Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (/ɔːˈriːliəs/ ə-REE-lee-əs;[2] 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161
Marcus Aurelius
to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors (a term coined some 13
centuries later by Niccolò Machiavelli), and the last emperor of the Pax Romana (27 BC to 180 AD), an age of relative
peace and stability for the Roman Empire. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.

Marcus was born during the reign of Hadrian to the emperor's nephew, the praetor Marcus Annius Verus, and the heiress
Domitia Calvilla. His father died when he was three, and his mother and grandfather raised Marcus. After Hadrian's
adoptive son, Aelius Caesar, died in 138, the emperor adopted Marcus' uncle Antoninus Pius as his new heir. In turn,
Antoninus adopted Marcus and Lucius, the son of Aelius. Hadrian died that year and Antoninus became emperor. Now
heir to the throne, Marcus studied Greek and Latin under tutors such as Herodes Atticus and Marcus Cornelius Fronto.
Marcus married Antoninus' daughter Faustina in 145. After Antoninus died in 161, Marcus acceded to the throne alongside
his adoptive brother, who took the name Lucius Verus.

The reign of Marcus Aurelius was marked by military conflict. In the East, the Roman Empire fought successfully with a
revitalized Parthian Empire and the rebel Kingdom of Armenia. Marcus defeated the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatian
Iazyges in the Marcomannic Wars; however, these and other Germanic peoples began to represent a troubling reality for the
Empire. He modified the silver purity of the Roman currency, the denarius. The persecution of Christians in the Roman
Empire appears to have increased during Marcus' reign, but his involvement in this is unknown. The Antonine Plague
broke out in 165 or 166 and devastated the population of the Roman Empire, causing the deaths of five million people.
Lucius Verus may have died from the plague in 169.
Marble bust, Musée Saint-Raymond,
Toulouse, France
Unlike some of his predecessors, Marcus chose not to adopt an heir. His children included Lucilla, who married Lucius,
and Commodus, whose succession after Marcus has been a subject of debate among both contemporary and modern Roman emperor
historians. The Column and Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius still stand in Rome, where they were erected in Reign 7 March 161 – 17
celebration of his military victories. Meditations, the writings of "the philosopher" – as contemporary biographers called March 180
Marcus, are a significant source of the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy. They have been praised by
Predecessor Antoninus Pius
fellow writers, philosophers, monarchs, and politicians centuries after his death.
Successor Commodus

Contents Co-emperor Lucius Verus (161–

169)
Sources
Commodus (177–
Early life 180)
Name
Family origins Born 26 April 121
Childhood Rome, Italy
Succession to Hadrian Died 17 March 180 (aged
Heir to Antoninus Pius (138–145) 58)
Fronto and further education Sirmium, Pannonia
Births and deaths Burial Hadrian's Mausoleum
Antoninus Pius's last years
Spouse Faustina the Younger
Emperor (145–175, her death)
Accession of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161) Issue 14, including
Early rule Detail Commodus, Annius,
War with Parthia (161–166) Lucilla, Annia Galeria
War with Germanic tribes (166–180) Aurelia Faustina,
Legal and administrative work Fadilla, Annia
Trade with Han China and outbreak of plague Cornificia Faustina
Death and succession (180) Minor, and Vibia
Legacy and reputation Aurelia Sabina

Attitude towards Christians Names

Marriage and children Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus

Caesar
Nerva–Antonine family tree
(see section Name for details)
Writings
Regnal name
Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius
Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius
Column of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
In popular culture
Dynasty Nerva–Antonine
Notes
Father Marcus Annius Verus
Citations
Antoninus Pius
Sources (adoptive)
Ancient
Mother Domitia Calvilla
Modern
External links Philosophy career
Notable work Meditations
 Era Hellenistic philosophy
Sources
Region Western Philosophy
The major sources depicting the life and rule of Marcus are patchy and frequently unreliable. The most important group of School Stoicism
sources, the biographies contained in the Historia Augusta, claimed to be written by a group of authors at the turn of the 4th
Main Ethics
century AD, but it is believed they were in fact written by a single author (referred to here as 'the biographer') from about interests
395 AD.[3] The later biographies and the biographies of subordinate emperors and usurpers are unreliable, but the earlier
Notable Memento mori[1]
biographies, derived primarily from now-lost earlier sources (Marius Maximus or Ignotus), are much more accurate.[4] For ideas
Marcus's life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Antoninus, Marcus, and Lucius are largely reliable, but those of Aelius
Influences
Verus and Avidius Cassius are not.[5]
Heraclitus, Socrates, Epictetus,
A body of correspondence between Marcus's tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy Quintus, Apollonius, Sextus of
manuscripts, covering the period from c. 138 to 166.[6][7] Marcus's own Meditations offer a window on his inner life, but Chaeronea
are largely undateable and make few specific references to worldly affairs.[8] The main narrative source for the period is
Influenced
Cassius Dio, a Greek senator from Bithynian Nicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty
books. Dio is vital for the military history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices and strong opposition to imperial Virtually all of subsequent Stoic
expansion obscure his perspective.[9] Some other literary sources provide specific details: the writings of the physician philosophy
Galen on the habits of the Antonine elite, the orations of Aelius Aristides on the temper of the times, and the constitutions
preserved in the Digest and Codex Justinianeus on Marcus's legal work.[10] Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the
literary sources.[11]

Early life

Name

Marcus was born in Rome on 26 April 121. His name at birth was supposedly Marcus Annius Verus,[13] but some sources
assign this name to him upon his father's death and unofficial adoption by his grandfather, upon his coming of age,[14][15][16]
or at the time of his marriage.[17] He may have been known as Marcus Annius Catilius Severus,[18] at birth or some point in
his youth,[14][16] or Marcus Catilius Severus Annius Verus. Upon his adoption by Antoninus as heir to the throne, he was
known as Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar and, upon his ascension, he was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus until
his death;[19] Epiphanius of Salamis, in his chronology of the Roman emperors On Weights and Measures, calls him Marcus
Aurelius Verus.[20]

