Letter 101.6

Marcus Aurelius Caesar sends greetings to Fronto, his master. 1. No, surely it is I who am the shameless one, in ever entrusting any writing of mine to be read by talent so great, by judgment so great! For my father, my lord, the passage from your speech that he had wished me to select, I delivered [Greek: hypekrinamen, "I performed/acted out"] with becoming gesture. Plainly those words clamored to have their own author given to them; in the end I was scarcely greeted with the cry, [Greek: axios tou poietou, "worthy of the author"]. But what you deservedly long for above all else, I will not put off for long: my lord was so moved by hearing those passages that he was almost vexed that the business before him required his presence in a different place from the one into which you had entered to deliver your oration. He marveled intensely at the abundance of your ideas, the varied excellence of your diction, the keen novelty of your invention, the learned arrangement of your oration. Now, I suppose, after this you are asking what pleased me the most. Here it is; from here I began: 2. "In those affairs and cases that are judged by private judges, no danger is involved, because their verdicts hold good only within the limits of the cases themselves; but by your decrees, Emperor, precedents are sanctioned that will hold good publicly forever. So much greater is the force and power assigned to you than to the Fates: the Fates determine what shall befall each one of us individually; you, where you decide anything concerning individuals, there bind all cases to your precedent. 3. Therefore, if this decree of the proconsul should meet with your approval, you will have given a model to all the magistrates of all the provinces for what they are to decide in cases of this kind. What, then, will come about? This, evidently: that all wills from far-off and overseas provinces will be brought to Rome for your cognizance. A son will suspect that he has been disinherited; he will demand that his father's tablets not be opened. The same demand a daughter will make, a grandson, a great-grandson, a brother, a cousin, a paternal uncle, a maternal uncle, a paternal aunt, a maternal aunt: every name of kinship will seize upon this privilege of forbidding the tablets to be opened, while they themselves enjoy possession by the right of blood. And once the case has been remitted to Rome, what will come about? The heirs named in the will will set sail, while those disinherited will remain in possession; they will drag the matter on from day to day, will seek delays, will draw out the seasons with various excuses: 'It is winter, and the wintry sea is harsh; he could not come.' When winter has passed: 'The springtime storms, uncertain and unpredictable, have held him up.' Spring is spent: 'It is summer, hot, and the sun scorches voyagers, and the man is seasick.' Autumn follows: the fruits will be blamed and feebleness pleaded. 4. Am I imagining these things and making them up? Why, in this very case, has not this very thing happened? Where is the adversary, who long ago ought to have been present to plead his case? 'He is on the road.' On what road, pray? 'He is coming from Asia.' And he is still in Asia! 'It is a long journey, and one made in haste.' Is it by ships, or by horses, or by imperial post-warrants that he makes these halting-places of his so swift? Meanwhile, once the hearing has been appointed, a first adjournment was sought from you, Caesar, and obtained; the hearing appointed again, a postponement of two months was sought from you. The two months ran out on the last Ides, and several days in between besides. Has he come at last? If he has not yet come, is he at least drawing near? If he is not yet drawing near, has he at least set out from Asia? If he has not yet set out, is he at least thinking of it? What else is he thinking of than to brood over another's property, to plunder its fruits, to lay waste the fields, to squander the whole estate? He is not so foolish as to prefer coming to Caesar and being beaten to remaining in Asia and keeping possession." 5. "If this custom should be brought in, that the wills of the deceased be sent from overseas provinces to Rome, the peril to wills will thus be more shameful and more bitter than it would be if the bodies of the deceased were dragged here across the seas, battered and abused. In that case neither the dead man nor his property would suffer loss; for burial is at hand for corpses even amid their very injuries: whether the seas devour the shipwrecked, or rivers sweep them headlong away, or the sands bury them, or wild beasts tear them, or birds rend them apart, a human body is sufficiently buried wherever it is consumed. But when a will has been sunk in shipwreck, then at last the estate and the house and the family are shipwrecked and unburied. Once, wills used to be brought forth from the most strongly fortified temples of the gods, or from record-offices, or from strongboxes, or from archives, or from temple back-chambers; but now they bring forth wills as though they had been tossed about among the cargo of merchandise and the baggage of the oarsmen. This too remains: that whenever it becomes necessary to lighten the ship, wills should be thrown overboard along with the pulse-cargo. Why, an import-toll must even be established, to be levied on wills. In time past it was not established, because wills did not yet sail [...] to the model, and so they filled it up with someone bringing a witness." 