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MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS (121–18o)
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See also:MARCUS AURELIUS See also:ANTONINUS (121–18o) , See also:Roman See also:emperor and Stoic philosopher, was See also:born in See also:Rome A.D. 121, the date of his See also:birth being variously stated as the 6th, 21st and 26th of See also:April. His See also:original name was Marcus Annius Verus.' His See also:mother Domitia Calvilla (or Lucilla) was a See also:lady of consular See also:rank, and the See also:family of his See also:father Annius Verus (See also:prefect of the See also:city and thrice See also:consul), originally See also:Spanish, had received patrician rank from See also:Vespasian. Marcus was three months old when his father died, and was thereupon adopted by his grandfather. The moral training which he received from his grandfather and his mother must have been all but perfect. The See also:noble qualities of the See also:child attracted the See also:attention of See also:Hadrian, who, playing upon the name " Verus," said that it should be changed to " Verissimus " (BHPICCIMOC on medals). Hadrian adopted, as his successor, See also:Titus Antoninus See also:Pius (See also:uncle of Marcus), on See also:condition that he in turn adopted both Marcus (then seventeen) and See also:Lucius Ceionius See also:Commodus, the son of Aelius See also:Caesar, who had originally been intended by Hadrian as his successor, but had died before him. Marcus had been, at the See also:age of fifteen, betrothed to Fabia, the See also:sister of Commodus; the engagement was broken off by Antoninus Pius, and he was betrothed to See also:Faustina, the daughter of the latter. In 139 the See also:title of Caesar was conferred upon him and he dropped the name of Verus. The full name he then See also:bore was Marcus Aelius Aurelius Antoninus, Aelius coming from Hadrian's family, and Aurelius being the original name of Antoninus Pius. In 140 he was made consul. The See also:education of Aurelius in his youth was See also:minute (see Medit. i. 1—16). A better See also:guardian than Antoninus Pius could not be conceived. Marcus himself says, " To the gods I am indebted for having See also:good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and See also:friends, nearly everything good." He was educated, not at school, but by tutors, Herodes See also:Atticus and M. See also:Cornelius See also:Fronto (q.v.) in the usual curriculum of See also:rhetoric and See also:poetry; but at the age of eleven he became acquainted with See also:Diognetus the painter and Stoic philosopher (Hist. script. aug. i. 305, notes), was fascinated by the See also:philosophy he taught, assumed the See also:dress of his See also:sect, and ultimately abandoned rhetoric and poetry for philosophy and See also:law, having among his teachers of the one Sextus of Chaeronea, See also:grandson of See also:Plutarch, and later Q. See also:Junius Rusticus, and of the other L. Volusius See also:Maecianus (or Metianus), a distinguished jurist. He went thoroughly into the practice as well as the theory of Stoicism, and lived so abstemious and laborious a See also:life that he injured his See also:health. From his Stoic teachers he learned to See also:work hard, to deny himself, to avoid listening to See also:slander, to endure misfortunes, never to deviate from his purpose, to be See also:grave with-out affectation, delicate in correcting others, " not frequently to say to any one, nor to write in a See also:letter, that I have no leisure," nor to excuse the neglect of duties by alleging urgent occupations. Through all his Stoical training Aurelius preserved the natural sweetness of his nature. During the reign of Antoninus Pius (138 to 161), the See also:concord between him and Aurelius was See also:complete; Capitolinus (c. 7) says " nec praeter duas noctes per tot annos mansit diversis vicibus." The two were associated in the See also:administration and in the See also:simple See also:country occupations of the seaside See also:villa of See also:Lorium, the birth-See also:place of Pius, to which he loved to retire. It has been assumed on the strength of a passage in Capitolinus that Aurelius married Faustina in 146, but the passage is not clear, and other See also:evidence points strongly to 14o; at all events it seems certain that a daughter was born to him in 140. Antoninus Pius died in 161, having recommended as his successor Aurelius, then See also:forty years of age, without mentioning Commodus, his other adopted son, commonly called Lucius Verus. It is believed that the See also:senate urged Aurelius to take the See also:sole administration. But he showed the magnanimity of his nature by at once admitting Verus as his partner, giving him the tribunician and proconsular See also:powers, and the titles Caesar and See also:Augustus. This was the first See also:time that Rome had two emperors as colleagues. Verus, a weak, self-indulgent See also:man, had a high respect for his adoptive See also:brother, and deferred uniformly to his See also:judgment. In the first See also:year of his reign Faustina gave birth to twins, one of whom became the emperor Commodus. ' Capitolinus states that he was originally called Catilius See also:Severus after his mother's grandfather; if so the name was See also:early discarded. The early See also:part of the reign of Aurelius was clouded by See also:national misfortunes. An inundation of the See also:Tiber swept away a large part of Rome, destroying See also:fields, drowning See also:cattle, and causing a See also:famine (162); then came earthquakes, fires and plagues of See also:insects; the soldiers in See also:Britain