Meditations
unmolested, but merely stipulates for a fair trial on the merits of the
case.
[6] Ad. M. Caes., iii. 5.
Another example may be given from a letter of Fronto's[7] Here is
something else quarrelsome and querulous. I have sometimes found fault
with you in your absence somewhat seriously in the company of a few
of my most intimate friends: at times, for example, when you mixt in
society with a more solemn look than was fitting, or would read books
in the theatre or in a banquet; nor did I absent myself from theatre
or banquet when you did.[8] Then I used to call you a hard man, no good
company, even disagreeable, sometimes, when anger got the better of me.
But did any one else in the same banquet speak against you, I could
not endure to hear it with equanimity. Thus it was easier for me to say
something to your disadvantage myself, than to hear others do it; just
as I could more easily bear to chastise my daughter Gratia, than to see
her chastised by another.'
[7] Ad. M. Caes., iv. 12.
[8] The text is obscure
The affection between them is clear from every page of the
correspondence. A few instances are now given, which were written at
different periods
To MY MASTER.[9]
'This is how I have past the last few days. My sister was suddenly
seized with an internal pain, so violent that I was horrified at her
looks; my mother in her trepidation on that account accidentally
bruised her side on a corner of the wall; she and we were greatly
troubled about that blow. For myself; on going to rest I found a
scorpion in my bed; but I did not lie down upon him, I killed him
first. If you are getting on better, that is a consolation. My mother
is easier now, thanks be to God. Good-bye, best and sweetest master. My
lady sends you greeting.'
[9] Ad M. Caes., v. 8.
[10]'What words can I find to fit my had luck, or how shall I upbraid as
it deserves the hard constraint which is laid upon me? It ties me fast
here, troubled my heart is, and beset by such anxiety; nor does it allow
me to make haste to my Fronto, my life and delight, to be near him at
such a moment of ill-health in particular, to hold his hands, to chafe
gently that identical foot, so far as may be done without discomfort, to
attend him in the bath, to support his steps with my arm.'
[10] Ad M. Caes., i. 2.
[11]'This morning I did not write to you, because I heard you were
better, and because I was myself engaged in other business, and I
cannot ever endure to write anything to you unless with mind at ease and
untroubled and free. So if we are all right, let me know: what I desire,
you know, and how properly I desire it, I know. Farewell, my master,
always in every chance first in my mind, as you deserve to be. My
master, see I am not asleep, and I compel myself to sleep, that you may
not be angry with me. You gather I am writing this late at night.'
[11] iii. 21.
[12]'What spirit do you suppose is in me, when I remember how long it
is since I have seen you, and why I have not seen you! and it may be
I shall not see you for a few days yet, while you are strengthening
yourself; as you must. So while you lie on the sick-bed, my spirit also
will lie low anti, whenas,[13] by God's mercy you shall stand upright,
my spirit too will stand firm, which is now burning with the strongest
desire for you. Farewell, soul of your prince, your pupil.'
[14]O my dear Fronto, most distinguished Consul! I yield, you have
conquered: all who have ever loved before, you have conquered out and
out in love's contest. Receive the victor's wreath; and the herald
shall proclaim your victory aloud before your own tribunal: "M.
Cornelius Fronto, Consul, wins, and is crowned victor in the Open
International Love-race."[15] But beaten though I may be, I shall
neither slacken nor relax my own zeal. Well, you shall love me more
than any man loves any other man; but I, who possess a faculty of
loving less strong, shall love you more than any one else loves you;
more indeed than you love yourself. Gratia and I will have to fight for
it; I doubt I shall not get the better of her. For, as Plautus says,
her love is like rain, whose big drops not only penetrate the dress,
but drench to the very marrow.'
[12] Ad M. Caes., iii. 19.
[13] The writer sometimes uses archaisms such as _quom_, which I render
'whenas'.
[14] Ad M. Caes., ii. 2.
[15] The writer parodies the proclamation at the Greek games; the words
also are Greek.
Marcus Aurelius seems to have been about eighteen years of age when
the correspondence begins, Fronto being some thirty years older.[16] The
systematic education of the young prince seems to have been finisht, and
Pronto now acts more as his adviser than his tutor. He recommends
the prince to use simplicity in his public speeches, and to avoid
affectation.[17] Marcus devotes his attention to the old authors who then
had a great vogue at Rome: Ennius, Plautus, Nævius, and such orators
as Cato and Gracchus.[18] Pronto urges on him the study of Cicero, whose
letters, he says, are all worth reading.
[16] From internal evidence: the letters are not arranged in order of
time. See Naher's _Prolegomena_, p. xx. foll.
[17] Ad M. Caes., iii. x.
[18] Ad M. Caes ii. 10,; iii. 18,; ii. 4.
When he wishes to compliment Marcus he declares one or other of his
letters has the true Tullian ring. Marcus gives his nights to reading
when he ought to be sleeping. He exercises himself in verse composition
and on rhetorical themes.
'It is very nice of you,' he writes to Fronto,[19] 'to ask for my
hexameters; I would have sent them at once if I had them by me. The fact
is my secretary, Anicetus-you know who I mean-did not pack up any of my
compositions for me to take away with me. He knows my weakness; he was
afraid that if I got hold of them I might, as usual, make smoke of them.
