Marcus Cornelius Fronto→Marcus Aurelius|c. 161 AD|Marcus Cornelius Fronto|From Rome (career hub)|To Rome (career hub)|AI-assisted
To my Lord Antoninus Augustus, from Fronto.
1. Surely, of all men since human beings were first born and first spoke, let me be reckoned the most eloquent, seeing that you, Marcus Aurelius, read my writings again and again and approve of them, and judge it neither useless nor unprofitable to yourself to take up, even amid affairs so great, the hours you might have spent for your own gain in reading my speeches as well. 2. Now, if it is love that moves you, and you take delight even in my talent, then I am the most fortunate of men, that I am so dear to you as to seem even eloquent in your eyes; but if you genuinely judge it so, and so decree by your verdict and the considered opinion of your mind, then I too shall now rightly seem eloquent to myself, since I seem so to you. 3. That you have read with pleasure the praises of your father which I delivered in the Senate when I was consul designate and again when I had entered upon the consulship, I am not in the least surprised. For you would listen even to Parthians and Iberians praising your father in their own tongue as though they were the greatest of orators; and it was not my speech but your father's virtue that you admired, nor did you praise the words of the one who praised, but the deeds of the one who was praised. 4. As for the praises of yourself, too, which I brought forth in the Senate on that same day, I would have you think of them in this way: that there was then in you an exceptional natural gift, but now the highest excellence; then the crop blossoming in the field, but now the harvest brought to perfection and stored in the granary; then I was hoping, now I possess: hope has turned into reality. 5. But as for what you asked me to send you, when I had received your <...> [several pages are missing]
Marcus Antoninus 161 A.D. 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 I 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. 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 I 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 . . . .
ad Anton.Imp. 4.2 [105 Hout; 1.302 Haines]
Domino meo Antonino Augusto Fronto.
1 Ne ego post homines natos et locutos omnium facundissimus habear, cum tu, M. Aureli, mea scripta lectitas et probas et lucrativa tua in tantis negotiis tempora meis quoque orationibus legendis occupara non inutile tibi arbitraris nec infructuosum. 2 Quodsive amore inductus etiam ingenio meo delectaris, beatissimus equidem sum, quod tibi tam sum carus, ut esse videar etiam disertus; sive ita censes atque ita judicio tuo et animi sententia decernis, mihi quoque jam disertus jure videbor, quoniam videar tibi. 3 Quod vero patris tui laudes a me in senatu designato et inito consulatu meo dictas legisti libenter, minime miror. namque tu Parthos etiam et Hiberos sua lingua patrem tuum laudantis pro summis oratoribus audias, nec meam orationem, sed patris tui virtutem miratus es nec laudatoris verba, sed laudati facta laudasti. 4 De tuis etiam laudibus, quas in senatu eadem illa die protuli, ita sentias velim: Tunc in te eximiam indolem fuisse, nunc summam virtutem; frugem tunc in segete florentem, nunc messim perfectam et horreo conditam; sperabam tunc, habeo nunc: Spes in rem convertit.
5 Quod autem mitti a me tibi postulasti acceptis <...>
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To my Lord Antoninus Augustus, from Fronto.
1. Surely, of all men since human beings were first born and first spoke, let me be reckoned the most eloquent, seeing that you, Marcus Aurelius, read my writings again and again and approve of them, and judge it neither useless nor unprofitable to yourself to take up, even amid affairs so great, the hours you might have spent for your own gain in reading my speeches as well. 2. Now, if it is love that moves you, and you take delight even in my talent, then I am the most fortunate of men, that I am so dear to you as to seem even eloquent in your eyes; but if you genuinely judge it so, and so decree by your verdict and the considered opinion of your mind, then I too shall now rightly seem eloquent to myself, since I seem so to you. 3. That you have read with pleasure the praises of your father which I delivered in the Senate when I was consul designate and again when I had entered upon the consulship, I am not in the least surprised. For you would listen even to Parthians and Iberians praising your father in their own tongue as though they were the greatest of orators; and it was not my speech but your father's virtue that you admired, nor did you praise the words of the one who praised, but the deeds of the one who was praised. 4. As for the praises of yourself, too, which I brought forth in the Senate on that same day, I would have you think of them in this way: that there was then in you an exceptional natural gift, but now the highest excellence; then the crop blossoming in the field, but now the harvest brought to perfection and stored in the granary; then I was hoping, now I possess: hope has turned into reality. 5. But as for what you asked me to send you, when I had received your <...> [several pages are missing]
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ad Anton.Imp. 4.2 [105 Hout; 1.302 Haines] Domino meo Antonino Augusto Fronto. 1 Ne ego post homines natos et locutos omnium facundissimus habear, cum tu, M. Aureli, mea scripta lectitas et probas et lucrativa tua in tantis negotiis tempora meis quoque orationibus legendis occupara non inutile tibi arbitraris nec infructuosum. 2 Quodsive amore inductus etiam ingenio meo delectaris, beatissimus equidem sum, quod tibi tam sum carus, ut esse videar etiam disertus; sive ita censes atque ita judicio tuo et animi sententia decernis, mihi quoque jam disertus jure videbor, quoniam videar tibi. 3 Quod vero patris tui laudes a me in senatu designato et inito consulatu meo dictas legisti libenter, minime miror. namque tu Parthos etiam et Hiberos sua lingua patrem tuum laudantis pro summis oratoribus audias, nec meam orationem, sed patris tui virtutem miratus es nec laudatoris verba, sed laudati facta laudasti. 4 De tuis etiam laudibus, quas in senatu eadem illa die protuli, ita sentias velim: Tunc in te eximiam indolem fuisse, nunc summam virtutem; frugem tunc in segete florentem, nunc messim perfectam et horreo conditam; sperabam tunc, habeo nunc: Spes in rem convertit. 5 Quod autem mitti a me tibi postulasti acceptis <...> [plurimae paginae desunt]