The Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto

Front matter

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY

EDITED BY

E. CAPPS, Ph.D., LL.D. T. E. PAGE, Litt.D. W. H. D. ROUSE, Litt.D.

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. M. Cornelii Frontonis Opera inedita cum Epistulis item ineditis Antonini Pii, M. Aurelii, L. Veri, et Appiani, necnon aliorum fragmentis. Invenit et commentario praevio notisque illustravit Angelica Maius. Pars prior. Pars altera,, cui adduntur seu edita seu cognita eiusdem Frontonis opera: Mediolani, regiis typis, 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 Maio primum editae: meliorem in ordinem digestas suisque et Ph. Buttmanni, L. F. Heindorfii ac selectis a Maii animadversionibus instructas iterum edidit B. G. Niebuhrius, C.F. Aecedunt Liber de Differentiis Vocabulorum et ab eodem a Maio primum edita Q. Aurelii Symmachi octo orationum fragmenta: Berolini, MDCCCXVI.

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 Epistulae: L. Veri et Antonini Pii et Appiani Epistularum reliquiae: Fragmenta Frontonis et Scripta Grammatica. Editio prima Romana plus centum epistulis aucta ex codice rescripto bibliothecae pontificiae Vaticanae, curante Angelo Maio: Romae, MDCCCXXIII.

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

4. Lettres inédites de Marc Aurèle et de Fronton retrouvées sur les palimpsestes de Milan H 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. 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 S. A. Naber brought out the serviceable edition, from which everyone has since derived his knowledge of Fronto. Its title was: M. Cornelii Frontonis et M. Aurelii Imperatoris Epistulae: L. Veri et T. Antonini Pii et Appiani Epistularum Reliquiae: post Angelum Maium cum, codicibus Ambrosiano et Vaticano iterum contulit G. N. du Rieu: recensuit 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 chronology 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.

(b) 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. D. 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 or 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 Hastings 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 Fronto and Marcus Aurelius. 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., Coniecturae et Animadversiones: Dublin, 1841. Observationes in Frontonem: Dublin, 1863, 1867. Anon., Index Phil. Leutschianus, i. 60 ff. Bährens, E., Fleckh. Jahrbuch, 105, pp. 632-4 (1872). Beck, J .W., De Different. Script. Latinis (on the De Nominum 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. "Über den aeltesten Handschriftenbestand des Klosters Bobbio." Beltrami, Ach., Le tendenze letterarie negli scritti di Frontone: Milan, 1907. "II 'numerus' e Frontone," in Riv. di fil. 36, 1906. See also Berl. Phil. Woch. xxx. 1; Bibl. Phil. Mass. 1908, p. 61; Classici e Neolatini, v. 1. Blase, H., Archiv f. lutein. Lexicographie (Wölfflin), 9, p. 491 (1896). Boissonade, Biographic Universelle, xvi. 121 ff.: article "Fronton." See also Cassan's translation of Fronto, ii. p. 382. Brakman, C, Frontoniana, Series i., ii.: Utrecht, 1902. Bursian-Miller, Jahresbcricht über die Fortschritte der klass. Alterthumswissenschaft. Berlin, 1873: 2, 1320; 7, 172; 18, 172; 27, 8; 40, 232; 55, 238-240; 84, 189, 192, 196-203. Cobet, C. G., Mnem. 3, p. 305 (1875) and 5, p. 232: see also Bursian-Miller, Jahresber. 2, 1320. Cornelissen, 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. d. 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. 24:3-253, 276-280. Dobson, J. F., Classical Quarterly, Jan. 1912. Droz, E., De M. Cornelii Frontonis institutione oratoria. Ebert, Ad., "De Frontonis Syntaxi," Acta Semin. phil. Erlangensis, ii. 311-354 (1881); Bl. f. d. bayr. Gymn.-wes. xix. 527-30 (1883). Eckstein, F. A., Allgemcine Encyclopädie (J. S. Ersch and J. G. Grüber), Section 1, Pt. 51, pp. 442 ff. See also Naber's edit. p. xxxiv. Egger, E., Fragmenta ad Stoicorum et rhetorum historiam congruentia, 1852. Ehrenthal, L., Quaestiones Frontonianae: Konigsberg, 1881. Eickstadt, Cornelii Frontonis Operum nuper in lucent protractorum 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., Ex antiqua historia literaria de M. Corn. Frontone et Frontonianorum secta rhetorica, Nuremberg, 1732. Friedländler, L., Darstellungen aus d. Siftengeschichte Roms. ii. 127 ff. Leipzig, 1901. Fröhner, W., Philol. Suppl. 5, pp. 49-52 (1889). Greef, A., Philol. 1876, pp. 682 ff. Haines, C. R., Classical Quarterly, Apr. 1914, "On the Chronology of the Fronto Correspondence": and ibid. Jan. 1915, "On the text of Fronto." Hauler, Edm.

