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He really admires what he praises, and his way of saying so is

not unlike what often passes for criticism at the present day. He

is not afraid to reprove what he thinks amiss; and the

astonishment of Marcus at this will prove, if proof were needed,

that he was not used to plain dealing. "How happy I am," he

writes, "that my friend Marcus Cornelius, so distinguished as an

orator and so noble as a man, thinks me worth praising and

blaming."[3] In another place he deems himself blest because

Pronto had taught him to speak the truth[4] although the context

shows him to be speaking of expression, it is still a point in

favour of Pronto. A sincere heart is better than literary taste;

and if Fronto had not done his duty by the young prince, it is

not easy to understand the friendship which remained between them

up to the last.

[3] Ad M. Caes iii. 17

[4] Ad M. Caes iii. 12