FRONTO, THE ORATOR AND THE MAN
Theodorus for the manufacture of maxims or γνῶμαι. One aphorism a day was the allotted task. The object was to strike out some neat epigrammatic sententia, such as are characteristic of Sallust, and to turn the same thought freely and boldly in various ways, often from one language to another. Truth to say, Fronto is himself extraordinarily deficient in sayings of pith and moment. He imitates the panem et Circenses of Juvenal and perhaps the cupido gloriae novissima exuitur[1] of Tacitus, but the most striking of his own maxims are noticeable chiefly for their rhythm, such as pleraque propria venustate carentia gratiam sibimet alienam extrinsecus mutuantur, and longeque praestat secundo gentium rumore iniuriam neglegere quam adverso vindicare. We do not know which maxim of Marcus it was that Fronto declared worthy of Sallust,[2] but this is a not unsuccessful one: turpe alioqui fuerit diutius vitium corporis quam animi studium ad reciperandam sanitatem posse durare.[3]
Translation from one language to another forms part of the curriculum. Original composition in history was also recommended by Fronto, and Marcus himself seems to have had some aspirations in that direction. Too much stress was laid upon the outward trappings of rhetoric, such as alliteration, oxymoron, antithesis, paronomasia, paraleipsis, and every variety of trope or figure. And in the use of these
