Переписка Марка Аврелия с Фронтоном

Fronto to my Lord. 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

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,

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 encourag

If any sleep comes back to you after the wakeful nights of which you complain, I beseech you write to me and, above all, I beseech you take care of your health. Then hide somewhere

A Discourse on Love This is the 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

Go on, threaten as much as you please and attack me with hosts of arguments, yet shall you never drive your lover, I mean me, away; nor shall I the less assert that I love Fronto,

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 p

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 I look fo

Eulogy of Smoke and Dust ? 139 A.D. Fronto to his own Caesar. The majority of readers may perhaps from the heading despise the subject, on the ground that nothing serious could

I knew 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 birt

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, wh

. . . . unless speech is graced by dignity of language, it becomes downright impudent and indecent. In fine you too, when you have had to speak in the Senate or harangue the people

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.

Marcus Fronto's Arion ? 140–143 A.D. Arion of Lesbos, according to Greek tradition foremost as player on the lyre and as dithyrambist. setting out from Corinth, where he constant

It is a fact that you have often said to me, What can I do to give you the greatest pleasure? Now is the opportunity. If my love for you admits of any increase, you can increase it

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 bes

After I had already closed and sealed the preceding 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 mea

I must acknowledge and tender you at once, my dearest Fronto, my thanks, that, so far from rejecting my advice, you have approved it. As to the points on which you consult me in yo

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

Since I know how anxious you are . . . . sheep and doves with wolves and eagles followed the singer, regardless of ambushes and talons and teeth. This legend rightly interpreted su

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

I need not say how pleased I was at reading those speeches of Gracchus, for you will know well enough, since it was you who, with your experienced judgment and kind thoughtfulness,

. . . . 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 ex

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

So without end, Caesar, is your love for this Fronto of yours, that for all your eloquence words are scarcely forthcoming fully to express your love and set forth your goodwill. Wh

Hear now a very few points in favour of wakefulness against sleep: and yet methinks I am guilty of collusion, in that I side with sleep night and day without ceasing: I desert him

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 whil

Cicero's letter interested me wonderfully. Brutus had sent his book to Cicero for corrections . . . . Fronto to M. Aurelius as Caesar 143 A.D. To my Lord.

. . . . 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 labour

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 in

I see through that most subtle ruse of yours, which you indeed hit upon in pure kindness of heart. For not being able to win credit for your praise of me by reason of your signal p

In your last letter you ask me why I have not delivered my speech in the Senate. Well, I have to return thanks to my Lord your Father by proclamation also, and that I shall issue a

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 y

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

. . . . Three days ago we heard Polemo declaim—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 a hard-working

What nice ears men have nowadays! What taste in judging of speeches! You can leam from our Aufidius what shouts of applause were evoked in my speech, and with what a chorus of appr

As you remember, Caesar, when I returned thanks to you in the Senate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How great is your goodwill 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 su

Whether the Greeks of old ever wrote anything 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 perfec

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 speec

. . . . connected by marriage and not subject to guardianship and stationed besides in a social position in which, as Q. Ennius says, All give foolish counsel, and look in all to

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

Since my last letter to you nothing has happened 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 i

Lucky brother of mine to have seen you those two days! But I stick fast in Rome bound with golden fetters, looking forward to the first of September as the superstitious to the sta

I have sent my Gratia to keep your mother's birthday with her, and bidden her stay there till I come. The very moment, however, that I have laid down my consulship with the customa

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 birthd

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

. . . . 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 al

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 t

You, when you are away from me, read Cato; but I, when away from you, listen to lawyers till five o'clock. Oh, that this coming night might be the shortest known! so fain am I to b

Verily in your kindness you have done me a great service. For that daily call at Lorium, that waiting till late . . . . 144–145 A.D. M. Aurelius Caesar to Fronto his master send

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 fath

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

. . . . . . . . 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 ha

What do you suppose are my feelings when I 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 y

I am confined to my bed. If I should be fit for the journey when you go to Centumcellae I shall see you, please God, at Lorium on the seventh day before the Ides. Make my apologies

I did not write to you in the morning, hearing that you were better, and being myself engaged in other business; and I never care to write at all to you unless my mind is unbent an

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

We are well. By a satisfactory arrangement of meals I worked from three o'clock a.m. till eight. For the next hour I paced about in slippers most contentedly before my bedroom. The

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 Agricult

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 exhausted my breath by dictating ne

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 yo

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 o

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

These things at present . . . . Farewell, my dearest Fronto, my mother greets you. Greet our consul and our lady. 145–147 A.D. To 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. 145–147 A.D. To my master.

