M. CORNELIUS FRONTO
has gone. Now, my master, as for the sore throat, it will be got rid of by a little abstinence, and we shall soon have better news from you. Farewell, my most delightful of masters. My mother[1] greets you.
Fronto to Antoninus Pius Augustus.
1. 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 have them follow, if not our principles yet at least our advice on every occasion. But since each man's own character governs his life, I can only confess that I am sorry my friend Niger Censorius[2] used such intemperate language in his will, in which he made me his heir. If I claimed to clear him by justifying his action, I should be unprincipled; I should be disloyal to my friend if I did not at least say what I could in his excuse.
2. It cannot be denied that Niger Censorius was unrestrained and ill-advised in his language, but at the same time in many respects he was an honest man and manly and blameless. It will accord with your clemency, Imperator, if you set his other creditable actions against his solitary misconduct in word.
3. When I first came to be his friend, his strenuous
- ↑ Lucilla, the mother of Marcus, died about 156. This is the last mention of her.
- ↑ Nothing is known of Censorius, but Gavius Maximus, whom he attacked, probably died in 157. The tone of this letter is much more formal and less familiar than the previous ones to Pius, and this may be evidence of an earlier date. But Fronto had a difficult task to perform, and his letter is a model of tact.