Family origins Bust of Marcus Aurelius in the

Archaeological Museum of Istanbul,
Marcus's paternal family was of Roman Italo-Hispanic origins. His father was Marcus Annius Verus (III).[21] The gens Annia Turkey
was of Italian origins (with legendary claims of descendance from Numa Pompilius) and a branch of it moved to Ucubi, a
small town south east of Córdoba in Iberian Baetica.[22][23] This branch of the Aurelii based in Roman Spain, the Annii Veri,
rose to prominence in Rome in the late 1st century AD. Marcus's great-grandfather Marcus Annius Verus (I) was a senator
and (according to the Historia Augusta) ex-praetor; his grandfather Marcus Annius Verus (II) was made patrician in 73–
74.[24] Through his grandmother Rupilia, Marcus was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty; the emperor Trajan's sororal
niece Salonia Matidia was the mother of Rupilia and her half-sister, Hadrian's wife Sabina.[25][26][note 1]

Marcus's mother, Domitia Lucilla Minor (also known as Domitia Calvilla), was the daughter of the Roman patrician P.
Calvisius Tullus and inherited a great fortune (described at length in one of Pliny's letters) from her parents and grandparents.
Her inheritance included large brickworks on the outskirts of Rome – a profitable enterprise in an era when the city was
experiencing a construction boom – and the Horti Domitia Calvillae (or Lucillae), a villa on the Caelian hill of Rome.[29][30]
Marcus himself was born and raised in the Horti and referred to the Caelian hill as 'My Caelian'.[31][32][33]

The adoptive family of Marcus was of Roman Italo-Gallic origins: the gens Aurelia, into which Marcus was adopted at the
age of 17, was a Sabine gens; Antoninus Pius, his adoptive father, came from the Aurelii Fulvi, a branch of the Aurelii based
in Roman Gaul.

A bust of young Marcus Aurelius

Childhood (Capitoline Museum). Anthony Birley,
his modern biographer, writes of the
Marcus's sister, Annia Cornificia Faustina, was probably born in 122 or 123.[34] His father probably died in 124, when bust: 'This is certainly a grave young
Marcus was three years old during his praetorship.[35][note 2] Though he can hardly have known his father, Marcus wrote in man.'[12]
his Meditations that he had learned 'modesty and manliness' from his memories of his father and the man's posthumous
reputation.[37] His mother Lucilla did not remarry[35] and, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend
much time with her son. Instead, Marcus was in the care of 'nurses',[38] and was raised after his father's death by his grandfather Marcus Annius Verus (II), who had
always retained the legal authority of patria potestas over his son and grandson. Technically this was not an adoption, the creation of a new and different patria
potestas. Lucius Catilius Severus, described as Marcus's maternal great-grandfather, also participated in his upbringing; he was probably the elder Domitia Lucilla's
stepfather.[16] Marcus was raised in his parents' home on the Caelian Hill, an upscale area with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas. Marcus's grandfather
owned a palace beside the Lateran, where he would spend much of his childhood.[39] Marcus thanks his grandfather for teaching him 'good character and avoidance
of bad temper'.[40] He was less fond of the mistress his grandfather took and lived with after the death of his wife Rupilia.[41] Marcus was grateful that he did not
have to live with her longer than he did.[42]

From a young age, Marcus displayed enthusiasm for wrestling and boxing. Marcus trained in wrestling as a youth and into his teenage years, learned to fight in
armour and led a dance troupe called the College of the Salii. They performed ritual dances dedicated to Mars, the god of war, while dressed in arcane armour,
carrying shields and weapons.[43] Marcus was educated at home, in line with contemporary aristocratic trends;[44] he thanks Catilius Severus for encouraging him to
avoid public schools.[45] One of his teachers, Diognetus, a painting master, proved particularly influential; he seems to have introduced Marcus Aurelius to the
philosophic way of life.[46] In April 132, at the behest of Diognetus, Marcus took up the dress and habits of the philosopher: he studied while wearing a rough Greek
cloak, and would sleep on the ground until his mother convinced him to sleep on a bed.[47] A new set of tutors – the Homeric scholar Alexander of Cotiaeum along
with Trosius Aper and Tuticius Proculus, teachers of Latin[48][note 3] – took over Marcus's education in about 132 or 133.[50] Marcus thanks Alexander for his
training in literary styling.[51] Alexander's influence – an emphasis on matter over style and careful wording, with the occasional Homeric quotation – has been
detected in Marcus's Meditations.[52]

Succession to Hadrian

In late 136, Hadrian almost died from a hemorrhage. Convalescent in his villa at Tivoli, he selected Lucius
Ceionius Commodus, Marcus's intended father-in-law, as his successor and adopted son,[53] according to the
biographer 'against the wishes of everyone'.[54] While his motives are not certain, it would appear that his goal
was to eventually place the then-too-young Marcus on the throne.[55] As part of his adoption, Commodus took
the name, Lucius Aelius Caesar. His health was so poor that, during a ceremony to mark his becoming heir to
the throne, he was too weak to lift a large shield on his own.[56] After a brief stationing on the Danube frontier,
Aelius returned to Rome to make an address to the Senate on the first day of 138. However, the night before the
Coin (136–138 AD) of Hadrian (obverse) and his
speech, he grew ill and died of a hemorrhage later in the day.[57][note 4]
adoptive son, Lucius Aelius (reverse). Hadrian is
On 24 January 138, Hadrian selected Aurelius Antoninus, the husband of Marcus's aunt Faustina the Elder, as wearing the laurel crown. Inscription: HADRIANVS
... / LVCIVS CAESAR.
his new successor.[59] As part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus, in turn, adopted Marcus and Lucius Commodus,
the son of Lucius Aelius.[60] Marcus became M. Aelius Aurelius Verus, and Lucius became L. Aelius Aurelius
Commodus. At Hadrian's request, Antoninus's daughter Faustina was betrothed to Lucius.[61] Marcus reportedly
greeted the news that Hadrian had become his adoptive grandfather with sadness, instead of joy. Only with reluctance did he move from his mother's house on the
Caelian to Hadrian's private home.[62]

