinson, Journal of Phil. i. pp. 15 ff. (1868) ; xxix.
(1902), and see above, p. xlv.

Eussner, Ad., Fleckh. Jahrb. 107, pp. 522-3 (1873); pp. 766 ff.
(1875) ; Rhein. Mus. 25, pp. 541-7 (1870); Liter. Centralbl
43 (1871).

Freytag, F. G., Ea antigua historia literaria de Δ. Corn. Fron-
tone et Frontonianorum secta rhetorica, Nuremberg, 1782.

xlvi

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Friedlindler, L., Darstellungen aus d. Sittengeschichte Roms.
11. 127 fff. Leipzig, 1901.

Fréhner, W., Philol. Suppl. 5, pp. 49-52 (1889).

Greef, A., Philol. 1876, pp. 682 if.

Haines, C. R., Classical Quarterly, Apr. 1914, ‘*On the
Chronology of the Fronto Correspondence >, and ibid.
Jan. 1915, “Οἱ the text of Fronto.”

Hauler, Edm.

Verh, ἃ. 41 Vers. ἃ. deut. Phil. in Kéln (1895), pp. 78-88,
338. ‘‘ Vortrag iiber das Ergebnis der neuen Unter.
suchungen der Mailander Frontoreste” : Leipzig, 1896 ;
ibid. 59 inGraz: Vienna, 1909 ( Ii’ iener Eranos). “Zum
Sendschreiben des Catulus und iiber die Consilia des
Asinius Pollio.”

Serta Harteliana, pp. 263-269 : Vienna, 1896.

Archiv. 7. lateinische Lexicographie, x. 145: Leipzig,
1898 ; xv. 106-112 (1908). ‘‘ Lepturgus and Chirur-
gus.’

Rhein. ae 54, Pt. 2, pp. 161-170 (1899).

Festschrift Theod. Gompers, pp. 392, 393: Vienna, 1902.

Zeitse. f. d. oesterr. Gymn. 54, pp. 32-37 (1903); 61,
pp. 673-684: Vienna, 1910.

Mélanges Boissier, pp. 243 ff.: Paris, 1903.

Mitteil. ἃ. kinig. deutsch. archaeol. Instit. Rom. Abteil 19,
pp. 317-321 : ,,Rome, 1904. ‘‘ Fronto iiber Protogenes
und Nealkes

Ver. d. 48. Versam. d. Philol. in Hamburg, pp. 51-53
(1905) : Leipzig, 1906. ‘‘ Bericht iiber dem Stand der
Fronto Aufgabe.”

Miscellanea Ceriant, pp. 501-510: Milan, 1909.

Wien. Studien, at pp. 140, 318 (1900).

3} 9 23, p- 238 (1901).

" » 24, Pt. 1, pp. 232, 519-22 +1902).
ἐξ Εἰ 25, Pt. 1, pp. 162-4, 331 (1903).
9 9 26, p. 244 (1904). -

3 . 27, Pt. 1, p. 146 (1908).

ε ," 27, Pt. 2, Ρ. 304 (1906).

ῃ .» 28, Pt. 1, pp. 169, 170 (1906).

" ;, 29), Pt. 1, pp. 172, 328 (1907).

is », 29, Pt. 2, p. 328 (1907).

»» 81, Pt. 1, pp. 179, 180, 259, 268-270 (1909).
4 ia 22, Pt. 1, p. 160 (1910).

" > 80, Pt. 2, pp. 325, 326 (1910).

xlvii

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hauler, Edm. (cont.)

Wien. Studien, 33, Pt. 1, pp. 173-176 (1911).
τ τ 33, Pt. 2, p. 338 (1911).
~ ΝΕ 34, Pt. 1, pp. 253-259 (1912).
ἘΞ ἯΙ 35, pp. 398, 399 (1913).
- Ἢ 36, pp. 342, 343 (1914).
er ἧς 37, pp. 187, 188 (1915).
3 ‘s 38, Pt. 1, pp. 166-175 (1916).
ee »" 38, Pt. 2, pp. 379-381 (1916).
3 ἐν 39, pp. 132-134, 173-176 (1917).
7» . 39, Pt. 2, pp. 193 ff. (1917).
τῷ a6 40, Pt. 1, p. 195 (1918).

Festschrift Bormanni, pp. 287-290 (1902).

Mélanges Emile Chatelain, pp. 622-627 (1910).

Bibl. phil.-klass., Ὁ. 56 (1910): see Woch. f. klass. Phil.
36, p. 979 (1910). ‘‘ Neues aus dem Fronto-palim-

sest.”

Haupt” M., Index Lectionum Berolin. pp. 3 ff.: Berlin, 1867 ;
Hermes, v. pp. 190, 191 (1871); viii. p. 178 (1874) ;
Opusc. ii. pp. 346-357 ; iii. pp. 316, 563, 616, 619.

Havet, L., Rev. de Phil. 10, p. 189 (1886). “1,9 Reviseur du
MS. de Fronton.”

Heinrich, C. F., Auctuariwm emendationum in Frontonis
reliquias ex edit. Berolin. 1817, Kiel.

Hertz, M., Renaissance und Rococo in der ron. Litteratur:
Berlin, 1865 ; Fleckh. Jahrbuch, 93, pp. 579, 580 (1866) ;
Rhein. Mus. 1874, pp. 29, 367; Vindiciae Gellii Alterac,
p. 23 adn. 52, 53; Program. Vratislav. 1873, De ludo
talarto; Philol. 1876, p. 757.

Herwerden, N. van, Munem. N.S. 1, pp. 223, 292-294 (1873) ;
ibid. 31, p. 210.

Hirschfield, O., apud Studemund, Epist. ad Kilussm. xxxii.

Jacobs, Fr., Wolfit Analecta, i. pp. 108ff.; ii. pp. 246 ff.: Berlin,
1817-1818; Zimmermann, Diar. Antig., Ὁ. 1019 (1838).

Jahn, O., Rhein. Mus. 3, p. 156 ; Berl. Sdchs. Gesellsch. 1851,
pp. 360 ff.

Jordan, H., Herm. 6, pp. 68-81 (1872). ‘‘Catulus de Con-
sulatu ; Ad Catonem, p. xcviii.”

Kaemmel, H., Ann. Paedag. 1870, pp. 13 ff.

Kessler, K. C. G., De locis qui in Frontonis Epistulis litura:
corrupti deprehenduntur coniectura sarciendis, Progr.
Gymn. Rosslebiensis, 1828.

xl viii

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF
M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

VOL. I. B

Coj. Vat
180, col. 2
ad med,

Vat. 179

M. CORNELIIT FRONTONIS
ET M. AUREL, 1, VERI, ALIORUMQUE EPISTULAE

Ad M. Caesarem ἐσὲ invicem, iv. 3 (Naber, p. 61).

| Domino meo Fronto.

1. Omnium artium, ut ego arbitror, imperitum
et indoctum omnino esse praestat quam semiperitum
ac semidoctum. Nam qui sibi conscius est artis ex-
pertem esse minus adtemptat, eoque minus prae-
cipitat ; diffidentia profecto audaciam prohibet. At
ubi quis leviter quid cognitum pro comperto | ostent-
at, falsa fiducia multifariam labitur. Philosophiae
quoque disciplinas aiunt satius esse numquam adtig-
isse quam leviter et primoribus, ut dicitur, labiis
delibasse, eosque provenire malitiosissimos, qui in
vestibulo artis obversati prius inde averterint quam
penetraverint. Tamen est in aliis artibus ubi inter-
dum delitescas et peritus paulisper habeare quod
nescias, In verbis vero eligendis conlocandisque ilico
dilucet, nec verba dare diu quis! potest, quin se ipse

1 Klussmann for Cod. diudius.

1 (Certainly an early letter, possibly the earliest preserved
(sce § 4). In a subsequent letter to Marcus, as Emperor, it
seems to be referred to as prima illa longiuscuia cpistula (see
2

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF
M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Fronto to Marcus AuRELIUsS AS CAESAR
e

Fronto to my Lord.! ΕἸΣ ΘΝ ΛΟ:

1. In all arts, I take it, total inexperience and
ignorance are preferable to a semi-experience and a
half-knowledge. For he who is conscious that he
knows nothing of an art aims at less, and con-
sequently comes less to grief: in fact, diffidence ex-
cludes presumption. But when anyone parades a
superficial knowledge as mastery of a subject, through
false confidence he makes manifold slips. They say,
too, that it is better to have kept wholly clear of the
teachings of philosophy than to have tasted them
superficially and, as the saying goes, with the tips of
the lips; and that those turn out the most knavish
who, going about the precincts of an art, turn aside
or ever they have entered its portals. Yet in other
arts it is possible, sometimes, to escape exposure,
and for a man to be deemed, for a period, proficient
in that wherein he is an ignoramus. But in the
choice and arrangement of words he is detected
instantly, nor can anyone make a pretence? with
Ad Ant. i. 2). Marcus became consul in 140, and this fact
could scarcely have been ignored in § 6.

2 The Latin phrase verba dare alicui means ‘‘ to use mere

words to a person,” i.e. to deceive him. It is difficult to
reproduce the-subtle play on the words.

3
B 2

Vat. 146

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

indicet verborum ignarum esse, eaque male probare
et temere existimare, et inscie contrectare, neque
modum neque pondus verbi internosse.

2. Quam ob rem rari admodum veterum scriptorum
in eum laborem studiumque et periculum verba in-
dustriosius quaerendi sese commisere. Oratorum
post homines natos unus omnium M. Porcius eiusque
frequens sectator C. Sallustius; poetarum maxime
Plautus, multo maxime Q. Ennius, eumque studiose
aemulatus L. Coelius, nec non Naevius, Lucretius,
Accius etiam, Caecilius, Laberius quoque. Nam
praeter hos partim scriptorum animadvertas particul-
atim elegantes, Novium et Pom|ponium et id genus
in verbis rusticanis et iocularibus ac ridiculariis, Attam
in muliebribus, Sisennam in lascivis,! Lucilium in
cuiusque artis ac negotii propriis.

3. Hic tu fortasse iamdudum requiras quo in

numero locem M. Tullium, qui caput atque fons

Romanae eloquentiae cluet. Eum ego arbitror us-
quequaque verbis pulcherrimis elocutum et ante
omnes alios oratores ad ea, quae ostentare vellet,
ornanda magnificum fuisse. Verum is mihi -videtur
a quaerendis scrupulosius verbis pfocul afuisse vel
magnitudine animi vel fuga laboris vel fiducia, non
quaerenti etiam sibi, quae vix aliis quaerentibus sub-
venirent, praesto adfutura. Itaque comperisse videor,
ut qui eius scripta omnia studiosissime lectitarim,
cetera eum genera verborum copiosissime uber-

1 Mai for Cod. lasciviis.

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

words for long without himself betraying that he is
ignorant of them, that his judgment of them is in-
correct, his estimate of them haphazard, his handling
of them unskilful, and that he can distinguish neither
their propriety nor their force.

2. Wherefore few indeed of our old writers have
surrendered themselves to that toil, pursuit, and
hazard of seeking out words with especial diligence.
M. Porcius alone of the orators of all time, and his
constant imitator C. Sallustius, are among these; of
poets Plautus especially, and most especially Q.
Ennius and his zealous rival L. Coelius, not to omit
Naevius and Lucretius, Accius, too, and Caecilius,
also Laberius. Besides these, certain other writers
are noticeable for choiceness in special spheres, as
Novius, Pomponius, and their like, in rustic and
jocular and comic words, Atta in women’s talk,
Sisenna in erotics, Lucilius in the technical language
of each art and business. |

3. At this point, perhaps, you will have long been
asking in what category I should place M. Tullius,
who is hight the head and source of Roman elo-
quence. I consider him on all occasions to have used
the most beautiful words, and to have been magni-
ficent above all other orators in embellishing the
subject which he wished to set out. But he seems
to me to have been far from disposed to search
out words with especial care, whether from greatness
of mind, or to escape toil, or from the assurance that
what others can scarcely find with careful search
would be his at call without the need of searching.
And so, from a most attentive perusal of all his
writings, I think F have ascertained that he has with
the utmost copiousness and opulence handled all

5

Vat. 145

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

rimeque tractasse, verba propria translata simplicia
composita et, quae in eius scriptis ubique dilucent,
verba honesta, saepenumero etiam amoena: quom
tamen in omnibus eius orationibus paucissima admod-
um reperias insperata atque inopinata verba, quae _
non nisi cum studio atque cura atque vigilia atque
multa veterum carminum memoria indagantur. | In-
speratum autem atque inopinatum verbum! appello,
quod praeter spem atque opinionem audientium aut
legentium promitur, ita ut, si subtrahas atque eum
qui legat quaerere ipsum iubeas, nullum aut non ita
significando adcommodatum verbum aliud reperiat.
Quam ob rem te magno opere conlaudo, quod ei rei
curam industriamque adhibes, ut verbum ex alto
eruas et ad significandum adcommodes. Verum, ut
initio dixi, magnum in ea re periculum est, ne minus
apte aut parum dilucide aut non satis decore, ut a
semidocto, conlocetur, namque multo satius est volg-
aribus et usitatis quam remotis et requisitis uti, si
parum significet.?

4. Haud sciam an utile sit demonstrare quanta
difficultas, quam scrupulosa et anxia cura in verbis
probandis adhibenda sit, ne ea res animos adulescen-
tium retardet aut spem adipiscendi debilitet. Una
plerumque littera translata aut exempta aut immut-
ata vim verbi ac venustatem commutat et elegantiam
vel scientiam loquentis declarat. Equidem te anim-
adverti, quom mihi scripta tua relegeres, atque ego

1 Studemund for Cod. vero. 2 Schopen reads signij/icent.
6

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

other kinds of words—words literal and figurative,
simple and compound and, what are conspicuous
everywhere in his writings, noble words, and often-
times also exquisite ones: and yet in all his speeches
you will find very few words indeed that are un-
expected and unlooked for, such as are not to be
hunted out save with study and care and watchtul-
ness and the treasuring up of old poems in the
memory. By an unexpected and unlooked-for word
I mean one which is brought out when the hearer
or reader is not expecting it or thinking of it, yet so
that if you withdrew it and asked the reader himself
to think of a substitute, he would be able to find
either no other at all or one not so fitted to express
the intended meaning. Wherefore I commend you
greatly for the care and diligence you shew in digging
deep for your word and fitting it to your meaning.
But, as I said at first, there lies a great danger in the
enterprize lest the word be applied unsuitably or
with a want of clearness or a lack of refinement, as
by a man of half-knowledge, for it is much better
to use common and everyday words than unusual
and far-fetched ones, if there is little difference in
real meaning.

4, I hardly know whether it is advisable to shew
how great is the difficulty, what scrupulous and
anxious care must be taken, in weighing words, for
fear the knowledge should check the ardour of the
young and weaken their hopes of success. The
transposition or subtraction or alteration of a single
letter in many cases changes the force and beauty of
a word and testifies to the taste or knowledge of
the speaker. I may say I have noticed, when you
were reading over to me what you had written

7

Vat. 152

Vat. 151

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

de verbo syllabam per|mutarem, te id neglegere nec
multum referre arbitrari. Nolim igitur te ignorare
syllabae unius discrimen quantum referat. Os col-
luere dicam, pavimentum autem in balneis pelluere,
non colluere ; lacrimis vero genas lavere dicam, non
pelluere neque colluere, vestimenta autem Jlavare,
non lavere; sudorem porro et pulverem abluere, non
lavare ; sed maculam elegantius eluere quam abluere.
Si quid vero magis haeserit nec sine aliquo detri-
mento exigi possit, Plautino verbo elavere dicam.
Tum praeterea mulsum diluere, fauces proluere, un-
gulam iumento subluere.

5. Tot exemplis unum atque idem verbum syllabae
atque litterae commutatione in varium modum ac
sensum! usurpatur: tam hercule quam faciem medica-
mento Utam, caeno corpus conlitum, calicem melle
delitum, mucronem veneno <initum>, radium visco
oblitum rectius dixerim.

6. Haud sciam an quis roget Namquis me prohibet
vestzmenta lavere pottus quam lavare, sudorem lavare
potius quam abluere dicere? Tibi vero nemo in ea re
intercedere aut modificari iure ullo poterit qui sis
liber | liberis prognatus et equitum censum praeter-
vehare,? et in senatu sententiam rogere; nos vero
qui doctorum auribus servituti serviendae nosmet

1C. F. W. Miiller for Cod. adcenswm (== ἀξιωθέν, Ellis).

2 Fronto may have in mind here Hor. Ars Poet. 382-4.
1 2,6. ‘*to rinse the mouth.” " 7
2 2,6. ‘*to swab the flagged floor in the baths.”
* “« To bathe the cheeks in tears.”

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

and I altered a syllable in a word, that you paid no
attention to it and thought it of no great conse-
quence. I should be loth, therefore, for you not to
know the immense difference made by one syllable.
I should say Os colluere,! but in balnets pavimentnm
pelluere,? not colluere; I should, however, say lacrimis
genas lavere,> not pelluere or colluere; but vestementa
lavare,* not lavere; again, sudorem et pulverem abluere,®
not davare; but it is more elegant to say maculam
eluere than abluere; if, however, the stain had soaked
in and could not be taken out without some damage,
T should use the Plautine word elavere.6 Then there
are besides mulsum diluere,’ fauces proluere,> ungulam
iumento subluere.°

5. So many are the examples of one and the same
word, with the change of a syllable or letter, being
used in various ways and meanings; just as, by Her-
cules, I should speak with a nicer accuracy of a face
painted with rouge, a body splashed with mud, a
cup smeared with honey, a sword-point dipped in
poison, a stake daubed with bird-lime.

6. Someone maybe will ask, Who, pray, is to pre-
vent me saying vesttmenta lavere rather than lavare,
sudorem lavare rather than abluere? As for you, in-
deed, no one will have any right to interfere with or
prescribe for you in that matter, as you are a free
man born of free parents, and have more than a
knight’s income, and are asked your opinion in the
Senate ; we, however, who have dedicated ourselves
in dutiful service to the ears of the cultured must

ΓΟ

‘*'To wash clothes.”

‘‘To wash off sweat and dust.” 6 «¢ To scour out.”
“Τὸ water mead.” 8 «‘To gargle the throat.”

** To scrub out a horse’s frog.”

οἱ

Vat. 150

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

dedimus, necesse est tenuia quoque ista et minuta
summa cum cura persequamur. Verba prorsus alii
vecte et malleo ut silices moliuntur, alii autem caelo
et marculo ut gemmulas exculpunt; te aequius erit
ad quaerenda sollertius verba quod correctus sis
meminisse, quam quod deprehensus detrectare aut
retardari. . Nam si quaerendo desistes, numquam
reperies ; si perges quaerere, reperies.

7. Denique visus etiam es mihi insuper habuisse,
quom ordinem verbi tuum! immutassem, uti ante
trictpttem diceres quam Geryonam nominares. Id quo-
que ne ignores; pleraque in oratione ordine immut-
ato vel rata νεῦρα fiunt vel supervacanea. Navem
triremem rite dixerim; triremem navem supervacaneo
addiderim. Neque enim periculum est ne quis lecti-
culam aut redam aut citharam triremem dici arbitre-
tur. Tum praeterea quom commemorares, cur Parthi
manuleis laxioribus uterentur, ita, opinor, scripsisti,
intervallis vestis aestum ut suspendi dijceres. Ain
tandem quo pacto aestus suspenditur? Neque id
repraehendo, te verbi translatione audacius progres-
sum, quippe qui Ennii sententia oratorem audacem
esse debere censeam. Sit sane audax orator, ut Ennius
postulat: sed a significando quod volt eloqui nus-
quam digrediatur. Igitur voluntatem quidem tuam
magno opere probavi laudavique, quom verbum

1 Cod. m? for ἐκ,

1 As it happens, it might mean one or two other things in
English.

10

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

needs with the utmost care study these nice distinc-
- tions and minutiae. Some absolutely work at their
words with crowbar and maul as if they were flints ;
others, however, grave them with burin and mallet
as though they were little gems. For you it will be
better, for greater deftness in searching out words,
to take it to heart when corrected, than to demur or
flag when detected in a fault. For if you give up
searching you will never find; if you go on searching
you will find. |

7. Finally, you seemed even to have thought it a
work of supererogation when I changed your order
of a word, so that the epithet three-headed should
come before the name Geryon. Bear this, too, in
mind: it frequently happens that words in a speech,
by a change in their order, become essential or
superfluous. I should be right in speaking of a ship
with three decks, but ship. would be a superfluous
addition to three-decker. For there is no danger! of
anyone thinking that by three-decker was meant a
litter, a landau, or a lute. Then, again, when you
were pointing out why the Parthians wore loose wide
sleeves, you wrote, I think, to this effect, that the
heat was suspended? by the openings in the robe. Can
you tell me, pray, how the heat is suspended? Not
that I find fault with you for pushing out somewhat
boldly? in the metaphorical use of a word, for I
agree with Ennius his opinion that “an orator should
be bold.” By all means let him be bold, as Ennius
lays down, but let him in no case deviate from the
meaning which he would express. So I greatly
approved and applauded your intention when you

2 Used in the sense of supprimo, ‘* checked.”
8 cp. below, Ad Cazs, ii. 5, Ad Ant, i. 2, ad med.

LI

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

quaerere adgressus es; indiligentiam autem quaesiti
verbi, quod esset absurdum, repraehendi. Nam-
que manuleorum intervallis, quae interdum laxata
videmus atque fluitantia, suspend: aestus non potest:
potest aestus per vestis intervalla depell:, potest degz,
potest demeare, potest circumduct, potest tnterverts,
potest evenitlari—omnia denique potius potest quam
posse suspendi, quod verbum superne quid! sustineri,
non per laxamenta deduci significat.

8. Post ista monui quibus studiis, quoniam ita
velles, te historiae scribundae praeparares. Qua de
re quom longior sit oratio, ne modum epistulae
egrediar, finem facio. Si tu de ea quoque re scribi
ad te voles, etiam atque etiam admonebis.

Ad M. Caes. et invicem, iii. 11 (Naber, p. 48).

Vat, 114, end | Domino meo.

Gratia ad me heri nocte venit. Sed pro Gratia
mihi fuit quod tu gnomas egregie convertisti, hanc
quidem quam hodie accepi prope perfecte, ut poni in
libro Sallustii possit, nec discrepet aut quicquam
decedat. Ego beatus hilaris sanus iuvenis denique

fio, quom tu ita proficis. Est grave quod postulabo ;
1 Cod. quit (Mai): Brakm. reads the word as voit.

‘Marcus (see Thoughts, iii. 14) possibly wrote some
sort of History of the Greeks and Romans, which Nicephorus

12

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

set about seeking for a word; what I found fault
with was the want of care shewn in selecting a word
which made nonsense. For by openings in sleeves,
which we occasionally see to be loose and flowing,
heat cannot be suspended: heat can be dispelled
through the openings of a robe, it can be thrown off,
it can radiate away, it can be given a passage, it can
be diverted, it can be ventilated out—it can be
almost anything, in fact, rather than be suspended,
a word which means that a thing is held up from
above, not drawn away through wide passages.

8. After that I advised you as to the preparatory
studies necessary for the writing of history,! since
that was your desire. As that subject would require
a somewhat lengthy discussion, I make an end, that
I overstep not the bounds of a letter. If you wish
to be written to on that subject too, you must
remind me again and again.

Fronto To Marcus AuRELIuS As CAESAR

To my Lord. ἢ 139 a.p.
Gratia? came home last night. But to me it
has been as good as having Gratia, that you have
turned your “maxims” so brilliantly ; the one which
I received to-day almost faultlessly, so that it could
be put in a book of Sallust’s without jarring or shew-
ing any inferiority. I am happy, merry, hale, in a
word become young again, when you make such pro-
gress. It is no light thing that I shall require; but
Callistus (iii. 31) may perhaps refer to. But Marcus in his
Thoughts, i. 17 ad fin., disclaims the study of histories.
3 Gratia was Fronto’s wife. He had also a daughter

Gratia, who was married about 160, and so probably born
between 140 and 145. 13

Vat. 118

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

sed quod ipse mihimet profuisse memini non potest
quin a te quoque postulem. Bis et ter eandem con-
vertito, ita ut fecisti in illa gnome brevicula. Igitur
longiores quoque | bis ac ter converte naviter, audac-
ter. Quodcumque ausus fueris cum isto ingenio,
perficies: at enim cum labore! laboriosum quidem
negotium concupisti, sed pulchrum et rectum et
paucis impetratum. De... .? perfecte absolveris.
Plurimum tibi in oratione facienda <proderit hic
labor>: tum certe quidem cotidie <aliquas sentent-
ias excerpere> ex Iugurtha aut ex Catilina. Deis
propitiis, quom Romam reverteris, exigam a te denuo
versus diurnos. Dominam matrem tuam saluta.

Ad M. Caes. et invicem, iii. 12 (Naber, p. 49).

Maaistro meo.

Duas per id<em> tempus epistulas tuas excepi.
Earum altera me increpabas et temere sententiam
scripsisse ὃ arguebas, altera vero tueri studium meum
laude nitebaris.¢ Adiuro tamen tibi meam, meae
matris, tuam salutem mihi plus gaudii in animo co-
ortum esse illis tuis prioribus litteris; meque saepius
exclamasse inter legendum O me felicem! Itane,
dicet aliquis, feticem te, si est qui te doceat quomodo

1 Madvig would put a colon here and a comma after
perficies.

2 A few words are lost, of which Mai gives ἃ dozen letters,
one word probably being <voc>abula.

5 Cod. m? exscripsisse.

4 Brakman reads the MS. as tuebare studium meum laude
et levabas.

14

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

what I remember to have been of service to myself,
I cannot but require of you also. You must turn
the same maxim twice or thrice, just as you have
done with that little one. And so turn longer
ones two or three times diligently, boldly. What-
ever you venture on, such are your abilities, you will
accomplish: but, indeed, with toil have you coveted
a task that is truly toilsome, but fair and honourable
and attained by few. . . . you have got (it) per-
fectly out. This exercise will be the greatest help
to you in speech making; undoubtedly, too, the
excerpting of some sentences from the Jugurtha or
the Catshne. If the Gods are kind, on your return
from Rome I will exact again from you your daily
quota of verses. Greet my Lady, your mother.!

Marcus AurRELIus To FrRONTO

T ? 139 a.p.
o my master.
I have received two letters? from you at once.

In one of these you scolded me and pointed out that
I had written a sentence carelessly; in the other,
however, you strove to encourage my efforts with
praise. Yet I protest to you by my health, by my
mother’s and yours, that it was the former letter
which gave me the greater pleasure, and that, as I
read it, I cried out again and again O happy that I
am! Are you then so happy, someone will say, for
having a teacher to shew you how to write a maxim more

1 Domitia Lucilla, the widow of Annius Verus. The
adopted mother of Marcus, the elder Faustina, wife of Pius,
died between July 140 and July 141.

2 The second of these must be the preceding letter. The
other may possibly be the first letter given above.

15

Vat. 112

Vat. 111

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

γνώμην sollertsus diluctdius brevius politius scribas? Non
hoe est quod me felicem nuncupo, Quid est igitur?
Quod verum dicere ex te disco. Ea res—verum|dic-
ere—prorsum deis hominibusque ardua: nullum
denique tam veriloquum oraculum est, quin aliquid
ancipitis in se vel obliqui vel impediti habeat, quo
imprudentior inretiatur, et! ad voluntatem suam
dictum opinatus captionem post tempus ac negotium
sentiat. Sed ista res lucrosa? est et plane mos talia
tantum pio errore et vanitate ex<cus>are.t At tuae
seu accusationes seu lora confestim ipsam viam os-
tendunt sine fraude et inventis verbis. Itaque deber-
em etiam gratias agere tibi si verum me dicere satius
simul et audire verum me doces. Duplex igitur
pretium solvatur, pendere quod ne valeam <ela-
bora>bis. Si resolvi vis? nil, quomodo tibi par pari
expendam nisi obsequio? Impius tamen mihi malui

te nimia motum cura . . . . die<s isti quom essent>
vacui, licuit me... . bene st<udere et multas
sententias> excerpere . . . . Vale mi bone et op-

time <magister. Te>, optime orator, sic m<ihi in
amicitiam> venisse gaudeo. | Domina mea te salutat.

1 From here to motum cura is as read by Hauler (see
Mélanges Boissier, pp. 245-248). He reserves further addi-
tions to this letter for his forthcoming edition.

od. τη for via ludiosa: ταῦ also praeterea for plane, and
m2 has vel for {ἰδὲ after agere below.

3m! si remiseris.

16

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

deftly, more clearly, more tersely, more elegantly? No,
that is not my reason for calling myself happy.
What, then, is it? It is that I learn from you to
speak the truth.! That matter—of speaking the
truth—is precisely what is so hard for Gods and
men: in fact, there is no oracle so truth-telling as
not to contain within itself something ambiguous or
crooked or intricate, whereby the unwary may be
caught and, interpreting the answer in the light of
their own wishes, realize ‘its fallaciousness only when
the time is past and the business done. But- the
thing is profitable, and clearly it is the custom to
excuse such things merely as pious fraud and delu-
sion. On the other hand, your fault-findings or your
guiding reins, whichever they be, shew me the way
at once without guile and feigned words. And so I
ought to be grateful to you for this, that you teach
me before all to speak the truth at the same time
and to hear the truth. A double return, then,
would be due, and this you will strive to put it
beyond my power to pay. If you will have no return
made, how can I requite you like with like, if not by
obedience? Disloyal, however, to myself, I preferred
that you, moved by excess of care... . since I
had those days free, I had the chance... . of
doing some good work and making many extracts
. . . . Farewell, my good master, my best of
masters. I rejoice, best of orators, that you have so
become my friend. My Lady? greets you.

1 His other pupil, Lucius Verus, also pays Fronto this
compliment (-fd Ver. ii. 2). But Marcus, in his tribute to
Fronto in his Thoughts (i. 11), omits all mention of it.

This title can stand for the mother of Marcus as it does
in the previous letter, or for Faustina the elder, his adopted

mother, or, after his marriage in 145, for his wife Faustina
the younger. 1.

VOL, I. : Cc

136: Vat.
121, towards
end of col. 2

Vat. 120

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF
Epist. Gruecae, 6 (Naber, p. 252). |

| Have mi magister optime.!

Si quid somni redit post vigilias,de quibus ques-
tus es, oro te, scribe mihi; et illud oro te primum,
valetudini operam da. Tum securim Tenedtam, quam?
minaris, abde aliquo ac reconde, nec | tu consilium
causarum agendarum dimiseris, aut tum simul omnia
ora taceant.

Graece nescio quid ais te compegisse, quod* ut
aeque pauca a te scripta placeat tibi. Tune es qui
me nuper concastigaras,* quorsum Graece scriberem?
Mihi vero nunc ὅ potissimum Graece scribendum est.
Quam ob rem rogas? Volo periculum facere, an id
quod non didici facilius obsecundet mihi, quoniam
quidem illud, quod didici, deserit. Sed si me ama-
res, misisses mi istud novicium quod placere ais.
Ego vero te vel invitum istic lego; et quidem hac re
una vivo et resto.’

Materiam cruentam misisti mihi. Necdum 8 legi
Coelianum excerptum quod misisti, nec legam prius
quam sensus ipse venatus fuero. Sed me Caesaris
oratio uncis unguibus adtinet. Nunc denique sentio
quantum operis sit ternos vel quinos versus tornare,?
et aliquid diu scribere. Vale, spiritus meus. Ego

1 This letter is copied twice in the Codex, after iii. 8, Vat.
and after Epist. Graecae 6, Ambr., possibly, as there are so

‘many variations, from different exemplars.

2 qua Vat. 8 Vat. omits guod and reads placcant.

* Ambr. concastigabas. ὃ Ambr. quid. 5 Ambr. amas.
7 Ambr. has (says Naber) una - egresu - (ἢ adquiesco).

8 Ambr. omits dum. 9 Vat. efornare.

18

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Marcus AuRELIUs To FRONTO

Hai. my best of masters. as

If any sleep comes back to you after the wakeful
nights of which you complain, I beseech you write
to me and, above all, 1 beseech you take care of your
health. Then hide somewhere and bury that “axe
of Tenedos,’1 which you hold over us, and do not,
whatever you do, give up your intention of pleading
cases, or along with yours let all lips be dumb.

You say that you have composed something in
Greek? which pleases you more than almost any-
thing you have written. Are you not he who gave
me such a castigation for writing in Greek? How-
ever, I must now, more than ever, write in Greek.
Do you ask why? I wish to make trial whether
what I have not learnt may not more readily come
to my aid, since what I have learnt leaves me in the
lurch.’ But, an you really loved me, you would have
sent me that new piece you are so pleased with.
However, I read you here in spite of yourself and,
indeed, that alone is my life and stay.

It is a sanguinary theme you have sent me. 1
have not yet read the extract from Coelius which
you sent, nor shall I read it until 1, on my part, have
hunted up my wits. But my Caesar-speech® grips
me with its hooked talons. Now, if never before, I
find what a task it is to round and shape‘ three
or five lines and to take time over writing. Fare-
well, breath of my life. Should I not burn with

1 A proverb for unflinching justice or determination.

2 The Discowrse on Love which follows.

8 The speech of thanks to Pius in the Senate for being

given the title of Caesar in the year 139 is probably meant.
4 cp. Hor. A1s Poet, 441.

[9
ο 2

Ambr. 185

Vat. 119

Ambr. 188

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

non ardeam tuo amore qui mihi hoc! scripseris!
Quid faciam? Non possum insistere. At mihi
anno | priore datum fuit hoc eodem loco eodemque
tempore matris desiderio peruri. Id desiderium hoc
anno tu mihi accendis. | Salutat te Domina mea.

Epist. Graecae, 8 (Naber, p. 255).
«:Ἐρωτικὸς Adyos>

1. Ὦ φίλε παῖ, τρίτον δή σοι τοῦτο περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν
ἐπιστέλλω, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διὰ Λυσίον τοῦ Κεφάλου,
δεύτερον δὲ διὰ Πλάτωνος τοῦ σοφοῦ, τὸ δὲ δὴ τρίτον διὰ
τοῦδε τοῦ ξένου ἀνδρός, τὴν μὲν φωνὴν ὀλίγου δεῖν
βαρβάρου, τὴν δὲ γνώμην, ὡς ἐγῷμαι, οὐ πάνυ ἀξυνέτου.

, Α “A 9 4 ζω , ’ >
γράφω δὲ viv οὐδέν τι τῶν πρότερον γεγραμμένων ἐφαπτ-
ὄὅμενος, μηδὲ ἀμελήσῃς τοῦ λόγου ὡςκαλιλλογοῦντος.
εἰ δέ σοι δόξει τῶν προτέρων διὰ Λυσίου καὶ Πλάτωνος
4 ’ ’ a x” ’ @
ἐπεσταλμένων πλείω τάδε εἶναι, ἔστω σοι τεκμήριον ὡς
εὔλογα ἀξιῶ, ὅτι οὐκ ἀπορῶ. λόγων. προσέχοις δ᾽ ἂν τὸν

΄“" 3 4 gy Q , 4
νοῦν, εἰ καινά τε ἅμα καὶ δίκαια λέγω.

wy ”“ a

2. Ἔοικας, ὦ παῖ, πρὸ τοῦ λόγου παντὸς βούλεσθαι

μαθεῖν, τί δήποτέ γε μὴ ἐρῶν ἐγὼ μετὰ τοσαύτης σπουδῆς
1 Ambr. hue.

1 Possibly Lorium, twelve miles from Rome, where Pius
had a villa.

2 If the preceding sentence can be taken to imply that his
mother Lucilla was away, this must refer to Faustina the
elder, wife of Pius.

20

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

love of you, who have written to me as you have!
What shall I do? I cannot cease. Last year it
befell me in this very place,! and at this very time,
to be consumed with a passionate longing for my
mother. This year you inflame that my longing.
My Lady? greets you. |

Fronto ΤῸ Marcus -AurELIus as CAESAR

. : ?
A-cLiscourse on Love? ° 139 a.p.

1. This isthe third letter, beloved Boy, that I am
sending you on the same theme, the first by the
hand of Lysias, the son of Kephalus, the second of
Plato, the philosopher,* and the third, indeed, by
the hand of this foreigner, in speech little short
of a barbarian, but as regards judgment, as I think,
not wholly wanting in sagacity. And I write now
without trenching at all upon those previous writings,
and so do not you disregard the discourse as saying
what has been already said. But if the present
treatise seem to you to be longer than those which
were previously sent through Lysias and Plato, let
this be a proof to you that I can claim in fair words
to be at no loss for words. But you must consider
now whether my words are no less true than new.

2. No doubt, O Boy, you will wish to know at the
very beginning of my discourse how it is that I, who
am not in love, long with such eagerness for the

3 This is the piece referred to in the previous letter.

4 He is alluding to the speeches of Lysias and Socrates in
Plato’s Phaedrus. Philostratus (Zp. 6) sums up the opinions
expressed in them thus: τὸ μὲν μὴ ἐρῶντι χαρίζεσθαι, Avolov
δόξα" τῷ δὲ ἐρῶντι, δοκεῖ Πλάτωνι,

21

Ambr. 70

Ambr. 69

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

? A“ φ εὖ “ἡ cel ὃ ’ ᾽
γλίχομαι τυχεῖν ὧνπερ οἱ ἐρῶντες. τοῦτο δή σοι φράσω
πρῶτον ὅπως τε ἔχει. οὐ μὰ Δία πέφυκεν δρᾶν ὀξύτερον

ε νι ε , 2 ‘ 3 “ A \ 32a 3 |
οὑτοσὶ ὃ πάνυ ἐραστὴς ἐμοῦ τοῦ μὴ ἐρῶντος, ἀλλ᾽ ἔγωγε

a ~~ , 3 ’ 39 2 4φ. σι ΕΓ
τοῦ σοῦ κάλλους αἰσθάνομαι οὐδένος ἧττον τῶν ἄλλων"
δυναίμην δ᾽ ἂν εἰπεῖν ὅτι τούτου καὶ πολὺ ἀκριβέστερον.
q δὲ 2 aA , Ν a“ > , 3
ὅπερ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν πυρεττόντων καὶ τῶν εὖ μάλα ἐν παλ-
αίστρᾳ γυμνασαμένων ὁρῶμεν, οὐκ ἐξ ὁμοίας αἰτίας
ταὐτὸν συμβαίνειν. διψῶσιν μὲν γάρ, ὃ μὲν ὑπὸ νόσου,
ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ γυμνασιῶν: τοιάνδε τινὰ κἀμοὶ καμεῖν 1 «νόσον

ἐρε τον, σΥμ a aie Dok, ἀν λαλτρας ὅπ, τὰν ἀν Neko πὰς So eee
«+ [νος λειτον τε ἅμα καὶ ὄλισθον.

3. Ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἔμοιγε ἐπ᾿ ὀλέθρῳ πρόσει, οὐδὲ ἐπὶ
βλάβῃ τινὶ ὁμιλήσεις, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ παντὶ ἀγαθῷ. καὶ
3 “ Q ‘ ’ ς Ἁ ε N ζω LY
ὠφελοῦνται yap καὶ διασώζονται of καλοὶ ὑπὸ τῶν μὴ
> 4 A“ g Ά Α e Q “A ς ’ ΕῚ
ἐρώντων μᾶλλον, ὥσπερ τὰ φυτὰ ὑπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων. οὐ
Q 2 A ¥ ‘ ¥ Ν A A 3 Ν
γὰρ ἐρῶσιν οὔτε πηγαὶ οὔτε ποταμοὶ τῶν φυτῶν, ἀλλὰ
παριόντες οὕτω δὴ καὶ παραρρέοντες ἀνθεῖν αὐτὰ καὶ
[4 Ἁ >
θάλλειν παρεσκεύασαν. χρήματα δὴ τὰ μὲν ὑπ᾽ ἐμοῦ
διδό δικαίως ἂν καλοίης δῶ ὰ δὲ ὑπ᾽ ἐκεί
ιἰδόμενα δικαίως ἂν καλοίης δῶρα, τὰ δὲ ὑπ ἐκείνου
ay / ua
λύτρα. μάντεων δὲ παῖδές φασιν καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς ἡδίους
’ A ’
εἶναι τῶν θυσιῶν τὰς χαριστηρίους ἢ τὰς μειλιχίους: ὧν
τὰς μὲν οἱ εὐτυχοῦντες ἐπὶ φυλακῇ τε καὶ κτήσει τῶν
“ 4 N σι
ἀγαθῶν, τὰς δὲ οἱ κακῶς πράττοντες ἐπὶ ἀποτροπῇ τῶν
. ‘ A
δεινῶν θύουσιν. τάδε μὲν περὶ τῶν συμφερόντων καὶ
τῶν σοΐ τε κἀκείνῳ ὠφελίμων εἰρήσθω.
4, Ki δὲ τοῦτο δίκαιός ἐστιν τυχεῖν τῆς παρὰ σοῦ

βοηθείας. . . . ἠρείσω σὺ τοῦτο. . . . αὐτῷ τὸν ἔρωτα
4 , \ 3 4 Ν “ 4 4
ETEKTYVW καὶ EUNXAVYTW as Θεττα« λὰς ἐπῳδάς;». ses
ἀναίτιος. . . . τινος διὰ Thy αὐτῷ Kardxo<poy ἐπιθυμ-
αν». . . . | πλὴν εἰ μή τι ὀφθεὶς ἠδίκηκας.3

1 The Codex i is said to have καμοι kat καμοι. The last three
words are added by Dobson.

2 At least two pages are lost.

3 This mutilated passage covers eleven lines (Mai) or four-
teen lines (du Rieu) of the Codex.

22

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

very same things as lovers. 1 will tell you, therefore,
first of all how this is. He who is ever so much a
lover is, by Zeus, gifted with no keener sight than 1
who am no lover, but 7 can discern your beauty as
well as anyone else, aye, far more accurately, I might
say, even than your lover. But, just as we see in
the case of fever patients, and those who have taken
right good exercise in the gymnasium, the same
result proceeds from different causes. They are both
thirsty, the one from his malady, the other from his
exercise. It has been my lot also to suffer some such
malady from love. .......

3. But me you shall not come near to your ruin,
nor associate with me to any detriment, but to your
every advantage. For it is rather by non-lovers that
beautiful youths are benefited and preserved, just as
plants are by waters. For neither fountains nor
rivers are in love with plants, but by going near
them and flowing past them they make them bloom
and thrive. Money given by me you would be right
in calling a gift, but given by a lover a quittance.
And the children of prophets say that to gods also
is the thank-offering among sacrifices more accept-
able than the sin-offering, for the one is offered by
the prosperous for the preservation and possession
of their goods, the other by the wretched for the
averting of ills. Let this suffice to be said on what
is expedient and beneficial both to you and to him.

4. But if it is right that he should receive aid
from you. . . . you set this ona firm basis... .
you framed this love for him and devised Thessalian
love-charms ............. owing to his in-
satiable desire... . unless you have manifestly
done wrong. |

23

Ambr. 84

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

5. Μὴ ἀγνοεῖ δὲ καὶ ἀδικηθεὶς αὐτὸς καὶ ὑβριζόμενος
3 , ” ὃ , ψ λν ἰδ ’, \
ov μετρίαν ἤδη ταύτην ὕβριν, τὸ ἅπαντας εἰδέναι τε Kat
“ g , ¢g @ > ,
φανερῶς οὕτως διαλέγεσθαι, ὅτι σον εἴη ὅδε ἐραστής"
Ρ x .' , a A “~ » A
φθάνεις δὲ καὶ πρίν τι τῶν τοιῶνδε πρᾶξαι τοὔνομα τῆς
, ε ’ a~ » 3 > e “a σι
πράξεως ὑπομένων. καλοῦσί γ᾽ οὖν σε οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν
πολιτῶν τὸν τοῦδε ἐρώμενον: ἐγὼ δέ σοι διαφυλάξω τοῦ-
\ Ἁ > » ν U4 2 A ε > ,
γνομα καθαρὸν καὶ ἀνύβριστον. καλὸς γάρ, οὐχὶ ὃ ἐρώ-
a, > »s " 2 , 3 δὲ δὶ ,’ ε
μένος, τό γε κατ᾽ ἐμὲ ὀνομασθήσει. εἰ δὲ δὴ τούτῳ ὡς
ὃ , Q 4, ν “A 9 θυ a Χ @ ΕΣ
ικαΐῳ τινὶ χρήσεται, ὅτι μᾶλλον ἐπιθυμεῖ, ἴστω ὅτι οὐκ
ἐπιθυμεῖ μᾶλλον ἀλλὰ ἰταμώτερον. τὰς δὲ μνίας καὶ τὰς
ἐμπίδας μάλιστα ἀποσοβοῦμεν καὶ ἀπωθούμεθα, ὅτι ἀναιδ-
“a >
έστατα καὶ irapwrara ἐπιπέτονται. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν Kat

[4 > #0 4 U4 4 Q 4
Onpia ἐπίσταται φεύγειν μάλιστα πάντων τοὺς κυνηγέτας,

καὶ τὰ πτηνὰ τοὺς θηρευτάς. καὶ πάντα δὴ τὰ ζῷα
τούτους μάλιστα ἐκτρέπεται τοὺς μάλιστα ἐνεδρεύοντας
καὶ διώκοντας.

6. Ei δέ τις οἴεται ἐνδοξότερον καὶ ἐντιμότερον εἶναι τὸ
κάλλος διὰ τοὺς ἐραστάς, τοῦ παντὸς διαμαρτάνει. κινὲ-
υνεύετε μὲν γὰρ οἱ καλοὶ περὶ τοῦ κάλλους τῆς ἐς τοὺς
ἀκούοντας πίστεως διὰ τοὺς ἐρῶντας <Stapapravew>,! de
ἡμᾶς δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους βεβαιοτέραν τὴν δόξαν κέκτησθε.
εἰ γοῦν τις τῶν μηδέπω σε ἑωρακότων πυνθάνοιτο, ὁποῖός
τις εἴης τὴν ὄψιν, ἐμοὶ μὲν ἂν πιστεύσαι ἐπαινοῦντι,
μαθὼν ὅτι οὐκ ép& τῷ δὲ ἀπιστήσαι, ὡς οὐκ ἀληθῶς ἀλλ᾽
ἐρωτικῶς ἐπαινοῦντι. ὅσοις μὲν οὖν λώβη τις σώματος
καὶ αἶσχος καὶ ἀμορφία πρόσεστιν, εὔξαιντο ἂν εἰκότως
ἐραστὰς αὐτοῖς yéverOar οὐ γὰρ ἂν ὑπ᾽’ ἄλλων θεραπεύ-

1 Heindorf.

1 As your relations with him imply.

34

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

5. And do not ignore the fact that you are your-
self wronged and subjected to no small outrage in
this, that all men know and speak openly thus of
you, that he is your lover; and so, by anticipation
and before being guilty of any such things,! you
abide the imputation of being guilty. Consequently
the generality of the citizens call you the man’s
darling; but I shall keep your name unsullied and
inviolate. For as far as I am concerned you shall be
called Beautiful,? not Daring. But if the other use
this name as his by right because his desire is greater,
let him know that his desire is not greater, but more
importunate. Yet with flies and gnats the especial
reason why we wave them away and brush them off
is because they fly at us most impudently and im-
portunately. It is this, indeed, that makes the wild
beast shun the hunter most of all, and the bird the
fowler. And, in fact, all animals avoid most those
that especially lie in wait for and pursue them.

6. But if anyone thinks that beauty is more glori-
fied and honoured by reason of its lovers, he is totally
mistaken. For you, the beautiful ones, through your
lovers, run the risk of your beauty winning no cred-
ence with hearers, but through us non-lovers you
establish your reputation for beauty on a sure basis.
At any rate, if anyone who had never seen you were
to enquire after your personal appearance, he would
put faith in my praises, knowing that I am not in
love ; but he would disbelieve the other as praising
not truthfully but lovingly. As many, then, as are
maimed or ugly or deformed would naturally pray
for lovers to be theirs, for they would find no others

2 καλός was the recognised tribute to the victorious

boy-athlete, and is constantly so used on vases. See also
Aristoph. Vespae, 199. 5
2

Ambr. 88

Ambr, 74

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

n” 3 ,Ὶ ᾿
owTo ἢ τῶν κατ᾽ ἐρωτικὴν λύτταν καὶ ἀναγκὴν προσιόν-
των σὺ δὲ ἐν τῷ τοιῷδε κάλλει οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ὅτι καρπώσει
4 ? a
πλέον ὑπ᾽ ἐρῶςν;»τος. οὐδὲν yap ἧττον δέονταί σου οἱ
μὴ ἐρῶντες. ἀχρεῖοι δὲ οἱ ἐρασταὶ τοῖς ὄντως καλοῖς
2 δὲ A a ’, 9 4 ε ,
οὐδὲν ἧττον ἢ τοῖς δικαίως ἐπαινουμένοις of κόλακες.
ἀρετὴ δὲ δὴ καὶ δόξα καὶ τιμὴ καὶ κέρδος «καὶ» κόσμος
θαλάττῃ μὲν ναῦται καὶ κυβερνῆται καὶ τριήραρχοι καὶ οἱ
4 ΄-
ἔμποροι καὶ of ἄλλως πλέοντες---οὐ μὰ Δία δελφῖνες, οἷς
ἀδύνατον τὸ ζῆν ὅτι μὴ ἐν θαλάττῃ;---, καλοῖς 1 δὲ ἡμεῖς οἱ
, 5) aA Α 9 , ϑ 3 ’ φ
τηνάλλως ἐπαινοῦντες καὶ ἀσπαζόμενοι, οὐκ ἐρασταΐί, οἷς
ἀβί “A Ν Ld a“ ὃ “ M4 δ᾽ A-
ἀβίωτον ἂν εἴη στερομένοις THY παιδικῶν. εὕροις δ᾽ ἂν
ἴον ’ὔ 3 4 > 4 Q ” A) 3 ,
σκοπῶν πλείστης ἀδοξίας αἰτίους μὲν ὄντας τοὺς ἐραστάς"
3 id XN , yg » Ν Ἁ 3 a
ἀδοξίαν δὲ φεύγειν ἅπαντας μὲν χρὴ τοὺς εὐφρονοῦντας,
’᾽ ld
μάλιστα δὲ τοὺς νέους, οἷς ἐπὶ μακρότερον ἐγκείσεται τὸ
ζω “ 4
κακὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ μακροῦ βίου προσπεσόν.
φ A , ν Ἁ 4
7. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἱερῶν καὶ θυσίας, οὕτω καὶ rod βίου,
’ 4 “
τοὺς ἀρχομένους εὐλογίας | μάλιστα πρ«έπει ἐπιμελεῖ-

σθαὶ» ὃ. . .. τοῖς τῶν. . .. εἰς ἐσχάτην ἀδοξίαν
ΕῚ 4 Ἀ ‘ ‘ 9 4
ἀς«γόντων» . . . . τούτους δὴ τοὺς χρηστοὺς ἐραστὰς
ἔξον, εἰ καὶ. . .. πέντε καὶ. ... χρῆμα ἐρασταῖς
ον νιν νιν νιν κι ee ee 8 καὶ γὰρ of ἐρῶντες

Ν a - ὃ , > 3 , “ 3 ?
διὰ τῶν τοιῶνδε φορημάτων οὐκ ἐκείνους τιμῶσιν, ἀλλ
9 Ἁ 3 U4 a XN 3 ’ . ε 3 ~
αὐτοὶ ἀλαϊζονεύονταί τε καὶ ἐπιδείκνυνται, καὶ ὡς εἰπεῖν
2 “ Ὶ ” 4 4 A e Q
ἐξορχοῦνται τὸν épwra. συγγράφει δέ, ὥς φασιν, ὃ σὸς

4 V4
ἐραστὴς ἐρωτικά τινα περὶ σοῦ συγγράμματα, ws τούτῳ
N , [2 la N ‘4 ‘ e ?
δὴ μάλιστά oe δελεάσων καὶ προσαξόμενος καὶ aipyowr:

! Naber for Cod. κάλλους.
2 Heindorf.
8 The greater part of a page is lost.

26

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

to court them but those who approach them under
the madness and duress of love; but you, such is
your beauty, cannot reap any greater advantage from
a lover. For non-lovers have need of you no less
than they. And indeed, to those who are really
beautiful, lovers are as useless as flatterers to those
who deserve praise. It is sailors and steersmen and
captains of warships and merchants, and those that
in other ways travel upon it, who give excellence
and glory and honour and gain and ornament to the
sea—not, heaven help us, dolphins that can live only
in the sea: but for beautiful boys it is we who
cherish and praise them disinterestedly, not lovers,
whose life, deprived of their darlings, would be un-
livable. And you will find, if you look into it, that
lovers are the cause of the utmost disgrace. But all
who are right-minded must shun disgrace, the young
most of all, since the evil attaching to them at the
beginning of a long life will rest upon them the
longer.

7. As, then, in the case of sacred rites and sacri-
fices, so also of life, it behoves above all those who
are entering upon them to have a care for their
OO, AME: ς og es, Sos) a Bi be a eS we ον ὦ ;

Tee ee ee ee ee ee For indeed by such
adornments lovers do them no honour, but are them-
selves guilty of affectation and display, and, as it
were, vulgarize the mysteries! of love. Your lover,
too, as they say, composes some amatory writings
about you in the hope of enticing you with this bait,
if with no other, and attracting you to himself and

1 ep. Lucian, De Saltat. 16: τοὺς ἐξαγορεύοντας τὰ μυστήρια
ἐξορχεῖσθαι λέγουσιν οἱ πολλοί.

27

Ambr 78

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

τὰ δὲ ἔστιν αἴσχη καὶ ὀνείδη καὶ βοή τις ἀκόλαστος ὑπ᾽
οἴστρου προπεμπομένη, ὁποῖαι θηρίων ἢ βοσκημάτων ὑπὸ
ἔρωτος βρυχωμένων ἢ χρεμετιζόντων ἢ μνκωμένων ἢ
ὠρνομένων. τούτοις ἔοικεν τὰ τῶν ἐρώντων dopata. εἰ
1

σε a a A 4 QA
γοῦν ἐπιτρέψαις σαυτὸν τῷ ἐραστῇ χρῆσθαι ὅπου καὶ

’ ¢ ¥
ὅποτε βούλοιτο, οὔτ᾽ ἂν καιρὸν περιμεΐνας ἐπιτήδειον οὔτε

σχολὴν οὔτε ἐρημίαν, ἀλλὰ θηρίου δίκην ὑπὸ λύττης εὐθύ

2 ἂν καὶ βαίνειν προθυμοῖτο μηδὲν αἰδούμενος.

σε ἴοιτο
8, Τοῦτο ἔτι προσθεὶς καταπαύσω τὸν λόγον, ὅτι πάντα
ἴω a , ψ 9 > ’ ’ A
θεῶν δῶρα Kai ἔργα, ὅσα és ἀνθρώπων χρείαν τε καὶ
τέρψιν καὶ ὠφέλειαν ἀφῖκται, τὰ μὲν αὐτῶν πάνυ καὶ
’ a A “ Ν 9 \ , 9 Q 4
πάντῃ θεῖα, γῆν φημὶ καὶ οὐρανὸν καὶ ἥλιον καὶ θάλατταν,
ὑμνεῖν μὲν καὶ θαυμάζειν πεφύκαμεν, ἐρᾶν δὲ οὔ: καλῶν δέ
4 4
τινων φαυλοτέρων καὶ ἀτιμιοτέρας μοίρας τετυχηκότων,
3 ‘ a
τούτων ἤδη φθόνος καὶ ἔρως καὶ ζῆλος καὶ ἵμερος ἅπτεται.
, >
καὶ οἱ μέν τινες κέρδους ἐρῶσιν, οἱ δὲ ὄψων ad, of | δὲ
2 A ΄ὰ aA ’
οἴνου. ἐν δὴ τῷ τοιῷδε ἀριθμῷ καὶ μερίδι καθίσταται τὸ
’ eA a } A € a , ν»ν Ν
«άλλος ὑπὸ τῶν ἐρώντων, ὁμοῖον κέρδει καὶ ὄψῳ καὶ μέθῃ
εν» δὲ ea aA 6 , , Ns 4 ὃ ͵͵,ε.»
ὑπὸ δὲ ἡμῶν τῶν θαυμαζόντων μέν, μὴ ἐρώντων δέ, ὁμοῖον
e [4 Ἁ 3 ”~ ‘ A Ἁ 4 ‘\ Ἁ Le
ἡλίῳ καὶ οὐρανῷ Kat γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ: τὰ γὰρ τοιαῦτα
παντὸς ἔρωτος κρείττω καὶ ὑπέρτερα.
9g ἭἝ id ’ 5 ’ a \ Ν᾿ 4Ἁ \
. Ev τί σοι φράσω πρὸς τούτοις, ὃ Kat σὺ πρὸς τοὺς
¥ , ω
ἄλλους λέγων παῖδας πιθανὸς εἶναι δόξεις. εἰκὸς δέ σε ἢ
N μὴ A “~ 9 4 . ᾽ν 3 A > φ
παρὰ μητρὸς ἢ τῶν ἀναθρεψαμένων᾽ μὴ ἄνήκοον εἶναι ὅτι
΄ἮΝ 9 “Ὁ 9 a? a ‘ a e , 494 aA A 4 N “A
τῶν ἀνθῶν ἐστίν τι ὃ δὴ τοῦ ἡλίου ἐρᾷ Kal πάσχει τὰ τῶν
1 The Codex has αὐτόν.

2 Heindorf εὐθὺ cot: Naber ἔχοιτο.
28

“

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

catching you; but such things are a disgrace and an
insult and a sort of licentious cry, the outcome of
stinging lust, such as those of wild beasts and fed
cattle, that from sexual desire bellow or neigh or low
or howl. Like to these are the lyrics of lovers. If,
therefore, you submit yourself to your lover to enjoy
where and when he pleases, awaiting neither time
that is fitting nor leisure nor privacy, then, like a
beast in the frenzy of desire, will he make straight
for you and be eager to go to it nothing ashamed.

8. I will add but one thing before I conclude my
discourse, that we are formed by nature to praise
and admire, but not to love, all the gifts of the gods
and their works that have come for the use and
delight and benefit of men—those indeed of them
which are wholly and in every way divine, I mean
the earth and sky and sun and sea—while in the
case of some other beautiful things of less worth,
and formed to fulfil a less comely part, these at
once are the subject of envy and love and emulation
and desire. And some are in love with wealth,
others again with rich viands, and others with
wine. In the number and category of such is beauty
reckoned by lovers, like wealth and viands and
strong drink; but by us, who admire, indeed, but
love not, like sun and sky and earth and sea, for
such things are too good for any love and beyond its
reach.

9, One thing more will I tell you, and if you will
pass it on to all other boys, your words will seem
convincing. Very likely you have heard from your
mother, or from those who brought you up, that
among flowers there is one that is indeed in love
with the sun and undergoes the fate of lovers, lifting

29

Armbr. 186

and Vat. 121

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

ἐρώντων, ἀνατέλλοντος ἐπαιρόμενον καὶ πορευομένου
καταστρεφόμενον, δύνοντος δὲ περιτρεπόμενον: ἀλλ᾽ οὐδέν
λ 4 a Aa 4 1 ὑδὲ ϑ a, ” ὃ “ 4

γε πλέον ἀπολαύει, οὐδὲ εὐμενεστέρου πειρᾶται διὰ τὸν
ἔρωτα τοῦ ἡλίου. ἀτιμότατον γοῦν ἐστὶν φυτῶν καὶ
ἀνθῶν οὔτε εἰς ἑορταζόντων θαλίας οὔτε στεφάνους θεῶν 7
9 4 ld Γ] > a 8 »

ἀνθρώπων παραλαμβανόμενον. ἔοικας, ὦ παῖ, τὸ ἄνθος
τοῦτο ἰδεῖν ἐθέλειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔγωγε σοι ἐπιδείξω, «εἰ ἔξω» τεί-
xous* πρὸς τὸν ᾿Ιλισὸν ἅμα ἄμφω βαδίσαιμεν. . ..

Epist. Graecae, 7 (Naber, p. 253).

| Have mi magister optime.

1. Age perge, quantum libet, comminare et
argumentorum globis criminare : numquam tu tamen
erasten tuum, me dico, depuleris. Nec ego minus
amare me Frontonem praedicabo, minusque amabo,
quod tu tam variis tamque vehementibus sententiis
adprobaris minus amantibus magis opitulandum ac
largiendum esse. Ego hercule te ita amore depereo,
neque deterreor isto tuo dogmate, ac si magis eris
aliis non amantibus properus et promptus, ego tamen
vivus salvusque amabo.

Ceterum quod ad sensuum densitatem, quod ad
inventiones® argutiarum, quod ad aemulationis tuae
felicitatem adtinet, nolo quidem‘ dicere <te> multo
placentes illos sibi et provocantes Atticos anteven-

' Cod, ἀπόλλυσι.
* Naber reads εἰ εὐθὺς πρὸς for Cod. τιχους.

39

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

itself up when the sun rises, following his motions
as he runs his course, and when he sets, turning itself
about; but it takes no advantage thereby, nor yet,
for all its love for the sun, does it find him the
kinder. Least esteemed, at any rate, of plants and
flowers, it is utilized neither for festal banquets nor
for garlands of gods or men. Maybe, O Boy, you
would like to see this flower.1 Well, I will shew it
you if we go for a walk outside the city walls as far
as the Ilissus....

