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ANTONINUS PIUS [TITUs AURELIUS FULVUS...

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 149 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANTONINUS See also:PIUS [See also:TITUs AURELIUS FULVUS Boionrus ARRIUS ANTONINUS], (A.D. 86-161) , See also:Roman See also:emperor A.D. 138-161, the son of Aurelius Fulvus, a Roman See also:consul whose See also:family had originally belonged to Nemausus (See also:Nimes), was See also:born near See also:Lanuvium on the loth of See also:September 86. After the See also:death of his See also:father, he was brought up under the care of Arrius Antoninus, his maternal grandfather, a See also:man of integrity and culture, and on terms of friendship with the younger See also:Pliny. Having filled with more than usual success the offices of See also:quaestor and See also:praetor, he obtained the consulship in 120; he was next chosen one of the four consulars for See also:Italy, and greatly increased his reputation by his conduct as proconsul of See also:Asia. He acquired much See also:influence with the emperor See also:Hadrian, who adopted him as his son and successor on the 25th of See also:February 138, after the death of his first adopted son Aelius Verus, on See also:condition that he himself adopted See also:Marcus Annius Verus, his wife's See also:brother's son, and See also:Lucius, son of Aelius Verus, afterwards the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Aelius Verus (colleague of Marcus Aurelius). A few months afterwards, on Hadrian's death, he was enthusiastically welcomed to the See also:throne by the Roman See also:people, who, for once, were not disappointed in their anticipation of a happy reign. For Antoninus came to his new See also:office with See also:simple tastes, kindly disposition, extensive experience, a well-trained intelligence and the sincerest See also:desire for the welfare of his subjects. Instead of plundering to support his prodigality, he emptied his private See also:treasury to assist distressed provinces and cities, and everywhere exercised rigid See also:economy (hence the See also:nickname Kvµcvoirpicrrrlr, " cummin-splitter "). Instead of exaggerating into See also:treason whatever was susceptible of unfavourable See also:interpretation, he turned the very conspiracies that were formed against him into opportunities of signalizing his clemency. Instead of stirring up persecution against the Christians, he extended to them the strong See also:hand of his See also:protection throughout the See also:empire. Rather than give occasion to that oppression which he regarded as inseparable from an emperor's progress through his dominions, he was content to spend all the years of his reign in See also:Rome, or its neighbourhood.

Under his patronage the See also:

science of See also:jurisprudence was cultivated by Men of high ability, and a number of humane and equitable enactments were passed in his name. Of the public transactions of this See also:period we have but scant See also:information, but, to See also:judge by what we possess, those twenty-two years were not remarkably eventful. One of his first acts was to persuade the See also:senate to See also:grant divine honours to Hadrian, which they had at first refused; this gained him the See also:title of Pius (dutiful in See also:affection). He built temples, theatres, and mausoleums, promoted the arts and sciences, and bestowed honours and salaries upon the teachers of See also:rhetoric and See also:philosophy. His reign was comparatively peaceful. Insurrections amongst the See also:Moors, See also:Jews, and See also:Brigantes in See also:Britain were easily put down. The one military result which is of See also:interest to us now is the See also:building in Britain of the See also:wall of Antoninus from the Forth to the See also:Clyde. In his domestic relations Antoninus was not so fortunate. His wife, See also:Faustina, has almost become a byword for her lack of womanly virtue; but she seems to have kept her hold on his affections to the last. On her death he honoured her memory by the See also:foundation of a charity for See also:orphan girls, who See also:bore the name of Alimentariae Faustinianae. He had by her two sons and two daughters; but they all died before his See also:elevation to the throne, except Annia Faustina, who became the wife of Marcus Aurelius. Antoninus died of See also:fever at See also:Lorium in See also:Etruria, about 12 M. from Rome, on the 7th of See also:March 161, giving the keynote to his See also:life in the last word that he uttered when the See also:tribune of the See also:night-See also:watch came to ask the passwordaequanimitas.

The only See also:

account of his life handed down to us is that of See also:Julius Capitolinus, one of the Scriptores Historiae Augustae. See Bossart-See also:Muller, Zur Geschichte See also:des Kaisers A. (1868) ; Lacour-Gayet, A. le Pieuz et son Temps (1888) ; See also:Bryant, The Reign of Anton.ne (See also:Cam-See also:bridge See also:Historical Essays, 1895) ; P. B. See also:Watson, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (See also:London, 1884), See also:chap. ii.

End of Article: ANTONINUS PIUS [TITUs AURELIUS FULVUS Boionrus ARRIUS ANTONINUS], (A.D. 86-161)

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