At some time in 138, Hadrian requested in the senate that Marcus be exempt from the law barring him from becoming quaestor before his twenty-fourth birthday. The
senate complied, and Marcus served under Antoninus, the consul for 139.[63] Marcus's adoption diverted him from the typical career path of his class. If not for his
adoption, he probably would have become triumvir monetalis, a highly regarded post involving token administration of the state mint; after that, he could have served
as tribune with a legion, becoming the legion's nominal second-in-command. Marcus probably would have opted for travel and further education instead. As it was,
Marcus was set apart from his fellow citizens. Nonetheless, his biographer attests that his character remained unaffected: 'He still showed the same respect to his
relations as he had when he was an ordinary citizen, and he was as thrifty and careful of his possessions as he had been when he lived in a private household'.[64]

After a series of suicide attempts, all thwarted by Antoninus, Hadrian left for Baiae, a seaside resort on the Campanian coast. His condition did not improve, and he
abandoned the diet prescribed by his doctors, indulging himself in food and drink. He sent for Antoninus, who was at his side when he died on 10 July 138.[65] His
remains were buried quietly at Puteoli.[66] The succession to Antoninus was peaceful and stable: Antoninus kept Hadrian's nominees in office and appeased the
senate, respecting its privileges and commuting the death sentences of men charged in Hadrian's last days.[67] For his dutiful behaviour, Antoninus was asked to
accept the name 'Pius'.[68]

Heir to Antoninus Pius (138–145)

Immediately after Hadrian's death, Antoninus approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements
be amended: Marcus's betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to Faustina,
Antoninus's daughter, instead. Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be
annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus's proposal.[71] He was made consul for 140 with Antoninus as his
colleague, and was appointed as a seviri, one of the knights' six commanders, at the order's annual parade on 15
July 139. As the heir apparent, Marcus became princeps iuventutis, head of the equestrian order. He now took
the name Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar.[72] Marcus would later caution himself against taking the name
too seriously: 'See that you do not turn into a Caesar; do not be dipped into the purple dye – for that can
Sestertius of Antoninus Pius (AD 140–144). It
happen'.[73] At the senate's request, Marcus joined all the priestly colleges (pontifices, augures, quindecimviri
celebrates the betrothal of Marcus Aurelus and
sacris faciundis, septemviri epulonum, etc.);[74] direct evidence for membership, however, is available only for Faustina the Younger in 139, pictured below
the Arval Brethren.[75] Antoninus, who is holding a statuette of Concordia
and clasping hands with Faustina the Elder.
Antoninus demanded that Marcus reside in the House of Tiberius, the imperial palace on the Palatine, and take Inscription: ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P. P., TR. P.,
up the habits of his new station, the aulicum fastigium or 'pomp of the court', against Marcus's objections.[74] CO[N]S. III / CONCORDIAE S.C.[69]
Marcus would struggle to reconcile the life of the court with his philosophic yearnings. He told himself it was an
attainable goal – 'Where life is possible, then it is possible to live the right life; life is possible in a palace, so it is
possible to live the right life in a palace'[76] – but he found it difficult nonetheless. He would criticize himself in
the Meditations for 'abusing court life' in front of company.[77]

As quaestor, Marcus would have had little real administrative work to do. He would read imperial letters to the
senate when Antoninus was absent and would do secretarial work for the senators.[78] But he felt drowned in
paperwork and complained to his tutor, Marcus Cornelius Fronto: 'I am so out of breath from dictating nearly
thirty letters'.[79] He was being 'fitted for ruling the state', in the words of his biographer.[80] He was required to
make a speech to the assembled senators as well, making oratorical training essential for the job.[81]
Denarius of Antoninus Pius (AD 139), with a
On 1 January 145, Marcus was made consul a second time. Fronto urged him in a letter to have plenty of sleep portrait of Marcus Aurelius on the reverse.
'so that you may come into the Senate with a good colour and read your speech with a strong voice'.[82] Marcus Inscription: ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P. P. /
had complained of an illness in an earlier letter: 'As far as my strength is concerned, I am beginning to get it AVRELIVS CAES. AVG. PII F. CO[N]S. DES.[70]
back; and there is no trace of the pain in my chest. But that ulcer [...][note 5] I am having treatment and taking
care not to do anything that interferes with it'.[83] Never particularly healthy or strong, Marcus was praised by
Cassius Dio, writing of his later years, for behaving dutifully in spite of his various illnesses.[84] In April 145, Marcus married Faustina, legally his sister, as had been
planned since 138.[85] Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but the biographer calls it 'noteworthy'.[86] Coins were issued with the heads of the couple, and
Antoninus, as Pontifex Maximus, would have officiated. Marcus makes no apparent reference to the marriage in his surviving letters, and only sparing references to
Faustina.[87]

Fronto and further education

After taking the toga virilis in 136, Marcus probably began his training in oratory.[88] He had three tutors in Greek – Aninus Macer, Caninius Celer, and Herodes
Atticus – and one in Latin – Fronto. The latter two were the most esteemed orators of their time,[89] but probably did not become his tutors until his adoption by
Antoninus in 138. The preponderance of Greek tutors indicates the importance of the Greek language to the aristocracy of Rome.[90] This was the age of the Second
Sophistic, a renaissance in Greek letters. Although educated in Rome, in his Meditations, Marcus would write his inmost thoughts in Greek.[91]

Atticus was controversial: an enormously rich Athenian (probably the richest man in the eastern half of the empire), he was quick to anger and resented by his fellow
Athenians for his patronizing manner.[92] Atticus was an inveterate opponent of Stoicism and philosophic pretensions.[93] He thought the Stoics' desire for apatheia
was foolish: they would live a 'sluggish, enervated life', he said.[94] In spite of the influence of Atticus, Marcus would later become a Stoic. He would not mention
Herodes at all in his Meditations, in spite of the fact that they would come into contact many times over the following decades.[95]