Marcus AURELIUS TO FRONTO

Hait, my best of masters. eee

1. Go on, threaten as much as you please and
attack me with hosts of arguments, yet shall you
never drive your lover, 1 mean me, away; nor shall
I the less assert that I love Fronto, or love him the
less, because you prove with reasons so various and
so vehement that those who are less in love must be
more helped and indulged. So passionately, by Her-
cules, am 1 in love with you, nor am I frightened off by
the law you lay down, and even if you shew yourself
more forward and facile to others, who are non-lovers,
yet will I love you while I have life and health.

For the rest, having regard to the close packing
of ideas, the inventive subtilties, and the felicity of
your championship of your cause, I hardly like, in-
deed, to say that you have far outstripped those
Atticists, so self-satisfied and challenging, and yet I

1 Possibly the sunflower (Girasole), or marigold; see
Shaks. Sonnets, xxv. 6.

3 Cod. inventionis, which Buttm. keeps, and reads argutiam.
4 For Cod. quicquam.
21

Ambr. 184

Vat. 116,
col 2,
some ll.
down

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

isse, ac tamen nequeo quin dicam. Amo enim, et
hoc denique amantibus vere tribuendum esse censeo,
quod victoriis τῶν ἐρωμένων magis gauderent. Vici-
mus igitur, vicimus, inquaam. Num... .! | prae-
stabilius? sub laquearibus quam sub platanis, intra
pomerium quam extra murum, sine deliciis quam
ipsa proxime adsistente habitanteve Lai disputari?
Nequeo reteiaclari utra re magis caveam, quod de
Lai® ista orator saeculi huius dogmam tulerit an
quod magister meus de Platone.

2. Illud equidem non temere adiuravero: Si quis
iste revera Phaeder fuit, si umquam is a Socrate
afuit, non magis Socratem Phaedri desiderio quam
me per istos dies, dies dico? menses inquam, tui ad-
spectus cupidine arsisse? .. . .* amet, nisi confestim
tuo amore corripitur. Vale mihi maxima res sub
caelo, gloria mea. Sufficit talem magistrum habuisse.
Domina mea mater te salutat.

Ad M. Caes. iii. 7 (Naber, p. 44).

| MaaistRo meo.
Quom tu quiescis et quod commodum valetudini
sit tu facis, tum me recreas.> Et libenter et otiose
age. Sentio ergo: recte fecisti, quod brachio cur-

1 A loss of two and a half lines.

2 For Hauler’s reconstruction of the following passage,
see Wien. Stud. xxxiv. pt. i. pp. 253-259 (1912). e reads
delictts, for which J. I. epee suggested deliciis. The
words habilanteve Lai are marked by Hauler as doubtful.

32

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

cannot but say so. For I am in love and this, if
nothing else, ought, I think, verily to be allowed to
lovers, that they should have greater joy in the
triumph of their loved ones. Ours, then, is the
triumph, ours, I say. Is it... . preferable to talk
philosophy under ceilings rather than under plane-
trees, within the city bounds than without its walls,
scorning delights than with Lais herself sitting at
our side or sharing our home? Nor can! “make a
east’? which to beware of more, the law which an
orator! of our time has laid down about this Lais,
or my master’s dictum about Plato.

2. This I can without rashness affirm: if that
Phaedrus of yours ever really existed, if he was ever
away from Socrates, Socrates never felt for Phaedrus
amore passionate longing than I for the sight of you
all these days: days do I say? monthsI mean... .
unless’ he is straightway seized with love of you.
Farewell, my greatest treasure beneath the sky, my
glory. It is enough to have had such a master. My
Lady mother sends you greeting.

Marcus AuRELIUs To FRONTO

Probably from Naples 139 a.p.
To my Master.

When you rest and when you do what is good
for your health, then am I, too, the better for it.
Humour yourself and be lazy. My verdict, then, is:
you have acted rightly in taking pains to cure your

1 Orator and master seem both to refer to Fronto. We do
not know what he may have said about Lais.

3 Sheppard suggests Lysia. ὁ One line missing.
5 Brakman reads the Codex as recreav <i>.

33
VOL. 1. D

Vat. 115

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

ando operam dedisti. Ego quoque hodie a septima
in lectulo nonnihil egi, nam εἰκόνας decem ferme
expedivi. <In> nona te socium et optionem mihi
sumo, nam minus secunda fuit in persequendo mihi.
Est autem quod in insula Aenaria intus lacus est: in
eo lacu alia | insula est, et ea quoque inhabitatur.
“EvOe<vde ti>va εἰκόνα ποιοῦμεν. Vale, dulcissime
anima. Domina mea te salutat.

Ad M. Caes. iii. 8 (Naber, p. 45).

Domino meo.

1, Imaginem quam te quaerere ais, meque tibi
socium ad quaerendum et optionem sumis, num
moleste feres si in tuo atque in tui patris sinu id
fictum quaeram? Ut insula! in mari Ionio sive
Tyrrhenico sive vero potius in ‘Hadriatico mari, seu
quod aliud est mare, eius nomen maris addito—
igitur ut illa in mari insula [Aenaria] fluctus mari-
timos ipsa accipit atque propulsat, omnemque vim
classium praedonum beluarum procellarum ipsa per-
petitur, intus autem in lacu aliam insulam protegit
ab omnibus periculis ac difficultatibus tutam, omnium
vero deliciarum voluptatumque participem—namque
illa intus in lacu insula aeque undis alluitur, auras
salubres aeque recipit, habitatur aeque, mare aeque

1 Kluss. for Cod. il/a. It is impossible that Fronto should
not have known where Aenaria was.

1 Referring to a letter not preserved.
2 Off Naples. It is mentioned in connection with Marius
by Plutarch.

34

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

arm.! I, too, have done something to-day since one
o'clock on my couch, for I have been successful with
nearly all the ten similes; in the ninth I call you
in as my ally and adjutant, for it did not respond so
readily to my efforts in dealing with it. It is the
one of the inland lake in the island Aenaria;? in
that lake there is another island, it, too, inhabited.
From this we draw a certain simile. Farewell,
sweetest of souls. My Lady greets you.

Fronto To Marcus AuRELIUS AS CAESAR

To my Lord. P 139 A.D.

1. As to the simile, which you say you are
puzzling over and for which you call me in as your
ally and adjutant in finding the clue, you will not
take it amiss, will you, if 1 look for the clue
to that fancy within your breast and your father’s ‘
breast? Just as the island lies in the Ionian or
Tyrrhenian sea, or, maybe, rather in the Adriatic, or,
if it be some other sea, give it its right name—as
then that sea-girt island (Aenaria) itself receives and
repels the ocean waves, and itself bears the whole
brunt of attack from fleets, pirates, sea-monsters
and storms, yet in a lake within protects another
island safely from all dangers and difficulties, while
that other nevertheless shares in all its delights
and pleasures (for that island in the inland lake is,
like the other, washed by the waters, like it catches
the health-giving breezes, like it is inhabited, like it

8 Probably the mother of Marcus, to whom Fronto sends a

greeting in the next letter.
4 His adopted father, the emperor Antoninus Pius.

35
p 2

Vat. 122

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

prospectat—item pater tuas imperii Romani molestias
ac difficultates ipse perpetitur, te tutum! intus in
tranquillo sinu suo dignitatis gloriae bonorumque “
omnium participem tutatur. Igitur hac imagine
multimodis uti potes ubi patri | tuo gratias ages, in
qua oratione locupletissimum et copiosissimum te
esse oportet. Nihil est enim quod tu aut honestius
aut verius aut libentius in omni vita tua dicas quam
quod ad ornandas patris tui laudes pertinebit.
Postea ego quamcumque εἰκόνα huic? addidero, non
aeque placebit tibi, ut haec quae ad patrem tuum
pertinet: tam hoc scio quam tu novisti. Quam ob
rem ipse aliam εἰκόνα nullam adiciam, sed rationem
qua tute quaeras ostendam. Tu quas εἰκόνας in
eandem rem demonstrata ratione quaesiveris et
inveneris, mittito mihi ut, si fuerint scitae atque
concinnae, gaudeam et amem ἴα.’

2. Iam primum illud scis εἰκόνα ei rei adsumi ut
aut ornet quid aut deturpet aut aequiparet aut de-
minuat aut ampliet aut ex minus credibili credibile

.efficiat. Ubi nihil eorum usus erit, locus εἰκόνος non

erit. Postea ubi re<i> propositae imaginem scribes,
ut, si pingeres, insignia animadverteres eius rei cuius
imaginem pingeres, item in scribendo facies. In-
signia autem cuiusque rei multis modis eliges, τὰ

1 tutum ... tutatuy: query tolwm or autem.

2 Another reading given in the margin of Cod. is honorum.

3 Cod. has hue.

4 These three words occur as an interlinear correction in
the Codex after ostendam. Ehrenthal suggested their trans-
position.

36

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

looks out on the sea), so your father bears on his
own shoulders the troubles and difficulties of the
Roman empire while you he safeguards safely in his
own tranquil breast, the partner in his rank and
glory and in all that is his. Accordingly you can
use this simile in a variety of ways, when you return
thanks to your father,! on which occasion you should
be most full and copious. For there is nothing that
you can say in all your life with more honour or
more truth or more liking than that which concerns
the setting forth of your father’s praises.2, Whatever
simile I may subsequently suggest will not please
you so much as this one which concerns your father.
I know this as well as you feel it. Conse-
quently I will not myself give you any other simile,
but will shew you the method of finding them out
for yourself. You must send me any similes you
search out and find by the method shewn you for
that purpose, that if they prove neat and skilful I
may rejoice and love you.

2. Now, in the first place, you are aware that a
simile is used for the purpose of setting off a thing
or discrediting it, or comparing, or depreciating, or
amplifying it, or of making credible what is scarcely
credible. Where nothing of the kind is required,
there will be no room for a simile. Hereafter when
you compose a simile for a subject in hand, just as,
if you were a painter, you would notice the charact-
eristics of the object you were painting, so must
you do in writing. Now, the characteristics of a
thing you will pick out from many points of view,

1 For the honour of being made ‘‘Caesar” in 139. It
could no doubt refer to the Consulship in 145, or the
Tribunicia Potestas in 147; but these dates are too late.

2 Marcus painted this portrait with a loving hand in his
Thoughts, i. 6, vi. 30. :

37

Vat. 121

Ambr. 249,
iniddle of
col. 2

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

ὁμογενῆ, τὰ ὁμοειδῆ, TA ὅλα, TA μέρη, τὰ ἴδια, τὰ διάφορα,
τὰ ἀντικείμενα, τὰ ἑπόμενα καὶ | παρακολουθοῦντα, τὰ
ὀνόματα, τὰ συμβεβηκότα, τὰ στοιχεῖα, et fere omnia
ex quibus argumenta sumuntur: de quibus plerum-
que audisti, quom Θεοδώρου locos ἐπιχειρημάτων tract-
aremus. Eorum si quid memoriae tuae elapsum est,
non inutile erit eadem nos retractare, ubi! tempus
aderit. In hac εἰκόνε,;2 quam de patre tuo teque
depinxi, ἕν τι τῶν συμβεβηκότων ἔλαβον, τὸ ὁμοῖον τῆς
ἀσφαλείας καὶ τῆς ἀπολαύσεως. Nunc tu per hasce
vias ac semitas, quas supra ostendi, quaeres quonam
modo Aenariam commodissime venias. -

3. Mihi dolor cubiti haud multum sedatus est.
Vale, Domine, cum eximio ingenio. Dominae meae
matri tuae dic salutem. Τὴν δὲ ὅλην τῶν εἰκόνων
τέχνην alias diligentius et subtilius persequemur :
nunc capita rerum adtigi.®
Miaxmry
(Naber, p. 211.)

Laupes Fumi eT Putveris

| Cagsari suo Fronto.

1. Plerique legentium forsan rem de titulo con-
temnant, nihil <enim> serium potuisse fieri de fumo
et pulvere: tu pro tuo excellenti ingenio profecto
existimabis lusa sit opera‘ ἰδία an locata.

1 Schopen for Cod. detractare tibi. 2 So Cod.

δ᾽ This is followed in the Cod. Vat. by the letter, given
above, which is found in Cod. Ambr. 136 as Epist. Graec. 6.

4 Plautine, '

38

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

the likenesses of kind, the likenesses of form, the
whole, the parts, the individual traits, the differ-
ences, the contraries, the consequences and the
resultants, the names, the accidents, the elements,
and generally everything from which arguments are
drawn, the point in fact so often dwelt upon when
we were dealing with the commonplaces of the argu-
ments of Theodorus.! If any of them have slipped
your memory, it will not be amiss for us to go over
them afresh when time serves. In this simile, which
’ I have sketched out about your father and you, I
have taken one of the accidentals of the subject, the
identity of the safety and the enjoyment. Now it
remains for you, by those ways and paths which I
have pointed out above, to discover how you may
most conveniently come at your Aenaria.

3. The pain in my elbow is not much better.
Farewell, my Lord, with your rare abilities. Give
my greeting to my Lady your mother. On another
occasion we will follow out,? with more care and
exactness, the whole art of simile-making; now I
have only touched upon the heads of it.

Evutocy oF SMOKE AND Dust

Fronto to his own Caesar. eee
1, The majority of readers may perhaps from
the heading despise the subject, on the ground that
nothing serious could be made of smoke and dust.
You, with your excellent abilities, will soon see
whether my labour is lost or well laid out.
1 There were two rhetoricians of this name, one of Byzan-
tium, the other of Gadara. The latter is probably meant.

2 We have more on the subject in a letter to Marcus’s
mother (Epist. Graec. 1). 39

Ambr, 248

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

2. Sed res poscere videtur de ratione scribendi
pauca praefari, quod nullum huiuscemodi scriptum
Romana lingua extat satis nobile, nisi quod poetae in
comoediis vel atellanis adtigerunt. Qui se eiusmodi
rebus scribendis exercebit, crebras sententias con-
quiret, easque dense conlocabit et subtiliter coniung-
et, neque verba multa geminata supervacanea | in-
ferciet; tum omnem sententiam breviter et scite
concludet. Aliter in orationibus iudiciariis, ubi sedulo
curamus ut pleraeque sententiae durius interdum et
incautius! finiantur. Sed contra istic laborandum
est, ne quid inconcinnum et hiulcum relinquatur,
quin omnia ut in tenui veste oris detexta et revi-
mentis sint cincta. Postremo, ut novissimos in epi-
grammatis versus habere oportet aliquid luminis,
sententia clavo aliquo 2 vel fibula terminanda est.

8. In primis autem sectanda est suavitas. Nam-
que hoc genus orationis non capitis defendendi nec
suadendae legis nec exercitus hortandi nec inflam-
mandae contionis scribitur, sed facetiarum et volup-

_tatis.2 Ubique vero ut de re ampla et magnifica

loquendum, parvaeque res magnis adsimilandae com-
parandaeque. Summa denique in hoc genere orat-
ionis virtus est asseveratio. Fabulae deum vel
heroum tempestive inserendae ; item versus congru-

1 For this incomtius and incultius have been suggested.
For the sense cp. Seneca, Hp. 114, ad med.

2 Fréhner for Cod. clavi aliqua.

8 Novak supplies causa with these genitives.

1 The best of such ntgalia that we possess is Lucian’s on
the Fly. Dio wrote one on the Gnat, and even Plato on

40

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

2. But the subject seems to require a little to be
said first on the method of composition, for no writ-
ing of this kind of sufficient note exists in the Roman
tongue,! except some attempts by poets in comedies
or Atellane farces. Anyone who practises this kind of
composition will choose out an abundance of thoughts
and pack them closely and cleverly interweave them,
but will not stuff in superfluously many duplicate
words, nor forget to round off every sentence con-
cisely and skilfully. It is different with forensic
speeches, where we take especial care that many
sentences shall end now and again somewhat
roughly and clumsily. But here, on the contrary,
pains must be taken that there should be nothing
left uncouth and disconnected, but that everything,
as in a fine robe, should be woven with borders and
trimmed with edgings. Finally, as the last lines in
an epigram ought to have some sparkle, so the sen-
tence should be closed with some sort of fastening
or brooch.

3. But the chief thing to be aimed at is to please.
For this kind of discourse is not meant as a speech
for the defence in a criminal trial, nor to carry a
law, nor to hearten an army, nor to impassion the
multitude, but for pleasantry and amusement. The
topic, however, must everywhere be treated as if it
were an important and splendid one, and trifling
things must be likened and compared to great ones.
Finally, the highest merit in this kind of discourse
is an attitude of seriousness. Tales of gods or men
must be brought in where appropriate ; so, too, per-
Fever. There were others on Gout, Blindness, Deafness,
and Baldness. cp. also Augustine, De Vera Relig. \xxvii.,
who says that some had written the praises of ashes and
dung verissime atque uberrime,

41

Arobr. 247

Ambr. 254

Ambr. 253

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

entes et proverbia accommodata et non inficete con-
ficta mendacia, dum id mendacium argumento aliquo
lepido iuvetur.

4. Cum primis autem difficile est argumenta ita
disponere ut sit ordo eorum rite connexus. Quod

ille | Plato Lysiam culpat in Phaedro, sententiarum

ordinem ab eo ita temere permixtum, ut sine ullo
detrimento prima in novissimum locum transferantur,
et novissima in primum, eam culpam ita devitabimus,
si divisa generatim argumenta nectemus, non sparsa
nec sine discrimine aggerata, ut ea quae per saturam
feruntur, sed ut praecedens sententia in sequentem
laciniam aliquam porrigat et oram praetendat; ubi
prior sit finita sententia, inde ut sequens ordiatur ;
ita enim transgredi potius videmur quam transilire.

5. Verum hi non... . Variatio vel cum detri-
mento aliquo gratior est in oratione quam recta
continuatio! . . . . Jocularia austere, fortia h<ilari>-
ter dicenda?......| . . modo dulce illud in-
corruptum sit et pudicum, Tusculanum et Ionicum,
id est Catonis et Herodoti.2 ... . In omni re
facilius est rationem dicendi nosse quam vim agendi
obtinere* . . . . re sic est qui | sicuti bene velle et

bene precari, quae res voce animoque sine opibus
perpetrantur.°

6. Igitur ut quisque se benignissimum praestabit,
ita is plurimos laudabit, nec tantum eos, quos alii
quoque laudibus ante decoraverint, verum conquiret

1 From the margin of the Codex. 2. Jbid. 3 Ibid. ‘4 Ibid.
5 This sentence is repeated in the margin of the Codex,
but with opere for opibus. Should not sicut be sciat?

42

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

tinent verses and proverbs that are applicable, and
ingenious fictions, provided that the fiction is helped
out by some witty reasoning.

4. One of the chief difficulties, however, is so to
marshal our materials that their order may rest on
logical connexion. The fault for which Plato blames
Lysias in the Phaedrus, that he has mingled his
thoughts in such careless confusion that the first
could change places with the last and the last with
the first without any loss, is one which we can only
escape if we arrange our arguments in classes, and so
concatenate them, not in a scattered way and in-
discriminately pjled together like a dish of mixed
ingredients, but so that the preceding thought in
some sort overlaps the subsequent one and dovetails
into it; that the second thought may begin where
the first left off; for so we seem to step rather than
jump from one to the other.

5. But these do not... . Variety even with
some sacrifice is more welcome in the discourse than
a correct continuity . . . . Merry things must be

severely said, brave things with asmile.......
only let that sweetness be untainted and chaste, of
Tusculan and Ionian strain, that is in the style of
Cato or Herodotus... . In every case it is easier
to master the method of speaking than to possess
the power of performing . . . . to wish (others)
well and to pray for their welfare, things which are
compassed by voice and mind without aid.

6. Accordingly the more generously disposed a
man shews himself, the more persons will he praise,
nor those only whom others before him decked with
praises ; but he will choose out gods and men that

43

End of
Quaternion
(xxxvii. or
Xxxvili.)

Ambr, 241
Quat. xxxix

Ainbr. 242

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

deos et homines a ceterorum laudibus relictissimos,
ibique signum benignitatis expromet; ut agricola
agrum intactum si conserat, laboriosus est; sacerdos
si apud fanum desertum et avium sacrificet, religiosus
est.

- 7, Laudabo igitur deos infrequentes quidem a
Jaudibus, verum in usu cultuque humano frequentis-
simos, Fumum et Pulverem, sine quis neque asae !
neque foci nec viae, quod volgo aiunt, nec semitae
usurpantur. Quodsi quis hoc ambigit, habendusne
sit Fumus in numero deorum, cogitet Ventos quoque
in deum numero haberi, quaeque sunt fumo similli-
mae, Nebulas Nubesque putari deas et in caelo
conspici et, ut poetae ferunt, amiciri deos nubibus,
et Iovi Iunonique cubantibus nubem ab arbitris
obstitisse, quod<que> unice? divinae naturae pro-
prium est, nec fumum manu prehendere nec solem
queas, neque vincire neque verberare neque detinere
neque, vel minimum rimae si dehiscat,? excludere? |

(Naber, p. 214.)
| Laupes NEGLEGENTIAE

<Cagsari suo Fronto>.
Nam qui nimis anxie munia conficiunt parum amic-
itiae confidunt®.........{|. . Agitavi laudes

1 An Umbrian form for ara.

3. Alan for Cod. nunc; query sane.

3 Heind. for Cod. deposcat. * There is a large gap here,
§ From the margin of the Codex.

44

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

have been most passed by in the praises of others,
and there give proofs of his generous disposition,
just as a farmer shews his industry, if he sows a
field never before ploughed, and a priest his de-
votion, if he sacrifices at a desolate and inaccessible
shrine.

7. I will therefore praise gods who are indeed not
much in evidence in the matter of praises, but are
very much in evidence in the experience and life of
men, Smoke and Dust, without whom neither altars,
nor hearths, nor highways, as people say, nor paths
_can be used. But if any cavil at this, whether
Smoke can be counted among gods, let him consider
that Winds too are held to be gods and though they
can scarcely be distinguished from Smoke, Clouds
and Mists, are reckoned goddesses and are seen in
the sky, and according to the poets gods “are clad
in clouds,’! and a cloud shielded from onlookers
‘Jove and Juno as they couched.? Again, and this is
a property peculiar to the divine nature, you cannot
grasp smoke in the hand any more than sunlight,
nor bind nor beat nor keep it in nor, if there be the
slightest chink open, shut itout........

Eutoaey or NEGLIGENCE

FronTo to his own Caesar.

Dig ποτοῦ; Ge τὰ τὸ oe eh eae χρβῆι δὼ» ἢ

For those, who are too anxious in the performance of
their duties, rely too little on friendship... .. .
. ..I have taken upon myself to indite the

1 Horace, Od. i. 2, 31
2 Homer, Jl. xiv. 350.

45

Ambr. 238,
237

Ambr, 229

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Neglegenttae conscribere, quas cur nondum etiam
[etiam id] conscripserim, ut res est, id quoque
neglego! ........ Gl ngecgerke gel ee gs wee a ark
temperantia coercetur. Volgo etiam laudata indulyg-
entia promptam peccatis hominum veniam dare : nisi
delicta facile neglegas,? parum clementer indulgeas.

2. Quod autem quis intutam et expositam periculis
neglegentiam putet, mihi omne contra videtur, multo
multoque diligentiam magis periculis obnoxiam esse.
Namque neglegentiae haud quisquam magno opere
insidias locat, existimans etiam sine insidiis semper
et ubique et uti libeat neglegentem hominem in
proclivi fore fallere: adversus diligentes vero et
circumspectos et excubantes? opibus fraudes et
captiones et insidiae parantur. Ita ferme neglegentia
contemptu tutatur, diligentia astu oppugnatur. Et
erratis neglegentia venia paratior datur et benefactis
gratior’ gratia habetur. Nam praeter opinionem
gratum est ceterarum rerum indiligentem bene
facere in tempore haud neglexisse.

3. Iam illud a poetis saeculum aureum memoratum,
si cum animo reputes, intellegas neglegentiae sae-
culum fuisse, quom ager neg|lectus fructus uberes
ferret, omniaque utensilia neglegentibus nullo neg-
otio suppeditaret. Hisce argumentis neglegentia
bono genere nata, dis accepta, sapientibus probata,

1 Two pages are lost. 2 Mai for Cod. infellegas.

3 Schopen for Cod. exultantes.
4 Heind. for Cod. gratiis.

46

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

praises of Negligence, and the reason why I have
never to this day indited them, that too, as the sub-
ject demands, 1 neglect to give. ..........
ἜΝ is checked by self-control. Generally
too is the mildness praised, which readily pardons
the sins of men, but unless you good-naturedly
neglect offences, you are not likely to deal over
mildly with them.

2. A man may think negligence to be unsafe and
exposed to dangers, but my view is clean contrary,
that it is diligence which is much much more liable
to perils. For there is not one who takes the
trouble to lay traps for negligence, judging that
even without a trap it would be easy work to take in
a negligent man always and everywhere and at
pleasure: against the diligent, however, and the
wide-awake and those who watch over their wealth,
wiles and deceptions and traps are made ready. So
general is it for negligence to be safeguarded by
contempt, diligence to be assailed by craft. Mistakes
too, committed through negligence are more readily
pardoned and for kindnesses so done a more gracious
gratitude is felt. For that a man in all other
respects neglectful should not have neglected to do
a kindness in season is from its unexpectedness
grateful.

3. Now the famous golden age celebrated by the
poets, if you think over it, you will find to have
been the age of negligence, when the earth neglected
bore rich crops and, without trouble taken, provided
all the requisites of life to those who neglected it.
These arguments shew that negligence comes of
good lineage, is pleasing to the gods, commended by

47

Ambr. 280

Ambr. 248,
244

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

virtutum particeps, indulgentiae magistra, tuta ab
insidiis grataque benefactis, excusata in erratis, et ad
postremum aurea declarata. Multa! de Favorini
nostri pigmentis fuci quisnam appingere <pro>hibet ?
Ut quaeque mulier magis facie freta est, ita facilius
cutem et capillum neglegere; plerisque autem, ut
sese magno opere exornent, diffidentia formae dilig-
entiae illecebras creari.

4, Myrtum buxumque ceteraque tonsilia arbusta
atque virgulta summa diligentia et studio radi rigari
comi solita, humi reptare aut ibidem haud procul a
solo cacumina erigere: at illas intonsas abietes
neglectasque piceas caput aemulum nubibus abdere.?

5. Non aeque diligentes ad quaerendum victum et
comparandum cibum leones ut formicas esse, texendi
vero araneas diligentiores esse quam Penelopam
ullam vel Andromacham. Et omnino tenuibus in-

Penis C0 yg bon bs ee 3 et voluntariis quod
vel praecippum ....|........ | .

. .8 statuit quem admodum . . . . Quota, oro
te, portio Lucullanae . . . . caesam aureo’... .

1 Mai read the Codex, but doubtfully, as mulia certe, and
after appingere [vide}licet.

? From the margin for addere, which is in the text of Cod.

3 The gap to sfatwit is half a column, from there to auzeo
about thirteen lines, and eleven lines are lost after aureo.

48

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

the wise, has her share of virtues, is the teacher of
mildness, shielded from traps, welcomed in well-
doing, pardoned in faults, and, finally, pronounced
golden. Who pray prevents us from painting-in
much colour from the paint-box of our friend
Favorinus!? The more a woman relies on her
looks, the more easily does she neglect her com-
plexion and her coiffure; but with most women
it is because they distrust their beauty that all
the alluring devices which care can discover are
brought into being that they may particularly adorn
themselves.

4. The myrtle and the box and all the other
shrubs and bushes that submit to the shears, accus-
tomed as they are to being most diligently and
carefully pruned, watered, and trimmed, creep on
the ground, or raise their tops but little over the
soil where they stand; but those unshorn firs and
neglected pines hide their aspiring heads amid the
clouds.

5. Lions are not so diligent in seeking their food
and procuring their prey as ants, while spiders are
more diligent in weaving than any Penelope or
Andromache. And altogether insignificant abilities

© @ ee © © ®@ @ e© @ ee ee #8 ee ee oe ee e@ je ee e& ee ee ὁ e@ .

bod Ye Oe kL Wigs A He ae ee Bae 2-8 How small

1 A philosopher and rhetorician of Arles, a friend of the
emperor Hadrian and of Herodes Atticus and Fronto.

49
VOL. 1. E

Vat. 119

Vat. 114

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. iii. 9 (Naber, p. 47).

| Have mi magister optime.

1. Scio natali die quoiusque pro eo, quoius is dies
natalis est, amicos vota suscipere ; ego tamen, quia
te iuxta ac! memet ipsum amo, volo hoc die tuo
natali mihi bene precari. Deos igitur omnes, qui
usquam gentium vim suam praesentem promptamque
hominibus praebent, qui vel somniis vel mysteriis vel
medicina vel oraculis usquam iuvant atque pollent,
eorum deorum unumquemque mihi votis advoco,
meque pro genere cuiusque voti in eo loco constituo,
de quo deus ei rei praeditus facilius exaudiat.

2. Igitur iam primum Pergami arcem ascendo et
Aesculapio supplico, uti valetudinem magistri mei
bene temperet vehementerque tueatur. Inde Athen-
as degredior, Minervam genibus nixus obsecro et oro,
si quid ego umquam litterarum sciam, ut id potis-
simum ex Frontonis ore in pectus meum commigret.
Nunc redeo Romam deosque viales et permarinos?
votis imploro, uti mihi omne iter tua praesentia
comitatum sit, neque ego tam saepe tam saevo desid-
erio fatiger. Postremo omnes omnium | populorum
praesides deos, atque ipsum lucum, qui Capitolium
montem strepit,f ὃ quaeso tribuat hoc nobis, ut istum
diem quo mihi natus es tecum firmato* laetoque
concelebrem. Vale mi dulcissime et carissime mag-
ister. Rogo, corpus cura, ut guom venero videam
te. Domina mea te salutat.

1 Cod. aut. 53. Klussmann for Ccd. promarinos.
> Haupt suggests saepit. 4 Cod. firmo te.

1 Especially worshipped by Pius and Marcus.
2 These words point to an early letter.

50

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Marcus AvurE.LIvus To FRoONTo

Hai, my best of masters. Geos eo ae,

1. I know that on everyone’s birthday his friends
undertake vows for him whose birthday it is. I,
however, since I love you as myself, wish to offer up
on this day, which is your birthday, hearty prayers
for myself. I call, therefore, with my vows to hear
me each one of-all the Gods, who anywhere in the
world provide present and prompt help for men;
who anywhere give their aid and shew their power
in dreams or mysteries, or healing, or oracles; and I
place myself according to the nature of each vow
in that spot where the god who is invested with
that power may the more readily hear.

2. Therefore I now first climb the citadel of the
God of Pergamum and beseech Aesculapius! to bless
my master’s health and mightily protect it. Thence
I pass on to Athens and, clasping Minerva by her
knees, I entreat and pray that, if ever I know aught
of letters, this knowledge may find its way into my
breast from the lips of none other than Fronto.?
Now I return to Rome and implore with vows the
gods that guard the roads and patrol the seas that in
every journey of mine you may be with me, and I be
not worn out with so constant, so consuming a desire
for you. Lastly, I ask all the tutelary deities of all
the nations, and the very grove, whose rustling fills
the Capitoline Hill, to grant us this, that I may keep
with you this day, on which you were born for me,
with you in good health and spirits. Farewell, my
sweetest and dearest of masters. I beseech you,
take care of yourself, that when I come I may see
you. My Lady greets you.

51

Vat. 126:
Quat. vii.

begins

Vat. 109,
col. 2

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caer. iii. 10 (Naber, p. 48).

Domino meo.

Omnia nobis prospera sunt, quom tu pro nobis
optas, neque enim quisquam dignior alius te, qui a
dis quae petiit impetret ; nisi quod, ego quom pro te
precor, nemo alius te dignior est pro quo impetretur.
Vale, domine dulcissime. Dominam saluta.

Ad M. Caes. iii. 1 (Naber, p. 40).

<Cagsari suo Fronto.>

.... <oratio nisi gravitate>! | verborum honest-
atur, fit plane impudens atque impudica. Denique
idem tu, quom in senatu vel in contione populi dic-
endum fuit, nullo verbo remotiore usus 65,2 nulla
figura obscura aut insolenti: ut qui scias eloquentiam
Caesaris tubae similem esse debere, non tibiarum, in
quibus minus est soni, plus difficultatis.

Ad M. Caes. v. 59 (Naber, p. 92).

| Have mi magister optime.
Egone ut studeam quom tu doleas, praesertim
quom mea causa doleas? Non me omnibus incom-
modis sponte ipse adflictem? Merito hercule. Quis

1 Added by Mai.
2 This poasibly points to a later date than 140-143.

52

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Fronto To Marcus AuRELIUS AS CAESAR
> =

All is well with us since your wishes are for us,
for there is no one who deserves more than you to
win from the Gods fulfilment of his prayers, unless I
should rather say that, when I pray for you, there is
no one who deserves more than you the fulfilment of
prayers offered on your behalf. Farewell, most sweet
Lord. Greet my. Lady.

Εποντο to his own Caesar. ae ΕΔ:

... unless speech is graced by dignity of lan-
guage, it becomes downright impudent and indecent.
In fine you too, when you have had to speak in the
Senate or harangue the people, have never used a
far-fetched word,! never an unintelligible or unusual
figure, as knowing that a Caesar’s eloquence should
be like the clarion not like the clarionet, in which
there is less resonance and more difficulty.

Marcus AURELIUS TO FRONTO

Halt, my best of masters.? ile iu,
What, am I to study while you are in pain,
above all in pain on my account? Shall I not of
my own accord punish myself with every kind of
penance? It were only right, by Hercules. For
1 ep, Thoughts, viii. 30, and below, Ad Ant. i. 1.

2 This would seem to be an early letter, in spite of its
position in the Codex.
53

Vat. 84

Ambr. 190,
col. 2

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

enim tibi alius dolorem genus, quem scribis nocte
proxima auctum, quis alius eum suscitavit, nisi Cen-
tumcellae, ne me dicam? Quid igitur faciam, qui
nec te video et tanto angore | discrucior? Adde eo
quod etiamsi libeat studere, iudicia prohibent, quae,
ut dicunt qui sciunt, dies totos eximent.! Misi tamen
hodiernum γνώμην et nudustertianum locum com-
munem. Heri totum diem in itinere adtrivimus.
Hodie difficile est ut praeter vespertinam γνώμην
quicquam agi possit. Nocte, inquis, tam longa dormis?
Et dormire quidem possum, nam sum multi somni ;
sed tantum frigoris est in cubiculo meo, ut manus
vix exseri possit. Sed re vera illa res maxime mihi
animum a studiis depulit, quod, dum nimium litteras
amo, tibi incommodus apud Portum? fui, ut res
ostendit. Itaque valeant omnes Porcii et Tullii et
Crispi, dum tu valeas, et te vel sine libris firmum
tamen videam. Vale, praecipuum meum gaudium,
magister dulcissime. Domina mea te salutat. Τνώμας
tres et locos communes mitte.

(Naber, p. 237.)
| M. Fronronis Arion

1. Arion Lesbius, proinde quod Graecorum me-
moria est, cithara et dithyrambo primus, Corintho,

1 The reading of the margin of Cod. for text exhibent.
2 So m! of Cod., but corrected to Porcium, says Mai.

—. — -- ------ --- — ea eee ---- -.---..- — - ---- Ste

1 On the coast of Etruria (now Civita Vecchia), 47 miles
from Rome. Pius inherited the magnificent villa built there
by Trajan. 2 4,e. for the purpose of writing or study.

54

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

who else brought on that pain in the knee, which
you write was worse last night, who else if not Cen-
tumcellae,! not to mention myself? What then shall
I do, who cannot see you and am racked with such
anxiety? Besides, however much I might be minded
to study, the courts forbid it, which, as those say who
know, will take up whole days. Still I send you
to-day’s maxim and the day-before-yesterday’s com-
. monplace. The whole day yesterday we spent on
the road. To-day it is hard to find time for anything
but the evening maxim. Do you sleep, say you, the
livelong night? Aye, I can sleep, for I am a great
sleeper; but it is so cold in my room that I can
scarcely put my hand outside the bed-clothes.? But
in good sooth what most of all put my mind off
study was the thought that by my undue fondness
for literature ® I did you an ill turn at the Harbour,‘
as the event shewed. And so farewell to all Catos
and Ciceros and Sallusts, as long as you fare well
and I see you, though with never a book, established
in health. Farewell, my chief joy, sweetest of mas-
ters. My Lady greets you. Send me three maxims
and commonplaces.

Marcus Fronto’s Arton 4
? 140-143 a.p.

1, Arton of Lesbos, according to Greek tradition
foremost as player on the lyre and as dithyrambist,

8 Possibly Fronto had brought Marcus some books from
Rome. 4 Centumcellae.

5 Fronto follows Herodotus, as Gellius also professes to do.
Fronto probably intended this piece to be a model of narrat-
ive style for his pupil. It seems to be of the matter-of-fact
style (stccwm genus) for which Fronto was celebrated.

23

Ambr. 166

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

ubi frequens incolebat, secundum quaestum pro-
fectus, magnis divitiis per oram Siciliae atque Italiae
paratis 1 Corinthum Tarento regredi parabat. ' Socios
navales Corinthios potissimum delegit ; eorum navem
audacter re bona maxima? onerat. Nave in altum
provecta cognovit socios, quae? veherent cupidos
potiri, necem sibi machinari. Eos precibus fatigat
aurum omne ipsi‘* haberent, unam sibi animam sin-
erent. Postquam id frustra | orat, aliam tamen ve-
niam impetravit, in exitu vitae quantum possit * can-
taret. Id praedones in lucro duxere, praeter spolia
summum artificem audire, cuius vocem praeterea
nemo umquam post illa auscultaret. Ille vestem
induit auro intextam itemque citharam insignem.
Tum pro puppi aperto maxime atque edito loco
constitit, sociis inde consulto per navem ceteram
dispersis. Ibi Arion studio impenso cantare orditur
scilicet mari et caelo artis suae supremum com-
memoramentum. Carminis fine cum verbo in mare
desilit: delphinus excipit, sublimem avehit, navi
praevortit, Taenaro exponit, quantum delphino fas
erat, in extimo litore.

2. Arion inde Corinthum proficiscitur: et homo
et vestis et cithara et vox incolumes. Periandrum
regem Corinthium, cui per artem cognitus acceptus-
que diu fuerat, accedit ; ordine memorat rem gestam
in navi et postea in mari. Rex homini credere,
miraculo addubitare, navem et socios navales .dum

1 Novak partis.
2 Heind. for Cod. mazxime (cp. Aul. Gell. xvi. 19, also of
Arion, ve bona multa).

3 Kussner for Cod. qui. But Mai says potiri may be auri
in the Cod.
4 For Cod. sibs. 5 Cod. possiet.

56

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

setting out from Corinth, where he constantly so-
journed, in pursuit of gain, after amassing great riches
in the coast-towns of Sicily and Italy, prepared to
make his way home from Tarentum to Corinth. For
his ship’s crew he chose Corinthians by preference,
and boldly freighted their ship with his immense
gains. When the ship was well out at sea he realized
that the crew, coveting the wealth which they carried,
were plotting his death. He wearied them with
prayers to take all his gold for themselves, but leave
him his life alone. When that boon was denied
him, he was yet granted another grace, in taking
farewell of life to sing as much as he would. The
pirates put it down as so much to the good that over
and above their booty they should hear a consummate
artist sing, to whose voice moreover no one should
ever thereafter listen. He donned his robe em-
broidered with gold, and withal his famous lyre.
Then he took his stand before the prow in the most
open and elevated place, the crew being afterwards
intentionally scattered over the rest of the ship.
There Arion, exerting all his powers, began to sing,
for sea and sky, look you, the last reminder of his
skill. His song ended, with a word on his lips he
sprang into the sea: a dolphin received him, carried
him on his back, outstripped the ship, landed him
at Taenarus as near the shore as a dolphin might.

2. Thence Arion made his way to Corinth, man and
robe and lyre and voice all safe; presented himself
before Periander, the king of Corinth, who had long
known him and esteemed him for his skill ; recounted
in order what had happened on the ship and subse-
quently in the sea. The king believed the man but
did not know what to think of the miracle, and

57

Ambr. 165

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

reciperent opperiri. Postquam cognovit portum in-
vectos, sine tumultu acciri! iubet; voltu comi verbis
lenibus percontatur, num quidnam super Arione
Lesbio comperissent. Illi facile respondent Tarenti
| vidisse fortunatissimum mortalem secundo rumore
aur<um> quaerere, <artemque> esse <cithara>? can-
tare ; quo diutius amore et lucro et laudibus retineri.
Quom haec ita dicerent, Arion inrupit <salvos illaes-
usque® ita ut in puppi> steterat cum veste auro
intexta et cithara insigni. Praedones inopina<to
visu> consternati sunt,* neque quicquam post illa ne-
gare aut non credere aut deprecari ausi sunt. Del-
phini facinus <ad Taenarum testatur®> delphino
residens homo parva figura atque ut argumento
magis quam simulacro composita.

- Ad M. Caes. iii. 2 (Naber, p. 40).

Vat. 126,
toward end
of col. 1

| Auretius CarEsar Frontoni suo salutem.
Saepe te mihi dixisse scio® quaerere te quid
maxime faceres gratum mihi. Id tempus nunc adest:

1 Naber for Cod. accip: (cp. Herod. κληθέντα).

2 Mai. He reads pretioque for artemgque. Brakman prefers
famaque.
3 I have added these words, which just fill the gap; or
sospes tncolumisque would stand equally well.

4 For Cod. cum, Naber ἐπι.

5 Cod. visitur (Mai). 8 Query sczs.

1 Or possibly ‘‘ love of his art.”
2 This and the next four letters refer to a trial at Rome,
in which the famous Greek rhetorician, Herodes Atticus, one

58

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

waited for the return of ship and crew. When he
learnt that they had put into harbour, he gave orders
for their being summoned without any excitement ;
questioned them with a pleasant countenance and
gentle words as to whether they had any news of
Arion the Lesbian. They answered glibly that they
had seen that most fortunate of men at Tarentum
making golden profits and applauded by all, his pro-
fession being to sing to the lyre; and that his stay
was prolonged by reason of his popularity, his profits,
and his praises. As they were saying this, Arion
sprang in safe and sound, just as he had stood on the
ship’s stern with his gold-embroidered robe and his
famous lyre. The pirates were dumbfounded at the
unexpected sight, nor did they thereafter attempt
any denial or disbelief or exculpation. The dolphin’s
exploit is recorded by a statue set up at Taenarus
of a man seated on a dolphin, small in size
and executed as a subject-piece rather than as a
likeness,

ἢ 140-143 a.p.

Aure ius Cagsar to his own Fronto greeting.?
It is a fact that you have often said to me, What
can I do to give you the greatest pleasure? Now is the

of Marcus’s teachers and his friend, was accused by the
Athenians of various crimes. Their principal spokesman was
Demostratus, who is mentioned again, Ad Ver. ii. 9. Of the
circumstances we only know what the Letters tell us. Buta
very similar accusation was brought against him nearly
thirty years later (see Philostratus, Vit. Soph. p. 242,
Kayser). Herodes must have been honourably acquitted on
the present occasion, as he was made consul in 143. The
trial, one must suppose, preceded the consulship, as he could
hardly have been elected to it with such accusations hanging
over him,

59

Vat. 125

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

nune amorem erga te meum augere potes, si augeri
potest. Adpropinquat cognitio, in qua homines non
modo orationem tuam benigne audituri, sed indign-
ationem maligne spectaturi videntur. Neque ullum
video qui te in hac re monere audeat. Nam qui
minus amici sunt malunt te inspectare inconstantius
agentem ; qui autem magis amici sunt, metuunt ne
adversario tuo amiciores esse videantur, si te ab ac-
cusatione eius propria tua abducant. Tum autem, si
quod tu in eam rem dictum elegantius meditatus es,
per silentium dictionem auferre tibi non sustinent.
Ideo,! sive | tu me temerarium consultorem sive
audacem puerulum sive adversario tuo benivolen-
tiorem esse existimabis, non propterea quod rectius
esse arbitrabor, pedetemptius tibi consulam. Sed
quid dixi consulam ? qui id a te postulo et magno
opere postulo et me, si impetro, obligari tibi repro-
mitto. Sed? dices Quid! δὲ lacessitus fuero, non eum
similis dicto remunerabo? At ex eo tibi maiorem
laudem quaeres, si nec lacessitus quicquam res-
ponderis. Verum si prior fecerit, respondenti tibi
utcumque poterit ignosci: ut autem non inciperet,
postulavi ab eo et impetrasse me credo. Utrumque
enim vestrum pro suis quemque meritis diligo, et
scio illum quidem in avi mei P. Calvisii domo edu-
catum,® me autem apud te eruditum. Propterea
maximam curam in animo meo habeo, uti quam

1 Bhreuthal for Cod. acevo. 2 Miiller for Cod. εἰ.
3 Naber for Cod. erudite.
60

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

opportunity. If my love for you admits of any in-
crease, you can increase itnow. The trial approaches
in which men, it seems, will not only give a generous
ear to your eloquence, but turn a grudging eye upon
your angry animosity. And I see no one else who
can venture to advise you in this matter. For those
who are less friendly to you prefer to see you acting
inconsistently, while those who are truer friends
are afraid of seeming too friendly to your opponent
if they divert you from accusing him as you are
entitled todo. Then again, if you have conned some
especially choice phrase for the occasion, they cannot
bear to rob you of its due delivery by an enforced
silence. And so, even if you think me an ill-advised
counsellor or a forward boy, or too partial to your
opponent, I will not, for all that, shew any the more
hesitation in pressing upon you what I think the best
counsel. But why have I said counsel, whereas it is a
favour I claim, urgently claim, from you and, if it is
granted, promise to be bound to you in return? But
you will say, What ! if assailed, shall I not requite in
ltke terms? Nay, you will win by this means greater
glory for yourself if, even when assailed, you make
no reply.’ Still, if he is the first to attack, it will be
excusable in you to answer as you can; however, 1
have begged of him not to begin, and I think I have
got my way. For I love both of you, each one for
his own merits, and I do not forget that he was
brought up in the house of my grandfather,? P. Cal-
visius, and I educated under you. Wherefore I am
most anxious that this very disagreeable business

1 Marcus practised what he preached in the second trial
of Herodes, mentioned above.

2 His maternal grandfather. It seems as if Herodes was
not yet a teacher of Marcus. Z
I

Vat. 124

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

honestissime negotium istud odiosissimum trans-
igatur. Opto ut consilium comprobes, nam volun-
tatem probabis. Ego certe minus sapienter magis
scripsero, quam minus amice tacuero. Vale mi
Fronto carissime et amicissime.

Ad Μ΄. Caes. iii. 3 (Naber, p. 41).

| Domino meo Caesari Fronto.

Merito ego me devovi tibi, merito fructus vitae
meae omnes in te ac tuo parente constitui. Quid
fieri amicius, quid iucundius, quid verius potest?
Aufer ista, obsecro, puerulum audacem aut temerarium?}
consultorem. Periculum est plane ne tu quicquam
pueriliter aut inconsulte suadeas! Mihi crede, si
tu vis—si minus, egomet mihi credam—seniorum a
te prudentiam exsuperari. Denique in isto negotio
tuum consilium canum et grave, meum vero puerile
deprendo. Quid enim opus est aequis et iniquis
spectaculum praebere? Sive sit iste Herodes vir
frugi et pudicus, protelari conviciis talem a me
virum non est verum ; sive nequam et improbus est,
non aequa mihi cum eo certatio, neque idem detri-
menti? capitur. Omnis enim cum polluto com-

1 These two adjectives are distinguished in the De Dif-
ferentiis Vocabulorum, attributed to Fronto, and possibly
Here by him for his pupils: see Mai’s Fronto, ed. 1823,

2 Mai reads the Codex as detrimentum, Brakman as here
given.

62

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

should be handled as honourably as possible. I trust
my advice will commend itself to you, for my good-
will you must commend. At any rate, 1 would
rather fail in judgment by writing than fail in friend-
ship by keeping silence. Farewell, my Fronto, most
beloved and most loving of friends.

? 140-143 a.p.
Fronto to my Lord Caesar.

Rightly have I devoted myself to you, rightly
invested in you and your father all the gains of my
life. What could be more friendly, what more
delightful, what more true!? But I beseech you,
away with your forward boys and rash counsellors !
There is danger, forsooth, of anything you suggest
being childishly conceived or ill-advised! Believe
me, if you will—if not, I will for my part believe
myself—that in good sense you leave your elders
far behind. In fact, in this affair, I realise that your
counsel is weighty and worthy of a greybeard, while
mine is childish. For what is the good of providing
a spectacle for friends and foes? If your Herodes
be an honourable and moral man, it is not right that
such a man® should be assailed? with invectives by
me; if he is wicked and worthless, my fight with
him is not on equal terms, nor do we stand to lose
the same. For any contact with what is unclean

1 Fronto is probably punning on Marcus’s name Verus.
Hadrian gave him the pet name of Verissimus, which Justin
Martyr also uses, and 1t appears on the coins of Tyras on
the Euxine.

2 We can scarcely keep the assonance: ‘It is not right
that such a wight.’

3 Lit. ‘‘ keep at a distance with darts.” ὲ

3

Vat. 198

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

plexus, tametsi superes, commaculat. Sed_ illud
verius est, probum virum esse, quem tu dignum
tutela tua iudicas. Quod si umquam scissem, tum
me di omnes male adflixint, si ego verbo laedere
ausus fuissem quemquam amicum tibi. Nunc me
velim pro tuo erga me amore, quo sum | beatissimus,
in hac etiam parte consilio iuves. Qui<n>? nihil
extra causam dicere debeam, quod Herodem laedat,
non dubito. Sed ea quae in causa sunt—<sunt>
autem <sane>? atrocissima—quemadmodum tractem,
id ipsum est quod addubito, et consilium posco.
Dicendum est de hominibus liberis crudeliter ver-
beratis et spoliatis, uno vero etiam occiso ; dicendum
est de filio impio et precum paternarum immemore ;
saevitia et avaritia exprobranda; carnifex quidam
[Herodes]® in hac causa est constituendus. Quodsi
in istis criminibus, quibus causa nititur, putas debere
me ex summis opibus adversarium urgere et premere,
fac me, Domine optime et mihi dulcissime, consilii
tui certiorem. Si vero in his quoque remittendum
aliquid putes, quod tu suaseris, id optimum factu *
ducam. Illud quidem, ut dixi, firmum et ratum
habeto, nihil extra causam de moribus et cetera eius
vita me dicturum.® Quodsi tibi videbitur servire me
1 Naber for Cod. gi. 2 For Cod. sunt.

δ Herodcs appears to be a gloss.
* Schopen for Cod. factuim. δ᾽ in! of Cod. has edicturwm.

1 It is curious that Fronto did not know of this friend-
ship and, indeed, more about such a man as Herodes.

2 Herodes himself is meant, not his son, as generally
supposed. His father left by his will a yearly sum of
money to every Athenian citizen. But Herodes compounded

64

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

contaminates a man, even though you come off best.
But the former supposition is the truer, that he,
whom you count worthy of your patronage, is a
virtuous man. Had I had an inkling of the fact,
may all the gods plague me if I should ever have
ventured to say a word against any friend of yours.!
As it is I should wish you for the great love you
bear me, wherein [am most blest, to help me with
your advice on this point also. I quite admit that I
ought not to say anything, which does not bear on
the case, to damage Herodes, but those facts which
do bear on it—and they are undoubtedly of a
most savage character—how am I to deal with
them? that is the very thing I am in doubt about,
and I ask your advice. I shall have to tell of free-
men cruelly beaten and robbed, of one even slain ;
I shall have to tell of a son unfilial? and deaf to
his father’s prayers, cruelty and avarice will have
to be denounced; there is one who must in this
trial be made out a murderer. But if on those
counts, on which the indictment is based, you think
I ought to press and assail my opponent with might
and main, assure me, best of Lords and sweetest to
me, that such is your opinion. If, however, you
think that I ought to let him off lightly in these
also, I shall consider what you advise to be the best
course. You may, indeed, as I said, rest assured of
this, that I shall not go outside the case itself to
speak of his character and the rest of his life. But
if you think I must do the best for my case, I

with the Athenians for a single payment of 5 minae. How-
ever, by deducting from this sum moneys owed by them to
his father, he exasperated the citizens against himself, and
this may have caused the high-handed proceedings described
here. See Philost. Vit. Soph. 236, Kays. ὲ
5

VOL, 1. Ε

Vat. 118

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

causae debere, iam nunc admoneo ne me immoderate
usurum quidem causae occasione, atrocia enim sunt
crimina et atrocia dicenda. [Illa ipsa de laesis et
spoliatis hominibus ita | a me dicentur ut fel et
bilem sapiant : sicubi graeculum et indoctum dixero,
non erit internecivum.

Vale, Caesar, et me ut facis ama plurimum. Ego
vero etiam literulas tuas disamo!: quare cupiam,
ubi quid ad me scribes, tua manu scribas.

Ad M. Caes. iii. 4 (Naber, p. 43).

Have Domine.

Clausa iam et obsignata epistula priore, venit
mihi in mentem fore uti et qui causam hanc agunt—
acturi autem complures videntur—dicant aliquid ‘in
Herodem inclementius: cui rei, quaemadmodum me
unum putes,’ prospice. Vale Domine et vive, ut
ego sim beatus. Acturi videntur Capreolus, qui
nunc abest, et Marcianus noster; videtur etiam
Villianus.

Ad MM. Caes. iii. 5 (Naber, p. 43).

Have mi Fronto carissime.
Iam hinc tibi, Fronto carissime, gratias ago
habeoque, quom consilium non tantum non repudi-
1 The Codex has room for a letter between dis and amo.

Possibly Fronto uses disamo (cp. dispereo) for deamo.
2 For Cod. putas.

66

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

warn you herewith that I shall not even use in a
disproportionate manner the opportunity my case
gives me, for savage charges are made and must
be savagely spoken of. Those in particular which
concern the robbing and injuring of freemen shall
be so told by me as to smack of gall and spleen:
if I chance to call him a greekling and unlearned,
it need not mean war to the knife.!

Farewell, Caesar, and love me, as you do, to the
utmost. I, indeed, dote on the very characters of
your writing: wherefore, whenever you write to me,
I would have you write with your own hand.

Frontro To Marcus AurELius as CAESAR

Har, my Lord. ? 140-143 ap.

After I had already closed and sealed the pre-
ceding letter, it occurred to me that those who plead
in this case—and many seem likely to plead in it—
may speak of Herodes in less measured terms. Take
care how you think that I alone am concerned in
this affair. Farewell, my Lord, and live, that I may
be happy. Capreolus, who is now away, and our
friend Marcianus? seem likely to plead; Villianus too,
it seems.

Marcus AURELIUS To FRONTO

?140-
Hatt, my dearest Fronto. ΠΡ ΞΟ ΕΘΝ.
I must acknowledge and tender you at once,
my dearest Fronto, my thanks, that, so far from

1 In spite of Fronto’s speech they became great friends.

See below, dd. Ant. ii. 8.
2 Probably not the jurist, mentioned in the Digest, who
was later. Nothing is known of the persons named. "
7

F 2

Vat. 117

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

asti, sed etiam comprobasti. De iis autem, quae per
litteras amicissimas tuas consulis, ita existimo. Omnia
quae ad causam quam tueris adtinent plane pro-
ferenda; quae ad tuas proprias adfectiones adtinent,
licet iusta | et provocata sint, tamen_ reticenda.
Itaque neque fidem in negotio pannychio!} neque
modestiam in existimatione tua laeseris . . . .? et
dicant quae <velint, quom> una haec cura maxime
me exercet, ne quid tu tale dicas, quod tuis moribus
indignum, negotio inutile,’ circumstantibus repreh-
ensibile videatur esse. Vale mi Fronto carissime et
iucundissime mihi.

Ad M. Caes. iii. 6 (Naber, p. 44).

Domino meo.

Ita faciam, quod ad haec nomina, quod ad vitam,
ut te velle intellexero <uti> faciam; teque oro et
quaeso ne umquam quod a me fieri volueris <taceas>.
Sed ut nunc <bene> suades, ita <suade, si tal>e
umquam adversus voluntatem tuam quicquam in-
cipiam. Malim etiam <omnia nomina . . ., quae
in>* causa sunt, singillatim sint ; ut Ciceronis modum
proferamus. Nam quom in tantulum id® consultum
cogunt, versuf cupio,® praesertim qu<om>....

1 This word is certainly corrupt. We seem to want a
word like odiosissimum of Marcus’s previous letter. Possibly
πανουργικῷ might stand.

2 A gap of about thirty-four letters, but the word ceteri
can be read.

68

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

rejecting my advice, you have approved it. As to the
points on which you consult me in your very friendly
letter, my opinion is this. Whatever has relation to
the case, which you safeguard, should obviously
be put forward; whatever to your own private feel-
ings, although legitimate and provoked by the facts,
must, nevertheless, be left unsaid. So will you not
wound your honour in an all-night business, nor your
own standard of self respect. (Let the others
conduct the case as they will) and say what they
please, since the one thing that greatly concerns me
is, that you should say nothing that shall seem
unworthy of your character, useless to your case,
and to your audience deserving of blame. Farewell,
my dearest, and to me most delightful Fronto.

Fronto To Marcus AuRELIUS as CAESAR

T P 140-143 ap.
o my Lord.

I will act, my Lord, as to these counts and as
to my whole life in the way I see you wish me to
act; and I pray and beseech you never to forbear
mentioning what you wish done by me, but dissuade
me, as you are now rightly doing, if I ever under-
take any such thing against your wishes. I should
prefer (all the counts... . in the) case to be
taken separately, that we may apply the method
of Cicero. For when they compress that decision
into so little, 1 desire ........ but a fight

3 Schopen for Cod. invite.

4 About forty letters are lost “here.

δ m! of Cod. has vel. I= -

61. W. E. Pearce suggests valde cupio... quod petis ἴρ86
pugna mitius, etc.

69

Vat. 116

Vat. 228

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

sed pugna mi<nime> hoc modo transigi possit.
Quodsi agemus perpetuis orationibus, licet extra
causam nihil progrediar, tamen | et oculis acrioribus
et voce vehementi et verbis gravibus utendum,
<hinc>! autem <nutu> hinc digito irato, quod
<modeste> hominem tuum ferre decet. Sed difficile
est ut istud ab eo impetrari possit, dicitur enim
cupidine agendi flagrare. Nec reprehendo tamen
ne hoc quidem, se<d vide> ne tibi ipsa illa <quae>
in causa sunt infestius pro<ferre> videatur. Verum
et ipse suades inprimis fidei parendum: et si armis
vel palaestrica lu<das>, ne has quidem ludicras
exercitationes sine contentione confici posse... .
facundior.. . . . laudavi beatius opicum tuum.

Ad M. Caes. iv 1 (Naber, p. 58).

<Domtxo meo Fronto>.

Quoniam scio quanto opere sis anxius?. ...
<oves> | et columbae cum lupis et aquilis cantantem
sequebantur, immemores insidiarum et unguium et
dentium. Quae fabula recte interpretantibus illud
profecto significat, fuisse egregio ingenio eximiaque
eloquentia virum, qui plurimos virtutum suarum
facundiaeque admiratione devinxerit ; eumque amicos
et sectatores ita instituisse, ut quamquam diversis’

1 The words in brackets that follow are added by Eussner.

2 These words are from the Index in the Codex. They
are followed by a gap of two pages, containing the first half
of the letter, the purport of which can be partly gathered
from Marcus’s answer.