Verh. d. 41 Vers. d. deut. Phil, in Köln (1895) , pp. 78-88, 338. "Vortrag über das Ergebnis der neuen Untersuchungen der Mailänder Frontoreste": Leipzig, 1896; ibid. 59 in Graz: Vienna, 1909 (Wiener Eranos). "Zum Sendschreiben des Catulus und über die Consilia des Asinius Pollio." Serta Harteliana, pp. 263-269: Vienna, 1896. Archiv. f. lateinische Lexicographie, x. 145: Leipzig, 1898; xv. 106-112 (1908). "Lepturgus and Chirurgus." Rhein. Mus. 54, Pt. 2, pp. 161-170 (1899). Festschrift Theod. Gomperz, pp. 392, 393: Vienna, 1902. Zeitsc. f. d. oesterr. Gymn. 54, pp. 32-37 (1903); 61, pp. 673-684: Vienna, 1910. Mélanges Boissier, pp. 243 ff.: Paris, 1903. Mitteil. d. könig. deutsch. archaeol. Instit. Rom. Abteil 19, pp. 317-321: Rome, 1904. "Fronto über Protogenes und Nealkes." Ver. d. 48 Versam. d. Philol. in Hamburg, pp. 51-53 (1905): Leipzig, 1906. "Bericht über dem Stand der Fronto Aufgabe." Miscellanea Ceriani, pp. 501-510: Milan, 1909. Wien. Studien, 22, pp. 140, 318 (1900). ,, ,, 23, p. 238 (1901). ,, ,, 24, It. 1, pp. 232, 519-22 (1902). ,, ,, 25, Pt. 1, pp. 162-4, 331 (1903). ,, ,, 26, p. 344 (1904). ,, ,, 27, Pt. 1, p. 146 (1905). ,, ,, 27, Pt. 2, p. 304 (1905). ,, ,, 28, Pt. 1, pp. 169, 170 (1906). ,, ,, 29, Pt. 1, pp. 172, 328 (1907). 29, Pt. 2, p. 328 (1907). ,, ,, 31, Pt. 1, pp. 179, 180, 259, 268-270 (1909). ,, ,, 32, Pt. 1, p. 160(1910). ,, ,, 32, Pt. 2, pp. 325, 326 (1910).

Hauler, Edm. (cont.)

Wien. Studien, 33, Pt, 1, pp. 173-176 (1911). ,, ,, 33, Pt. 2, p. 338 (1911). ,, ,, 34, Pt. 1, pp. 253-259 (1912). ,, ,, 35, pp. 398, 399 (1913). ,, ,, 36, pp. 342, 343 (1914). ,, ,, 37, pp. 187, 188 (1915). ,, ,, 38, Pt. 1, pp. 166-175 (1916). ,, ,, 38, Pt. 2, pp. 379-381 (1916). ,, ,, 39, pp. 132-134, 173-176 (1917). ,, ,, 39, Pt. 2, pp. 193 ff. (1917). ,, ,, 40, Pt. 1, p. 195 (1918). Festschrift Bormanni, pp. 287-290 (1902). Mélanges Emile Chatelain, pp. 622-627 (1910). Bibl. phil.-klass., p. 56 (1910): see Woch. f. klass. Phil. 36, p. 979 (1910). "Neues aus dem Fronto palimpsest."

