Letter LXXII · C. R. Haines (1919) · Loeb Classical Library

Letter LXXII: Marcus Aurelius to Marcus Cornelius Fronto

. . . . . . . . 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,1 as generally happens with those who have at last in their grasp what they long for: they are carried away,2 they feel in affluence, they are exultant: for myself, however, I am even disgusted with everything. 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 poet3 says. Farewell, my—all in all—master. I love myself at the thought of seeing you.

145–147 A.D.

To my Lord.

1 Perhaps the phrase means 'belittle' or 'make light of a thing.'
2 Hauler (Wien. Stud. 25, pt. 1, 1903) takes differunt as = differuntur, a Plautine usage.
3 Homer, see above.
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