0

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

could never be conducted in this way. But if
we proceed with unbroken speeches, though I go
no step outside the case, my glance must needs
be somewhat keen, and my voice vehement, and
my words stern, and I must shew anger with a
gesture here and a finger there; and this your
man! ought to bear with composure. But it is no
easy matter to get that concession from him, for he
is said to be inflamed with a passion for pleading.
Nor yet do I find fault with even this; but take heed
that he seem not to you to put forward what actually
belongs to his case too bitterly. But it is your own
plea that honour should be the first consideration :
and if one practises arms or wrestling, not even
these mimic exercises can be carried through without
BUMIG: 65-5 ἀν aS oe oy I have praised more
happily your “ country bumpkin.” 3 ᾿

Fronto To Marcus AurRgELius as CAESAR

Εποντο to my Lord. pheno ae
Since I know how anxious you are . . . . shee
and doves with wolves and eagles followed the
singer, regardless of ambushes and talons and
teeth. This legend rightly interpreted surely signi-
fies this, that Orpheus? was a man of matchless
genius and surpassing eloquence, who attached to
himself numerous followers, from admiration of his
virtues and his power of speech, and that he so
trained his friends and followers, that, though met

1 Herodes appears to be meant.

2 Opicus, another form for (scan =a rude, unlettered
person.

3 Orpheus appears on the Alexandrine coins of Marcus.

71

Vat. 227

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

nationibus convenae, variis moribus imbuti, concord-
arent tamen et consuescerent et congregarentur,
mites cum ferocibus, placidi cum violentis, cum super-
bis moderati, cum crudelibus timidi: omnes deinde
paulatim vitia insita exuerent, virtutem sectarentur,
probitatem condiscerent, pudore impudentiam, ob-
sequio contumaciam,! benignitate malivolentiam
commutarent. Quodsi? quis umquam ingenio tan-
tum valuit ut amicos ac sectatores suos amore inter
se mutuo copularet, tu hoc profecto perficies multo
facilius, qui ad omnes virtutes natus es prius quam
institutus. Nam prius quam tibi aetas institutioni
sufficiens adolesceret, iam tu perfectus atque omni-
bus bonis artibus |? absolutus: ante pubertatem vir
bonus, ante togam virilem dicendi peritus. Verum
ex omnibus virtutibus tuis hoc vel praecipue admir-
andum, quod omnes amicos tuos concordia copulas.
Nec tamen dissimulaverim multo hoc esse difficilius
quam ut ferae ac leones cithara mitigentur: quod tu
facilius obtinebis, si unum illud vitium funditus ex-
tirpandum eruendumque curaveris, ne liveant neve
invideant invicem amici tui sibi,t neve quod tu alii
tribueris aut benefeceris, sibi quisque illud deperire
ac detrahi putet. Invidia perniciosum inter homines
malum maximeque internecivom, sibi aliisque pariter
obnoxium ; sed si procul a cohorte tua prohibueris,

1 Schopen for Cod. contumeliam.

2 Naber for Cod. quo si.

3 In this page are traces of a third writing, which like the
second refers to the Acta Concilit.

4 Added by Brakman from the margin of Cod,

72

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

together from different nations and endowed with
diverse characteristics, they, nevertheless, lived
sociably together in unity and concord, the gentle
with the fierce, the quiet with the violent, the meek
with the proud, the sensitive with the cruel. Then
all of them gradually put off their ingrained faults,
went after virtue and learned righteousness, ex-
changed shamelessness for a sense of shame, self-
will for deference, ill-feeling for kindliness. But if
ever anyone by his character had so much influence
as to unite his friends and followers in mutual love
for one another, you assuredly will accomplish this
with far greater ease, for you were formed by nature
before you were fitted by training for the exercise of
all virtues.!_ For before you were old enough to be
trained, you were already perfect and complete in all
noble accomplishments, before adolescence a good
man, before manhood? a practised speaker. But of
all your virtues this even more than the others is
worthy of admiration, that you unite all your friends
in harmony. And_I cannot conceal my opinion that
this is a far harder task than to charm with the lyre
the fierceness of lions and wild beasts: and you will
achieve this the more easily, if you set yourself to
uproot and utterly to stamp out this one vice of
mutual envy and jealousy among your friends, that
they may not, when you have shewn attention or
done a favour to another, think that this is so much
taken from or lost to themselves. Envy among men
is a deadly evil and more fatal than any, a curse to
enviers and envied alike. Banish it from your circle
of friends, and you will keep them, as they now are,

1 So Dio, lxxi. 35, ὃ 6, and Zonaras, ii: ἦν γὰρ καὶ φύσει
ἀγαθὸς ἀνήρ, πλεῖστα δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ παιδείας βελτίων ἐγένετο.

2 Marcus would have assumed the foga virilis about 186 a.D.

73

Vat. 178:
Quat. viii.
ends

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

uteris amicis concordibus et benignis, ut nunc uteris.
Sin aliqua pervaserit, magna molestia magnoque
labore erit restinguendum.

Sed meliora quaeso fabulemur. Amo Iulianum—
inde enim hic sermo defluxit— ; amo omnes qui te
diligunt ; amo deos qui te tutantur, amo vitam
propter te; amo litteras tecum; <cum amicis>!
tuis mihi amorem tui ingurgito.

wd Μ΄. Caes. iv. 2 (Naber, p. 60).

<Have mi magister> | carissime.?

1. Quamquam ad te cras venio, tamen tam
amicis tamque iucundis litteris tuis, tam denique
elegantibus nihil, ne hoc quidem tantulum, rescri-
bere non sustineo, mi Fronto carissime. Sed quid
ego prius amem? pro quo prius habeam gratiam?
Idne primum commemorem, quod in tantis domes-
ticis studiis tantisque extrariis negotiis occupatus,
tamen ad Iulianum nostrum visendum mea maxime
gratia—nam sim ingratus nisi id intellegam—ire coni-
sus es? Sed non magnum est. Tamen ita® est, si cetera
addas, tanto temporis spatio ibi te demorari, tantum
sermocinari, idque de me sermocinari, aut quod ad
valetudinem eius consolandam esset; aegrum commo-
diorem sibi, amicum amiciorem mihi facere; tum

autem de iis singillatim ad me perscribere; inibi
1 Mai to fill an equivalent gap. But query <ex epistulis >?
2 Naber adds the words in brackets. Mai begins the

letter with Carissime and gives ἃ different heading.
ὃ For Cod. ut.

74

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

harmonious and kindly; but let it in any way spread
among them, and it can only be stamped out with
immense toil and immense trouble.

But prithee let us talk of better things. I love
Julianus—for this discussion originated with him— ;
I love all who are fond of you; I love the gods who
watch over you; I love life for your sake; with you
I love letters; like all your friends I take deep
draughts of love for you.

Marcus AuRELIUS τὸ FRONTO

Haiz, my dearest of masters. eee:

1. Although I am coming to you to-morrow, yet

I cannot refrain, my dearest Fronto, from writing
some answer, however trifling, to a letter so friendly,
so delightful, so felicitous as yours. But what am I
to love first? feel grateful first for what? Shall I
not mention this first, that, occupied though you are
with such important pursuits at home and business
no less important outside, you nevertheless made a —
point of going to see our friend Julianus! chiefly—for
I were ungrateful if I did not realize this—on my
account. Bul, you will say, there ts not much in that.
Yet it does amount to much, if you count in all the
rest, your staying there so long, having so protracted
a talk, a talk, too, about me, or something to cheer
him up in his illness, your making a sick man more
comfortable in himself, a friend more friendly to
me ; then again, your writing out for me a detailed
account of all this, giving in your letter most welcome
1 Probably Salvius Julianus, the great jurist, who is

mentioned in the Digest, xxxvii. 14,17 Pr. by Marcus as
amicus noster.
75

Vat. 180

Vat. 154 ad
fin.

Vat. 158

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

urlgebat, et fratrem tuum maturius ad te reverti
aequom erat. Quaeso igitur, si quod verbum absurd-
ius aut inconsultior sensus aut infirmior littera istic
erit, id tempori apponas. Nam quom te ut amicum
vehementissime diligam, tum <me> meminisse
oportet, quantum amorem amico, tantum reverentiae
magistro praestare debere. Vale mi Fronto carissime
et supra omnes res dulcissime.

4. Sota Ennianus remissus a te et in charta puriore
et volumine gratiore et littera festiviore quam antea
fuerat videtur. Gracchus cum cado musti maneat,
dum venimus, neque enim metus est Gracchum in-
terea cum musto defervere posse. Valeas! semper
anima suavissima.

Ad M. Caes. iii 18 (Naber, p. 56).

| Maeistro suo Caesar suus.

In quantum me iuverit lectio orationum istarum
Gracchi, non opus est | me dicere, quom tu scias
optime, qui me ut eas legerem doctissimo ingenio ac
benignissimo animo tuo hortatus es. Ne autem sine
comite solus ad te liber tuus referretur, libellum istum
addidi. Vale mi magister suavissime, amice amicis-
sime, cui sum debiturus quidquid litterarum sciero.

1 Mai for Cod. valeat.

1 Called amicus noster by Marcus and Verus in Digest,
xxxvii. 14, 17 Pr. He was one of Marcus’s teachers, and
wrote a book for him De Asse ac Ponderibus, which is still
extant.

73

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

1 was pressing, and it was right that your
ould return to you in good time. I beseech
fore, if you find any solecism or confusion
t or shaky letter herein, put it down to
or though I am desperately fond of you as
at the same time 1 must not forget that I
shew no less respect to my master than
y friend. Farewell, my Fronto, dearest and
1 things sweetest to me.
Sota? of Ennius, which you have returned,
be on clearer paper, in a more handsome
nd a prettier hand than before. Let Grac-
e with the cask of new wine until we come.
no risk of Gracchus fermenting out‘
le along with the wine. Fare ever well,
test soul.

Marcus AuRELIUs TO FRONTO

n Caesar to his master, |? 140-143 Δ.
eed not say how pleased I was at reading
eeches of Gracchus, for you will know well
since it was you who, with your experienced
t and kind thoughtfulness, recommended
r my reading. That your book might not be
to you alone and unaccompanied, I have
his letter. Farewell, my sweetest of masters
ndliest of friends, to whom I am likely to be
for all the literature I shall ever know.
rding to Teuffel’s Latin Literature, Suta (Swras) =
There was a metre called Sotadean, but probably
om a licentious Greek poet mentioned by Martial
i. 86). 3 See next letter.

ibly the word means ‘‘to cool down” (cp. defi rvescere)
rs to the vehemence of Gracchus’s style, see Ad
. ad med. 79

Ambr. 98:
Quat. ii. be-
gins, Quat. i.
being lost

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Non sum tam ingratus ut non intellegam quid mihi
praestiteris, quom excerpta tua mihi ostendisti et
quom cotidie non desinis in viam me veram inducere
et “oculos” mihi “aperire,” ut vulgo dicitur. Merito
amo.

Ad M. Caes. i. 1 (Naber, p. 3).

<Cagsari suo Fronto>
. . . ./ | mittam igitur tibi quantum pote librum
hunc descriptum. Vale, Caesar, et ride et omnem
vitam laetare et parentibus optimis et eximio ingenio
tuo fruere.

Ad M. Caes. i. 2 (Naber, p. 3).

M. Caesar [Imp.] Frontoni Magistro meo I.

1. Quid ego <de> ista mea fortuna satis? dixerim,
vel quomodo istam necessitatem meam durissimam
condigne incusavero quae me istic ita animo anxio
tantaque sollicitudine praepedito adligatum adtinet, -
neque me sinit ad meum Frontonem, ad meam pul-
cherrimam animam confestim percurrere, praesertim
in huiusmodi eius valetudine prope accedere, manus
tenere, ipsum denique illum pedem, quantum sine
incommodo fieri possit, adtrectare sensim, in balneo
fovere, ingredienti manum subicere? Et tu me
amicum vocas, qui non abruptis omnibus cursu con-

1 Two pages are lost.
3 Heind. adds <digne> to give a construction to fortuna.

1 Excerpts from Terence, Vergil, Cicero, and Sallust, en-
titled Exempla Elocutionum, attributed by some to Fronto,
have come down to us. Marcus followed this habit of
making extracts. See 7houghts, iii. 14, and below, Ad Caes.
ii. 10.

80

Μ. CCENFLIUS FRONTO

I am not so ungrateful as not to recognize what a
favour you have done me by letting me see your
extracts,! and by ceasing not to lead me daily in the
right way and, as the saying goes, “to open my
eyes.” Deservedly do I love you.

143 a.p.
Fronto to his own Caesar.

. . - I will send you, therefore, as far as I can,
this book copied out. Farewell, Caesar, and smile
and be happy all your life long and enjoy the best
of parents and your own excellent abilities.

Baiae, 143 a.p.

Marcus Cagsar Imperator? to my master Fronto.

1. What shall I say, that is adequate, as to my
ill-fortune, or how inveigh as it deserves against this
most hard necessity which keeps me a prisoner
here with a heart so anxious and fettered with such
great apprehension and does not let me run at once
to my Fronto, to my most beautiful of souls, above
all to be with him at a time when he is so unwell,
to clasp his hands and in fine, as far as may be
without pain, to massage the poor foot itself, foment
it in the bath, and support him as he steps in? And
do you call me a friend, who do not throw aside all

2 Marcus did not receive the Imperium till 147 (with the
Trib. Put.), nor was he styled Imperator till 161. There
must be some error in the word. The number (I.) that
follows the heading may mean the first letter by Marcns in
the Codex, in which case the whole first quaternion, which
is lost, must have contained letters of Fronto.

81
VOL. I. 8

Ambr. 94

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

cito <ad te>! pervolo? Ego vero magis sum claudus
cum ista? mea verecundia, immo pigritia. O me—
quid dicam ! metuo quicquam dicere quod tu audire
nolis; nam tu quidem me omni modo conisus es
iocularibus istis tuis ac lepidissimis verbis a cura
movere, atque te omnia ista aequo animo | perpeti
posse ostendere. At ego ubi animus meus sit nescio:
nisi hoc scio, illo nescio quo ad te profectum eum
esse. Cura, miserere, omni temperantia abstinentia
omni? istam tibi pro tua virtute tolerandam, mihi
vero asperrimam nequissimamque, valetudinem de-
pellere.

2. Ad <quas>‘4 aquas proficisceris et quando, et
nune ut commode agas, cito, oro, perscribe mihi et
mentem in pectus meum repone. Ego interim vel
tales tuas litteras mecum gestabo. Vale mihi Fronto
iucundissime : quamquam ita me dispositius® dicere
oportet—nam tu quidem semper avest—: ο qui ubi-
que estis di boni, valeat oro meus Fronto iucundis-
simus atque carissimus mihi: valeat semper integro
inlibato incolumi corpore: valeat et mecum esse
possit. Homo suavissime, vale. .

Ad M., Caes, i. 3 (Naber, p. 5).

Carsari suo Fronto.
1. Tu, Caesar, Frontonem istum tuum sine fine
amas, vix ut tibi homini facundissimo verba sufficiant

1 Novak. 2 For Cod. iciéa. 8 For Cod. omnem.
4 Added by Naber. Studemund says the Codex seems to
have proficiscens.

82

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

hindrances and fly in hot haste to you? I, indeed,
am more lame than you with that diffidence or, rather,
laziness of mine. Oh, as to myself—what shall I say ?
I am afraid of saying something you would not like
to hear, for you indeed have always striven in every
way, with your humorous sallies and your wittiest of
words, to divert my mind, and to shew me that you
can put up with all your ills with unruffled fortitude.
But where my fortitude has gone to I know not, if it
be not yonder in some mysterious way to you. For
mercy’s sake endeavour with all self-denial and all
abstinence to shake off this attack which you, indeed,
can endure with your usual courage, but to me it is
the worst and sorest of trials.

2. Write and tell me quickly, I beseech you, to
what waters you are going and when, and how well you
now are, and set my mind going in my breast again.
Meanwhile I will carry about your letter in spite
of its sad tenor. Farewell, my most delightful
Fronto: and yet I ought to put it more correctly
thus—for to fare well is, of course, always your
wish—: O ye kind Gods, that are everywhere, grant,
I beseech you, health to my Fronto, dearest to me
and most delightful: let him ever be well with a
hardy, hale, healthy body: let him be well and able
to be with me. Most charming of men, farewell.

143 a.p.
Fronto to his own Caesar.
1. So without end, Caesar, is your love for this
Fronto of yours, that for all your eloquence words

5 Klussm. for Cod. dispositus. Heind. preferred dis
potius.
83
G 2

Ambr. 99

Ambr. 100

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

ad expromendum amorem tuum et benivolentiam
declarandam. Quid, oro te, | fortunatius, quid me
uno beatius esse potest, ad quem tu tam flagrantes !
litteras mittis? Quin etiam, quod est amatorum
proprium, currere ad me vis et volare.

2. Solet mea Domina parens tua interdum ioco?
dicere, se mihi quod a te tanto opere diligar invidere.
Quid, si istas litteras tuas legerit, quibus tu deos
etiam pro salute mea votis advocas et precaris? O
me beatum! ore tuo me dis commendatum! Putasne
ullus dolor penetrare sciat corpus aut animum meum
prae tanto gaudio? Proced ... .* babae! Neque
doleo iam quicquam nec aegre fero: vigeo, valeo,
exulto: quo vis, veniam; quo vis, curram. Crede
istud mihi, tanta me laetitia perfusum, ut rescribere
tibi ilico non potuerim ; sed eas quidem litteras, quas
ad priorem epistulam tuam iam rescripseram, dimisi
ad te: sequentem autem tabellarium retinui, quo ex
gaudio resipiscerem. Ecce nox praeteriit, dies hic
est alter, qui <iam>* prope exactus est, necdum quid
aut quemadmodum tibi rescribam reperio. Quid enim
ego possim iucundius, quid blandius, quid amantius,
quam tu scripsisti mihi pro<ponere? Unde>* gaudeo
quod ingratum me | et referundae gratiae imparem
tacias, quoniam, ut res est, ita me diligis ut ego te
Magis amare vix possim.

3. Igitur ut argumentum aliquod prolixiori epist-
ulae reperiam, quod, oro te, ob meritum sic me

1 Cod. fraglantes, as almost always (not = fragrantes).
2 Naber tocose for Cod. loci (m* loco) dis.cere.

3 Naber prostluerim for Cod. proced...

4 Hauler. δ Brakman.

84

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

are scarcely forthcoming fully to express your love
and set forth your goodwill. What, I ask you, can
be more fortunate, what more happy than I alone
am, to whom you send such glowing letters? Nay,
more, and this is peculiar to lovers, you wish to run,
aye, to fly, to me.

2. My Lady, your mother, is wont at times to say
_in fun that she envies me for being loved so much
by you. What if she read this letter of yours, in
which you even beseech the gods and invoke them
with vows for my health? O, happy that I am!
commended by your lips to the gods! Can any pain,
think you, find its way into body or mind of mine to
count against delight so great? ... . hurrah! No
longer do I feel any pain, nor any distress: I am
whole, I am well, I leap for joy; whither you wish,
I will come; whither you wish, 1 will run. Believe
me when I say that I was so steeped in delight as
not to be able to answer your letter at once; but the
letter, indeed, which I had already written in answer
to your previous one, 1 have sent off to you. How-
ever, I have kept back the second messenger that I
might recover from my joy. And lo, the night has
passed, a second day is already here which is already
almost spent, and still what and how to write back
to you I find not. For what professions of mine
could be more sweetly, what more winningly, what
more lovingly expressed than yours for me? And so
I rejoice that you make me ungrateful and put a due
tequital beyond my powers, since, as the matter
stands, your affection for me is so great that I can
scarcely exceed your love.

3. Therefore, to provide some matter for a longer
letter, let me ask you for what desert of mine

85

Ambr, 76

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

amas? Quid iste Fronto tantum boni fecit ut eum
tanto opere tu diligas? Caput suum pro te aut
parentibus tuis devovit? Succidaneum se pro vestris
periculis subdidit? Provinciam aliquam fideliter ad-
ministravit? Exercitum duxit? Nihil eorum. Ne
cotidianis quidem istis officiis circa te praeter ceteros
fungitur; est! immo, s<i> verum velis, satis infre-
quens. Nam neque domum vestram diluculo ventitat,
neque cotidie <te> salutat, neque ubique comitatur,
nec semper spectat. Vide igitur ut, si quis inter-
roget cur Frontonem ames, habeas in promptu quod
facile respondeas.

4. At ego nihil quidem malo quam amoris erga me
tui nullam extare rationem. Nec omnino mihi amor
videtur qui ratione oritur? et iustis certisque de causis
copulatur: amorem ego illum intellego fortuitum et
liberum et nullis causis servientem, impetu potius
quam ratione conceptum, qui non officiis, uti lignis,®
sed sponte ortis vaporibus caleat. Baiarum ego | calid-
os specus malo quam istas fornaculas balnearum,
in quibus ignis cum sumptu atque fumo accenditur
brevique extinguitur. At illi ingenui vapores puri
perpetuique sunt, grati pariter et gratuiti. Ad eun-
dem prorsus modum amicitiae istae officiis calentes 4
fumum interdum et lacrimas habent: ubi primum
cessaveris extinguuntur: amor autem fortuitus’ et
iugis est et iucundus.®

5. Quid, quod neque adolescit proinde nec corrob-
oratur amicitia meritis parta ut ille amor subitus et

1 Hauler for Cod. &. He has given his revision of this
letter i in Zei!sch. 7. d. dst. Gymn. 54 (1907), p PP. 32-37.

2 m? of Cod. has munitur.

® Query lignis <ignis>. 4 m? of Cod. gives calent.

5 m? of | Cod. gives iuyzs est fortuitus amor et iucundus,

86

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

you love me so. What benefit has your Fronto
bestowed upon you so great that you should shew
him such affection? Has he given up his life for you
and your parents? Has he braved perils vicariously
in your stead? Has he been the faithful governor
of some province? Has he commanded an army?
Nothing of the kind. Not even those everyday
duties about your person does he discharge more
than others; nay, he is, if you wish the truth, remiss
enough. For neither does he haunt your house at
daybreak, nor pay his respects to you daily, nor
attend you everywhere, nor keep you always in
sight. See to it then that, if anyone ask you why
you love Fronto, you have an easy answer ready.

4. And yet there is nothing I like better than
that there should be no reason for your love of me.
For that seems to me no love at all which springs
from reason and depends on actual and definite
causes: by love I understand such as is fortuitous
and free and subject to no cause, conceived by im-
pulse rather than by reason, that needs no services,
as a fire logs, for its kindling, but glows with self-
engendered heat. To me the steaming grottoes of
Baiae are better than your bath-furnaces, in which
the fire is kindled with cost and smoke, and anon
goes out. But the natural heat of the former is at
once pure and perpetual, as grateful as it is gratuit-
ous. Just in the same way your rational friendship,
kept alight with services, not unfrequently means
smoke and watery eyes: relax your efforts for an
instant and out they go: but love fortuitous is
eternal and enchanting.

5. Again, friendship that is won by desert has no
such growth or firm texture as the love that is

87

Ambr. 75

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

repentinus? Ut non aeque adolescunt in pomariis
hortulisque arbusculae manu cultae rigataeque ut ille
in montibus aesculus et abies et alnus et cedrus et
piceae, quae sponte natae, sine ratione ac sine ordine
sitae, nullis cultorum laboribus neque officiis sed
ventis atque imbribus educantur.!

6. Tuus igitur iste amor incultus et sine ratione
exortus, spero, cum cedris porro adolescet et aesculis:
qui si officiorum ratione coleretur, non ultra myrtos
laurusque procresceret, quibus satis odoris, parum
roboris. Et omnino quantum fortuna rationi, tantum
amor fortuitus officioso amori antistat.

7. Quis autem ignorat rationem humani consilii |
vocabulum esse, Fortunam autem deam dearumque
praecipuam? templa fana delubra passim Fortunae
dicata, Rationi nec simulacrum neque aram usquam
consecratam? Non fallor igitur quin? malim amorem
erga me tuum fortuna potius quam ratione genitum.

8. Neque vero umquam ratio fortunam aequiparat,
neque maiestate neque usu neque dignitate. Nam
neque aggeres manu ac ratione constructos montibus
comparabis neque aquaeductus amnibus neque recep-
tacula fontibus. Tum ratio consiliorum prudentia
appellatur, vatum impetus divinatio nuncupatur. Nec
quisquam prudentissimae feminae consiliis potius

1 The margin of Cod. has evocantur as a variant.
2 So Cod.

1 The alder seems out of place among upland and forest
trees.

88

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

sudden and at first sight. So in orchards and gar-
dens the growth of shrubs, reared and watered by
hand, is not like that of the oak and the fir and the
alder} and the cedar and the pine on their native
hills which, springing up self-sown and set without
plan and without order, owe nothing to the toil or
services of a planter, but are fostered by the wind
and the rain.

6. That love of yours, therefore, unplanted and
sprung up without reason, will, I trust, grow steadily
on with the cedars and the oaks; whereas if it were
cherished by reason of services done, it would not
outgrow the myrtles and the bays, which have scent
enough but too little strength. In a word, love
spontaneous is as superior to love earned by service
as fortune is to reason.

7. But who is there knows not that reason is a
term for human judgment, while Fortuna is a god-
dess and the chief of goddesses? that temples, fanes,
and shrines have been dedicated to Fortuna? all the
world over, while to Reason has been consecrated
neither image nor altar anywhere? I cannot be
wrong then in preferring that your love for me
should be born rather of fortune than of reason.

8. Indeed reason can never compare with fortune
either in grandeur or utility or worth. For neither
can you match your pyramids, raised by hand and
reason, against the hills, nor your aqueducts against
the rivers, nor your cisterns against the fountains.
Again, reason that guides our actions is called wis-
dom, the intuition of the seer is named divination.
Nor is there anyone who would rather put faith in

2 See Plutarch, On the Fortune of the Romans, ch. x. ; and
for the various Fortunes cp. De Orat., ad init.

89

Ambr. 87

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

accrederet! quam vaticinationibus Sibyllae. Quae
omnia quorsum tendunt? Ut ego recte malim im-
petu et forte potius quam ratione ac merito meo
diligi, Quam ob rem etiam si qua iusta ratio est
amoris erga me tui, quaeso, Caesar, sedulo demus
operam ut ignoretur et lateat. Sine homines am-
bigant disserant disputent coniectent requirant, ut
Nili caput, ita nostri amoris originem.

9. Sed iam hora decimum tangit, et tabellarius |
tuus mussat. Finis igitur sit epistulae. Valeo?
revera multo quam opinabar commodius. De aquis
nihildum cogito. Te, Dominum meum, decus mo-
rum, solacium <maximu>m, multum amo. Dices
num amplius quam ego te? Non sum tam ingratus ut
hoc audeam dicere. Vale, Caesar, cum tuis parenti-
bus, et ingenium tuum excole. |

Ad M. Caes. i. 4 (Naber, p. 9).

M. Cagsar Frontoni magistro salutem.

1. Accipe nunc perpaucula contra somnum pro
insomnia : quamquam, puto, praevaricor, qui adsidue
diei ac noctis somno adsum, neque eum desero neque
is? me deserat, adeo sumus familiares. Sed cupio
hac sua accusatione offensus paulisper a me abscedat
et lucubratiunculae aliquam tandem facultatem trib.
uat. Igitur ἐπιχειρήματα <moi>xida*t: e quibus illo

1 Ehrenthal for Cod. accederet.

2 Added by m? in the Codex over the line. Du Rieu and
Brakman read ego in the Codex after valeo.

5 Mai has i//e, for which there is not enough space in the
Codex. Klussm. would read sino,

4 Hauler reads the Codex ... σκιλα etusdem; Mai has ef
quidem for e quibws.

go

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

the wisest of women than in the oracles of the Siby].
What is the drift of all this? To shew that I do
right in preferring to be loved by intuition and
chance rather than by reason and my desert. Where-
fore, even if there is any adequate reason for your
love for me, I beseech you, Caesar, let us take dili-
gent pains to conceal and ignore it. Let men doubt,
discuss, dispute, guess, puzzle over the origin of our
love as over the fountains of the Nile.

9. It is now close on four o’clock and your mes-
senyer is muttering. So my letter must end. I am
really much better than 1 expected; I have given
up all idea of waters. Dearly do I love you, my
Lord, the glory of our age, my chiefest solace. You
will say, Not surely more than I love you? Yam not so
ungrateful as to dare say that. Farewell, Caesar, and
your parents too, and cultivate your abilities to the
full.

Baiae, 148 a.p.

M. Caesar to his master Fronto, greeting.

1, Hear now a very few points in favour of wake-
fulness against sleep!: and yet methinks I am
guilty of collusion, in that I side with sleep night
and day without ceasing: I desert him not, nor is he
likely to desert me, such cronies are we. But my
hope is that he may be huffed at my indictment of
him and leave me for a little space, and give me a
chance at last of burning some midnight oil. Now
for subtle arguments: of which? my first, indeed,

1 This letter is evidently an answer to a Pro Somno of
Fronto’s. By ‘‘collusion” he means being really in favour
of sleep while pretending to plead against it. |

2 If we keep Hauler’s reading of the Codex eiusdem, the
pronoun would scem to refer to Theodorus (see p. 38), for we
can hardly assent to Hauler’s view that ox:Aa refers to Squilla
Gallicanus, to whom there is a letter below, 4d Am. i, 25.

ΟΙἅ

Ambr. 88

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

primo utar epichiremate, quod,! si tu dices faciliorem
me materiam mihi adsumpsisse accusandi somni,
quam te qui laudaveris somnum—quis enim, inquis,
non facile somnum accusaverit ?>—ego t<ibi?: cui>us
facilis accusatio, <eius>dem difficilis laudatio; cuius
difficilis laudatio, eius non utilis usur\patio.

2. Sed hoe transeo. Nunc, quando apud Baias
agimus in hoc diuturno Ulixi labyrintho, ab Ulixe
mihi paucula quae ad hanc rem adtinentsumam. Non
enim 1116 profecto εἰκοστῷ demum ἔτει venisset εἰς
πατρίδα γαῖαν, neque in isto lacu tam diu oberasset,
neque alia omnia quae ‘Odvoceiuy faciunt perpessus
esset, nisi tum γλυκὺς ὕπνος ἐπήλυθε κεκμηῶτα. Quam-
quam τῇ δεκάτῃ ἀνεφαίνετο πάτρις dpovpa—sed quid
somnus fecit ?

βουλὴ δὲ κακὴ νίκησεν ἑταίρων"
ἀσκὸν μὲν λῦσαν, ἄνεμοι δ᾽ ἐκ πάντες ὄρουσαν,
τοὺς δ᾽ aly ἁρπάξασα φέρεν πόντονδε θύελλα
κλαίοντας γαίης ἀπὸ πατρίδος.

Quid rursum apud insulam Trinacriam?

οὐδ᾽ ἄνεμοι 8 γλυκὺν ὕπνον ἐπὶ βλεφάροισιν éxevay.
Εὐρύλοχος δ᾽ ἑτάροισι κακῆς ἐξήρχετο βουλῆς.

Postea, ubi Ἠελίοιο βόας καὶ ἴφια μῆλα---ἔσφαξαν
καὶ ἔδειραν --- καὶ pnp ἐκάη καὶ σπλάγχν᾽ ἐπάσαντο, quid
tum expergitus Ulixes? |

οἰμώξας δὲ θεοῖσι per’ ἀθανάτοισι γεγώνευν"

>

ἦ με Mad’ εἰς ἄτην κοιμήσατε νηλέι ὕπνῳ.

1 Buttmann quo. 2 Cod. igit<ur cut> us.
8. So Cod. for of δ᾽ ἄρα μοι.

1 Marcus seems to refer to Ulysses being driven back-

wards and forwards along the coast (Odyss. xii. ).

42

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

shall be this, in regard to which, if you say that I have
taken up an easier theme in accusing sleep than you
who have praised it—for who, say you, cannot easily
bring an indictment against sleep?—I will counter
thus: what is easy to indict is hard to praise ; what
is hard to praise can serve no useful purpose.

2. But I let that pass. For the nonce, as we are
staying at Baiae in this interminable labyrinth 1 of
Ulysses, I will take from Ulysses a few things
which bear on my subject. For he surely would
not have taken twenty years his fatherland to reach,?
nor have wandered so long about that pool, nor
gone through all the other adventures which make up
the Odyssey, had not then sweet sleep seized his weary
limbs.> Yet on the-tenth day his native soil appeared*—
but what did sleep do?

The evil counsel of my crew prevailed :

The bag they opened, and forth rushed the ninds ;
The fierce gale caught and swept them to the sea,
Weeping mith sorrom, from their native shore.®

What again took place at the island of Trinacria?®

Nor winds sweet sleep upon mine eyelids shed :
Eurylochus his crew ill counsel gave.”

Afterwards, when the Sungod’s oxen and fat flocks
. . they slew and flayed . . and burnt the thighs and ate
the flesh,* what then Ulysses when awaked ?

Watling I cried to all the Gods on high,
Who ruthless to my ruin made me sleep.®

2 Odyss. iii. 117. 8 Ibid. x. 31. 4 Ibid. 29.
δ Ihid. 46. ® Sicily. 7 Odyss. xii. 338.
§ Ibid. xi. 108; xii. 359, 364. ® Ibid. xii. 370, 372.

93

Ambr. 97

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Somnus autem Ulixen ne patriam quidem suam
diu agnosceret sivit, cuius καὶ καπνὸν | ἀποθρώσκοντα
νοῆσαι ἷ ἱμείρετο.

3. Nunca Laertio ad Atridam transeo. Nam illud
πασσυδίῃ, quod eum decepit, cuius causa tot legiones
funduntur fugantur, ex somno et ex somnio profecto
oritur.

Quod,? quom 6 ποιητὴς Agamemnona laudat, quid
ait ?

ἔνθ᾽ οὐκ av Bpilovra ἴδοις ᾿Αγαμέμνονα δῖον"
quid cum reprehendit ?>—
ov χρὴ παννύχιον evdew βουληφόρον ἄνδρα,

quos quidem versus orator egregius mire quondam
evertit.

4. Transeo nunc ad Q. Ennium nostrum, quem tu
ais ex somno et somnio initium sibi <scribendi>§®
fecisse. Sed profecto nisi ex somno suscitatus esset,
numquam somnium suum narrasset.

5. Hine ad Hesiodum pastorem, quem dormientem
poetam ais factum. At enim ego meminisse olim
apud magistrum me legere :

, “a , Iv 54 ν
ποιμένι μῆλα νέμοντι παρ᾽ ἴχνιον ὀξέος ἵππου
ε ΄ , ε . Φ» 5 ’
Ἡσιόδῳ Μουσέων ἑσμὸς ὅτ᾽ ἠντίασεν"
τὸ “or ἠντίασεν " vides quale sit, scilicet ambulanti
obviam venisse Musas.

1 m* of the Codex adds fs γαίης θανέειν.
2 Naber quid. 8. Schopen.

1 Odyss. i. 58. 5 Iliad, iv. 22,23. 8 Tbid. ii. 94.
94

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Sleep, however, did not allow Ulysses a long
recognition of his native land, from which he
yearned to see even the smoke leap upmards.} |

3. Now I leave the son of Laertes for the son of
Atreus. For that mith all haste, which beguiled the
latter, and led to the defeat and rout of so many
legions, surely sprang from sleep and a dream.

Again, when the poet would praise Agamemnon,
what says he P—

Then none might see the godlike Agamemnon sleeping —?
what, when he is finding fault >—
No councillor should sleep the whole night long,’

verses indeed, which an illustrious orator’ once
wrested in a strange fashion.

4. I now pass on to our friend Q. Ennius, who,
you say, drew from sleep and a dream® his first
inspiration to write. But, marry, had he never
waked from sleep, he had never told his dream.

5. From him let us to Hesiod the shepherd, who
became a poet, you say, in slumber. But, indeed, I
remember reading once upon a time at school :

When on the snift steed’s track he was leading his
sheep to the pasture,
Hesiod once was met in the way by a bevy of Muses.®

That was met, you see what it implies? Why, that
he was walking when the Muses met him.

4 Frontv. Jerome calls certain translations of the Scrip-
tures non versiones sed eversiones.

5 Cicero (Acad. ii. 16) quotes the beginning of Ennius’s
’ own account of the dream: Visus Homerus adesse poeta.
© cy. Hesiod, Theog. 22 f.

95

Ambr. 98᾽

Atnbr. 86

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Quid autem tu de eo existimas, quem qui pulch-
errime laudat, quid ait ?—

νήδυμος ἥδιστος θανάτῳ | ἄγχιστα ἐοικώς.
ο

6. Haec satis tui amore <potius> quam meae
fiduciae} luserim. Nunc bene accusato somno dorm-
itum eo: nam vespera haec ad te detexui. Opto
ne mihi somnus gratiam referat.

Ad M. Caes. i. 5 (Naber, p. 11).

M. Cazsari Domino suo Fronto.

1. Domum reverso mihi epistula reddita est,
quam tu videlicet Romam mihi scripseras, et erat lata
Romam ; deinde hodie relata et paulo ante mihi est
reddita; in qua pauca quae ego pro somno dixeram
tu multis et elegantibus argumentis refutasti ita
scite, ita subtiliter et apte, ut si vigilia tibi hoc
acuminis et leporis adfert, ego prorsus vigilare te mal-
lem. Sed enim vespera scripsisse te ais, quom paulo
post dormiturus esses. Igitur adpropinquans et im-
minens tibi somnus tam elegantem hanc epistulam
fecit. Namque ut crocus, ita somnus, priusquam
prope adsit, longe praeolet, longeque delectat.

2. Ut a principio igitur epistulae tuae incipiam,
elegantissime praevaricari te ais, quod? . . . . <ver-
bum 5 adeo proprium> | est ut eo sublato aliud subdi

᾿ Τὴν word has no proper construction. Query meae fide
caus * Two pages are lost here.
α Possibly the word labyrintho is meant.

1 Odyas. xiii, 80.
96

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

What, again, do you think of that, of which its
most eloquent advocate says what ?

Sweet dreamless sleep, death's counterfeit.

6. Enough of this trifling which I have indulged in
more from love of you than from my own faith in it.
Now after soundly abusing sleep, I am off to sleep:
for I have spun all this out for you in the evening.
I hope sleep will not pay me out.

143 a.p.
Fronto to his Lord Marcus Caesar.

1. On my return home I received your letter
which you had, of course, written to me at Rome,
and to Rome it had gone; then it was brought
back to-day and delivered to me a little while ago.
In it, with many happy arguments, you confute the
little I had said for sleep so cleverly, so subtly and
aptly, that if wakefulness brings you such sharpness
and wit,? I would absolutely prefer you to keep
awake. But, indeed, you confess that you wrote in
the evening just before going to sleep. It was the
near approach, therefore, and overshadowing of sleep
that produced so felicitous a letter. For, like the
saffron, sleep, ere it comes close, sheds its fragrance
from afar and delights at a distance.

2. To begin, then, with the opening of your letter,
collusion with sleep, as you term it, is most happy

. . the word? is so apt that, were it withdrawn,

2 In a fragment of a letter to Marcus as emperor, Charisius,
Ars Grammatica, ii. 223, 8, quotes from Fronto adrst etiam
usque quaque tibi natura situs lepos cf venustas.

ὃ This must refer to some word in the lost pages, not to

pracvaricor, which characterizes Marcus’ treatment of the
theme in general.

97

VOL, I. H

Ambr. 86

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

eiusdem usus et ponderis non possit. Illud vero
dictum! elegans .... aut a via tua quae ais,?
neque alia omnia quae ᾿Οδυσσείαν faciunt.

3. Enimvero omnia istaec inter Graecos versus
Latina ita scite alternata sunt a te et interposita, ut
est ille in pyrrica versicolorum discursus, quom amicti
cocco alii, alii luteo et ostro et purpura, alii aliisque 8
cohaerentes concursant.

4. Iam a Laertio ad Atridam eleganter transisti.
Ecce autem circa Q. Ennium malitiosam pilam de-
disti, quom ais, ntsz ex somno exsuscitatus esset, num-
quam somnium suum narrasset. <Eruat>‘ aliquid
Marcus meus Caesar, si pote, argutius. Praestigiae
nullae tam versutae, nulla, ut ait Laevius, decipula
tam insidiosa. Qui<d>, si ego id postulo, ne exper-
giscare? Quin postulo ut dormias. Aliud® scur-
rarum proverbium : en cum quo in tenebris mices. Sed
sumne ego beatus qui haec intellego et perspicio et
insuper agnomine® magister appellor? Quo pacto
ego magister? qui unum hoc quod te docere cupio,
ut dormias, non impetro. Perge uti libet, dummodo
di te mihi, sive prodormias sive pervigiles,’ | pro-
tegant. Vale, meum gaudium, vale.

1 Fronto may be referring to the word lacus. A page is
lost here. A marginal note in the Codex gives Baiae,
Lucrinus, and Avernus, 88 mentioned in the lost part.

2 The six preceding words are very uncertain.

3 Novak for Cod. altique.

+ Studemund reads the Codex, doubtfully, as Oderit me.

5 Query audi id.

4 Cod. has acnomine above mayister; Naber reads magno
nomine.

938

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

nothing of equal value and force could be put in
its place. That, again, is a happy expression. .. .
or that turn of yours beside the mark where you say
nor all the other things which make up the Odyssey.

3. Indeed all that Latin context is interwoven by
you and alternates as skilfully with the Greek verses
as the movements of the gaily-drest performers in
the Pyrrhic reel when they run together, coalescing
now with these, now with thogg, dressed some in
scarlet, others in damask,! and crimson, and purple.

4, Again, your transition from Laertius to Atrides
was neatly done. But come, that was a nasty return
you gave Q. Ennius when you said that, had he not
awaked from sleep he could not have recounted his
dream. See if my Marcus Caesar can evolve any-
thing more dexterous than that. No sleight of word
so clever, no snare, as Laevius says, so cunningly set.
What if I beseech you never to wake up? Nay, I
beseech you to sleep. Another jester’s? proverb:
Marry, one nith whom you can play odd and even in
the dark! But am I not blest in seeing and realizing
this, and above all in being called by the title
master? How I master? who cannot get my way
in this one thing I would have you learn—to sleep.
Go your own way, provided that, whether you wake
early or sleep long, the Gods keep you for me.
Farewell, my joy, farewell.

1 For the meaning of /uteus see Fronto apud Gell. ii. 26, § 8.

2 Cicero, De Off. ni. 19, calls it rusticorum proverbium. To
“ἐς flash with the fingers” was to raise some of them sharply
for another to rap out the number, a game still played in
Italy and called mora.

I --

7 Naber says there is a gap of one line <incolumem le
servient εἰ Mihly >, which Studemund denies.

99
H 2

Vat. 241 ad
fin

Vat. 190

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad ΗΠ. Caes. iii. 14 (Naber, p. 52).

| MaaisTRo meo.
Epistula Ciceronis mirifice adfecit animum
meum. Miserat Brutus Ciceroni librum suum corri-
gendum... .!

Ad M. Caes. iii. 15 (Ngber, Ῥ. 52).

<DomiNno meo>.

1. ... . | molliantur atque ita efficacius sine
ulla ad animos offensione audientium penetrent.
Haec sunt profecto quae tu putes obliqua et insincera
et anxia et verae amicitiae minime accommodata. At ego
sine istis omnem orationem absurdam et agrestem et
inconditam,? denique inertem atque inutilem puto.
Neque magis oratoribus arbitror necessaria eiusmodi
artificia quam philosophis. In ea re non oratorum
domesticis, quod dicitur, testimoniis utar, sed philo-
sophorum eminentissimis, poetarum vetustissimis ex-
cellentissimisque, vitae denique cotidiano usu atque
cultu artiumque omnium experimentis.

2. Quidnam igitur tibi videtur princeps ille sapi-
entiae simul atque eloquentiae Socrates? Huic enim
primo ac potissimo testimonium apud te denuntiavi :
eone usus genere dicendi, in quo nihil est obliquum,

1 Two pages are lost, to molliantur.

2 Mai for Cod. incognitam. Fronto seems here to have in
mind Quintil. vi. 3. 107: «dla est urbanitas, in qua nihil
absonum, nihil agreste, nrhil inconditum.

1 Possibly the book De Virtute; see Cicero, Tusc. v. 1.
For his other philosophical works see Cicero, Acad. Part. i. 12.

100

-M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

M. AureEtius as Carsar To FrRONtTO

T 143 a.p.
Ὁ my master.

Cicero’s letter interested me wonderfully. Brutus
had sent his book! to Cicero for corrections .

Fronto To M. Auretius as CAESAR

To my Lord. ea
| er ae be softened and so more effectually
without any friction enter into the minds of hearers.
And these are actually the things which you think
crooked and insincere and laboured? and by no means
reconctlable nith true friendship! But I think all
speech without these conventions rude and rustic
and incongruous, in a word, inartistic and inept.?
Nor, in my opinion, can philosophers dispense with
such artifices any more than orators. In support of
my contention I will adduce not “family ’’ evidence,
as the phrase is, from oratory, but I will call upon
the most outstanding philosophers, the most ancient
and excellent poets, in fact, the everyday practice

and usage of life and the experience of all the arts.
2. What, then, have you to say about that master
of eloquence no less than of wisdom, Socrates ?—for
him, first and foremost, I have subpoenaed as witness
before you—did he cultivate a style of speech in
which there was nothing crooked, nothing at times

2 As in Aul. Gell. xv. 7 and Tac. Ann. i.8; Hildebrand
on Apul. Afet. iv. 27, takes it as = ambigua.

3 Fronto is nettled at something Marcus had said against
conventional insincerities of language. It was not for nothing
that he was called Verissimus.

IOI

Vat, 180

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

nihil interdum dissimulatum? Quibus ille modis
Protagoram et Polum et Thrasymachum et sophistas
ceteros versare et inretire solitus? Quando autem
aperta arte congressus est? Quando non ex insidiis
adortus? Quo ex homine nata inversa oratio vid-
etur, quam Graeci εἰρωνείαν | appellant? Alcibiaden
vero ceterosque adulescentes genere aut forma aut
opibus feroces quo pacto appellare atque adfari sol-
ebat? Per iurgium an per zoAitiav? Exprobrando
acriter quae delinquerent an leniter arguendo? Ne-
que deerat Socrati profecto gravitas aut vis, quan-
tum! cynicus Diogenes vulgo saeviebat; sed vidit
profecto ingenia partim hominum ac praecipue adul-
escentium facilius comi atque adfabili oratione leniri
quam acri violentaque superari. Itaque non vineis
neque arietibus errores adulescentium expugnabat,
sed cuniculis subruebat, neque umquam ab eo audit-
ores discessere lacerati sed nonnumquam lacessiti.
Est enim genus hominum natura insectantibus in-
domitum, blandientibus conciliatum. Quam ob rem
facilius precariis decedimus .quam violentis deterr-
emur, plusque ad corrigendum promovent consilia
quam iurgia. Ita comitati monentium obsequimur,
inclementiae obiurgantium obnitimur.

1 The margin of the Codex gives guantam from another MS.

1 As when he pretended ignorance (dissimulatio) to elicit
a definition from others.

102

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

dissembled? By what methods was he wont to dis-
concert and entrap Protagoras and Polus and Thrasy-
machus and the other Sophists? When did he meet
them without masking his batteries? When not
attack them from an ambush? From whon, if not
from him, can we say that the inverted! form of
speech, which the Greeks call εἰρωνεία, took its rise ἢ
In what fashion, again, used he to accost and ad-
dress Alcibiades and the other young men who
prided themselves on birth or beauty or riches? In
terms of censure or in terms of suavity?? With
bitter reproof when they went wrong, or with gentle
persuasion? And yet Socrates assuredly had as
much seriousness or force as the cynic Diogenes
shewed in his habitual brutality. But he saw,
in fact, that the dispositions of men in a measure,
and of young men in particular, are wore easily
won over by courteous and sympathetic than by
bitter and unrestrained language. And so he did
not attack the errors of youths with mantlets and
battering rams, but sapped them with mines, and
his hearers never parted from him torn, though
sometimes teased. For the race of mankind is by
nature stiff-necked against the high-handed, but
responds readily to coaxing. Therefore we give way
more willingly to entreaties than are frightened into
submission by violence, and advice rather than de-
nunciation leads us to improve. So we listen to
admonition courteously conveyed, but severity of
correction makes us contumacious.?

3 The Greek word = civiliter. cp. urbanitas in the quota-
tion from Quintilian in note on p. 100.

8 Fronto imitates Sallust in the conclusion of this letter.
The last words are a good specimen of a Frontonian sententia
Or γνώμη.

103

Vat. 148

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad Μ΄ Caes. iii. 16 (Naber, p. 58).

DomINo meo.

1. Quod tu me putes somnum cepisse, totam
paene noctem pervigilavi, mecum ipse reputans num
forte nimio | amore tui remissius et clementius de-
lictum aliquod tuum aestimarem ; num tu ordinatior
perfectior iam in eloquentia esse debueris, sed in-
genium tuum vel desidia vel indiligentia claudat.!
Haec mecum anxie volutans inveniebam te multum
supra aetatem quanta? est, multum supra tempus
quo operam his studiis dedisti, multum etiam supra
opinionem meam, quamquam de te sperem immodica,
in eloquentia promovisse. Sed, quo<d> mihi tum
venit nocte media in mentem, qualem hypothesim
scribis! nimirum ἐπιδεικτικήν, qua nihil est difficilius.
Cur? Quia, quom sint tria ferme genera ὑποθέσεων
«ἐπιδεικτικῶν συμβουλευτικῶν;» δικανικῶν, cetera illa
multo sunt proniora, multifariacm> procliva vel
campestria, τὸ ἐπιδεικτικὸν in arduo situm. Denique
quom aeque tres quasi formulae sint orationis, ἰσχνὸν
μέσον ἁδρόν, prope nullus in epidicticis τῷ ἰσχνῷ
locus, qui est in di<canic>is® multum necessarius.

1 For the more usual claudico, as elsewhere in Fronto.
The Codex for ingenium tuwm has ingento tuo, which would
require some such word as obsict.

2 For Cod. quantus (m1) or guantam (m%).
3 For Cod. dicia: Crossley suggests dicis = δίκαις.

1 The epideictic kind (genus demonstrativum of Quintilian
was for show speech, such as panegyrics, speeches of thanks

104

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Fronto To Marcus AuRELIusS As CAESAR

T 143 a.p.
o my Lord.

1. As for your thinking that I slept soundly, I
lay awake nearly all night considering with myself
whether, maybe from too great partiality for you, I
did not think too lightly and indulgently of some
shortcoming of yours; whether you should not by
now be more trained, more advanced in eloquence,
were not your abilities hampered either by sloth or
carelessness. Turning these things over anxiously
in my mind, I found that you had made much greater
progress in eloquence than could be expected from
your age, youthful as it is; much greater than the
time that you have devoted to these studies would
warrant, much greater than the hopes, and those no
mean ones, which I had formed of you. But as it
came to me only in the dead of night, what a subject
you are writing on! actually one of the epideictic
kind,! the most difficult of all. Why? Because of
all the three generally received kinds of subject, the
epideictic, the deliberative, the forensic, the first is
set on a steep hill, the others are much less of a
climb, being in many respects on sloping or level
ground. In short, while there are similarly three
types, as it were, of oratory, the plain, the medium,
the luxuriant, in epideictic speeches there is practi-
cally no place for the plain style, which in forensic

to the Emperor, and μελέται, like the set declamations of the
Greek rhetoricians. Quintilian (xii. 58) distinguishes three
styles in oratory as (1) swbéile, (2) foridum (namque id ἀνθηρὸν
appellant) or mediwm, (3) grande ac robustum; but Gellius
(vii. 14) as gracilis, mcediocris, uber. The subject here re-
ferred to as occupying Marcus, may be the speech mentioned
in the next letter.

105

Vat. 147

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Omnia ἐν τῷ ἐπιδεικτικῷ ddpws dicenda, ubique or-
nandum, ubique phaleris utendum; pauca τῷ μέσῳ
χαρακτῆρι.

2. Meministi autem tu plurimas lectiones, quibus
usque adhuc versatus | es, comoedias, atellanas, orat-
ores veteres, quorum aut pauci aut praeter Catonem
et Gracchum nemo tubam inflat; omnes autem mu-
giunt vel stridunt potius. Quid igitur Ennius egit
quem legisti? Quid tragoediae ad versum sublim-
iter faciendum te iuverunt? Plerumque enim ad
orationem faciendam versus, ad versificandum oratio
magis adiuvat. Nunc nuper coepisti legere ornatas
et pompaticas orationes. Noli postulare statim eas
imitari posse. Verum, ut dixi, incumbamus, conit-
amur. Me vade me praede me sponsore celeriter
te in cacumine eloquentiae sistam. Di facient,
di favebunt. Vale, Domine, καὶ ἔλπιζε καὶ εὐθύμει
καὶ χρόνῳ καὶ ἐμπειρίᾳ πείθου Γ΄ Matrem Dominam
saluta.

Quom Persarum disciplinam memorares, bene
battunt} ais.

Ad M. Cases. iii. 17 (Naber, p. 55).

Have mi Fronto merito carissime.
Intellego istam tuam argutissimam strofam,
quam tu quidem benignissime repperisti; ut, quia
1 Query batiuunt, of fencing. See Suet. Cal. 32; 54.

1 Fronto, according to Cl. Mamertus, excelled in pompa
(the epideictic speech) ; according to Macrobius, in the siccum

‘genus (forensic).

106

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

ones is quite essential. In the epideictic speech every-
thing must be said in luxuriant style, everywhere
there must be ornament, everywhere trappings must
be used. The medium style admits but sparingly of
these.

2. But you remember the numbers of books, of
which you have up to the present made the acquaint-
ance, comedies, farces, old-time orators, few of whom,
perhaps none save Cato and Gracchus, blow a trum-
pet, but all bellow or, rather, shriek. What, then,
has Ennius done for you now you have read him?
What help have tragedies been to you in composing
verse in the grand style? For generally it is verse
that gives the best assistance to composing speeches
and speeches to writing verse. You have but lately
. begun to read florid and showy! speeches. Do not
expect to be able to imitate them all at once. But,
as I said, let us bend to the oars, let us make a great
effort. Quickly shall I set you upon the very pin-
nacle of eloquence: I will be your surety for it, your
bondsman, your bail. The gods will assist in it, the
gods will accomplish it. Farewell, my Lord, be san-
guine and stout-hearted and trust to time and prac-
tice. Greet your Lady mother.

When you spoke of? the Persian teining, battunt
was.a happy word of yours.

M. AureELius To FRONTO

Hatt, my deservedly dear Fronto. ee
I see through that most subtle ruse of yours,
which you indeed hit upon in pure kindness of heart.
3 Either ina letter or perhaps in the speech. If the former,
it may have been in connexion with their being taught to
speak the truth.
107

Vat. 154

Vat. 160

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

laudando me fidem propter egregium erga me
amorem tuum non habebas, vituperando laudi fidem
quaereres. | Sed o me beatum, qui a Marco Cornelio
meo, oratore maximo, homine optimo, et laudari et
reprehendi dignus esse videor! Quid ego de tuis
litteris dicam benignissimis verissimis amicissimis?
verissimis tamen usque ad primam partem libelli tui,
nam cetera, ubi me comprobas, ut ait nescio quis
Graecus, puto Theophrastus,! τυφλοῦται yap τὸ φιλοῦν
περὶ τὸ φιλούμενον, item tu partim meorum prope
caeco amore interpretatus es. Sed—tanti est me
non recte scribere et te nullo meo merito sed solo
tuo erga me amore laudare, de quo tu plurima et
elegantissima ad me proxime scripsisti—ego, si tu
volueris, ero aliquid. Ceterum litterae tuae id effec-
erunt, ut quam vehementer me amares sentirem.
Sed quod ad ἀθνμίαν meam adtinet, nihilo minus
adhuc animus meus pavet et tristiculus est, ne quid
hodie in senatu dixerim, propter quod te magistrum
habere non merear. Vale mi Fronto—quid dicam
nisi—amice optime.

Ad M. Caes., ii. 1 (Naber, p. 25).

<Domino meo.>?
1. | Posterioribus litteris tuis, cur orationem in
senatu non recitaverim, requisisti. At ego et edicto

1 For Cod. Thucydides. Jerome quotes the words as from
Theoph., but they occur also in Plato, Legg. v. 731 E.

2 The title is left blank. This letter follows in the Codex
the first Greek letter (Zpist. Graec. 1) which is contained in
Vat. 166, 165, and again in Ambr. 157 among the Greek letters.

108

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

For not being able to win credit for your praise of
me by reason of your signal partiality in my case
you sought to make it credible by throwing in some
abuse.! But happy am I that I am thought worthy
of blame no less than of praise by my Marcus Cor-
nelius, greatest of orators and best of men! What
shall I say of your letter so kind, so true, so loving ?—
true, that is, as far as the first part of its contents goes,
but for the rest, where you express approval of me,
as some Greek, Theophrastus I think, says, the lover
ts blind to the faults of hts loved one, so have you been
almost blinded by love in your judgment of some of
my work. But so greatly do I value the fact that,
though I do not write well, I should yet be praised
by you for no desert of mine, but only because of
your love for me, of which you have lately sent me
such numerous and such happily-worded assurances
that, since you wish it, I mill be something. At all
events, your letter had the effect of making me feel
how much you loved me. But as to my despondency,
nevertheless, I am still nervous in mind and a little
depressed, lest I shall have said something in the
Senate to-day, such that I should not deserve to
have you as my master. Farewell, my Fronto. my—
what shall I say but—best of friends.

FrontTo To Marcus AvuRELIUS AS CAESAR

To my Lord. July, 143 a.p.
1. In your last letter you ask me why I have
not delivered my speech in the Senate. Well, I

1 Droz (De Frontonis Instit. Orat. p. 47) thinks Fronto had
been reading an epideictic speech of Marcus’s and been
disappointed by it.

109

Vat. 159

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

gratias agere Domino meo patri tuo debeo, sed
edictum quidem circensibus nostris proponam, cuius
principium id ipsum erit: Quo die primum beneficto
maximt Principts ederem spectaculum gratissimum populo
maximeque populare, tempestivom <me>} duaxtisse gratias
agere, ul idem dtes—hic aliqua sequatur tulliana con-
clusio. Orationem autem in senatu recitabo Augustis
idibus. Quaeras fortasse cur <tam>? tarde? Quoniam
ego numquam <quam>’ primum officio sollenni quo-
quo modo fungi propero. Sed ut tecum agere debeo
sine fuco et sine ambagibus, dicam quid cum animo
meo reputem. Divum Hadrianum avum tuum laud-
avi in senatu saepenumero studio impenso et pro-
penso quoque; et sunt orationes istae frequenter in
omnium manibus. Hadrianum autem ego, quod bona
venia pietatis tuae dictum sit, ut Martem Gradivom,
ut Ditem Patrem, propitium et placatum magis volui
quam amavi. Quare? Quia ad amanjdum fiducia
aliqua opus est et familiaritate: quia fiducia mihi
defuit, eo quem tanto opere venerabar non sum ausus
diligere. Antoninum vero ut solem ut diem ut vitam
ut spiritum amo, diligo, amari me ab eo sentio.
Hunc nisi ita laudo, ut laudatio mea non in Acits
Senatus abstrusa lateat, sed in manibus hominum
oculisque versetur, ingratus sum etiam adversus te.
Tum, quod cursorem fugitivom ferunt dixisse, domino
sexagena currebam, mihi centena, ut fugiam, curram,‘ ego
1 Or query duxi me. 2 Orelli. 3 Haupt.
4 The margin of Cod. has cur non before curram.
110

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

have to return thanks to my Lord your Father by
proclamation also, and that I shall issue at my Games
in the Circus; it will begin with these very words:
On the day on which, by the kindness of our great
Emperor, I am exhibiting a spectacle most attractive to
the people and popular in the highest degree, I have
thought tt a good opportunsty to return thanks to him, that
the same day—to be followed by some Ciceronian con-
clusion. My speech I shall deliver on August 13th.
You will ask, perhaps, Why so late? Because I am
never in a hurry to discharge a solemn duty at the
first possible moment, and anyhow. But, as I ought
to deal with you without disguise and without circum-
locution, I will tell you what is inmy mind. 1 often
praised your grandfather, the deified Hadrian, in the
Senate, with a steady zeal, aye, and a ready, and those .
speeches are constantly in everyone’s hands. Yet, if
your filial feeling towards him will allow me to say
so, I wished to appease and. propitiate Hadrian, as
I might Mars Gradivus or Father Dis, rather than
loved him. Why? Because love requires some con-
fidence and intimacy. Since, in my case, confidence
was lacking, therefore I dare not love one whom I
so greatly revered. Antoninus, however, I love, I
cherish like the light, like day, like life, like breath,
and feel that I am loved by him. Him I must so
praise that my praise be not hidden away in the
Journals of the Senate,! but come into the hands and
under the”eyes of men, else am 1 ungrateful also
towards you. Again, as the runaway syce is reported
to have said, 7 have run stxty miles for my master, I
nill run a hundred for myself, to escape ; so I, too,

1 The official record, like our ‘‘ Hansard.” Julius Caesar
introduced the custom of keeping this record.

111

Vat. 174

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

quoque quom Hadrianum laudabam, domino curre-
bam ; hodie autem mihi curro, mihi inquam, meoque
ingenio hanc orationem conscribo. Ad meum igitur
commodum faciam lente otiose clementer.

2. Tu si et valde properas, aliter te interim ob-
lecta ; basia patrem tuum, amplectere, postremo ipse
eum lauda. Ceterum quidem in idus Augustas tibi
expectandum est ut quod vis! quale vis audias. Vale,
Caesar, et patrem promerere; et si quid scribere vis,
lente scribe.

Ad M. Caes. ii. 2 (Naber, p. 26).

| Mr Fronto consul amplissime.?

1. Manus do, vicisti: tu plane omnes, qui um-
quam amatores fuerunt, vicisti amando. Cape coro-
nam: atque etiam praeco pronuntiet palam pro tuo
tribunali victoriam istam tuam—M. Κορνήλιος Φρόντων
ὕπατος νικᾷ, στεφανοῦται τὸν ἄγωνα τῶν μεγάλων φιλο-
τησίων. At ego, quamquam superatus, tamen nihil
de mea prothymia decessero aut defecero. Igitur tu
quidem me, <mi> magister,’ magis amabis quam
ullus hominum ullum hominem amat; ego vero te,
qui minorem vim in amando possideo, magis amabo
quam ullus hominum te amat, magis denique, quam
tu temet ipsum amas. Jam mihi cum Gratia certa-
men erit, quam timeo ut superare possim. Nam
illius quidem, ut Plautus ait, “amoris imber grandi-
bus guttis non vestem modo permanavit, sed in
medullam ultro pluit.’’ 4

1 Orelli for Cod. quidvis.

2 Mi is added by πι of Ἐπ Codex, and consul is Naber’s
reading. 8 Added by m? over magis.

4 From the margin of iL for fluit in the text.

112

Μ, CORNELIUS FRONTO

when I praised Hadrian, ran for my master, but to-
day I run for myself; for myself, I say, and write
this speech to please myself. I shall compose it,
therefore, at my ease, slowly, leisurely, plagidly.

