M. CORNELIUS FRONTO
I count heavy? I would not traffic in anything nor buy anything, that necessitated an equivalent return passing, as they say, from house to house. Consider this point also, what pleasure acceptance gives the sender, and what mortification follows upon non-acceptance . . . .[† 1] even after many days to come to you. Pray believe that the law of Gods and cities and friends is a just one . . . .[† 2] but as friends do not parade such a forwardness of goodwill but from diffidence conceal it, I send before you give permission. Do not you send back my gift a second time, as you ought not to have done even the first time.
To Appian from Fronto.
1. Even he would have no lack of plausible arguments who, in answer to the first of the propositions submitted by you, should object that private conduct ought not to conform to that of states. For we shall find many customs and usages publicly established in cities and privately practised by individuals to be dissimilar. You can easily convince yourself of this by looking at the litigation and disputes between public bodies and individuals, wherein neither the venue of the court nor the number of the judges nor the order of the pleas and summonses nor the allowance of time for the speakers nor the penalties of conviction are the same, but there is