I can never love you enough: I will sleep. 145–147 A.D. To my Lord.

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. 145–147

To-morrow, if you will remind me, I will state my case for this word.

From the Index 145–147 A.D. 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 . . . . T

. . . . . . . . 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.

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

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

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 pat

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 slee

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. Moreover, my mother, in the flurry of

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 w

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. 145–147 A.D. To 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

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. 145–147 A.D. To 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 walkin

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

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. Farewell, my Lord. Greet your Lady.

Thank the Gods we seem to have some hopes of recovery. The diarrhoea is stopped, the feverish attacks got rid of; but the emaciation is extreme, and there is still some cough. You

Good heavens! how shocked I was on reading 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, wh

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 la

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 of mail and among the young men at th

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 tha

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

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, fo

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

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. Far

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.

I cannot see you, my Lord, till the day after tomorrow; 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 d

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

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. ? 148–149 A.D. To my

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 hop

I have been seized with very severe pains again in the other side of the groin. ? 148–149 A.D. Answer.

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.

Please acquaint your father with my illness. Tell me if you think I also should write to him. ? 148–149 A.D. Answer.

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. ? 148

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

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

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 deservedl

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

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 mor

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 reputa

Saenius Pompeianus, whom I have defended in many cases, since he took up the contract for farming the taxes of Africa, is from many causes a stand-by in my affairs. I commend him t

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 seco

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

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

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 wil

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 I am sure, that these words had the same author

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

I have had such a choleraic attack that I lost my voice, gasped and struggled for breath; finally, my circulation failed and the pulse being imperceptible I became unconscious; in

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, whic

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, you

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 have come to us, if you could have wa

While my attendants were carrying me here as usual from the baths in a sedan-chair, they dashed me somewhat carelessly against the scorching entrance to the bath. So my knee was bo

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 g

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. ? 154–156 A.D. To my maste

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 abo

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. ? 154–156 A.D. To 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. Fa

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 l

We too love Gratia the more for her likeness to you. 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 t

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

You also know, my master, what I on my part wish: that you should be hale and strong henceforth, and keep this your solemn day and all future ones for as many years as possible eit

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. ? 154–156 A.D. To my master.

I now learn what I wished first and foremost to hear. I gather from your letter that the feverishness has gone. Now, my master, as for the sore throat, it will be got rid of by a l

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 ha

. . . . . . . . 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, wh

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 concerned, ill-advised, since

I could 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 hours I am not keeping back or putting off

Even he would have no lack of plausible arguments who, in answer to the first of the propositions submitted by you, should object that private conduct ought not to conform to that

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,

You have acted, brother Contuccius, according to your never-failing habit and kindness in so effectually safeguarding the good name of Fabianus, a man of tried experience in civil

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 known to another friend and rendered int

Delight 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

I commend to you with all possible cordiality Julius Aquilinus, a man, if you have any faith in my judgment, most learned, most eloquent, exceptionally trained by the teachings of

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 mil

How great are my cares . . . . and I should much prefer the guardianship of our native country to be strengthened than my own interests. Wherefore my advice to you is to choose for

I have a serious complaint to make against you, my master, and yet that is not so great as my disappointment, that after so long a separation I did not embrace or speak to you, tho

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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I have read a little of Coelius and of Cicero's speech, but as it were by stealth, certainly by snatches, so closely does

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, an

. . . . My friend, I mean Calpurnius, and I are having 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 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 dinn

I will, 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 o

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 fr

I will 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 sev

In what holiday-wise we have kept our holiday at Alsium I will not put on paper, that you may not be yourself troubled and scold me, my master. On my return to Lorium I found my li

Your Alsian holiday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . of many rustic things. That Cato also in his speech Against Lepidus mentioned a word in everyo

What? Am I not aware that you went to Alsium with the intention of indulging yourself and there giving yourself up to recreation and mirth and complete leisure for four whole days?

