M. Frontonis epistularum ad Verum imperatorem Aurelium Caesarem
ad Verum Imp. II.9
Commentary by Max Freedlund: revised by Jacques Bailly

Writing in late 165CE, Fronto reports that he has sent to Emperor Lucius Verus the things that Verus’ brother wanted him to send, as well as an oration called Pro Demostrato. He also says he will send along a commentarium.

The addressee of this letter, "Verus," is an emperor, and thus his full name is a bit tortured: he was named Lucius Ceionius Commodus at birth, became Lucius Aelius Commodus when the Emperor Hadrian adopted his father, and then Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus when Emperor Antoninus Pius adopted him. As emperor, his name became Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus, but he is known as Emperor Lucius Verus. He was co-emperor from 161 until 169 with his adopted brother, Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180 CE). At the time of this letter, Emperor Lucius Verus is in the east where war is being waged.

Fronto pleads ill health and grief at the loss of his wife and grandson, but is nonetheless glad to write to Verus, he says. Previous letters had spoken of these matters in much greater detail with much emotion.

The oration pro Demostrato mentioned here is also mentioned in Fronto's letter II.8 to Antoninus as pro Demostrato Petiliano: Demostratus was  an accuser of Herodes in 142. The oration is problematic for Fronto, because in it, a man of whom Verus approves, Asclepiodotus, is spoken ill of, which could cause offense to Verus.  Since the oration had already been published, Fronto cannot suppress it. Hence Fronto suggests, as a solution, that he too will become good friends with Asclepiodotus.  A similar thing occurred in the past with Herodes and the oration to prove it is still extant, says Fronto.

In the last sentence of the letter, Fronto engages to follow Verus’ instructions on a separate matter (perhaps military matters mentioned in correspondence earlier at Fronto's Epistula II.3, as Haines suggests).

The text has some problems, and a few alternative suggestions are offered here for the text, drawn from Van den Hout or Haines, both which the curious reader should consult. Haines offers different spellings of words as well: e.g. optuli for obtuli, quom for cum.

Bibliography
A Commentary on the Letters of Marcus Cornelius Fronto, Michael Petrus Josephus Van Den Hout, Brill, 1999.
The Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto with Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Lucius Verus, Antoninus Pius, and various friends, C.R. Haines, Harvard's Loeb series, 1919-20.

Text
Domino Aurelio Vero Augusto.
1 Fatigatum me valetudine diutina et praeter solitum gravi ac gravissimis etiam luctibus paene continuis adflictum (nam in paucissimis mensibus et uxorem carissimam et nepotem trimulum amisi), sed his plerisque me malis perculsum, relevatum aliquantum fateor quod te meminisse nostri et quaedam nostra desiderasse cognovi. Misi igitur, quae dominus meus frater tuus litteris tuis admonitus mittenda censuit. Adjunxi praeterea orationem pro Demostrato, quam cum fratri tuo primum obtuli, didici ex eo Asclepiodotum, qui oratione ista compellatur, a te non improbari. Quod ego ubi comperi, cupivi equidem abolere orationem, sed iam pervaserat in manus plurium quam ut abolere possem. Quid igitur, quid igitur, inquam, probabis? Asclepiodotum, cum a te probetur, mihi quoque fieri amicissimum, tam hercule quam est Herodes summus nunc meus, quamquam extet oratio. 2 Egit praeterea mecum frater tuus inpense id, quod ego multo inpensius adgredi cupio et, ubi primum commentarium miseris, adgrediar ex summis voluntatis opibus; nam de facultate tute videbis, qui me idoneum censuisti.

Commentary

1. Fatigatum me valetudine diutina et praeter solitum gravi ac gravissimis etiam luctibus paene continuis adflictum (nam in paucissimis mensibus et uxorem carissimam et nepotem trimulum amisi), sed his plerisque me malis perculsum, relevatum aliquantum fateor quod te meminisse nostri et quaedam nostra desiderasse cognovi.

The basic structure of the first sentence is outlined below. It consists of a main verb fateor which takes several accusative + infinitive indirect speech clauses and a quod explanatory clause.
solitum: accusative with praeter. The phrase praeter solitum adverbially modifies gravi, which in turn modifies valetudine.
relevatum: recreatum is offered as an alternative emendation here.
aliquantum:  neuter accusatives often function as adverbs. This one modifies relevatum.
nostri: this genitive form of the personal pronoun nos is only ever used as an objective or subjective genitive (memini takes a genitive object): of course, there is also another nostri, a possessive adjective.
desiderasse: syncopated form of desideravisse.

2. Misi igitur, quae dominus meus frater tuus litteris tuis admonitus mittenda censuit.

quae: the omitted antecedent would be something like ea, which would be the object of misi.
dominus meus frater tuus: frater is in apposition to dominus, which is then modified by the circumstantial participle admonitus. Usually in English, an appositive such as meus frater is set off with commas. Remember that punctuation is a species of interpretation and our punctuation marks and conventions didn't exist at the time this letter was written. Modern editors have to decide how to punctuate, and they follow their own modern customs.
mittenda: this gerundive has an understood esse with it to form indirect speech after censuit, a frequent construction with censeo. In gender and number, mittenda agrees with quae, its subject.

3. Adjunxi praeterea orationem pro Demostrato, quam cum fratri tuo primum obtuli, didici ex eo Asclepiodotum, qui oratione ista compellatur, a te non improbari.

pro Demostrato: the title of an oration. In his letter to the Emperor Antoninus II.8 (165CE), Fronto reports what he says here and quotes this passage, which confirms that Fronto kept copies of letters he had sent.
quam cum…primum obtuli: quam (whose antecedent is orationem) is the object of obtuli which is the verb of the temporal cum-clause. obtuli is modified by adverbial primum.
fratri tuo ... eo: i.e. Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, Verus’ brother and emperor from 161-180CE, known as Emperor Marcus Aurelius. eo in the next clause also refers to him.
improbari: passive infinitive in indirect statement governed by didici. The subject of improbari is Asclepiodotum.