Fronto was highly esteemed: in the self-consciously antiquarian world of Latin letters,[96] he was thought of as second only to Cicero, perhaps even an alternative to
him.[97][note 6] He did not care much for Atticus, though Marcus was eventually to put the pair on speaking terms. Fronto exercised a complete mastery of Latin,
capable of tracing expressions through the literature, producing obscure synonyms, and challenging minor improprieties in word choice.[97]

A significant amount of the correspondence between Fronto and Marcus has survived.[101] The pair were very close, using intimate language such as 'Farewell my
Fronto, wherever you are, my most sweet love and delight. How is it between you and me? I love you and you are not here' in their correspondence.[102] Marcus
spent time with Fronto's wife and daughter, both named Cratia, and they enjoyed light conversation.[103]

He wrote Fronto a letter on his birthday, claiming to love him as he loved himself, and calling on the gods to ensure that every word he learnt of literature, he would
learn 'from the lips of Fronto'.[104] His prayers for Fronto's health were more than conventional, because Fronto was frequently ill; at times, he seems to be an almost
constant invalid, always suffering[105] – about one-quarter of the surviving letters deal with the man's sicknesses.[106] Marcus asks that Fronto's pain be inflicted on
himself, 'of my own accord with every kind of discomfort'.[107]

Fronto never became Marcus's full-time teacher and continued his career as an advocate. One notorious case brought him into conflict with Atticus.[108] Marcus
pleaded with Fronto, first with 'advice', then as a 'favour', not to attack Atticus; he had already asked Atticus to refrain from making the first blows.[109] Fronto replied
that he was surprised to discover Marcus counted Atticus as a friend (perhaps Atticus was not yet Marcus's tutor), and allowed that Marcus might be correct,[110] but
nonetheless affirmed his intent to win the case by any means necessary: '[T]he charges are frightful and must be spoken of as frightful. Those in particular that refer to
the beating and robbing I will describe so that they savour of gall and bile. If I happen to call him an uneducated little Greek it will not mean war to the death'.[111]
The outcome of the trial is unknown.[112]

By the age of twenty-five (between April 146 and April 147), Marcus had grown disaffected with his studies in jurisprudence, and showed some signs of general
malaise. His master, he writes to Fronto, was an unpleasant blowhard, and had made 'a hit at' him: 'It is easy to sit yawning next to a judge, he says, but to be a judge
is noble work'.[113] Marcus had grown tired of his exercises, of taking positions in imaginary debates. When he criticized the insincerity of conventional language,
Fronto took to defend it.[114] In any case, Marcus's formal education was now over. He had kept his teachers on good terms, following them devotedly. It 'affected his
health adversely', his biographer writes, to have devoted so much effort to his studies. It was the only thing the biographer could find fault with in Marcus's entire
boyhood.[115]

Fronto had warned Marcus against the study of philosophy early on: 'It is better never to have touched the teaching of philosophy...than to have tasted it superficially,
with the edge of the lips, as the saying is'.[116] He disdained philosophy and philosophers and looked down on Marcus's sessions with Apollonius of Chalcedon and
others in this circle.[101] Fronto put an uncharitable interpretation of Marcus's 'conversion to philosophy': 'In the fashion of the young, tired of boring work', Marcus
had turned to philosophy to escape the constant exercises of oratorical training.[117] Marcus kept in close touch with Fronto, but would ignore Fronto's scruples.[118]

Apollonius may have introduced Marcus to Stoic philosophy, but Quintus Junius Rusticus would have the strongest influence on the boy.[119][note 7] He was the man
Fronto recognized as having 'wooed Marcus away' from oratory.[121] He was older than Fronto and twenty years older than Marcus. As the grandson of Arulenus
Rusticus, one of the martyrs to the tyranny of Domitian (r. 81–96), he was heir to the tradition of 'Stoic Opposition' to the 'bad emperors' of the 1st century;[122] the
true successor of Seneca (as opposed to Fronto, the false one).[123] Marcus thanks Rusticus for teaching him 'not to be led astray into enthusiasm for rhetoric, for
writing on speculative themes, for discoursing on moralizing texts.... To avoid oratory, poetry, and 'fine writing''.[124]

Philostratus describes how even when Marcus was an old man, in the latter part of his reign, he studied under Sextus of Chaeronea:

The Emperor Marcus was an eager disciple of Sextus the Boeotian philosopher, being often in his company and frequenting his house. Lucius, who had
just come to Rome, asked the Emperor, whom he met on his way, where he was going to and on what errand, and Marcus answered, ' it is good even for
an old man to learn; I am now on my way to Sextus the philosopher to learn what I do not yet know.' And Lucius, raising his hand to heaven, said, ' O
Zeus, the king of the Romans in his old age takes up his tablets and goes to school.'[125]

Births and deaths

On 30 November 147, Faustina gave birth to a girl named Domitia Faustina. She was the first of at least thirteen children (including two sets of twins) that Faustina
would bear over the next twenty-three years. The next day, 1 December, Antoninus gave Marcus the tribunician power and the imperium – authority over the armies
and provinces of the emperor. As tribune, he had the right to bring one measure before the senate after the four Antoninus could introduce. His tribunician powers
would be renewed with Antoninus's on 10 December 147.[126] The first mention of Domitia in Marcus's letters reveals her as a sickly infant. 'Caesar to Fronto. If the
gods are willing we seem to have a hope of recovery. The diarrhea has stopped, the little attacks of fever have been driven away. But the emaciation is still extreme
and there is still quite a bit of coughing'. He and Faustina, Marcus wrote, had been 'pretty occupied' with the girl's care.[127] Domitia would die in 151.[128]