2. If you are very impatient for it, amuse yourself
the while in other ways; kiss your father, embrace
him, lastly, praise him yourself. But you may cer-
tainly look forward to hearing on August 13th what
you would wish and such as you would wish. Fare-
well, Caesar, and prove worthy of your father, and
if you wish to write anything, write slowly.

Marcus AuRELIUs To FrRONTO

My most honourable consul, Fronto. 148 4.D.

1. I give in, you have won: beyond question
you have conquered in loving all lovers that have
ever lived. Take the wreath and let the herald, too,
proclaim in the ears of all before your tribunal
this your victory—M. Cornelius Fronto, consul, is the
winner. He is crowned in the contest of the Great
Friendship-Games. Yet, though vanquished, will I
not falter or fail in my devotion. Therefore shall you
indeed, my master, love me more than any of men
loves any man, while I, who have less energy in
loving, will love you more than anyone else loves
you, more, in fact, than you love yourself. I see I
shall have a competitor in Gratia,! and I fear that I
may not be able to surpass her. For, as Plautus
says, in her case, “not only has the rain of love
drenched her dress with its thunder-drops, but
soaked into her very marrow.” 2

1 Fronto’s wife.
2 The nearest passage to this in our extant Pl. is Most. 1.

ii. 62: pro imbre amor advenit in cor meum. Is usque in
pectus permanant, 113

VOL. I. I

Vat. 178

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

2. Quas tu litteras te ad me existimas scripsisse !
Ausim dicere, quae me genuit atque aluit, nihil um-
quam tam iucundum tamque mellitum eam ad me
scripsisse., Nec hoc fit facundia aut eloquentia tua:
alioqui non modo mater mea sed omnes qui | spirant,
quod faciunt, confestim tibi cesserint: sed istae
litterae ad me tuae neque disertae neque doctae,
<at> tanta benignitate scatentes, tanta adfectione
abundantes, tanto amore lucentes, non satis proloqui
possum ut animum meum gaudio in altum sustu-
lerint, desiderio flagrantissimo! incitaverint,? post-
remo, quod ait Naevius, animum amore capitali com-
pleverint.

3. Illa alia epistula tua, qua indicabas cur tardius
orationem, qua laudaturus es Dominum meum, in
senatu prolaturus esses, tanta <me> voluptate ad-
fecit, ut temperare non potuerim—et videris tu an
temere fecerim—quin eam ipsi patri meo recitarem,
Quanto opere autem eum iuverit, nihil me oportet
persequi, quom tu et illius summam benivolentiam et
tuarum litterarum egregiam elegantiam noris. Sed
ex ea re longus sermo nobis super te exortus est,
multo multoque longior quam tibi et quaestori tuo
de me. Itaque nec tibi dubito ibidem in foro diu
tinnisse auriculas. Comprobat igitur Dominus et
amat causas propter quas recitationem tuam in longi-
orem diem protulisti. . . .3

1 For Cod. fraglantissimo.

2 The margin of Cod. gives incenderint as the reading of
another copy. δ Four pages are lost here.

114

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

2. If you only knew what a letter you have written.
me! I could venture to say that she who bore me
and nursed me, even she never wrote me anything
so delightful, so honeyed. Nor is this due to your
word-mastery or eloquence, for apply that test and
not my mother only but all that breathe would, as
they do, yield the palm at once to you. But I can-
not express in words how that letter of yours to me,
not for its eloquence or learning, but bubbling up as
it does with so much kindness, brimful of such
affection, sparkling with so much love, has lifted my
heart up to the heavens, inspired it with the most
glowing fondness, in a word, as Naevius says, filled
it nth a love transcendent.

3. That other letter of yours, in which you pointed
out why you were going to put off the delivery of
the speech in the Senate in which you intend to
eulogize my Lord, delighted me so much that—
forgive me if I was too hasty—I could not refrain
from reading it aloud to my father himself. I need
not dwell on the pleasure it gave him, for you know
his entire good-will towards you and the matchless
felicity of your letter. But from this occasion arose
a long talk between us about you, much, much longer
than yours and your quaestor’s? about me. So your
ears too must have been tingling about that time in
the forum. My Lord, then, quite approves and
sympathizes with your reasons for putting off the
delivery of your speech till later... .

1 Not the letter (4d M. Caes. i. 3) given on p. 83, as
Brakman thinks.
2 Possibly Victorinus, or Fronto’s brother Quadratus.

11
12

Vat. 167,
col, 2

Quat. iv.
ends

Ambr. 110

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

‘4d M. Caes. ii. 4 (Naber, p. 29).

| MaGisTRo meo.

Ego ab hora quarta et dimidia in hance horam
scripsi et Catonis multa legi et haee ad te eodem
calamo scribo et te saluto et quam commode agas
sciscitor. O quam diu te non vidi|. .

Ad M, Caes. ii. 5 (Naber, p. 29).

<M. Cassar consuli amplissimo magistro suo.>

. . . .2.vildeatur. Polemona ante hoc triduum
declamantem audivimus, ἵνα re καὶ περὶ ἀνθρώπων
λαλήσωμεν. Si quaeris quid visus sit mihi, accipe.
Videtur mihi agricola strenuus, summa sollertia prae-
ditus, latum fundum in sola segete frumenti et vit-
ibus occupasse, ubi sane et fructus pulcherrimus et
reditus uberrimus. Sed enim nusquam in eo rure ficus
Pompeiana vel holus Aricinum vel rosa Tarentina
vel nemus amoenum vel densus lucus vel platanus
umbrosa: omnia ad usum magis quam ad voluptatem,
quaeque [magis] laudare oporteat, amare non libeat.
Satisne ego audaci consilio et iudicio temerario?
videar, quom de tantae gloriae viro existimo? Sed
quom me recordor tibi scribere, minus me audere

1 Six pages are lost from vidi in Ad Cages. ii. 4 above.
2 Orelli adds <uti>.

1 See Pliny, N.H. xv. 19.
4 ibid. xix. 41. The cabbage of Aricia (brassica oleracea) is
said by Pliny to be the most useful of all, but the argument
requires that it should be only for pleasure.

116

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Marcus AuRELIus To FronTo

To my Master. πο μαι
From half-past ten till now I have been writing
and have also read a good deal of Cato, and I am
writing this to you with the same pen, and I greet
you and ask you how well you are. Oh, how long
it is since I saw you! .

August, 143 a.p.

M. Cagsar to the most honourable consul his
master.

. Three days ago we heard Polemo de-
claim—that we may have some talk about men also.
If you would like to know what I think of him,
listen. He seems to me like ἃ hard-working
farmer endowed with the utmost shrewdness, who
has laid out a large holding with corn-crops only
and vines, wherein beyond question the yield is the
fairest and the return the richest. But, indeed,
nowhere in all that estate is there a fig tree ot
Pompeii, or a vegetable of Aricia,? or a rose of
Tarentum, nowhere a pleasant coppice or a thick-set
grove, or a shady plane-tree ; all for profit rather than
for pleasure, such as one would be bound to praise
but not disposed to love. In judging a man of such
reputation,®? am I, think you, bold enough in my pur-
pose and rash enough in my judgment? But when I
remember that I am writing to you, I feel that I

* From an interesting anecdote in Philost. (Vit. Soph.
p. 231, Kays.) we find that Marcus formed a higher esti-
mate of Polemo in later life.

117

Ambr. 60

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

quam tu velis arbitror. Nos istic vehementer aestu-
amus—habes et hendecasyllabum ingenuum. Igitur
priusquam poetari incipio, pausam tecum facio.
<Vale>, desiderantissime homo et tuo Vero caris-
sime, consul amplissime, magister dulcissime. Vale
mi semper anima dulcissima.

Ad M., Cues. i. 8 [should be ii. 1] (Naber, p. 20).

| Cazsarr Aurelio Domino meo consul tuus Fronto.!
1, Quae sunt? aures hominum hoc tempore!
Quanta in spectandis orationibus elegantia! Ex
Aufidio nostro scire poteris quantos in oratione mea
clamores concitarit, quantoque concentu laudantium
sit exceptum omnis tunc tmago patricis pingebatur in-
signibus. At υἱοὶ genus nobile cum ignobili comparans
dixi ut si quis ignem de rogo et ara accensum similem
putet, quod aeque luceat, ad hoc pauci*® admurmurati
sunt.

2. Quorsum hoc retuli? Uti te, Domine, ita com-
pares, ubi quid in coetu hominum recitabis, ut scias
auribus serviendum: plane nec ubique nec omni
modo, attamen nonnumquam et aliquantum.4 Quod
ubi facies, simile facere te reputato atque illud facitis
ubi eos, qui bestias strenue interfecerunt, populo
postulante ornatis aut manumittitis, nocentes etiam

1 This letter is preceded in the Codex by the mutilated
letter to Herodes (Ambr. 59), which is also given again
among the E£pist. Craecae.

2 Schopen for Cod. sint. = m! in Cod. pauculs.
+ Schopen for Cod. aliquando.

118

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

am not bold enough for your taste. On that point
I am desperately doubtful—there’s a home-grown
hendecasyllable for you! 801 must call a halt with
you before I fall into the poetic vein. Farewell,
most missed of men and dearest to your Verus,!
most honourable consul, master most sweet. Fare-
well, my sweetest soul.

After August 13, 143 a.p.

To my Lord Aurelius Caesar your consul Fronto.

1. What nice ears men have nowadays! What
taste in judging of speeches! You can learn from
our Aufidius? what shouts of applause were evoked
in my speech, and with what a chorus of approval
were greeted the words in those days every bust was
decorated with patrician insignia ; but when, comparing
a noble with a plebeian race, I said, As if one were to
think the flame kindled on a pyre and on an altar to be
the same because both alkke give light, at this a few
murmurs were heard.

2. Why have I told you this? That you, my
Lord, may be prepared, when you speak before an
assembly of men, to study their taste, not, of course,
everywhere and by every means, yet occasionally
and to some extent. And when you do so, remind
yourself that you are but doing the same as you do
when, at the people’s request, you honour or enfran-
chise those who have slain beasts manfully in the

1 His name at this time was Marcus Aurelius Verus,

2 7c. Victorinus, afterwards the son-in-law of Fronto.
He was one of Marcus’s school friends. Lucian, writing a
little later, speaks similarly of the critical audiences (Quam.
Hist. Serib. 10). The passage here quoted may have appealed
to patrician pride; or its cadence with its repetition af the
etter 7 may have pleased the hearers.

119

Ambr. 64

Ambr. 63

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

homines aut scelere damnatos, sed populo postul-
ante | conceditis. Ubique igitur populus dominatur
et praepollet. Igitur ut populo gratum erit, ita facies
atque ita dices.

3. Hic summa illa virtus oratoris atque ardua est,
ut non magno detrimento rectae eloquentiae ἢ aud-
itores oblectet; eaque delenimenta, quae mulcendis
volgi auribus comparat, ne cum? multo ac magno
dedecore fucata sint: potius ut in compositionis
structuraeque mollitia sit delictum quam in sententia
impudenti.2 Vestem quoque lanarum <malo> mol-
litia delicatam esse quam colore muliebri, filo tenui
aut serico, purpuream ipsam, non luteam nec croc-
atam. Vobis praeterea, quibus purpura et cocco uti
necessarium est, eodem cultu nonnumquam oratio
quoque est amicienda, Facies istud, et temperabis
et moderaberis modo temperamentoque optimo. Sic
enim auguror: quicquid umquam in eloquentia fac-
tum sit, te id perfecturum, tanto ingenio es praeditus
tantoque te studio exerces et labore, quom in aliis
vel sine ingenio studium vel sine studio solum ingen-
ium egregiam gloriam pepererit. Certum habeo te,
Domine, aliquantum temporis etiam prosae orationi|
conscribendae‘ impendere. Nam etsi aeque pernic-

1 Heindorf for Cod. recta eloquentia.

2 m? in the Codex strikes out these two words.
3 m? has impudentia. 4 For Cod. inscribendae.

1 Marcus himself refused to do this; see Dio, lxxi. 29.
It was subsequently forbidden by law (Cod. rx. xlvii. 12).

3 For duteus see Aul. Gell. ii. 26, 8 8, = ‘‘ flame-coloured,”
used .of a bride’s veil. For Fronto’s thought cp. Seneca,
Ep. 114 and 100 §§ 5 ff, quorundam non est compositio,

120

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

arena ;! criminals even they may be or felons, yet you
release them at the people’s request. Everywhere,
then, the people prevail and get their way. There-
fore must you so act and so speak as shall please
the people.

3. Herein lies that supreme excellence of an orator,
and one not easily attainable, that he should please
his hearers without any great sacrifice of right elo-
quence, and should let his blandishments, meant to
tickle the ears of the people, be coloured indeed, but
not along with any great or wholesale sacrifice of
dignity: rather that in its composition and fabric
there should be a lapse into a certain softness but
no wantonness of thought. So, too, in a garment,
I should prefer it to be of the softness that belongs
to wool rather than to an effeminate colour ; it should
be of finely woven or silken thread, and itself purple
not flame-red? or saffron. You and your father,
moreover, who are bound to wear purple and crimson,
must on occasion clothe your words, too, in the same
dress. You will do this and be restrained and
moderate with the best moderation and restraint.
For this is what I prophesy, that what has ever been
done in eloquence will be done to the full by you, so
great is your natural capacity, and with such zeal
and application do you devote yourself to learning ;°
although, in others, either application without
capacity, or capacity alone without application, has
won outstanding glory. I feel sure, my Lord, that
you spend no little time in writing prose also. For

modulatio est; adeo blanditur et molliter labitur; and lege
Ciceronem ; compositio una est; pedem servat lenta et sine
infamia mollis,
3 Capit. Vit. Mar. iii. 7, says of Marcus: tantwm operis et
laboris studzis impendit, ut corpus adficeret.
121

Ambr. 55

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

itas equorum exercetur sive quadrupedo <cursu>!
currant atque exerceantur seu tolutim, attamen ea
quae magis necessaria, frequentius sunt experiunda.

4. Iam enim non ita tecum ago ut te duos et
viginti annos natum cogitem. Qua aetate vixdum
quicquam veterum lectionum adtigeram? deorum et
tua virtute profectum tantum in eloquentia adsecutus
es, quantum senioribus ad gloriam sufficiat et, quod
est difficillimum, in omni genere dicendi. Nam
epistulae tuae, quas adsidue scripsisti, mihi satis
ostendunt quid etiam in remissioribus et tullianis
facere possis.

5. Pro Polemone rhetore, quem mihi tu in epistula
tua proxime exhibuisti tullianum, ego in oratione,
quam in senatu recitavi,’ philosophum reddidi, nisi
me opinio fallit, perantiquom.4 An quid tu dicas,®
Marce, quemadmodum tibi videtur fabula Polemonis
a me descripta? Plane multum mihi facetiarum con-
tulit istic Horatius Flaccus, memorabilis poeta mihi-
que propter Maecenatem ac Maecenatianos hortos
meos non | alienus. Is namque Horatius sermonum
libro secundo® fabulam istam Polemonis inseruit, si
recte memini, hisce versibus :—

Mutatus Polemon ponas insignia morbi,
Fasctolas, cubital, focaka, potus ut elle
Dicitur ex collo furtim carpsisse coronas,
Postquam et impransi correptus voce magzstrt.

1 Niebuhr. 2 Heind. for Cod. adegeram.
3 On Aug. 13, 143. 4 Cod. perdticum.
5 Buttmann would read tudicas. 6 Satires, ii. 3, 254.

1 Marcus was born April 26, 121 a.p.

2 Polemo, a tipsy gallant, bursting into the lecture room
of Xenocrates, was converted by what he heard to better
ways, and succeeded him as head of the Academy.

3 Augustus gave the site of the cemetery on the Esquiline

122

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

though the swiftness of steeds is equally well exer-
cised whether they run and practise at a gallop or a
trot, yet the more serviceable qualities must be the
more frequently put into requisition.

4. For by now I do not treat you as if I thought you
were twenty-two! years old. At an age when I had
scarcely touched any of the ancient authors you, by
the grace of the gods and your own merit, have made
such progress in eloquence as would bring fame to
greybeards, and that, too—a far from easy task—in
every branch of the art. For your letters, which you
write so regularly, are enough to shew me what you can
further do in that more familiar and Ciceronian vein.

5. Instead of Polemo the rhetorician, whom you
lately presented to me in your letter as a Ciceronian,
I have given back to you in my speech, which I
delivered in the Senate, a philosopher,? if I am not.
mistaken, of the hoariest antiquity. Come, what say
you, Marcus, how does my version of the story of
Polemo strike you? Of course, Horatius Flaccus, a
famous poet, and one with whom I have a connexion
through Maecenas and my “ gardens of Maecenas, ὃ
supplied me. with plenty of smart things on that
subject. For this Horatius, in his second book of
Satires, brings in the story of Polemo, if I remember
rightly, in the following lines :—

Would you the marks of mental ill forswear,
The scarf, spats, lappet, that the rake declare ?
Be changed, like Polemo, who, tn drunken rage,
Scoffed at the teaching of the sober sage ;
But cut to the heart by what he heard, ’tis said,
Plucked off by stealth the garlands from his head.

to Maecenas, who covered it with 25 feet of earth and there

laid out his ‘‘ gardens,” of which Fronto was now the
owner. See Lanciani, Ancient Rome, Ὁ. 67 (1889).
123

Ambr. 56

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

6. Versus, quos mihi miseras, remisi tibi per Vict-
orinum nostrum atque ita remisi: chartam diligenter
lino transui, et ita linum obsignavi ne musculus iste
aliquid aliqua rimari possit. Nam mihi ipse de tuis
hexametris numquam quicquam impertivit, ita est
malus ac malitiosus. Sed ait te de industria cito et
cursim hexametros tuos recitare: eo se memoriae
mandare non posse. Remuneratus est igitur a me
mutuo. Paria habet, ne ullum hinc versum audiret.
Memini etiam te frequenter, ne cuiquam versus tuos
ostenderem, admonuisse.

7. Quid est, Domine? Certe hilaris es, certe bene
vales, omnium rerum certe sanus es. Male dum
similiter ne umquam nos perturbes ut natali tuo per-
turbasti, cetera | minus laboro. Et τί σοι κακόν, εἰς
Πυρραίων κεφαλήν. Vale meum gaudium, mea secur-
itas, hilaritas, gloria. Vale et me, obsecro, omni
modo ames qua ioco qua serio.

Epistulam matri tuae scripsi, quae mea impudentia
est, Graece, eamque epistulae ad te scriptae implicui.
Tu prior lege et, si quis inerit barbarismus, tu qui a
Graecis litteris recentior es corrige, atque ita matri
redde. Nolo enim me mater tua ut opicum contem-
nat. Vale, Domine, et matri savium da, quom epis-
tulam dabis, quo libentius legat.

124

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

6. The verses which you sent me I have sent you
back by our Victorinus, and this is how I have sent
them. I have carefully sewn the paper across with
thread, and so sealed the thread that that little
mouse should poke his nose in anywhere. For
he himself has never given me any information
about your hexameters, so naughty is he and
knavish. But he says that you purposely recite
your hexameters so glibly and so fast that he cannot
commit them to memory. So I have paid him back
in his own coin: tit for tat—not to hear a line out of
the packet. I remember, too, that you have often
impressed upon me not to let anyone see your verses.

7. How is it with you, my Lord? Surely you are
cheerful, surely you are well, surely sound in all
respects. Other things are of little consequence, so
you never give us the bad fright you did on your
birthday.! If any evil threatens you, “ may it fall on
the Pyrrhaeans’ heads.”’? Farewell, my joy, my
refuge, happiness, glory. Farewell, and love me, I
beseech you, every way in jest as in earnest.

I have written your mother a letter, such is my
assurance, in Greek, and enclose it in my letter to
you. Please read it first, and if you detect any bar-
barism in it, for you are fresher from your Greek
than I am, correct it and so hand it over to your
mother. I should not like her to look down on me
as a goth. Farewell, my Lord, kiss your mother
when you give her my letter, that she may read it
the more gladly.

1 April 26.

2 See Zenob. Prov. Cent. iv. 2. Nothing is known of the
Pyrrhaeans.

125

Ambr. 842,
ad init.

Ambr, 341

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad Antoninum Pium, 1 (Naber, p. 163).

ImMpERATorRI Antonino Pio Augusto Fronto.!
| Ut meministi, Caesar, quom tibi in senatu
gratias agerem, desiderio quodam <dicendi> ... .

quae distulercam> ... . senatu frequentior. . . .
sum. Nam litteras, quae <eo> die recitabantur
.... librum .... Dominus. . . . Bene vale.?

Ad Antoninum Pium, 2 (Naber, p. 163).

M. Εποντονι Antoninus Caesar.

Quanta <sit erga> me tua <benivolentia iam
pridem> hercule <satis scio, sed hoc plane admiror,
ista nova et ingenio tuo digna. . . . orator>* op-
time | in tam trita et adsidua tibi materia invenire
te‘ posse. Sed videlicet valde potens est, quod sum-
me efficere possis, etiam velle. Nihil istis sensibus
validius, nihil elocutione, salva sanitate tamen, civ-
ilius. Neque enim hoc <c>omittam,? ut te iustissima
laude fraudem, dum metuo ne insolenter laudes meas
laudem. Bene igitur accepisti et rectissimo opere,
cui plane seposita materia omnis honor debetur.
Ceterum ad ostentandum mihi animum tuum non
multum egit; nam esse te benignissimum omnium
factorum et dictorum meorum conciliatorem bene
noveram. Vale mi Fronto carissime mihi.

1 The title may have been added by Mai.

® The letter covered about twenty-five lines, or one column
of the Codex.

8 The mutilated passage covers about eight lines: so I
understand Mai, but possibly he means that eight lines are
lost between Quanta and me.

4 Ehrenthal for Cod. et. 5 Mai.

126

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

143 a.p.

Fronto to the Emperor Antoninus Pius Augustus.
As you remember, Caesar, when I returned
thanks! to you inthe Senate... .........

143 a.p.
ANTONINUS Caksar to Marcus Fronto.

How great is your good-will towards myself I
have long known well enough, by Hercules, but what
astonishes me . . . . best of orators, is that in such
a hackneyed and thread-bare subject you can find
anything to say that is new and worthy of your
abilities. But no doubt the mere wish is an immense
help towards what you can do so well. Nothing
could be more effective than your thoughts, nothing
more complimentary, yet without any sacrifice of
good sense, than your expression of them. For I
will not be guilty of defrauding you of your legiti-
mate praise for fear of arrogantly praising the praise
of myself. You have done your duty pleasingly and
in unexceptionable fashion, for which, apart from all
question of the subject, you deserve every credit.
But as for shewing me your mind, it has not done
much in that way, for I knew well enough that you
always would put the most favourable construction on
every word and act of mine. Farewell, my Fronto,
my very dear friend.

1 Whether this and the following letter refer to the thanks
for Fronto’s consulship is not clear. If so, we should have ex-
pected Pius to give Fronto his title of consul.

127

Vat. 168

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Illa pars orationis tuae circa Faustinae meae hon-
orem gratissime a te adsumpta verior mihi quam
disertior visa est. Nam ita se res habet: mallem
mehercule Gyaris cum illa quam sine illa in Palatio
vivere.

Ad M. Caes. ii. 3 (Naber, p. 28).

<Makcus Caesar Consuli suo et magistro.>

1. | Sane, si quid Graeci veteres tale scripserunt,
viderint qui sciunt; ego, si fas est dicere, nec M.
Porcium tam bene vituperantem quam tu laudasti
usquam adverti. O si Dominus meus satis laudari
posset, profecto a te satis laudatus esset! Totro τὸ
ἔργον ov γίνεται viv. Facilius quis Phidian, facilius
Apellen, facilius denique ipsum Demosthenem imi-
tatus fuerit aut ipsum Catonem, quam hoc tam effec-
tum et elaboratum opus. Nihil ego umquam cultius
nihil antiquius nihil conditius nihil Latinius legi. O
te hominem beatum hac eloquentia praeditum! O
me hominem beatum huic magistro traditum. O ἐπι-
χειρήματα ! Ο τάξις! O elegantia! O lepos! O venus-
tas! Overba! Onitor! O argutiae! O kharites !
Ο ἄσκησις! O omnia! Ne valeam nisi aliqua! die
virga in manus tibi tradenda erat,? diadema circum-
ponendum, tribunal ponendum: tum praeco omnes
nos citaret—quid nos dico? omnes, inquam, philo-
logos et disertos istos—eos tu singulos virga perduc-

1 m? of the Codex above the line.
? Ehrenthal erit. For Cod. perhaps cp. Hor. Od. i. 36. 4.
Possibly aliqua is wrong.

1 Faustina the younger, daughter of Pius, seems to be
meant, as Mommsen suggested.

128

‘

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

That part of your speech, which you most kindly
devoted to honouring my Faustina,! seemed to me
as true as it was eloquent. For this is the plain
fact: By heaven, I would sooner live with her in
Gyara? than in the palace without her.

143 a.p.

Marcus Caesar to his own consul and master.

1. Whether the Greeks of old ever wrote any-
thing so good,? verily let those see to it who know ;
for myself, if I may say so, nowhere have I noticed
in M. Porcius an invective so perfect as your praise.
Oh, if my Lord could be praised enough, surely he
had been enough praised by you. This work is not
done in these days. Easier were it for one to rival
Pheidias, easier Apelles, easier, in fine, Demosthenes
himself or Cato himself, than this perfect and finished
work. Never have I read anything so refined, so
classical, so polished, so Latin. Oh, happy you to
be gifted with such eloquence! Oh, happy I to be
in‘ the hands of such a master! What reasoned
thoughts! What orderly arrangement! What eleg-
ance! What wit! What beauty! What diction!
What brilliance! What subtlety! What charm!
What practised skill! What everything! My life
on it, but some day you ought to have the wand ‘
placed in your hand, the diadem round your brow,
the tribunal under your feet: then the herald should
summon all of us—why do I say us? I mean all
your learned folk and your eloquent—one by one
you should wave them along with your wand and

2 An Aegean island to which banished persons were sent.
3 Marcus is referring to Fronto’s speech of thanks to Pius

in the Senate. * As symbol of authority.
129

VOL. I. K

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

eres, verbis moneres. Mihi adhuc nullus metus
vat 167 huius monitionis erat; | multa supersunt ut in ludum
tuum pedem introferam.

2. Haec cum summa festinatione ad te scribo, nam
quom Domini mei ad te epistulam! mitterem tam
benignam, quid meis longioribus litteris opus erat ?
Igitur vale, decus eloquentiae Romanae, amicorum
gloria, μέγα πρᾶγμα, homo iucundissime, consul am-
plissime, magister dulcissime.

3. Postea cavebis de me, praesertim in senatu,
tam multa mentiri. Horribiliter scripsisti hanc
orationem. O si ad singula capita caput tuum
basiare possem! ἰσχυρῶς πάντων καταμεῴρ vykas !
Hac oratione lecta frustra nos studemus, frustra
laboramus, frustra nervos contendimus. Vale
semper, magister dulcissime.

Epist. Graecae 1 (Naber, p. 239).

Ambr. 56, | Μητρὶ Καίσαρος 3
eer 1. Πῶς av ἀπολογησάμενος συγγνώμης παρὰ σοῦ

τύχοιμι, ὅτι σοι τούτων τῶν ἡμερῶν οὐκ ἐπέστειλα ; ἢ

δῆλον ὅτι τὴν ἀληθῆ τῆς ἀσχολίας εἰπὼν αἰτίαν ; λόγον

γὰρ συνήγαγόν τινα περὶ τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως. ἡ δὲ

τῶν Ῥωμαίων παροιμία. ἐξ φίλου τρόπον μὴ μισεῖν ἀλλ'

εἰδέναι " φησὶ δεῖν. οἷος δὲ οὑμὸς τρόπος φράσω καὶ
> ϑ ’ « Q A A > a ‘ > ’

οὐκ ἀποκρύψομαι. ὑπὸ τῆς πολλῆς ἀφνίας καὶ οὐθενείας
1 Probably the previous letter.

2 This letter is given twice in the Cod., viz. Ambr. 56, Vat.
155, 165, and Ambr. 157, 158, 163, 164.

1 He knows his own weakness and never feared admonition,
because he knows how much he needs it and such a teacher,

2 Demosth. 928, 6.

+ Horribiliter appears to be a slang use.

130

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

admonish them with the words of your lips. For
myself I never had any fear of these admonitions ;
I have more reasons than enough for setting foot in
your school.!

2. I am writing this to you in the utmost haste,
for what need of a longer letter from me when I
send you so gracious a one of my Lord’s? Farewell,
then, glory of Roman eloquence, pride of your
friends, a man of mark,? most delightful of men,
most honourable consul, master most sweet.

3. In future be chary of telling so many fibs,
especially in the Senate, about me. This speech of
yours is “awfully” 8 well written. Oh, if I could
only kiss your head for every heading of it! You
have absolutely put everyone else in the back-
ground. With this speech before our eyes, vain is
our study, vain our toil, vain our efforts. Fare ever
well, sweetest of masters.

Fronto To Domitia LucILia

To the mother of Caesar. een:

1. What excuse‘ of mine can win your pardon
for my not having written to you all this time, if it
be not by my stating the true cause of my want of
leisure, that I had composed a speech about our
great Emperor? The Roman saw bids us “not
hate a friend’s ways but ken them.”*® What
mine are I will tell you, and not conceal them.
From my great natural incapacity and worthlessness

4 A marginal note in the Codex says that this letter was
to excuse Fronto’s silence post integritatem redditam. Fronto’s
health seems meant.

5 <6 Amict mores noveris non oderis.” See Trench, On Pro-
verbs, p. 49, note.

131

Vat. 166

Ambr. 158

Vat. 165

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

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> , ’ , 9 ’ ’ > x
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ἂν ἄλλ e Ὁ 247 22 2» κ ’ . "
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Ν > » 2 g ” ᾽ 3 ΄ Ἁ Ν
φασιν τὰ ἀκόντια 5 οὕτω πως ἄττειν κατ᾽ εὐθύ, τὰς δὲ
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ἢ ᾿Απόλλωνος σφαλέντα, ὥσπερ τὰ ὑπὸ Τεύκρου ἢ τὰ ὑπὸ
τῶν μνηστήρων βληθέντα.
4 ’ 4 ‘ ” > 93 > A ,
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’ 4 Ν ,’ \ “A ’
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τῶν ὄφεων,β τρίτην δὲ τὴν τῶν βελῶν καὶ αὐτὴν ἀπάν-
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᾽ a
τὸν ᾽Ορφέα φασὶν οἰμῶξαι ὀπίσω ἐπιστραφέντα' εἰ δὲ

1 Before καὶ the Vat. Cod. has ιξ, for which Naber sug-
gests ἔτι.

2 Buttmann reads τοὺς ἀκοντίας.
3 Vat. Cod. ἀκοντίων. 4 Vat. Cod. εἴη.

132

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

I labour under much the same defect as the animal
called by the Romans a hyena, whose neck, they
say, can be stretched out straight forward but can-
not be bent to either side.!_ So I, when I am putting
together anything with more than usual care, am, in
a way, immovable, and, giving up all else, aim at
that alone, like the hyena not turning to the right
hand or to the left. Again, they say that the snakes
called “darters”? in much the same way project
themselves straight forwards, but never move side-
ways; and spears and arrows are most likely to hit
the mark when they are propelled straight, neither
made to swerve by the wind, nor foiled by Athene’s
hand or Apollo's, as were the arrows shot by Teucer
or the suitors.

2. These three similes, then, have I applied to
myself, two of them fierce and savage, that of the
hyena and that of the snake, and a third drawn from
missiles, it, too, non-human and harsh. And if, in-
deed, I were to say that of winds the one astern
was especially to be commended because it takes a
ship straight forward nor lets it make leeway, this
would be a fourth simile, and that a forcible one.
And if I added this also of the line, that the straight
line is the chiefest of all lines, I should produce a
fifth simile, not only inanimate like that of the ὁ
spears, but this one also incorporeal.

3. What simile, then, can be found convincing?
One above all that is human, better still if it be also
cultured; and if it partake, too, of friendship and
love, the simile would be all the more a similitude.
They say that Orpheus rued his turning to look

1 Pliny, N.H. viii. 30. |

2 The arrow-snake, Isaiah, xxxiv. 15: so iaculd serpentes,
Lucan ix. 720, and cp. Hor. Odes, iii. 27, 6. fas

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

κατ᾽ εὐθὺ ἔβλεπέν re καὶ ἐβάδιζεν, οὐκ av ᾧμωξεν. ἅλις
2 + Α Ἁ 9 9 ld ε ΄ 1] a
εἰκόνων. καὶ yap αὕτη tis ἀπίθανος ἡ τοῦ ’Opdéws
2" ἐξ 10 3 ’ 1
εἰκὼν ἐξ ddov ἀνιμη μένη.
’ “σ᾿ “A
4. ᾿Απολογήσομαι δὲ τοὐντεῦθεν ἤδη ὅθεν ἂν ῥᾷστα
a a
συγγνώμης τύχοιμι. τί δὴ τοῦτό ἐστιν; ὅτι συγγράφων
“ a wr 4 3 , ” a 9 Ν “a
τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐγκώμιον ἔπραττον <mpotov>? μὲν ὃ
μάλιστα ool τε καὶ τῷ σῷ παιδὶ κεχαρισμένον ἐστίν"
ΜΝ ‘\ x, e ~ > 4 \ 93 , \ e “~ > ~
ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ὑμῶν ἐμεμνήμην καὶ ὠνόμαζον δὲ ὑμᾶς ἐν τῷ
συγγράμματι, ὥσπερ of ἐρασταὶ τοὺς φιλτάτους ὀνομάΐζ-
9 ἃ ’ A. 3 5 ‘ € ’ 8 ~
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>
Ambr. 168 ἀγορεύοιτο, οὖσα ἐκ ζωγράϊφου: τὸν Πρωτογένη τὸν
ζωγράφον φασὶν ἕνδεκα ἔτεσιν τὸν ᾿Ιάλυσον γρᾶψαι,
Ν ω ? “a @ 4 wv ‘ γ " ,
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3 δὲ a , 3 δὲ a a 4 ἮΝ λὰ Ν
οὐ δὴ τοῖν προσώποιν οὐδὲ ταῖν μορφαῖν μόναιν ἀλλὰ καὶ
τοῖν τρόποιν καὶ ταῖν ἀρεταῖν οὐ μετρίω ὄντε ἄμφω οὐδὲ
’ ε ’ 3 xe 4 > , Ν 4
γράφεσθαι padiw, ἀλλ᾽ ὃ μέν ἐστιν μέγας βασιλεὺς ἄρχων
πάσης τῆς γῆς καὶ θαλάττης, ὁ δ' ἕτερος υἱὸς μεγάλου |
4 3 a, Ν ν A 9 ᾽ “A A“ ’
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a @ .
σὸς δὲ ὧν vids,* ws τῆς Ἥρας ὁ Ἥφαιστος: ἀπέστω δὲ τὸ

Vat. 1
ends

ς.
a

A ζω ΄ a ae , > ἡ ε x Φ

τῶν ποδῶν ταύτης τῆς τοῦ Ἡφαίστου εἰκόνος. ἡ μὲν οὖν

ha Ἃ ” id 4 ‘

ἀπολογία αὕτη av εἴη πάνυ τις εἰκαστικὴ γενομένη καὶ

‘ > » ” > _N 4

γραφικὴ εἰκόνων ἔκπλεως αὐτὴ μάλα.

" ᾽ Ν “- Ν

5. Ἔτι κατὰ τοὺς γεωμέτρας αἰτήσομαι---τὸ ποῖον ; εἴ

a a aA 2 “A

τι τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐν ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς ταύταις εἴη ἄκυρον ἢ

1 Vat. Cod. ἀνειμένη : Ambr. ἀνημειμένη. 2 Brakman.

3 Mai reads ἀτεχνῶς τό, but Studemund says the Codex has
τέχνωσις.

4 Brakman for Cod. σωνιος, with correction νἱὸς by m?.

134

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

back: had he looked and walked straight ahead he
had not rued. Enough of similes. For this, too, is
somewhat unconvincing, this simile of Orpheus
fetched up from Hades.

4, But I will now for the rest plead in excuse
what will most easily win me pardon. What, then,
is this? That in writing the Emperor’s encomium
I was doing, in the ‘first place, what was especially
gratifying to you and your son; in the next | re-
membered and mentioned both of you in the com-
position, just as lovers name their darlings over every
cup. But, indeed, the craftmanship of similes is an
insinuating thing and grows on us. This one, at any
rate, has occurred to me, which I add to all the others,
and indeed it can most fairly be called a simile (or
likeness), being taken from a painter. Protugenes the
painter is said to have taken eleven! years to paint
his Jalysus, painting nothing but the Jalysus all those
eleven years. But, as for me, I painted not one but
two Ialysuses at once, being no ordinary ones either
of them, nor easy to depict, not only in respect of
their faces and figures, but also of their characters
and qualities, for the one is the great Imperator of
all land and sea, and the other the great Imperator’s
son, his child in the same way as Athene is of Zeus,
but thy son as Hephaestus is of Hera. But let there
be no “halting’’? in this simile from Hephaestus.
This defence of mine, then, would seem to be wholly
verisimilous and picturesque, full as it is in itself of
similes entirely.

5. It remains that I should, after the fashion of
geometers, ask—what? If any word in this letter be

1 Plutarch (Demitr, 22) says seven years. cp. Pliny, NH.
xxxv. 36, 88 10, 20.

2 For the lame Hephaestus see Hom. 7]. i. ad fin.

135

Almbr., 164

Ambr. 102

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

“A

βάρβαρον ἢ ἄλλως ἀδόκιμον ἢ μὴ πάνυ ἀττικόν, p<?)

a 3 “ A ~
tour, ἀλλ;ὰ 1 τοῦ ὀνόματός σε ἀξιῶ τὴν διάνοιαν σκοπεῖν
38." θ᾽ € fo. tf 6 ν᾿ bd 3 > “23 2 ‘
αὐτὴν καθ᾽ αὑτήν" οἶσθα yap ὅτι ἐν αὐτοῖς 5 ὀνόμασιν καὶ
αὐτῇ διαλέκτῳ διατρίβω. καὶ γὰρ τὸν Σκύθην ἐκεῖνον
τὸν ᾿Ανάχαρσιν οὐ πάνυ τι ἀττικίσαι φασίν, ἐπαινεθῆναι
δὲ ἐκ τῆς διανοίας καὶ τῶν ἐνθυμημάτων. παραβαλῶ
\ 2 ‘ 3 , 3 ἈΝ 4 ‘ \ ‘
δὴ ἐμαυτὸν ᾿Αναχάρσιδι οὐ pa Aia κατὰ τὴν σοφίαν
ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ βάρβαρος ὁμοίως εἶναι. [Ἦν γὰρ ὁ μὲν
Σκύθης τῶν νομάδων Σκυθῶν, ἐγὼ δὲ Λίβυς τῶν Λιβύων
a 4 δὴ AS δὴ ἊΝ 3 , . 3
τῶν νομάδων. κοινὸν δὴ τὸ νέμεσθαι ἐμοί τε καὶ ᾿Ανα-
4, 5 ‘ AQ > a 4 Q λ “ θ a ’
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@ Ν , 9 Ν Ἁ ‘ δ
ὅπως av τις βληχήσηται. οὕτως μὲν δὴ καὶ τὸ βαρ-
βαρίζειν τῷ βληχᾶσθαι προσείκασα. οὐκοῦν παύσομαι
μηδὲν ἕτερον γράφων ἀλλ᾽ ἢ εἰκόνας.

Ad M. Caes. ii. 10 (Naber, p. 33).

<Marcus Cassar Frontoni consuli amplissimo.>
1... . . | adfinitate sociatum, neque tutelae
subditum, praeterea in ea fortuna constitutum, in
qua, ut Q. Ennius ait,

Omanes dant consilium vanum alque ad voluptatem omnia ;

item quod Plautus egregie in Colace super eadem
re ait,
Qu: data fide firmata fidentem fefellerunt,
Subdoli subsentatores, rege qui sunt proximi,
Qui aliter regt dictts dtcunt, altter in animo habent.
1 Brakman.

2 Jacobs would read ἄλλοις, and ἄλλη for αὐτῇ.
5 Heindorf would insert οὐ.

136

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

obsolete or barbarous, or in any other way unauthor-
ized, or not entirely Attic, look not at that, but only,
I beseech you, at the intrinsic meaning of the
word, for you know that I do spend time on mere
words or mere idiom. ‘And, indeed, it is said that the
famous Scythian Anacharsis was by no means perfect
in his Attic, but was praised for his meaning and his
conceptions. I will compare myself, then, with
Anacharsis, not, by heaven, in wisdom, but as being
like him a barbarian. For he was a Scythian of the
nomad Scythians, and I am a Libyan of the Libyan
nomads. I as well as Anacharsis may browse fresh
pastures, bleat therefore as well as he while browsing,
just as one wills to bleat. See, I have assimilated
barbarism to bleating. So will I make an end of
writing nothing but similes.

143 a.p,

M. Cagsar to the most honourable consul Fronto.
| eee connected by marriage} and not sub-
ject to guardianship and stationed besides in a social
position in which, as Q. Ennius says,

All give foolish counsel, and look in all to pleasing only ;

and Plautus, too, in his Colax, says finely on the same
subject,

Crafty cajolers, who nith fast-pledged faith
Take in the trustful: these stand round a king,
And what they speak ts far from what they think.

1 Marcus appears to be speaking of himself. At the end
of the preceding letter (Ad M. Cues. ii. 9, p. 146) and the
beginning of this one several pages are lost.

137

Ambr. 101

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Haec enim olim incommoda regibus solis fieri sol-
ebant, at enim nunc adfatim sunt, qui et regum filiis,
ut Naevius! ait,

Linguis faveant atque adnutent et subserviant.

Merito ergo,? mi magister, ita flagro;? merito unum
meum σκοπὸν mihi constitui; merito unum hominem
cogito quom stilus in manus venit.

2. Hexametros meos iucundissime petis, quos ego
quoque confestim misissem, si illos mecum haberem.
Nam librarius meus, quem tu nosti, Anicetum dico,
quom proficiscerer, nihil meorum scriptorum mecum
misit. Scit enim morbum meum et timuit ne, si
venissent in potestatem, quod soleo facerem et in
furnum dimitterem. Sane istis hexametris prope
nullum periculum | erat. Ut enim verum magistro
meo confitear, amo illos. Ego istic noctibus studeo,
nam interdiu in theatro. Itaque minus ago vespera
fatigatus, luce surgo* dormitans. Feci tamen mihi
per hos dies excerpta ex libris sexaginta in quinque
tomis. Sed quom leges sexaginta, inibi sunt et
Novianae [et] atellaniolae et Scipionis oratiunculae
—ne tu numerum nimis expavescas.

3. Polemonis tui quom® meministi, rogo ne Horatii

1 We should possibly read Novius, who is mentioned below.

2 Niebuhr for Cod. ego.

3 For Cod. fraglo. The ita is for ἐΐ added by m? of Cod.
after magister.

4 Added above duce by m* of Cod. This passage is quoted
by Charisius, ii. 223, ed. Keil. δ. Rob. Ellis for Cod. quem.

138

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

These drawbacks used formerly to be confined to
kings, but now, indeed, even the sons of kings have
more than enough of men who, as Naevius ! says,

Stell flatter nith their tongues and stsll assent,
And fawn upon them to their heart's content.?

I do right, then, my master, in being so ardent, right
in setting before me one single aim, right in think-
ing of one man only when I take my pen in hand.

2. You very kindly ask for my hexameters, and I
too should have sent them at once if I had had
them with me. But my secretary—you know him, I
mean Anicetus—did not pack up any of my work
when I set out. For he knows my failing and was
afraid that, if they came into my hands, I should do
as I usually do, and consign them to the flames.
But, as a matter of fact, those particular hexameters
were in next to no danger. For, to tell my master
the truth, I dote on them. 1 pore over them
οὐ nights, for the day is spent in the theatre. And
so I get through but little in the evening, being
tired, and in the morning I get up sleepy. Still I
have made for myself these last few days five note-
books full of extracts from sixty volumes. But when
you read sixty, don’t be staggered by the number, for
included in them are the little Atellane farces of
Novius and Scipio's speechlets.

3. As you have mentioned your Polemo, please
don't mention Horace again, who, with Polio,® is

1 Naevius was the earliest great national poet of Rome. He
wrote an epic on the First Punic War, and also tragedies.

2 cp. Shaks. Hamlet, 111. ii, 399.

3 Probably the Augustan poet, orator, and historian,
Asinius Pollio, is meant. His archaism would recommen

him to Fronto, who subsequently quotes a work of his (4d
Verum, ii. 1). ἘΠ

Ambr. 109

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

memineris, qui mihi cum Polione est emortuus. Vale
mi amicissime, vale mi amantissime, consul amplis-
sime, magister dulcissime, quem ego biennio iam non
vidi. Nam quod aiunt quidam duos menses inter-
fuisse, tantum dies numerant. Eritne quom te
videbo ὃ

Ad M. Caes, ii. 11 (Naber, p. 35).

AMPLIssiMo consuli magistro suo M. Caesar salutem.
Anno abhinc tertio me commemini cum patre
ineo a vindemia redeuntem in agrum Pompei Falconis
devertere; ibi me videre arborem multorum ram-
οὐ, quam ille suum nomen catachannam nominabat.
Sed illa arbor mira et nova visa est mihi in uno trunco
omnium ferme germina <arborum ferens>... οἷ

Ad M. Caes. ii. 6 (Naber, p. 30).

M. Auretius Cagsar | consuli suo et magistro
salutem.

1. Postquam ad te proxime scripsi, postea nihil
operae pretium <fuit>? quod ad te scriberetur aut
quod cognitum ad aliquem modum iuvaret. Nam
διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν fere dies tramisimus—idem theatrum,
idem odium,’ idem desiderium tuum. Quid dico

1 Size of lacuna is not known.

3 Cramer ; but the error seems to lie in the word postea.,

3 The m? of Cod. gives odcwm (wdetov), and the margin also
notes from another MS. the alternative ofcwm.

140

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

dead and done with as far as Iam concerned. Fare-
well, my dearest, my most beloved friend; farewell,
my most honourable consul, my most sweet master,
whom I have not seen these two years. For as to
what some say, that two months! have intervened,
they only count days. Shall I ever see you?

143 a.p.

To the most honourable consul, his master, M.
Caesar, greeting.

Three years ago I remember turning aside with
my father to the estate of Pompeius Falco? when on
our way home from the vintage ; and that I saw there
a tree with many branches, which he called by its
proper name of catachanna.® But it seemed to me a
new and extraordinary tree, bearing as it did upon
its single stem off-shoots of almost every kind of
tree. ...

Naples, 143 a.p.

M. Auretius Caesar to his own consul and master,
greeting.

1. Since my last letter to you nothing has hap-
pened worth writing of, or the knowledge of which
would be of the slightest interest to you. For we
have passed whole days more or less in the same
occupations: the same theatre, the same dislike οἵ
it, the same longing for you—the same, do I say?

1 July and August, the two months of Fronto’s consulship,

during which Fronto had to be in Rome.

2 He appears as one of Pliny’s correspondents in his
Letters.

3 Possibly a Punic name, thinks Niebuhr.

141

Ambr. 108

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

idem? immo id cotidie novatur et gliscit; et quod
ait Laberius de amore, suo modo καὶ ἐπὶ ἰδίᾳ μούσῃ;

Amor tuus tam cito crescit quam porrus, tam firme
quam palma.

Hoc igitur ad desiderium verto, quod ille de amore
ait. Volo ad te plura scribere, sed nihil suppetit.

2. Eece quod in animum venit. Encomiagraphos
istic audiimus, Graecos scilicet sed miros mortales, ut
ego, qui a Graeca litteratura tantum absum quantum
a terra Graecia mons Caelius meus abest, tamen me
sperem illis comparatum etiam Theopompum aequi-
parare posse; nam hunc audio apud Graecos diser-
tissimum natum esse. Igitur paene me opicum ani-
mantem ad Graecam scripturam perpulerunt homines,
ut Caecilius ait, incolumi inscientia.

3. Caelum Neapolitanum plane commodum, | sed
vehementer varium. In singulis scripulis horarum
frigidius aut tepidius aut horridius! fit. Iam pri-
mum media nox tepida, Laurentina; tum autem
gallicinium frigidulum, Lanuvinum ; iam conticinnum
atque matutinum atque diluculum usque ad solis
ortum gelidum, ad Algidum maxime; exim ante-
meridiem apricum, Tusculanum; tum meridies ferv-
ida, Puteolana; at enim ubi sol lautum? ad Oceanum
profectus <est>, fit demum caelum modestius, quod
genus Tiburtinum; id vespera et concubia nocte,

1 Some prefer to read torridius, ‘‘ more tropical.”
2 m? of Cod. for datum.

142

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

nay, one that is daily renewed and increases and, as
Laberius, after his own manner and in his own pecu-
liar style, says of love,

Your love as fast as any onton grows, as firm as any
palm.

This then that he says of love, I apply to my longing
for you. I should like to write you a longer letter,
but nothing suggests itself.

2. Stay, I have just thought of something. We
have been listening to panegyrists here, Greeks, of
course, but wondrous creatures, so much so that I,
who am as far removed from Greek literature as is
my native Caelian hill! from the land of Greece,
could nevertheless hope, matched with them, to be
able to rival even Theopompus, the most eloquent, as
I hear, of all the Greeks. So I, who am all but a
living barbarian, have been impelled to write in Greek
by men, as Caecilius? says, of untmpatred tgnorance.

3. The climate of Naples is decidedly pleasant,
but violently variable. Every two minutes it gets
colder or warmer or rawer. To begin with, midnight
is warm, as at Laurentum ; then, however, the cock-
crow watch chilly, as at Lanuvium; soon the hush
of night and dawn and twilight till sunrise cold, for
all the world like Algidus; anon the forenoon sunny,
as at Tusculum ; following that a noon as fierce as at
Puteoli; but, indeed, when the sun has gone to his
bath in Ocean, the temperature at last becomes more
moderate, such as we get at Tibur; this continues
the same during the evening and first sleep of night,

1 Marcus was born on Mons Caelius, where the Annii had
a residence.

* Caecilius Statins, a comic poet contemporary with
Ennius,

143

Ambr. 107

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

dum se tntempesta nox, ut ait M. Porcius, praectpitat,!
eodem modo perseverat. Sed quid ego, qui me
paucula scripturum promisi, deliramenta Masuriana
congero? Igitur vale, magister benignissime, consul
amplissime, et me, quantum ames, tantum desidera.

Ad ΜΙ. Cues. ii. 7 (Naber, p. 32).

CagsaRI suo consul.

Meum fratrem beatum, qui vos in isto biduo vide-
rit! At ego Romae haereo compedibus aureis vinc-
tus; nec aliter Kal. Sept. expecto quam superstitiosi
stellam, qua visa ieiunium polluant. Vale, Caesar,
decus patriae et Romani nominis. Vale, Domine.

Ad M. Caes. ii. 8 (Naber, p. 32).

DomINo meo.
| Gratiam meam misi ad diem natalem matri
tuae celebrandum eique praecepi ut istic subsisteret
quoad ego venirem. EKodem autem momento quo
consulatum eiuravero vehiculum conscendam et ad
vos pervolabo. Interim Gratiae meae nullum a
fame periculum fore fide mea spopondi: mater enim

1 From his Carmen de Moribus: see Dirksen, Opuse. i. 244.

1 Masurius Sabinus was a great jurist of Tiberius’s reign.
Persius (Sat. v. 90) mentions a work of his called Rubrieca.
Possibly Marcus is alluding to the jargon of minute legal
distinctions. .

144

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

until, as M. Porcius says, the dead of night falls snifily
down. But why do J string together these Masurian!
banalities, when I started with saying 1 should write
a few words only? So farewell, most kindly of
masters, most honourable of consuls, and let your
love be the measure of your longing for me.

Fronto To Marcus AvuRELIus

T 143 a.p.
HE consul to his own Caesar.

Lucky brother? of mine to have seen you those
two days! But 1 stick fast in Rome bound with
golden fetters, looking forward to the first of Sep-
tember as the superstitious to the star,’ at sight of
which to break their fast. Farewell, Caesar, glory
of your country and the Roman name. My Lord,
farewell.

Fronto To Marcus AurRkELius AS CAESAR

T 143 4.0.
o my Lord.

I have sent my Gratia‘ to keep your mother’s
birthday with her, and bidden her stay there till |
come, The very moment, however, that I have laid
down my consulship with the customary oath® 1 shall
climb into my carriage and fly off to you. Mean-
while, I have pledged my word that my Gratia shall
run no risk of starvation. For your mother will

2 Probably named Quadratus. See Corpus Inscr. Lat. xv.
7438.

8 The Jews. The same may be said of the Moslems and
their fast. 4 Fronto’s wife.

5 The oath was that he had administered his office accor-
ding to law. Herodian (iv. 3) says that this was done in the
old forum (ἀγορά).

145
Vol. I. L

Ambr,. 164,
middle of
col. 1

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

tua particulas a te sibi missas cum clienta communi-
cabit. Neque est Gratia mea, ut causidicorum uxo-
res feruntur, multi cibi. Vel osculis solis matris tuae
contenta vixerit. Sed enim quid me fiet? Ne oscu-
lum quidem usquam ullum est Romae residuum.
Omnes meae fortunae, mea omnia gaudia Neapoli
sunt.

Oro te, quis iste mos est pridie magistratum eiu-
randi? Quid, quod ego paratus sum, dum ante
plures dies eiurem, per plures deos iurare? Quid
est autem, quod iuraturus sum me consulatu abire ?
Ego vero etiam illud iuravero, me olim consulatu
abire cupere, ut M. Aurelium complectar.

Ad M. Caes. ii. 9 (Naber, p. 33).

<ConsuL! amplissimo et magistro> meo optimo.
Hoc sane supererat, ut super cetera quae insig-
niter erga nos facis etiam Gratiam mitteres huc
<ad diem natalem matris meae nobiscum concele-
brandum>... .!

Epist. Graec. 2 (Naber, p. 242).

| Μητρὶ Καίσαρος

1, Ἑκὼν ἑκὼν νὴ τοὺς θεοὺς καὶ πάνυ γε προθυμού-

μενος τὴν ἐμὴν Κραττίαν ἐξέπεμψα συνεορτάζουσάν σοι
τὰ γενέθλια καὶ αὐτὸς ἂν ἀφικόμενος εἰ ἐξῆν. ἀλλ᾽

1 Several pages are missing between this fragment and the
beginning of Ad MM. Caes. ii. 10 given above, p. 136.
146

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

share with her protégée the tit-bits sent her by you.
Nor is my Gratia a great eater, as lawyer's wives are
said to be. She will live contentedly enough even
on nothing but your mother’s kisses. But what will
become of poor me? There is not even a single kiss
left anywhere in Rome. All my fortunes, all my
joys are at Naples.

Tell me, I beseech you, what is the custom of
laying down an office under oath a day earlier.
What, am I not ready to swear by as many more
gods as I can swear myself out of office days
sooner? Again, am 1 to swear that I resign my
consulship? Yea, and I will swear this, too, that I
have long wished to resign it, that I may embrace
Marcus Aurelius.

Marcus AuRELIus To FroNTo
143 a.p.

To the most honourable consul and my best of
masters.

Verily this alone was wanting, that over and
above all the other signal marks of your affection
towards us you should also send Gratia here to join
us in keeping my mother’s birthday ... .

Fronto to Domitia LucILua

To the mother of Marcus. bao Al
1. Willingly, willingly, by heaven, aye, with the
greatest pleasure possible, have I sent my Gratia to
keep your birthday with you, and would have come
myself had it been lawful. But for myself this

147
L 2

Ambr. 148

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

3 Α Α > ὃ , > ε ϑ 4 “‘ 1 “~ δὶ 0 2 >
ἐμοὶ μὲν ἐμποδών ἐστιν ἡ ἀρχὴ mpos! τῷ ποδὶ WOE? οὖσα.
s\ ? ‘ ε , Ἁ a 9 “ a “
ὀλίγαι yap ἡμέραι λοιπαὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς περιλείπονται καὶ
μᾶλλόν τεῦ ἄσχολοι διὰ τὰς λειτουργίας: ὧν ἀπαλλαγεὶς
ἔοικα δραμεῖσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς τῶν τὸν στάδιον τρεχόντων
‘ 4 e 2 A , , 4 2%
πολὺ προθυμότερον' ws ἐκεῖνοί γε βραχύτατον χρόνον ἐπὶ
a ¢ 9 ͵ ¥ 51. κ , 28 N
τῆς ὕσπληγος ἐπιστάντες, ἔπειτα ἀφεῖνται τρέχειν, ἐγὼ δὲ
τοῦτον ἤδη μῆνα δεύτερον εἴργομαι τοῦ πρὸς ὑμᾶς δρόμου.
2. Ἐχρῆν δὲ ἄρα πάσας τὰς πανταχόθεν γυναῖκας ἐπὶ
, BS e / 3 4 \ ε 4 Ἁ a
ταύτην τὴν ἡμέραν ἀθροίζεσθαι καὶ ἑορτάζειν τὰ σὰ
4 , Ἀ ων A ‘ ld ὃ Ἁ
γενέθλια, πρώτας μὲν τῶν γυναικῶν τὰς φιλάνδρους Kat
, Α , / \ 9 ”
φιλοτέκνους καὶ σώφρονας, δευτέρας δὲ ὅσαι ἄπλαστοι
“ 3 ὃ “a > ? ’ δὲ ε 4 Ν > ’
καὶ ἀψευδεῖς εἰσίν, τρίτας δὲ ἑορτάζειν τὰς εὐγνώμονας
N > [4 ΑἉ 3 ’ \ 9 4 Q
καὶ εὐπροσίτους καὶ | εὐπροσηγόρους kai ἀτύφους: πολλαὶ
δὲ A νιν ww 4 4 A A [4
é ἂν καὶ ἄλλαι γυναικῶν τάξεις γένοιντο τῶν σοὶ μέρους
τινὸς ἐπαίνου καὶ ἀρετῆς μετεχουσῶν, σοῦ μὲν ἁπάσας τὰς
γυναικὶ πρεπούσας ἀρετὰς καὶ ἐπιστήμας κεκτημένης καὶ
> , ν e 3 A , € , , ’
ἐπισταμένης, ὥσπερ ἡ ᾿Αθηνᾶ τέχνας ἁπάσας κέκτηταί τε
\ 9 4 “ ἄλλ δὲ A ῳ 4 ΄΄ 3 ζω]
καὶ ἐπίσταται, τῶν ἄλλων δὲ γυναικῶν ἕν τι ὁ τῆς ἀρετῆς
μέρος ἑκάστης ἐπισταμένης καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο ἐπαινουμένης,
“a “A # a
οἷος 6 τῶν Μουσῶν ἔπαινος ἐκ μιᾶς τέχνης καθ᾽ ἑκάστην
’
διῃρημένος.
> >
3. Εἰ δὲ ἦν ἐγὼ πρὸ θύρας ὃ εἰσαγωγεύς τις εἶναι λαχὼν
a a e a 947 , A e ’ ,
τῶν τῆς ἑορτῆς ἀξίων, πρώτας Gv Ὁμήρῳ πειθόμενος
9 .2 BS μ » ΑΝ ’
ἀπέκλεισα τὰς τὴν εὔνοιαν ψευδομένας καὶ πλαττομένας
καὶ “ἕτερον μέν τι κευθούσας ἐνὶ φρεσὶν ἄλλο δὲ λε-
’ 3) 4 X Ν 9 ‘\ ’ Ἁ ’
γούσας,᾽ ἅπαντα δὲ τὰ ἀπὸ γέλωτος μεχρὶ δακρύων
1 Niebuhr for Cod. γιρος. 2 For Cod. nen.

3 Heindorf τι, * Jacobs for Cod. ἐπί.
5 Cod. θύραις. Dobson suggests προθυραῖοϑ.

148

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

office is a clog round my feet. For there are a few
days of it left, and these more than ever taken up
with its duties. Once released from them, methinks
I shall run to you with far more eagerness than
those who run the course ; for they, after a moment's
delay at the starting-place, are forthwith despatched
on their race, while I have already been kept from
running to you these two months.

2. The right thing, it seems, would have been that
all women from all quarters should have gathered
for this day and celebrated your birth-feast, first, all
the women that love their husbands and love their
children and are virtuous, and, secondly, all that are
genuine and truthful, and the third company to keep
the feast should have been the kind-hearted, and
the affable and the accessible and the humble-
minded; and many other ranks of women would
there be to share in some part of your praise and
virtue, seeing that you possess and are mistress of all
virtues and accomplishments befitting a woman, just
as Athena possesses and is mistress of every art,
whereas of other women each one is mistress of some
one branch of excellence and commended for it, Just
as the Muses are praised individually, each one for a
single art.

