Page:Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto volume 2 Haines 1920.djvu/305



the more interesting part of the Fronto correspondence is that which contains the letters of Marcus and Pius. But we cannot fairly judge of their epistolary style from these alone. Philostratus says that "in his opinion the best letter writers for style were of kings the deified Marcus in the letters he wrote himself, for the firmness  of his character was reflected in his writing by his choice of language; and of orators Herodes the Athenian, though by his over-atticism and prolixity he often oversteps the bounds proper to the epistolary style."

Marcus was a prolific letter-writer. According to Capitolinus he defended himself against calumny by letters. To his friends he sometimes, as we see below, wrote three times in one day. On one occasion he tells us that he had dictated thirty letters, but these were probably official correspondence. Nearly 200 of his imperial rescripts are extant, which though interesting would be out of place here. Many are in 289 VOL. II.