tried to induce their See also:general See also:Statius See also:Priscus to proclaim himself emperor; finally, the Parthians under See also:Vologaeses III. resumed hostilities, annihilated the Roman forces under Severianus at Elegia in See also:Cappadocia, and devastated See also:Syria. Verus, originally a man of considerable courage and ability, was sent to oppose the Parthians, but gave himself up to sensual excesses, and. the Roman cause in See also:Armenia would have been lost, and the See also:empire itself, perhaps, imperilled, had not Verus had under him able generals,2 the See also:chief of whom was Avidius See also:Cassius (see CASSIUS, Avmlus). By them the See also:Parthian See also:War was brought to a conclusion in 165, but Verus and his See also:army brought back with them a terrible pestilence, which spread through the whole empire. The See also:people seem to have thought that the last days of the empire had come. The Parthians had at the best been beaten, not subdued; the Britons threatened revolt; there were signs that various tribes beyond the See also:Alps intended to break into See also:Italy. Indeed, the bulk of the reign of Aurelius was spent in efforts to See also: He was one of those who held that nothing should be done hastily, and that few crimes were worse than the See also:waste of time." The comprehensiveness of his legal and judicial reforms is very striking. Slaves, heirs, See also:women and See also:children, were benefited, and he made serious attempts to See also:deal with the steady fall in the birth-See also:rate of legitimate children. In the autumn of 169 two of the See also:German tribes, the Quadi and the Marcomanni, with their See also:allies the See also:Vandals, See also:Iazyges and Sarmatians, renewed hostilities and, for three years, Aurelius resided almost constantly at See also:Carnuntum. In the end the Marcomanni were driven out of Pannonia, and were almost destroyed in their See also:retreat across the Danube. In 174 Aurelius gained over the Quadi a decisive victory, which is commemorated by one of the sculptures on the See also:column of Antonine. The See also:story is that the See also:Romans, entangled in a See also:defile, were suffering from thirst. A sudden See also:storm gave abundance of See also:rain, while See also:hail and See also:thunder confounded their enemies, and enabled the Romans to gain an easy and complete victory. This See also:triumph was universally considered at the time, and for long afterwards, to have been a See also:miracle, and bore the title of " The Miracle of the Thundering See also:Legion." The See also:pagan writers (e.g. Dio Cassius, lxx. 8—1o) ascribed the victory to the magic arts of an See also:Egyptian named Arnuphis who prevailed on See also:Mercury and other gods to 2 Aurelius has been severely criticized for sending Verus. Among various reasons, the most convincing is that the presence of Aurelius was required in Rome; moreover, the real See also:leader was evidently Cassius. give See also:relief, while the Christians attributed it to the prayers of their brethren in a legion to which, they affirmed, the emperor then gave the name of " The Thundering." See also:Dacier, however, and others who adhere to the See also:Christian view of the miracle, admit that the appellation of " Thundering " or " See also:Lightning " (Kepavvof3oXos, or Kepavvoq56pos) was given to the legion because there was a figure of lightning on their See also:shields. It has also been virtually proved that it had the title even in the reign of Augustus. Aurelius next marched to See also:Germany. There See also:news reached him that Avidius Cassius, the See also:commander of the Roman troops in See also:Asia, had revolted and proclaimed himself emperor (175). But after three months Cassius was assassinated, and his See also:head was brought to Aurelius, who with characteristic magnanimity, persuaded the senate to See also:pardon all the family of Cassius. It is a See also:proof of the See also:wisdom of Aurelius's clemency that he had little or no trouble in pacifying the provinces which had been the See also:scene of See also:rebellion. He treated them all with forbearance, and it is said that when the See also:correspondence of Cassius was brought him he burnt it without reading it. During his See also:journey of pacification, Faustina, who had See also:borne him eleven children, died. Dio Cassius and Capitolinus See also:charge Faustina with the most shameless infidelity to her See also:husband, who is even blamed for not paying heed to her crimes. But none of these stories rests on trustworthy evidence; on the other See also:hand, there can be no doubt that Aurelius trusted her while she lived, and mourned her loss. After the See also:death of Faustina and the pacification of Syria, Aurelius proceeded, on his return to Italy, through See also:Athens, and was initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries, the See also:reason assigned for his doing so being that it was his See also:custom to conform to the established See also:rites of the countries he visited. He gave large sums of See also:money for the endowment of chairs in philosophy and rhetoric, with a view to making the See also:schools the resort of students from all parts of the empire. Along with his son Commodus he entered Rome in 176, and obtained a triumph for victories in Germany. In 177 occurred that persecution of Christians, the See also:share of Aurelius in which has been the subject of so much controversy. Meanwhile the German War continued, and the two Quintilii, who had been See also:left in command, begged Aurelius once more to take the See also: The Christians suffered from systematic persecution, and many historians, with a See