XI. From Fronto I learned to observe what envy and duplicity and hypocrisy are in a tyrant, and that generally those among us who are called Patricians are rather deficient in paternal affection.
Frontohis rhetoric master
Marcus Cornelius Fronto of Cirta, the leading Latin orator of his day. Their letters survive and are warm; he spent years trying to stop Marcus abandoning rhetoric for philosophy, and failed.
Where they were from
Where they were fromAn orator from Cirta in Africa, who led the bar at Rome.
When, in his life
writing this
about 139–167
born 121
adopted 138
emperor 161
died 180
Tutor, then correspondent, until Fronto died.
Where it comes from
Fronto was his rhetoric master and their letters survive, full of affection. What Marcus records from him is not eloquence but a warning about what power does to a man.