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). "Le Reviseur du MS. de Fronton." Heinrich, C. F., Auctuarium emendationum in Frontonis reliquias ex edit. Berolin. 1817, Kiel. Hertz, M., Renaissance und Rococo in der röm. Litteratur: Berlin, 1865; Fleckh. Jahrbuch, 93, pp. 679, 580 (1866); Rhein. Mus. 1874, pp. 29, 367; Vindiciae Gellii Alterae, p. 23 adn. 52, 53; Program. Vratislav. 1873, De ludo talario; Philol. 1876, p. 757. Herwerden, N. van, Mnem. n.s. 1, pp. 223, 292-294 (1873); ibid. 31, p. 210. Hirschfield, O., apud Studemund, Epist. ad Klussm. xxxii. Jacobs, Fr., Wolfii Analecta, i. pp. 108 ff.; ii. pp. 246 ff.: Berlin, 1817-1818; Zimmermann, Diar. Antiq., p. 1019 (1838). Jahn, O., Rhein. Mus. 3, p. 156; Berl. Sächs. Gesellsch. 1851, pp. 360 ff. Jordan, H., Herm. 6, pp. 68-81 (1872). "Catulus de Consulatu; 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. Kiehl, E. J., Mnem. 2, pp. 225-227 (1874). Kiessling, Ad , ap. Studemund, Epist. ad Klussm. p. xxxiii. Klussmann, E. , Philol. 27, p. 240. Klussmann, R., Emendationum Frontoniarum particula: Göttingen, 1871; Emendat. Frontonianae cum Epistula Critica Guliclmi Studemundi ad R. Klussmann: Berlin, 1874. Fleck. Jahrbuch, 109, pp. 636-638 (1874); Progr. Gymn. Gerensis, 1877, Curae Africanae: Gera, 1883; Archiv.f. lat. Lexicographie (Wölfflin), 1893, pp. 134, 135. Kretschmer, Jul., De Gellii Fontibus (Arion), p. 103: Posen, 1860. Krüger, P., ap. Studemund, Epist. ad Klussm. pp. iii. , iv. Kübler, B., Archiv. f. lat. Lexicographie, vii. pp. 593 ff.; viii. pp. 161 ff. Mackail, J. W., Latin Literature, Pt. 3, ch. 5, pp. 232-238. Madvig, J. N., Adversaria Critica, ii. , pp 613 ff.: Copenhagen, 1873. Mähly, J., Philol. 17, pp. 176 ff. (1861); 19, pp. 159 ff. (1863). Meyer, H., Fragments of Roman Oratory, pp. 609 ff.: Zurich, 1842. Mommsen, Th., Herm. viii. pp. 198-217 (1874). "Die Chronologie der Briefe Frontonis." Müller, C. F. W., Fleck. Jahrbuch, 93, pp. 487 ff., 1866; 100, p. 350 (1873); Progr. Landsbergian., pp. 9 ff. (1865); Rhein. Mus. 20, p. 156. Müller, Er., Marc. Aurcl. in seinen Briefen an Fronto: Program, Ratibor,1869 (Festschr. z. hundertjährigen Stiftungsfeier d. könig. evang. Gymn.). Naber, S. A., Mnem. 2, pp. 225-227 (1874); ibid. 24, p. 396 (1896). Niebuhr, B. G., Scripta Minora, ii. pp. 50-72. Novák, R., Wien. Stud. 19, pp. 242-257 (1897). Listy filol. 1886, pp. 202 ff. Orelli. J. C., "Chrestomathia Frontoniana": Appendix to Tacitus, Dialogus, pp. 115 ff.: Zurich, 1830. Pater, W., Marius the Epicurean, 2 vols.: London, 1885. Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie, "Fronto." Pellini, S., "Frontone, Marco Aurelio e Lucio Vero"; Classici e Neolatini, 1 (1912), 2, pp. 220-248; Continuazione, ibid. 8 (1912), 3, pp. 442-475; "Aulo Gellio e Frontone," Classici e Neolatini, 8 (1912), 2, pp. 415-425. Peter, H., "Der Brief in der römischen Literatur": Abh. d. Philol. hist.-klass. d. Königl. Sächs. Gesellschaft d. Wissensch. 20: Leipzig, 1901. Philibert-Soupe, A., De Frontonis reliquiis: Amiens, 1851. Pierron, A., Hist, de la Littér. Latin, 1852, pp. 58, 60, 306, 345, 608. Priebe, C, De Frontone imitationem prisci sermonis Latini adfectante: Gymn. Progr. des Stadt-gyninasiums zu Stettin, 1885. Rasi, P., Riv. d. filol., 38, 4, pp. 545-7; Bollet. d. filol. class. xv. 7, pp. 3, 157-9. See also Woch. f. klass. phil. xxvi. 38, 1012-15. Reinhardt, L., De retractatione fabularum Plautinarum, Diss. inauguralis. Roth, F., Bemerkungen über die Schriften des M. Corn. Fronto und über das Zeitalter der Antonine: Munich, 1817 (Sammlung etlicher Vorträge, pp. 12-76: Munich, 1851). du Rieu, G. N., Schedae Vaticanae, 1868. Schafer, Arn., Philol. 26, pp. 574 ff. (1867); "De locis non-nullis Ciceronis, Plinii, Frontonis," Progr. Gymn. Vizihumiani Dresd., pp. 12-16, 1844. Schanz, M. von, Geschichte der römischen Literatur, iii. Fronto: Munich, 1890. Schenkl, K., Zeitschr. f. d. oest. Gymn., 26, pp. 30-34, 1875. Schneidewin, F. W., Philol. 10, p. 321 (1885). Schopen, L., Emendationes Frontonianae, Pts. 1, 2: Bonn, 1830, 1841. Schwierczina, Th., Frontoniana: Breslau, 1883. Sheppard, J. T., Wochenschrift f. klass. Phil., Feb. 1914: Berlin. Simcox, G. A., History of Latin Literature: London, 1867. Smiley, C. N., Latinitas and Ἑλληνισμός: Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin: Madison, Wisconsin, 1906. Steele, R. B., "Chiasmus in the Epistles of Cicero, Seneca, Pliny and Fronto"; Studies in honour of B. Gildersleeve: Baltimore, 1902. Ablative absolute in the same writers: American Journ. of Phil., 25, pp. 315-327 (1904). Still, K., "Archaismus": Comment. Wolfflinianae, pp. 407 ff. Studemund, W., Epistula ad P. Klussmann: Berlin, 1874, and passim throughout the latter's Emendat. Frontonianae; Annales Livian., 1873, p. 11: Leipzig; Annal. Philol. (= Fleckh. Jahrbuch), 1868, p. 5-1 9; Wien. Stud., 31, Pt. i., p. 259 (1909). See also Hauler above (Verh. d. 48 Versam. d. Phil., 1905). Talbot, E., De ludicris apud veteres laudationibus, 1850. Teuffel, W. S., Geschichte der römischen Literatur, ii. § 355, pp. 212-218. English translation by G. C. W. Warr, 1900. Usener, Herm., Fleckh. Jahrb., 91, pp. 267, 268 (1865). Vahlen, J., Zeitsch. f. d. oest. Gymn., 19, p. 10 (1868); Hermes, 1876, p. 458; Cn. Naevii reliquiae, pp. 6 ff.; Ad Ennium, p. xix. f. Vallaurius, Th., Critica Latinarum litterarum historia,: Zurich, 1851. Valmaggi, L, Quaestiones Frontonianae: Ivrea, 1889; I precursori di Frontone: Ivrea, 1887; Riv. di fil. 36, p. 312, April, 1908 (review of Beltrami's Le tendenze etc., see above). Volkmann. R., Die Rhetorik der Griechen und Römer, pp. 354, 427: Leipzig, 1885. Warren, Minton, "On a literary judgment of Fronto"; Trans. and Proceed. Amer. Phil. Assoc., 43: Boston, 1894. Westermann, A., Geschichte der Beredsamkeit in Griechenland und Rom, 2 Parts: Leipzig, 1833-5. W., C., Berl. Wochenschrift f. klass. Phil., 1900 and 1904.

