Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/839

 F R O F R 803 1857; Une Annee dans le Sahel, 1858; and Les Maltres d aiitrefois, 187C. In 187G be was an unsuccessful candi date for the Academy. Ho died suddenly at La Rochelle on the 27th August 187G. FRONDE, WAR OF THE (1648-1652). See FRANCE (p. 572) and CONDE. FRONTINUS, SEXTUS JULIUS, a Roman soldier, and the author of some interesting works, was born of a patrician family at Rome about 40 A.D. Nothing is known of his early life or history till we find him acting as praetor urban UK, under Vespasian, in 70, an office from which he soon re tired to make way for Domitian. Five years later he was sent into Britain to succeed Petilius Cerealis as governor of that island. He subdued the Silures, and held the other native tribes in check till 78, when he was superseded by Agricola. In 97 he was appointed curator aquancm at Rome, an office which was never conferred except upon persons of very high standing. He was also a member of the college of augurs, retaining the dignity till his death, which appears to have happened about 103, The later years of his life were spent in studious retirement on the shores of Campania. Many works have been attributed to Frontinus, of which only two that are undoubtedly his are now extant. The first of these is a treatise on tactics en titled Strategematicon Libri IV., and the second is entitled De Aquis Urbis Romce Libri IT. The latter conveys in a clear and terse style much valuable information on the manner in which ancient Rome was supplied with water, and on other matters of importance in the history of architecture. A large number of interpolations have been inserted into the Strategematicon by various writers. The two works have been translated into most of the languages of Europe. The best editions of the Strategematicon are those of Oudendorp, Leyden, 1731, and Schwcbel, Leipsic, 1772. The best editions of the De Aquis are those of Polenus, Pavia, 1722, and G. C. Adler, Altona, 1792. FRONTO, MARCUS CORNELIUS, a Roman grammarian, rhetorician, and advocate, was born of an Italian family at Cirta in Numidia, a Libyan of the Libyans, as he calls himself, Ai /3u? TWV Ai/2vo&amp;gt;v. The date of his birth is un known, but as he was qurestor in 138, it must have been before 113, and not improbably between 100 and 110. He came to Rome in the reign of Hadrian, and soon gained such renown as an advocate and orator as to be reckoned inferior only to Cicero. Antoninus Pius, hearing of his fame, appointed hini tutor to his adopted sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus ; and Fronto, as appears from his surviving letters, completely gained the confidence and affection of both these pupils. He was proconsul of Asia for a few months in 143, and five years later he was of fered the same post, but declined acceptance on the plea of bad health. He preferred to remain at Rome, where, by the practice of his profession, he amassed a very large fortune, w r hich enabled him to purchase the famous gardens of Maecenas, besides sumptuous villas in various parts of Italy. In his old age, when confined to his house by the gout, he used to receive the leading literary men, who flocked to hear his unrivalled conversation. This exhibited the same qualities as his more formal orations, which were so much admired that a school of rhetoricians called itself after his name, having for its object the restoration to the Latin language of its ancient purity and simplicity. Fronto died at an advanced age, but the exact date of his death is not known, and it is even uncertain whether he survived or predeceased the emperar Marcus Aurelius. Till 1815 the only work of Fronto s believed to exist was some disjointed fragments of his essay De Differentia Vocabulorum, and even this is more probably the produc tion of a later grammarian who made use of Fronto s works. In that year, however, Angelo Mai discovered in the Ambrosian library at Milan a palimpsest manuscript, on which had been originally written some of Fronto s letters to his royal pupils. These he deciphered and published with notes, Milan, 1815. On his removal to Rome he dis covered in the Vatican some additional sheets of the same palimpsest, which, like the first, contained letters of Fronto to Aurelius and Verus, with their replies. These palimp sests had originally belonged to the fannus convent of St Columba at Bobbio, and had been written over by the monks with the acts of the first council of Chalcedon. All these letters were published by Mai, at Rome, in 1823, under the title of J/. Cornelii Frontonis et M. Aurelii imperatoris epistolce ; L. Veri et Antonini Pii et Appiani epistolarum reliquiae ; Fragmenta Frontonis et scripta grammatica. The discovery excited intense interest among the scholars of Europe, but a certain amount of disappointment was felt when the contents of the letters were examined. The characters of the two emperors, indeed, are displayed in a very favourable light, especially in the affection which they both seemed to have retained for their old master; but the subject-matter of most of the letters is of such ephemeral interest as to throw little additional light on Roman antiquity. Not only have 146 of the leaves of the manu script been lost, but hardly a half of the 194 still extant have been deciphered so as to furnish an intelligible con text. A more careful examination of the palimpsest might possibly show good results. A critical edition was published by Niebuhr, Buttmann, and Ileindorf, Berlin 1826; a French translation of Mai s edition of 1823, by Annand Cassan, Paris, 2 vols. 8vo, 1830; and an edition based on a new examination of the MSS. by Du Rieu, by Naber, Leipsic, 1867. Orelli published a selection of the letters or Chrcstomatkia Fron- toniana, as an appendix to his edition of the Dialogus de Oratoribus of Tacitus. Critical observations on the remains have been published by L. Schopen (Bonn, 1830, 1841); Alan (Dublin, 1841); A. Pliilibert Soupe, De Frontonis rdiquiis, Amiens, 1853; J. Mahly, in Philologui, xvii. and xix. ; M. Ilaupt, DC emendalione librornm Frontonis, Berlin, 1867; R. Ellis, in Journal of Philology, 1868; Eussner, in Rhcinischcs Museum, xxv. ; Mommsen, in Hermes, 1874; Klussmann, Emcndationes Frontoniancc, Gb ttingen, 1871; enlarged, Berlin, 1874. FROSINONE, a town of Italy, in the province of Rome, on the railway between Rome and Naples, about 62 miles from the former and 104 from the latter. It is situated in a rich vine-growing district, at the foot of a hill near the left bank of the Cosa, an affluent of the Sacco or Trerus. Though a place of considerable size and great antiquity, it contains very little of interest either for the classical or mediaeval archaeologist. Its principal buildings are the eight churches and a number of old convents. In the plain below there are some remains of an amphitheatre. Frosinone is easily identified with the ancient Frusino or Frusinum, a city of the Volscians which ultimately became a Roman municipium and received a colony of veterans. Previous to 1870 it was the head of a delegation of the papal states, and as such a place of some importance. The population in 1871 was 10,161. FROST, WILLIAM EDWARD (1810-1877), a painter of mythological and fanciful subjects, was born at Wandsworth, near London, in September 1810. He showed at an early age considerable talent for drawing, and his father placed him under as good instruction as was available in the neighbourhood. About 1825 he was introduced to Etty, who advised that he should attend a celebrated drawing school in Bloomsbury Street. After several years study there, and in the sculpture rooms at the British Museum, Frost was in 1829 admitted as a student in the schools of the Royal Academy, where he was noted for steady and careful application, and for success in competition. He won medals in all the schools, except the antique, in which, he was beaten by Maclise. During those years.