Page:Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto volume 1 Haines 1919.djvu/367

 free from the cares that beset me; also if you have any extracts from Lucretius or Ennius, sonorous lines if possible, and any that give the impress of character.

161 A.D.

Fronto to my Lord Antoninus Augustus.

Verily, since the creation of mankind and their endowment with speech let me be held the most eloquent of all men, since you, Marcus Aurelius, study my writings and esteem them, and do not think it useless or unprofitable to yourself in the midst of such great affairs to spend your valuable time in reading my speeches.

But if it is your love for me which makes you delight even in my abilities, most blest am I in that I am so dear to you as to seem even eloquent in your | eyes; or if it is your real judgment and considered opinion that makes you so think, then shall I have every right to seem eloquent to myself since I seem so to you.

I am, however, not in the least surprised that you have found pleasure in reading the praises of your father, which I uttered in the Senate when consul designate and again when I had taken up the office. For you would listen even to the Parthians and Iberians in their own tongue, so they but praised your father, as if they were most consummate orators. It was not my speech you admired but your father's virtues, nor was it the words of the praiser but the deeds of the praised that you praised. 303