4. Quod ego ubi comperi, cupivi equidem abolere orationem, sed iam pervaserat in manus plurium quam ut abolere possem.

Quod: this "linking relative" is the object of comperi. "Linking relatives" are relative pronouns that link sentences together by referring to an antecedent in a previous sentence rather than introducing subordinate relative clauses.
equidem: = ego+quidem.
plurium: the comparative can mean not only "more ____" but also "too ____," and in the latter case a result clause can easily depend on it, as does the ut clause here.
possem: result clause, secondary sequence.
abolere: infinitive complementary to possem. Once published, a work is hard to withdraw from circulation, even in an age when every copy had to be written by hand.

5. Quid igitur, quid igitur, inquam, probabis? Asclepiodotum, cum a te probetur, mihi quoque fieri amicissimum, tam hercule quam est Herodes summus nunc meus, quamquam extet oratio.

Quid igitur, quid igitur, inquam, probabis: repetition can evoke emotion, here one of alarm, or perhaps hand-wringing, to build tension until the solution (that they become fast friends). Haines' Loeb indicates that while Hauler has Quid igitur, quid igitur, inquam, probabis?, that text is a modern reconstruction of what Fronto likely wrote: what is found in the manuscripts is insufficient, so the ground is ripe for emendations. Brakman offers an alternative: he thinks Fronto wrote Quid ig<itur f>ieri, quid, inquam, op<orte>t? Nisi ...  (pointy brackets indicate that the editor thinks what is in them was in the author's text but is nonetheless not found in any manuscripts).
Asclepiodotum ... fieri amicissimum: acc. + inf. dependent on probabis (or oportet if one likes Brakman's text).
cum a te probetur: causal cum-clauses have what mood?
tam…quam… : correlatives “as much ... as”, tam modifies an understood fieri amicissimum, and correlates with quam, which modifies est Herodes summus (sc. amicus).
quamquam: in earlier Latin, quamquam presented an admitted fact and so took the indicative. By Fronto's time, quamquam can take the subjunctive as well. For instance, quamquam mulier es = "even if/although you (really) are a woman" while quamquam mulier sis = "even if/although you (may) be a woman."

5. Egit praeterea mecum frater tuus inpense id, quod ego multo inpensius adgredi cupio et, ubi primum commentarium miseris, adgrediar ex summis voluntatis opibus; nam de facultate tute videbis, qui me idoneum censuisti.

inpense: = impense (orthographic conventions vary).
quod: object of adgredi. Antecedent is id.
multo: ablative of degree of difference modifying the comparative adverb impensius.
adgredi: infinitive, object of cupio.
commentarium: probably the writings mentioned in ad Verum II.3.
miseris: future perfect: note that it depends on the future indicative agrediar clause, and so  the structure is just like a future more vivid conditional.
ex ... opibus: prepositions are among the most idiomatic facets of a language. Here, you will have to part from a literal translation to convey the meaning in good English. Try "with" for ex.
tute: emphatic form of tu and the antecedent of qui.

Vocabulary
aboleo, abolere, abolevi, abolitum, destroy, efface
adfligo, adfligere, adflixi, adflictum, beat, strike
adgredior, adgredi, adgressus, undertake
adiungo, adiungere, adiunxi, adiunctum, add, join to
admoneo, admonere, admonui, admonitus,  remind
ago, agere, egi, actus, discuss with, talk about with (+prepositional cum and de or the like)
aliquantum, somewhat (adverbial accusative of aliquantus, -a, -um)
amitto, amittere, amisi, amissum, lose
carus, -a, -um, dear
censeo, censere, censui,  censum, value, resolve
cognosco, cognoscere, cognovi, cognitum, learn
commentarius – notebook, notes
compello (1), reproach, rebuke
comperio, comperire, comperi, compertum, find out, learn
cupio, cupire, cupivi, cupitum, desire
desidero (1), ask for, wish for
disco, discere, didici,  disciturus, to learn
diutinus, -a, -um, long, long-lasting
exsto, exstare,  exist, be extant
facultas, -atis, f.,  capability
fateor, fateri, fassus sum, confess
fatigo (1), tire, fatigue
gravis, grave, serious
idoneus, -a, -um, suitable, capable, proper
improbo (1), blame, condemn, disapprove
inpense, eagerly, seriously
luctus, -us,  m., grief
memini, meminisse, remember
mensis, mensis, m., month
nepos, nepotis, m. and f., grandson, granddaughter
offero, offerre, obtuli, obatum, present, offer
ops, opis, f. ability, power
paene, nearly
paucus, -a, -um, few
percello, percellere, perculi, perculsum, beat down, strike down
pervado, pervadere, pervasi, pervasum, spread through, go out among
plerusque, -aque, -umque, very many, most (emphatic form of plerus, -a, -um)
praeter (+ acc.), beyond, in addition to
praeterea, moreover, besides
probo (1), approve, esteem
quamquam, although
recreo (1), revive, refresh
relevo (1), relieve
solitus, -a, -um, usual, customary
summus, -a, -um, highest
trimulus, -a, -um, 3-years old (diminutive form)
uxor, uxoris, f., wife
valetudo, valetudinis, f., health (good or bad: here it means “bad health”)
voluntas, -atis, f., free-will, desire