Marcus Cornelius Fronto→Unknown|c. 162 AD|Marcus Cornelius Fronto|From Rome (career hub)|AI-assisted
Fronto to Praecilius Pompeianus, greeting.
1. You shall hear the truth from me, my dear Pompeianus, just as the matter stands, and I would have you trust me when I tell you the truth: that speech On Behalf of the Bithynians I took in hand nearly a year ago and set about correcting. To you too, while you were then conducting your affairs at Rome, I made some promise about that speech; and indeed, if I remember rightly, when a conversation had arisen between us about the partitions of speeches [the rhetorical division of an oration into its constituent heads], I said and openly maintained that in that speech I had carefully enough divided up with arguments, and refuted, the conjectural issue which turned upon the charge of murder by commission.
2. Meanwhile a pain of the nerves more violent than usual came upon me, and lingered longer and more troublesomely than usual, and I cannot, while my limbs are racked with torment, give any effort to the writing or reading of letters, nor have I ever dared to demand that of myself. Even when the philosophers, those marvelous men, declare that the wise man, shut up even in the bull of Phalaris [the brazen bull of the tyrant Phalaris of Acragas, in which victims were roasted alive], would nonetheless be happy, I could more readily believe that he would be happy than that he could, all the while he was being scorched in the bronze, compose an exordium [the opening of a speech] or write out his epicheiremes [rhetorical syllogistic arguments].
3. Then, when after a long interval a favorable state of health had been restored to me, I attended rather to other matters; toward that speech my mind was estranged, and I shall not be ashamed to confess my loathing and my quarrel with it
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to Praecilius Pompeianus, greeting. You shall hear from me, my Pompeianus, the true state of the case; and I would ask you to accept it from me as the truth. It is nearly a year ago that I took that speech For the Bithynians in hand and set about revising it. I also made certain promises to you about the speech when you were in Rome at that time. And, indeed, if I remember rightly, when we were discussing the rhetorical heads of a speech, I claimed, and with some pride, that I had in that speech very thoroughly analyzed in argument and confuted the assumption which turned on the charge of murder by mandate. Meanwhile, a more than usually severe attack of neuritis came on, which proved to be more persistent and troublesome than usual. And I cannot pay any attention to writing or reading letters when my limbs are racked with pain; nor have I ever ventured to make such a demand upon my strength. When philosophers, those wondrous creatures, tell us that the wise man, even if shut up in the Bull of Phalaris, would still be happy, I could find it more easy to believe that he would be happy than that he would be able, while baking in the brass, to muse the while on an exordium or write pointed phrases. Then when after a long interval I had recovered my health, I turned to other matters in preference. I took a dislike to that speech, and will not be ashamed to confess hatred and aversion . . . . . . . . So the speech has come back home to me after I had publicly disowned it, and taken up its abode with me again . . . . . . . . . . . .
ad amicos 1.15 [180 Hout; 2.88 Haines]
Fronto Praecilio Pompejano salutem.
1 Verum ex me, mi Pompejane, uti res est, audies, velimque te mihi verum dicenti fidem habere: Orationem istam pro Bithynis ante annum fere in manus sumpseram et corrigere institueram. Tibi etiam Romae tunc agenti nonnihil de ista oratione promiseram, et quidem, si recte memini, quom sermo inter nos de partitionibus orationum ortus esset, dixeram et prae me tuleram satis me diligenter in ista oratione conjecturam, quae in crimine mandatae caedis verteretur, divisisse argumentis ac refutasse.
2 Interea nervorum dolor solito vehementior me invasit et diutius ac molestius solito remoratus est, nec possum ego membris cruciantibus operam ullam litteris scribendis legendisve impertire nec umquam istud a me postulare ausus sum. Philosophis etiam, mirificis hominibus, dicentibus sapientem virum etiam in Phalaridis tauro inclusum beatum nihilo minus fore, facilius crediderim beatum eum fore quam posse tantisper amburienti in aheno prohoemium meditari aut epichiremata scribere.
3 Reconciliata deinde mihi longo post tempore commoda valetudine alias egi res potius; adversus istam orationem alienato animo fui nec pudebit me fateri odium ac simultatem
[una pagina legi nequit]
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Fronto to Praecilius Pompeianus, greeting.
1. You shall hear the truth from me, my dear Pompeianus, just as the matter stands, and I would have you trust me when I tell you the truth: that speech On Behalf of the Bithynians I took in hand nearly a year ago and set about correcting. To you too, while you were then conducting your affairs at Rome, I made some promise about that speech; and indeed, if I remember rightly, when a conversation had arisen between us about the partitions of speeches [the rhetorical division of an oration into its constituent heads], I said and openly maintained that in that speech I had carefully enough divided up with arguments, and refuted, the conjectural issue which turned upon the charge of murder by commission.
2. Meanwhile a pain of the nerves more violent than usual came upon me, and lingered longer and more troublesomely than usual, and I cannot, while my limbs are racked with torment, give any effort to the writing or reading of letters, nor have I ever dared to demand that of myself. Even when the philosophers, those marvelous men, declare that the wise man, shut up even in the bull of Phalaris [the brazen bull of the tyrant Phalaris of Acragas, in which victims were roasted alive], would nonetheless be happy, I could more readily believe that he would be happy than that he could, all the while he was being scorched in the bronze, compose an exordium [the opening of a speech] or write out his epicheiremes [rhetorical syllogistic arguments].
3. Then, when after a long interval a favorable state of health had been restored to me, I attended rather to other matters; toward that speech my mind was estranged, and I shall not be ashamed to confess my loathing and my quarrel with it [one page cannot be read] [...]
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ad amicos 1.15 [180 Hout; 2.88 Haines] Fronto Praecilio Pompejano salutem. 1 Verum ex me, mi Pompejane, uti res est, audies, velimque te mihi verum dicenti fidem habere: Orationem istam pro Bithynis ante annum fere in manus sumpseram et corrigere institueram. Tibi etiam Romae tunc agenti nonnihil de ista oratione promiseram, et quidem, si recte memini, quom sermo inter nos de partitionibus orationum ortus esset, dixeram et prae me tuleram satis me diligenter in ista oratione conjecturam, quae in crimine mandatae caedis verteretur, divisisse argumentis ac refutasse. 2 Interea nervorum dolor solito vehementior me invasit et diutius ac molestius solito remoratus est, nec possum ego membris cruciantibus operam ullam litteris scribendis legendisve impertire nec umquam istud a me postulare ausus sum. Philosophis etiam, mirificis hominibus, dicentibus sapientem virum etiam in Phalaridis tauro inclusum beatum nihilo minus fore, facilius crediderim beatum eum fore quam posse tantisper amburienti in aheno prohoemium meditari aut epichiremata scribere. 3 Reconciliata deinde mihi longo post tempore commoda valetudine alias egi res potius; adversus istam orationem alienato animo fui nec pudebit me fateri odium ac simultatem [una pagina legi nequit] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .