Scripted Intimacy in Fronto’s Correspondence with Marcus Aurelius

In this reappraisal of the early letter exchange between the Roman orator Fronto and his most famous pupil, Marcus Aurelius (second century AD), Wytse Keulen explores the profound mimetic impact of their strikingly 'authentic' intimacy. Keulen's analysis includes the letters' public appeal as a social performance, which skilfully combines eloquent self-fashioning with polite consensus building. He elucidates Fronto's letter collection as an artistic unity, published by Fronto himself: by weaving letters and replies into a meaningful overarching structure, the correspondence memorializes Fronto's friendship with the future Emperor as a literary monument dedicated to both correspondents. Thanks to this original conception, Fronto's letter collection proves to be a more than worthy successor to Pliny the Younger's epistolary project, surpassing its model through its dramatic power and captivating intimacy