Letter 101.5

To Marcus Caesar, his lord, from Fronto. 1. When I had returned home, a letter was delivered to me which you had, of course, written to me at Rome, and it had been carried to Rome; then today it was carried back, and a little while ago it was delivered to me. In it you refuted, with many elegant arguments, the few things I had said on behalf of sleep, doing so with such skill, such subtlety, and such aptness that, if wakefulness brings you this sharpness and charm, I would by all means rather have you stay awake. 2. But you say that you wrote it in the evening, when you were soon going to sleep. So it was sleep, drawing near and looming over you, that made this letter so elegant. For just like saffron, so too sleep, before it comes near, gives off its fragrance from afar and delights from afar. 3. To begin, then, from the very opening of your letter: most elegantly you say that you are "colluding" [praevaricari, the legal term for an advocate secretly conspiring with the opposing side, here playfully applied to your conniving with sleep], because [...] [two pages are missing] [...] it is such that, were that word removed, nothing else of the same use and weight could be substituted for it. But that saying of yours is elegant and full of sweetness, where you say "nor all the other things that make up the Odyssey." 4. Indeed, all those Latin phrases of yours are interwoven and inserted among the Greek verses so skillfully, both by you and into your composition, that it is like that intricate running-about of the little verses in the pyrrhic dance, when some clad in scarlet, others in saffron-yellow, others again in purple-red and crimson, all link together and rush about in concert. 5. Now you have passed elegantly from the son of Laertes [Odysseus] to the son of Atreus [Agamemnon]. But look, you have aimed another mischievous thrust at Quintus Ennius, when you say that "unless he had been roused from sleep, he would never have recounted his dream." Let my own Marcus Caesar hate me, if he can, more wittily than that! No tricks are so cunning, "no snare," as Laevius says, "so treacherously set." What if I demand this of you, that you not wake up? Indeed, I demand that you sleep! And here is another proverb of the jesters: "Behold, the man with whom you might play odd-and-even in the dark" [i.e., a man so trustworthy you could play a cheating game with him unseen]. But am I not a blessed man, who understands and sees through all this, and who, on top of it, am called "master" by my lord Caesar? In what sense am I a master, when I cannot obtain this one thing that I long to teach you, namely that you sleep? 6. Go on as you please, provided only that the gods, whether you sleep on or stay awake throughout, grant you success with your gift of speech, a gift so elegant. 7. Farewell, my joy and my earnest care.

to his Lord Marcus Caesar. 1. On my return home I received your letter which you had, of course, written to me at Rome, and to Rome it had gone; then it was brought back to-day and delivered to me a little while ago. In it, with many happy arguments, you confute the little I had said for sleep so cleverly, so subtly and aptly, that if wakefulness brings you such sharpness and wit, I would absolutely prefer you to keep awake. But, indeed, you confess that you wrote in the evening just before going to sleep. It was the near approach, therefore, and overshadowing of sleep that produced so felicitous a letter. For, like the saffron, sleep, ere it comes close, sheds its fragrance from afar and delights at a distance. 2. To begin, then, with the opening of your letter, collusion with sleep, as you term it, is most happy . . . . the word is so apt that, were it withdrawn, nothing of equal value and force could be put in its place. That, again, is a happy expression . . . . or that turn of yours beside the mark where you say nor all the other things which make up the Odyssey . 3. Indeed all that Latin context is interwoven by you and alternates as skilfully with the Greek verses as the movements of the gaily-drest performers in the Pyrrhic reel when they run together, coalescing now with these, now with those, dressed some in scarlet, others in damask, and crimson, and purple. 4. Again, your transition from Laertius to Atrides was neatly done. But come, that was a nasty return you gave Q. Ennius when you said that, had he not awaked from sleep he could not have recounted his dream . See if my Marcus Caesar can evolve anything more dexterous than that. No sleight of word So clever, no snare , as Laevius says, so cunningly set . What if I beseech you never to wake up? Nay, I beseech you to sleep. Another jester's proverb: Marry, one with whom you can play odd and even in the dark! But am I not blest in seeing and realizing this, and above all in being called by the title master? How I master? who cannot get my way in this one thing I would have you learn—to sleep. Go your own way, provided that, whether you wake early or sleep long, the Gods keep you for me. Farewell, my joy, farewell.

ad M. Caesarem 1.5 [8 Hout; 1.96 Haines] M. Caesari domino suo Fronto 1 Domum reverso mihi epistula reddita est, quam tu videlicet Romam mihi scripseras, et erat lata Romam; deinde hodie relata et paulo ante mihi est reddita; in qua pauca, quae ego pro somno dixeram, tu multis et elegantibus argumentis refutasti ita scite, ita subtiliter et apte, ut, si vigilia tibi hoc acuminis et leporis adfert, ego prorsus vigilare te mallem. 2 Sed enim vespera scripsisse te ais, cum paulo post dormiturus esses. Igitur adpropinquans et imminens tibi somnus ram elegantem hanc epistulam fecit. Namque ut crocus ita somnus, priusquam prope adsit, longe praeolet longeque delectat. 3 Ut a principio igitur epistulae tuae incipiam, elegantissime ‘praevaricari’ te ais, quod <...> [duae paginae desunt] <...> est, ut eo sublato aliud subdi ejusdem usus et ponderis non possit. Illud vero dictum elegans ac saviatum, quo ais “neque alia omnia quae Ὀδυσσείαν faciunt”. 4 Enimvero omnia istaec inter Graecos versus Latina ita scite alternata sunt et a te et interposita, ut est ille in pyrrhica versiculorum discursus, quom amicti cocco alii, alii luteo, et ostro et purpura alii aliique cohaerentes concursant. 5 Jam a Laertio ad Atridam eleganter transisti. Ecce autem circa Q. Ennium aliam malitiosam petam dedisti, cum ais “nisi ex somno exsuscitatus esset, numquam somnium suum narrasset”. At oderit me Marcus meus Caesar, si pote, argutius! Praestrigiae nullae tam versutae, “nulla”, ut ait Laevius, “decipula tam insidiosa”. Quid si ego id postulo, ne expergiscare? Quin postulo, ut dormias! Aliud scurrarum proverbium: “En cum quo in tenebris mices”. Sed sumne ego beatus, qui haec intellego et perspicio et insuper ab domino meo Caesare magister appellor? Quo pacto ego magister, qui unum hoc, quod te docere cupio, ut dormias non inpetro? 6 Perge, uti libet, dummodo dii te mihi, sive prodormias sive pervigiles, facultate fandi et tam eleganti prosperent. 7 Vale, meum gaudium et cura mea seria.