6. "The defendant, a tax-farmer, did not make his will eloquent, who in Asia gives nothing to a sister, while what is another's [...] more serviceable for use to that man, by these legacies [...] he makes his will with his own marks, recognized either from some public work or from some tablet, and so, in the first place, even to me. The parts see that the sisters have made up such great gifts: they assail the rest with the water of the sea, with the storm of winter, with the clouds of the sky. There remain, for those who must cross over, the unleashed fierceness of the wind and, in the brightest of skies, the perils of the open sea; the legacies turn upon the caprice of the waters; by the treachery of those squalls the onrushing winds will have torn them from sight, and likewise they will be carried off along with the will. Soon thereafter that ship, cast loose or scattered even against intention, then flung apart and dispersed into the gulfs of the Adriatic's waters, and swallowed by the sea's swell, is uprooted. 7. Meanwhile the sisters, having employed such deceitful trickery, feast on those Asian goods. Afterward they alone are the private heirs, to whom the testator, while of sound mind, could assign the property, and likewise, the will being completed, with a little note hastily concealed, and [...] their own, many copies." 8. "Let us add something about the funeral. Let the household know how it is to mourn: a manumitted slave laments in one way, a client bound to him by praise in another, a friend honored with a legacy in another. Why do you make the obsequies uncertain and held in suspense? For all animals, the inheritance is taken up immediately after death: from the sheep the wool is stripped at once, as ivory from the elephant, claws from lions, feathers and plumage from birds; but the inheritance of human beings, after death, lies idle, is put off, is exposed to robbers and torn to pieces?" 9. I think I have copied out the whole. What, then, was I to do, when I admired the whole of it, when I loved the whole of so blessed a man? Farewell, most eloquent, most learned, dearest to me, sweetest, most longed-for master, most sorely missed friend. 10. A son born to Herodes today has died; Herodes does not bear it with an even mind. I should like you to write him something pertaining to this matter, in a few brief words. Farewell forever.

144–145 A.D. to Fronto his master sends greeting. 1. Nay, surely it is I who am shameless in ever submitting any of my writings to be read by genius so great, by judgment so great. The passage from your speech, which the Lord my father wished me to choose out, I even declaimed with appropriate action. Needless to say, the words cried aloud for their own author to deliver them: in fact, I was scarcely greeted with Worthy of the maker! But I will not delay telling you what you deservedly long for most. So struck was my Lord with what he heard that he was almost put out because business required his presence at the time elsewhere than in the court where you were to deliver your speech. He greatly admired the copiousness of the matter, the varied excellence of the diction, the witty originality of the thought, the skilful arrangement of the speech. And now you are asking, I imagine, what pleased me most. Listen: I begin with this passage. 2. " In those affairs and cases which are settled in private courts, no danger arises, since their decisions hold good only within the limits of the cases, but the precedents which you, Emperor, establish by your decrees will hold good publicly and for all time. So much greater is your power and authority than is assigned to the Fates. They determine what shall befall us as individuals: you by your decisions in individual cases make precedents binding upon all . 3. " Therefore, if this decision of the proconsul is approved by you, you will give all magistrates of all provinces a rule for deciding all cases of the same kind. What, then, will be the result? This evidently, that all wills from distant and oversea provinces will be brought over to Rome for cognizance in your court. A son will suspect that he has been disinherited: he will demand that his father's will be not opened. The same demand will be made by a daughter, a grandson, a great grand-child, a brother, a cousin, a paternal uncle, a maternal uncle, a paternal aunt, a maternal aunt; relations of all degrees will usurp this privilege of forbidding the will to be opened, that they may enjoy possession the while by right of consanguinity. When, finally, the case has been referred to Rome, what will result? The heirs designate will set sail, while the disinherited will remain in possession, procrastinate from day to day, look about for delays, and so put off the courts on various pretexts. It is winter time and the wintry sea is rough; he has been unable to appear. Winter over, it is the equinoctial gales, fitful and sudden, that have delayed him. The spring is past: the summer is hot and the sun scorches voyagers, and the man is seasick. The fall follows: the fruit will be in fault and debility the excuse. 