Marcus Cornelius Fronto
Marcus Cornelius Fronto (* 100, † 170 ) was a Roman grammarian, rhetorician and lawyer. He was born in Cirta in Numidia in an Italian-born family.
Life
Fronto came in the reign of Hadrian in Rome and quickly gained such a reputation as a lawyer and orator, that it was thought that he stood just below Cicero. He gathered a large fortune on, let grand building built and bought the famous gardens of Maecenas. Emperor Antoninus Pius made him the teacher of his adopted sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, after he had heard of his fame.
142 Fronto was for two months ( July and August) Suffektkonsul, but declined the office of proconsul of Asia due to his health from. His later years were overshadowed by the loss of all his children except one daughter. His talent as an orator and rhetorician was greatly admired by his contemporaries, a number of them even founded a school, and named themselves after him Frontoniani, whose declared aim was the ancient purity and clarity of the Latin language against the excesses of the Greek sophistic school restore.
Thus, the intention commendable also may have been recommended by his author list does not just speak for Frontos literary taste. The authors of the era of Augustus are excessively reduced, while Ennius, Plautus, Sallust Laberius and are represented as being exemplary.
Until 1815, the only remaining works, which also falsely attributed Fronto were two grammatical treatises: De nominum verborumque differentiis and Exempla elocutionum (the second is really from Arusianus Messius ). This year, Angelo Mai discovered in the Ambrosian Library in Milan a palimpsest (and later some additional leaves in the Vatican), on the originally some of Fronto 's letters to his imperial pupil and their answers were written. This palimpsest originally belonged to the famous convent of St. Columbanus of Luxeuil in Bobbio and had been overwritten by the monks with the results of the first Council of Chalcedon.
The letters were published along with the other fragments in the palimpsest in 1823 in Rome. Their content, however, does not match the glory that Fronto enjoyed. The letters are correspondence with Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, in which the character of Frontos students appear in a very favorable light, especially in the affection that the two had to her old teacher, as well as letters to friends, especially letters of recommendation. The collection also contains essays on the eloquence, some historical fragments and literary trifles on such issues as the praise of smoke and dust, negligence, and a dissertation of Arion.
Its main merit is for older opinions is to obtain extracts have old writer, who would otherwise have been lost. Today's research sees his influence on the development of the Latin language is often positive.
Frontos brother Quintus Cornelius Quadratus.
Edition and commentary
- Michael PJ van den Hout (eds.): M. Cornelii Frontonis Epistulae. Teubner, Leipzig, 1988, ISBN 3-322-00448-1.
- Michael PJ van den Hout: A commentary on the Letters of M. Cornelius Fronto. Brill, Leiden et al 1999, ISBN 90-04-10957-9.