Page:Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto volume 1 Haines 1919.djvu/173

 For not being able to win credit for your praise of me by reason of your signal partiality in my case you sought to make it credible by throwing in some abuse. But happy am I that I am thought worthy of blame no less than of praise by my Marcus Cornelius, greatest of orators and best of men! What shall I say of your letter so kind, so true, so loving?—true, that is, as far as the first part of its contents goes, but for the rest, where you express approval of me, as some Greek, Theophrastus I think, says, the lover is blind to the faults of his loved one, so have you been almost blinded by love in your judgment of some of my work. But so greatly do I value the fact that, though I do not write well, I should yet be praised by you for no desert of mine, but only because of your love for me, of which you have lately sent me such numerous and such happily-worded assurances that, since you wish it, I will be something. At all events, your letter had the effect of making me feel how much you loved me. But as to my despondency, nevertheless, I am still nervous in mind and a little depressed, lest I shall have said something in the Senate to-day, such that I should not deserve to have you as my master. Farewell, my Fronto, my—what shall I say but—best of friends.

July, 143 A.D.

To my Lord.

1. In your last letter you ask me why I have not delivered my speech in the Senate. Well, I 109