M. CORNELIUS FRONTO
sender did not neglect to send, and the recipient did not disdain, the gift. But I would ask, pressing you perhaps rather hard, how can I receive with delight the slaves sent from you, whereas you would not have accepted an identical present, had I sent it? . . . .[† 1] It would have been Glaucus[1] of old over again . . . .[† 2] "exchanging gold for bronze and a hundred oxen's worth for that of nine." For it is inevitable that the exchanger of presents should either send in return gifts of much greater value and, as Homer testifies, seem bereft of his senses by Zeus, or act inequitably by sending a meaner gift in return. The third and most equitable rule is to requite what is sent according to the same measure and with equal gifts.[2] He that did this would be as like as possible to me, for I am sending back the very things that were sent.
But enough of this pleasantry from a friend to a very dear friend. The cost of the keep of these slaves will now, if you calculate it, give you a little the best of the bargain
Fronto to Lollianus Avitus,[3] greeting.
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, who have shared my home with me, whom I could easily prefer to my
- ↑ Hom. Il. vi. 236.
- ↑ cp. Hesiod, W. and D. 349, 354: εὖ μὲν μετρεῖσθαι παρὰ γείτονος, εὖ δ᾽ ἀποδοῦναι | αὐτῷ τῷ μέτρῳ
- ↑ Proconsul of Africa 156–159. Apuleius also (Apol. 94 f.) wrote to Avitus a letter of recommendation, eulogizing him in language that reminds us of Fronto.