3. But had I been at your door, acting as a
sort of introducer of those who were worthy of the
festival, the first I should have shut out, on
Homer's authority, would have been those who
make a pretence of good-will and are insincere,
who “hide one thing in their hearts while their
lips speak another,’ with whom everything, from

+ Homer, Ji. ix. 312.
149

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

, @ , 9 4 ΕΣ
προσποιουμένας. ὅ τοι γέλως οὕτως τὸ πρὶν ἄδολος
φ ἊΣ ε Α Α δὸ 4 a a 2
εἶναι πεφυκὼς ws καὶ τοὺς ὀδόντας τῶν γελώντων ἐπι-
δεικνύειν εἰς τοσοῦτον ἤδη περιέστηκεν κακομηχανίας καὶ
> / ε Ν ,. ’, 4 A 9 > “A
ἐνέδρας, ὡς καὶ τὰ χείλη κρύπτειν τῶν ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς
προσγελώντων. γυναικεία δή τις αὕτη θεὸς παρὰ ταῖς
πλείσταις τῶν γυναικῶν θρησκεύεται ἡ ᾿Απάτη" ἥτις γοῦν
᾿Αφροδίτης τόκος ἐκ πολλῶν τινων καὶ ποικίλων θηλειῶν

Here follows κατασκευασάμενος. | .
Ambr. 147

Ad M. Caes. ii. 12 (Naber, p. 35).

<M. Cassar magistro suo.>
Ambr. 106 ... 5] et meus me alipta faucibus urgebat.
Sed quae, inquis, fabula? Ut pater meus a vineis
domum se recepit, ego solito more equum inscendi,
et in viam profectus sum, et paulatim provectus.
Deinde ibi in via sic oves multae conglobatae adsta-
bant ut locis solet artis,? et canes quattuor et duo
pastores, sed nihil praeterea. Tum pastor unus ad
alterum pastorem, postquam plusculos equites vidit,
Vide tibt istos equetes, inquit, nam ills solent maximas
rapinationes facere. Ubi id audivi, calcar equo sub-
pingo, equum in oves inigo. Oves consternatae dis-
perguntur; aliae alibi palantes balantesque oberrant.
Pastor furcam intorquet; furca in equitem, qui me
sectabatur, cadit. Nos aufugimus. Eo pacto qui
metuebatur ne oves amitteret, furcam perdidit.
Fabulam existimas? Res vera est: at etiam plura
1 For Cod. κατασκενασαμένης : ἥτις is Naber’s for Cod. τις.

2 It is not known how much is lost here.
3 Froéhner for Cod. locus solitarius.

[50

M. CORNELIUS ΕΒΟΝΤΟ

laughter to tears, is make-believe. Truly laugh-
ter, that at first was naturally so without craft as to
shew the teeth of the laugher, has now changed
round to such a depth of malice and guile that those
who laugh with sinister intent hide even their lips.
This goddess, true woman that she is, who gets most
worship from women, is Deceit, offspring, of a truth,
of Aphrodite, and aa of many and various
traits of womankind . ;

143 a.p.
M. Caesar to his master.

.... and my wrestling-master! had me by
the throat. But what, you say, was the story?
When my father had got home from the vineyards,
I, as usual, mounted my horse and set off along the
road, and had gone some little distance when I came
upon a number of sheep in the road huddled to-
gether, as happens when there is little room, with
four dogs and two shepherds; that was all. Then
one of the shepherds, seeing our cavalcade, said to
his mate, Marry, keep an eye on those mounted fellons,
they be rare hands at pillaging. Wearing that, I dug
the spurs into my horse and galloped right into the
flock. Frightened out of their wits, they ran helter-
skelter bleating and fleeting in all directions. The
shepherd whirled his crook at us. It fell on my
equerry who was following me. We got clear off.
So it chanced that he, who feared to lose his sheep,
lost his crook. Do you think this a fiction? It
really took place: yes, and there is more I could

1 cp. Capit. Vit. Marci, iv. Vamavit pugillatum, luctamina.
The phrase faucibus wrgere is from Sall. Caz. 52.

151

Ambr. 105

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

erant quae de ea re scriberem, nisi iam me nuntius
in balneum arcesseret. Vale mi magister dulcissime,
homo honestissime et rarissime, suavitas et caritas et
voluptas mea.

Ad M, Caes. ii. 13 (Naber, p. 36).

MaaisTRo meo.

Gratia minor effecit,! quod Gratia maior fecit, ut
sollicitudinem nostram vel interim minuat vel iam
omnino detergeat. | Ego tibi de patrono meo M. Por-
cio gratias ago, quod eum crebro lectitas; tu mihi de
C. Crispo timeo ut umquam gratias agere possis, nam
uni M. Porcio me dedicavi atque despondi atque
delegavi. Hoc etiam ipsum atque unde putas? Ex
ipso furore. Perendinus dies meus dies festus erit,
si certe tu venis. Vale, amicissime et rarissime
homo, dulcissime magister.

Die? senatus huius magis hic futuri quam illuc
venturi videmur. Sed utrumque in ambiguo est.
Tu modo perendie veni, et fiat quod volt. Semper
mi vale, animus meus; mater me te tuosque salutat.

Ad M. Caes. ii. 14 (Naber, p. 36).
MaaIsTrRo meo.

Tu, quom sine me es, Catonem legis, at ego,
quom sine te sum, causidicos in undecimam horam
1 Cod. minore fectt.

* Mai for Cod. de.
152

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

write to you of that adventure, but here comes the
messenger to call me to my bath. Farewell, my
sweetest of masters, most honoured and most unique
of men, my joy, my treasure, my delight.

Marcus AURELIUS To FRONT)

‘To my master. 143 a.p.
Gratia! the younger has served, as the elder
Gratia did, to calm our anxiety for the while or
sweep it altogether away at once. I thank you on
behalf of my patron, M. Porcius, for the frequency
with which you read him: you will never, I fear, be
able to return me the compliment with respect to
Gaius Crispus,? for to M. Porcius alone have I devoted,
aye and engaged, aye and given myself over heart
and soul. Whence, too, think you, comes this very
aye and?® From my very enthusiasm. The day
after to-morrow shall be my gala day, if you really
are coming. Farewell, dearest and most unique of
men, sweetest of masters.
On the day of this Senate we seem more likely to
be here than go there. But nothing is decided. Do
ou but come the day after to-morrow, and then let
what will befall, Fare ever well for me, soul of
mine. My mother greets you and yours.

Marcus AurRELIvus To FrRONTO

To my master. 143 a.p.
You, when you are away from me, read Cato;

but I, when away from you, listen to lawyers till

1 As Gratia, Fronto’s daughter, married Victorinus about
the year 160, she is not likely to have been more than two
or three years old, at the most, in 143.

2 2,6. Sallust ; M. Porcius is Cato.

3 This repeated use of atqgue was a habit of Cato’s.

153

Ambr. 86,
cd init,

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

audio. Equidem velim istam noctem, quae sequitur,
quam brevissimam esse. Tanti est minus lucubrare,
ut te maturius videam. Vale mi magister dulcis-
sime. Mater mea te salutat. Spiritum vix habeo,
ita sum defessus.

Ad M. Caes, ii. 15 (Naber, p. 37).

<M. Carsar Magis>tro suo salutem dicit.
Profecto ista tua benignitate magnum mihi ne-
gotium perfecisti.! Nam illa cotidie tua Lorium
ventio, illa in serum expectatio . .. .

Ad M. Caes. i. 6 (Naber, p. 13).

| M. Avuretius Caesar salutem dicit Frontoni
magistro suo.

1. Nae ego? impudens, qui umquam quicquam
meorum scriptorum tanto ingenio tanto iudicio legen-
dum committo. Patri, Domino meo, locum ex ora-
tione tua, quem me eligere® voluit, ai<ro>* xai
ὑπεκρινάμην commode. Plane illa suum auctorem
sibi dari flagitabant: denique mihi vix succlamatum
est “Agiws rod zornrod. Sed quod tu merito omnibus
praeoptas, non diu differam.5 Ita adfectus est audi-
tione eorum Dominus meus, ut paene moleste ferret
quod alio modo® ad negotium opus sibi esset, quam
eo quo tu orationem habiturus intraveris. Sensuum

1 For Cod. perperisti (τι) ; profieiosta (Ὁ) m?*.

2 For Hauler on this whole passage see Jfiscellanca Ceriani,
pp. 504 f.

3 m2 of Cod. sibi praclegerc. * m*adds this above the line.

5 J. W. E. Pearce for Cod. differas.

δ m? mox and, for opus sibi esset, arcesseretur from another

MS.
154

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

five o'clock. Oh, that this coming night might be
the shortest known! so fain am I to burn less mid-
night oil, that 1 may the sooner see you. Farewell,
my sweetest of masters. My mother sends her
greeting. I can scarcely breathe, so tired am I.

143 a.p.

M. Caesar to his master sends greeting.
Verily in your kindness you have done me a
great service. For that daily call at Lorium,! that
waiting till late. . . .

144-145 a.p.

M. Auretius Caesar to Fronto his master sends
greeting.

1. Nay, surely it is I who am shameless? in ever
submitting any of my writings to be read by genius so
great, by judgment so great. The passage from your
speech, which the Lord my father wished me to
choose out, I even declaimed with appropriate action.
Needless to say, the words cried aloud for their own
author to deliver them: in fact, I was scarcely greeted
with Worthy of the maker! But I will not delay
telling you what you deservedly long for most. So
struck was my Lord with what he heard that he was
almost put out because business required his presence
at the time elsewhere than in the court where you
were to deliver your speech. He greatly admired

1 Pius’s villa, twelve miles from Rome, on the Via Aurelia,
where he died.

2 Fronto had evidently accused himself of tmpudentia for
sending Marcus something of his (? his speech) to be criticised.

155 |

Ambr. 91

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

facultatem, elocutionis variam virtutem, inventionis
argutam! novitatem, orationis doctam dispositionem
vehementer miratus est. Nunc credo post hoc?
quaeris quid me maxime iuverit. Accipe; hinc
coepl :

2. “In ws*® rebus et causis quae a privatis rudicibus
indicantur, nullum est periculum, quia sententtae eorum
intra causarum de|mum terminos valent ; tus autem de-
cretts, temperator, exempla publice valitura tn perpetuum
sanctuntur. Tanto maior ἰδὲ vis et potestas quam fates
attributa est. Fata quid singulis nostrum eventat statu-
unt: tu, δὲ quid in singulos decernis, tbt universos
exempla adstringis.

3. “ Quare, si hoc decretum tht proconsulis placuerit,
formam dederis omnibus omnium provinciarum magistra-
tibus, quid tn etusmodi causis decernant. Quid igttur
eveniet ὃ Illud scilicet, ut testamenta omnia ex longinquts
transmarinisque provincits Romam ad cognitionem tuam
deferantur. Filius exheredatum se suspicabitur : postu-
labit ne patris tabulae apertantur. Idem filta postulabit,
nepos, ubnepos, frater, consobrinus, patruus, avunculus,
amita, matertera ; omnia necessitudinum nomina hoc pri-
vilegium invadent, ut tabulas aperiri vetent, tpst posses-
sione ture sanguinis fruantur, Causa denique Romam

1 m? inclutam, and also aslutam.

2 Brakman reads opes lau for ὁ post ho and Mai also read
opes. 3 τη litis.

1 This is the only considerable fragment of Fronto’s
speeches which we have. Nothing more is known of the
case with which it deals. Fronto’s legal treatment of the

156

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

the copiousness of the matter, the varied excellence
of the diction, the witty originality of the thought,
the skilful arrangement of the speech. And now
you are asking, I imagine, what pleased me most.
Listen: I begin with this passage.

2. “In those affairs! and cases which are settled in
private courts, no danger arises, since their decisions hold
good only nithin the limits of the cases, but the prece-
dents which you, O Emperor, establish by your decrees
nill hold good publicly and for all time. So much greater
15 your power and authority than is assigned to the Fates.
They determine what shall befall us as individuals: you
by your dectstons? in individual cases make precedents
binding upon all.

3. “ Therefore, if this decision of the proconsul is
approved by you, you mill give all magistrates of all
provinces a rule for deciding all cases of the same kind.
What, then, will be the result? This evidently, that all
wills from distant and oversea provinces will be brought
over to Rome for cognizance in your court. A son nill
suspect that he has been disinherited: he will demand
that his father’s will be not opened. The same demand
nll be made by a daughter, a grandson, a great grand-
child, a brother, a cousin, a paternal uncle, a maternal
uncle, a paternal aunt, a maternal aunt ; relations of all
degrees mill usurp this privilege of forbidding the will to
be opened, that they may enjoy possession the while by
right of consanguinity. When, finally, the case has been

question at issue is severely condemned by Dirksen (Opusc.
i. 243 ff.), but it is quite impossible to believe that Fronto
was as ignorant of law as his critic asserts.

2 The Emperor could legislate either directly by edict, or
. by a judicial decision (iudiciwm = decretum), or as became
usual after Nerva by a rescrip!, interpreting the law, in
answer to an inquiry or petition.

157

Ambr, 92

Awmbr, 65:
Quat. ii.
ends

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

remissa quid eventel? Heredes script: navigabunt, ex-
heredatt autem in possessione remanebunt, diem de dte
ducent, dilationes petentes! | fora varits excusationthus
trahent. Hiemps est et crudum? mare hibernum est:
adesse non potut. Ubt htemps praeteriertt, vernae tem-
pestates incertae et dubtae moratae sunt. Ver exactum
est ; aestas est calida et sol naviganies urit et homo nau-
seat. Aulumnus sequitur: poma culpabuntur et languor
excusabitur.

4. “ Fingo haec et comminiscor? Quid, in hac causa
nonne hoc ipsum evenit? Ubt est adversarius qui tam
pridem ad agendam causam adesse debuerat ? “ In itinere
est. Quo tandem in itinere? ‘Ex Asia vent. Et est
adhuc in Asta? ‘ Magnum iter et festinatum.’ Navi-
busne an equis an diplomatibus facit haec tam velocta
stativa 2? Cum interim cognitione proposita semel a te,
Caesar, petita dilatio <est> et tmpetrata: proposita cog-
nitione rursum, <rursum>® a te duum mensuum petita
dilatio. Duo menses exacts sunt idibus proximis et dies
medi istt aliquot. Venit tandem? δὲ nondum venit, at
saltem adpropinquat ὃ St nondum adpromnquat, <at>
saltem profectus ex Asia est? St nondum profectus est,
at saltem cogitat? Quid ille cogitat aliud quam bonts
alienis incubare, fructus diripere, agros vastare, rem
omnem dilapidare|? Non ille ita stultus est ut malit

1 The last two letters are doubtful. The Cod. as given by
Stud. ends the word at petent’. The next two letters may
be eo.

2 Heindorf dudum. 9. Heindorf.

. 15

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

referred to Rome, what will result? The heirs designate
will set sasl, while the distnherited mill remain in possess-
ton, procrastinate from day to day, look about for delays,
and so put off the courts on various pretexts. It 1s
ninter time and the nintry sea ts rough; he has been
unable to appear. Winter over, tt ts the equinoctial gales,
fitful and sudden, that have delayed him. The spring
is past : the summer ts hot and the sun scorches voyagers,
and the man is seasick. The fall follows: the fruit
nill be wn fault and debility the excuse.

4. “I am imagining and inventing this? What, has
not this actually occurred in this case? Where is the
defendant who ought to have been here this long while
past to plead his cause? “ He ts on his way.’ On what
way, prithee? ‘He ts coming from Asta.’ And so he
1s still in Asia? ‘It is a long way and he has made
haste.’1 Is tt on shipboard, or horseback, or by tmperial
post that he makes such headlong halts? Meannhile, as
soon as the trial ts fixed, you are asked, O Caesar, for a
first adjournment, which is granted: the trial is fixed
a second time,? a second time an adjournment of two
months is asked for. The two months expired on the
last wes, and since then several days have gone by.
Has he come at last? If not yet come, is he, at all
events, near? If not yet near, has he at least set out
from Asia? If he has not yet set out, does he at
least think of setting out? What else does he think of
but keeping in hts hands® the goods of others, plunder-
ing the proceeds, stripping the estate, wasting the whole
property? He ts not so foolish as to prefer coming

1 It is possible to take these words as Fronto’s own— much
way has he made and with speed.

2 Marcus, when emperor, allowed only one adjournment ;
see Digest, ii. 12, 1.

3 The Latin=our slang ‘‘sitting tight on.”

159

Ambr. 66

Ambr. 58

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

venire ad Caesarem et vinci, quam remanere in Asta et
posstdere.

ὅ. “Que mos δὲ fuerit inductus, ut defunctorum testa-
menta ex provinctts transmarints Romam mittantur, in-
dignius et acerbius testamentorum periculum erit, <quam>
st corpora <huc mitit mos esset> eorum qui trans maria
testantur. Nam <his quidem> null<um tam potest
peri>culum super<esse>.'| Se epultura cadaveribus tn tp-
sis iniurus praesto est. Stve maria naufragos devorent
sive flumina praecipites trahant sive harenae obruant sive
ferae lacerent sive volucres discerpant, corpus humanum
satis sepelitur, ubtcumque consumitur. At ubs testamentum
naufragio submersum est, illa demum et res et domus et
familia naufraga atque insepulta est. Olim testamenta
ex deorum munitissimes aedibus proferebantur aut tabu-
lariis aut <ar>cis aut archis aut opisthodomis: at tam
testamenta per <ma>re <procellosum> navigarint inter
onera mercitum et sarcinas remigum. Id etiam superest,
si quando iactu opus est, ut testamenta cum leguminibus
tactentur|; quin <portorium>? constituendum quod
pro testamentis extgatur. Ante hac... .3

6. | * De funere aliquid dicamus. Sciat familia quem-
admodum lugeat. Alster plangit servus manumissus,
aliter cltens laude auctus,* aliter amicus legato honoratus.
Quid incertas et suspensas exequias facis? Omnium
animalium statim post mortem hereditas cernttur : ovt lana

1 Heindorf suggested the additions in brackets.

2 J. W. E. Pearce.

8 About one page is lost. Hauler, in Misc. Ceriant, pp.
504-520, promises in his forthcoming edition to throw fresh

light on the pages Ambr. 65, 66.
4 For Cod. laudaucatus.

160

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

to Caesar and losing his case to staying wn Asta and
keeping possession.+

5. “If this custom be brought in, that the wills of the
deceased should be sent to Rome from the oversea pro-
vinces, the imperilling of nills would be more dtscreditable
and distressing than tf it were the custom for the bodies
of the deceased, who make their ills oversea, to be sent
to Rome. For no further peril can touch them. A corpse
ts assured of burial in tts very mishaps. For whether it
be swallowed by the sea in shipwreck, or sept away in a
moment by a river, or the sands cover tt, whether the
beasts of the field devour it, or the birds of the air pick
tts bones, the human body is practically buried wherever
ἐξ ts dissolved. But when by shipmrcck a mill ts engulfed,
the estate and home and family in question ts then and
there shipwrecked and les unburied. Time was when
mills used to be brought out from the securest temples
of the Gods, from muniment rooms, or chests, or archives,
or temple vestries: but now shall mills sail the stormy
seas amid bales of merchandise and rowers’ kit. The
next thing mill even be for them to be jettisoned?
nith a cargo of pulse, should it become necessary to lighten
the ship. Moreover, also, an import duty to be levied
on mills must be fixed. In time past . .

6. ‘‘ But to say something as to the burial. The house-
hold would know how to mourn. The slave enfranchised
under the mill has one way of shening sorrom, the client
mentioned nith praise another, another the friend honoured
with a legacy. Why throw uncertainty and delay over
the funeral rites? In the case of all animals the inheri-
tance ts realized at once after death: from sheep the

1 Pius punished conduct of this kind (see Digest, xlii. 4, 7)
by, adjudging the inheritance to the other claimant.
cp. Acts, xxvil. 38.

161
VOL. 1. M

Ambr. 57

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

stalum detrahitur,! et elephanto ebur, ungues leonibus, avi-
bus pinnae plumaeque ; hominum hereditas post mortem
tacet, differtur, praedonibus exposta diripitur.” 2

7. Puto totum descripsi. Quid ergo facerem,
quom’ totum admir<ar>er, quom totum amarem
hominem beatum? Vale, disertissime, doctissime,
mihi carissime, dulcissime, magister optatissime, de-
siderantissime.

Herodi filius natus <hodi>e mortuus est. Id Hero-
des non aequo animo fert. Volo ut illi aliquid quod
ad hanc rem adtineat pauculorum verborum scribas.
Semper vale.

Ad M. Caes. i. 7 (Naber, p. 17).

Domino meo.

1. Accepi, Caesar, litteras tuas, quibus quanto
opere laetatus sim facile existimaveris, si reputaveris
singula. Primum, quod caput est omnis mei | gaudii,
quom ‘ te bene valere cognovi; tum quod ita aman-
tem te mei sensi, finem ut amori nullum neque
modum statuas, quin cotidie aliquid reperias quod
circa me iucundius atque amicius facias. Ego deni-
que olim iam me puto satis amari, tibi autem nondum

' The Codex has dctrahatur, and cernatur for cernitur
above; a marginal note on the former word gives the alter-
native calvetur (‘‘ shaved close ”’).

2 For this passage see Hauler, Wien. Stud. 29, pt. 1,

1907.
3 Klussm. for Cod. quod. 4 Heindorf would read guod.

162

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

mool ts stripped at once, and from the elephant his wory,
their clans from lions, from birds thar feathers and
plumes ; but a man dies and hes tnheritance les derelict, is
put aside,' left as a prey to robbers, wt ts made away mith.”

7. I think I have copied out the whole. What
indeed could I do, when I admired the whole man,
loved the whole man—blessings on him—so much?
Farewell, my master, most eloquent, most learned,
most dear to me, most sweet, whom I most long for,
miss the most.

The son of Herodes, ? born to-day, is dead. Hero-
des is overwhelmed with grief at his loss, I wish
you would write him quite a short letter appropriate
to the occasion. Fare ever well.

Fronto To Marcus as CAESAR

T ? 144-145 a.p.
o my Lord.

1. I have received your letter, O Caesar, and —
the great delight it gave me you will easily gauge if
you consider these separate points. First, and this
is the head and front of all my joy, that I know you
are well; then because I felt that you loved me so
well as not to be able to set any bound or limit to
your love, so as not to find something to do for me
every day more kindly and more friendly than before.
In fine, I have long thought myself loved enough,
but you are not yet satisfied with your affection

' The new Thes. Ling. Lat. gives dissipatur as the gloss for
differtur here. ἡ

2 Herodes married Annia Regilla about 143, and this
would be his first son by her. His passionate grief on other
occasions is noted by Lucian, Demonax, §§ 24, 35, and
Philostr. Vit. Soph. 242, Kays.

163

Ambr, 1

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

etiam quantum me diligas satis est; ut non mare
ullum tam profundum quam tuus adversus me amor:
sane ut illud queri possim, cur non me amas tantum
quantum plurimum est, namque in dies plus amando
efficis, ne id quod ante [diem]! amaveris, plurimum
fuerit ?

2. Consulatum mihi putas tanto gaudio fuisse,
quanto tua tot in una re summi amoris indicia? Ora-
tionis meae particulas, quas excerpseram, recitasti
patri tuo ipse, studiumque ad pronuntiandum adhi-
buisti, qua in re et oculos mihi tuos utendos et vocem
et gestum et in primis animum accommodasti. Nec
video quis veterum scriptorum quisquam ? me beatior
fuerit, quorum scripta Aesopus ad populum pronunti-
avit, aut Roscius. Meae vero orationi M. Caesar
actor contigit et pronunciator, tuaque ego opera
et voce audientibus placui, quom audiri a te ac
tibi placere | omnibus summe sit optabile. Non
miror itaque quod placuerit oratio oris tui dignitate
exornata. Nam pleraque propria venustate carentia
gratiam sibimet alienam extrinsecus mutuantur.
Quod evenit etiam in plebeis istis edulibus: nullum
adeo vile aut volgatum est holus aut pulpamentum,
quin elegantius videatur vasis aureis adpositum.
Idem evenit floribus et coronis; alia dignitate sunt
in Portunio? quom a coronariis veneunt, alia quom a
sacerdotibus in templo porriguntur.

1 m? in the Codex has dies. Could Fronto have written
antidea for antea? 2 quis quisquam is Plautine.

8 These two words and in templo below are found in the

margin of the Codex and taken from another MS. (noted as
an alio).

164

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO -

for me, so that deeper than ever plummet sounded
is your love toward me, insomuch that I might quite
well make the complaint, Why do you not yet love
me with the utmost love possible, for by loving me
more from day to day you prove that your love
hitherto has fallen short of its utmost measure ?

2. Think you that my consulship has been such a
delight as the many tokens you have given me of
your love in this one case? Samples of my speech,
which I had picked out for you, you read to your
father yourself, and took the pains to declaim them,
wherein you lent me your eyes, your voice, your
gestures, and, above all, your mind for my service.
Nor can I see which single one of the ancient
writers, whose writings were declaimed to the people
by Aesopus? or Roscius, was more fortunate than I.
My speech has had Marcus Caesar for its actor and
declaimer, and it was by your agency and through
your voice that I pleased the hearers, whereas to be
heard by you and to please you would be the height |
of every man’s ambition. No wonder, then, my speech
found favour, set off, as it was, by the dignity of
your utterance. For many a thing, that lacks all in-
trinsic charm, borrows from elsewhere a grace that is
not its own, and this is the case even with our home-
liest eatables. No pot-herb, no bit of flesh is so cheap
or commonplace a food as not to gain piquancy if
served in a golden dish. The same is true of flowers
and garlands: they have one scale of worth when
sold by flower-vendors in the Flower-market, another
when offered in a temple by the priests.

1 Aesopus in tragedy, Roscius, who taught Cicero de-
clamation, in comedy. Marcus, probably about this time,
was studying under Geminus the comedian; see Capit. iv. 2.

165

Ambr. 62

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

3. Tantoque ego fortunatior quam fuit Hercules
atque Achilles, quorum arma et tela gestata sunt a
Patricole et Philocteta, multo viris virtute inferiori-
bus: mea contra oratio mediocris, ne dicam ignobilis,
a doctissimo et facundissimo omnium Caesare illus-
trata est. Nec ulla umquam scena tantum habuit
dignitatis—-M. Caesar actor, Titus imperator! audi-
tor! Quid amplius cuiquam contingere potest, nisi
unum quod in caelo fieri poetae ferunt, quom Jove
patre audiente Musae cantant? Enimvero quibus
ego gaudium meum verbis exprimere possim, quod
orationem istam meam tua manu descriptam misisti
mihi? Verum est | profecto quod ait noster Labe-
rius, ad amorem iniciendum delenimenta? esse delera-
menta, beneficia autem veneficta. Neque poculo aut
veneno quisquam tantum flammae ad amatorem in-
cussisset, praeut tu et facto hoc stupidum et attoni-
tum <me> ardente amore tuo reddidisti. Quot
litterae istic sunt, totidem consulatus mihi, totidem
laureas, triumphos, togas pictas arbitror contigisse.

4. Quid tale M. Porcio aut Quinto Ennio, C. Grac-
cho aut Titio poetae, quid Scipioni aut Numidico,
quid M. Tullio tale usuvenit?® Quorum libri pre-
tiosiores habentur et summam gloriam retinent, si
sunt Lampadionis aut Staberii, Plautii aut D. Aurelii,
Autriconis aut Aelii manu scripta exempla, aut a

1 Hauler, who gives the Codex as imp.

4 Ribbeck for Cod. deliberamenta.

3 Dr. Hauler, from his inspection of the Codex, has added
much that is new to this whole passage: see Wicn. Stud
31, pt. 1, 1909, pp. 264 ff.

166

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

3. So much more fortunate am I than was Her-
cules or Achilles, for their armour and weapons were
borne by Philoctetes and Patroclus, men far inferior
to them in manhood, while my poor, not to say sorry,
speech has been rendered famous by Caesar the most
learned and eloquent of all men. Never was scene
so impressive—M. Caesar actor, Titus Imperator
audience! What nobler fate could befall anyone save
that alone, when in Heaven, as poets tell, the Muses
sing, while Jove their sire is audience? Indeed,
with what words could I express my delight at your
sending me that speech of mine copied out with your
own hand? True, surely, is what our Laberius! says,
that in inspiring love charms are but harms? and
the foison of gifts poison. For never with cup or
philtre could anyone so have stirred the flame of
passion in a lover as by this act of yours you have
dazed and amazed me by the ardour of your love.
For every letter of your letter I count myself to
have gained a consulship, a victory, a triumph, a robe
of honour.

4, What fortune like this befell M. Porcius or
Quintus Ennius, Gaius Gracchus, or the poet Titius?
What Scipio or Numidicus? What M. Tullius, like
this? Their books are valued more highly and
have the greatest credit, if they are from the hand of
Lampadio or Staberius, of Plautius or D. Aurelius,
Autrico or Aelius, or have been revised by Tiro or

1 A writer of mimes and an eques of the time of Julius
Caesar.

2 For benefictum and veneficium, cp. Apul. Aypol. ii. 2.
The letters were constantly interchanged. Shakespeare,
Two Genil. 11. i. 216, puns on the words vanished and
banished.

167

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Tirone emendata aut a Domitio Balbo descripta aut
ab Attico aut Nepote.! Mea oratio extabit M. Caes-
aris manu scripta. Qui orationem spreverit, litteras
concupiscet; qui scripta contempserit, scriptorem
reverebitur. Ut si simiam aut volpem Apelles
pinxi<sse>t, bestiae extremae? pretium adderet.
Aut quod M. Catode... .?

Lpist. Graec. 3 (Naber, p. 243).
«Ἡρώδῃ παρὰ Φρόντωνος;»
Ambr. 146, ... . | Tepov γε. . .. ἡμᾶς: τὸ δὲ μετριάζειν ἐν
9: meee τοῖς ἥττοσιν κακοῖς οὐ δύσκολον. ἐν παντὶ μὲν yap τὸ
Arr ὅθ κατὰ κακοῦ «ἀγανακτεῖν» καὶ ἀπροσδοκήτως; προσπε-

after lacuna
τ δος σόντος ἀπρεπὲς ἀνδρὶ παιδείας πεπειραμένῳ. χαίρων δὲ
Ambr.145 ἔγωγε μᾶλλον «ἂν ἀσ;»μένως μέτρα «“παραβαίνοι» μι."
τὸ γὰρ πρὸς ἡδονὴν παράλογον τοῦ πρὸς ἀνίαν αἱρετώ-

τερον. ᾿Αλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τὰ τῆς ἡλικίας σοι παρῴχηκεν πρὸς

a ε 4 3 , , Ν a Ν 3 ’

παιδῶν ἑτέρων ἀνατροφήν. ζημία δὲ πᾶσα σὺν ἐλπίδι

μὲν ἀποκοπτομένῃ χαλεπή" ῥᾷων δὲ ὑπολειπομένης ἐς τὸ
ἀναλαβεῖν ὃ ἐλπίδος: καὶ ὁ μὴ περιμείνας ταύτην ἀγεννὴς

καὶ πολὺ τῆς τύχης αὑτῷ χαλεπώτερος. ἡ μὲν γὰρ τύχη

τὸ πάρον ἀφείλετο, ὁ δὲ ἐστέρησεν αὑτὸν καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος.

Ὅθεν δὲ ἂν ῥᾷστα παραψυχῆς τύχοις, πείρᾳ μαθὼν ἔγωγε

1 In this passage (for which see Hauler in Mélanges de

M. Emile Chatelaine, pp. 622 ff., and Versam. d. deutsch.
Philologen, 50) the corrector of the Codex, adds Plautsi in

the margin from a second MS. and substitutes aut D. Aurelit

for m! Adursellii or Thurselli’, and Autriconis for aut T'ironis,
adding over this the note ex Baccola, and Balto for m!

Barbi (?).
2 J. W. E. Pearce for Cod. ...emae, as in Apul. Met.
iv. 31. 3 Four pages are lost.

168

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

transcribed by Domitius Balbus, or Atticus or Nepos.
My speech will be extant in the handwriting of
M. Caesar. He that thinks little of the speech will
be in love with the very letters of it ; he who disdains
the thing written will reverence the writer. Just as
if Apelles painted an ape or a fox, he would add a
value to the lowest of creatures. Or as M. Cato
(said) οὗ. ...

To HeErRopes From Fronto.!
? 144-145 a.p.

eee ee ὩΣ: Δρῳ Ἃ But in lesser evils to act
with composure is not difficult. For, indeed, in any
case to resent an evil, even if it befall unexpectedly,
is unseemly for a man who has tasted of education.
But it is in joy that I should be more ready to
overstep the bounds, for if we are to act unreason-
ably it is preferable to do so in reference to
pleasure than to pain. But you are not even too
old? to rear other children. Every loss is grievous
if hope be cut off with it, but easier to bear if hope
of repairing it be left. And he that does not avail
himself of this hope is mean-spirited and his own
enemy, much more than Fortune. For Fortune takes
away the present reality, but he deprives himself of
hope as well. And I will tell you where you can
most easily get consolation, as I have learnt by ex-

1 The heading is lost, but the letter is certainly addressed
to Herodes Atticus in response to the request of Marcus

made in a previous letter.
2 Herodes would not have been fifty at this time.

4 According to Naber, the above lacunae cover about ten
lines. Dobson gives fur the last words ἂν ἀσμένως per pid (orm.
5 So Cod. p. 59. The reading on p. 145 is ἀναχακεῖν.

169

Ambr. 60

Vat. 153,
col. 2

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

) “A σι
ἀλλ᾽ οὐ σοφίᾳ διδάξω. ἀεί μοι συνέβη τι τῶν δεινῶν
¥ ? a
παθεῖν ἐρῶντι. ἥρων δὲ τότε μὲν ᾿Αθηνοδότου τοῦ
a ’ Α ,ὔ “a εν» ΑἉ Ά “”
σοφοῦ, τότε δὲ Διονυσίου τοῦ ῥήτορος. καὶ δὴ τοῦτο
4 a Ψ ’ a e > 2s A , e >
ἐννοῶν ὅτι μοι σώζοιτο κεῖνος οὗ γ᾽ ἐρῶν τύχοιμι, ἧττον ἦν
τῇ λύπῃ καὶ τοῖς προσπίπτουσιν ἁλώσιμος. εἰ «δὲ; δή
τινος ἐρᾷς καὶ σὺ νέου γενναίου ἀρετῇ καὶ παιδείᾳ καὶ
, Q , , 3 A ε ,
τύχῃ καὶ σωφροσύνῃ διαφέροντος, οὐκ ἂν ἁμαρτάνοις,
ε a 2.9 » ’ Ν a 9 a 3 4 9. ) 9. “ὦ
ὁρμῶν ἐπ᾽ ἐκείνῳ καὶ πᾶσαν ἀγαθῶν ἀσφάλειαν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ |
4 e 1 2 > @ ἐ a e 4 3
τιθέμενος ὡς, ἐφ᾽ ὅσον ye ἡμῖν οὗτος περίεστιν---ἀντερ-
4 8 > » , . » Ν , Ν
αστὴς γὰρ εἶναί σοί φημι, καὶ οὐκ ἀποκρύπτομαι---τὰ

Ν) , ea 9» \ 4 “A ὃ 4
ἄλλα γε πάντα ἡμῖν εὐίατα Kal τούτου μακρῷ δεύτερα.

Ad M. Cacs. iii. 19 (Naber, p. 56).

| MacisTRo meo.

Qualem mihi animum esse existimas, quom
cogito quam diu te non vidi, et quam ob rem non
vidi! et fortassis pauculis te adhuc diebus, quom te
necessario confirmas, non videbo. Igitur, dum tu
iacebis, et mihi animus supinus erit ; quomque tu dis
iuvantibus bene stabis, et meus animus bene con-
stabit, qui nunc torretur ardentissimo desiderio tuo.”
Vale, anima Caesaris tui, amici tui, discipuli tui.

1 Niebuhr for Cod. ὅς.
2 The margin of Cod. has in alio (i.e. in another MS.) tui.

170

vr

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

perience and not by learning. Often has it been
my fate to suffer in my affections. At one time it
was Athenodotus the philosopher, at another Dio-
nysius the rhetor! that I loved: and yet, when
I reflected that he was preserved to me whom
it was my fortune to love, I was less at the mercy
of grief and circumstance. But if you as well
as I love a noble youth,? distinguished for virtue
and learning and fortune and modesty, you cannot
go wrong if you attach yourself to him and set in
him all your assurance of good fortune, since as long
as he remains to us—for I confess, and make no
secret of it, that I am your rival in his love—every-
thing else is remediable and of infinitely less import-
ance than this.

M. Aure.ius To Fronto

T ? 144-145 a.p.
o my master.

What do you suppose are my feelings when |
think how long it is since I have seen you, and why
I have not seen you? And perhaps for a few days
yet, while you are perforce nursing yourself, I shall
not see you. So while you are down in bed, my
spirits will be down too; and when by God's grace
you stand on your feet, my spirits also will stand
fast, that are now fevered with the most burning
longing for you. Fare ever well, soul of your Caesar,
of your friend, of your pupil. 7

1 These two were masters of Fronto; see Index. Marcus

(Thoughis, i. 13) mentions Athenodotus.
2 Marcus is meant.

171

Vat. 176

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. iii. 20 (Naber, p. 56).

DomINo meo.

Lectulo me teneo. Si possim, ubi ad Centum-
cellas ibitis, itineris idoneus esse, vi idus vos Lorii
videbo deis faventibus. | Excusa me Domino nostro
patri tuo, quem— ita vos salvos habeam—magno pon-
dere gravius amo et colo, quom tam bene in senatu
iudicatum est, quod et provinciis saluti esset et reos
clementer obiurgasset.

Ubi vivarium dedicabitis, memento quam diligen-
tissime, si feras percuties, equum admittere. Galbam
certe ad Centumcellas produces. An potes octavi-
dus! Lorii? Vale, Domine, patri placeto, matri dic
salutem, me desiderato. Cato quid dicat de Galba
absoluto tu melius scis: ego memini propter fratris
filios eum absolutum. To δὲ ἀκριβὲς ipse inspice. Cato
igitur dissuadet neve suos neve alienos quis liberos
ad misericordiam conciliandam producat neve uxores
neve adfines vel ullas omnino feminas. Dominam
matrem saluta.

Ad M, Caes. iii. 21 (Naber, p. 57).

MaGIsTRO meo.

Mane ad te non scripsi, quia te commodiorem
esse audieram, et quia ipse in alio negotio occupatus
1 For octavo idus,

1A Sater villa of Trajan’s on the Etrurian coast, now

Civita Vecchia. Pliny, Zp. νὶ. 31, gives a good description of it.
2 Between Rome and Centumcellae on the Via Aurelia.

172

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Fronto ΤῸ Marcus AURELIUS AS CAESAR

T ἢ 144-145 ap.
o my Lord.

I am confined to my bed. If I should be fit for
the journey when you go to Centumcellae! J shall
see you, please God, at Lorium on the seventh day
before the Ides. Make my apologies to my Lord
your father, whom—may heaven preserve you both—
I love and honour all the more intensely since the
excellent decision in the Senate, which, while safe-
guarding the interests of the provinces, at the same
time gently rebuked the offenders.

When you inaugurate your game preserve, be sure
that you remember, without fail, if you strike a beast,
to set your horse at full gallop. Of course you will
bring Galba to Centumcellae, or can you be at
Lorium,? on the 8th before the Ides? Farewell, my
Lord, please your father, greet your mother, miss me.
You know better than I what Cato says of Galba’s
acquittal.3 As far as I remember he was acquitted for
the sake of his nephews. But see for yourself what
the truth of the matter is. Cato, in consequence, is of
opinion that no one should bring into court his own or
others’ children to excite pity, nor wives nor relations,
nor any women at all. Greet my Lady your mother.

Marcus AureELiIus To FrRoNtTo

ὃ =
To my master. ἢ 144-145 ap.
I did not write to you in the morning, hearing
that you were better, and being myself engaged in
3 He was tried for massacring nearly the whole nation of
the Lusitanians by means of the basest treachery. Cato,
though eighty-five years old, was his accuser. Galba brought
his sons and one nephew into court to excite pity.
173

Vat. 175

Vat. 149,
following
150

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

fueram ; nec sustineo ad te umquam quicquam scri-
bere nisi remisso et soluto et libero animo. Igitur,
si recte sumus, fac me ut sciam: quid enim optem
scis; quam | merito optem, scio. Vale, meus magis-
ter, qui merito apud animum meum omnes omni re
praevenis. Mi magister, ecce non dormito, et cogo
me ut dormiam, ne tu irascaris. Aestimas utique
me vespera haec scribere.!

Ad M. Caes. iv. 4 (Naber, p. 66).

M. Carsar M. Frontoni magistro suo | salutem.

1. Postquam vehiculum inscendi, postquam te
salutavi, iter non adeo incommodum fecimus,? sed
paululum pluvia® aspersi sumus. Sed priusquam ad
villam venimus, Anagniam devertimus, mille fere
passus a via. Deinde id oppidum antiquum vidimus,
minutulum quidem sed multas res in se antiquas
hab<ens> et aedes sanctasque caerimonias supra
modum. Nullus angulus fuit, ubi delubrum aut
fanum aut templum non sit. Praeterea multi libri
lintei, quod ad sacra adtinet.4 Deinde in porta,
quom exiimus, ibi scriptum erat bifariam sic: Flamen
sume samentum. Rogavi aliquem ex popularibus quid
illud verbum esset? Ait lingua Hernica pelli-
culam de hostia, quam in apicem suum flamen quom
in urbem introeat imponit. Multa adeo alia didi-

1 After this letter at the end of Ad M. Caes. iii. follow
words which Mai reads as Caecilius s<ae>pe <r>ogatus legi
emendart. Havet suggests pr(aefectus) pr(aetorin) togatus.

2 Before this word the Codex has non, erased by m*. Nos

and confecimus have been suggested. 8 Cod. pluviae.
4 Another MS. noted on margin of Cod. had pertinet.

174

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

other business; and I never care to write at all to
you unless my mind is unbent and at ease and free.
Therefore, if our news is correct, assure me of it.
For you know what I wish, and I know how rightly
I wish it. Farewell, my master, so rightly first in
my thoughts before all others on all occasions. See,
my master, I am not sleepy, yet force myself to sleep
that you may not be angry. You realize, at any rate,
that I am writing this in the evening.

Signia, ὃ 144-145 a.p.

M. Cassar to his master M. Fronto, greeting.

1. After getting into the carriage, when I had
said good-bye to you, we did not have such a bad
journey, though we got a slight wetting from the
rain. But before reaching our country house we
turned aside to Anagnia, about a mile off the main
road. Then we inspected that ancient township, a
tiny place, indeed, but containing many antiquities
and buildings, and religious ceremonies beyond num-
ber. There was not a corner without its chapel or
shrine or temple. Many books too, written on
linen,! and this has a religious significance. Then on
the gate, as we came out, we found an inscription
twice over to this effect: Flamen sume samentum.? I
asked one of the townsmen what the last word
meant. He said it was Hernican for the pelt of the
victim, which the priest draws over his peaked cap
on entering the city. Quite a number of other

1 Probably of Etruscan origin, and a sort of ‘‘ Book of the
Dead”; cp. Livy, iv. 7. 12. It is said that such books have
recently been found.

4 ἐἐ Priest, don the fell” (Dr. Rouse).

175

Vat 156

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

cimus quae vellemus scire; verum id solum est quod
nolimus, quom tu a nobis abes: ea nobis maxima
sollicitudo est.

2. Nunc tu postquam inde profectus es, utrumne
in Aureliam an in Campaniam abiisti? Fac scribas
mihi et an vindemias inchoaveris, et an ad villam
multitudinem librorum tuleris, et illud quoque, an me
desideres—quod ego | stulte requiro, quom! tu per
te facis. Nunc tu si me desideras atque si me amas,
litteras tuas ad me frequenter mittes, quod mihi
solacium atque fomentum sit. Nam decem partibus
tuas litteras legere malim quam omnes Massicos ? aut
Gauranos palmites: nam Signini quidem isti nimis
rancidos racemos et acidos acinos habent, quod
vinum malim quam mustum bibere. Praeterea istas
uvas multo commodius passas quam puberes mandu-
care ; nam profecto malim eas pedibus calcare quam
dentibus comesse. Sed tamen propitiae placataeque
sint, et mihi pro istis iocularibus bonam veniam
duint. Vale, mihi homo amicissime, suavissime,
disertissime, magister dulcissime. Quom videbis in
dolio mustum fervere, in mentem tibi veniat mihi sic
in pectore tuum desiderium scatere et abundare et
spumas facere. Semper vale.

1 Cod. quod. 2 For Cod. Marsicos. -

176

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

things we learnt which we were glad to know; but
the one thing we are not glad of is that it was in
your absence: that is our chief concern.

2. Now for yourself, did you, when you left us, go to
the Aurelian district! or into Campania? Mind you
tell me, and whether you have begun the vintage,
and whether you have brought crowds of books to
your country house, yes, and this, too, whether you
miss me; and yet that is a foolish question, for you
need no reminder to do that. Well, then, if you do
miss me and do love me, you will write to me often
to console me and cheer me up.?_ For I would ten
times rather have the run? of your letters than of all
the vineyards of the Massic‘* and the Gauran Mount:
for your clusters of Signia are too nauseous and
their berries too bitter, wherefore I would prefer their.
wine to their must for drinking. Besides it is much
more agreeable to masticate the grapes parched
than pulpy, for beyond question I would rather
stamp them with my feet than champ them with
my teeth. Yet may they be gracious and forgiving,
and for these pleasantries a kindly pardon grant.
Farewell, to me most affectionate, most delight-
ful, most eloquent of men, master most sweet.
When you see the must fermenting in the cask,
let it remind you that my longing for you wells up
thus and overflows and foams in my breast. Fare
ever well.

1 2,6. the regio through which ran the Via Aurelia.

2 A phrase from Cicero ( 7usc. ii. 24, 59).

8 Fronto plays on two meanings of /egere.

+ A good wine is meant. Marsic wine was poor, see Mart.
xiii. 121 and Athen. i. 26. The wine of Signia was astringent
and medicinal.

177

Vat 155

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M, Caes. iv. 5 (Naber, p. 68).

Have mi magister gravissime.?

1. Nos valemus. Ego hodie ab hora nona noctis
in secundam diei bene disposito cibo studivi; a sec-
unda in tertiam soleatus libentissime inambulavi
ante cubiculum meum. Deinde [| calceatus sagulo
sumpto—-nam ita adesse nobis indictum erat—abii
salutatum Dominum meum.

2. Ad venationem profecti sumus, fortia facinora
fecimus, apros captos esse fando audiimus, nam vi-
dendi quidem nulla facultas fuit. Clivom tamen
satis arduom successimus ; inde postmeridie domum
recepimus. Ego me ad libellos. Imgitur calceis de-
tractis, vestimentis positis, in lectulo ad duas horas
commoratus sum. Legi Catonis orationem De bonis
Pulchrae,? et aliam qua tribuno diem dixit. Jo, in-
quis puero tuo, vade quantum potes, de Apollinis biblzo-
thecabus® has mtht oratsones apporta. Frustra mittis,
nam et isti libri me secuti sunt. Igitur Tiberianus
bibliothecarius tibi subigitandus est; aliquid in eam
rem insumendum, quod mihi ille, ut ad urbem venero,
divisione impertiat. Sed ego orationibus his perlec-
tis, paululum misere scripsi, quod aut lymphis aut
Volcano dicarem: ἀληθῶς ἀτυχῶς σήμερον γέγραπταί
μοι, venatoris plane aut vindemiatoris studiolum, qui

1 Another MS. (quoted in margin of Cod.) has carissime.

2 m? of Cod. has Du/chae.

3 m? corrects to the singular ; but there were two libraries
in the Temple of Apollo, one for Latin and the other for
Greek.

178

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

M. AureEtius To FRoNTo

Η ? 144-145 a.p.
AIL, most reverend master.

1. We are well. By a satisfactory arrangement
of meals 1 worked from three o'clock a.m. till eight.
For the next hour I paced about in slippers most
contentedly before my bedroom. Then putting on
my boots and donning my cloak—for we had been
told to come in that dress—I went off to pay my
respects to my Lord.

2. We set out for the chase! and did doughty
deeds. We did hear say that boars had been
bagged, for we were not lucky enough to see any.
However, we climbed quite a steep hill; then in the
afternoon we came home. I to my books: so taking
off my boots and doffing my dress I passed nearly
two hours on my couch, reading Cato’s speech On the
property of Pulchra,? and another in which he im-
peached a tribune. Ho, you cry to your boy, go as
fast as you can and fetch me those speeches from the
libraries of Apollo/® It is no use your sending, for
those volumes, among others, have followed me here.
So you must get round the librarian of Tiberius’s
library :4 a little douceur will be necessary, in which
he and I can go shares when I come back to town.
Well, these speeches read, I wrote a little wretched
stuff, fit to be dedicated to the deities of water and
fire: truly to-day I have been unlucky in my writing,
the lucubration of a sportsman or a vintager, such as

1 Marcus was fond of hunting; see Capit. iv. 9. Coins
also shew this; see Cohen, 408, and a beautiful medallion in
Grueber.

2 Nothing more is known of this speech.

3 Built by Augustus; see Hor. Od. i. 31; £p. i. 3. 17.

4 In the Palace of Tiberius.

179
N 2

Vat. 186

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

iubilis suis cubiculum meum perstrepunt, causidicali
prorsum odio et taedio. Quid hoc dixi? Immo recte
dixi, nam meus quidem magister orator | est.

3. Ego videor mihi perfrixisse: quod mane sole-
atus ambulavi an quod male scripsi, non scio. Certe
homo alioqui pituitosus, hodie tamen multo muccu-
lentior mihi esse videor. Itaque oleum in caput in-
fundam et incipiam dormire : nam in lucernam hodie
nullam stillam inicere cogito, ita me equitatio et
sternutatio defatigavit. Valebis mihi, magister caris-
sime et dulcissime, quem ego—ausim dicere—magis
quam ipsam Romam desidero.

Ad M, Caes. iv. 6 (Naber, p. 69).

Have mi magister dulcissime.

1. Nos valemus. Ego aliquantulum prodormivi!
propter perfrictiunculam, quae videtur sedata esse.
Ego ab undecima noctis in tertiam diei partim legi
ex Agricultura Catonis partim scripsi, minus misere
mehercule quam heri. Inde salutato patre meo, aqua
mulsa sorbenda usque ad gulam et reiectanda fauces
fovi, potius quam dicerem gargarissavi: nam est
apud 3 Novium, credo, et alibi. Sed faucibus curatis
abii ad patrem meum et immolanti adstiti. Deinde

1 Should probably be perdormivi.
* For Cod. et ad.
180

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

those whose catches! ring through my bedroom, a
noise every whit as hateful and wearisome as that of
the law-courts. What is this I have said? Nay, ‘tis
true, for my master is an orator.

3. I think I must have taken a chill, whether from
walking about in slippers in the early morning, or
from writing badly, I know not. I only know that,
rheumy enough at all times, I seem to be more
drivelling than ever to-day. So 1 will pour the oil
on my head and go off to sleep, for not a drop of it
do I intend to pour into my lamp to-day, so tired am
I with riding and sneezing. Farewell for my sake,
dearest and sweetest of masters, whom I would
make bold to say I long to see more than Rome
itself.

Marcus AuRELIUS TO ΕΒΟΝΤΟ

H ; ἢ 144-145 ap.
AIL, my sweetest of masters.

1. We are well. I slept somewhat late owing
to my slight cold, which seems now to have subsided.
So from five a.m. till nine I spent the time partly
in reading some of Cato’s Agriculture and partly in
writing not quite such wretched stuff, by heavens, as
yesterday. Then, after paying my respects to my
father, I relieved my throat, I will not say by gargling
—though the word gargarisso is, I believe, found in
Novius and elsewhere—but by swallowing honey
water as far as the gullet and ejecting it again.
After easing my throat I went off to my father and
attended him at a sacrifice.2 Then we went to

1 Lucian (Lexiph. 2) speaks of τοὺς ἐργάτας λιγυρίζοντας
τὴν θερινὴν ὡδήν.
3 Capit. Vit. Pi, xi. 5, says Pius always performed the
sacrifice himself.
181

Vat. 185

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

ad merendam itum. Quid me censes prandisse?
panis tantulum, quom conchim! caepas et maenas
bene praegnatas alios vorantes viderem. Deinde
uvis metendis operam dedijmus et consudavimus et
iubilavimus et alzquot, ut ait auctor, reliquimus alts-
pendulos vindemiae superstites. Ab hora sexta domum
rediimus.

2. Paululum studui atque id ineptum. Deinde
cum matercula mea supra torum sedente multum
garrivi. Meus sermo hic erat: Quid existimas modo
meum Frontonem facere? Tum illa: Quid autem tu
meam Gratiam? Tum ego: Quid autem passerculam
nostram Gratiam minusculam? Dum ea fabulamur
atque altercamur, uter altercutr>um? vestrum magis
amaret, discus crepuit, id est, pater meus in balneum
transisse nuntiatus est. Loti igitur in torculari cenav-
imus: non loti in torculari, sed loti cenavimus; et
rusticos cavillantes audivimus libenter. Inde rever-
sus, priusquam me in latus converto ut stertam, meum
pensum explico et diei rationem meo_ suavissimo
magistro reddo, quem si possem magis desiderare,
libenter plusculum macerarer. Valebis mihi, Fronto,
ubiubi es, mellitissime, meus amor, mea voluptas.
Quid mihi tecum est? Amo absentem.

1 Madvig would read cum conchi <quom>.
* Brakman.

182

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

luncheon. What do you think I ate? A wee bit of
bread, though I saw others devouring beans, onions,
and herrings full of roe. We then worked hard at
grape-gathering,! and had a good sweat, and were
merry and, as the poet says, οὐδ left some clusters
hanging high as gleanings of the vintage.2 After six
o'clock we came home.

2. I did but little work and that to no purpose.
Then I had a long chat with my little mother as she
sat on the bed. My talk was this: What do you think
my Fronto ts now doing ? Then she: And what do you
think my Gratia ts doing? Then 1: And what do you
think our little sparrow, the wee Gratia,? is dong?
Whilst we were chattering in this way and disputing
which of us two loved the one or other of you two
the better, the gong sounded, an intimation that my
father had gone to his bath. So we had supper
after we had bathed in the oil-press room; I do not
mean bathed in the oil-press room, but when we
had bathed, had supper there, and we enjoyed
hearing the yokels chaffing one another. After
coming back, before I turn over and snore, 1 get
my task done and give my dearest of masters an
account of the day's doings, and if I could miss
him more, I would not grudge wasting away a little
more. Farewell, my Fronto, wherever you are,
most honey-sweet, my love, my delight. How is
it between you and me? I love you and you are
away.

1 Capit. (ibid. xi. 2) tells us that Pius vindemias privati
modo cum amicis agebat.

2 Possibly from the Vindemiatores of Novius.

8 Fronto’s daughter.

Vat. 188

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. iv. 7 (Naber, p. 70).

Have mihi magister dulcissime.

Tandem tabellarius proficiscitur, et ego tridui|
acta mea ad te tandem possum dimittere. Nec quic-
quam dico; ita epistulis prope ad xxx dictandis
spiritum insumpsi. Nam quod proxime tibi de epis-
tulis placuerat, nondum ad patrem meum pertuli.
Sed quom dis iuvantibus ad urbem veniemus, admone
me ut tibi aliquid de hac re narrem: sed quae tua et
mea meteoria est, neque tu me admonebis neque ego
tibi narrabo: utique? enim revera opus consulto est.
Vale meum—quid dicam <quom> quidquid dicere
satis non est?—vale, meum desiderium, mea lux,?
mea voluptas.

Ad Μ΄. Caes. iv. 8 (Naber, p. 71).

Maaistro meo salutem.

Adventum tuum mihi frater tuus nuper εὐηγ-
γελίσατο. Cupio mehercule possis venire, quod
<salva> salute tua fiat: spero enim fore ut etiam
valetudini meae conspectus tuus aliquid conferat :
els ὄμματ᾽ evvov φωτὸς ἐμβλέψαι γλυκύ, Euripides ait,
opinor. Ego impraesentiarum‘ sic me habeo, ut vel
hine aestimatu facile sit tibi, quod haec precaria
manu scribo. Sane quidem quod ad vires adtinet,
incipiunt redire: pectoris etiam dolor nullus resi-
duus; ulcus autem illud depya® . . . . τῆς ἀρτηρίας.
Nos remedia experimur et nequid opere nostro ®

1 Klussm. for Cod. atqu-.

2 These words are not quite certain. 3 Klussm.
* A colloquial contraction for in praesentia rerum.

δ᾽ Kiehl suggests ἀπεργάζεται. 5 = opera nostra.

(34

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Marcus AvuRELIUS To FRONTO

H ? 144-145 a.p.
AIL, my sweetest of masters.

At last the messenger is starting, and at last
I can send you my three days’ budget of news. But
I cannot say anything, to such an extent have I ex-
hausted my breath by dictating nearly thirty letters.
For as to your last opinion on the question of letters,
I have not yet broached the matter to my father.
But when we come, God willing, to Rome, remind
me to tell you something on this matter. But you
and I are so much up in the clouds that neither will
you remind me nor [ tell you: and yet, indeed, it
really needs consideration. Farewell, my—what
shall [ say when whatever I say is inadequate ?>—
farewell my longing, my light, my delight.

M. AurRELIus To FRONTO

T : ? 144-145 a.p.
o my master, greeting.

Your brother but now brought me the good
news of your arrival. Heaven knows I long for you
to be able to come, if only your health will ‘allow of.
it, for I hope that the sight of you may do some-
thing for my health also. Sweet ‘tis to look into a
friend’s kind eyes, as Euripides,! I take it, says. My
present condition you can easily gauge by the shaki-
ness of my handwriting. As far as my strength is
concerned, it is certainly beginning to come back.
The pain in my chest, too, is quite gone; but

the ulcer... . the trachea. I am under treat-
ment and taking every care that nothing militates
1 Yon, 732.

185

Vat. 187

Vat. 109,
col. 2

Vat. 187,
al pn, col. 1

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

claudat, advigilamus. | Neque enim ulla alia re tolera-
biliora diuturna incommoda fieri sentio, quam con-
scientia curae diligentis et temperantiae medicis
obsequentis. Turpe alioqui fuerit diutius vitium cor-
poris quam animi studium ad recuperandam sani-
tatem posse durare. Vale mi iucundissime magister.
Salutat te mater mea.

Ad WH. Caes. v. 58 (73) (Naber, p. 92).

| Domino meo.
Vexatus sum, Domine, nocte diffuso labore per
umerum et cubitum et genu et talum. Denique id
ipsum tibi mea manu scribere non potui.

Ad M. Caes. iv. 9 (Naber, p. 71).

| Domino meo.?

Accepi litteras tuas elegantissime scriptas, qui-
bus tu intervallo desiderium litterarum mearum obor-
tum tibi esse ais. Est igitur vera Socrati opinio,
“4 doloribus ferme voluptates connexas esse,” quom in
carcere dolorem constricti vinculi voluptate resoluti
compensaret. Item profecto in nobis, quantum
molestiae absentia, tantum commodi adfert desi-
derium inritatum. Nam desiderium ex amore est.
Igitur amor cum desiderio auctus est, quod est in

1 This letter is omitted in the Index (given Naber,
p. 58).

186

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

against its success. For I feel that my protracted
illness can be made more bearable only by a con-
sciousness of unfailing care and strict obedience! to
the doctors’ orders. Besides, it were shame, indeed,
that a disease of the body should outlast a deter-
mination of the mind to recover health. Farewell,
my most delightful of masters. My mother greets
you.

Fronto To Marcus AURELIUS AS CAESAR

T ? 144-145 a.p.
o my Lord.

I have been troubled, my Lord, in the night
with widespread pains in my shoulder and elbow
and knee and ankle. In fact, I have not been able
to convey this very news to you in my own writing.

Frontro To Marcus AuRELIUS AS CAESAR

To my Lord. ἡ 144-145 a.p.

I have received your letter, most charmingly
expressed, in which you say that the intermission in
my letters has caused a longing for them to arise in
you. Socrates was right, then, in his opinion that
‘pleasures are generally linked to pains,’ when in
his imprisonment he held that the pain caused by
the tightness of his chains was made up for by the
pleasure of their removal.? Precisely so in our case
the fondness which absence stimulates brings as
much comfort as the absence itself causes affliction.
For fond longing comes from love. Therefore,
absence makes the heart grow fonder, and this is far

1 We know from Galen (xiv. 216, Kiihn) that Marcus was
in later life, too, a good and intelligent patient.
2 In Plato’s Phaedo, ad init. 3

= 3 167

Kad of Vat.
IST wn
Quint. fx.

Vat. 14}

Vat, 147,
col, 2

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

amicitia multo optimum. Tum quod quaeris de vale-
tudine mea, iam prius scripseram tibi, me humeri
dolore vexatum ita vehementer quidem ut illam
ipsam epistulam, qua id significabam, scribendo dare
operam nequirem ; sed uterer contra morem nostrum
<aliena manu>... . |

Ad M, Cass. iv. 10 (Naber, p. 72).

<Maaistnro meo salutem.>
Haec me in praesentiat . . . . <Vale mi
Fronto caris>|sime. Mater mea te salutat. Consulem
nostrum saluta et matronam nostram.

Ad M. Caes. v. 1 (Naber, p. 77).

| Domino meo.
Si quicquam nos amas, dormi per istas noctes,
ut forti colore in senatum venias et vehementi latere
legas.

Ad M, Cacs. ν. 2 (Naber, p. 78).

Mauistro meo.
Kgo te numquam satis amabo: dormiam.

Ad A, Caes. v. 3 (Naber, p. 78).

Domino meo,

Miserere, unum verbum de oratione ablega, et
quaeso ne umquam utaris: dictionem pro oratione.*
Vale, Domine, mea gloria immortalis. Matrem
Dominam saluta.

