M. CORNELIUS FRONTO
transcribed by Domitius Balbus, or Atticus or Nepos. My speech will be extant in the handwriting of M. Caesar. He that thinks little of the speech will be in love with the very letters of it; he who disdains the thing written will reverence the writer. Just as if Apelles painted an ape or a fox, he would add a value to the lowest of creatures. Or as M. Cato (said) of . . . .[† 1]
To Herodes from Fronto.[1]
. . . . . . . . . . . . But in lesser evils to act with composure is not difficult. For, indeed, in any case to resent an evil, even if it befall unexpectedly, is unseemly for a man who has tasted of education. But it is in joy that I should be more ready to overstep the bounds, for if we are to act unreasonably it is preferable to do so in reference to pleasure than to pain. But you are not even too old[2] to rear other children. Every loss is grievous if hope be cut off with it, but easier to bear if hope of repairing it be left. And he that does not avail himself of this hope is mean-spirited and his own enemy, much more than Fortune. For Fortune takes away the present reality, but he deprives himself of hope as well. And I will tell you where you can most easily get consolation, as I have learnt by ex-
- ↑ The heading is lost, but the letter is certainly addressed to Herodes Atticus in response to the request of Marcus made in a previous letter.
- ↑ Herodes would not have been fifty at this time.
- ↑ Four pages are lost.