4. " I am imagining and inventing this? What, has not this actually occurred in this case? Where is the defendant who ought to have been here this long while past to plead his cause? 'He is on his way.' On what way, prithee? 'He is coming from Asia.' And so he is still in Asia? 'It is a long way and he has made haste.' Is it on shipboard, or horseback, or by imperial post that he makes such headlong halts? Meanwhile, as soon as the trial is fixed, you are asked, Caesar, for a first adjournment, which is granted: the trial is fixed a second time , a second time an adjournment of two months is asked for. The two months expired on the last ides, and since then several days have gone by. Has he come at last? If not yet come, is he, at all events, near? If not yet near, has he at least set out from Asia? If he has not yet set out, does he at least think of setting out? What else does he think of but keeping in his hands the goods of others, plundering the proceeds, stripping the estate, wasting the whole property? He is not so foolish as to prefer coming to Caesar and losing his case to staying in Asia and keeping possession. 5. " If this custom be brought in, that the wills of the deceased should be sent to Rome from the oversea provinces, the imperilling of wills would be more discreditable and distressing than if it were the custom for the bodies of the deceased, who make their wills oversea, to be sent to Rome. For no further peril can touch them. A corpse is assured of burial in its very mishaps. For whether it be swallowed by the sea in shipwreck, or swept away in a moment by a river, or the sands cover it, whether the beasts of the field devour it, or the birds of the air pick its bodies, the human body is practically buried wherever it is dissolved. But when by shipwreck a will is engulfed, the estate and home and family in question is then and there shipwrecked and lies unburied. Time was when wills used to be brought out from the securest temples of the Gods, from muniment rooms, or chests, or archives, or temple vestries: bid now shall wills sail the stormy seas amid bales of merchandise and rowers' kit. The next thing will even be for them to be jettisoned with a cargo of pulse, should it become necessary to lighten the ship. Moreover, also, an import duty to be levied on wills must be fixed. In time past . . . . 6. " But to say something as to the burial. The household would know how to mourn. The slave enfranchised under the will has one way of shewing sorrow, the client mentioned with praise another, another the friend honoured with a legacy. Why throw uncertainty and delay over the funeral rites? In the case of all animals the inheritance is realized at once after death: from sheep the wool is stripped at once, and from the elephant his ivory, their claws from lions, from birds their feathers and plumes; but a man dies and his inheritance lies derelict, is put aside , left as a prey to robbers, it is made away with. " 7. I think I have copied out the whole. What indeed could I do, when I admired the whole man, loved the whole man—blessings on him—so much? Farewell, my master, most eloquent, most learned, most dear to me, most sweet, whom I most long for, miss the most. The son of Herodes, born to-day, is dead. Herodes is overwhelmed with grief at his loss. I wish you would write him quite a short letter appropriate to the occasion. Fare ever well.

ad M. Caesarem 1.6 [10 Hout; 1.154 Haines] M. Aurelius Caesar salutem dicit Frontoni magistro suo. 1 Ne ego impudens, qui umquam, quicquam meorum scriptorum tanto ingenio, tanto judicio legendum committo! Patri, domino meo, locum ex oratione tua, quem me eligere voluerat, ὑπεκρινάμην commode. Plane illa suum auctorem sibi dari flagitabant, denique mihi vix succlamatum est “ἀξίως τοῦ ποιητοῦ”. Sed quod tu merito omnibus praeoptas, non diu differam: Ita adfectus est auditione eorum dominus meus ut paene moleste ferret quod alio modo ad negotium opus sibi esset quam eo quo tu orationem habiturus intraveras. Sensuum facultatem, elocutionis variam virtutem, inventionis argutam novitatem, orationis doctam dispositionem vehementer miratus est. Nunc, credo, post hoc quaeris, quid me maxime juverit. Accipe, hinc coepi: 2 “In iis rebus et causis, quae a privatis judicibus judicantur, nullum inest periculum, quia sententia eorum intra causarum demum terminos valent; tuis autem decretis, imperator, exempla publice valitura in perpetuum sanciuntur. Tanto major tibi vis et potestas quam fatis adtributa est: Fata quid singulis nostrum eveniat statuunt; tu, ubi quid in singulos decernis, ibi universa exempla adstringis. 