also:strange lack of See also:historical insight, have poured denunciation upon him for an attitude which was the natural outcome of his convictions. During his reign the See also:atmosphere of Roman society was heavily charged with the popular See also:Greek philosophy to which, See also:ethics apart, Christianity was diametrically opposed. Under Antoninus the " pursuit " of Christians was unknown; under See also:Trajan and Hadrian it was forbidden (cf. See also:Keim, Aus dem Urchrist, p. 99). But Aurelius was an eager patriot and a man of logical mind. From his earliest youth he had learned to identify the See also:ritual of the Roman See also:religion with the very essence of the imperial See also:idea. He became a Salian priestat the age of eight, and soon knew by See also:heart all the forms and liturgical See also:order of the See also:official See also:worship, and even the sacred See also:music. In the earliest statue we have he is a youth offering See also:incense; he is a See also:priest at the sacrificial See also:altar in the latest triumphal reliefs. Naturally he See also:felt that the prevalence of Christianity was in-compatible with his ideal of Roman prosperity, and therefore that the policy of the See also:Flavian emperors was the only logical See also:solution of an important problem. See also:Neumann argued that the recrudescence of active persecution was initiated by a deliberate ad hoc rescript issued probably in A.D. 176. See also:Sir W. M. See also:Ramsay, however, doubts this (The See also: Emp., Eng. trans. i. 105, and V. See also:Duruy, Rev. archeol., Apr. r88o), the Christians were particularly dangerous, inasmuch as they taught a unity which transcended that of the Roman Empire, and must, therefore, have been regarded as antagonistic to the existing See also:political and social organism. When, therefore, we remember that Aurelius knew little of the Christians, that the only mention of them in the Meditations is a contemptuous reference to certain fanatics of their number whom even See also:Clement of See also:Alexandria compares for their thirst for martyrdom to the See also:Indian See also:gymnosophists, and finally that the least worthy of them were doubtless the most prominent, we cannot doubt that Aurelius was acting unquestionably in the best interests of a perfectly intelligible ideal. He was " Roman in See also:resolution and repression, Roman in civic See also:nobility and See also:pride, Roman in tenacity of imperial aim, Roman in respect for law, Roman in self-effacement for the service of the See also:State " (G. H. Rendall). Philosophy.—The See also:book which contains the philosophy of Aurelius is known by the title of his Reflections, or Meditations, although that is not the name which he gave to it himself (Ta cis Caw-6v). Of the genuineness of the work no doubts are now entertained. It is believed that he wrote also an autobiography, which has perished. The Meditations were written, it is evident, as occasion offered—in the midst of public business, and on the See also:eve of battles on which the See also:fate of the empire depended—hence their fragmentary See also:appearance, but hence also much of their See also:practical value and even of their See also:charm. It is believed by many critics that they were intended for the guidance of Aurelius's son, Commodus (q.v.); at all events they are generally considered as one of the most See also:precious of the legacies of antiquity. See also:Renan even called them " the most human of all books," and they are described by J. S. See also: It is no " fugitive and cloistered virtue " that Aurelius seeks to encourage; on the contrary, man must See also:lead the " life of the social animal," must " live as on a See also:mountain "; and " he is an See also:abscess on the universe who withdraws and separates himself from the reason of our common nature through being displeased with the things which happen." While the See also:prime principle in man is the social, " the next in order is not to yield to the persuasions of the body, when they are not conformable to the rational principle which must govern." This divinity " within a man," this " legislating See also:faculty," which, looked at from one point of view, is See also:conscience, and from another is reason, must be implicitly obeyed. He who thus obeys it will attain tranquillity of mind; nothing can irritate him, for everything is according to nature, and death itself " is such as See also:generation is, a See also:mystery of nature, a See also:composition out of the same elements, and a decomposition into the same, and altogether not a thing of which any man should be ashamed, for it is not contrary to the nature of a reasonable animal, and not contrary to the reason of our constitution." The morality of Marcus Aurelius cannot be said to have been new when it was given to the world. Its charm lies in its exquisite See also:accent and its See also:infinite tenderness. But above all, what gives the sentences of Marcus Aurelius their enduring value and See also:fascination, and renders them See also:superior to the utterances of Epictetus and See also:Seneca, is that they are the See also:gospel of his life. His precepts are simply the records of his practice. To the saintliness of the See also:cloister he added the wisdom of the man of the world; he was See also:constant in misfortune, not elated by prosperity, never " carrying things to the sweating-point," but preserving, in a time of universal corruption, unreality and self-See also:indulgence, a nature sweet, pure, self-denying, unaffected. and M. Aurelius (See also:Oxford, 1904). (J. M. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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