Also known as:
Fronto, Marcus Cornelius Fronto;
Italian: Marco Cornelio Frontone;
Latin: Fronto, M. Cornelius Fronto
FRONTONE, MARCUS AURELIUS. - Orator, born at Cirta (Numidia) ca. 100 A.D., was tutor to M. Aurelius and L. Verus; consul in 143. His greatest glory came not from his mediocre writings in poetry and prose, but from the close friendship he had with M. Aurelius, who calls him "magister dulcissimus" (Ep. 1, 7).
He valued literature more than philosophy, from which he sought in vain to turn away his imperial pupil, and he was not favorable to Christianity, which he attacked in a speech, today lost along with all the others, but whose content can be gathered from the Octavius of Minucius Felix, in which the accusations against the Christians are drawn from the speech of F. ("Citrensis nostri testatur oratio"; "tuus Fronto"; Oct., 31, 1-2). Having endorsed the foolish accusations (onolatry, infanticide, orgy) demonstrates his superficiality of critical judgment, which places him on the level of the ignorant common folk.
Of his works the Discourses are lost. There remain the Letters to M. Aurelius, Lucius Verus, Antoninus Pius and to friends: the short treatises: De eloquentia, De bello Parthico, De ovationibus, Principia historiae, Laudes fumi et pulveris, Laudes negligentiae, De feris Absentibus, Arian.
Bibliography4 worksThe only manuscript is a palimpsest of the 6th century discovered by A. Mai in the Ambrosiana (1813), completed with ms. Vat. 5750. The best
BIBL.: The only manuscript is a palimpsest of the 6th century discovered by A. Mai in the Ambrosiana (1813), completed with ms. Vat. 5750. The best edition is that of A. Neher 1867. G. Boisier, Marc-Aurèle et les lettres de Fronton, in Revue des deux mondes, 1 Apr. 1868; A. Klotz, Klassicismus und Ardeismus, in Arch. für laxen. Lexikographie, 13 (1907), p. 401 ff.; A. Beltrami, Le tendenze letterarie negli scritti di F., Rome-Milan 1907; D. Brach, Studies in Fronto and his age, Cambridge 1911.
Turchi, Nicola. “Frontone, marco aurelio.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, col. 1785. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/frontone-marco-aurelio.
MLA
Turchi, Nicola. “Frontone, marco aurelio.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, col. 1785. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/frontone-marco-aurelio.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec5_frontone_marco_aurelio,
author = {Turchi, Nicola},
title = {Frontone, marco aurelio},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {V},
pages = {1785},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/frontone-marco-aurelio}
}
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