1 These words are from the Index. Apart from them four

pages are lost from nostrum in the previous letter.
τη} of Cod. has orationem.

188

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

the best thing in friendship. Then as to my health,
about which you enquire, I had already written to
you that I was suffering so much pain in the shoulder
that I could not succeed in writing the very letter in
which I mentioned it, but, contrary to my usual
custom, had to employ another hand... .

Marcus AuRELIus To FrRONTO

T ? 144-145 avn.
o my master, greeting.

These things at present... . Farewell, my
dearest Fronto, my mother greets you. Greet our
consul! and our lady.

Fronto to Marcus AURELIUS AS CAESAR

T 145-147 a.p.
o my Lord.

If you have any love at all for me, sleep those
nights that you may come into the Senate? with a
good colour and read with a strong voice.

M. Avure.tius To FRoNTo

T 145-147 a.p.
Ο my master.
I can never love you enough: I will sleep.

Fronto To Marcus as CAESAR

¢ To my Lord. 145-147 a.n.
For pity’s sake, cancel one word from your speech
and, I entreat you, never use it—dictio for oratio.
Farewell, my Lord, my everlasting glory. Greet my
Lady your mother.
1 It is not known who is referred to.

* For his speech of thanks as consul (145 A.D.) or as
invested with 7Τγίδ. Pot. (147).

189

Vat. 128,
line 5

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

wld M. Caes. v. 4 (Naber, p. 78).
R<EsSCRIPTUM>.
Cras me de hoc verbo tibi, si admonueris,

defendam.

Ad M. Caes. v. (Index) (Naber, p. 76).

<Domino meo.> | Quam fortis advenias! .... .
<Maaistro meo.> Fortes venimus.......
<Domino meo.> Sumecibum, Domine.....
<Macaistro meo.> Sumpsicibum.......

<Domino meo.> Sianimus Faustinae..... .
<Maaistro meo.> Et consilio tuo obsequor . . .
<Domino meo.> At hercule compleri tem<pus>
<Maaistro meo.> Nimis diu sollicitus. ... .
<Domino meo.> Mirificeego quidem. .....

<Maaistro meo.> In media incommoda....

<Domino meo.> Adflictussum labore. .....
<Maaistro meo.> Fatigatio ista tua. .....
<Domino meo.> Modomihi Gratia.......

<Maaistro meo.> Possit satis pro re ista. .. .
<Domino meo.> Caietae substiti. ..... a

1 These fifteen letters have only the opening words pre-
served. As they were contained (including the beginning of
the following letter) in four pages of the Codex, they could
only have been four or five lines apiece.

᾿ 2 Cicero uees it (De Orat. i. 33).

190

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Marcus AurRELIus To FRONTO
ANSWER. 145-147 a.n.

To-morrow, if you will remind me, I will state my
case for this word.!

From the Index

Fronto To Marcus AND Marcus To. FRoNTO
ALTERNATELY 145-147 a.v.

To my Lord. (Tell me) how strong you feel on
arriving ...

To my master. I arrived quite strong... .

To my Lord. Take food, my Lord... .

To my master. I have taken food? ... .

To my Lord. If Faustina’s® courage . .. .

To my master. I both bow to your advice . . .

To my Lord. But, by heaven, the completion of
the time... .

To my master. Too long anxious... .

To my Lord. I indeed (was) wonderfully (pleased)

To my master. Into the midst of worries... .
To my Lord. I have been worn out with work

To my master. That fatigue of yours... .
To my Lord. Lately Gratia . ..
To my master. Possibly enough for that matter

To my Lord. I have halted at Caieta*....

2 The first four letters seem to refer to the same occasion
as the four that precede.

3 The first mention of Faustina in connection with Marcus,
to whom she was married in 145.

4 A harbour of Latium. Marcus (Thoughts, i. ad fin.)
mentions a stay there.

IQ!

Vat. 106:
Quat. x.
ends

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad ΑΗ. Caes. v. 5 [20] (Naber, p. 78).

<MacistTro meo.>
Quantum tu mihi... . | in biduo! nune, si
videtur, dentes adprimamus tamen; et quo brevius
iter sit tibi recenti morbo Caietae nos opperire.
Facio delicias, quod ferme evenit quibus quod
cupiunt tandem in manu est: differunt, affluunt,
gestiunt ;? ego vero etiam fastidio omnia. Domina
mater te salutat, quam ego hodie rogabo ut ad me
Gratiam perducat—vel fumum inquit pairtiae Graius®
poeta. Vale mi—omnia mea—magister. Amo me

quod te visurus sum.

Ad M. Caes. v. 6 [21] (Naber, p. 78).

Domino meo. 7

Postquam profecti estis, genus dolore arreptus
sum, verum ita modico ut et ingrederer pedetemptim
et vehiculo uterer. Hac nocte vehementior dolor
invasit, ita tamen ut iacens facile patiar, nisi quid
amplius ingruerit. Augustam tuam vexatam audio.
Deis equidem salutem eius commendo. Vale, Domine
dulcissime. Dominam saluta.

1 Cod. viduo. From defendam in Ad M. Caes. v. 4 (p. 190)
four pages are lost.

2 The margin of Cod. gives statim diffluunt, affuunt, et
fastidiunt, 3 Jacobs for Caius (Mai)...

1 Perhaps the phrase means ‘“‘ belittle” or ‘‘ make light
of a thing.”

192

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

M. AureE ius To Fronto

T 145-147 a.p.
Ο my master.

eee ee ᾧ τὰ in two days now, if that is
best, let us clench our teeth all the same; and as
you are just recovering from illness, to shorten the
journey, wait for us at Caieta. I begin to be dainty,}
as generally happens with those who have at last in
their grasp what they long for: they are carried
away,’ they feel in affluence, they are exultant: for
myself, however, I am even disgusted with every-
thing. My Lady mother greets you. I shall ask her
to-day to bring Gratia to me—even the smoke of one’s
fatherland, as the Greek poet® says. Farewell, my—
all in all—master. I love myself at the thought of
seeing you.

Fronto to Marcus as CAESAR

To my Lord. 145-147 a.p.

After you had set out, I was seized with pain
in the knee, but so slight that I could both walk
slowly and use a carriage. To-night the pain has
come on more violently, but so that I can easily
bear it lying down, if it gets no worse. I hear that
your Augusta is poorly. I pray the Gods, indeed,
to have care of her health. Farewell, most sweet
Lord. Greet my Lady.

3 Hauler (Wien. Siud. 25, pt. 1, 1903) takes differunt as
= diferuntur, a Plautine usage.

3 Homer, see above p.

4 Either Faustina or the mother of Marcus. By Augusta
is meant Faustina the younger, who received this title on
her marriage to Marcus in 145.

193
VOL, I. oO

Vat. 88

Vat. 106,
col. 2,
ad fin.

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. v. 10 (25) (Naber, p. 80).

Domino meo.

Modo mihi Victorinus indicat Dominam tuam |
magis caluisse quam heri. Gratia leviora omnia
nuntiabat. Ego te idcirco non vidi, quod ex grave-
dine sum imbecillus. Cras tamen mane domum ad
te veniam, Eadem,! si tempestivom erit, etiam
Dominam visitabo.

Ad M. Caes. v. 11 (26) (Naber, p. 80).

MaaisTro meo.

Caluit et hodie Faustina, et quidem id ego
magis hodie videor mihi deprehendisse. Sed dis
iuvantibus aequiorem mihi animum facit ipsa, quod
se tam obtemperanter nobis accommodat. Tu, si
potuisses scilicet, venisses. Quod iam potes et quod
venturum promittis, delector, mi magister. Vale mi
iucundissime magister.

Ad M. Caes. v. 7 (22) (Naber, p. 79).

| MaaisTro meo.

Ludis tu quidem, at mihi peramplam anxietatem
et summam aegritudinem, <acerbissimum> dolorem,
et ignem flagrantissimum litteris his tuis misisti, ne
cenare, ne dormire, ne denique studere libeat.
Verum tu orationis hodiernae tuae habeas aliquod

1 sc. opera.

194

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Fronro ro Marcus as CAESAR

To my Lord. 145-147 a.p.
Victorinus | has just told me that your Lady is
more feverish than yesterday. Gratia reported that
everything had taken a turn for the better. The
reason that I have not seen you is that I am
indisposed with a bad cold. To-morrow morning,
however, I will come to you at home. At the same
-time I will call on your Lady also, if convenient.

Marcus AURELIUS Tro FroNTo

T 145-147 a.p.
Ο my master.

Faustina has been feverish to-day also, and, in
fact, I fancy I have noticed it more to-day. But the
Gods be thanked she herself makes me less anxious
by being such an obedient patient. Of course you
would have come had you been able. I am rejoiced
that you can come now, and promise to do so, my
master. Farewell, most delightful of masters.

Marcus AuRELius To FRONTO
T Lorium, 145-147 a.p.
Ο my master.
You indeed are playful,? but by this letter of

yours you have sent me immense anxiety and intense
distress, most acute pain and burning fever, so that
I have no heart to sup or sleep or even study. But
you would find some comfort in your speech to-day,

1 Afterwards Fronto’s son-in-law.
2 It is not known what misfortune had befallen Fronto.

195
o 2

Vat 105

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

solacium; at | ego quid faciam? qui et auditionis
iam voluptatem consumpsi, et metuo ne Lorium tar-
diuscule venias, et doleo quod interim doles. Vale,
mi magister, cuius salus meam salutem inlibatam et
incolumem facit.

Ad M. Caes. v. 8 (23) (Naber, p. 79).

MaaisTRo meo.

Ego dies istos tales transegi. Soror dolore
muliebrium partium ita correpta est repente, ut
faciem horrendam viderim. Mater autem mea in ea
trepidatione imprudens angulo parietis costam in-
flixit: eo ictu graviter et se et nos adfecit. Ipse
quom cubitum irem, scorpionem in lecto offendi:
occupavi tamen eum occidere priusquam accum-
berem. Tu si rectius vales, est solacium. Mater
iam levior est, dis volentibus. -Vale mi optime dul-
cissime magister. Domina mea te salutat.

Ad M. Caes, v. 9 (24) (Naber, p. 79).

Domino meo.
Quom te salvom et illaesum dei praestiterunt,
maximas deis gratias ago. Te certum habeo, quom
instituta tua reputo, haud perturbatum : ego, quam-

1 Annia Cornificia, born about 123 a.p. She married
Ummidius Quadratus.
® This would be at Lorium, or somewhere in the country.

196

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

whereas I, what am I to do? who have already
forestalled the pleasure of hearing it and fear that
your visit to Lorium may be delayed, and am in
pain because you meanwhile are in pain. Farewell,
my master, whose health makes my health un-
impaired and assured.

Marcus AuRELIus TO FRONTO

T 145-147 a.p.
Ο my master.

This is how I have passed the last few days.
My sister! was seized suddenly with such pain in the
privy parts that it was dreadful to see her. More-
over, my mother, in the flurry of the moment, in-
advertently ran her side against a corner of the wall,
causing us as well as herself great pain by the acci-
dent. For myself, when I went to lie down I came
upon a scorpion in my bed?; however, I was in
time to kill it before lying down upon it. If you are
better, that is a consolation. My mother feels easier
now, thank the Gods. Farewell, best and sweetest
of masters. My Lady® greets you.

Fronto To Marcus As CAESAR

T 145-147 a.p.
o my Lord.

I am truly thankful to the Gods that they have
kept you safe and unharmed. You, I make no
doubt, were unperturbed, for I know your philosophic
views; for myself, however much you wiseacres may

8 It is not clear whether this is his mother or Faustina.
‘If Fronto here refers to the scorpion incident, it is
curious that he does not enquire for the rest of the family.

197

Vat. 87

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

libet vos sapientes me inrideatis, consternatus equi-
dem sum. Vale, Domine dulcissime, et deis curae
esto. Dominam saluta.

Ad M. Caes. v. 12 (27) (Naber, p. 80).

| Domino meo.
Quomodo manseris, Domine, scire cupio. Ego
cervicum dolore arreptus sum. Vale, Domine. Do-
minam saluta.

Ad M. Caes. v. 13 (28) (Naber, p. 80).

Maaistro meo salutem.

Noctem sine febre videor transmisisse; cibum
non invitus cepi: nunc ago levissime. Nox quid
ferat cognoscemus. Sed, mi magister, cervicum te
dolore arreptum quo animo didicerim, profecto ex tua
proxima sollicitudine metiris. Vale mi iucundissime
magister. Mater mea salutat te.

Ad M. Caes. v. 14 (29) (Naber, p. 81).

| Domino meo.
Cervicum, Domine, dolore gravissimo correptus
sum!; de pede dolor decessit. Vale, Domine op-
time. Dominam saluta.

1 Schwierczina for Cod. grar sum correptus sum.

198

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

laugh at me, I confess I was thoroughly shocked.
Farewell, my most sweet Lord, and may the Gods
have you in their keeping. Greet my Lady.

Fronto To Marcus as CAKSAR

To my Lord. 145-147 a.p.
I am anxious to know, my Lord, how you are
keeping. I have been seized with pain in the neck.
Farewell, my Lord. Greet your Lady.

Marcus AURELIUS To FRONTO

T : 145-147 a.p.
Ο my master, greeting.

I think I have got through the night without
fever. I have taken food without repugnance, and
am doing very nicely now. We shall see what the
night brings. But, my master, by your late anxiety
you can certainly gauge my feelings when I learnt
that you had been seized with pain in the neck.
Farewell, my most delightful of masters. My
mother greets you.

Fronto To Marcus as CAESAR
To my Lord. 145-147 a.p.
I have been seized, my Lord, with a most severe

pain in the neck. The pain has gone from my foot.
Farewell, best of Lords. Greet my Lady.

199

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. v. 15 (80) (Naber, p. 81).

MaaisTrRo meo salutem.

Cervicum dolores si tertio! quoque die remi-
serint, erit quod meam valetudinem maiorem in
modum adiuvet, mi magister. Lavi et hodie et am-
bulavi paulum, cibi paulo plus sumpsi, nondum tamen
libente stomacho. Vale mi iucundissime magister.
Mater mea te salutat.

Ad M, Caes. v. 16 (31) (Naber, p. 81).

Maaistro meo salutem.

Quod ? tibi etiam tum cervices doluerint, quom ὃ
mihi scriberes, non possum aequo animo ferre, neque
sane volo aut debeo. Ego autem, iuvantibus votum
tuum deis, lavi hodie et cibi quantum sat erat cepi;
vino etiam libenter usus sum. Vale mi iucundissime
magister. Mater mea te salutat.

Ad M. Caes. v. 17 (32) (Naber, p. 81).

Domino meo.

Dolores quidem cervicum nihil remiserunt, sed
animo bene fuit quom te balneo et vino libenter
usum cognovi. Vale, Domine. Dominam saluta.

1 Cod. tertia. 2 Schopen for Cod. guom.
3 ibid. for quo.

200

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO
Marcus AuRELIUs To FRONTO

T 145-147 a.p.
Ο my master, greeting.

If the pains in your neck get better, even in
two days’ time, it will help on my convalescence
more than anything, my master. I have had a
bath and to-day even done a little walking and
taken a little more food, but not as yet without
discomfort. Farewell, my most delightful of masters.
My mother greets you.

Marcus AURELIUS To FRONTO

T 145-147 a.n.
oO my master, greeting.

I cannot but be distressed that at the very time
when you were writing to me your neck was so
painful, nor indeed do I wish to be, nor ought I to
be, other than distressed. As for me, thanks be to
the Gods and your prayers, I have bathed to-day,
and taken sufficient food, and wine too I have used
with relish. Farewell, my most delightful of masters.
My mother greets you.

Fronto To Marcus as CAESAR

To my Lord. 145-147 a.p.
The pains in my neck are no easier, but my
mind was set at rest as soon as I knew that you had
been able to take a bath and relish your wine. Fare-
well, my Lord. Greet your Lady.

201

Vat. 142,
ad inst.

Vat. 141

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. iv. 11 (Naber, p. 72).

| Cagsar Frontoni.

Volentibus dis spem salutis nancisci videmur:
alvi fluxus constitit, febriculae depulsae : macies tamen
pertenuis, et tussiculae nonnihil restat. Profecto
intelligis de parvola nostra Faustina haec me tibi
scribere, pro qua satis egimus. Tibi valetudo an pro
meo voto se accommodet, fac sciam, mi magister.

Ad M. Caes. iv. 12 (Naber, p. 72).

Fronto Caesari.

1. Ut ego, di boni, consternatus sum lecto initio
epistulae tuae! quod ita scriptum fuit ut tuum
aliquod valetudinis periculum significari suspicarer.
Postquam deinde illud periculum, quod quasi tuum
principio litterarum tuarum acceperam, filiae tuae
Faustinae fuisse aperuisti, quantum mihi permutatus
pavor! Nec permutatus modo, verum etiam nescio
quo pacto nonnihil sublevatus. Dicas licet: leviusne
tibet visum est filtae meae periculum quam meum? Tibs-
ne ita visum, qui praefers Faustinam id ἐξδὲ esse quod
lucem serenam, quod diem festum, quod spem propin-
quam, quod votum | impetratum, quod gaudium integrum,
quod laudem nolilem atque incolumem? Equidem ego
quid mihi legenti litteras tuas subvenerit scio; qua
vero id ratione evenerit nescio: nescio, inquam, cur
magis ad tuum quam ad tuae filiae periculum conster-
natus sim; nisi forte, tametsi paria sint, graviora

202

ῳὸουσιν“ σι

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Cc 145-147 a.p.
AESAR to Fronto.

Thank the Gods we seem to have some hopes ot
recovery. The diarrhoea is stopped, the feverish
attacks gotrid of; but the emaciation is extreme, and
there is still some cough. You understand, of
course, that I am telling you of our little Faustina!
who has kept us very anxious. Mind you let me
know, my master, if, as I heartily pray, your health
is improving.

F 145-147 a.p.
RONTO to Caesar.

1. Good heavens! how shocked I was on read-
ing the beginning of your letter! It was written in
such a way that I thought some danger to your
health was meant. Then, when the danger, which
at the beginning of your note I had taken to be
yours, was shewn to be your daughter Faustina’s,
how transformed was my apprehension. Yet not
merely transformed, but in some subtle way a little
relieved. You may say, Did my daughter's danger seem
of less account to you than mine? Could it so seem to
you, who protest that “ Faustina ts to you as a lmpid
light, as a gala day, as a near and dear hope, as a
mish fulfilled, as an unalloyed delight, as a glory noble
and assured” 2? I know, indeed, what came into
my mind on reading your letter, but why it came
to be so I do not know: I do not know, I say,
why I was more shocked at your danger than at
your daughter's, unless, perchance, though things be

1 Annia Galeria Faustina, born probably early in 146.
She died in infancy, and Herodes set up an inscription to
her at Olympia (Dessau, ii. 8803).

203

Vat. 132

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

tamen videntur quae ad aures prius accidunt.1 Quae
denique huiusce rei ratio, tu facilius scias, qui de
natura et sensibus hominum scis amplius aliquid
meliusque didicistii Ego qui a meo magistro et
parente Athenodoto ad exempla et imagines quas-
dam rerum, quas ille εἰκόνας appellabat, apte animo
comprehendundas accommodandasque mediocriter
institutus sum, hanc huiusce rei imaginem repperisse
videor, cur meus translatus metus levior sit mihi
visus: simile solere onus grave humero gestantibus,
quom illud onus in sinistrum ab dextro humero
transtulere, quamquam nihil de pondere deminutum,
tamen ut oneris translatio videatur etiam elevatio.?
2, Nune quoniam postrema parte epistulae tuae,
quae meliuscule iam valere Faustinam nuntiasti »|
omnem mihi prorsus metum ac sollicitudinem depu-
listi, non alienum tempus videtur de meo adversus
te amore remissius aliquid tecum et liberalius fabu-
landi; nam ferme metu magno et pavore relevatis
conceditur ludere aliquid atque ineptire. Ego quanto
opere te diligam, non minus® de gravibus et seriis
experimentis quam plerisque etiam frivolis sentio.
Quae aut cuiusmodi sint haec frivola indicabo.
3. Siquando te somno lent, ut poeta ait, placidoque
revinctus video in somniis, numquam est quin am-
plectar et exosculer: tum pro argumento cuiusque
somnii aut fleo ubertim aut exulto laetitia aliqua et
1 The margin of Cod. gives accedunt.
2 Read in the margin of Vod. as relevatio.
3 Should not this Be mayis ὃ

204

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

equally bad, yet those seem worse which are the
first to fall on our ears. What is, in fact, the cause
of this you are more likely to know, for about the
nature and feelings of men your knowledge is some-
what wider than mine, and you have learnt your
lesson better. Tolerably well trained as I was by
my master and parent Athenodotus in the nice
apprehension by the mind and application of illus-
trations and, as it were, similes of things, which he
called εἰκόνας, I think I have hit upon the following
simile of this kind, to explain the fact that the
transference of my fear seemed an alleviation of it—
that much the same thing happens to those who,
carrying a heavy weight on their shoulder, transfer
it from the right shoulder to the left, so that, though
the burden remains as it was, yet the transference
of the pressure seems even a relief.

2. Now, since you have quite dispelled all my fear
and anxiety by the last part of your letter, in which
you announced that Faustina was now somewhat
better,! it seems the very time for a little easy and
unconstrained chat with you on my love for you; for
those who are freed from a great fear and apprehen-
sion are generally allowed to indulge in a little play--
fulness and frivolity. I feel how dearly I love you,
as much from weighty and serious proofs as also from
many trifles. What these trifles are, and of what
nature, I will point out.

3. Whenever “with soft slumber’s chains around
me,’ as the poet says, I see you in my dreams, there
is never a time but I embrace and kiss you: then,
according to the tenor of each dream, I either weep
copiously or am transported with some great joy and

1 This does not seem to be found in the preceding letter.
205

Vat. 181

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

voluptate. Hoc unum ex Annakbus sumptum amoris
mei argumentum poeticum et sane somniculosum.
Accipe aliud rixatorium iam hoc et iurgiosum. Non-
numquam ego te coram paucissimis et familiaris-
simis meis gravioribus verbis absentem insectatus
sum: olim hoc quom tristior quam par erat in coetu!
hominum progrederere, vel quom in theatro tu libros
vel in convivio lectitabas—nec equidem tum? thea-
tris, necdum ὃ conviviis abstinebam—tum igitur ego
te durum et intempestivom hominem, odiosum | etiam
nonnumquam ira percitus appellabam. Quod si quis
alius eodem te convicio audiente me detrectaret,
aequo animo audire non poteram. Ita mihi facilius
erat ipsum loqui quam alios de te secius quid dicere
perpeti: ita ut Gratiam meam filiam facilius ipse
percusserim quam ab alio percuti viderim.

4, Tertium de meis frivolis addam. Scis ut in
omnibus argentariis mensulis pergulis tabernis pro-
tectis vestibulis fenestris usquequaque ubique imagi-
nes vestrae sint volgo propositae, male illae quidem
pictae pleraeque et crassa, lutea immo, Minerva
fictae sculptaeve ; quom interim numquam tua imago
tam dissimilis ad oculos meos in itinere accidit, ut
non ex ore meo excusserit‘ rictum osculi et som-

n<i>um.t

1 Heindorf prefers coetwm. 2 For Cod. ego dum tu.

3 The dum is added over the line by m? in the Codex.

4 Horace, Sat. v. 4, 35, has the phrase excutere risum, ‘‘ to
raise a smile.” For Cod. somnum perhaps savium could be
r

206

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

pleasure. This is one proof of my love, taken from
the Annals,| a poetical and certainly a dreamy one.
Listen to another, a quarrelsome and contentious one
this time. I have occasionally inveighed against you
behind your back in somewhat strong terms before a
very few of my most intimate friends. Time was I did
this, when you went about in public gatherings with
too serious a face,? as when you used to read books
either in the theatre® or at a banquet—nor was
I then refraining from theatres, nor as yet from
banquets—on such occasions, then, I would call
you an austere‘ and unreasonable, even at times,
stung by anger, a disagreeable sort of person. But
if anyone else found fault with you in my hearing
with similar detraction, I could not listen to him
with any patience. So it was easier for me to say
this of you myself than to suffer others to speak
any ill of you: just as I could more easily strike
my daughter Gratia myself than see her struck by
another.

4. I will add the third of my trifles. You know
how in all money-changer’s bureaus, booths, book-
stalls, eaves, porches, windows, anywhere and every-
where there are likenesses of you exposed to view,
badly enough painted most of them to be sure,
and modelled or carved in a plain, not to say sorry,
style of art, yet at the same time your likeness,
however much a caricature, never when I go out
meets my eyes without making me part my lips for
a smile and dream of you.

1 Of Ennius. 2 cp. Capit. Vit. Marci, iv. 8, 10.

8 sbid. xv. 1, and cp. Thoughts, vi. 46.

4 Capit. xxii. 5: quia durus videbatur ex philosophiae
institutione.

207

Vat. 188

Vat. 80,
ad fin.

Vut. 79

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

5. Nunc ut frivolis finem faciam et convertar ad
serium, hae litterae tuae cum primis indicio mihi
fuerunt, quanto opere te diligam, quom magis per-
turbatus sum ad tuum quam ad filiae tuae periculum :
quom alioqui te quidem mihi, filiam vero tuam etiam
tibi, ut par est, superstitem cupiam. Sed heus tu
videbis ne delator existas neve indicio pareas apud
filiam, quasi vero ego te | quam illam magis diligam.
Nam periculum est ne ex ea re filia tua commota, ut
est gravis et prisca femina, poscenti mihi manus et
plantas ad saviandum ea causa iratior subtrahat aut
gravatius porrigat: cuius ego, di boni! manus par-
volas plantasque illas pinguiculas tum libentius ex-
osculabor quam tuas cervices regias tuumque os pro-
bum et facetum.

Ad M. Cas. v. 28 (43) (Naber, p. 84).

| MaaisTro meo.

Dies mihi totus vacuus erit. Siquid umquam
me amasti, hodie ama et uberem mi materiam mitte,
oro et rogo καὶ ἀντιβολῶ καὶ δέομαι καὶ ἱκετεύω. In illa
enim centumvirali non inveni praeter ἐπιφωνήματα.
Vale, optime magister. | Domina mea te salutat.
Volebam aliquid, ubi clamari debeat, scribere. Fave
mi et quaere clamosam ὑπόθεσιν.

1 Uber (= grandis, Quintilian, xii. 10. 58) corresponds to
the Greek ἁδρός, and characterises the epideictic kind of
oratory.

2 Cic. Ad Att. i. 19 uses this word as equivalent to
acclamationes, i.e. approval by acclamation; but ἐπιφώνημα

208

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

5. Now to call a truce to my trifles and to return
to seriousness; this letter of yours served in no
small degree to shew the depth of my love for you,
since I was more shocked at your danger than your
daughter’s, whereas, in other respects, I should wish
you, indeed, to survive for my sake, but your daughter
also for yours, as is right. But hark you, see that you
do not turn informer or appear as a witness before
your daughter, to make her think that I love you more
than her; for there is a danger of your daughter
being put out in consequence, as she is a serious and
old-fashioned lady, and when I ask for her hands
and feet to kiss, of her drawing them away from
pique at this, or tendering them grudgingly : whose
tiny hands and plump little feet I shall then kiss, by
heaven, with more zest than your royal neck and
your honest and merry lips.

Marcus AURELIUS TO FRONTO

145-147 a.p.
To my master.

I shall have the whole day free. If you have
ever loved me at all, love me to-day, and send me a
rich! subject, I ask and request and beseech and
entreat and implore. For in that law-court subject
I found nothing but exclamations.? Farewell, best
of masters. My Lady greets you. I want some-
thing where there ought to be shouts of approval.
Humour me and pick out a “shouting” subject.

also stands for exclamatio, a rhetorical term for apostro-
phizing something to excite pity or anger (see Auct. ad
Herenn. iv. 15. 22). Quintilian however uses it (viii. 5) for
the summing up in a concise, telling form of a narrative or
proof.

209
VOL. 1. Ρ

Vat. 102,
ad fin.

Vat. 101

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. v. 22 (37) (Naber, p. 82).

| Domino meo.

Ego prodormivi.! Materiam misi tibi: res seria
est. Consul populi Romani posita praetexta mani-
cam induit, leonem inter iuvenes quinquatribus per-
cussit populo Romano spectante. Apud censores ex-
postulat<ur>. | Διασκεύασον, αὔξησον. Vale, Domine

dulcissime. Dominam saluta.

Ad Μ΄. Cavs. v. 23 (38) (Naber, p. 82).

RescRIPTUM.

Quando id factum et an Romae? Num illud
dicis in Albano factum sub Domitiano? Praeterea
in hac materia diutius laborandum est ut factum
credatur, quam ut irascatur. ᾿Απίθανος ὑπόθεσις vide-
tur mihi, quom plane maluerim,? qualem petieram.f
Rescribe statim de tempore.

1 Should probably be perdormivi.

2 Crossley for Cod. guod plane baluceis. Klussa. suggests
ἀλύσκεις, & poetical word.

1 The word Quinguatrus means ‘‘ falling on the fifth
day” (i.c. after the ides of March, viz. March 19), but
the feast also lasted five days. A lesser festival of the

210

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Fronto To Marcus as CakgsaR

T 145-147 a.p.
o my Lord.

I have slept late. I have sent you a theme:
the case is a serious one. A consul of the Roman
people, laying aside his robes, has donned a coat ot
mail and among the young men at the feast ot
Minerva! has slain a lion in the sight of the Roman
people. He is denounced before the Censors, Put
into shape and develop. Farewell, most sweet
Lord. Greet your Lady.

Froy Marcus AuRELIUs To FRONTO
A 145-147 a.p.
NSWER,

When did it occur and was it at Rome? Do
you mean that it took place under Domitian at his
Alban Villa. Besides in such a theme it will take
more time to make the fact credible than to treat
it with the indignation it deserves. It seems to me
an improbable subject. I certainly should have pre-
ferred one such as I asked for. Let me know the
date by return.

same name fell on June 13. Suetonius (Domit. 4) says
that Domitian celebrated the feast yearly at his villa at
Albanun.

2 Afterwards became the town of Albanum. Dio, lxvii. 1,
describes it. He tells us (Ixvii. 14, § 6) that Acilius Glabrio
(supposed to have become subsequently a Christian) fought
with wild beasts (cp. Juvenal, 4, 95). Suetonius (Domt. 10)
informs us that he was put to death by Domitian.

211

Vat. 80

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. v. 24 (39) (Naber, p. 83).

Macistro meo salutem.

Vindemias laetas <eas>que quam firmissimo
corpore agere te, mi magister, opto. Me adlevant
nuntii de Domnula mea, commodiora dis invantibus
indicantes. Vale mi iucundissime magister.

Ad M. Caes. v. 25 (40) (Naber, p. 83).

DoMINo meo.

In hortis vindemias ago. Commode valeo.
Aegre tamen insisto dolore digitorum in sinistro
pede. Pro Faustina mane cotidie deos appello.
Scis! enim me pro tua salute optare ac precari.
Vale mi Domine dulcissime. Dominam saluta.

Ad M. Cazes. v. 26 (Naber, p. 83).

MaaisTRo meo.

Ego adeo perscripsi—tu mitte aliud quod scri-
bam—sed librarius meus non praesto fuit qui tran-
scriberet. Scripsi autem non ex mea sententia, nam
et festinavi et tua ista valetudo aliquantujlum de-
trivit mihi. Sed veniam cras petam, quom mittam.
Vale mi dulcissime magister. Domina mea mater

1 Rob. Ellis for Cod. seto. Query supply sic.
212

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Marcus AvRELIUsS TO FRONTO

T : 145-147 a.p.
o my master, greeting. .

That you should keep a happy vintage, and that
in the best of health, is my wish, my master. I am
much relieved by the news of my little lady! telling
me, the Gods be praised, that she is better. Fare-
well, my most delightful of masters.

Fronto to Marcus as CAESAR

T 145-147 a.p.
o my Lord.

I am keeping the vintage in my “gardens.” ?
I am fairly well, but I cannot walk with comfort
owing to pain in the toes of my left foot. Every
morning I pray the Gods for Faustina, for you know
that by so doing I wish and pray for your health.
Farewell, my most sweet Lord. Greet my Lady.

Marcus AuRELIus To FrRoNTO

T 145-147 a.p.
o my master.

As far as I am concerned, the writing is finished
—so send me something else to write—but my
secretary was not at hand to copy out what I wrote.
However, what I wrote was not to my mind, as I
was hurried, and your being poorly took a good deal
out of me. But I will ask your indulgence to-
morrow, when I send it. Farewell, my sweetest of
masters. The Lady my mother sends you greeting.

1 Apparently the daughter, not the wife, of Marcus.
2 Probably his residence on the Esquiline, the Horti
Maccenatiant.
213

γαῖ, 188,
ad med.

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

salutem tibi dicit. Nomen tribuni plebis, cui im-
posuit notam Acilius censor, quem scripsi,! mitte
mihi.

Ad M. Caes. v. 27 (42) (Naber, p. 83).

Domino meo.

Tardius tibi, Domine, rescribo; tardius enim
libellum tuum aperui, quoniam ad agendum ad
forum ibam. Ego commodius me habeo: tamen
uleusculum altius est. Vale, Domine dulcissime.
Dominam saluta.

M. Lucilius tribunus plebis hominem liberum
civem Romanum, quom collegae mitti iuberent, ad-
versus eorum sententiam ipsusque? vi in carcerem
compegit. Ob eam rem a censoribus notatur. Di-
vide primum causam, εἶτα eis ἑκάτερα τὰ μέρη ἐπιχεί-
ρήσον καὶ κατηγορῶν καὶ ἀπολογούμενος. Vale, Domine,
lux omnium tuorum. Matrem Dominam saluta.

Ad M. Cues. iv. 13 (Naber, p. 75).

| MaaistRo meo.

C. Aufidius animos tollit, arbitratum suum in
caelum fert, negat se hominem iustiorem, ne quid
immoderatius dicam, ex Umbria ullum alium Romam
venisse. Quid quaeris? Iudicem se quam oratorem

1 Query scripsti.
2 Brakman says that this is the reading of the Codex.

1 A Lucilius was trib. pl. in 94, but no Acilius appears
1s censor at that date. ‘This letter seems to be an answer to

214

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Let me have the name of the people’s tribune
against whom Acilius the censor, of whom I wrote,
set a mark.

Fronto To Marcus as CAESAR

T 145-147 a.p.
o my Lord.

My answer to you, my Lord, has been somewhat
delayed, for I delayed to open your letter, as I was
on my way to the forum to plead. I feel better, but
the little sore is deeper. Farewell, my sweetest of
Lords, Greet my Lady.

M. Lucilius,! a tribune of the people, against the
decision of his colleagues and with his own hand cast
into prison by force a Roman citizen, though they
ordered his discharge. For that action he was
“marked” by the Censors. First divide the case,
then try your hand on either side both as accuser
and defender. Farewell, my Lord, the light of all
your friends. Greet your lady mother.

Marcus AuRELius To FRONTO

145-147 a.p.
To my master.

Gaius Aufidius? gives himself airs, extols his
own judgment to the skies, says that not another man
more just than himself ever came from Umbria, for I
must not exaggerate, to Rome. What need of
more? He would rather win praise as a judge

the preceding one, but it gives details of the theme which
we should expect to have been given when it was first set.

8 Victorinus, later Fronto’s son-in-law. For his incor-
ruptibility see Dio, Ixxii. 11. The family came from Pi-
saurum in Umbria.

215

Vat. 187

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

volt laudari. Quom rideo, despicit: facile esse ait
oscitantem iudici assidere, ceterum quidem iudicare
praeclarum opus. Haec in me. Sed tamen nego-
tium belle se dedit. Bene est: gaudeo. J uus ad-
ventus me quom beat tum sollicitat. Cur beet,
nemo quaerat; quam ob rem sollicitet, ego medius
fidius fatebor tibi. Nam quod scribendum dedisti,
ne paululum quidem operae ei, quamvis otiosus,
dedi. Aristonis libri me hac tempestate bene acci-
piunt, atque eidem habent male: quom docent
meliora, tum scilicet bene accipiunt; quom vero os-
tendunt quantum ab his melioribus ingenium | meum
relictum sit, nimis quam saepe erubescit discipulus
tuus sibique succenset, quod viginti quinque natus
annos nihildum bonarum opinionum et puriorum
rationum animo hauserim. Itaque poenas do, irascor,
tristis sum, ζηλοτυπῶ, cibo careo. His nunc ego
curis devinctus obsequium scribendi cotidie in diem
posterum protuli. Sed iam aliquid comminiscar ; et
quod orator quidam Atticus Atheniensium contionem
monebat, nonnumquam permittendum legibus dormire,
libris Aristonis propitiatis paulisper quiescere conce-
dam, meque ad istum histrionum poetam!f: totum
convertam, lectis prius oratiunculis Tullianis. Scri-
bam autem alterutram partem, nam eadem de re

1 If the reference is to the preceding letter we should have
expected something like istum Luctlium tribunum plebis.

1 A Stoic philosopher, but with leanings to Platonism.
His system, like that of Marcus subsequently, concerned
itself only with ethics.

216

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

than as an orator. When I smile, he turns up his
nose. Anyone, he says, can sit yawning beside
a judge, but to be a judge is indeed to do noble
work. This is meant for me! However the affair
‘has turned out finely. All is well: 1 rejoice. Your
coming makes me happy and at the same time un-
easy. Why happy, it needs not to enquire: where-
fore uneasy I will, fore heaven, avow to you. For
with plenty of time on my hands I have not given
an atom of it to the task you gave me to write.
Ariston’s! books just now treat me well and at the
same time make me feel ill. When they teach me a
better way, then, I need not say, they treat me well ;
but when they shew me how far short my character
comes of this better way, time and time again does
your pupil blush and is angry with himself, for that,
twenty-five years old as I am,? no draught has my
soul yet drunk of noble doctrines and purer principles.
Therefore I do penance, am wroth with myself, am
sad, compare myself with others, starve myself. A
prey to these thoughts at this time, I have put off
each day till the morrow the duty of writing. But
now I will think out something, and as a certain
Athenian orator once warned an assembly of his
countrymen, that the laws must sometimes be allowed to
sleep,® 1 will make my peace with Ariston’s works
and allow them to lie still awhile, and after reading
some of Tully’s minor speeches I will devote myself
entirely to your stage poet.* However, I can only
write on one side or the other, for as to my defend-

2 This was written, therefore, between April 26, 146, and
April 26, 147.

5 See Plut. Ages. 30.

4 Supposed by some to be Plautus.

217

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

diversa tueri numquam prorsus ita dormiet Aristo
uti id permittat. Vale mi optime et honestissime
magister. Domina mea te salutat.

Ad M. Caes, v. 29 (44) (Naber, p. 84).

Vat. 79, | Domino meo.

Par Perendie, Domine, te videbo: sum enim adhuc
a cubito et cervice infirmus. Fer me, obsecro, nimia
et ardua a te postulantem: ita in animum meum
induxi posse <te> efficere quantum contenderis.
Nec deprecor quin me oderis, nisi quantum postulo
perfeceris, si ut facis animum et studium accom-
modaveris. Vale, Domine, anima mea mihi potior.
Dominam matrem saluta.

Ad M. Caes. iii. 13 (Naber, p. 50).

Vat. 111, | Domino meo.
ad init. .

1. Quod poetis concessum est ὀνοματοποιεῖν,
verba nova fingere, quo facilius quod sentiunt ex-
primant, id mihi necessarium est δα gaudium meum
expromendum. Nam solitis et usitatis verbis non
sum contentus: ita amentius | gaudeo quam ut ser-
mone volgato significare laetitiam animi mei possim,
tot mihi a te in tam paucis diebus epistulas scriptas,

1 For Cod. amanttus.

1 Here came the parting of the ways, and pay and
his teacher Rusticus definitely wanquished Fronto and
rhetoric. See Thoughts, i. 7 and 17, § 4.

218

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

ing both sides of the question, Ariston will, I am
sure, never sleep so soundly as to allow me to do
that!! Farewell, best and most honoured of masters.

. My Lady greets you.

Fronto To Marcus as CAESAR

To my Lord. 145-147 a.p.

I cannot see you, my Lord, till the day after to-
morrow; for I am still laid up with pain in the
elbow and neck. Bear with me, I beseech you, if
what I ask of you is too great and difficult, so
rooted in my mind is the conviction that you can
succeed in all your endeavours. And I will let
you hate me, if you do not accomplish all that I
ask, provided that you apply, as you do, heart and
mind to it. Farewell, my Lord, dearer to me than
my life. Greet my Lady your mother.

Fronto to Marcus as CAESAR

T 145-147 a.p.
o my Lord.

1. The coining of new words, or onomatopoeia,
which is allowed to poets to enable them more easily
to express their thoughts, is a necessity to me for
describing my joy. For customary and _ habitual
words do not satisfy me; so transported am I with
joy that I cannot in ordinary language signify the
gladness of my heart at your having written me
so many letters in so few days,? composed too with

2 Philost. (Vit. Soph. 242, Kays.) tells us that Marcus
sometimes wrote to Herodes three letters in one day.

219

Vat. 242:
Quat. vii.

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

easque tam eleganter tam amice tam blande tam
effuse tam flagranter compositas, quamquam! tot
negotiis tot? officiis, tot rescribendis per provincias
litteris destringerere. At enim proposueram—nihil
enim mihi a te occultum aut dissimulatum retinere
fas est—ita, inquam, proposueram vel desidiae cul-
pam a te subire rarius scribendo tibi potius quam te
multis rebus occupatum epistulis meis onerarem et
ad scribendum provocarem, quom tu cotidie ultro
scripsisti mihi. Sed quid dico cotidte ? Ego iam hic
mihi ὀνοματοποιίας opus est. Nam cotidie foret, si
singulas epistulas per dies singulos scripsisses ; quom
vero plures epistulae sint quam dies, | verbum
istud cottidte minus significat. Nec est, Domine,
cur® mihi tristior sis, quod * omnino veritus sim ne
tibi litterae meae crebriores oneri® essent: nam
quo mihi amantior es, tanto me laborum tuorum
parciorem et occupationum tuarum modestiorem
esse oportet.

2. Quid est mihi osculo tuo suavius? 1116 mihi
suavis odor, ille fructus in tuo collo atque osculo
situs est. Attamen proxime quom proficiscerere,
quom iam pater tuus vehiculum conscendisset, te
salutantium et exosculantium turba diutius morare-
tur, profuit δ ut te solus ex omnibus non complecterer
nec exoscularer. Item in ceteris aliis rebus omni-
bus numquam equidem mea commoda tuis utilitatibus

1 Ehrenthal for Cod. cum clam.

2 For Cod. quud in both places.

3 For Cod. quod. 4 For Cod. cur.

5 For Cod. oncris. 6 Mai: prope fuit.
220

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

such felicity, such friendship, such kindness, such
fulness, such ardour, though you were distracted by
so much business, so many duties, so many letters to
be answered throughout the provinces.1 But indeed
I had purposed—for I must not keep anything
hidden or dissembled from you—TI had purposed,
I say, to incur even the reproach of laziness
from you by writing to you less often, rather
than to trouble you, amid your many engage-
ments, with my letters and tempt you to write,
whereas you of your own accord have written to
me daily. But why do I say daily? It is just
here that the need of word-coining comes in. For
it would be daily, if you had written one letter a
day; since however, there are more letters than
days, that word daily falls short of the meaning.
Nor is there need, my Lord, for you to be vexed with
me for actually fearing that my too frequent letters
should be a burden to you; for the more you love
me, the more chary should I be of adding to your
work, and the more forbearing in respect of your
occupations.

2. What is sweeter to me than your kiss? That
sweet fragrance, that delight dwells for me in your
neck, on your lips. Yet the last time you were
setting out, when your father had already got into
the carriage, but you were delayed by the crowd of
those who were saying good-bye and kissing you,
it was to your advantage that I alone of all did not
embrace or kiss you. So too in all other things,
I will never set my convenience before your interests,

1 The expression points to a time after Marcus had
been invested with the Trib. Pot. and Proconsular Im-
perium.

221

Vat. 241

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

anteponam ; quia si opus sit, meo gravissimo labore
atque negotio tuum levissimum otium redimam.

3. Igitur cogitans, quantum ex epistulis scribendis
laboris caperes, proposueram parcius te appellare,
quom tu cotidie scripsisti mihi. Quas ego epistulas
quom acciperem, simile patiebar quod amator pati-
tur, qui delicias suas videat currere ad se per iter
asperum et periculosum. Namque is simul adveni-
entem | gaudet, simul periculum reveretur.1 Unde
displicet mihi fabula histrionibus celebrata, ubi
amans amantem puella iuvenem nocte lumine accenso
stans in turri natantem in mari opperitur. Nam ego
potius? te caruero, tametsi amore tuo ardeo, potius
quam te ad® hoc noctis natare tantum profundi
patiar, ne Juna occidat, ne ventus lucernam interi-
mat, ne quid ibi ex frigore impliciscare,* ne fluctus
ne vadus ne piscis aliquo® noxsit. Haec oratio
amanti plus® decuit et melior et salubrior fuit non
alieno capitali periculo sectari voluptatis usuram
brevem ac poenitendam.

4. Nunc ut a fabula ad verum convertar, id ego
non mediocriter anxius eram, ne necessariis laboribus
tuis ego insuper aliquod molestiae atque oneris im-
ponerem, si praeter eas epistulas, quas ad plurimos
necessario munere cotidie rescribis, ego quoque ad
rescribendum fatigarem. Nam me carere omni fructu
amoris tui malim, quam te ne minimum quidem
incommodi voluptatis meae gratia subire.

1 Jacobs for Cod. veneretur. 2 Query prorsus.

$C. F. W. Miiller suggests the old form ted for these two
words. 4 Jacobs for Cod. impliciscar.

5 sc. modo or read aliqua. ® Orelli: amantibus.

222

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

for, if need were, with heaviest toil and service of
mine I would purchase your slightest ease.

3. Considering therefore, how much labour the
writing of letters imposed upon you, | had deter-
mined to address you more sparingly, when you
wrote daily to me. When I got those letters of
yours I was in similar plight to a lover, who sees
his darling running towards him along a rough and
dangerous pathway. For he rejoices at the loved
one’s coming at the same time that he fears the
danger. Consequently I do not care for the story,} _
which is such a favourite with actors, where a loving
girl standing by night in a turret with a lighted taper
in her hand, awaits her young lover as he swims the
straits. For though I burn with love for you, I
would rather be severed utterly from you than let
you swim so deep a sea so late at night, for fear the
moon should set, the wind dash out your light, the
cold benumb your senses there, a wave, a reef, a
sea-beast in some way work you harm. This language
were more fitting for a lover and better and more
sound—not at the peril of another's life to seek to
enjoy a pleasure short in duration and fraught with
regret.

4. Now to turn from fiction to reality, my especial
anxiety was lest I should add to your unavoidable
labours some superfluous trouble and burden, if
besides those letters which your unavoidable duties
require you to write daily to very many correspon-
dents, I too should weary you with answering my
letters. For I should prefer to sacrifice every ad-
vantage of your love, rather than that you should
suffer the slightest inconvenience to gratify my
pleasure.

1 Obviously of Hero and Leander.
223

Vat. 102,
following
Vat. 87

Vat. 99,
middle of
col. 1

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. v. 18 (33) (Naber, p. 81).

’ Domino meo.

Gravissimo dolore inguinis sum arreptus, | quo
omnis dolor a dorso et lumbis incubuit. Vale,
Domine. Dominam saluta.

Ad M. Caes. v. 19 (34) (Naber, p. 81).

Maaistro meo salutem.

Doluisse te inguina cognosco, mi magister, et
quom recordor quantam vexationem tibi iste dolor
adferre soleat, gravissimam sollicitudinem _patior.
Sed me levat quod spero illo spatio, quo perferebatur
huc! nuntius, potuisse cedere fomentis et remediis
illam vim doloris. Nos aestivos calores adhuc ex-
perimur, sed quom parvolae nostrae, dixisse liceat,
commode valeant, mera salubritate et verna tem-
perie frui existimamus. Vale mi optime magister.

Ad M. Caes. v. 50 (65) (Naber, p. 90).

| Domino meo.
Ego gravissime arreptus sum iterum ab altero
inguine. .
1 For Cod. hoc.

224

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Fronto ΤῸ Marcus as CAESAR.

T ? 148-149 a.p.
o my Lord.

I have been seized with very severe pain in the
groin, All the pain from the back and loins has
concentrated itself there. Farewell, my Lord.
Greet my Lady.

Marcus AURELIUs To FRONTO.

T ? 148-149 ap.
Ο my master, greeting. |

You tell me that you have pain in the groin,
my master. Remembering what distress that pain
generally causes you, I feel the most serious anxiety.
But I comfort myself with the hope that in the
interval required for bringing the news here, the
intensity of the pain may have yielded to fomenta-
tions and remedies. We are still experiencing
summer heat. But since our little girls '—we
mustn't boast—are quite well, we think that we are
enjoying the healthiest of weather and the balmy
temperature of spring. Farewell, my best of
masters.

Fronro To Marcus as CAESAR.

To my Lord. ἢ 148-149 a.p.
I have been seized with very severe pains again
in the other side of the groin.
1 Annia Galeria Faustina and Annia Lucilla, who was

born about 148. A son born between the two died soon
after birth in 147. See Οἱ 7.6. 3176.

225
VOL. 1. “0

Vat. 102
col. 2

Ambr. 848
ad init,

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. v. 51 (66) (Naber, p. 91).

RescRIPTUM.

Quom haec scribas mihi, mi magister, credo
intelligis sollicitissimum me vota facere pro salute
tua: cuius dis iuvantibus cito compotes erimus.
Vale mi magister iucundissime.

Ad M. Caes. v. 20 (35) (Naber, p. 82).

| Domino meo.
Patri tuo fac notum de infirmitate mea. An me
quoque scribere ei debere putes, scribe mihi.

Ad M. Caes. v. 21 (Naber, p. 83).

RESCRIPTUM.
Statim, mi magister, indicabo Domino meo
necessitatem huius quietis tuae. Velim tamen et a
te scribi. Vale mi optime et iucundissime magister.

Ad Antoninum Pium, 5 (Naber, p. 167).

| Antonino Pio Avucusto Fronto.

Carius! <quam> vitae meae parte adpicisci 3
cupio ut te complecterer felicissimo et optatissimo
initi imperii die, quem ego diem natalem salutis
dignitatis securitatis meae existimo. Sed dolor
humeri gravis, cervicis vero multo gravissimus ita me

1 This word is added from the Index (Naber, p. 163).

Ὁ Biicheler compares Terence, Phor. 1. iii. 14, and reads
depicisei. Niebuhr dispenses with the quam supplied by
Heindorf and reads adipisct.

226

-_—

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Marcus Auretius To Fronro.
ANSWER. δ 148-149 a.p.

When you write thus to me, my master, you
are aware, I am sure, that I am most anxious and
offer up prayers for your health; of which, please
heaven, we shall speedily be assured. Farewell, my
most delightful of masters.

FronTo To Marcus as CAESAR.

T ἡ 148-149 a.p.
o my Lord.

Please acquaint your father with my illness.
Tell me if you think I also should write to him.

Marcus AuRreELius To FRoNTo.
ANSWER. ? 148-149 a.p.

I will let my Lord know at once that your
health necessitates this rest for you. But please
write to him yourself as well. Farewell, my best and
most delightful of masters.

ὃ 148-149 a.p.

Fronto to Antoninus Pius Augustus.

More dearly than with a portion of my life
would I bargain to embrace you on this most happy
and wished-for anniversary of your accession,! a day
which I count as the birthday of my own health,
reputation, and safety. But severe pain in my
shoulder, and much more severe in my neck, have

July 1, 138.

229
ο 2

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

adflixit, ut adhuc usque vix inclinare me vel erigere
vel convertere possim: ita immobili cervice utor.
Sed apud Lares Penates deosque familiares meos et
reddidi et suscepi vota, et precatus sum, uti anno
insequenti bis te complecterer isto die, bis pectus
tuum et manus exoscularer praeteriti simul et prae-
sentis anni vicem perficiens.

Ad Antoninum Piwm, 6 (Naber, p. 167).

As Augusto rescriptum.

Quom bene perspectas habeam sincerissimas in
me adfectiones tuas, tum et ex meo animo non
difficile credo,! mi Fronto carissime, vel praecipue
hunc diem, quo me suscipere hanc stationem placuit,
at te potissimum vere religioseque celebrari. Et
ego quidem et vota tua et te mente, ut par est,

Ambr, 347 Yrepraesentavi. |... .3

Ad M. Caes. v. 30 (45) (Naber, p. 84).

Vat. 79, | Domino meo.
apes Annum novum faustum tibi et ad omnia, quae
recte cupis, prosperum cum tibi tum Domino nostro
patri tuo et matri et uxori et filiae ceterisque omni-
bus, quos merito diligis, precor. Metui ego invalido
1 Brakman’s reading of the Codex.

2 Probably only a line or two of this letter is lost, the gap
here covering part of Ad Pium, 7.

228

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

so crippled me, that I am still scarcely able to bend,
sit upright, or turn myself, so rigid must I keep my
neck. But before my Lares, Penates, and household
gods have 1 discharged and renewed my vows,! and
prayed that next year I might embrace you twice
on this anniversary, twice kiss your neck and hands,
fulfilling at once the office of the past and the
present year.

ANTONINUs Pius To FRonrTo.

Answer by Augustus. 55} ἘΘΞῚ ΕΝ ΑΙ

As I have well ascertained the entire sincerity
of your feelings towards me, so I find no difficulty,
I assure you, my dearest Fronto, in believing that
this day in particular, on which it was ordained for
me to assume this station, is kept with true and
scrupulous devotion by you above all others. And
I indeed have with my mind’s eye, as was right,
pictured you and your vows... .

Fronto To Marcus as CaAgEsar.

To my Lord. ἢ 148-149 a.p.
A happy New Year and a prosperous in all
things that you rightly desire to you and our Lord
your Father, and your mother and your wife and
daughter,’ and to all others who deservedly share
your affection—that is my prayer! In my still feeble

1 If this letter is correctly dated, these rota would be the
decennalia. See Coins of Pius, Cohen, 226-229.
? As only one daughter is now mentioned, the little
Faustina must have died, leaving Lucilla alone.
229

Vat. 94

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

adhuc corpore turbae et impressioni me committere.
Si dei iuvabunt, perendie vos vota nuncupantes videbo.
Vale mi Domine dulcissime. Dominam saluta.

Ad M. Caes. v. 31 (46) (Naber, p. 85).

MaaisTro meo salutem.

Et ipse prospere sis ingressus annum! Omne
votum tuum Dei tibi ad usum tuum, qui noster idem
erit, devertant atque, ut facis, pro ami|cis bene optes,
ceteris bene velis. Quae! pro me precatus es scio te
<ex animo> precatum. Quod a turba cavisti, tibi
et meae curae consuluisti. Quietius idem fiet peren-
die, si di <velint. Gratia> tua <tuo> officio functa
est. Nescio an <Dominam> suam salutaverit. Vale
mi dulcissime magister. Mater mea te salutat.

Ad M. Caes. v. 32 (47) (Naber, p. 85).

MaaistTro meo.

Et nunc sanus et deinceps validus laetus com-
pos omnium votorum agas? diem natalem, mi magis-
ter; quae mea precatio sollemnis semper auctior fit,
quanto magis accedit et mihi firmitas ad diligendum
et aetas suavissimae familiaritatis nostrae. Vale mi
magister iucundissime mihi. Mater mea te salutat.
Gratiae salutem dic «εὖ fer osculum parvolae tuae
Gratiae.>3

1 Half a line is left blank in the Cod. before quae.

2 Mai for Cod. magis.

3 IT have added these words: see end of next letter.
230

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

state of health I was afraid to trust myself to the
crowd and crush. I shall see you, please God, the
day after to-morrow offering up your vows. Farewell,
my most sweet Lord. Greet my Lady.

T P 148-149 ap.
o my master, greeting.

May you also have entered upon a prosperous
year, and may the Gods turn to your advantage,
which will be ours also, every prayer of yours!
May you pray, as you do, for the good of your
friends and wish for the good of all others! Your
prayers for me I know have been heartfelt. In
fighting shy of the crowd, you have consulted both
your safety and my anxiety. The ceremony will be
repeated on a quieter scale the day after to-morrow,
if the Gods will. Your Gratia has done your part for
you. I do not know if she has greeted her Lady.
Farewell, my sweetest of masters. My mother
sends you her greeting.

Marcus AurRELIus To FRONTo.

T ? 148-149 a.p.
Ο my master.

May you keep your birthday, my master, both
sound in health now and strong in all years to come,
happy, and with all your wishes granted; which
yearly prayer of mine grows ever more compre-
hensive as my capacity for affection increases and
the period of our most sweet intercourse lengthens !
Farewell, mymaster mostdelightfultome. Mymother
greets you. Give Gratia a greeting and your little
Gratia a kiss from me.

231

Vat. 98

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Cues. v. 33 (48) (Naber, p. 85).

DomINo meo.

Quaecumque mihi precatus es, omnia in tua
salute locata sunt. Mihi sanitas, bona valetudo,
laetitia, res prosperae meae ibi sunt, quom tu corpore
animo rumore tam incolumi uteris, tam carus patri,
tam dulcis matri, tam sanctus uxori, tam fratri bonus
ac benignus. Haec sunt quae me cum hac valetu-
dine tamen cupientem vitae faciunt. Absque te
satis su|perque et aetatis et laboris et artis et gloriae,
dolorum vero et aegritudinum aliquanto plusquam
satis superque.

Filiae meae iussu tuo osculum dedi. Numquam
mihi tam suavis tamque saviata visa est. Dominam
saluta, Domine dulcissime. Vale et fer osculum
matronae tuae.

Ad M. Caes. v. 34 (49) (Naber, p. 86).

DoMINo meo.

Saenius Pompeianus in plurimis causis a me
defensus, postquam publicum Africae redemit, pluri-
mis causis rem familiarem nostram adiuvat. Coin-
mendo eum tibi, quom ratio eius a Domino nostro
patre tuo tractabitur, benignitatem ingenitam tibi,

1 This the first allusion to Lucius Verus, the other adopted
son of Pius, afterwards joint-emperor with Marcus.
2 Lucilla, the daughter of Marcus, must be ineant.

232

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO
Fronto To Marcus as CagEsar.

To my Lord. ἢ 148-149 a.p.

All the blessings you have prayed for me are
bound up with your welfare. Health of body and
mind, happiness, prosperity, are all mine, as long as
you enjoy a body, a mind, a reputation so hale and
well, while you are so dear to your father, so sweet
to your mother, so blameless a husband, so good and
kind a brother.! It is this which makes me cling
to life, in spite of my ill-health. Apart from you I
have had enough and to spare of life and toil, of
profession and fame, but of pains and infirmities
something more than enough and to spare.

I gave my daughter the kiss you sent her: never
has she seemed to me so kissing-ripe, never so
kissed. Greet my Lady, my most sweet Lord.
Farewell, and give your little matron? ἃ kiss
from me.

FrontTo τὸ Marcus as CAESAR.

To my Lord. ἢ 149-153 a.p.
Saenius Pompeianus,’ whom I have defended in
many cases, since he took up the contract for farm-
ing the taxes of Africa, is from many causes a
stand-by in my affairs. I commend him to you that,
when his accounts are scrutinised by our Lord your
Father, you may be induced both by my recommen-

3 There is an inscription (C. 7. Z. vi. 8588 ; cp. viii. 997) by
his wife, Fuficia Clymena, to Q. Saenius Pompeianus as
conductor 1117 publicorum Africae, t.e., farmer of four public
revenues of Africa (see Orelli, Znscr. Lat. 6650).

233

Vat. 104

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

quam omnibus ex more tuo tribuis, ut huic et mea
commendatione et tua consuetudine ductus impertias.
Vale, Domine dulcissime.

Ad Μ΄. Caes. v. 35 (50) (Naber, p. 86).

REscRIPTUM.

Pompeianus meritis isdem, quibus te sibi con-
ciliavit, me quoque promeruit. Quare cupio omnia
ei ex indulgentia Domini mei patris obsecundare.
Nam ea quae tibi ex sententia procedunt, gaudia
sunt mea. Vale mi magister iucundissime. Faustina
et parvolae nostrae te salutant.

Ad M. Caes. v. 36 (51) (Naber, p. 86).

MaaistTro meo.

Si te in provincia, mi magister, adierit Themis-
tocles quidam, qui se Apollonio magistro | meo
philosophiae dicat cognitum, eum <scito> esse! qui
hac hieme Romam venerit et mihi voluntate magistri
per filium Apollonium sit demonstratus: ei tu, mi
magister, velim quod possis bene facias, bene suad-
eas. Nam ius et aequom omnibus Asianis erit apud
te paratissimum : sed consilium, comitatem, quaeque

1 Mai for Cod. sese.

1 Lucilla and Arria Fudilla, the latter born about 150 a.p.
2 Asia. Fronto was consul in 143, and the usual interval
between the consulship and proconsulate at this time was

234

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

dation and your own constant practice to extend to
him that characteristic kindness, which you habitu-
ally show to all. Farewell, my sweetest Lord.

Marcus AuRELIUs TO FRONTo.
A ? 149-153 a.p.
NSWER.

Pompeianus has won my esteem also by the
same deserts which have endeared him to you. So
I desire that in accordance with the Lord my father’s
indulgent ways everything should second his wishes.
For whatever falls out as you desire is a joy to me.
Farewell, my most delightful of masters. Faustina
and our little girls! greet you.

