Louis. Frontenac died on the 28th of November 1698 at the Château St-Louis after a brief illness, deeply mourned by the Canadian people. The faults of the governor were those of temperament, which had been fostered by early environment. His nature was turbulent, and from his youth he had been used to command; but underlying a rough exterior there was evidence of a kindly heart. He was fearless, resourceful and decisive, and triumphed as few men could have done over the difficulties and dangers of a most critical position.
See Count Frontenac, by W. D. Le Sueur (Toronto, 1906); Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV, by Francis Parkman (Boston, 1878); Le Comte de Frontenac, by Henri Lorin (Paris, 1895); Frontenac et ses amis, by Ernest Myrand (Quebec, 1902). (A. G. D.)
FRONTINUS, SEXTUS JULIUS (c. A.D. 40–103), Roman soldier and author. In 70 he was city praetor, and five years later was sent into Britain to succeed Petilius Cerealis as governor of that island. He subdued the Silures, and held the other native tribes in check till he was superseded by Agricola (78). In 97 he was appointed superintendant of the aqueducts (curator aquarum) at Rome, an office only conferred upon persons of very high standing. He was also a member of the college of augurs. His chief work is De aquis urbis Romae, in two books, containing a history and description of the water-supply of Rome, including the laws relating to its use and maintenance, and other matters of importance in the history of architecture. Frontinus also wrote a theoretical treatise on military science (De re militari) which is lost. His Strategematicon libri iii. is a collection of examples of military stratagems from Greek and Roman history, for the use of officers; a fourth book, the plan and style of which is different from the rest (more stress is laid on the moral aspects of war, e.g. discipline), is the work of another writer (best edition by G. Gundermann, 1888). Extracts from a treatise on land-surveying ascribed to Frontinus are preserved in Lachmann’s Gromatici veteres (1848).
A valuable edition of the De aquis (text and translation) has been published by C. Herschel (Boston, Mass., 1899). It contains numerous illustrations; maps of the routes of the ancient aqueducts and the city of Rome in the time of Frontinus; a photographic reproduction of the only MS. (the Monte Cassino); several explanatory chapters, and a concise bibliography, in which special reference is made to P. d Tissot, Étude sur la condition des agrimensores (1879). There is a complete edition of the works by A. Dederich (1855), and an English translation of the Strategematica by R. Scott (1816).
FRONTISPIECE (through the French, from Med. Lat. frontispicium,
a front view, frons, frontis, forehead or front, and specere,
to look at; the English spelling is a mistaken adaptation to
“piece”), an architectural term for the principal front of a
building, but more generally applied to a richly decorated
entrance doorway, if projecting slightly only in front of the
main wall, otherwise portal or porch would be a more correct
term. The word, however, is more used for a decorative design
or the representation of some subject connected with the substance
of a book and placed as the first illustrated page. A
design at the end of the chapter of a book is called a tail-piece.
FRONTO, MARCUS CORNELIUS (c. A.D. 100–170), Roman grammarian, rhetorician and advocate, was born of an Italian family at Cirta in Numidia. He came to Rome in the reign of Hadrian, and soon gained such renown as an advocate and orator as to be reckoned inferior only to Cicero. He amassed a large fortune, erected magnificent buildings and purchased the famous gardens of Maecenas. Antoninus Pius, hearing of his fame, appointed him tutor to his adopted sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. In 143 he was consul for two months, but declined the proconsulship of Asia on the ground of ill-health. His latter years were embittered by the loss of all his children except one daughter. His talents as an orator and rhetorician were greatly admired by his contemporaries, a number of whom formed themselves into a school called after him Frontoniani, whose avowed object it was to restore the ancient purity and simplicity of the Latin language in place of the exaggerations of the Greek sophistical school. However praiseworthy the intention may have been, the list of authors specially recommended does not speak well for Fronto’s literary taste. The authors of
the Augustan age are unduly depreciated, while Ennius, Plautus,
Laberius, Sallust are held up as models of imitation. Till 1815
the only extant works ascribed (erroneously) to Fronto were two
grammatical treatises, De nominum verborumque differentíis
and Exempla elocutionum (the last being really by Arusianus
Messius). In that year, however, Angelo Mai discovered in
the Ambrosian library at Milan a palimpsest manuscript (and,
later, some additional sheets of it in the Vatican), on which had
been originally written some of Fronto’s letters to his royal
pupils and their replies. These palimpsests had originally
belonged to the famous convent of St Columba at Bobbio, and
had been written over by the monks with the acts of the first
council of Chalcedon. The letters, together with the other
fragments in the palimpsest, were published at Rome in 1823.
