Marcus Cornelius Fronto→Marcus Aurelius|c. 163 AD|Marcus Cornelius Fronto|From Rome (career hub)|To Rome (career hub)|AI-assisted
To my Lord Antoninus Augustus, from Fronto.
I have seen your little chicks - and indeed it was the most welcome sight I shall ever see in my life - their faces so like your own that nothing could be more alike than that likeness. I quite simply made a shortcut of the whole journey to Lorium [the imperial villa on the Via Aurelia], a shortcut of the slippery road, a shortcut of the steep climbs. And yet I saw you not only directly before me, but more abundantly still, whether I turned to the right or to the left. By the gods' help they are of a healthy enough color and a sturdy cry. One was holding bread nicely white, like a royal child, the other coarse bread, plainly as befits the offspring of a philosopher father. I pray the gods that the sower be safe, that what was sown be safe, that the crop be safe which brings forth offspring so alike. For I even heard their little voices too, so sweet, so charming, that somehow or other in the chirping of each I recognized that graceful and limpid tone of your own oratory. So now, unless you take care, you will find me grown a good deal prouder: for I have those whom, in your stead, I may love not with my eyes only but with my ears as well.
To my Lord Antoninus Augustus. I have seen your little chicks, and a more welcome sight I shall never in my life see, so like in features to you that nothing can be more like than the likeness. I have absolutely taken a journey by short cut quite to Lorium, a short cut of the slippery road, a short cut of the steep ascents: nevertheless I have seen you not only opposite to me but in more places than one, whether I turned to the right hand or to the left. God be praised they have quite a healthy colour and strong lungs. One was holding a piece of white bread, like a little prince, the other a piece of black bread, quite in keeping with a philosopher's son. I beseech the Gods to bless the sower, bless the seed sown, bless the soil that bears a crop so true to stock. For even the sound of their little voices was so sweet, so winsome to my ear that I seemed, I know not how, to hear in the tiny piping of either the clear and charming tones of your own utterance. Now therefore, if you do not take care, you will find me holding my head a good deal higher, for I have those whom I can love instead of you, not with eyes only but with ears also.
ad Anton.Imp. 1.3 [91 Hout; 2.118 Haines]
Domino meo Antonino Augusto Fronto.
1 Vidi pullulos tuos, quod quidem libentissime in vita mea viderim, tam simili facie tibi, ut nihil sit hoc simili similius. Feci prorsus conpendium itineris Lorium usque, conpendium viae lubricae, conpendium clivorum arduorum. Tamen vidi te non exadvorsum modo, sed locupletius sive me ad dexteram sive ad sinistram convertissem. 2 Sunt autem dis juvantibus colore satis salubri, clamore forti. Panem alter tenebat bene candidum, ut puer regius, alter autem cibarium, plane ut a patre philosopho prognatus. Deos quaeso sit salvus sator, salva sint sata, salva seges sit, quae tam similes procreat. Nam etiam voculas quoque eorum audivi tam dulcis, tam venustas, ut orationis tuae lepidum illum et liquidum sonum nescio quo pacto in utriusque pipulo adgnoscerem. Jam tu igitur, nisi caves, superbiorem aliquanto me experiere: Habeo enim, quos pro te non oculeis modo amem, sed etiam auribus.
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To my Lord Antoninus Augustus, from Fronto.
I have seen your little chicks - and indeed it was the most welcome sight I shall ever see in my life - their faces so like your own that nothing could be more alike than that likeness. I quite simply made a shortcut of the whole journey to Lorium [the imperial villa on the Via Aurelia], a shortcut of the slippery road, a shortcut of the steep climbs. And yet I saw you not only directly before me, but more abundantly still, whether I turned to the right or to the left. By the gods' help they are of a healthy enough color and a sturdy cry. One was holding bread nicely white, like a royal child, the other coarse bread, plainly as befits the offspring of a philosopher father. I pray the gods that the sower be safe, that what was sown be safe, that the crop be safe which brings forth offspring so alike. For I even heard their little voices too, so sweet, so charming, that somehow or other in the chirping of each I recognized that graceful and limpid tone of your own oratory. So now, unless you take care, you will find me grown a good deal prouder: for I have those whom, in your stead, I may love not with my eyes only but with my ears as well.
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 Anton.Imp. 1.3 [91 Hout; 2.118 Haines] Domino meo Antonino Augusto Fronto. 1 Vidi pullulos tuos, quod quidem libentissime in vita mea viderim, tam simili facie tibi, ut nihil sit hoc simili similius. Feci prorsus conpendium itineris Lorium usque, conpendium viae lubricae, conpendium clivorum arduorum. Tamen vidi te non exadvorsum modo, sed locupletius sive me ad dexteram sive ad sinistram convertissem. 2 Sunt autem dis juvantibus colore satis salubri, clamore forti. Panem alter tenebat bene candidum, ut puer regius, alter autem cibarium, plane ut a patre philosopho prognatus. Deos quaeso sit salvus sator, salva sint sata, salva seges sit, quae tam similes procreat. Nam etiam voculas quoque eorum audivi tam dulcis, tam venustas, ut orationis tuae lepidum illum et liquidum sonum nescio quo pacto in utriusque pipulo adgnoscerem. Jam tu igitur, nisi caves, superbiorem aliquanto me experiere: Habeo enim, quos pro te non oculeis modo amem, sed etiam auribus.