However, there was no fear for the hexameters. I must confess the truth
to my master: I love them. I study at night, since the day is taken up
with the theatre. I am weary of an evening, and sleepy in the daylight,
and so I don't do much. Yet I have made extracts from sixty books, five
volumes of them, in these latter days. But when you read remember
that the "sixty" includes plays of Novius, and farces, and some little
speeches of Scipio; don't be too much startled at the number. You
remember your Polemon; but I pray you do not remember Horace, who has
died with Pollio as far as I am concerned.[20] Farewell, my dearest
and most affectionate friend, most distinguished consul and my beloved
master, whom I have not seen these two years. Those who say two months,
count the days. Shall I ever see you again?'
[19] Ad M. Caes., ii. 10.
[20] He implies, as in i. 6, that he has ceased to study Horace.
Sometimes Fronto sends him a theme to work up, as thus: 'M. Lucilius
tribune of the people violently throws into prison a free Roman citizen,
against the opinion of his colleagues who demand his release. For this
act he is branded by the censor. Analyse the case, and then take both
sides in turn, attacking and defending.'[21] Or again: 'A Roman consul,
doffing his state robe, dons the gauntlet and kills a lion amongst
the young men at the Quinquatrus in full view of the people of Rome.
Denunciation before the censors.'[22] The prince has a fair knowledge of
Greek, and quotes from Homer, Plato, Euripides, but for some reason
Fronto dissuaded him from this study.[23] His _Meditations_ are written in
Greek. He continued his literary studies throughout his life, and after
he became emperor we still find him asking his adviser for copies of
Cicero's Letters, by which he hopes to improve his vocabulary.[24] Pronto
helps him with a supply of similes, which, it seems, he did not think of
readily. It is to be feared that the fount of Marcus's eloquence was
pumped up by artificial means.
[21] Pollio was a grammarian, who taught Marcus.
[22] Ad M. Caes., v. 27,; V. 22.
[23] Ep. Gracae, 6.
[24] Ad Anton. Imp., II. 4.
Some idea of his literary style may be gathered from the letter which
follows:[25]
'I heard Polemo declaim the other day, to say something of things
sublunary. If you ask what I thought of him, listen. He seems to me an
industrious farmer, endowed with the greatest skill, who has cultivated
a large estate for corn and vines only, and indeed with a rich return
of fine crops. But yet in that land of his there is no Pompeian fig or
Arician vegetable, no Tarentine rose, or pleasing coppice, or thick
grove, or shady plane tree; all is for use rather than for pleasure,
such as one ought rather to commend, but cares not to love.
[25] Ad M. Caes, ii. 5.
A pretty bold idea, is it not, and rash judgment, to pass censure on a
man of such reputation? But whenas I remember that I am writing to you,
I think I am less bold than you would have me.
'In that point I am wholly undecided.
'There's an unpremeditated hendecasyllable for you. So before I begin to
poetize, I'll take an easy with you. Farewell, my heart's desire, your
Verus's best beloved, most distinguisht consul, master most sweet.
Farewell I ever pray, sweetest soul.
What a letter do you think you have written me I could make bold to
say, that never did she who bore me and nurst me, write anything SO
delightful, so honey-sweet. And this does not come of your fine style
and eloquence: otherwise not my mother only, but all who breathe.'
To the pupil, never was anything on earth so fine as his master's
eloquence; on this theme Marcus fairly bubbles over with enthusiasm.
[26]'Well, if the ancient Greeks ever wrote anything like this, let
those who know decide it: for me, if I dare say so, I never read any
invective of Cato's so fine as your encomtum. O if my Lord[27] could be
sufficiently praised, sufficiently praised he would have been
undoubtedly by you! This kind of thing is not done nowadays.[28] It
were easier to match Pheidias, easier to match Apelles, easier in a
word to match Demosthenes himself, or Cato himself; than to match this
finisht and perfect work. Never have I read anything more refined,
anything more after the ancient type, anything more delicious, anything
more Latin. O happy you, to be endowed with eloquence so great! O happy
I, to be tinder the charge of such a master! O arguments,[29] O
arrangement, O elegance, O wit, O beauty, O words, O brilliancy, O
subtilty, O grace, O treatment, O everything! Mischief take me, if you
ought not to have a rod put in your hand one day, a diadem on your
brow, a tribunal raised for you; then the herald would summon us
all-why do I say "us"? Would summnon all, those scholars and orators:
one by one you would beckon them forward with your rod and admonish
them. Hitherto I have had no fear of this admonition; many things help
me to enter within your school. I write this in the utmost haste; for
whenas I am sending you so kindly a letter from my Lord, what needs a
longer letter of mine? Farewell then, glory of Roman eloquence, boast
of your friends, magnifico, most delightful man, most distinguished
consul, master most sweet.
[26] Ad M. Caes., ii. 3.
[27] The Emperor Antoninus Pius is spoken of as _dominus meus_.
[28] This sentence is written in Greek.
[29] Several of these words are Greek, and the meaning is not quite
clear.
'After this you will take care not to tell so many fibs of me,
especially in the Senate. A monstrous fine speech this is! O if I could
kiss your head at every heading of it! You have looked down on all with
a vengeance. This oration once read, in vain shall we study, in vain
shall we toil, in vain strain every nerve. Farewell always, most sweet
master.'
Sometimes Fronto descends from the heights of eloquence to offer
practical advice; as when he suggests how Marcus should deal with his