I have just received your letter, which I will enjoy presently. For at the moment I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off. Meanwhile I will tell you, my master,

. . . . The God who begat the great Roman race has no compunction in suffering us to faint at times and be defeated and wounded. Or would Father Mars hesitate to say of our soldier

A good year, good health, good fortune do I ask of the Gods on this your birthday, a red-letter day for me, and I am assured that they will grant my prayer, for I commend to their

For this old man and, as you style him, your master, good health, a good year, good fortune, everything good, which you write you have prayed of the Gods for me on this my birthday

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What you enjoin may perhaps be right, but it is too late: nor indeed does age also permit all that reason demands . . . . Would you ma

. . . . to distinguish between the place, rank, weight, age, and dignity of words, that they may not be put together absurdly in a speech, as it might be in a drunken and confused

in a field previously trod by the foot of no one save Gaius Sallustius alone, you brought to light in a most choice dress and a most becoming setting a meaning hard to express and

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Neither a virgin that lisps may be chosen as a Vestal nor one that speaks indistinctly . . . . Words descriptive of stammerers to be variously e

Most things in your late speech, as far as the thoughts go, I consider were excellent, very few required alteration to the extent of a single word; some parts here and there were n

I was so distressed in mind that I could not . . . . But on the receipt of your letter, the very fact that you had written with your own hand raised my hopes at the outset; then ca

The figures in a speech are what most set off a speech. There are two kinds of figures, for there are verbal figures or figures of thought. Among the former are trope and metaphor.

You shall hear from me, my Pompeianus, the true state of the case; and I would ask you to accept it from me as the truth. It is nearly a year ago that I took that speech For the Bi

My very dear friend Pompeianus, read . . . . . . . . Venetus is for sale. You know that it is the perpetual fate of Venetus to be always going, never gone . . . . . . . . He writes

You have had then at home, my Naucellius, . . . . Our friendship has been on such a footing that we could dispense with these conventional services, assured of the reality of our l

I know not how it comes to pass . . . . all the provincials say; to do many things also more laboriously than the case itself requires: memoranda of the trials, lastly all letters

that children of the earth, as the saying goes, or rather of the gutter, should snatch the booty: that so much wealth from the treasuries of Antoninus should be thrown away for tha

So my master will now be my advocate also! Of a truth I can feel easy in my mind, when I have followed the two guides dearest to my heart, right reason and your opinion. God grant

At the time of the gold-test . . . . and to her Varian proteges of either sex she left a million sesterces apiece for them to enjoy as a life interest rather than for their own; fo

. . . . I will subjoin a few possibly unreasonable and unjust criticisms, for I will make you again have a taste of me as a master. And you are aware that all this company of maste

I have refrained from relating to you myself all that had necessarily to be set right or provided for in good time, or quickly remedied or carefully arranged. Make allowance for my

I have seen your little chicks, and a more welcome sight I shall never in my life see, so like in features to you that nothing can be more like than the likeness. I have absolutely

I saw my little sons, when you saw them; I saw you too, when I read your letter. I beseech you, my master, love me as you do love me; love me too even as you love those little ones

First done, then entered, say they who keep their books carefully. The same saying is applicable to this letter, which now at last answers your recent one to me. The reason of the

To my master, greeting. I have been unwell, my master . . . . To my Lord Antoninus Augustus. If you can walk yet . . . . To my master, greeting. I hasten to write, my master . .

since nothing is more to be counted upon and more readily given, my master, than the kindly construction you put upon our services in respect to yourself. Write then to my Lord, wh

From this moment, O Emperor, treat me as you please and as your feelings prompt you. Neglect me, or even despise me, in a word shew me no honour, put me, if you will, with the lowe

How great and long-standing is the intimacy which subsisted between me and Gavius Clarus is well known, I think, my Lord, to you. So often have I spoken of him from the fulness of

While enjoying this health-giving country air, I feel there is one great thing lacking, the assurance that you also are in good health, my master. That you make good that defect is

This is the fifth day since I have been seized with pain in all my limbs, but especially in my neck and groin. As far as I remember I have extracted from Cicero's letters only thos