Their contents falls far short of the writer’s great reputation.
The letters consist of correspondence with Antoninus Pius,
Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, in which the character of
Fronto’s pupils appears in a very favourable light, especially
in the affection they both seem to have retained for their old
master; and letters to friends, chiefly letters of recommendation.
The collection also contains treatises on eloquence, some historical
fragments, and literary trifles on such subjects as the praise of
smoke and dust, of negligence, and a dissertation on Arion.
“His style is a laborious mixture of archaisms, a motley cento,
with the aid of which he conceals the poverty of his knowledge
and ideas.” His chief merit consists in having preserved extracts
from ancient writers which would otherwise have been lost.
The best edition of his works is by S. A. Naber (1867), with an account of the palimpsest; see also G. Boissier, “Marc-Aurèle et les lettres de F.,” in Revue des deux mondes (April 1868); R. Ellis, in Journal of Philology (1868) and Correspondence of Fronto and M. Aurelius (1904); and the full bibliography in the article by Brzoska in the new edition of Pauly’s Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, iv. pt. i. (1900).
FROSINONE (anc. Frusino), a town of Italy in the province
of Rome, from which it is 53 m. E.S.E. by rail. Pop. (1901)
town, 9530; commune, 11,029. The place is picturesquely
situated on a hill of 955 ft. above sea-level, but contains no
buildings of interest. Of the ancient city walls a small fragment
alone is preserved, and no other traces of antiquity are visible,
not even of the amphitheatre which it once possessed, for which
a ticket (tessera) has been found (Th. Mommsen in Ber. d. Sächsischen
Gesellschaft d. Wissenschaften, 1849, 286). It was a
Volscian, not a Hernican, town; a part of its territory was taken
from it about 306–303 B.C. by the Romans and sold. The town
then became a praefectura, probably with the civitas sine suffragio,
and later a colony, but we hear nothing important of it. It was
situated just above the Via Latina. (T. As.)
FROSSARD, CHARLES AUGUSTE (1807–1875), French general, was born on the 26th of April 1807, and entered the army from the École Polytechnique in 1827, being posted to the engineers. He took part in the siege of Rome in 1849 and in that of Sebastopol in 1855, after which he was promoted general of brigade. Four years later as general of division, and chief of engineers in the Italian campaign, he attracted the particular notice of the emperor Napoleon III., who made him in 1867 chief of his military household and governor to the prince imperial. He was one of the superior military authorities who in this period 1866–1870 foresaw and endeavoured to prepare for the inevitable war with Germany, and at the outbreak of war he was given by Napoleon the choice between a corps command and the post of chief engineer at headquarters. He chose the command of the II. corps. On the 6th of August 1870 he held the position of Spicheren against the Germans until the arrival of reinforcements for the latter, and the non-appearance of the other French corps compelled him to retire. After this he took part in the battles around Metz, and was involved with his corps in the surrender of Bazaine’s army. General Frossard published in 1872 a Rapport sur les opérations du 2e corps. He died at Château-Villain (Haute-Marne) on the 25th of August 1875.
FROST, WILLIAM EDWARD (1810–1877), English painter, was
born at Wandsworth, near London, in September 1810. About
