M. CORNELIUS FRONTO
M. Aurelius to Fronto
To my master.
. . . . . . . . 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 poet[3] says. Farewell, my—all in all—master. I love myself at the thought of seeing you.
Fronto to Marcus as Caesar
To my Lord.
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.[4]
- ↑ Perhaps the phrase means "belittle" or "make light of a thing."
- ↑ Hauler (Wien. Stud. 25, pt. 1, 1903) takes differunt as = differuntur, a Plautine usage.
- ↑ Homer, see above p. 94.
- ↑ 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.