Footnotes

Chronological Table

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

| A.D.

| 100 | (or a year or two earlier). M. Cornelius Fronto, born at Cirta.

| Circa | | 103, | end of Aug. Domitia Lucilla, mother of Marcus, the daughter of P. Calvisius Tullus, born.

| 117. | Accession of Hadrian on August 11.

| Circa | | 120. | Marriage of Lucilla to Annius Verus.

| 121, | 26th April. Birth of M. Annius Verus (Marcus Aurelius) in the Horti Vectiliani on Mount Caelius.

| Circa | | 123. | Cornificia, the sister of Marcus, born.

| 127. | Marcus enrolled among the Knights.

| 129. | Marcus made Salic priest.

| 130, | 13 Dec. Birth of L. Ceionius Commodus (Lucius Verus).

| 133. | Marcus professes Stoicism.

| 135. | Marcus assumes the toga virilis. Death of his father, M. Annius Verus, aged about 45.

| 136. | Marcus made praefectus feriis. Contracted to Faustina.

| 138. | M. Annius Verus and L. Catilius Severus, grandfathers of Marcus, died. 25 Feb. Antoninus Pius (T. Aurelius Boionius Arrius Fulvus Antoninus, born 19 Sept. 86), chosen as Hadrian's successor, on condition of adopting M. Aurelius and Lucius Verus as his successors. 10 July. Death of Hadrian. 5 Dec. Marcus quaestor.

| 139. | Marcus sevir turmae, member of all the Sacred Colleges, xv vir de sacris faciundis and vii vir Epulonum. Fronto appointed tutor to Marcus. Marcus made Caesar.

| 140. | Death of Faustina the elder, wife of Pius. Marcus, consul.

| 142. | Probable date of trial of Herodes.

