M. CORNELIUS FRONTO
Fronto to Marcus as Caesar
? 154–156 A.D.
To my Lord.
I love you ten times as much—I have seen your daughter![1] I seem to have seen you as well as Faustina in your infancy: so much that is good in both your faces is blended in hers. I love you ten times as much. Farewell, sweetest of Lords. Greet your Lady.
Marcus Aurelius to Fronto
? 154–156 A.D.
To my master.
We too love Gratia the more for her likeness to you.[2] So we can easily understand how our little girl's likeness to both of us endears her to you, and in every way it is a delight to me that you have seen her. Farewell, my best of masters.
Fronto to Marcus as Caesar
? 154–156 A.D.
To my Lord.
This is the third day that I have been troubled all night long with griping in the stomach and diarrhoea. Last night, indeed, I suffered so much that I have not been able to go out, but am keeping my bed. The doctors recommend a bath. I have prayed the Gods to give you many happy returns of the day.[3] Farewell, my Lord. Greet your Lady.
- ↑ Probably Domitia Faustina, who died as an infant. See inscription on the Moles Hadriana, Orelli 672 = Willmi. 964. Cornificia, the next daughter, was not born till about 159.
- ↑ Ehrenthal thinks that Marcus should have said: "We too love you the more because Gratia is like you. (So we can understand how our likeness to our baby endears us to you."
- ↑ April 26 (? 156).
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