3 Quare si hoc decretum tibi proconsulis placuerit, formam dederis omnibus omnium provinciarum magistratibus, quid in ejusmodi causis decernant. Quid igitur eveniet? Illud scilicet, ut testamenta omnia ex longinquis transmarinisque provinciis Romam ad cognitionem tuam deferantur. Filius exheredatum se suspicabitur: Postulabit, ne patris tabulae aperiantur. Idem filia postulabit, nepos, abnepos, frater, consobrinus, patruus, avonculus, amita, matertera: Omnia necessitudinum nomina hoc privilegium invadent, ut tabulas aperiri vetent, ipsi possessione jure sanguinis fruantur. Causa denique Romam remissa quid eveniet? Heredes scripti navigabunt, exheredati autem in possessione remanebunt, diem de die ducent, dilationes petent, tempora variis excusationibus trahent: “Hiemps est et crudum mare hibernum est; adesse non potuit.” Ubi hiemps praeterierit: “Vernae tempestates incertae et dubiae moratae sunt.” Ver exactum est: “Aestas est calida et sol navigantis urit et homo nauseat.” Autumnus sequitur: poma culpabuntur et languor excusabitur. 4 Fingo haec et comminiscor? Quid, in hac causa non hoc ipsum evenit? Ubi est adversarius, qui jam pridem ad agendam causam adesse debuerat? “In itinere est.” Quo tandem in itinere? “Ex Asia venit.” Et est adhuc in Asia! “Magnum iter, et festinatum.” Navibusne an equis an diplomatibus facit haec tam velocia stativa? Cum interim cognitione proposita semel a te, Caesar, petita dilatio et impetrata; proposita cognitione rursum a te duum mensum petita dilatio. Duo menses exacti sunt Idibus proximis et dies medii isti aliquot. Venit tandem? Si nondum venit, at saltem adpropinquat? Si nondum adpropinquat, at saltem profectus ex Asia est? Si nondum profestus est, at saltem cogitat? Quid ille cogitat aliud quam bonis alienis incubare, fructus diripere, agros vastare, rem omnem dilapidare? Non ille ita stultus est, ut malit venire ad Caesarem et vinci quam remanere in Asia et possidere.” 5 “Qui mos si fuerit inductus, ut defunctorum testamenta ex provinciis transmarinis Romam mittantur, indignius et acerbius sic testamentorum periculum erit, quam sit si corpora huc defunctorum trans maria trahantur adflicta injuriose. Tum detrimentum neque mortuus neque peculium capiet. Sepultura enim cadaveribus in ipsis injuriis praesto est: Sive maria naufragos devorent sive flumina praecipites trahant, sive harenae obruant, seu ferae lacerent, sive volucres discerpant, corpus humanum satis sepelitur, ubicumque consumitur. At ubi testamentum naufragio submersum est, illa demum et res et domus et familia naufraga et insepulta est. Olim testamenta ex deorum munitissimis aedibus proferebantur aut tabullariis aut thecis aut archieis aut opisthodomis; at jam testamenta proferunt sicut jactitarint inter onera mercium et sarcinas remigum. Id etiam superest, si quando jactu opus est, ut testamenta cum leguminibus jactebtur. Quin etiam portorium constituendum, quod pro testamentis exigatur. Antehac non constitutum, quia testamenta nondum navigarent salis ad exemplar sicque replerent aliquo ducente teste.” 6 “Non facundum effecit reus publicanus testamentum, qui in Asia sorori nil utrique dat aliena quo quae isti usu habilior, eo legatis . . . . . . testatur notis suis vel ex aliquo publico opere vel tabula aliqua cognitis, igitur primo etiam mihi. Vident partes tantas confecisse dona sorores: Aqua maris, tempestate hiemis, caeli nubilis reliquos insectantur. Restant soluta ferocia venti et clarissimo Caelo et salo pericula transituris; legata in arbitrio marium versantur, illarum procellarum dolo e conspectu avulserint venti superruentes, item cum testamento auferentur. Mox inde illa nave vel contra voluntatem soluta aut sparsa, post in Hadriae fluminum sinus disjecta ac dilata marisque aestu absorpta eradicantur. 7 Interea sorores bona illa Asiana tali fallacia dolosa usae epulantur. Postea privatae solae sunt, quibus bona sanis testator allegare potuit item perfecto testamento propere celata litterula et . . . . . sua multi exempla.” 8 “De funere aliquid addamus. Sciat familia quemadmodum lugeat: Aliter plangit servus manumissus, aliter cliens laude vadatus, aliter amicus legato honoratus. Quid incertas et suspensas exequias facis? Omnium animalium statim post mortem hereditas cernitur: Ovi lana statim detrahitur, ut elephanto ebur, ungues leonibus, avibus pinnae plumaeque: Hominum hereditas post mortem jacet, differtur, praedonibus exposta dirripitur?” 9 Puto totum descripsi. Quid ergo facerem, quom totum admirarer, quom totum amarem talem hominem beatum? Vale, disertissime, doctissime, mihi carissime, dulcissime, magister optatissime, amice desiderantissime. 10 Herodi filius natus hodie mortuus est; id Herodes non aequo fert animo. Volo ut illi aliquid quod ad hanc rem adtineat pauculorum verborum scribas. Semper vale.