Marcus Cornelius Fronto→Lucius Verus|c. 166 AD|Marcus Cornelius Fronto|From Rome (career hub)|To Rome (career hub)|AI-assisted
To Verus Augustus, my lord.
[1] ...that honor would be wanting, the one that everyone alike covets, whenever he sees some honor bestowed upon others. You approved my advice and praised it, and yet for more than three or four days you could not bring yourself to answer me even with a single word; instead you devised this plan. First you ordered me to be brought into your chamber, and thus, without provoking anyone's envy, you gave me a kiss. You did this, I believe, reasoning thus within yourself: that to me, to whom you had entrusted the care and cultivation of your speech and your eloquence, the right to your kiss too should belong, and that all teachers of eloquence are accustomed to reap, as the law of their labor, the reward placed at the very gateway of the voice. In short, I think the custom of kissing was granted as an honor to eloquence. For why, when we greet one another, do we bring lips to lips rather than eyes to eyes, or foreheads to foreheads, or hands to hands—though by our hands we are strongest of all—unless it be that we are paying honor to speech? Indeed, dumb animals, which lack speech, lack kisses as well. I reckon this honor that you have shown me at the very greatest and weightiest worth.
[2] Besides this, I have perceived very many of your words and deeds toward me to be a source of the highest honor for me, in this way: How often have you held me up with your own hands, raised me when I could scarcely rise, or all but carried me when I could hardly walk because of my bodily ill-health! With what a cheerful look and ever calm countenance have you addressed me! How gladly you joined in conversation, how long you prolonged it, how reluctantly you brought it to an end! All these things I count among the greatest. Just as, to one inspecting the entrails, the smallest and slightest fissures most often signify the greatest prosperities, and from the portents of little ants and little bees the greatest matters are foretold, so too I judge that by even the smallest and slightest signs of dutiful regard and goodwill, shown by the one true sovereign, those things are signified which among men are the most splendid and the most longed for: love and honor. And so, whatever I have had to seek from my lord your brother, I have preferred to seek and obtain it all through you.
To my Lord Verus Augustus. . . . . the honour would be missed, whereby equally everyone hankers after any honour bestowed on others. You gave me your approval and applauded my advice, and yet for more than three or four days you could not prevail on yourself to answer me with the word greeting †; but you thought out this plan: first you bid me be admitted into your chamber: so you were able to give me a kiss without exciting anyone's jealousy, with this thought I suppose in your mind, that the privilege also of a kiss should belong to me, to whom you had entrusted the care and cultivation of your voice and speech, and that all masters of eloquence by innate right are wont to reap the reward lodged in the portals of the voice. In fine, I think that the custom of kissing was intended as an honour to eloquence. For why in greeting do we touch lips with lips rather than eyes with eyes or foreheads with foreheads or hands with hands—and yet these are more indispensable than anything else—if it be not as rendering an honour to speech? In fact, dumb animals being without speech are without kisses also. This privilege kept for me by you outweighs everything in my estimation. Many a time besides have I been sensible of the special honour which you have shewn me in word and deed. How often have you supported me with your hands, lifted me up when scarcely able to rise, and well-nigh carried me when hardly able to walk from bodily weakness! With what a cheerful and friendly countenance have you always accosted me! How readily engaged in conversation, how long continued it, how reluctantly concluded it! All which I value above measure. Just as in the inspection of entrails the smallest and most insignificant parts when laid open generally imply the greatest good-fortune, and by omens from ants and bees the greatest events are foretold, so by even the least and most trivial signs of deference and good-will, vouchsafed by the one and very Emperor, are signified, as I think, those things that are the most estimable and the most coveted among men, love and honour. Therefore all the favours I have had to ask from my Lord your brother I have preferred to ask and obtain through you.
ad Verum Imp. 1.7 [111 Hout; 2.238 Haines]
<Vero Augusto domino meo>
1 <...> desideretur is honor, quo pariter quisque expetit, si quid honoris aliis impertitum videat. Probasti me laudastique consilium, neque tamen triduo amplius vel quadriduo id a te obtinere potuisti ut mihi verbo saltem responderes; sed ita excogitasti: Primum me intromitti in cubiculum jubebas, ita sine cujusquam invidia osculum dabas, credo ita quom animo tuo reputans, mihi, cui curam cultumque tradidisses oris atque orationis tuae, jus tui quoque osculi habendum omnisque eloquentiae magistros sui laboris lege fructum capere satus in vocis aditu locatum. Morem denique saviandi arbitror honori eloquentiae datum. Nam cur os potius salutantes ori admovemus quam oculos oculis aut fontes frontibus aut, quibus plurimum valemus, manus manibus, nisi quod honorem orationi impertimus? Muta denique animalia oratione carentia etiam osculis carent. Hunc ego honorem mihi a te habitam taxo maximo et gravissimo pondere.
