92-108
22. "The Minor Peace of the Church": 109-127
23. Divine Service: 128-140
24. A Conversation Not Imaginary: 141-171
25. Sunt Lacrimae Rerum: 172-185
26. The Martyrs: 186-196
27. The Triumph of Marcus Aurelius: 197-207
28. Anima Naturaliter Christiana: 208-224

PART THE THIRD

CHAPTER XV: STOICISM AT COURT

[3] THE very finest flower of the same company--Aurelius with the
gilded fasces borne before him, a crowd of exquisites, the empress
Faustina herself, and all the elegant blue-stockings of the day, who
maintained, people said, their private "sophists" to whisper philosophy
into their ears winsomely as they performed the duties of the
toilet--was assembled again a few months later, in a different place
and for a very different purpose. The temple of Peace, a "modernising"
foundation of Hadrian, enlarged by a library and lecture-rooms, had
grown into an institution like something between a college and a
literary club; and here Cornelius Fronto was to pronounce a discourse
on the Nature of Morals. There were some, indeed, who had desired the
emperor Aurelius himself to declare his whole mind on this matter.
Rhetoric was become almost a function of the state: philosophy was upon
the throne; and had from time to time, by [4] request, delivered an
official utterance with well-nigh divine authority. And it was as the
delegate of this authority, under the full sanction of the philosophic
emperor--emperor and pontiff, that the aged Fronto purposed to-day to
expound some parts of the Stoic doctrine, with the view of recommending
morals to that refined but perhaps prejudiced company, as being, in
effect, one mode of comeliness in things--as it were music, or a kind
of artistic order, in life. And he did this earnestly, with an outlay
of all his science of mind, and that eloquence of which he was known to
be a master. For Stoicism was no longer a rude and unkempt thing.
Received at court, it had largely decorated itself: it was grown
persuasive and insinuating, and sought not only to convince men's
intelligence but to allure their souls. Associated with the beautiful
old age of the great rhetorician, and his winning voice, it was almost
Epicurean. And the old man was at his best on the occasion; the last
on which he ever appeared in this way. To-day was his own birthday.
Early in the morning the imperial letter of congratulation had reached
him; and all the pleasant animation