M. CORNELIUS FRONTO
for myself a coin of Antoninus or Commodus[1] or Pius? Those old words are stained and contaminated and discoloured and spotted, aye, more spotted than a nurse's apron. There is need, therefore, of all your pains to render your language, if possible, current coin; be ever on the look-out for some word, not one coined by you, for that, indeed, is an absurdity, but used by you more elegantly or more aptly or more happily than by others.[2]
13. Says Sallust: Such reverent regard[3] and affection did our ancestors have for the Italian race. This word antiquitas is often used, but nowhere employed in that sense,[4] and therefore is not properly correct. For it is commonly said that what is preferable is antiquius. Thence undoubtedly did Sallust derive his use of antiquitas itself; and, since a word that is less usual is also less clear, he interpreted it by means of the following word, antiquitatis curaeque.
In this way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In the mouths of the people words of this kind have hitherto always been in vogue; Accius, Plautus, Sallust very often, even occasionally Cicero, (use them) . . . .[† 1]
- ↑ This mention of Commodus is difficult. He was named Caesar in 166, but did not become emperor till 177. Though the father of Lucius Verus was Commodus, the latter could not have been called Commodus. Perperna was consul 130 B.C. There is a coin of the Gens Trebanvia extant; see Eckhel, v. 326.
- ↑ Fronto says: Follow the older writers. The Senecan style is as catching as the itch. There is purer metal in the older coins. What, not prefer a coin of Antoninus! Of course the older words are worn and discoloured with age and want careful handling to justify their use.
- ↑ From Sallust's Hist. Lib. I. says Hauler. Servius quotes the passage on Verg. Georg. ii. 209.
- ↑ Cicero seems to use it so.
I 2
- ↑ The lacunae cover more than a column.