2 Plurima praeterea tua erga me summo cum meo honore et dicta et facta percepi sic: Quotiens tu me manibus tuis sustinuisti, adlevasti aegre adsurgentem aut difficile progredientem per valetudinem corporis paene portasti! Quam hilari voltu semper placatoque ore nos adfatus es! Quam libenter conseruisti sermonem, quam diu produxisti, quam invitus terminasti! Quae ego pro maximis duco. Sicut in extis inspicienti diffissa plerumque minima et tenuissima maximas prosperitates significant deque formicularum et apicularum ostentis res maximae portenduntur, item vel minimis et levissimis ab uno et vero principe habitis officii et bonae volentiae signis significari arbitror ea, quae amplissima inter homines et exoptissima sunt, amores honoresque. Igitur, quaecumque mihi a domino meo tuo fratre petenda fuerunt, per te petita atque impetrata omnia malui.
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To Verus Augustus, my lord.
[1] ...that honor would be wanting, the one that everyone alike covets, whenever he sees some honor bestowed upon others. You approved my advice and praised it, and yet for more than three or four days you could not bring yourself to answer me even with a single word; instead you devised this plan. First you ordered me to be brought into your chamber, and thus, without provoking anyone's envy, you gave me a kiss. You did this, I believe, reasoning thus within yourself: that to me, to whom you had entrusted the care and cultivation of your speech and your eloquence, the right to your kiss too should belong, and that all teachers of eloquence are accustomed to reap, as the law of their labor, the reward placed at the very gateway of the voice. In short, I think the custom of kissing was granted as an honor to eloquence. For why, when we greet one another, do we bring lips to lips rather than eyes to eyes, or foreheads to foreheads, or hands to hands—though by our hands we are strongest of all—unless it be that we are paying honor to speech? Indeed, dumb animals, which lack speech, lack kisses as well. I reckon this honor that you have shown me at the very greatest and weightiest worth.
[2] Besides this, I have perceived very many of your words and deeds toward me to be a source of the highest honor for me, in this way: How often have you held me up with your own hands, raised me when I could scarcely rise, or all but carried me when I could hardly walk because of my bodily ill-health! With what a cheerful look and ever calm countenance have you addressed me! How gladly you joined in conversation, how long you prolonged it, how reluctantly you brought it to an end! All these things I count among the greatest. Just as, to one inspecting the entrails, the smallest and slightest fissures most often signify the greatest prosperities, and from the portents of little ants and little bees the greatest matters are foretold, so too I judge that by even the smallest and slightest signs of dutiful regard and goodwill, shown by the one true sovereign, those things are signified which among men are the most splendid and the most longed for: love and honor. And so, whatever I have had to seek from my lord your brother, I have preferred to seek and obtain it all through you.
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 Verum Imp. 1.7 [111 Hout; 2.238 Haines] <Vero Augusto domino meo> 1 <...> desideretur is honor, quo pariter quisque expetit, si quid honoris aliis impertitum videat. Probasti me laudastique consilium, neque tamen triduo amplius vel quadriduo id a te obtinere potuisti ut mihi verbo saltem responderes; sed ita excogitasti: Primum me intromitti in cubiculum jubebas, ita sine cujusquam invidia osculum dabas, credo ita quom animo tuo reputans, mihi, cui curam cultumque tradidisses oris atque orationis tuae, jus tui quoque osculi habendum omnisque eloquentiae magistros sui laboris lege fructum capere satus in vocis aditu locatum. Morem denique saviandi arbitror honori eloquentiae datum. Nam cur os potius salutantes ori admovemus quam oculos oculis aut fontes frontibus aut, quibus plurimum valemus, manus manibus, nisi quod honorem orationi impertimus? Muta denique animalia oratione carentia etiam osculis carent. Hunc ego honorem mihi a te habitam taxo maximo et gravissimo pondere. 2 Plurima praeterea tua erga me summo cum meo honore et dicta et facta percepi sic: Quotiens tu me manibus tuis sustinuisti, adlevasti aegre adsurgentem aut difficile progredientem per valetudinem corporis paene portasti! Quam hilari voltu semper placatoque ore nos adfatus es! Quam libenter conseruisti sermonem, quam diu produxisti, quam invitus terminasti! Quae ego pro maximis duco. Sicut in extis inspicienti diffissa plerumque minima et tenuissima maximas prosperitates significant deque formicularum et apicularum ostentis res maximae portenduntur, item vel minimis et levissimis ab uno et vero principe habitis officii et bonae volentiae signis significari arbitror ea, quae amplissima inter homines et exoptissima sunt, amores honoresque. Igitur, quaecumque mihi a domino meo tuo fratre petenda fuerunt, per te petita atque impetrata omnia malui.