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Pronto appears to have taken the delegates' part, and to have

accepted a brief for the prosecution, urged to some extent by

personal considerations; and in this cause Marcus Aurelius writes

to Fronto as follows:-

'AURELIUS CAeSAR to his friend FRONTO, greeting.[5]

'I know you have often told me you were anxious to find how you

might best please me. Now is the time; now you can increase my

love towards you, if it can be increased. A trial is at hand, in

which people seem likely not only to hear your speech with

pleasure, but to see your indignation with impatience. I see no

one who dares give you a hint in the matter; for those who are

less friendly, prefer to see you act with some inconsistency; and

those who are more friendly, fear to seem too friendly to your

opponent if they should dissuade you from your accusation; then

again, in case you have prepared something neat for the occasion,

they cannot endure to rob you of your harangue by silencing you.

Therefore, whether you think me a rash counsellor, or a bold boy,

or too kind to your opponent, not because I think it better, I

will offer my counsel with some caution. But why have I said,

offer my counsel?