Marcus AuRELIUus TO FRONTo.

T ? 153-154 a.p.
o my master.

If in your province,? my master, you come
across a certain Themistocles, who says that he is:
known to Apollonius my teacher? in philosophy,
understand that he is a person who came to Rome this
winter and was brought to my notice by Apollonius
the son, at his father’s request. May I ask you, my
master, to befriend him, and advise him, as far as
you can. For you will, I know, be always most
ready to do what is just and proper by all Asians,
but counsel and courtesy and all those personal

twelve to fifteen years. But Fronto may have had his ap-
pointment accelerated in consideration of his age or health.

3 Marcus speaks very highly of him (Thoughts, i. 8 ; 17, § 4),
and Epiphanius calls him €ratpos ᾿Αντωνίνου. But see
Capit. Vit. Pii, x. ὃ 4, and Lucian, Demonax, § 31.

235

ΑΥ̓ΛΌΥ. 882:
Quat. χχχί.
ends

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

amicis sine ullo cuiusquam incommodo propria im-
pertire fides ac religio proconsulis permittit, peto
Themistocli libens impertias. Vale mi iucundissime
magister. Rescripto nihil opus est.

Ad Antoninum Pium, 8 (Naber, p. 169).

ANTONINO Pio AuausTo Fronto.

1, Omnem operam me dedisse, sanctissime Im-
perator, et impenso studio cupisse fungi proconsulari
munere res ipsa testis est. Nam et de iure sor-
tiendi, quoad incertum fuit, disceptavi et, postquam
iure liberorum prior alius apparuit, eam quae mihi
remansit splendidissimam provinciam pro electa
habui. Post illa quaecumque ad instruendam | pro-
vinciam adtinerent, quo facilius a me tanta negotia
per amicorum copias obirentur, sedulo praeparavi.
Propinquos et amicos meos, quorum fidem et integri-
tatem cognoveram, domo accivi. Alexandriam ad
familiares meos scripsi ut Athenas festinarent, ibi-
que me opperirentur, iisque Graecarum epistularum
curam doctissimis viris detuli. Ex Cilicia etiam
splendidos viros, quod magna mihi in ea provincia
amicorum copia est, quom publice privatimque sem-
per negotia Cilicum apud te defenderim, ut venirent
hortatus sum. Ex Mauretania quoque virum aman-
tissimum mihique mutuo carum, Julium Senem, ad
me vocavi, cuius non modo fide et diligentia, sed
etiam militari industria circa quaerendos et conti-
nendos latrones adiuvarer.

1 Cirta, in Numidia, where he was born.

236

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

civilities, which both honour and conscience permit
a proconsul to shew his friends, so long as no one
else is injured thereby—these I ask you freely to
extend to Themistocles. Farewell, my most delight-
ful of masters. No answer is required.

? 153-154 a.p.

Fronrto to Antoninus Pius Augustus.

1. The facts testify, most reverend Emperor,
that I have spared no pains and earnestly desired to
discharge the duties of proconsul. For as long as
the matter was undecided, I claimed my rights under
the lot and, when by virtue of having more children
another proved to have the prior claim, I was as satis-
fied, as if I had chosen it, with that most splendid
province which was left to me. Then I took active
steps to enlist the help of my friends in all that
concerned the ordering of the province. Relations
and friends of mine, of whose loyalty and integrity
I was assured, I called from home! to assist me.
I wrote to my intimates at Alexandria? to repair
with all speed to Athens and await me there, and 1
deputed the management of my Greek correspon-
dence to those most learned men. From Cilicia
too I called upon eminent citizens to join me, for,
owing to my always having advocated the public and
private interests of Cilicians before you, I had hosts
of friends in that province. From Mauretania also
I summoned to my side Julius Senex, a man whose
love for me was no less than mine for him, that I
might avail myself not only of his loyalty and dili-
gence, but also of his military activity in the hunting
down and suppressing of brigands.

2 Where he probably studied in his youth.
237

Ambr. 831

Vat. 104,
ad med.

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

2. Haec omnia feci spe fretus posse me victu tenui
et aqua potanda malam valetudinem qua impedior,
si non omnino sedare, certe ad maius intervallum
reiectos eius impetus mitigare. Ita evenit ut solito
diutius bene valerem et fortis vigerem, adeo ut
duas amicorum causas non minimi laboris apud te
tutatus sim. Ingruit deinde tanta vis valetudinis,
quae mihi ostenderet omnem spem illam | <frustra
fuisse> ... .}

Ad M. Caes. v. 37 (52) (Naber, p. 87).

| Domino meo.

Aridelus iste, qui tibi litteras meas reddit, a
pueritia me curavit a studio perdicum usque ad seria
officia. Libertus vester est; procurabit? vobis in-
dustrie ; est enim homo frugi et sobrius et acer et
diligens. Petit nunc procurationem ex forma suo
loco ac iusto tempore. Faveto ei, Domine, quod
poteris. Si formam non cognosces hominis, ubi ad
nomen Arideli ventum fuerit, memento a me tibi
Aridelum commendatum. Vale, Domine dulcissime.
Dominam saluta.

1 The lost parts at the end of this letter and at the begin-
ning of Ad Piwm, 9, cover one page.
2 Cod. procuravit, but ὃ and v are used interchangeably.

238

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

2. All this I did buoyed up by the hope that by
abstemiousness and water-drinking I might, if not
wholly relieve the ill-health from which I suffered,
yet at all events mitigate its attacks by postponing
them for a longer period. The result was that
I had a lengthier spell of health than usual, and
felt strong and vigorous, so much so that I was
able to appear before you on behalf of two of my
friends in cases that entailed very considerable
labour. Then I was assailed by so severe an attack
of illness as shewed me that all my hopes had
been illusory... .

Fronto To Marcus as CAESAR

T >? 153-154 a.p.
o my Lord.

This Aridelus, who is taking my letter to you,
has attended to all my wants since I was a boy, from
a passion for partridges to important duties. He is
a freedman of yours; you will find him a diligent
procurator, for he is honest, temperate, brisk, and
industrious. He is now a candidate for a procura-
torship! in due form, being of suitable position and
regulation age. Assist him, my Lord, with your
interest, as faras may be. If you do not recognize
his person, when you come to the name Aridelus,
remember that Aridelus has been commended to you
by me. Farewell, most sweet Lord. Greet your
Lady.

1 A procurator might be (1) a collector of the imperial
revenues, (2) a steward, (3) an overseer of any kind, as agent
or manager.

239

. Vat. 108

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. v. 38 (53) (Naber, p. 87).

Domino meo.

Utrum facti virtus ornaverit orationem, an|
oratio factum nobilissimum aequiparaverit, incertus
sum: certe quidem eiusdem <haec> dicta cuius illa
facta. Sed et fratris tui oratio me delectavit, nam
et ornata fuit et cordata. Et certum habeo eum
minimum spatii habuisse ad meditandum.

Ad M. Caes. v. 39 (54) (Naber, p. 87).

RESCRIPTUM.

Reversus a convivio patris libellum tuum accepi,
dimisso iam ut cognosco eo per quem fuerat adlatus.
Rescribo igitur vespera multa quod tu legas die
crastino. Orationem patris mei parem materiae suae
visam tibi nihil mirum est, mi magister. Fratris
autem mihi gratiarum actio eo laudabilior est, quo
minus ad meditandum, ut coniectas, habuit spatii.
Vale mi iucundissime magister. Mater mea te
salutat.

Ad M. Cavs, v. 40 (Naber, p. 87).

Domino meo.
Cholera usque eo adflictus sum ut vocem amit-
terem, singultirem, suspirio angerer,' postremo venae

1 Schopen for Cod. agerer.

240

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Fronto To Marcus as CAESAR

T ? 153-154 a.p.
o my Lord.

Whether the merit of the act set off the speech,!
or the speech did not fall short of a most noble act,
I can hardly say: yet of this 1 am sure, that these
words had the same author as those deeds. But
your brother’s speech? also delighted me, for it was
polished and politic, and I feel sure he had very
little time for preparing it.

Marcus AuRELIUS To FRONTO
A ? 153-154 a.p.
NSWER.

On my return from a banquet of my father’s I
got your letter, and learn that the messenger who
brought it has already gone. So I am writing this quite
late in the evening, that you may read it to-morrow.
It isno matter of surprise, my master, that my father’s
speech should seem to you worthy of the occasion.
But my brother's speech of thanks is in my opinion
the more praiseworthy, in that, as you surmise, he had
but little time to prepare it. Farewell, my most
delightful of masters. My mother greets you.

Fronto To Marcus as CAESAR
To my Lord. ? 154—156 a.p.

I have had such a choleraic attack® that I lost
my voice, gasped and struggled for breath; finally,
1 Of Pius.

2 Of thanks, possibly for the consulship in 154.
3 What the specific disease was is not clear.

241
VOL. I. R

Vat. 86

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

deficerent, sine ullo pulsu venarum animo male fieret ;
denique conclamatus sum a nostris; neque sensi
aliquamdiu: ne balneo quidem aut frigida aut cibo
recreandi me ac fovendi medicis tempus aut occasio
data, nisi post vesperam micularum minimum cum
vino destillatum gluttivi. Ita | focilatus totus
sum.! Postea per continuum triduum vocem non
recuperavi. Sed nunc deis iuvantibus commodissime
valeo, facilius ambulo, clarius clamito: denique, si
dei iuvabunt, cras vehiculo vectari destino. Si facile
silicem toleravero, quantum pote ad te curram. Tum
vixero.quom te videro. Ad vir Kal. Roma profi-
ciscar, si dei iuvabunt, Vale, Domine dulcissime,
desiderantissime, causa optima vitae meae. Domi-
nam saluta.

Ad. M. Caes. v. 41 (56) (Naber, p. 88).

MaaisTro meo salutem.

Post tempus te videre cupiebam ; quid tu censes
post periculum? quod suffugisse te, mi magister,
iterum deis ago gratias lectis tuis litteris, quae me
rursum quasi renovant : quom commemorares quo in
loco fueris, consternarunt. Sed habeo te dis volen-
tibus, et ut promittis propediem videbo: et bene
spero de bona longa valetudine. Salutat te mater
mea. Vale mi iucundissime magister.

1 The Cod. repeats sum after focilutus. Query <sensim> .
242

M..CORNELIUS FRONTO

my circulation failed and the pulse being impercep-
tible I became unconscious; in fact, I was given up
by my family as dead and remained insensible for
some time. The doctors were given no time or
opportunity to revive or relieve me even with a
warm bath or cold water or food, except that after
nightfall I swallowed a few morsels of bread soaked
in wine. Thus I was gradually brought quite round.
For three whole days after I did not recover my
voice. But now by God's help I am getting on very
comfortably. I walk with more ease and my voice
is stronger and more distinct; in fine, I purpose,
please God, to take a drive to-morrow. If I find I
can stand the flint paving well, I will hasten to you
as fast as I can. Only when I see you shall I live.
I will set out from Rome, please God, on the 7th day
before the Kalends. Farewell, my Lord, most sweet,
most missed, my best reason for living. Greet your

Lady.
Marcus AurELiIus τὸ FRONTO

Τ ᾿ ? 154-156 a.p.
Ο my master, greeting.

After your absence I was longing to see you:
what think you! after your danger? for your escape
from which, my master, I thank the Gods a second
time after reading your letter, which again, as it
were, reassures me: it struck me with consternation
when you gave me an account of your condition.
But the Gods be thanked I have you still and, as you
promise, shall see you again soon: and I have good
hopes of your continued convalescence. My mother
greets you. Farewell, my most delightful master.

1 sc, ‘* must my feeling be.”

243

Vat. 85

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. v. 42 (57) (Naber, p. 88).

DomINo meo.

Plurimos natales dies liberum tuorum prosperis
tuis rebus ut celebres parentibus probatus, populo
acceptus, amicis pergratus,! fortuna et genere et loco
tuo dignus, omni vita mea redemisse cupiam, non hac
modo | exigua vita quae mihi superest, sed illa etiam
quam vixi, si quo modo <in> integrum redigi ac pro
te tuisque liberum tuorum commodis in solutum
dependi potest. Si facile ingredi possem, hic erat
dies quo cum primis complecti te cuperem, sed con-
cedendum est pedibus scilicet, quando ipsi parum
procedunt. Ego de aquarum usu delibero. Si cer-
tius quid statuero, faciam tibi notum. Vale mi
Domine dulcissime. Faustinam tuam meis verbis
appella et gratulare, et matronas nostras meo nomine
exosculare sed, uti ego soleo, cum plantis illis et
manibus. Dominam saluta.

Ad AM, Caes. v. 43 (58) (Naber, p. 89).

Maaistro meo salutem.
Salvos esto nobis, salva sit tibi domus tua, salva
nostra; quae, si animum nostrum spectes, una est
domus. Recte scio autem, si vel difficulter ingredi

1 Cornelissen for Cod. probatus.

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO
Fronto to Marcus as CaArsaR

T ? 154-156 a.p.
o my Lord.

That you may keep many birthdays of your
children with all happiness, the pride of your
parents, the darling of the people, the beloved of
your friends, worthy of your fortune, your lineage,
and your station, gladly would I give my whole life,
not that meagre portion of it only that now remains
to me, but also what I have already lived, if in any
way it could be restored to me entire, and expended
as the repayment of a debt for the benefit of your-
self and your children. If I could walk with com-
fort, this were the day on which I would wish among
the first! to embrace you; but [ must, as you see,
make my feet some concession, since they have not
much procession in them. I am thinking of trying
waters. If I come any nearer a decision, I will
let you know. Farewell, my sweetest Lord. Give
your Faustina a message from me and congratulate
her? and kiss our little ladies in my name and, as
I always do, their feet and hands as well. Greet
your Lady.

Marcus AuRELIUs To FRONTO

T : ? 154-156 a.p.
Ο my master, greeting.

May you be preserved to us! May your house
be preserved, and ours! which, if you look at our
feelings, is but one house. I know well you would

1 Or, ‘‘ above all.”
2 On the birthday of one of the children; see next letter.
8 The mother of Marcus.

245

Vat. 100

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

posses, venturum te ad nos fuisse. Sed venies saepe
et tecum celebrabimus, si dei volent, omnia festa
nostra. Vale, mi magister iucundissime. Mater mea
te salutat.

Ad M. Caes. v. 44 (59) (Naber, p. 89).

Domino meo.

Pueri dum e balneis me sellula, ut adsolent,
advehunt, imprudentius ad ostium balnei fervens
adflixerunt. Ita genum mihi simul abrasum | et
ambustum est: postea etiam inguen ex ulcere ex-
titit. Visum medicis ut lectulo me tenerem. Hance
causam, si tibi videbitur, etiam Domino patri tuo
indicabis, si tamen videbitur. Etiam! cras mihi
adsistendum erit familiari. Hodierno igitur otio et
quiete labori me crastino praeparabo. Victorinus
noster aget, ne me acturum putes. Vale, Domine
dulcissime. Dominam saluta.

Ad M. Caes. v. 45 (60) (Naber, p. 90).

Maaistro meo salutem.

Auxisti curas mihi, quas opto quam primum
releves, sedatis tibi doloribus genus et inguinis. Me
autem infirmitas Dominae meae matris quiescere non
sinit. Eo accedit appropinquatio partus Faustinae.
Sed confidere dis debemus. Vale, mi magister iucun-
dissime mihi. Mater mea te salutat.

1 Eussner reads δὲ tibi videbitur, etiam ipse.

246

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

have come to us, if you could have walked even with
difficulty. But you will come often and join us, if the
Gods will, in keeping all our fétes. Farewell, my
most delightful of masters. My mother greets you.

Fronto To Marcus as CaksAaR

To my Lord. ἢ 154-156 a.p.

While my attendants were carrying me here
as usual from the baths in a sedan-chair, they dashed |
me somewhat carelessly against the scorching en-
trance to the bath. So my knee was both scraped
and scorched: afterwards, too, a swelling came up on
the sore place. The doctors advised my keeping in
bed. Should you think fit, please also give my Lord
your father this reason, but only if you think fit.
To-morrow, too, I must support an intimate friend in
court. So by today’s idleness and rest I shall get
myself ready for to-morrow’s duties. Our Victorinus
will do. the pleading, for do not suppose that I
shall plead. Farewell, sweetest of Lords. Greet
my Lady.

Marcus AuRELIus To FRoNTO

T : ἢ 154-156 a.p.
o my master, greeting.

You have added to my anxieties, which I hope
you will as soon as possible relieve by the subsidence
of the pains in the knee and the swelling. As for me,
my Lady mother’s illness gives me no rest. There
is, besides, the near approach of Faustina’s lying-in.
But we must have faith in the Gods. Farewell, my
most delightful of masters. My mother greets you.

247

Vat. 99

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes. v. 46 (61) (Naber, p. 90).

Domino meo.
Ipso die quo! proficisci destinabam, genus dolo-
rem sensi. Spero in paucis diebus me recte fore.
Vale, Domine optime. Dominam saluta.

Ad M. Caes. v. 47 (62) (Naber, p. 90).

Maaistro meo salutem.

Nunc denique opto, mi magister, iucundiora in-
dices. Nam doluisse te in id tempus, quo mihi
scribebas, litterae declarant. Haec obambulans dic-
tavi. Nam eum motum in praesentia ratio corpusculi
desiderabat. Vindemiarum | autem gratiam nunc
demum integram sentiam, quom tua valetudo placa-
tior esse nobis coeperit. Vale mi iucundissime
magister.

Ad M. Caes, v. 48 (63) (Naber, p. 90).

Domino meo.
Plantae, Domine, dolore impedior. Ideo vos
per istos dies non salutavi. Vale, Domine optime.
Dominam saluta.

Ad M. Caes. v. 49 (64) (Naber, p. 90).

MaaIsTRo meo.

Quom salubre tibi est facile progredi, tunc et
nobis conspectus tuus erit iucundus.” Id ut quam
primum eveniat et dolor plantae quiescat, di iuvent.
Vale mi optime magister.

1 For Cod. ipsa... qua.
248

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Fronto To Marcus as CAESAR

T L ἢ 154-156 a.p.
o my Lord.

The very day on which I proposed to start I
felt a pain in my knee. I hope to be all right in a
day or two. Farewell, my best of Lords. Greet my
Lady.

Marcus AURELIUS TO FRONTO

T ἢ 154-156 a.p
Ο my master, greeting.

By this time, at all events, my master, I hope
you can send better news, for your letter says that
you were in pain up to the time when you wrote.
I have dictated this, walking about. For the state
of my wretched body requires that exercise just
now. But I shall only feel the full benefit of the
vintage season when we find your health beginning
to mend. Farewell, my most delightful of masters.

Fronro To Marcus as CAESAR
>
To my Lord. ? 154-156 a.p.

I am laid up with pain in the sole of my foot.
That is why I have not paid you my respects these
past days. Farewell, best of Lords. Greet my
Lady.

Marcus AurgE.ius To FrRoNtTo

T ἢ 154-156 a.p.
Ο my master.

When you are well enough to walk comfortably,
then we also shall be delighted to see you. May
the Gods bring that about as soon as possible, and
the pain in your foot be better. Farewell, my best
of masters.

249

Vat. 99,
ad jin,

Vat. 110:
Quat, xi.

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M, Caes, v. 52 (67) (Naber, p. 91).

| Domino meo.

Decem tanta te amo. Filiam tuam vidi. Videor
mihi te simul et Faustinam infantes vidisse: tantum
boni ex utriusque voltu est commixtum. Decem
tanta te amo. Vale, Domine dulcissime. Dominam
saluta.

Ad M. Caes. v. 53 (68) (Naber, p. 91).

MaaisTro meo. 7
Et nos Gratiam, quod tui similis est, magis
amamus. Facile ergo intellegimus | quanta apud te
sit filiolae nostrae conciliatrix similitudo utriusque
nostri, et omnino quod eam vidisti est iucundum
mihi. Vale mi optime magister.

Ad M. Caes, v. 54 (69) (Naber, p. 91).

Domino meo,

Tertius est dies, quod per noctem morsus ven-
tris cum profluvio patior. Hac vero nocte ita sum
vexatus, uti prodire non potuerim, sed lectulo me
tepeam. Medici suadent balneo uti. Multos natales
tuos ut celebres a deis precatus sum. Vale, Domine.
Dominam saluta.

1 Probably Domitia Faustina, who died as an infant. See
inscription on the Moles Hadriana, Orelli 672 = Willm. 964.
Cornificia, the next daughter, was not born till about 159.

250

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Frontro To Marcus as CAESAR

To my Lord. ἢ 154-156 a.p.

I love you ten times as much—I have seen your
daughter!! I seem to have seen you as well as
Faustina in your infancy: so much that is good in
both your faces is blended in hers. I love you ten
times as much. Farewell, sweetest of Lords. Greet
your Lady.

Marcus AvurRELIus To FroNTOo

T ἢ 154-156 a.p.
oO my master.

We too love Gratia the more for her likeness
to you.2 So we can easily understand how our little
girl’s likeness to both of us endears her to you, and
in every way it is a delight to me that you have seen
her. Farewell, my best of masters.

Fronto To Marcus as CakgsarR

T ? 154-156 a.p.
o my Lord.

This is the third day that I have been troubled
all night long with griping in the stomach and
diarrhoea. Last night, indeed, I suffered so much
that I have not been able to go out, but am keeping
my bed. The doctors recommend a bath. I have
prayed the Gods to give you many happy returns of
the day. Farewell, my Lord. Greet your Lady.

2 Ehrenthal thinks that Marcus should have said: ‘‘ We
too love you the more because Gratia is like you. So we
can understand how our likeness to our baby endears us
to you.” 3 April 26 (? 156).

251

Vat. 109

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad M. Caes, v. 55 (70) (Naber, p. 91).

MaGcisTRo meo.

Tu quoque intelligis, mi magister, quid.ego pro
me optem: sanum et validum te deinceps et hunc
diem tuum sollemnem et ceteros vel nobiscum vel
nobis utique securis pro te quam diutissime cele-
brare. Ceterum ego coniectavi statim fuisse eius-
modi aliquid quam ob rem te non viderim. Et, si
dicendum est, delector potius talem querellam cor-
pusculi quam dolores aliquos intercessisse. Prae-
terea de profluvio isto bene spero, nam etsi nunc te
exhauserit, tamen dis volentibus confido salubriter
sponte provenisse alvum tibi verno tempore, quom
alii id consulto movent et machinantur. Vale, mi
iucundis|sime magister. Mater mea te salutat.

Ad M. Caes. v. 56 (71) (Naber, p. 92).

DomINo meo.
Fauces miseras habeo, unde etiam calui per
noctem. In genu dolorest modicus. Vale, Domine.

Dominam saluta.

Ad ΑΗ. Cues. v. 57 (72) (Naber, p. 92).

MaaisTRo meo.
Iam habeo quod primum et praecipuum desid-
erabam: desisse febriculam colligo ex litteris tuis.

252

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Marcus AuRELIUs To FRONTO

T ? 154-156 a.p.
Ο my master.

You also know, my master, what I on my part
wish: that you should be hale and strong hence-
forth, and keep this your solemn day! and _ all
future ones for as many years as possible either
with us or, at all events, without giving us any
anxiety on your behalf. Of course, I guessed at
once that there was some reason of this kind for
our not seeing you. And I must confess that I am
thankful that the cause was such a complaint of your
body rather than some other pains. Besides I
have great hopes of that flux, for though it prostrate
you for the time, yet I trust, if the Gods will, that
your bowels have naturally and to the good of your
health felt the motions of the spring, while others
contrive and bring this about by design. Farewell,
my most delightful of masters. My mother greets
you.

Fronto To Marcus as CaArsaR

T L ? 154-156 a.p.
o my Lord.

I have a wretched sore throat, which also made
me feverish all the night. My knee pains me a
little. Farewell, my Lord. Greet your Lady.

Marcus AvuRELIUsS TO FRONTO

T . ἢ 154-156 a.p.
o my master.

I now learn what I wished first and foremost to
hear. I gather from your letter that the feverishness
1 Viz. Marcus’s birthday.

253

Ambr. 841,
ad fin.

Ambr. 856

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Nunc, mi magister, quod ad fauces adtinet, brevi
temperantia aspelletur,! et mihi a te levior? nuntius
veniet. Vale mi magister iucundissime. Mater
mea te salutat.

Ad Antoninum Pium, 3 (Naber, p. 164).

| Antonino Pro Avausro Fronto.

1. Si evenire posset, Imp., ut amici ac familiares
nostri nostris moribus cuncta agerent, maxime vel-
lem; tum, si non moribus, at saltem ut consiliis ubi-
que nostris uterentur. Sed quoniam suum 8 cuiusque
ingenium vitam gubernat, fateor aegre ferre me,
quod amicus meus | Niger Censorius testamento suo,
quo me heredem instituit, parum verbis temperavit.
Id ego factum eius improbus sim, si defendendo
purgare postulem; immemor amicitiae, nisi saltem
deprecando sublevem.:

2. Fuit sine dubio Niger Censorius verborum suo-
rum impos et minus consideratus, sed idem multarum
rerum frugi vir et fortis et innocens. Tuae clemen-
tiae est, Imp., unicam hominis verborum culpam cum
ceteris eius recte factis ponderare.

3. Ego quidem quom ad amicitiam eius accessi,

1 Schopen for Cod. appelletur.

2 Cod. has at plenior. The levior is by Brakman.
3 m* in the margin of Cod. gives suam.

1 Lucilla, the mother of Marcus, died about 156. This-is
the last mention of her.

254

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

has gone. Now, my master, as for the sore throat,
it will be got rid of by a little abstinence, and we
shall soon have better news from you. Farewell,
my most delightful of masters. My mother?! greets
you.

? 154-156 a.p.

Fronto to Antoninus Pius Augustus.

1. If it could be brought about, Imperator, that
our friends and relations should in all cases act by
our principles of conduct, there is nothing I should
desire more; next I would have them follow, if not
our principles yet at least our advice on every
occasion. But since each man’s own character
governs his life, I can only confess that I am sorry
my friend Niger Censorius? used such intemperate
language in his will, in which he made me his heir.
If I claimed to clear him by justifying his action,
I should be unprincipled; I should be disloyal to
my friend if I did not at least say what I could in
his excuse.

2. It cannot be denied that Niger Censorius was
unrestrained and ill-advised in his language, but at
the same time in many respects he was an honest
man and manly and blameless. It will accord with
your clemency, Imperator, if you set his other
creditable actions against his solitary misconduct
in word.

3. When I first came to be his friend, his strenuous

* Nothing is known of Censorius, but Gavius Maximus,
whom he attacked, probably died in 157. The tone of this
letter is much more formal and less familiar than the
vious ones to Pius, and this may be evidence of an earlier
date. But Fronto had a difficult task to perform, and his
letter is a model of tact.

255

Ambr. 855

Ambr, 846

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

<iam ei amorem aliorum>! strenua opera domi belli-
que promeruerant. Ut ceteros eius amicos omittam,
Turboni Marcio et Erucio Claro erat familiarissimus,
qui duo egregii viri alter equestris alter senatorii
ordinis primarii fuerunt. Postea vero ex tuis etiam
iudiciis ei plurimum et honorum et auctoritatis acces-
serat. Talis ego viri amicitiam appetivi.

4, Haud sciam an quis dicat debuisse me amici-
tiam cum eo desinere,’? postquam cognoveram gratiam
eius apud animum tuum imminutam. Numquam ita
animatus fui, Imp., ut coeptas in rebus prosperis
amicitias, siquid adversi increpuisset, desererem. Et
omnino -- cur enim non sententiam | animi mei ex-
promam ?—ego eum qui te non amabit hostis numero
habebo ; quem vero tu minus amabis, miserum potius
quam hostem iudicabo. De®... . permultum
refert improbes aliquem an oderis . . . . <so>ciis
et consiliis indigebat. Atque utinam Niger, sicut in
plerisque mihi post paruit, ita consilium meum in
testamento <conficiendo>‘ rogasset! Haud umquam
tantam maculam memoriae suae inussisset verbis
immoderatis ipsum se potius quam alios laedentibus.

5. Nec . . . .° intervallum intercessisset quo
. . . . | virum illo ipso tempore quo offendit: sed
amando ita offendit ut pleraque animalia, quibus

1 Nothing can be read in the Codex except a... crem
Cua ἢν.
2 For Cod. desinire. Query deserere as below.

3 From here eighteen lines are lost, the one sentence
(permultum, etc.) given being from the margin of the Codex.
4 Mai.
5 One line lost, and after guo nine and a half lines.

256

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

achievements, civil and military, had already won
him the love of others. Not to mention his other
friends, he was on the most intimate terms with
Marcius Turbo! and Erucius Clarus,? who were both
eminent men in the first rank, the one of the
Knights, the other of the Senators. Subsequently,
however, a great accession of honours and authority
accrued to him from your courts? also. Such was
the man whose friendship I coveted.

4. Possibly some might say that I ought to have
given up my friendship with him when I realized that
he was not held by you in the same favour as before.
But, Imperator, I was never of such a spirit as to
cast off a friendship formed in prosperity as soon
as a whisper of adversity was audible. And in any
case—for why should I not say what is in my
mind ?—I shall hold as an enemy one who bears you
no love, but one for whom you have but little love
I shall count as an unfortunate rather than as an
enemy ... . There isa very great difference be-
tween blaming a man and hating him . . . . was
in want of friends and advice. And would that
Niger, as in most things subsequently he was guided
by me, so had asked my advice in drawing up his
will! Never would he have seared his memory with
such a stain by reckless words that injured himself
more than anyone else.

5. Nor . . . . would an interval have intervened

. . . 8ἃ man at the very time of his offence. But
he offends from very love, just as most animals that

1 He was pracf. pract. under Hadrian from 119-135 a. p.

2 Consul II. in 146, and then praef. urbi.

7 Or do the words mean ‘‘from your marks of appro-
bation ” ?

257

υ

VOL. I.

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

abest ars et sedulitas educandi, ova atque catulos
suos unguibus aut dentibus male contrectant, nec
odio sed imperitia nutricandi obterunt.

6. Ego certe deos superos inferosque et fidem
arcanam humanae amicitiae testor, me semper auc-

torem fuisse cuius!....me....animo....
Ambr. 845 utraque causas .... et sane .... | hominem
. . eum incidisse magis doleas sed _fideliter
quem in eodem <agere> velle in quo... . et sane

. expectari poterat in eo quem <corre>xerat.

Nec <moverat> tanta benignitas et tot beneficia

... tibi autem non... .equidem... . cumque

habeat suum finem. Res autem istas, quas nec

<tacere> voluimus nec <negare e re> credimus et,

si dei aequi sint, veras et congruentes simplicitati
nostrae amicitiae, semper adsequamur.

Ad Antoninum FPium, 7 (Naber, p. 168).

Ambr. 847 or | <Gavio Maximo Fronto>

legible: Cum gravitatem? . . . . Dolor iracundiae con-
except iunctus mentem hominis perturbavit . . . . Virtuti-
margin

bus ceteris iracundia venenum ac pernicies fuit 8

. <Sed nemo meum erga Nigrum amorem
Ambr. 888 improbet>* | qui non tuum ante reprehenderit.
Postremo neque ego Nigrum propter te amare

1 The mutilated portions of this letter cover about forty
lines. The position of the isolated words me to sane is
doubtful, as Mai (see Naber, p. 166, note 6) inserts them
in his two editions in separate places. All the added
words are by Mai, except e re, which are suggested by
Rob. Ellis.

2 From the Index to Ad Amicos (ii. 5). See Naber, p. 189.

258

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

lack skill and perseverance in maternal duties injure
their eggs and their young with talons or teeth,
maltreating them not from malice but from want
of experience in nursing.

6. I at least call to witness the Gods above and
the Gods below and the hidden loyalties of human
friendship, that I have ever been the author... .

= @ 86 @ @ © @® @ © @© ee ee 8 e8 6 e@ je e© © ee se 6 © se $# oo
© © @e@ ee © ee ee @ @ @© e8# ee @© ee oe e© © © e ee # e@ ee ese e ese 9.9
ν͵ἅτήἦἦ e8 e© © ee @ @ © ee ee © © @e@ ee © «© © ee ιν. "».

> ©e© «© ee e@ «© e# © je oe @# © e ® ee ee ee 6 ee «e« «e« «© «oe «© $e e

Nor has he been influenced by indnces. so great and
benefits so many ............ whenever
he has hisownend. But let us always strive for those
things, which we have neither been willing to pass
over in silence nor think it right to deny, and such
things, if the Gods are just, as are true and in accord
with the straightforward nature of our friendship.

ἢ 1564-156 a.p.
Fronto to Gavius Maximus.!

Si Τὰ Smee de, ἡ Grief added to anger upset the
man’s mental balance . . . . Anger poisoned and
ruined his other virtues . . . . But let no one find
fault with my love for Niger, who is not prepared
to blame yours first. Lastly, I did not begin to
love Niger on your account, that I should on your

1 He was praef. pract. 141-157, and therefore, we may
suppose, a personal friend of Pius.

3 These two sentences are from the margin of Cod. Ambr.

54.
4 Added by Mai, oxcept improbet, for which he ae vitu-

peret.
259

ζΏ
we)

Ambr. 345,
ad med,

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

coeperam, ut propter te eundem amare desinerem,
neque tu me a Nigro tibi traditum diligere coepisti.
Quam ob rem tecum quaeso, ne quid obsit amicitia
nobis, quae! nihil profuit. Jam si dicendum sit,
deos testor me saepe vidisse Nigrum Censorium
ubertim flentem desiderio tui atque huius discidii
dolore.

Sed erit fortasse tempus aliud, quod 2 ego memoriae
eius placem te ac mitigem. Interim, ne quid loci
malignis hominibus adversus me apud aures tuas
pateat, <tibi spondeo in perpetuum meam> fidem,
quam quom firmam et sinceram cum Censorio serva-
verim, multo magis profecto tecum perpetuam atque
incorruptam retinere conitar.

Ad Antoninum Pium, 4 (Naber, p. 167).

| Domino meo Caesari.

Niger Censorius diem suum obiit. Quincuncem
bonorum suorum nobis reliquit testamento cetera
honesto, quod ad verba vero adtinet inconsiderato :
in quo irae magis quam decori suo consuluit. In-
clementius enim progressus est in Gavium Maximum
clarissimum et nobis observandum virum.

Ob eam rem necessarium visum scribere me
Domino nostro patri tuo et ipsi Gavio Maximo difhi-
cillimae quidem rationis epistulas: in quibus et
factum Nigri mei, quod improbabam, non repre-
hendere nequibam, et tamen amici atque heredis

1 Mai for Cod. qui. Kluss. prefers quibus.

2 Naber reads quo.

3 Mahly, but he reads perpetuum without in. Cod. per-
67}.

ὁ This letter is omitted in the Index of Letters to Pius,
but is found among them. It is clearly to Marcus.

260

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

account cease to love him; nor did you begin to
have a liking for me through Niger’s introduction.
Wherefore, I beseech you, let not a friendship now
be a hindrance which was never a help to us. Now,
if I must say so, let the Gods witness that I have
often seen Niger Censorius weeping copiously for
want of you and for distress at this dissension.

But perhaps I shall have another opportunity of
mollifying you and reconciling you to his memory.
Meanwhile, lest your ears be open to any attacks by
ill-disposed persons on me, I pledge to you my
lasting loyalty, which, as I kept it truly and
faithfully with Censorius, much more assuredly shall
I strive to preserve lasting and unimpaired with you.

Fronto to Marcus.

To my Lord Caesar. poe OO aD

Niger Censorius is dead, leaving me heir to five-
twelfths of his estate by a will in all other respects
unexceptionable but, as far as its language is con-
cerned, ill-advised, since in this he followed the
dictates of anger rather than consulted his self-
respect. For he inveighed in unmeasured terms
against Gavius Maximus, a man of senatorial rank
and entitled to my regard.

In consequence I have thought it necessary to
write to our Lord your Father and to Gavius Maxi-
mus himself letters of a very difficult tenor. For,
whereas I could not but find fault with the action of
my friend Niger, which I myself disapproved of, I
wished at the same time, as was right, not to fail in

261

Ambr, 348

Ambr. 330,
ad med,

Ambr, 829

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

officium, ut par erat, retinere cupiebam. Haec ego
te, ut mea omnia cetera, scire volui, conatus | me-
hercules ad te quoque de eadem re prolixiores litteras
scribere: sed recordanti cuncta mihi melius visum
non obtundere te neque a potioribus avocare.

Ad Antoninum Pium, 9 (Naber, p. 170).

| <Antonino Pio Aveusto Fronto>.

1. . . . . amicorum meorum fecit modestia ne
quid improbe peterem!... . | Equitis Romani
unius contubernalis mei Sextii Calpurnii dignitatem
rogatu meo exornasti duabus iam procurationibus
datis. Ea ego duarum procurationum beneficia
quater numero: bis quom dedisti procurationes,
itemque bis quom excusationes recepisti.

2. Supplicavi iam tibi per biennium pro Appiano
amico meo, cum quo mihi et vetus consuetudo et
studiorum usus prope cotidianus intercedit. Quin
ipsum quoque certum habeo et affirmare ausim
eadem modestia usurum qua Calpurnius lulianus
meus usus est. Dignitatis enim suae in senectute
ornandae causa, non ambitione aut procuratoris sti-
pendii cupiditate optat adipisci hune honorem.

1 From the margin of Ambr. 330.

1 Fronto had pupils who lived with him, such as the two
sons of Sardius Saturninus, mentioned below.

2 This was the historian Appian, who tells us in the Pre-
face to his History that he received such an appointment

262

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

my duty as friend and heir. I was anxious that you
should know of this, as of all else that concerns me,
and, by heaven, I began a lengthy letter to you on
this subject; but on thinking everything over I
decided not to importune you or call you away from
more important business.

ἡ 157-161 a.p.
FronTo to Antoninus Pius Augustus.
Tie eS ee The modesty of my friends has

ensured that I should make no unworthy request for
them... . you have at my request enhanced the
dignity of one Roman knight, Sextius Calpurnius,
who lived with me,! by the grant of two procura-
torships already. I count these two procuratorships
as favours four times given: twice when you granted
them, and twice when you permitted them to be
declined.

2. For two years now I have been your suppliant for
my friend Appianus,? between whom and myself there
has been both a long-standing intimacy and almost
daily practice of mutual studies. Moreover, I feel
certain and would be bold to affirm, that he will
shew the same modesty that my friend Calpurnius
Julianus has, For it is to enhance his dignity in old
age that he desires to attain this distinction, and not
from ambition or coveting the salary of a procurator.

from Marcus and Lucius, when emperors. These procurators
were set over every department of state and of the imperial
household. They managed the emperor’s domains, his mines,
etc., the corn-supply, the water-supply, and the alimentary
institutions. In the imperial provinces the procurators were
fiscal officers. The procurator a rationibus was the highest
of these officials, and corresponded to a Secretary of State.

263

Ainbr. 340

Ambr. 160,
ad init.

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Quom primum pro Appiano petivi, ita benigne ad-
misisti preces meas ut sperare deberem.

Proximo superiore anno petenti mihi propitius
multa respondisti, illud vero etiam comiter, futurum
ut quom Appiano me rogante procurationem dedisses,
causidicorum scatebra exoreretur idem petentium.
Meministi etiam quem de Graecia propitius et ridens
nominaveris. Sed multa distant: aetas orbitas, cui
leniendae solaciis opus est. | Ausim dicere hones-
tatem quoque et probitatem inter duos bonos viros
nonnihil tamen distare: quod propterea facilius
dico, quoniam illum, cui amicum meum antepono,
non nominavi.

3. Postremo dicam, quomodo simplicitas mea et
veritas me dicere hortantur et fiducia amoris erga te
mei, profecto aequius esse illum quoque propter me
impetrare. Memento etiam, Domine Imperator,
quom 1116 meo exemplo petet, me biennio hoc
petisse. Igitur illi quoque, si videbitur, post bien-
nium dato. Fecerit exemplo nostro, si ipse quoque
se tibi impetraverit excusare.

Epist. Graec. 4 (Naber, p. 244).
| Παρὰ ᾿Αππιανοῦ Φρόντωνι.
1. Οὐδὲ σήμερον ἐδυνήθην σε ἰδεῖν διὰ τὴν γαστέρα
γυκτὸς ἐνοχλοῦσαν ἕως ἄρτι κοιμηθείς. ἃ δὲ ἀγρυπνῶν

1 2.6. that the Greek as well as Appian should be granted

his request.
2 See Fronto’s letter throwing up his proconsulship, p. 236.

264

ee a

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

When I first made request for Appianus, you gave my
petition so kindly a hearing that.I had a right to hope.
When I renewed my request the next, which was
last, year, your answer contained much that was
gracious, one thing even in a vein of pleasantry, that
the moment you gave Appianus the procuratorship
at my request, a flood of pleaders would gush forth
asking a like favour. You remember too the native
of Greece whom you graciously and smilingly men-
tioned. But the cases are far from parallel: there
is age, there is childlessness, which calls for consola-
tions to relieve it. I would make bold to add that;
though both are good men, yet in worth and in-
tegrity one has some advantage over the other ;
and I may say this the more freely, in that I have
not named him whom I put second to my friend.

3. Lastly I will say, as I am prompted to do by
plain dealing and truth as well as by the assurance
of my love towards you, that surely it is fairer that
the other ! too should gain his wish on my account.
Remember too, my Lord Imperator, when he follows
my example in petitioning, that I have petitioned
these two years. Then let him too, if so it please you,
be gratified after two years. He will but be follow-
ing my example, if he also then get permission to be
excused.?

From ApPIANUS To FRONTO.?
? 157-161 a.p.

1. I coup not see you to-day either, as owing
to gastric trouble last night I have only just
got up. What I was puzzling over in my wakeful

3 It appears that Appian had sent Fronto a present of two
slaves, which Fronto returned. Appian now sends them
again, with this letter.

265

Ambr, 192

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

ἡπόρουν, ov κατέσχον οὐδ᾽ ἀνεβαλόμην, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ πολλῶν

ὀλίγα σοι γέγραφα. σὺ δέ, εἰ μὲν δίκαιά ἐστιν, ὡς
4 a

δικαίοις, εἰ δὲ σχολαστικά, ὡς ἁπλοῖς, ef δὲ μή, ἀλλ’

ἔμοιγε ὡς λυπουμένῳ καὶ παρακαλοῦντι πείσθητι καὶ

>

elfov.

2. Εἰκὸς ἕπεσθαι τοῖς κοινοῖς τὰ ἰδιωτικά. εὐθύνομεν
΄- Ν to ‘ 3 A Ve 4 9 λ , “~
γοῦν τὰ ἴδια πρὸς ἐκεῖνα καὶ ὁ νόμος οὕτω κελεύει. πῶς
φ ε N 4 > 3 a ld Qa ~
οὖν ai μὲν πόλεις οὐκ ὀκνοῦσι λαμβάνουσαι παρὰ τῶν

3 4 ’ | [4 23 4 t ἡ
διδόντων ἀναθήματά τε καὶ χρήματα καὶ ἀργύριον αὐτὸ
A Ἁ Uy ” 4 N € 4 ε
πολιτῶν τε καὶ ξένων, ἤδη δέ τινας καὶ αὑτούς πως ὗπο-
4 ~ a
διδόντας, φίλος δὲ δὴ παρὰ φίλου λαβεῖν ὀκνεῖ παρα-
[οὶ Ν e Ἁ δὲ ~ , “ “λ [4 Ὶ
καλοῦντος ; καὶ of θεοὶ δὲ τῷ νόμῳ τῶν πόλεων προσίενται
“a Q ” > , 2 ‘ ὃ ’ ε θ ‘
ταῦτα παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὃ καὶ δεικνύουσιν of θησαυροὶ
τῶν θεῶν. καὶ οἱ φίλιοι δὲ ἐκ τῶν διαθηκῶν λαμβάνειν
3 2 a ‘ ὃ Ν , > 3 Ν ὃ θ “ 2
οὐκ ὀκνοῦσιν. καὶ διὰ τί οὖν ἐκ μὲν διαθηκῆς ἄν τις
a g a
λάβοι, παρὰ δὲ τῶν περιόντων ov λάβοι, ὅποτε καὶ μεῖζον
4.8 * Ν ὃ a a θ [4 : e S bs Ν
τοῦτ᾽ ὃ ἔχει τὸ δεῖγμα τῆς προθυμίας ; οἵ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλον
ἄλλου προτιθέασιν, οἱ δὲ περιόντες ἑαυτῶν τοὺς φίλους
[4 δλοννσ Q A 4 a C2
προτιθέασιν. καὶ ἥδιον παρὰ τοῦ περιόντος λαβεῖν, ὅτι
“A 4
kal μαρτυρῆσαι περιόντι δυνατόν ἔστι καὶ ἀμείψασθαι.
la ’ Ν Ν “A ἮΝ 4 / ‘
πάλιν ξένιον μὲν οὔτε θεοῖς οὔτε πόλει πέμπεται, τὰ
3 ὦ»
σεμνότερα δ᾽ ἀεὶ τοῖς σεμνοτέροις.
3 3 “A
3. ᾿Αλλ᾽ οὐκ εἰσὶ ταῦτα βαρύτερα λαμβάνειν ; τί γάρ
ἐστι φιλίας καὶ τιμῆς βαρύτερον, ὧν οὐδ᾽ ἴσως ye* ἄρειον
3 ὃ , 59 oye Ν ν 4 φ “A oan aN A)
οὐδέν ἐστιν; τί δὲ καὶ βαρὺ qv ὅλως ἢ τί ἂν ἐγὼ βαρὺ
1 Heindorf for Cod. προσθεναι.
2 Jacobs for Cod. ἀνδρῶν.

3 Naber for Cod. ταῦτ᾽.
4 Studemund for Cod. ἴσος γ᾽.

266

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

hours 1 am not keeping back or putting off, but
have written you a few out of my many thoughts.
And you, if they are just, give ear and assent to
them as just; if they are pedantic, as sincere; but
in any case do so to me, as aggrieved and a suppliant.

2. It is but natural that the individual should
take pattern by the community. At any rate we
direct our private affairs on the lines of public ones
and the law bids us do this. How is it then, that
states do not shrink from receiving from the donors,
native and alien, offerings and property and money
itself, and in some cases even a free gift of their
persons, but a friend shrinks from receiving a gift
from a friend when he entreats it? And the Gods
too by the law of cities accept these gifts from men,
as the treasuries of the Gods testify. Aye friends
too do not shrink from taking under wills. And why,
pray, should a man take under a will, but take
nothing from the living, when the latter gift is an
even greater proof of affection. For the testator
prefers one man to another, but the living donor
prefers his friend to himself. And it is sweeter to
receive a gift from the living, because it is possible
both to acknowledge it to a living person and to
make a return. Again a trifling gift! is not made
to Gods or cities, but nobler things are always for
the more noble.

3. But, you will say, does not their acceptance
bring a heavier obligation? Why, what can be a
heavier one than friendship and honour, than which
things there is perhaps nothing better? And what
was there here even heavy at all, or what should

1 Martial heads his thirteenth book of epigrams Xenia,
from the little complimentary gifts made to guests and friends.

267

Ambr, 188

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

” 29) ἃ Ν 3 , PANS! FQN ’
ἔχοιμι; οὐδ᾽ ἂν μὲν ἐργασαίμην οὐδὲν οὐδὲ πριαίμην
οὐδέποτε, δέον τινα μισθὸν ἴσον 17 ἐξ οἴκου, φασίν, ἐς
4 “a 3 ΄ Q 3 a“ σ Ν ε 4 a
οἶκον μετελθεῖν. ἐννόησον δὲ κἀκεῖνο, ὅση μὲν ἡδονὴ τῷ
πέμψαντι ληφθέντων, ὅση δὲ λύπη μὴ ληφθέντων ἐπιγίγ-
νεται. εἰ τὸ καθαρὸν. . . .* καὶ μετὰ πολὺ προσιέναι
, " , > νὴ , a ,
σοι. πιστεύοις δὲ δίκαιον εἶναι τὸν νόμον τῶν τε πόλεων
καὶ θεῶν καὶ φίλων. . . .8 φίλων δὲ οὐ τυσοῦτον ἐπι-
δεικνύντων θράσος εὐνοίας, ἀλλὰ Τκρυπτόντων ὑπὸ
δέους, ἔπεμψα τὸ πρὶν ἐπιτρέψῃς. σὺ δὲ μὴ δεύτερον

ἀποπέμψῃς," ᾧ γε ἔδει μηδ᾽ ἅπαξ.

Epist. Gracc. 5 (Naber, p. 246).
᾿Αππιανῷ παρὰ Φρόντωνος.

A “A “ ᾽
1, Οὐκ ἀπορήσειεν ἂν οὐδ᾽ ἐκεῖνος πιθανῶν λόγων,
. ΄ ΄- ΄“ ’
ὅστις πρὸς τὸ πρῶτον ἐνθύμημα τῶν ὑπὸ σοῦ προτεθέντων
A“ ΄- \ »
ἐνίσταιτο, ὡς μὴ δέοι ἕπεσθαι Tots κοινοῖς τὰ (Sw. πολλὰ
Ν ” \ 4 “A aA , ; Q ou a“ >
γὰρ ἔθη καὶ νόμιμα κοινῇ ταῖς πόλεσιν καὶ ἰδίᾳ τοῖς Kad
σ ε , 3 Ld , . “4
ἕκαστον εὑρήσομεν οὐχ ὅμοια. μάθοις δὲ ἂν προσέχων
ταῖς τε δίκαις καὶ τοῖς ἀγῶσιν τοῖς δημοσίοις καὶ τοῖς
“ ” “ ig ζω
ἰδιωτικοῖς" ἔνθα οὔτε ὃ τόπος τῶν δικαστηρίων οὔτε τῶν
ὃ , ς ἀροιθμὸ ¥ ε | a ΄ ἢ
ικαζόντων ὁ ἀριθμὸς οὔτε ἡ τάϊξις τῶν φάσεων καὶ
7 ¥ A gy Ν ’ ¥ ‘ 4
κλήσεων οὔτε TOD ὕδατος τὸ μέτρον, οὔδε τὰ προστιμή-
”~ 4 “ Ε) 4 9 Ν λ ΄-“ φ
ματα τῶν κατεγνωσμένων τὰ αὐτά, ἀλλὰ πλεῖστον ὅσον
1 Du Rieu reads the faint traces in the Codex as peor...
αμεκηνειχον. 2 Twelve letters are lost.

3 About eighteen letters are lost.
4 Jacobs for Cod. va:rovrwy (according to du Rieu). Mai

268

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

I count heavy? I would not traffic in anything nor
buy anything, that necessitated an equivalent re-
turn passing, as they say, from house to house.
Consider this point also, what pleasure acceptance
gives the sender, and what mortification follows
upon non-acceptance . . . . even after many days
to come to you. Pray believe that the law of Gods
and cities and friends is a just one... . but as
friends do not parade such a forwardness of good-
will but from diffidence conceal it, I send before
you give permission. Do not you send back my
gift a second time, as. you ought not to have done
even the first time.

To ΑΡΡΙΑΝ FROM FRronrto.

> 157-161 a.p.

1. Even he would have no lack of plausible argu-
ments who, in answer to the first of the propositions
submitted by you, should object that private conduct
ought not to conform to that of states. For we
shall find many customs and usages publicly estab-
lished in cities and privately practised by individuals
to be dissimilar. You can easily convince yourself
of this by looking at the litigation and disputes
between public bodies and individuals, wherein
neither the venue of the court nor the number of
the judges nor the order of the pleas and summonses
nor the allowance of time for the speakers nor the
penalties of conviction are the same, but there is

read the Codex καὶ τούτων ὑποδέουσι. The οὐ τοσοῦτον is
Naber’s correction of Mai’s οὐχ ὡς τοῦτον.
δ᾽ Niebuhr for Cod. μηδὲ tiny. . .

269

Ambr. 187

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

ὃ [4 A , “A ἰδί νυν ΄΄ Q ’᾽
ἤνεγκεν τὰ δημόσια τῶν ἰδίων. καὶ ὅτι τῆς μὲν πόλεως
ἀναπεπτάσθαι προσήκει τὰς πύλας εἰσιέναι τε τῷ βου-
λομέ ὶ ἐξιέ φ βούλ ο" é€xa δὲ Hue “A
μένῳ καὶ ἐξιέναι ὅποτε βούλοιτο' ἑκάστῳ δὲ ἡμῶν τῶν
3 “A 3 “ A Ἀ 4 ‘ , 3 id ε
ἰδιωτῶν εἰ μὴ φυλάττοι τὰς θύρας καὶ πάνυ éypyyupoin ὃ
θυρωρός, εἴργων μὲν τῆς εἰσόδου τοὺς μηδὲν προσήκοντας,

Φ
1 ἐπιτρέπων ἀδεῶς ὅποτε βούλοιντο

“A Y 43 4
τοῖς δὲ οἰκέταις αὖ
” , 3 A 3 “ 9 “A a Q \ > ἢ»
ἔξω βαδίζειν, οὐκ ἂν ὀρθῶς οἰκουροῖτο τὰ κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν.

Α A A ᾽ν Ἁ A A ξ΄ Q ΝΥ
καὶ στοαὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλση καὶ βωμοὶ καὶ γυμνάσια καὶ λουτρὰ
τὰ μὲν δημόσια πᾶσιν καὶ προῖκα ἀνεῖται, τὰ δὲ τῶν
ἰδιωτῶν ὑπὸ σιδηρᾷ κλειδὲ καί τινι θυροφύλακι,2 καὶ

Α 9 ’᾽ a w~ 4 3 A A “~
μισθὸν ἐκλέγουσιν παρὰ τῶν λουσαμένων. οὐδὲ τὰ δεῖπνα
μμνπνσ N 9 ΝΥ Q Q ΕῚ 4 δός. ε ν @
δὲ ὅμοια τὰ ἰδιωτικὰ καὶ τὰ ἐν Πρυτανείῳ" οὐδὲ 6 ἵππος ὅ

Φ Α ve ’᾽ SQN ε , a ΕῚ ’
τε ἰδιωτικὸς καὶ ὁ δημόσιος: οὐδὲ ἡ πορφύρα τῶν ἀρχόντων

Q ἊΝ ΄Ν 3 Q ε ’ «Ἡ wn” ς » ΄ε
καὶ τῶν δημοτῶν: οὐδὲ ὃ στέφανος 6 τῶν ῥόδων τῶν

ἢ νλε “A 5 4 ~ ᾽ ’ὕ
οἰκόθεν καὶ ὃ τῆς ἐλαίας τῆς ᾿Ολυμπίασιν.

2. "Apa ταῦτα μὲν ἐάσειν μοι δοκῶ καὶ χαριεῖσθαί σοι
τὸ δεῖν ἕπεσθαι τοῖς δημοσίοις τὰ ἰδιωτικά. χαρισάμενος

, , A ~
δὲ τοῦτο οὐκέτι χαρισαίμην ἂν τοῦθ᾽ TS «γε πεῖσαί «με
θ;»έλεις, «ὅτι καὶ» ἐμὲ πρέπει ἕπεσθαι. τί δὴ τοῦτό
9 4 Ἁ ’ Q Q 9 ’᾽ i 4 “A
ἐστιν, ἐγὼ | φράσω. τὸ μὲν ἀμφισβητούμενον ἡμῖν,

4 a > 3 ν , Ν “ δι ¥
οἶμαι, τοῦτο ἦν, εἰ χρὴ μεγάλα καὶ πολλῆς τιμῆς ἄξια
δῶρα παρὰ τῶν φίλων δέχεσθαι. ταῦτα προστάσσων εἰς

”~ 9 ’ Q Ν [4 ’ Ἄ 4
παραδεῖγμα ἐκάλεις τὸ τὰς πόλεις μεγάλα δῶρα παρ

Α
ἀλλήλων προσίεσθαι, αὐτὸ δὴ τὸ ἀμφισβητούμενον
. , > ,ὕ ε δ ‘ Ὁ. 2 2 νΝ
σφετεριζόμενος, ὦ φιλότης. ὃ γὰρ τοὺς ἰδιώτας ἐγὼ
nw ΄Ζὥἕἔ" 9

φάσκων μὴ δεῖν μεγάλα δῶρα παρ᾽ ἀλλήλων λαμβάνειν,

Ἁ 9 AN “A A 4 Ν Ἁ “~ ’ « ϑῶν
τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἂν εἴποιμι καὶ περὶ τῶν πόλεων, ὡς οὐδὲ

A , , , N ᾽ e “A “A
τὰς πόλεις δέοι λαμβάνειν' σὺ δέ, ὡς τοῦτο προσῆκον

1 For Cod. οὐκ, 2 Naber for Cod. Σύρῳ φύλακι.
270

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

every difference between the public cases and the
private. Again the gates of a city must be opened
wide for any to enter at will and, when he will, to
go out. But for each one of us as individuals, if his
doorkeeper guard not his door and be ever on the
watch, debarring from ingress those who have no
business there, but on the other hand permitting
the inmates to go out freely whenever they wish,
the safeguarding of the house could not be properly
effected. So also porticoes and groves and altars
and gymnasia, and baths, if public ones, are thrown
open free to all, but if private, are kept under
strong lock and key with a door-keeper to boot, and
a fee is exacted from the bathers. Nor yet are
banquets in private houses and in the Town-Hall
the same; nor a horse if it belong toa private person
or to the state; nor the purple robe of the magis-
trate and of the townsman ; nor the garland of home-
grown roses and the wreath of olive at Olympia.

2. At the same time I think that I will waive
this and concede to you that private conduct must
needs conform to public. But conceding this, I
would not go further and concede what you would
fain persuade me of, that 7 must conform to it. I
will explain what I mean. The point in dispute
between us, I take it, was this, whether one ought
to accept great and valuable gifts from friends.
Justifying this, you pointed to the example of cities
accepting great gifts one from another, taking for
granted, my dear friend, the very point in dispute.
For alleging as I do that individuals ought not to
take great gifts from one another, I would say
exactly the same of cities, that they ought not to
take them either; but you, begging the question

271

Ambr, 144

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

ταῖς πόλεσιν λαβών, eis ἀπόδειξιν φέρεις τοῦ καὶ τοῖς
3 ’ 4 “ Ν 4 “ ~ 4 3 “a
ἰδιώταις προσήκοντος. τὸ δὲ ζητούμενον μὴ δεῖν ἐξ αὐτῶν
a 9 , > , , Ν 3 Υ
τῶν ἀμφισβητουμένων ἀποδεικνύειν φήσαις ἄν. εἰ δὲ

A , gq [4 \ ’ “ “
τοῦτο φῇς, ὅτι λαμβάνουσι πολλαὶ πόλεις τὰ τοιαῦτα

΄οι ’ A ῳ , “ > δι Α lA
δῶρα, φαίην av ὅτι καὶ τῶν ἰδιωτῶν πολλοὶ λαμβάνουσι
τὰ τοιαῦτα, ζητοῦμεν δὲ εἰ ὀρθῶς καὶ προσηκόντως λαμ-
βάνουσιν. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ζήτημα ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδιωτῶν ἀρξά.

a >

μενον διήκει καὶ πρὸς Tas πόλεις. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν δίκαια
ποιῶν ἐν ζητήματος μέρει διαλείψεις ἀμφισβητήσιμον, τὸ
“ é 4 SQN Ν 3Q) 3 “ν΄ 2+ » 5 ν᾽" a
τῶν πόλεων λέγω. οὐδὲ yap οὐδ᾽ ἐκεῖνό σ᾽ ἀγνοεῖν οἶμαι,
ὡς αἱ πλεῖσταί γε τῶν εὐδοξοτάτων καὶ εὐνομουμένων 1
πόλεων οὐκ ἐδέξαντο τὰ μεγάλα δῶρα' ὥσπερ 7 Ῥωμαίων

/ ‘ 4 Ν j , , 3
πόλις πολλὰ πολλάκις παρὰ | πλείστων πεμπόμενα οὐ
προσήκατο, ἡ δὲ τῶν ᾿Αθηναίων βαρύτερα τῶν προση;
κόντων ἐκλέγουσα, οὐ πάνυ τι ὥνατο.

3. Τὸ δέ γε τῶν θεῶν παράδειγμα, ὅτι δῶρα καὶ ἀναθή-
ματα θεοὶ δέχονται, καὶ πάνυ σοι διὰ βραχέων εἰρημένον,
ἐν ἴσῳ τάχει ἀπολύσασθαι πειράσομαι. οὐδὲ γὰρ προσ-

~ ““ mae > a
κυνεῖσθαι3 μοι προσῆκεν μήτε θεῷ᾽ μήτε αὖ βασιλεῖ
Περσῶν ὄντι.

4. Πιθανώτατον δὲ νὴ Δία τὸ τῶν διαθηκῶν ὑπήνεγκας,

4 , 3 [οἷ A N 4 4 \
τί δή ποτε ἐκ διαθηκῶν καὶ τὰ μεγάλα λαμβάνοντες παρὰ

“ , ΄ 8 3 ’ θ θ ‘ δὲ “
τῶν ζώντων τηλικαῦτα" ov προσησόμεθα' φθάνεις O€ τὴν
αἰτίαν αὐτὸς ὑποβάλλων. οἱ μὲν γάρ, ὡς σὺ φῇς, ἄλλον
ἄλλου προτιθέασιν οἱ κατὰ διαθήκας χαριζόμενοι: φημὶ δὴ

Ν ΄ / , ε Ν > a“ é
παρὰ τούτων λαμβάνειν προσήκειν. οἱ δὲ αὖ ζῶντες, ὡς

! a “A
σὺ ys, ἑαυτῶν τοὺς φίλους ols χαρίζονται προτιμῶσιν'
δι’ αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο φημὶ δεῖν τὰ πεμπόμενα μὴ προσίεσθαι.
1 Niebuhr for Cod. εὐνοουμενων.

