Letter 104.1

To my Lord, from Fronto. Since I know how greatly anxious you are <...> 1. <...> and the doves, together with the wolves and the eagles, followed the singer, heedless of the ambushes and the talons and the teeth. This story, for those who interpret it rightly, surely signifies that there was a man [Orpheus] of outstanding natural gift and extraordinary eloquence, who bound to himself very many men by their admiration of his virtues and his eloquence; and that he so trained his friends and followers that, although they had come together from different nations and were steeped in varied customs, they nevertheless lived in concord, grew accustomed to one another, and gathered together: the gentle with the savage, the placid with the violent, the moderate with the proud, the timid with the cruel. Then all of them, little by little, put off their ingrained faults, pursued virtue, learned uprightness, and exchanged shamelessness for a sense of shame, defiance for compliance, ill will for kindness. 2. But if anyone ever had such power of character that he could couple his friends and followers together in mutual love, you assuredly will accomplish this far more easily, you who were born to all the virtues before you were trained in them. For before your age had grown sufficient for instruction, you were already perfect and complete in all the good arts: before puberty a good man, before the toga of manhood [the toga virilis, assumed at the coming of age] a skilled speaker. But of all your virtues this above all deserves admiration, that you couple all your friends together in concord. And yet I will not pretend that this is not far more difficult than for wild beasts and lions to be tamed by the lyre. This you will obtain more easily if you take care to root out and tear away that one vice, so that your friends do not feel resentment or envy one another, nor each of them suppose that whatever you have bestowed or done as a kindness for another is so much lost and taken away from himself. 3. Envy is a destructive evil among men, and most deadly of all, ruinous alike to oneself and to others. But if you keep it far from your circle, you will enjoy friends who are harmonious and kindly, as you enjoy them now. But if it should make its way in anywhere, it will have to be extinguished with great trouble and great labor. 4. But let us talk, I beg you, of better things. I love Julianus (for it was from him that this conversation flowed); I love all who hold you dear; I love the gods who guard you; I love life for your sake; with you I love letters: above all, with these I drink in to the full my love of you.

? 140–143 A.D. to my Lord. Since I know how anxious you are . . . . sheep and doves with wolves and eagles followed the singer, regardless of ambushes and talons and teeth. This legend rightly interpreted surely signifies this, that Orpheus was a man of matchless genius and surpassing eloquence, who attached to himself numerous followers, from admiration of his virtues and his power of speech, and that he so trained his friends and followers, that, though met together from different nations and endowed with diverse characteristics, they, nevertheless, lived sociably together in unity and concord, the gentle with the fierce, the quiet with the violent, the meek with the proud, the sensitive with the cruel. Then all of them gradually put off their ingrained faults, went after virtue and learned righteousness, exchanged shamelessness for a sense of shame, self-will for deference, ill-feeling for kindliness. But if ever anyone by his character had so much influence as to unite his friends and followers in mutual love for one another, you assuredly will accomplish this with far greater ease, for you were formed by nature before you were fitted by training for the exercise of all virtues. For before you were old enough to be trained, you were already perfect and complete in all noble accomplishments, before adolescence a good man, before manhood a practised speaker. But of all your virtues this even more than the others is worthy of admiration, that you unite all your friends in harmony. And I cannot conceal my opinion that this is a far harder task than to charm with the lyre the fierceness of lions and wild beasts: and you will achieve this the more easily, if you set yourself to uproot and utterly to stamp out this one vice of mutual envy and jealousy among your friends, that they may not, when you have shewn attention or done a favour to another, think that this is so much taken from or lost to themselves. Envy among men is a deadly evil and more fatal than any, a curse to enviers and envied alike. Banish it from your circle of friends, and you will keep them, as they now are, harmonious and kindly; but let it in any way spread among them, and it can only be stamped out with immense toil and immense trouble. But prithee let us talk of better things. I love Julianus—for this discussion originated with him—; I love all who are fond of you; I love the gods who watch over you; I love life for your sake; with you I love letters; like all your friends I take deep draughts of love for you.

ad M. Caesarem 4.1 [53 Hout; 1.70 Haines] <Domino meo Fronto.> Quoniam scio quanto opere sis anxius <...> 1 <...> et columbae cum lupis et aquilis cantantem sequebantur inmemores insidiarum et unguium et dentium. Quae fabula recte interpretantibus illud profecti significat fuisse egregio ingenio eximiaque eloquentia virum, qui plurimos virtutum suarum facundiaeque admiratione devinxerit; eumque amicos ac sectatores suos ita instituisse, ut, quamquam diversis nationibus convenae variis moribus inbuti, concordarent tamen et consuescerent et congregarentur, mites cum ferocibus, placidi cum violentis, quom superbis moderati, cum crudelibus timidi: Omnes dein paulatim vitia insita exuerent, virtutem sectarentur, probitatem condiscerent, pudore inpudentiam, obsequio contumaciam, benignitate malivolentiam commutarent. 2 Quo si quis umquam ingenio tantum valuit, ut amicos ac sectatores suos amore inter se mutuo copularet, tu hoc profecto perficies multo facilius, qui ad omnis virtutes natus es prius quam institutus. Nam priusquam tibi aetas insitutioni suffciens adolesceret, jam tu perfectus atque omnibus bonis artibus absolutus: Ante pubertatem vir bonus, ante togam virilem dicendi peritus. Verum ex omnibus virtutibus tuis hoc vel praecipue admirandum, quod omnis amicos tuos concordia copulas. Nec tamen dissimulaverim multo hoc esse difficilius quam, ut ferae ac leones cithara mitigentur. Quod tu facilius obtinebis, si unum illud vitium extirpandum eruendumque curaveris, ne liveant neve invideant invicem amici tui, neve, quod tu alii tribueris ac benefeceris, sibi quisque illud deperire ac detrahi putet. 3 Invidia perniciosum inter homines malum maximeque internecivum, sibi aliisque pariter obnoxium. Sed si procul a cohorte tua prohibueris, uteris amicis concordibus et benignis, ut nunc uteris. Sin aliqua pervaserit, magna molestia magnoque labore erit restinguendum. 4 Sed meliora, quaeso, fabulemur. Amo Julianum (inde enim hic sermo defluxit), amo omnis, qui te diligunt, amo deos, qui te tutantur, amo vitam propter te, amo litteras tecum: Inprimis eis mihi amorem tui ingurgito.