In 149, Faustina gave birth again, to twin sons. Contemporary coinage commemorates the event, with crossed cornucopiae beneath portrait busts of the two small
boys, and the legend temporum felicitas, 'the happiness of the times'. They did not survive long. Before the end of the year, another family coin was issued: it shows
only a tiny girl, Domitia Faustina, and one boy baby. Then another: the girl alone. The infants were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian, where their epitaphs
survive. They were called Titus Aurelius Antoninus and Tiberius Aelius Aurelius.[129] Marcus steadied himself: 'One man prays: 'How I may not lose my little child',
but you must pray: 'How I may not be afraid to lose him'.[130] He quoted from the Iliad what he called the 'briefest and most familiar saying...enough to dispel sorrow
and fear':[131]

leaves,
the wind scatters some on the face of the ground;
like unto them are the children of men.
 – Iliad vi.146[131]

Another daughter was born on 7 March 150, Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla. At some time between 155 and 161,
probably soon after 155, Marcus's mother Domitia Lucilla died.[132] Faustina probably had another daughter in
151, but the child, Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina, might not have been born until 153.[133] Another son,
Tiberius Aelius Antoninus, was born in 152. A coin issue celebrates fecunditati Augustae, 'to Augusta's fertility',
depicting two girls and an infant. The boy did not survive long, as evidenced by coins from 156, only depicting
the two girls. He might have died in 152, the same year as Marcus's sister Cornificia.[134] By 28 March 158,
when Marcus replied, another of his children was dead. Marcus thanked the temple synod, 'even though this
turned out otherwise'. The child's name is unknown.[135] In 159 and 160, Faustina gave birth to daughters:
Fadilla and Cornificia, named respectively after Faustina's and Marcus's dead sisters.[136] The Mausoleum of Hadrian, where the children of
Marcus and Faustina were buried

Antoninus Pius's last years

Lucius started his political career as a quaestor in 153. He was consul in 154,[137] and was consul again with Marcus in
161.[138] Lucius had no other titles, except that of 'son of Augustus'. Lucius had a markedly different personality from
Marcus: he enjoyed sports of all kinds, but especially hunting and wrestling; he took obvious pleasure in the circus games and
gladiatorial fights.[139][note 8] He did not marry until 164.[143]

In 156, Antoninus turned 70. He found it difficult to keep himself upright without stays. He started nibbling on dry bread to
give him the strength to stay awake through his morning receptions. As Antoninus aged, Marcus would take on more
administrative duties, more still when he became the praetorian prefect (an office that was as much secretarial as military)
when Marcus Gavius Maximus died in 156 or 157.[144] In 160, Marcus and Lucius were designated joint consuls for the
following year. Antoninus may have already been ill.[136]

Two days before his death, the biographer reports, Antoninus was at his ancestral estate at Lorium, in Etruria,[145] about 19
kilometres (12 mi) from Rome.[146] He ate Alpine cheese at dinner quite greedily. In the night he vomited; he had a fever the
next day. The day after that, 7 March 161,[147] he summoned the imperial council, and passed the state and his daughter to
Marcus. The emperor gave the keynote to his life in the last word that he uttered when the tribune of the night-watch came to
Bust of Antoninus Pius, British ask the password – 'aequanimitas' (equanimity).[148] He then turned over, as if going to sleep, and died.[149] His death closed
Museum out the longest reign since Augustus, surpassing Tiberius by a couple of months.[150]

Emperor

Accession of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161)

After Antoninus died in 161, Marcus was effectively sole ruler of the Empire. The formalities of the position would follow.
The senate would soon grant him the name Augustus and the title imperator, and he would soon be formally elected as
Pontifex Maximus, chief priest of the official cults. Marcus made some show of resistance: the biographer writes that he was
'compelled' to take imperial power.[151] This may have been a genuine horror imperii, 'fear of imperial power'. Marcus, with
his preference for the philosophic life, found the imperial office unappealing. His training as a Stoic, however, had made the
choice clear to him that it was his duty.[152]

Although Marcus showed no personal affection for Hadrian (significantly, he does not thank him in the first book of his
Meditations), he presumably believed it his duty to enact the man's succession plans.[153] Thus, although the senate planned
to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers.[154] The senate accepted, granting
Lucius the imperium, the tribunician power, and the name Augustus.[155] Marcus became, in official titulature, Imperator
Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; Lucius, forgoing his name Commodus and taking Marcus's family name
Verus, became Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus.[156][note 9] It was the first time that Rome was ruled by
two emperors.[159][note 10]

In spite of their nominal equality, Marcus held more auctoritas, or 'authority', than Lucius. He had been consul once more
than Lucius, he had shared in Antoninus's rule, and he alone was Pontifex Maximus. It would have been clear to the public
Busts of the co-emperors Marcus
which emperor was the more senior.[159] As the biographer wrote, 'Verus obeyed Marcus...as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul
Aurelius (left) and Lucius Verus
or a governor obeys the emperor'.[160] (right), British Museum

Immediately after their senate confirmation, the emperors proceeded to the Castra Praetoria, the camp of the Praetorian
Guard. Lucius addressed the assembled troops, which then acclaimed the pair as imperatores. Then, like every new emperor
since Claudius, Lucius promised the troops a special donative.[161] This donative, however, was twice the size of those past: 20,000 sesterces (5,000 denarii) per
capita, with more to officers. In return for this bounty, equivalent to several years' pay, the troops swore an oath to protect the emperors.[162] The ceremony was
perhaps not entirely necessary, given that Marcus's accession had been peaceful and unopposed, but it was good insurance against later military troubles.[163] Upon
his accession he also devalued the Roman currency. He decreased the silver purity of the denarius from 83.5% to 79% – the silver weight dropping from 2.68 g
(0.095 oz) to 2.57 g (0.091 oz).[164]