. . . . a facility adapted to history, and not that restraint which is suitable for oratory; that these authors employed figures of speech also, which the Greeks call σχήματα, the

Antoninus Aquila is a learned man and an eloquent. But should you say, Have you heard him declaim? no, of a truth, I myself have not, but I take it in trust on the assurance of the

The letter, honoured son, which . . . . The Gods, if we deserve it, will deal kindly with my daughter and your wife. that all may go well, and will bless our household with childre

I have had severe pain in the eyes . . . . No pain or lumbago in the side or back came on. The Greeks call the back-bone ἱερὸν ὀστοῦν (the sacred bone): Suetonius Tranquillus calls

He has been brought to my notice by learned men and close friends of my own, whose personal wishes rightly have the greatest weight with me. Therefore, if you love me, accord to Vo

Health to my honoured and most dear son! just as I listen with willing and welcoming ears to those who are loudest in praise of your words and deeds in the administration of your p

I congratulate myself that for most men it is . . . . . . . . . . . . that I am looked up to by you quite as a parent. Consequently very many who desire your favour have recourse t

Aemilius Pius is endeared to me both by the refinement of his tastes and the absolute integrity of his character. I commend him to you, my brother. I am not unaware that hitherto w

Junius Maximus the tribune, who brought the laurelled letter, not only discharged his public mission with despatch, but also his private duty towards you with friendship, so unfail

In the matter of letters when I was vigorous . . . . From my earliest days I have paid but fitful attention to this duty and almost neglected it; and if I mistake not, there is no

they subjoined to their letters. What was done, however, after I had set out you can learn from the despatches sent me by the commanders entrusted with each business. Our friend Sa

and to the great exploits of your brother a history written in no perfunctory spirit would be likely to add some interest and celebrity, just as the blowing even of a light breeze

. . . . . . . . these great exploits wrought by you such as Achilles himself would fain have wrought and Homer written . . . . . . . . . . . . I am quite afraid that through some n

The Lord my brother desires that the speeches should be sent to him as soon as possible by me or by you. I should prefer, my master, for you to send them, and that you might have t

Meanwhile send me the speeches. In looking them through I will choose two to be sent to your brother. Fronto to Marcus Antoninus 165 A.D. To my Lord.

It is in keeping with all your other kindness towards me that you wish me to oblige my Lord your brother by sending him the speeches which he asked for. I have taken the liberty of

I have just heard of your misfortune. Suffering anguish as I do when a single joint of yours aches, my master, what pain do you think I feel when it is your heart that aches? Under

With many sorrows of this kind has Fortune afflicted me all my life long. For, not to mention my other calamities, I have lost five children under the most distressing circumstance

Worn out as I am with long-continued and more than usually distressing ill-health, and afflicted besides with the most distressing and almost uninterrupted sorrows, for in a very f

You are aware I am sure, my dearest master, even if I keep silence, how keenly I feel every trouble of yours however slight. But, indeed, since you have lost simultaneously both a

Although for a long while past with this ill-health of mine it has been pain and grief for me to live on, yet when I see you return with such great glory gained by your valour, I s

Why should I not picture to myself your joy, my master? Verily I seem to myself to see you hugging me tightly and kissing me many times affectionately . . . . Fronto to Lucius Ve

the honour would be missed, whereby equally everyone hankers after any honour bestowed on others. You gave me your approval and applauded my advice, and yet for more than three or

There is a bond of the closest intimacy between Sardius Saturninus and myself through his sons, young men of the highest culture, whom I have constantly under my roof. I recommend

Sardius Saturninus has a son Sardius Lupus, a learned and eloquent man, introduced to the Forum from my hearth and home, instructed by me in all the noble arts, a most assiduous he

I have been unable to condole with you, while the wound was still fresh, in your most terrible affliction, being myself prostrated even up till now with a dangerous illness, at whi

By our friend Ulpius . . . . (this) eulogizer of your probity and dignity, whom I desire you to send back to me speedily. For there is no one with whom I am on such intimate terms,

Yours has been a happier lot, my lord brother, for you have felt nervous for your son on the spot, than mine, who have had to endure my nervousness at home. For your nervousness wa