Page:Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto volume 2 Haines 1920.djvu/185

 14. ''By these events the state was stirred to its depths, and the face of the city transformed for us: from the height of luxury and licentiousness, the outcome of a long-standing peace, all were suddenly seized with gloom; there was hurry, there was confusion, and no place, no person, was quite trusted; they were not at war, they were not enjoying peace; each man made his own alarm the measure of his danger. Moreover the women, unused to the fear of war, by reason of the greatness of the state, worried themselves, raised suppliant hands to heaven, bemoaned their little children, questioned everything, quaked at every rumour, snatched at every bit of news, and forgetting their pride and their pleasures, were despondent for themselves and their country.''

15. Sketch of the insubordination of the people and their excesses:

For in a state those who have no wealth of their own invariably envy the better classes, glorify the bad, hate what is old, hanker after change; from discontent with their own condition, they are eager for a revolution; disorder and public discord provide them with subsistence without any effort of their own, since poverty is easily maintained without loss.

? 164 A.D.

to Aufidius Victorinus, greeting.

Antoninus Aquila is a learned man and an eloquent. But should you say, Have you heard him 169