Antoninus's funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, 'elaborate'.[165] If his funeral followed those of his predecessors, his body would have been
incinerated on a pyre at the Campus Martius, and his spirit would have been seen as ascending to the gods' home in the heavens. Marcus and Lucius nominated their
father for deification. In contrast to their behaviour during Antoninus's campaign to deify Hadrian, the senate did not oppose the emperors' wishes. A flamen, or cultic
priest, was appointed to minister the cult of the deified Divus Antoninus. Antoninus's remains were laid to rest in Hadrian's mausoleum, beside the remains of
Marcus's children and of Hadrian himself.[166] The temple he had dedicated to his wife, Diva Faustina, became the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. It survives as
the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda.[163]

In accordance with his will, Antoninus's fortune passed on to Faustina.[167] (Marcus had little need of his wife's fortune. Indeed, at his accession, Marcus transferred
part of his mother's estate to his nephew, Ummius Quadratus.[168]) Faustina was three months pregnant at her husband's accession. During the pregnancy she
dreamed of giving birth to two serpents, one fiercer than the other.[169] On 31 August, she gave birth at Lanuvium to twins: T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius
Aurelius Commodus.[170][note 11] Aside from the fact that the twins shared Caligula's birthday, the omens were favorable, and the astrologers drew positive
horoscopes for the children.[172] The births were celebrated on the imperial coinage.[173]

Early rule

Soon after the emperors' accession, Marcus's eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla, was betrothed to Lucius (in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her
uncle).[174] At the ceremonies commemorating the event, new provisions were made for the support of poor children, along the lines of earlier imperial
foundations.[175] Marcus and Lucius proved popular with the people of Rome, who strongly approved of their civiliter ('lacking pomp') behaviour. The emperors
permitted free speech, evidenced by the fact that the comedy writer Marullus was able to criticize them without suffering retribution. As the biographer wrote, 'No one
missed the lenient ways of Pius'.[176]

Marcus replaced a number of the empire's major officials. The ab epistulis Sextus Caecilius Crescens Volusianus, in charge of the imperial correspondence, was
replaced with Titus Varius Clemens. Clemens was from the frontier province of Pannonia and had served in the war in Mauretania. Recently, he had served as
procurator of five provinces. He was a man suited for a time of military crisis.[177] Lucius Volusius Maecianus, Marcus's former tutor, had been prefectural governor
of Egypt at Marcus's accession. Maecianus was recalled, made senator, and appointed prefect of the treasury (aerarium Saturni). He was made consul soon after.[178]
Fronto's son-in-law, Gaius Aufidius Victorinus, was appointed governor of Germania Superior.[179]

Fronto returned to his Roman townhouse at dawn on 28 March, having left his home in Cirta as soon as news of his pupils' accession reached him. He sent a note to
the imperial freedman Charilas, asking if he could call on the emperors. Fronto would later explain that he had not dared to write the emperors directly.[180] The tutor
was immensely proud of his students. Reflecting on the speech he had written on taking his consulship in 143, when he had praised the young Marcus, Fronto was
ebullient: 'There was then an outstanding natural ability in you; there is now perfected excellence. There was then a crop of growing corn; there is now a ripe,
gathered harvest. What I was hoping for then, I have now. The hope has become a reality.'[181] Fronto called on Marcus alone; neither thought to invite Lucius.[182]

Lucius was less esteemed by Fronto than his brother, as his interests were on a lower level. Lucius asked Fronto to adjudicate in a dispute he and his friend Calpurnius
were having on the relative merits of two actors.[183] Marcus told Fronto of his reading – Coelius and a little Cicero – and his family. His daughters were in Rome
with their great-great-aunt Matidia; Marcus thought the evening air of the country was too cold for them. He asked Fronto for 'some particularly eloquent reading
matter, something of your own, or Cato, or Cicero, or Sallust or Gracchus – or some poet, for I need distraction, especially in this kind of way, by reading something
that will uplift and diffuse my pressing anxieties.'[184] Marcus's early reign proceeded smoothly; he was able to give himself wholly to philosophy and the pursuit of
popular affection.[185] Soon, however, he would find he had many anxieties. It would mean the end of the felicitas temporum ('happy times') that the coinage of 161
had proclaimed.[186]

In either autumn 161 or spring 162,[note 12] the Tiber overflowed its banks,
flooding much of Rome. It drowned many animals, leaving the city in famine.
Marcus and Lucius gave the crisis their personal attention.[188][note 13] In other
times of famine, the emperors are said to have provided for the Italian communities
out of the Roman granaries.[190]

Fronto's letters continued through Marcus's early reign. Fronto felt that, because of
Marcus's prominence and public duties, lessons were more important now than
they had ever been before. He believed Marcus was 'beginning to feel the wish to
be eloquent once more, in spite of having for a time lost interest in eloquence'.[191]
Fronto would again remind his pupil of the tension between his role and his Tiber Island seen at a forty-year high-water mark of the Tiber, December 2008
philosophic pretensions: 'Suppose, Caesar, that you can attain to the wisdom of
Cleanthes and Zeno, yet, against your will, not the philosopher's woolen
cape'.[192]

The early days of Marcus's reign were the happiest of Fronto's life: Marcus was beloved by the people of Rome, an excellent emperor, a fond pupil, and perhaps most
importantly, as eloquent as could be wished.[193] Marcus had displayed rhetorical skill in his speech to the senate after an earthquake at Cyzicus. It had conveyed the
drama of the disaster, and the senate had been awed: 'Not more suddenly or violently was the city stirred by the earthquake than the minds of your hearers by your
speech'. Fronto was hugely pleased.[194]

War with Parthia (161–166)

On his deathbed, Antoninus spoke of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him.[195]
One of those kings, Vologases IV of Parthia, made his move in late summer or early autumn 161.[196] Vologases
entered the Kingdom of Armenia (then a Roman client state), expelled its king and installed his own – Pacorus,
an Arsacid like himself.[197] The governor of Cappadocia, the frontline in all Armenian conflicts, was Marcus
Sedatius Severianus, a Gaul with much experience in military matters.[198]