2 Mai for Cod. προσκεινεισθαι.
3. Brakman says the Codex reads σπουδαια.

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

that this is right for cities, adduce it as a proof of
what is right for individuals. You must admit that
one ought not to prove the question at issue by
means of the very points in dispute. But if you say
that many states accept such gifts, I will answer
that many individuals also accept them, but that
the question is whether it is right and fit that they
should accept them. And this question beginning
with individuals extends to cities also. This point,
therefore, I mean the action of cities, you must in
all fairness leave on one side, as part of the question
in dispute. For I take it you are not unaware that
the majority of the most famous and well-ordered
cities have never accepted great gifts; as, for ex-
ample, the City of Rome has rejected many such
many a time from very many senders, but Athens
exacting heavier gifts than befitted was not at all
benefited thereby.

3. As to your example from the Gods, that they
receive gifts and offerings, which you touched on
quite briefly, I will endeavour to dismiss it no less
shortly. As I am neither God nor the Persian King,
it was not fitting even to pay me homage.

4. The most plausible argument you brought
forward, by heaven, was the one from wills—why is
it that, when we take even large bequests under
wills, we should not accept such from the living?
The reason is suggested already by yourself. For
those who benefit their friends in their wills pre-
fer, as you say, one legatee to another: from them
I admit that it is right to take. The living on
the other hand prefer, as you say, the friends
whom they benefit to themselves. For this very
reason I say that what is offered should not be

273

VOL. 1. T

Ambr. 148

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

AY N
βαρὺ yap ὄντως καὶ ὑπεροπτικὸν καὶ τυραννικόν, ὡς
3 “ A l4 Q ’ , 3 φ «ε
ἀληθῶς, τὸ δέχεσθαι τὰς τοιαύτας προτιμήσεις, ἐν αἷς ὃ

a g on λ , 3 t Ν εν 4 \ 3
τιμῶν ἕτερον δῆλός ἐστιν αὐτὸς αὑτὸν τιμάζων Kal ἐν

ἴω LA
δευτέρῳ τιθεὶς τοῦ προτετιμημένουι͵ οὐδὲ yap ἵππον
ἀναβαίην ἄν, ἀφ᾽ οὗ καταβὰς αὐτός τις καὶ βαδίζων ἐμὲ
δ) Ὶ € , G 3 0 ὑδὲ 9 4 [4 Ed
ἢ 1 ἱππάζεσθαι ἀξιοίη: οὐδὲ ἐν θεάτρῳ καθεζοίμην ἄν,
¥ e ’ 3QN ε ’ ld aA 4
ἄλλου μοι ὑπανισταμένου, οὐδὲ ἱμάτιον δεξαίμην ἂν ἐν

a ψ » 3 ὃ lé ε ’ Ἁ 3 4 > oN de
χειμῶνος ὥρᾳ, εἴ τις ἀποδυόμενος | ῥιγῴη μὲν αὐτός, ἐμὲ δὲ
> ’ 3 ’, Ν 2 ON Ψ « Led ἃ
ἀμφιεννύοι. οἰκειότερος γὰρ αὐτὸς ἕκαστος αὑτῷ καὶ

“A Α A
προτιμᾶσθαι πρὸς αὑτοῦ δικαιότερος.
‘ ‘ , N 4 “ A > N , Q
D. Dys δὲ ξένια μὴ πέμπεσθαι θεοῖς. ἢ οὐχὶ ξένια τὰ
5S A , Ν A ’ λ ¢ 4 ε ,
ψαιστὰ <Ta> πόπανα καὶ τὸ μέλι καὶ ὃ οἶνος 6 σπενδό-
μένος καὶ τὸ γάλα καὶ τὰ σπλάγχνα τὰ τῶν ἱερείων ; καὶ 6
λιβανωτὸς δὲ ξένιον θεοῦ.
6 T A XN ‘N x ε Ν “ ~ ‘ “ ,

. Ταῦτα μὲν πρὸς τὰ ὑπὸ σοῦ σοφώς καὶ πιθανῶς πάνυ
δημοσίων τε καὶ θείων καὶ διαθηκῶν πέρι προτεθέντα
2 , Ν Ν > 5 a“ a“ > » XN 4 5
ἐνθυμήματα. τὰ δὲ παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ ταῦτα εἰρήσθω διὰ βραχέων
σ. 2 ἰοὺ 2 Ν \ A N , “A
ὅσα αἰτεῖν ἀναιδὲς καὶ φιλοκερδὲς καὶ πλεονεκτικόν, ταῦτα

Ν > ε ue 2 λ ς / ϑ ὃ A bs x
καὶ παρ᾽ ἑκόντος “ λαμβάνειν ὁμοίως ἀναιδοῦς τινὸς Kat
φιλοκερδοῦς ἀνδρὸς καὶ πλεονέκτου: αἰτεῖν δέ γε τὰ

“Ὁ r Ἃ
μεγάλα ἀναιδές, πολὺ δὴ μᾶλλόν γε λαμβάνειν. καὶ

δὴν 4 4 Xe 7 , A 59 “a
οὐδὲν διήνεγκεν εἰ παρ᾽ ἑκόντος λαμβάνοι τις ἢ ἀρνοῦντος"

δι a )
οὐ μὲν γὰρ δεῖ αἰτεῖν, 5 ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ λαμβάνειν. οὐδέ γε τὰ

“A A a

τοιαῦτα δῶρα χρή τινα ἑλέσθαι, ἃ τοὺς μὲν πέμποντας
[4 3 ’ ‘ Q 4

πενεστέρους ἀποδείξει, τοὺς δὲ λαμβάνοντας πλουσιω-

τέρους παρασκευάσει. ἑκάτερον δὲ τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς μεγάλοις
“a »,

δώροις ἔνεστιν. εἰ γοῦν ἀποτιμήσεις γίγνοιντο, σὺ μὲν ὃ

1 Cod. δε; if δὲ is kept, read βαδίζοι.

2 Naber for Cod. παρέχοντος.

δ For Cod. (according to Studemund) τι να ἢ ἀρνοῦντος
οὐκ ἐν τῷ -- αἰτεῖν.

274 ᾿

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

accepted. For it is in reality no light thing and
savours, to tell the truth, of arrogance and tyranny
to receive such marks of preference, wherein he,
that does another honour, manifestly does himself
dishonour, and sets him whom he has honoured above
himself. For I would not even mount a horse, if
the rider dismounting and going on foot asked me
to ride; nor would I sit down in a theatre, if
another gave up his seat to me; nor in wintry
weather accept a man’s cloak, if by stripping him-
self and shivering he kept me warmly wrapped.
For each man is his own nearer concern and more
deserving of honour at his own hands.

5. You say that trifling gifts are not sent to the
Gods. What, are not these trifling gifts—the little
barley-cakes and the honey and the libation-wine and
the milk and the organs of the victims? Aye, and
the frankincense is a trifling gift to a God.

6. So much for the propositions so cleverly and
plausibly urged by you touching things public and
things divine and touching wills. But for myselt
let me briefly say this: whatever it is shameless
and greedy and covetous to ask for, it is no less
characteristic of the shameless, the greedy, and the
covetous man to accept even from a voluntary giver.
To ask for big gifts is shameless, far more to accept
them. And it is all one whether we take from a
willing or a reluctant giver; for it is not right to
ask, but it is not right to take either. Nor should
a man accept such gifts as shall leave the sender
poorer and render the receiver richer. And great
gifts involve both these results. At any rate in the
case of a property valuation, you who sent these two

275
T 2

Ambr, 151

Ambr,. 152

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

4 s , ’ ”~ , 9 Ν δὲ ε
πέμψας τοὺς δύο τούτους παῖδας μικροτέραν, ἐγὼ δὲ ὁ
λαβὼν μείζω τὴν οὐσίαν ἀποφανοῦμαι. οὐ γάρ ἐστιν

Υ
εὐκαταφρόνητος οὔτε ἐν ἀποτιμήσει χρημάτων οὔτε | ἐν
ἀντιδόσει οὐσίας οὔτε ἐν ἀπογραφῇ τέλους οὔτε ἐν κατα-
βολῇ φόρου ὁ τῶν δύο δούλων ἀριθμός.

ε σ΄ ἴω

7. Ὁ δὲ τὰ βαρύτερα δῶρα πέμπων οὐχ ἧττον λυπεῖ

a a , > N N ’ A 4
τοῦ βαρεῖαν πέμποντος ἐπὶ τὸν συσφαιρίζοντα ἢ μεγάλην
κύλην προπίνοντος τῷ συμπότῃ" εἰς γὰρ μέθην οὐκ eis
οὗ Α , ” 9 δὲ ‘ > 3 “
noovyv προπίνειν ἔοικεν. ὥσπερ δὲ τὸν οἶνον ἐν τοῖς
σώφροσιν συμποσίοις ὁρῶμεν κιρνάμενον ἀκράτῳ μὲν

’ 3 ’ ’ Α ~ 9 ν Α Ἁ XN [οἱ
πάνυ ὀλίγῳ, πλείστῳ δὲ τῷ ὕδατι, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὰ δῶρα
κιρνάναι προσῆκεν πολλῇ μὲν φιλοφροσύνῃ, ἐλαχίστῳ δὲ
> ’ la QA “a , e ld A “
ἀναλώματι. τίσιν yap ἂν φαίημεν ἁρμόττειν τὰ πολυτελῆ
aA Φ » a 4 3 A Lg > , “A
δῶρα; ἄρά ye τοῖς πένησιν ; ἀλλὰ πέμπειν ov δύνανται: ἢ
τοῖς πλουσίοις; ἀλλὰ λαμβάνειν οὐ δέονται. τοῖς μὲν
Φ ΄ ὃ ’ δ Ἀ 3 ΄ A 3 a
οὖν μεγάλοις δώροις TO συνεχὲς OV πρόσεστιν, ἢ ἐκπεσεῖν

ζω , Ν
ἀναγκὴ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων, εἴ τις μεγάλα τε πέμποι καὶ
4 “ Α ” [4 4 Ἁ ,
πολλάκις. τοῖς δὲ μικροῖς δώροις τό TE συνεχὲς πρόσεστιν

Ν \ 9 4 3 Ν Ν “a Ν
καὶ τὸ ἀμεταγνωστόν, εἰ «καὶ μικρὰ δεῖ τεΣλέσαι μικρὰ

,
πέμψαντι. 7

€ a

8. Ὁμολογήσαις δ᾽ ἂν καὶ τοῦτο, ws, εἴ τις ἑαυτῷ μὲν
4
ἔπαινον παρασκευάζοι, ἕτερον δὲ ἐπαίνου ἀποστεροίη, ov

, Ν " , “a , “~ , μ᾿
δίκαιος. σὺ δὲ μεγάλα δῶρα πέμπων σαυτῷ μὲν ἔπαινον

, ε ‘ 4 9 \ Q\
παρασκευάζεις ws μεγαλοφρόνως χαριζόμενος, ἐμὲ δὲ
3 , 3 a 4 4 ; Ν
ἐπαίνου ἀποστερεῖς προσίεσθαι βιαζόμενος. δόξαιμι γὰρ
Ἅ Ν aA 4 A a \ ,
av | καὶ αὐτὸς μεγαλόφρων τὰ τηλικαῦτα μὴ προσέμενος.

4 \ “ “ “ , ” ες Ν Led XN
εν δὲ Τοις PLKPOLS TWY δώρων ισὸς ὁ ἐπαίνος TW μεν

276

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

slaves would declare your property as less and I who
received them as more. For the item of these two
_slaves is no negligible one, either in valuation of
goods or in exchange of properties! or in assessment
for taxation or in payment of tribute.

7. He that sends too heavy a gift offends no less
than he who sends his fellow ball-player too heavy
a return or toasts his fellow guest with a big cup.
For he would seem to toast him for debauch not for
delight. But just as in temperate banquets we see
the wine mixed in the proportion of a great deal of
water to quite a little wine, so should gifts be a
blend of much loving-kindness and very little
outlay. For whom can we say that costly gifts befit ?
The poor? But they cannot send them. The rich?
But they do not need them. Moreover, great gifts
cannot be given continuously; or, if a man send
great gifts and often, he must come to the end of
his resources. But small gifts admit of being given
continuously and with no compunction, since a man
need make but a small acknowledgment to one who
has sent a small gift.

8. This too you would confess, that a man acts
unjustly, if he so acquire praise for himself as to rob
another of his. But you in sending great gifts
acquire to yourself praise for large-hearted generosity,
but you rob me of praise by constraining me to
accept favours. For I too might shew large-hearted-
ness by refusing to accept such. But in small gifts
the apportionment of praise is equal, in that the

1 At Athens a man, who thought himself unfairly taxed
compared with another, could claim a re-assessment for both
or an exchange of properties between them (ἀντιδόσι5).

277

Ambr. 336,
ad fin. col. 1

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

, μὰ 3 > , a> Ar 4 @ 3 ε
πέμψαντι ὅτι οὐκ ἠμέλησεν, τῷ δὲ λαβόντι ὅτι οὐχ ὑπερη-
φάνησεν. ματευσαίμην δ᾽ ἄν, εἰ καί σοι χαλεπῶς χρώ-

l € 4 ‘ oN aA δῶ 3 a , >
μενος, ὡς καὶ σὺ αὐτὸ τοῦτο δῶρον ἐμοῦ πέμψαντος οὐκ
a “~ ~
av ἔλαβες, πῶς παρὰ σοῦ τοὺς πεμφθέντας παῖδας ἡδό-
μενος προσείμην ἄν;. .. .3 Γλαῦκος πάλαι... .3

4 “A 4 ‘ A ε , a) 3 ld
χρύσεα τῶν χαλκείων καὶ τὰ ἑκατόμβοια τῶν évveaBoiwy
> , ζω Ἁ Ν ϑ [4 N 3 ’ A
dpeiBovros. πᾶσα μὲν yap ἀνάγκη τὸν ἀμειβόμενον ἢ

‘ , ” 3 ’ x ¢ ’ , “
πολὺ πλέονος ἄξια ἀντιπέμπειν καὶ Ὁμήρῳ μάρτυρι ras
nw nan “A
φρένας δοκεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς βεβλάφθαι, ἣ τὰ μείω ἀντι-

4 ᾽ν ’ a ig de Ἁ 4 Δ
πέμποντα μὴ δίκαια ποιεῖν. τρίτον δὲ καὶ δικαιότατον, ἃ

a? nu 3 “~ 4 A “~ Υ̓ 4 ’ > ,
πέμπεται τῷ αὐτῷ μέτρῳ καὶ τοῖς ἴσοις ὁ δώροις ἀμεί

ἰῳ Ν, «ε “ ε 4 9 ’ ΄“- a. A “
βεσθαι. τοῦτο δὲ ὁ ποιῶν ὁμοιότατος ἐμοί, τῷ αὐτὰ δὴ

Q , > ,
τὰ πεμφθέντα ἀποπέμποντι.

᾽ A “A \ , 4 ‘\ , ld

Αλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν φίλῳ πρὸς τὸν φίλτατον πεπαίχθω.
΄ x “ vA N [4 ’
Ττροφεῖςα;»» δὲ «τῶν raidwv> καὶ λογιζομένῳ μείζονα
“A 4
τὸν καρπόν σοι νῦν παρέξει. 7

Ad Amicos, i. 3 (Naber, p. 173).

| Fronto Lolliano Avito salutem.

Montanum Licinium—ita te reducem complectar,
quo iure iurando mea tuaque salus aeque continetur—
sic diligo ut non temere quemquam eorum, quiscum
mihi hospitii iura sunt, Montano meo anteponam.

1 Studemund reads the Codex enor: tw χαλήπο χρωμενος ;
du Rieu as eccovras νωητίω χρωμενοι.

2 Two lines are lost here. 3 Seven lines lost.

+ Naber reads κατά ye Ἡσίοδον, after Jacobs, for καὶ τοῖς ἴσοις.

5 I have followed Mai except for the bracketed words.

After this letter the corrector adds Feliciter, as if his task
was ended.

278

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

sender did not neglect to send, and the recipient
did not disdain, the gift. But I would ask, pressing
you perhaps -rather hard, how can I receive with
delight the slaves sent from you, whereas you would
not have accepted an identical present, had I sent
it? . .. . It would have been Glaucus! of old over
again. . . . “exchanging gold for bronze and a
hundred oxen’s worth for that of nine.” For it is
inevitable that the exchanger of presents should
either send in return gifts of much greater value
and, as Homer testifies, seem bereft of his senses by
Zeus, or act inequitably by sending a meaner gift
in return. The third and most equitable rule is to
requite what is sent according to the same measure
and with equal gifts.2, He that did this would be as
like as possible to me, for I am sending back the
very things that were sent.

But enough of this pleasantry from a friend to a
very dear friend. The cost of the keep of these
slaves will now, if you calculate it, give you a little
the best of the bargain.

? 157-161 a.p.

FronTo to Lollianus Avitus,? greeting.

Licinius Montanus—“ so may I have you safe
back in my arms,” and this is an oath which equally
involves my weal and yours—is one whom I love so
dearly that there is no one of those, who have shared
my home with me, whom I could easily prefer to my

. , Hom. Il, vi. 236.
2 cp. Hesiod, W. and D. 349, 354 : εὖ μὲν μετρεῖσθαι napa
γείτονος, εὖ δ᾽ ἀποδοῦναι | αὐτῷ τῷ μέτρφ.
3 -Proconsul of Africa 156-159. Apuleius also (4οϊ. 94 f.)

wrote to Avitus a letter of recommendation, eulogizing him
in language that reminds us of Fronto.

279

Ambr. 335

Aiabr. 334

ΑἸΔΏΣ. 888

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Quotienscumque Romam venit, in meo contubernio
fuit, meis aedibus usus est; una nobis mensa sem-
per: postremo omnium paene rerum consiliorumque
communicatio et societas fuit. Huic tantum honor-
em haberi a te velim quantum tuo hospiti contubernali
consiliario tributum ab altero postulares. O<mnium
litterarum et> bonarum artium sectator est meus
Montanus, tum doctrina et facundia est eleganti.
Etsi sentio me meo artificio nimium favere quod ipse
nihil studio eloquentiae antetulerit. .... . eae
Apud me antiquissimum locum laudis eloquentia

possidet! .... Ex summis benignitatis opibus
tribuas . . . . Nihil postulavit pro sua verecundia
nisi quod probum honestumque sit et tibi datu et sibi
postulatu? .... |. . Frugi probus_ philostorgus,

cuius rei nomen apud Romanos nullum est®... .

. |. . Is adeo* postulat asylum in ora, denique
iustas res istas. Igitur non maris sed aurae cupidus
<est> ... . Facundissimo omnium quae tua nobili-
tasest®>. . . . let. Cavillantes eundem audio aegre
abstractum tristem contubernio meo, quod pectoris
valetudine correptus laetissimo caelo posse redire ab
Cirta patria serio videatur, quod ut fiat optes. Quom

1 From the margin of Cod.

2 Ibid. 8 Ibid.

+ For all the rest of this letter see Hauler, Wien. Stud.
38, pp. 379-381 (1916).

5 From the margin of the Codex.

280

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

Montanus. As often as he came to Rome he was my
guest, my house was at his disposal, he always shared
my table; in fact there was between us a community
and fellowship in almost all our acts and counsels.
Please pay him such attention as you would expect
to be shewn by another to your intimate friend, the
sharer of your home and your counsels. My Mon-
tanus is devoted to all letters and noble accomplish-
ments, besides being a man of learning and cultured
eloquence. Although I feel that I am biased in
favour of my own craft, because he has himself pre-
ferred nothing to the study of eloguence........
With me eloquence holds the most honoured place
From your utmost stores of good-nature
grant... . He has asked nothing, as was to be ex-
pected of his modesty, except what is right and
honourable for you to give and for him to ask... .
Worthy, upright, rich in natural affection,! a quality
for which the Romans have no word. .......
He indeed asks for a health resort on the coast, and
lastly those reasonable adjuncts. Consequently it is
not the sea but the air that he is desirous of ... .
The most eloquent of all, such is your nobleness

I hear that some speak captiously of his
having been torn away with grief and reluctance
from my home-circle, because seized as he was with
an affection of the chest, there seemed a real possi-
bility that the extreme salubrity of the climate
would enable him to return from his native city Cirta.
Pray that it may be so. Since I love him for my

1 Fronto tells us elsewhere (4d Ver. ii. 7, and cy. Marcus,
Thoughts, i. 11) that φιλοστοργία was practically non-existent,
at least among the patricians of Rome. The word means
affection between the members of a family.

281

Ambr. 291
col. 2, and
339 ad fin.

About. here
Ambr. $38

Ambr. 828

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

eum inter paucissimos ultro amem, fac mihi caro
fruaris, eum praesentem accipias et propitia cura
ambias et auxilium summum ei amicis consiliis
<fera>s. Post hospitis salutem corpusque examines

saepius cupio! . . . . ita celebratus?es.°. . . . ..

Ad Amicos, ii. 4 (Naber, p. 191).

| Cornetio Repentino Fronto salutem.

Fecisti, frater Contucci, pro tua perpetua consuet-
udine et benignitate, quod Fabianum spectatum in
officiis civilibus, frequentem in foro,> meum famili-
arem ita tutatus es ut ei existimationem incolumem
conservares. Meritis tibi parem gratiam referundam
dei immortales prospe<re praestent> .. |‘ . .

neque mox habebis tibi nobiles: teneto
potius eos satis aperto odio plenos fuisse5 . . . .

Ad Amicos, i. 1 (Naber, p. 172).

| Fronro Claudio Severo salutem.
1, Commendandi mos initio dicitur benivolentia
ortus, quom suum quisque amicum alii amico suo

1 Hauler says five lines more of the letter remain, in which
Fronto sends greetings to his friends, and thanks Lollianus
by anticipation for his trouble.

2 This is the marginal variant for a word in the text which
Hauler reads as cenotatus or cenobator and explains as xenoda-
tor (Eevo8érns) ; but Mai read it generatus.

3 Niebuhr for Cod. forum.

4 About one column is lost, but in this Hauler ( Wien. Stud.
33, pp. 174 ff.) says he has deciphered some other lines,
which he does not, however, give.

282

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

part as I do very few, please use him as one who is
dear to me, welcome him when he comes and win
his love with your gracious care for him and give him
the best of help with friendly counsel. Afterwards I
desire you often to test the health and condition of
VOUT UCB. 6 a a? ae te) MO δὲ ἀνα aE BRR να

δ 157-161 a.p.

Fronto to Cornelius Repentinus,! greeting.

You have acted, brother Contuccius, according
to your never-failing habit and kindness in so effec-
tually safeguarding the good name of Fabianus, a
man of tried experience in civil duties, constant in
attendance at the forum, and my close friend. Ma
the immortal Gods ensure to you with all happiness a
recompense equal to your kindness. .......
nor will you soon find (such among) the nobles:
hold rather that they were full of sufficiently un-
disguised hatred... .

ἢ 157-161 a.p.

Fronto to Claudius Severus,? greeting.
1. The custom of recommendation is said in the
first instance to have sprung from good will, when
every man wished to have his own friend made

1 Corn. Repentinus Contuccius was pracf. praet. with Fur.
Victorinus for the year 159, and probably died that year.
As the pracf. praet. had judicial powers, the case of Fabianus
may have come before him.

2 Probably the consul of 146, and the father-in-law of
Marcus’s daughter :Fadilla. In his Thowghts, i. 14, Marcus
mentions the latter as ‘‘ having confidence in the love of his
friends.”

5 After a gap of a few lines comes a note of the corrector,
Legit emendavi qui supra.
᾿ 283

Ambr. ay
followed Ὁ
326

Ainbr. 325

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

demonstratum conciliatumque vellet. Paulatim iste
mos progressus est, ut etiam eos in publico vel
ptivato iudicio disceptarent, nec tamen improba res
videretur, iudicibus ipsis aut iis qui consilio adessent,
commendare<nt>!: non, opinor, ad iustitiam iudicis
labefactandam vel de vera sententia deducendam.
Sed <ut>? iste in ipsis iudiciis mos inveteratus erat
causa perorata laudatores adhibere, qui quid de reo?
existimarent pro sua opinione cum fide expromerent,
item istae commendantium litterae laudationis munere
fungi visae sunt.

2. Quorsum hoc tam ex alto prohoemium? Neme
existimasses parum considerasse gravitatem auctori-
tatemque tuam commendando Corneliano Sulpicio
familiarissimo meo, qui propediem causam apud vos
dicturus est. Sed, ut dixi, veteris instituti exemplo
necessarium meum laudare apud te ausus sum.

3. Industrius vir est, strenuus, ingenio libero et
liberali, patriae amantissimus, innocentia fretus magis
, qeam confidens, litterarum studio et bonarum | ar-
” tium elegantia mihi <acceptissimus>+ .

4.{ .... quicum mihi... . cin>tercedit,
Neque forte aut temere necessitudine ista sumus

1 Schopen ; but the word lacks a subject. Perhaps fas
esset has dropped out before commendare.

2 Schopen.

3 Naber for Cod. guidquid ergo.

+ Heindorf. Two pages are lost, and five lines at the
beginning of p. 326. The marginal corrector notes on p. 327
that Fronto used zusso, not 7ussu.

284

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

known to another friend and rendered intimate with
him. Then the custom gradually grew upof givingsuch
recommendations in the case of those persons even
who were parties to a public or private trial, provided
however that the case was not a flagrant one, to the
actual judges or their assessors on the bench : not,
I take it, to undermine the fairness of the judge or
to lead him aside from giving true judgment. But
as there had long established itself in the very courts
of law this custom of bringing forward, when the case
had been heard out, witnesses to character to give in
all honesty their own private opinion of the defend-
ant, so these commendatory letters seemed to dis-
charge the function of a testimony to character.

2. Wherefore this preface going back so far?
That you may not think that I have had but scant
regard for your dignity and authority in recommend-
ing Sulpicius Cornelianus,' a most intimate friend of
mine, who is very shortly to plead his case before
you. But as I have said, following a long-established
precedent, I venture to speak in praise of my friend
before you.

3. The man is hard-working, energetic, of a free
and free-handed nature, a true patriot, relying on
his innocence rather than presuming on it, to me a
most congenial friend from his devotion to literature
and his taste in the liberal arts... ........

1 Phrynichus in his ’ExAoyf speaks highly of a Sulp. Corne-
lianus, and says that Marcus and Lucius put all the affairs
of the Greeks in his charge συνεργὸν αὐτὸν ἑλόμενοι τῆς
βασιλείας.

285

Ambr, 336

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

copulati, nec ultro me amicitiam Corneliani adpe-
tisse fateor. Laus ad me de ingenio eius iam! per-
vaserat, quam veram ad aures meas accidisse usu
didici multisque documentis expertus sum. Habit-
avimus una, studuimus una, iocum seriumque partici-
pavimus, fidei consiliique periculum fecimus: omni-
bus modis amicitia nostra et voluptati nobis et usui
fuit. Quam ob rem, quantum plurimum possum,
tantum quaeso ut carissimo mihi homini in causa

faveas . . . .2 citavit ad accusationem nostri ordinis
virum. Sed lectis concilii commentariis

plane... . facit . . . .3 <propul>sare conisus est.
Sollicitudo amici4 me a... . multis eum verbis

commendare: sed fidum amorem nostri spondet
<... .quic> quid postulemf, orationem vobis
unum meum verbum visum iri.

Ad Amuicos, i. 2 (Naber, p. 174.)
Φρόντων ’Ar<riw> ᾿Απολλωνίδῃ.

Κορνηλιανὸν Σουλπίκιον φιλεῖν ἠρξάμην ἡσθ]εὶς τῷ
τε τρόπῳ τἀνδρὸς καὶ τοῖς λόγοις: πέφυκεν γὰρ πρὸς
λόγους ἄριστα. οὐκ ἂν δ᾽ ἔξαρνος εἴην τὰ πρῶτα παρ᾽
ἐμοὶ φέρεσθαι τὴν ἐκ παιδείας φιλίαν συσταθεῖσαν'"
παιδείαν δὲ ταύτην λέγω τὴν τῶν ῥητόρων" αὕτη γὰρ δοκεῖ

1 Cod. apparently has a before perv. Schwierczina pre-
fers fama.

2 Three lines lost. §% About two lines lost in these gaps.

4 Mai gives animi, but doubtfully. After me a three letters
are lost.

286

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

and I am free to confess that I did not go out of my
way to seek the friendship of Cornelianus. I had
already heard his character spoken of with praise,
and that it was a true report which reached my ears
I have learnt by experience and verified with many
proofs. We have lived together, studied together,
shared alike in things grave and gay, put our loyalty
and our counsels to the proof. In every way our
friendship has conduced to our pleasure and our
profit. Wherefore I appeal to you as earnestly as I
can to give this very dear friend of mine a favourable

hearing in his case . . . . summoned for trial a
member of our order. But the notes of the Consilium!
DEING™ TEAG eis. ct ow Boa BE tried to

rebut it. Anxiety for mv friend (makes) me com-
mend him at such length: but our friendship is a
guarantee of your loyal love for me and (will bring
it about that), whatever I ask, a whole speech should
seem to you but one word.

Fronto to Appius APOLLONIDES.

? 157-161 a.p.

De.icaT in the character and eloquence of the
man first made me love Sulpicius Cornelianus. For
he has the greatest aptitude for eloquence; and I
will not deny that the friendship which is grounded
on culture takes the highest place with me, and the
culture I mean here is that of the orator. For this

1 If the MS. concildi may be so translated. The Consilium
was a body of officials and assessors attending the judges at a
trial.

287

Arabr. 308
following
333: Quat.
xxxii. ends

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

μοι ἀνθρωπίνη τις εἶναι: ἡ δὲ τῶν φιλοσόφων θεία τις

Ν ’ > ‘ ‘ ”" 3 “~ 3 N

ἔστω. βοήθησον οὖν τὰ δυνατὰ Κορνηλιανῷ ἀγαθῷ ἀνδρὶ
Ν

κἀμοὶ φίλῳ «καὶ λογίῳ; 1 καὶ οὐ φιλοσόφῳ.

Ad Amicos, i. 4 (Naber, p. 176).

AEGRILIO PLariaNo salutem.

Iulium Aquilinum virum, si quid mihi credis,
doctis|simum facundissimum, philosophiae disciplinis
ad optimas artes, eloquentiae studiis ad egregiam
facundiam eximit? eruditum, commendo tibi quam
possum studiosissime. Decet a te gravissimo et sap-
ientissimo viro tam doctum tamque elegantem virum
non modo protegi sed etiam provehi et illustrari.
Est etiam, si quid mihi credis, Aquilinus eiusmodi
vir ut in tui ornamentis aeque ac nostri merito
numerandus sit. Non dubitabis ita esse ut dico, si
eum audire disputantem de Platonicis disciplinis
dignatus fueris. Perspicies pro tua prudentia in-
tellegentiaque summa <non> minorem fama, lucu-
lentissimum verborum adparatu, maxima frequentia
sententiarum. Quom haec ita esse deprehenderis,
scito amplius esse in hominis moribus, tanta probitate
est et verecundia: maximi concursus ad audiendum
eum Romae saepe facti sunt. Plurimi nostri or-
dinis viri facundiam eius non modo probant sed

1 Naber.
2 Niebuhr for Cod. ex iwre; query ὁ puero.

288

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

seems to me to be human; as for Philosophy’s, let
it be divine. Do your utmost then for Cornelianus,
who is a good man and a friend of mine and
eloquent and no philosopher.

? 157-161 a.p.
To Aegrilius Plarianus, greeting.

I commend to you with all possible cordiality
Julius Aquilinus,! a man, if you have any faith in
my judgment, most learned, most eloquent, excep-
tionally trained by the teachings of philosophy to
the noblest accomplishments and by the study of elo-
quence to a matchless facility of speech. A man so
learned and so cultured should naturally find from a
man of your serious character and wisdom not only
protection but advancement and honour. Aquilinus
is also, believe me, a man of such a character that he
deserves to be accounted an ornament to yourself
no less than tome. You will not doubt that it is
as I say, if you once deign to hear him discuss the
doctrines of Plato. With your perspicacity and
good sense you will find him not unequal to his high
fame, most conspicuous for the magnificence? of
his language and the immense abundance of his
thoughts. When you have realized the truth of this,
know that there is still more behind in the man’s
character, so great are his integrity and his modesty.
Crowds of people constantly gathered to hear him
at Rome. There are numbers of senators who not
only applaud his eloquence, but also admire his

1 Nothing is known for certain of him. Plarianus was
Ol pr. of Africa in 159. For him see C.Z. LZ. viii. 800,
1177.

2 cy. the use of adparatus in Hor. Od. i. 38. Dio, Ixxii.
11, § 2, uses the expression παρασκενὴ τῶν λόγων.

289
VOL, I. υ

Ambr. 807

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

eius! etiam admirantur. Officio necessario inductus
est ut hinc proficisceretur ad consolandam conso-
brinam suam casu gravi adflictam. Quantumcumque
Aquilino meo honoris tribueris, id te mihi tribuere
existimato.

Ad Amicos, i. 5 (Naber, p. 177).

| Fronto Claudio Iuliano salutem.

Cuperemus profecto, mi Naucelli carissime, eo
nos fato praeditos ut, si mihi liberi etiam virilis
sexus nati fuissent, eorumque aetas hoc potissimum
tempore ad munia militaria fungenda adolesceret,
quo tempore tu provinciam cum exercitu adminis-
trares, uti sub te mei liberi stipendia mererent.
Non longe aberit quin hoc, quod uterque cuperemus,
evenerit. Nam Faustinianum Statiani mei filium,
non minus diligo neque minus eum diligi cupio,
quam si ex me genitus esset. Is nunc sub te mere-
bit. ‘Tu studium meliore bono <pensabis>. Quan-
tum ex tua benivolentia Faustinianus ornamenti
adsequetur, tantum tu voluptatis ex Faustiniani
elegantia capies. . Quam doctus sit, mihi crede ;
quam rei militaris peritus, praedicant omnes sub
quibus meruit. Sed tum demum doctrinae indus-
triaeque suae fructum sese percepisse putabit, ubi se
tibi probavit. Fac periculum ? in militiae muneribus,
fac periculum in consiliis iudiciariis, fac periculum in
litteris, omni denique prudentiae et facilitatis? usu
vel serio vel remisso, semper et ubique eum parem

1 A substantive may have dropped out or the second
eius be corrupt. * See Ter. Hun. 11. ii. 23.
5 Kiessling prefers /ucultatis. The author of the De

Differentits Verbirum (Ὁ ¥Fronto) distinguishes the words
thus : frcullas locupletis, factlitas artificis est.

290

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

. He was obliged to leave Rome by the neces-
sar Ὗ ᾿Δαϊγ of comforting his lady cousin, who is
suffering under a great misfortune. Any attention
you pay to Aquilinus please consider as paid to me.

? 157-161 a.p.

Fronto to Claudius Julianus, greeting.

We could assuredly wish, my dearest Naucellius,!
it had been our happy fortune that, if I had had any
children also of the male sex and these were of an age
for the discharge of military duties at this particular
time, when you are administering a province with
an army, my children should serve under you. This
that each of us would desire will almost be fulfilled.
For I love Faustinianus, the son of my friend
Statianus, not less, and I desire him to be loved no
less, than if he came from my own loins. He is now
to serve under you. Any attention you shew him
will be paid with interest. However much distinc-
tion Faustinianus gains by your goodwill, the pleasure
you derive from his refined nature will be no less.
His learning you may trust me for; his military
ability is vouched for by all those under whom he
has served. But he will not think that he has
reaped the full fruit of his learning and industry
until he has earned your approbation. Try him in
military duties, try him in legal consultations, try him
in letters, in a word, in everything that requires
judgment and ability, whether grave or gay, you will
find him always and everywhere equal to himself. As

1 The other name of Julianus. He was consul in 145, and
therefore proconsul about 157-159.

2yI
u 3

Ambr. 322

Ambr. 306

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

sui invenies. Patrem vero eius egregium virum,
nisi tute nosses, satis | ego laudare non possem.
Quin aliquanto minus dixerim, tametsi plurimum
dixero. Prorsus ego Statiani mei filium qualem-
cumque diligerem tam hercule quam Faustiniani mei
patrem qualemcumque carum haberem. Nunc vero
uter utri plus apud me gratiae conciliet ignoro; nisi
quod utrumque impensius alterum alterius gratia
diligo.

Ad Amicos, ii. 11 (Naber, p- 200).
II viris ET DecurionrBus !

QuanTaE mihi curae? .. . . | multoque malim
patriae nostrae tutelam auctam quam meam gratiam.
Quare suadeo vobis patronos creare, et decreta in
eam rem mittere ad eos qui nunc fori principem
locum occupant: Aufidium Victorinum, quem in
numero municipum habebitis, si di consilia mea
iuverint, nam filiam meam despondi ei nec melius
aut mihi in posteritatem aut meae filiae in omnem
vitam consulere potui quam quom talem mihi
generum cum illis moribus tantaque eloquentia elegi ;
Servilium quoque Silanum, optimum et facundissi-
mum virum, iure municipis patronum _habebitis,

1 sc. Cirtensibus. The title is from the Index, as two pages
are lost here. The letter which preceded this one was also
aaah Triumvirs of Cirta (Index, Naber, p. 189; Ambr. 292,
col. 2).

2 These words are from the Index, but it is possible that
they were the opening words of the other letter, and the
heading Meae totius gloriae assigned to the other letter was
the beginning of the letter here given.

292

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

to that eminent man, his father, did you not know
him for yourself, I could not praise him highly enough.
Nor could I escape having said a great deal too
little, though I said ever so much. Verily I should
Jove the son of my Statianus, whatever he were,
just as by heaven I should hold dear the father of
my Faustinianus, whatever he were. Now, however,
I do not know which of the two endears me more
to the other, save that I love each of them more
dearly, the one for the sake of the other.

FrontTo To THE TRIUMVIRS AND SENATORS oF CirTa!

? 157-161 a.p. ©

How great are my cares .... and I should
much prefer the guardianship of our native country
to be strengthened than my own interests. Where-
fore my advice to you is to choose for your patrons,
and send resolutions to that effect to, those who at
present stand highest at the bar—Aufidius Victori-
nus, whom you will have on your burgess-roll if the
Gods favour my designs, for I have betrothed my
daughter? to him, nor could I have better consulted
the interests either of myself in the matter of
posterity or of my daughter in the matter of her
whole life, than when I chose such a son-in-law, a
man of such character and great eloquence ; Servilius
Silanus also, an excellent and most eloquent man,
you will have as your patron by burgess right, since

1 Fronto was born at Cirta, now Constantine, in Numidia.
Triumvirs, also in some cases quattuorviri iuri dicundo, were
the chief magistrates of municipia. Colonies, such as Cirta,
usually had duumvirt, 8 Gratia.

293

Ambr. 305

Ambr. 426,
col, 2

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

quom sit <e> vicina et amica civitate Hippone
Regio; Postumium Festum et morum et eloquentiae
nomine recte patronum vobis feceritis, et ipsum
nostrae provinciae et civitatis non longinquae.

Horum patronorum non mediocrium . . . . oderint
adesse ... .! adversus rem atque nolint

.* dicam, quoad aetas mihi et valetudo integra

fuit, negotia nostra... . alius... . ἰδία aetate
.3 | nostram forensium et iuniorum praesidiis

esse fundatam. Nec genere quantus.. . . nostra

. .4virum popularem habeamus et virum con-
sularem ius publicum respondentem. Ego quoque,
ut spero, quoad aetatis vis viguit, in officiis civilibus
non obscure versatus sum. Alii quoque plurimi sunt
in Senatu Cirtenses clarissimi viri. Postremus est

honor maximus tres vestri cives. . . .5 sed etiam
suave est... . uter quo... . sed vos melius
est iam nunc interdum... .’? quantum... .8

Ad Verwin Imp, i. 3 (Naber, p. 116).

| MaaisTRo meo.

Est quod ego tecum graviter conquerar, mi
magister, et quidem ut querelam dolor superet, quod
ego te tanto post intervallo nec complexus neque
adfatus sim, quom et in palatium veneris et postquam
ego a Domino meo fratre vixdum discesseram. Equi-

1 From mediocrium are five lines.

3 Two lines and two letters are missing.

* About three lines are lost. Mai supplies coloniam before
nos'ram and marks forensium as doubtful.

* About eight lines lost.

5 Thirteen lines lost. 6 One word lost.

7 One word lost. 8. Four lines are lost.

294

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

he comes from the neighbouring and friendly state
of Hippo Regius!; Postumius Festus? you cannot do
wrong in electing as your patron in consideration of
his character and eloquence, himself also a native of
our province and of no distant state. Of these no
ordinary patrons... 2... 2... eee ees
i iene Ue Gaeuey as long as my strength and health
were sound, our business ............
: . that our city ‘has been established by the
help of practised speakers and men in the prime of
VLC Ὁ αν re BER we should have a well-
known man and a consular to be responsible for our
public interests. I too, as I hope, while young and
strong, played no obscure part in civil affairs. There
are many other natives of Cirta also in the Senate,
entitled to be called most eminent.? The last
honour is the greatest, three of your citizens... .
shocks ood Genial dee ἢν τες τ" ae 15. τὰς 8s Sone but it is better for

Lucius Verus To Fronto

To my master. rene
I have a serious complaint to make against you,
my master, and yet that is not so great as my dis-
appointment, that after so long a separation I did not
embrace or speak to you, though you both came to the
Palace and came when [ had only just left the Lord
my brother. You may be sure I gave my brother a
1 Now Bona or Beled el Aneb.
2 A grammarian of whom an inscr. (C./.Z. vi. 146) says
orator utraque facundia maximus. For him see Aul. Gell.

xix. 13.
ὁ The official title of senators.

295

Ambr, 425

Ambr. 444

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

dem multum fratrem meum obiurgavi cur me non
revocarit.1 Neque culpam abnuere ausus est. Quan-
tum, oro te, fuit ante mihi significare, te ad fratrem
meum <venturum> esse, velle me quoque visere,
postremo redire me iubere, uti confabularemur?
quid enim, si me hodie domum arcessas, nonne
omnibus omissis libens curram? | Qui quidem aeger-
rime tulerim quod non cotidie ad te commeem.
Quin gravissimum stationis nostrae id esse arbitrer,
quod veniendi ad te adeo <rara est facultas> . .. .
solus . . . . ad te currissem. Nunc oro saltem, dum
mi<hi nondum vacat ad te>? conte<ndere, rescribas
quo<modo valeas: nec diu iam impedient negotia,
quamvis> tum<e>ant, quin te <revisam aut>

expectem. Vale, mi magister, Vero tuo
carissime et humanissime.

Ad Verum Imp. i. 4 (Naber, p. 117).

Domino meo Vero Augusto.

1. Quod heri, quom in palatium vestri visendi
causa venissem, non te viserim, non mea culpa
evenisse ostendam paulo post. Quod si <volens>°
libens scienti animo hoc officium non persolvissem,
haudquaquam me poeniteret. Fuit enim, fuit haec
causa cur tu tam | familiaribus litteris mecum ex-
postulares. Neque tanto opere gauderem si, quom
ad te venissem, summo cum honore a te appellatus

1 Heind. for Cod.-revocavit.
2 This and the following additions are by Heindorf, except

nondum for non. The mutilated portion is about a column
of the Codex. δ᾽ So Mai, but query ipse for volens.

296

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

good scolding for not calling me back ; and he could
not deny that he was to blame. How easy, prithee,
it would have been to let me know beforehand that
you were coming to see my brother, and would like to
see me as well, or failing that, to have asked me to
return, that we might havea talk. What? if you sent
for me to-day to your house, should I not put every-
thing aside andrun to you? Indeed, I have been very
cross that I could not visit you every day. Nay, I
think it is the heaviest penalty of our position that
I so seldom have an opportunity of coming to you
.... alone .... I should have run to you.
Now at least I beseech you, as I have no leisure yet
to hasten to you, write and tell me how you are:
affairs of state, however pressing, shall not long
prevent me from seeing you again or expecting you
. . . . Farewell, my master, to your Verus most
dear and most kind.

FrontTo to Lucius Verus as EMPEROR

To my Lord Verus Augustus.! POD.

1. That it was no fault of mine that I did not
see you yesterday, when I came to the Palace to see
you both, I will presently shew. But had I myself
deliberately from choice left this duty unpaid, 1
should not in the least regret it. For this, this was
the cause of your reproaching me in such a friendly
letter. Nor should I be so greatly pleased, had I
come to you and been welcomed by you with every

1 This letter appears to have been written very soon after
the death of Pius (on March 7, 161). Fronto had been away
four months, possibly on a visit to Africa, where he had
property and friends.

297

Ambr. 448

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

essem, quam nunc gaudeo tanto me iurgio desidera-
tum Namque tu pro tua singulari humanitate
omnes nostri ordinis viros, ubi praesto adsunt,
honorifice adfaris, non omnes magno opere requiris
absentes. Haec denique culpae causa est, in qua
malim te mihi graviter irasci quam libenter ignos-
cere. Irasceris enim quanto desiderantius desideras :
a quibus autem aversus fueris, neque irasceris
neque desiderabis,' si amare desieris. Enimvero
quom tu tuusque frater in tantis opibus locati,
tanta multitudine omnium generum omniumque
ordinum, in quos amorem vestrum dispergitis, cir-
cumfusi, mihi quoque partem amoris vestri non-
nullam impertiatis, quid me facere oportet, cuius
spes opesque omnes in vobis sunt solis sitae? Non
ei tum pectusmeum... . aut ubi illos mihi ante-
<positos> . . . . praestare possim quam ut vos illis
anteponam. | Sic enim profecto merebor ut vos
uoque illos mihi anteponatis.

2. Sed ne diutius defensionem meam differam,
nulla, ut dixi, mea culpa accidit ut te non con-
venirem. Nam ex hortis redii Romam ante diem
quintam Kal. April. diluculo ut <eo ipso>? si possem
die longo post tempore domum iremf.? Sed eo
<quom venissem melius visum> est... . nae ego
pergerem <quid> ut facerem? Satin salvae ut per-
contarer? an ut complecterer? an ut exoscularer?
an ut confabularer? an ego quarto post mense
lacrimas vestras spectatum measque ostentatum
venirem? Quid igitur postero die feci? Non sum

1 Fresh lines deciphered by Hauler. See Ji ten. Stud. 40,
p. 95.

2 Brakman.

3 Mai con<venirem>. Du Rieu sees consiwero in the Codex,

298

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

honour, as I am now that you felt my absence
enough to give me such a scolding. For while with
your characteristic kindliness you give all members
of our order, when they present themselves, an
honourable welcome, yet it is not all of them about
whom you make earnest enquiries when they are
absent. In fact this is the cause of my fault, inasmuch
as I should prefer you to be seriously angry with me
than too ready to pardon. For your anger is the
measure of your regret. But those from whom you
are estranged you will neither be angry with nor
miss, if you have ceased to love them. For indeed,
since you and your brother, set in so great a station,
surrounded by so great a multitude of all sorts and
conditions of men, on whom you lavish your love,
bestow on me too some portion of that love, what
ought I to do, whose hopes and fortunes all on
you alone are centred?! . . . . or that I shall be
able to. . . . those who are preferred to me than
that I should prefer you to them. For thus I should
assuredly deserve that you also should prefer them
to me.

2. But not to defer my defence any longer, it
was, as I said, no fault of mine that I did not meet
you. For I returned from my gardens to Rome on
March 28th at dawn, in order that I might if
possible after so long an interval reach home that
very day. But when I had come there, it seemed
better . . . . verily I should hasten to do what?
To ask /s all well? to embrace? to kiss? to have a
talk? Or was it that after four months I should
come to look on your tears and exhibit my own?
What then did 1 do the next day? 1 did not

1 Terence, Phorm. ut. i. 6. Adelphi, 111. 11, 32.

299

Ambr. 446

Ambr. 289,
col. 1

Ambr. 240

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

ausus neque fratri tuo neque tibi scribere me ad vos
esse venturum, sed ad libertum Charilam perscripsi
his si recte memini verbis: "Apa σήμερον εὕὔκαιρόν
3 7 4 A 3 , ¢ , e ‘
ἐστιν ἀφικέσθαι με πρὸς αὐτούς ; σύ μοι δήλωσον ὡσανεὶ

ἔμφρων κἀμοὶ φίλος: κἀμοί σε. . . . <Quom ve>ni
ego ἰπ palatium.... . .1 |. . vestrae pro re nata ©
occu<pationes> ... . aliud?.

Ad Antoninum Imp. ii. 1 (Naber, p. 104).

| MaGIsTRO meo.?

oratione, sed quasi furtim, certe quidem raptim:
tantum instat aliud ex alio curarum, quom interim

᾿ requies una librum in manus sumere. Nam parvolae

nostrae nunc apud Matidiam in oppido hospitantur :
igitur vespera ad me ventitare non possunt propter
aurae rigorem. Vale mi optime‘ magister. Dominus
meus frater et filiae cum sua matre, cuius prae
Δ τειν τὰν ἐν ὧν eas avis, ex animo tibi salutem dicunt.

Mitte mihi aliquid quod tibi disertissimum vide-
atur, quod legam, vel tuum aut Catonis aut Ciceronis
aut Sallustii aut Gracchi aut poetae alicuius, χρήζω
yap ἀναπαύλης, et maxime hoc genus, quae me lectio

1 About eight lines are lost.

2 These six words are from the margin of the Codex. Du
Rieu reads destrac, not vestrae.

3 A new book begins here, aa the words Legi emendavi im-
mediately before it shew, but it is not certain whether it is the

second book to Antoninus. More than a column is lost here.
4 For Cod. domine, which seems impossible.

300

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

venture to write either to your brother or to you,
that I would come to you, but I wrote to your
freedman Charilas to the best of my recollection in
these words: Is it convenient for me to come to them
to-day? Please tell meas a man of sense and a friend of
mine ... . when I went into the palace... .
. your occupations under the new circum-
SUANCES τὸ νος το a

Marcus ANTONINUS AS EMPEROR ΤῸ FRONTO

To my master. 161 a.p.

. . . [have read a little of Coelius and of Cicero's
speech, but as it were by stealth, certainly by
snatches, so closely does one care tread on the heels
of another, my one relaxation the while being to
take up a book. For our little daughters are at
present lodging with Matidia! in the town, so that
they cannot come to me in the evening owing to
the keenness of the air. Farewell, my best of
masters. The Lord my brother and my daughters?
with their mother, whose .... send you their
affectionate greetings.

Send me something to read which you think
particularly eloquent, either of your own or Cato’s
or Cicero's or Sallust’s or Gracchus’s or some poet’s,
for I need relaxation, and especially of such a kind
that the reading of it may uplift me and shake me

1 The great-aunt of Marcus. One of the little daughters
must have been Cornificia, born about 159. It is not clear
who the other was. Domitia Faustina died before Marcus
became emperor, and Sabina was not born yet.

3 Lucilla and Fadilla.

301

Ambr, 288

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

extollat et diffundat ἐκ τῶν κατειληφνυιῶν φροντίδων ;
etiam si qua Lucretii aut Ennii excerpta habes
εὔφωνα <arixi>a} et sicubi ἤθους ἐμφάσεις.

Ad Antoninum Imp. ii. 2 (Naber, p. 105).

Domino meo Antonino Augusto Fronto.

Nae ego post homines natos et locutos omnium
facundissimus habear, quom tu, M. Aureli, mea
scripta lectitas et probas | et lucrativa tua in tantis
negotiis tempora meis quoque orationibus legendis
occupare non inutile tibi arbitraris neque ‘infruc-
tuosum.

Quod sive amore inductus etiam ingenio meo
delectaris, beatissimus equidem sum, quod tibi tam
sum carus, ut esse videar etiam disertus; sive ita
censes et ita iudicio tuo et animi sententia decernis,
mihi quoque iam disertus iure videbor, quoniam
videar tibi.

Quod vero patris tui laudes a me in senatu desig-
nato et inito consulatu meo dictas legisti libenter,
minime miror. Namque tu Parthos etiam et Hiberos
sua lingua patrem tuum laudantes pro summis ora-
toribus audias. Nec meam orationem sed patris tui
virtutem miratus es, nec laudatoris verba sed laudati

facta laudasti.
1 Brakman.
302

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

free from the cares that beset me; also if you have
any extracts from Lucretius or Ennius, sonorous
lines if possible, and any-that give the impress of
character.

Fronto To Marcus ANTONINUS
161 a.p.

Fronto to my Lord Antoninus Augustus.

Verily, since the creation of mankind and their
endowment with speech let me be held the most
eloquent of all men, since you, Marcus Aurelius,
study my writings and esteem them, and do not
think it useless or unprofitable to yourself in the
midst of such great affairs to spend your valuable
time in reading my speeches.

But if it is your love for me which makes you
delight even in my abilities, most blest am I in that I
am so dear to you as to seem even eloquent in your
eyes; or if it is your real judgment and considered
opinion that makes you:so think, then shall I have
every right to seem eloquent to myself since I seem
so to you.

I am, however, not in the least surprised that you-
have found pleasure in reading the praises of your
father, which I uttered in the Senate when consul
designate and again when | had taken up the office.!
For you would listen even to the Parthians and
Iberians in their own tongue, so they but praised
your father, as if they were most consummate orators.
It was not my speech you admired but your father’s
virtues,? nor was it the words of the praiser but the
deeds of the praised that you praised.

1 In 143. cp. above, p. 113.
2 cp. Marcus, Thoughts, i.16; vi. 30.
393

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

De tuis autem laudibus, quas in senatu eodem illo
die protuli, ita sentias velim: tunc in te eximiam
indolem fuisse, nunc summam virtutem; frugem
tunc in segete florentem, nunc messem perfectam et
-horreo conditam. Sperabam tunc, habeo nunc. Spes
in rem convertit.

Quod autem mitti a me tibi postulasti, acceptis

Ambr. 234 <litteris> .... |. . Atticis propinque thymum
serpyllumque Hymettium ruminantibus viris . ...
vel graves ex orationibus veterum sententias arripe-
retis vel dulces ex poematis vel ex historia splen-
didas vel comes ex comoediis vel urbanas ex togatis

vel ex Atellanis lepidas et facetas! . ...

Ad Verum Imp. i. 2 (Naber, p. 115).

<MAaGIsTro meo>.

Ambr. 428, . « » « « <mihi cum >? | nostro, Calpurnium dico,
following , ; .
Vat. 8 contentio est, quem ego facile et omnino spectan-

tibus et te, si spectaveris, teste revincam, Pyladem
magistro suo istum tanto meliorem esse, quanto sit
Apolausto similior. Sed quod sine ioco dicatur, iube
Valerium istum Antonium dare mihi libellum, uti
rescriptione quoque nostra gratia sententiae nostrae

1 These two sentences are from the margin of the Codex.
2 Added by Naber. It is not known how much is lost,
prohably not much.

304

Μ. CORNELIUS FRONTO

As to my praises of yourself, which I pronounced
the same day in the Senate, I would have you look
on them in this light, that you then shewed rare
natural ability, but now a consummate excellence ;
that you were then as corn sprouting in a field, but
are now as the harvest fully ripe and gathered in the
garner. All was hope then, all is having now. Hope
has turned to reality.

What you asked me, however, to send you, on
receiving your letter. ....... men of Attica
hard by chewing the cud of their native herbs and
the wild thyme of Hymettus .... You could
pluck either weighty thoughts from the speeches of
the ancients or sweet thoughts from their poems,
or splendid thoughts from history, or kindly ones
from comedies, or courtly ones from the national
drama, or witty and humorous ones from the Atellane
farces....

Lucius Verus To FRoNtTo

161 a.p.
To my master. ;

. . . My friend, I mean Calpurnius, and I are
naving a dispute, but I shall easily confute him in
the presence of all, and with you, too, if you are
present, as a witness, that Pylades is superior to his
master,! just insomuch as he is more like Apolaustus.?
But to speak seriously, tell your Valerius Antonius
to hand me the petition, that by our reply, also, the

1 Also called Pylades. They were both pantomimi.
2 Probably a freedman of Verus, named after the great
actor Apolaustus (mentioned Vit. Veri, vili.).

3°5

VOL. I. x

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

fiat. Epistulam tuam summa cum voluptate et solita
cum adumiratione legi. Vale, mi magister, Vero
tuo dulcissime et carissime.

Ad Verwm Imp. i. 5 (Naber, p. 118).

<? Domino meo.>1!
Ambr. 445, | percontatum an videre me _ posset;
446 (nee postquam respondi posse, succidaneum sibi Tran-
Ne p quillum nostrum paravit, quem etiam caenae succi-
daneum paraverat. Mea parum refert, quis me de
caris tibi amicis diligat, nisi quod prior ratio est
eius, qui minus est nostris fastidiosus. Ego... .
Nam is quoque extempore eum vidit. Invenit
_autem me Tranquillus, quom frigeret, etiam nunc
vetantem, sed minus .... uva.. [belli]
dinitates tantas ori<turas>. Ago quanta
Tranquilli industriae, qui nisi sciret quanto opere
me diligeres, voluntarium hoc negotium sibi num-
quam expetisset.

Ad Amicos, ii. 1 (Naber, p. 190).

Ambr. 849, | Votumnio QuapRatTo.
ad init., and
292, col, 2 . . .

SECRETUM servabo ita ut vis. Legam libenter,
itaque ut soleo corrigam, quantum manus, quae infir-
missimae sunt, tolerare poterunt. Ex voto studiorum
cultum?2 teneto; et si quid vacui temporis detur,

exercendo ingenio occupare.

1 Owing to the condition of the Codex it is impossible to
tell whether this is a separate letter or part of Ad Verum
i. 4, as Naber thinks. Possibly it is a letter to a friend, and
not to the Emperor at all. . 3. Heindorf cursum.

306

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

favour of our verdict may take effect. I read your
letter with the greatest pleasure and with my usual
admiration. Farewell, my master, to your Verus
sweetest and dearest.

(? To my Lord.) δ 161 a.p.

. . to enquire whether he could see me;
when I answered that he could, he procured our
friend Tranquillus! as his substitute, whom he had
also procured as his substitute at dinner. It makes
little difference to me, who of the friends you hold
dear has an affection for me, except that I take
prior account of him who is less disdainful of my
friends. I... . for he also saw him at once.
Tranquillus however found me, when he had a
cold, still forbidding but less (positively the use
of) grapes. ....... such great... . would
arise. How much do I owe to the diligence of
Tranquillus, who would never have offered himself
for this business, did he not know how much you
loved me.

FroNTo To VoLUMNIUS QUADRATUS.

161 a.p.

I witt, as you wish, keep your secret. I will
gladly read it and correct it in my usual way as far
as my hands, which are quite crippled, will permit.
Continue in the cultivation of your studies according
to your wish, and utilize any spare time you have in
practising your talents.

1 Not Suetonius the writer, who would have been seventy
years old by 139 a.p.

307

Ambr. 291

Ambr. 340
ends:
followed by
839

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

Ad Amicos, ii. 2 (Naber, p. 190).

VoLuMNIO QUADRATO.

Casrricius noster libellum tuum mihi heri red-
didit de balneo egredienti: petii ut mane ad me

-veniret ad rescriptum accipiendum. Per noctem ita

vexatus sum tussi et vigiliis ut necessario in quintam
horam dormierim. Ita Castricium nostrum detinui.
Ciceronianos emendatos et disitinctos habebis; ad-
notatos a me leges ipse; in volgus enim eos exire
quare nolim, scribam 1 diligentius.

Ad Amicos, ii. 3 (Naber, p. 191).

VoLUMNIO QuaDRATo.

Leeam, fili, libenter orationem istam quam
misisti mihi et, si quid videbitur corrigendum,
corjrigam, sed librarii manu, nam mihi manus debilis
doloribus non mediocribus. Cum istis tamen dolori-
bus in circum delatus sum. Rursum enim studio
circensium teneor ... .3 <perp>eram composita
sit rhetorice tota.*

1 The reading on Cod. p. 340 is scriberem ad te.

2 About seventeen lines are lost. Brakman conjectured
perperam. a

3m! of Cod. has rhetoricotata, which m corrects ap-
parently to rhetorico tota.

308

«

M. CORNELIUS FRONTO

FrontTo To VoLuMNIUS QUADRATUS.
161 a.p.

Our friend Castricius handed me your letter
yesterday as I was leaving the baths, and I asked
him to come to me for an answer in the morning.
During the night I suffered so much from cough and
sleeplessness that I was obliged to stay in bed till
11 o’clock. That accounts for my keeping our
friend Castricius back. You shall have the books of
Cicero corrected and punctuated. Those which I
have annotated please keep for your own eye. I
will write to you more carefully the reasons why
I do not wish them to become public property.

Fronto τὸ VoLuMNIUuS QuaDRATUS.
161 a.p.

I wit gladly, my son, read your speech, which
you have sent me, and correct anything that seems
to require it, but by the hand of my secretary, for
my own hand is useless from severe pain. In spite
of the pain, however, I have been carried to the
circus. For I am again seized with a passion for the
games . . . . be badly composed and wholly in
rhetorical style.

309

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