Marcus Cornelius Fronto→Unknown|c. 162 AD|Marcus Cornelius Fronto|From Rome (career hub)|AI-assisted
Fronto to Aufidius Victorinus, greetings.
At the time of the assaying [obrussa, the refiner's fire used to test gold] [...] and to her Varian foster-children, both male and female, she left a million sesterces apiece, to be enjoyed as a life interest rather than held outright; for she ordered that fifty thousand a year be given to each of them by the Empress. Nearly all those who had attended upon her came away with nothing: not so much as a single pound was weighed out to them. Yet some men did dare—brisk and energetic fellows, of course—to set their seals on the codicils which Matidia had long since canceled, while she lay there senseless. They even dared to uphold and defend those codicils before our Lord [the emperor] as duly and rightly executed. Nor was I without fear that philosophy might counsel him to some perverse decision. So that you may know what I wrote to him on the matter, I have sent you a copy of my letter.
In the Bithynian speech, part of which you write that you have read, many new things have been added, not without elegance, as I judge—above all the passage on the life I have lived, which I think will please you, if you read what M. Tullius [Cicero] left so admirably written on a like subject in his speech for P. Sulla: not that you should set us side by side as equals, but that you may gauge how far my own middling talent falls short of that man of surpassing eloquence.
to Aufidius Victorinus his son-in-law. At the time of the gold-test . . . . and to her Varian proteges of either sex she left a million sesterces apiece for them to enjoy as a life interest rather than for their own; for she directed that 50,000 sesterces apiece should be given them every year by the Empress. Almost all those who had paid her court lost their labour: not a pound apiece was weighed out to them. Some of them however, brisk and smart fellows without a doubt, had the effrontery, while Matidia lay unconscious, to seal up the codicils, which she had annulled a long while before. They had the effrontery also to uphold and defend these codicils before our Lord as duly and truly executed. And I have not been without apprehension that Philosophy might lead him to a wrong decision. That you may know what I wrote to him on the subject, I send you a copy of my letter. In my Bithynian speech, part of which you write that you have read, there are many fresh things introduced, not inelegantly as I fancy, particularly a passage on my past life, which I think will please you. if you read that excellent speech on a similar subject in defence of P. Sulla left us by M. Tullius: not that you should compare us as equals, but that you should recognise how far my mediocre talent falls short of that man of unapproachable eloquence.
ad amicos 1.14 [179 Hout; 2.98 Haines]
<Fronto Aufidio Victorino salutem>
1 Ad obrussae tempora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . et Varianis alumnis masculis feminique sestertium deciens singulis reliquit usurarium propius quam proprium: Nam quinquagena annua ab Augusta singulis dare jussit. Plerique omnes, qui eam curaverant, frustra fuerunt: Ne libris quidem singulis ponderati sunt. Ausi tamen sunt nonnulli, navi scilicet et strenui viri, codicillos, quos jam pridem Matidia inciderat, obsignare, cum illa sine sensu ullo jaceret. Ausi etiam sunt codicillos istos apud dominum nostrum ut probe ac recte factos tueri ac defendere. Nec sine metu fui, ne quid philosophia perversi suaderet. Quid ad eum scripserim, exemplum litterarum misi tibi.
2 In oratione Bithyna, cujus partem legisse te scribis, multa sunt nova addita, ut arbitror ego non inoranate, locus inmprimis de acta vita, quem tibi placiturum puto, si legeris quid in simili re M. Tullius pro P. Sylla egregie scriptum reliquit, non ut per pari compares, sed ut aestimes nostrum mediocre ingenium quantum ab illo eximiae eloquentiae viro abfuat.
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Fronto to Aufidius Victorinus, greetings.
At the time of the assaying [obrussa, the refiner's fire used to test gold][...] and to her Varian foster-children, both male and female, she left a million sesterces apiece, to be enjoyed as a life interest rather than held outright; for she ordered that fifty thousand a year be given to each of them by the Empress. Nearly all those who had attended upon her came away with nothing: not so much as a single pound was weighed out to them. Yet some men did dare—brisk and energetic fellows, of course—to set their seals on the codicils which Matidia had long since canceled, while she lay there senseless. They even dared to uphold and defend those codicils before our Lord [the emperor] as duly and rightly executed. Nor was I without fear that philosophy might counsel him to some perverse decision. So that you may know what I wrote to him on the matter, I have sent you a copy of my letter.
In the Bithynian speech, part of which you write that you have read, many new things have been added, not without elegance, as I judge—above all the passage on the life I have lived, which I think will please you, if you read what M. Tullius [Cicero] left so admirably written on a like subject in his speech for P. Sulla: not that you should set us side by side as equals, but that you may gauge how far my own middling talent falls short of that man of surpassing eloquence.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ad amicos 1.14 [179 Hout; 2.98 Haines] <Fronto Aufidio Victorino salutem> 1 Ad obrussae tempora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . et Varianis alumnis masculis feminique sestertium deciens singulis reliquit usurarium propius quam proprium: Nam quinquagena annua ab Augusta singulis dare jussit. Plerique omnes, qui eam curaverant, frustra fuerunt: Ne libris quidem singulis ponderati sunt. Ausi tamen sunt nonnulli, navi scilicet et strenui viri, codicillos, quos jam pridem Matidia inciderat, obsignare, cum illa sine sensu ullo jaceret. Ausi etiam sunt codicillos istos apud dominum nostrum ut probe ac recte factos tueri ac defendere. Nec sine metu fui, ne quid philosophia perversi suaderet. Quid ad eum scripserim, exemplum litterarum misi tibi. 2 In oratione Bithyna, cujus partem legisse te scribis, multa sunt nova addita, ut arbitror ego non inoranate, locus inmprimis de acta vita, quem tibi placiturum puto, si legeris quid in simili re M. Tullius pro P. Sylla egregie scriptum reliquit, non ut per pari compares, sed ut aestimes nostrum mediocre ingenium quantum ab illo eximiae eloquentiae viro abfuat.