Convinced by the prophet Alexander of Abonutichus that he could defeat the Parthians easily and win glory for
himself,[199] Severianus led a legion (perhaps the IX Hispana[200]) into Armenia, but was trapped by the great Coin of Vologases IV of Parthia. Inscription: above
Parthian general Chosrhoes at Elegeia, a town just beyond the Cappadocian frontiers, high up past the ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΔΟΥ, right ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ
headwaters of the Euphrates. After Severianus made some unsuccessful efforts to engage Chosrhoes, he ΒΟΛΑΓΑΣΟΥ, left ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ,
below ΔΙΟΥ (Greek inscription for KING OF
committed suicide, and his legion was massacred. The campaign had lasted only three days.[201]
KINGS – ARSAKIS VOLAGASES – ILLUSTRIUS
There was threat of war on other frontiers as well – in Britain, and in Raetia and Upper Germany, where the PHILELLENE). Year ΔΟΥ = ΥΟΔ΄ = 474 = 162–63.
Chatti of the Taunus mountains had recently crossed over the limes.[202] Marcus was unprepared. Antoninus
seems to have given him no military experience; the biographer writes that Marcus spent the whole of
Antoninus's twenty-three-year reign at his emperor's side and not in the provinces, where most previous emperors had spent their early careers.[203][note 14]

More bad news arrived: the Syrian governor's army had been defeated by the Parthians, and retreated in disarray.[205] Reinforcements were dispatched for the
Parthian frontier. P. Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding X Gemina at Vindobona (Vienna), left for Cappadocia with detachments from the
Danubian legions.[206] Three full legions were also sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany,[207] II Adiutrix from Aquincum,[208] and V Macedonica
from Troesmis.[209]
The northern frontiers were strategically weakened; frontier governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible.[210] M. Annius Libo, Marcus's first cousin, was
sent to replace the Syrian governor. His first consulship was in 161, so he was probably in his early thirties,[211] and as a patrician, he lacked military experience.
Marcus had chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one.[212]

Marcus took a four-day public holiday at Alsium, a resort town on the coast of Etruria. He was too anxious to
relax. Writing to Fronto, he declared that he would not speak about his holiday.[214] Fronto replied: 'What? Do I
not know that you went to Alsium with the intention of devoting yourself to games, joking, and complete leisure
for four whole days?'[215] He encouraged Marcus to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Antoninus
had enjoyed exercise in the palaestra, fishing, and comedy),[216] going so far as to write up a fable about the
gods' division of the day between morning and evening – Marcus had apparently been spending most of his
evenings on judicial matters instead of at leisure.[217] Marcus could not take Fronto's advice. 'I have duties
hanging over me that can hardly be begged off', he wrote back.[218] Marcus Aurelius put on Fronto's voice to
chastise himself: ''Much good has my advice done you', you will say!' He had rested, and would rest often, but Aureus of Marcus Aurelius (AD 166). On the
'this devotion to duty! Who knows better than you how demanding it is!'[219] reverse, Victoria is holding a shield inscribed
'VIC(toria) PAR(thica)', referring to his victory
Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material,[221] and, to settle his unease over the course of the Parthian against the Parthians. Inscription: M. ANTONINVS
war, a long and considered letter, full of historical references. In modern editions of Fronto's works, it is labeled AVG. / TR. P. XX, IMP. IIII, CO[N]S. III.[213]
De bello Parthico (On the Parthian War). There had been reverses in Rome's past, Fronto writes,[222] but in the
end, Romans had always prevailed over their enemies: 'Always and everywhere
[Mars] has changed our troubles into successes and our terrors into triumphs'.[223]

Over the winter of 161–162, news that a rebellion was brewing in Syria arrived
and it was decided that Lucius should direct the Parthian war in person. He was
stronger and healthier than Marcus, the argument went, and thus more suited to
military activity.[224] Lucius's biographer suggests ulterior motives: to restrain
Lucius's debaucheries, to make him thrifty, to reform his morals by the terror of
war, and to realize that he was an emperor.[225][note 15] Whatever the case, the
senate gave its assent, and, in the summer of 162, Lucius left. Marcus would
remain in Rome, as the city 'demanded the presence of an emperor'.[227] The dissolute Syrian army spent The Euphrates River near Raqqa, Syria
more time in Antioch's open-air
Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch, though he wintered at Laodicea taverns than with their units.[220]
and summered at Daphne, a resort just outside Antioch.[228] Critics declaimed (Engraving by William Miller after a
Lucius's luxurious lifestyle,[229] saying that he had taken to gambling, would 'dice drawing by H. Warren from a sketch
the whole night through',[230] and enjoyed the company of actors.[231][note 16] by Captain Byam Martin, R.N., 1866)
Libo died early in the war; perhaps Lucius had murdered him.[233]

In the middle of the war, perhaps in autumn 163 or early 164, Lucius made a trip to Ephesus to be married to Marcus's
daughter Lucilla.[234] Marcus moved up the date; perhaps he had already heard of Lucius's mistress Panthea.[235] Lucilla's
thirteenth birthday was in March 163; whatever the date of her marriage, she was not yet fifteen.[236] Lucilla was
accompanied by her mother Faustina and Lucius's uncle (his father's half-brother) M. Vettulenus Civica Barbarus,[237] who
was made comes Augusti, 'companion of the emperors'. Marcus may have wanted Civica to watch over Lucius, the job Libo
had failed at.[238] Marcus may have planned to accompany them all the way to Smyrna (the biographer says he told the
senate he would), but this did not happen.[239] He only accompanied the group as far as Brundisium, where they boarded a
ship for the east.[240] He returned to Rome immediately thereafter, and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to
give the group any official reception.[241]