| 143. | Herodes consul of the year: Fronto cons. suff. for July and Aug. Makes his speech of thanks on Aug. 13.

| 145. | Marcus and Faustina married. Marcus consul II. Becomes Magister Fratrum Arvalium. Verus assumes the toga virilis.

| 145 | | or 146. | Birth of Annia Galeria (Aurelia) Faustina, daughter of Marcus.

| 146. | Marcus discards rhetoric for philosophy.

| 147. | Trib. pot. (from Dec. 10, 146) granted to Marcus. Marcus made Pontifex. Verus made Caesar. Faustina made Augusta. Birth and death of Titus Aelius Antoninus, son of Marcus.

| 148. | Birth of Annia Lucilla, daughter of Marcus. Vota decennalia of Pius. Nine hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Rome.

| Circa | | 150. | Annia Fadilla, daughter of Marcus, born.

| Circa | | 152. | Tit. Aurelius Antoninus and Tit. Aelius Aurelius, born: both died before 161.

| 153. | Lucius Verus made quaestor.

| 154. | Lucius Verus consul. Fronto elected proconsul of Asia, but obliged to give up the appointment owing to ill-health.

| Circa | | 155. | Birth of Domitia Faustina, who died before 161.

| Circa | | 159. | Cornificia, daughter of Marcus, born.

| 160. | Fronto's daughter Gratia married Viotorinus.

| 161, | 7 March. Death of Pius, at Lorium, aged 74. Marcus succeeds as M. Aurelius Antoninus, and at once associates Lucius Aurelius Verus with himself in accordance with Hadrian's stipulation. Both consuls for this year. Avidius Cassius cons. suff. 31 Aug. Birth of twins, L. Aurelius Commodus and Antoninus Geminus. Destruction of a Roman force under Severianus Maximus by the Parthians at Elegeia.

| 162. | Victorinus appointed Governor of Germany. Lucius sets out for the Parthian war, falls ill on the way at Canusium.

| 163. | M. Aurelius Verus born (or the year before). Artaxata captured by Statius Priscus. Marcus Imp. II. Lucius Imp. II. and Armeniacus.

| 164. | Marcus Armeniacus. Lucius marries Lucilla, daughter of Marcus, at Ephesus.

| 165. | Avidius Cassius takes Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Dausara, Nicephorium, and Nisibis. Marcus Imp. III. Lucius Imp. III. and Parthicus Maximus.

| 166. | Marcus Imp. IV. Lucius Imp. IV. and Medicus. He returns to Rome. Probable year of Fronto's death. Birth of Vibia Aurelia Sabina, last child of Marcus. Invasion of North Italy by the barbarians: and the ravages of the pestilence.

| 167. | Marcus and Lucius Patres Patriae. Marcus receives the title of Medicus. Marcus and Lucius take the field against the barbarians.

| 168. | Marcus and Lucius Impp. V.

| 169. | Death of Verus at the end of January, at Altinum. Marcus Imp. VI. Death of Annius Verus Caesar at Praeneste.

| 170. | Trial of Herodes at Sirmium.

| 172. | Marcus takes title Germanicus.

| 174. | Marcus Imp. VII. The "Miraculous Victory."

| 175. | Marcus takes title Sarmaticus. Imp. VIII. Revolt of Cassius. Death of Faustina, winter of 175-176.

| 176. | Commodus receives the trib. pot. and is associated next year in the Empire.

| 177. | Marcus Imp. IX.

| 179. | Marcus Imp. X.

| 180, | 17 March. Death of Marcus at Sirmium or Vienna.

Fronto, the Orator and the Man

FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN

Almost all that we know of Fronto is drawn from the book before us. The probable date of his birth is 100 A.D., and in any case before 113 A.D. 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 Letters, 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. 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.

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 consulship 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. But he confesses 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 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 provincial 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 intellectual salons of the time, where questions of literature and archaeology were habitually discussed. He is there seen surrounded by all the great authors 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 specimen, 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 causidicatio. 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, 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. 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 Demostrato Petitiano; 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 conversant 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 almost the heyday of Roman Law. Not but that Fronto was, first and foremost, an orator, whose object is not justice but persuasion. It cannot be denied that in the extract from the speech on wills he indulges 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 attainments.

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 to a 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 essential 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 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. Thucydides was a thorough archaist, and so was Vergil, and Sallust was eminently one. As the cramping 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 littérateur 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. Fronto's attitude somewhat resembled that of Rossetti, who declares that "he has been reading early English ballads in search of stunning 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 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.