how properly I desire it, I know. Farewell, my master,
always in every chance first in my mind, as you deserve to be. My
master, see I am not asleep, and I compel myself to sleep, that you may
not be angry with me. You gather I am writing this late at night.'

1 Ad M. Caes., v. 8.

2 i. 2.

3 iii. 21.

(1)'What spirit do you suppose is in me, when I remember how long it
is since I have seen you, and why I have not seen you 1 and it may be
I shall not see you for a few days yet, while you are strengthening
yourself; as you must. So while you lie on the sick-bed, my spirit also
will lie low anti, whenas,(2) by God's mercy you shall stand upright,
my spirit too will stand firm, which is now burning with the strongest
desire for you. Farewell, soul of your prince, your (3)O my dear Fronto,
most distinguished Consul! I yield, you have conquered: all who have
ever loved before, you have conquered out and out in love's contest.
Receive the victor's wreath; and the herald shall proclaim your victory
aloud before your own tribunal: "M. Cornelius Fronto, Consul, wins, and
is crowned victor in the Open International Love-race."(4) But beaten
though I may be, I shall neither slacken nor relax my own zeal. Well,
you shall love me more than any man loves any other man; but I, who
possess a faculty of loving less strong, shall love you more than any
one else loves you; more indeed than you love yourself. Gratia and I
will have to fight for it; I doubt I shall not get the better of her.
For, as Plautus says, her love is like rain, whose big drops not only
penetrate the dress, but drench to the very marrow.'

Marcus Aurelius seems to have been about eighteen years of age when
the correspondence begins, Fronto being some thirty years older.(5) The
systematic education of the young prince seems to have been finisht, and
Pronto now acts more as his adviser than his tutor. He recommends
the prince to use simplicity in his public speeches, and to avoid
affectation.(6) Marcus devotes his attention to the old authors who then
had a great vogue at Rome: Ennius, Plautus, Nawius, and such orators
as Cato and Gracchus.(7) Pronto urges on him the study of Cicero, whose
letters, he says, are all worth reading.

1 Ad M. Caes., iii. 19.

2 The writer sometimes uses archaisms such as quom, which I
render 'whenas'.

3 Ad M. Caes., ii. 2.

4 The writer parodies the proclamation at the Greek games; the