Marcus Cornelius Fronto→Marcus Aurelius|c. 143 AD|Marcus Cornelius Fronto|From Rome (career hub)|To Rome (career hub)|AI-assisted
My lord, I have sent Gratia to celebrate your mother's birthday, and I told her to stay there until I come. The very moment I have laid down the consulship by the customary oath, I will climb into a carriage and fly to you. Meanwhile I pledged my word that my Gratia would run no risk of starvation. Your mother will share with her dependent the little treats sent to her by you. Nor is my Gratia, as lawyers' wives are said to be, a great eater. She could live content on your mother's kisses alone.
But what will become of me? Not a single kiss is left anywhere in Rome. All my fortune, all my joys, are in Naples. Tell me, please, what is the custom about laying down office by oath a day early. Am I not ready, if I may swear myself out of office several days early, to swear by several gods? And what is it that I am about to swear? That I am leaving the consulship? I would even swear this too: that I have long wanted to leave the consulship so that I may embrace Marcus Aurelius.
To my Lord. I have sent my Gratia to keep your mother's birthday with her, and bidden her stay there till I come. The very moment, however, that I have laid down my consulship with the customary oath I shall climb into my carriage and fly off to you. Meanwhile, I have pledged my word that my Gratia shall run no risk of starvation. For your mother will share with her protégée the tit-bits sent her by you. Nor is my Gratia a great eater, as lawyer's wives are said to be. She will live contentedly enough even on nothing but your mother's kisses. But what will become of poor me? There is not even a single kiss left anywhere in Rome. All my fortunes, all my joys are at Naples. Tell me, I beseech you, what is the custom of lajdng down an office under oath a day earlier. What, am I not ready to swear by as many more gods as I can swear myself out of office days sooner? Again, am I to swear that I resign my consulship? Yea, and I will swear this, too, that I have long wished to resign it, that I may embrace Marcus Aurelius.
ad M. Caesarem 2.13 [32 Hout; 1.144 Haines]
Domino meo.
1 Cratiam misi ad diem natalem matris tuae celebrandum eique praecepi, ut istic subsisteret quoad ego venirem. Eodem autem momento, quo consulatum ejuravero, vehiculum conscendam et ad vos pervolabo. Interim Cratiae meae nullum a fame periculum fore fide mea spopondi: Mater enim tua particulas a te sibi missas, cum clienta communicabit: Neque est Cratia mea, ut causidicorum uxores feruntur, multi cibi. Vel osculis solis matris tuae contenta vixerit. Sed enim quid me fiet? Ne osculum quidem usquam ullum est Romae residuum. Omnes meae fortunae, mea omnia gaudia Neapoli sunt. 2 Oro te, quis iste mos est pridie magistratus ejurandi? Quid quod ego paratus sum, dum ante plures dies ejurem, per plures deos jurare? Quid est autem, quod juraturus sum me consulatu abire? Ego vero etiam illud juravero, me olim consulatu abire cupere ut M. Aurelium conplectar.
◆
My lord, I have sent Gratia to celebrate your mother's birthday, and I told her to stay there until I come. The very moment I have laid down the consulship by the customary oath, I will climb into a carriage and fly to you. Meanwhile I pledged my word that my Gratia would run no risk of starvation. Your mother will share with her dependent the little treats sent to her by you. Nor is my Gratia, as lawyers' wives are said to be, a great eater. She could live content on your mother's kisses alone.
But what will become of me? Not a single kiss is left anywhere in Rome. All my fortune, all my joys, are in Naples. Tell me, please, what is the custom about laying down office by oath a day early. Am I not ready, if I may swear myself out of office several days early, to swear by several gods? And what is it that I am about to swear? That I am leaving the consulship? I would even swear this too: that I have long wanted to leave the consulship so that I may embrace Marcus Aurelius.
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 M. Caesarem 2.13 [32 Hout; 1.144 Haines] Domino meo. 1 Cratiam misi ad diem natalem matris tuae celebrandum eique praecepi, ut istic subsisteret quoad ego venirem. Eodem autem momento, quo consulatum ejuravero, vehiculum conscendam et ad vos pervolabo. Interim Cratiae meae nullum a fame periculum fore fide mea spopondi: Mater enim tua particulas a te sibi missas, cum clienta communicabit: Neque est Cratia mea, ut causidicorum uxores feruntur, multi cibi. Vel osculis solis matris tuae contenta vixerit. Sed enim quid me fiet? Ne osculum quidem usquam ullum est Romae residuum. Omnes meae fortunae, mea omnia gaudia Neapoli sunt. 2 Oro te, quis iste mos est pridie magistratus ejurandi? Quid quod ego paratus sum, dum ante plures dies ejurem, per plures deos jurare? Quid est autem, quod juraturus sum me consulatu abire? Ego vero etiam illud juravero, me olim consulatu abire cupere ut M. Aurelium conplectar.