The Armenian capital Artaxata was captured in 163.[242] At the end of the year, Lucius took the title Armeniacus, despite
having never seen combat; Marcus declined to accept the title until the following year.[243] When Lucius was hailed as
imperator again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the Imperator II with him.[244]
Marble statue of Lucilla, 150–200
Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms. In 164, a new capital, Kaine Polis ('New City'), replaced AD, Bardo National Museum, Tunisia
Artaxata.[245] A new king was installed: a Roman senator of consular rank and Arsacid descent, Gaius Julius Sohaemus. He
may not even have been crowned in Armenia; the ceremony may have taken place in Antioch, or even Ephesus. [246]
Sohaemus was hailed on the imperial coinage of 164 under the legend REX ARMENIIS DATUS: Lucius sat on a throne with his staff while Sohaemus stood before him,
saluting the emperor.[247]

In 163, the Parthians intervened in Osroene, a Roman client in upper Mesopotamia centred on Edessa, and installed their own king on its throne.[248] In response,
Roman forces were moved downstream, to cross the Euphrates at a more southerly point.[249] Before the end of 163, however, Roman forces had moved north to
occupy Dausara and Nicephorium on the northern, Parthian bank.[250] Soon after the conquest of the north bank of the Euphrates, other Roman forces moved on
Osroene from Armenia, taking Anthemusia, a town southwest of Edessa.[251]

In 165, Roman forces moved on Mesopotamia. Edessa was re-occupied, and Mannus, the king deposed by the Parthians, was re-installed.[252] The Parthians
retreated to Nisibis, but this too was besieged and captured. The Parthian army dispersed in the Tigris.[253] A second force, under Avidius Cassius and the III Gallica,
moved down the Euphrates, and fought a major battle at Dura.[254]

By the end of the year, Cassius's army had reached the twin metropolises of Mesopotamia: Seleucia on the right bank of the Tigris and Ctesiphon on the left.
Ctesiphon was taken and its royal palace set to flame. The citizens of Seleucia, still largely Greek (the city had been commissioned and settled as a capital of the
Seleucid Empire, one of Alexander the Great's successor kingdoms), opened its gates to the invaders. The city was sacked nonetheless, leaving a black mark on
Lucius's reputation. Excuses were sought, or invented: the official version had it that the Seleucids broke faith first.[255]

Cassius's army, although suffering from a shortage of supplies and the effects of a plague contracted in Seleucia, made it back to Roman territory safely.[256] Lucius
took the title Parthicus Maximus, and he and Marcus were hailed as imperatores again, earning the title 'imp. III'.[257] Cassius's army returned to the field in 166,
crossing over the Tigris into Media. Lucius took the title 'Medicus',[258] and the emperors were again hailed as imperatores, becoming 'imp. IV' in imperial titulature.
Marcus took the Parthicus Maximus now, after another tactful delay.[259] On 12 October of that year, Marcus proclaimed two of his sons, Annius and Commodus, as
his heirs.[260]

War with Germanic tribes (166–180)

During the early 160s, Fronto's son-in-law Victorinus was stationed as a legate in Germany. He
was there with his wife and children (another child had stayed with Fronto and his wife in
Rome).[265] The condition on the northern frontier looked grave. A frontier post had been
destroyed, and it looked like all the peoples of central and northern Europe were in turmoil.
There was corruption among the officers: Victorinus had to ask for the resignation of a legionary
legate who was taking bribes.[266]

Experienced governors had been replaced by friends and relatives of the imperial family. Lucius
Dasumius Tullius Tuscus, a distant relative of Hadrian, was in Upper Pannonia, succeeding the
experienced Marcus Nonius Macrinus. Lower Pannonia was under the obscure Tiberius Haterius
Saturnius. Marcus Servilius Fabianus Maximus was shuffled from Lower Moesia to Upper
Moesia when Marcus Iallius Bassus had joined Lucius in Antioch. Lower Moesia was filled by
Pontius Laelianus's son. The Dacias were still divided in three, governed by a praetorian senator
and two procurators. The peace could not hold long; Lower Pannonia did not even have a
legion.[267]
The Roman Empire at the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180,
Starting in the 160s, Germanic tribes, and other nomadic people launched raids along the represented in purple. His annexation of lands of the Marcomanni
northern border, particularly into Gaul and across the Danube. This new impetus westwards was and the Jazyges – perhaps to be provincially called Marcomannia
probably due to attacks from tribes further east. A first invasion of the Chatti in the province of and Sarmatia[261] – was cut short in 175 by the revolt of Avidius
Cassius and by his death.[262] The light pink territory represents
Germania Superior was repulsed in 162.[268]
Roman dependencies: Armenia, Colchis, Iberia, and Albania.
Far more dangerous was the invasion of 166, when the Marcomanni of Bohemia, clients of the
Roman Empire since 19 AD,
crossed the Danube together with Scenes from the Marcomannic Wars, 176–180 AD (bas reliefs from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius, now in the Capitoline Museums)
the Lombards and other Germanic
tribes.[269] Soon thereafter, the
Iranian Sarmatian Iazyges attacked
between the Danube and the
Theiss rivers.[270]

The Costoboci, coming from the

Carpathian area, invaded Moesia,
Macedonia, and Greece. After a
long struggle, Marcus managed to
push back the invaders. Numerous
members of Germanic tribes
settled in frontier regions like
Dacia, Pannonia, Germany, and
Italy itself. This was not a new
thing, but this time the numbers of Marcus Aurelius receiving the Marcus Aurelius celebrating his triumph
submission of the vanquished, with over Rome's enemies in 176 AD, riding in a
settlers required the creation of
raised vexillum standards quadriga chariot
two new frontier provinces on the
left shore of the Danube, Sarmatia
and Marcomannia, including
today's Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Some Germanic tribes who settled in Ravenna revolted and
managed to seize possession of the city. For this reason, Marcus decided not only against bringing more
barbarians into Italy, but even banished those who had previously been brought there.[271]

Legal and administrative work

Like many emperors, Marcus spent most of his time addressing matters of law such as petitions and hearing
Bronze medallion of Marcus Aurelius (AD 168).
disputes,[272] but unlike many of his predecessors, he was already proficient in imperial administration when he
The reverse depicts Jupiter, flanked by Marcus
assumed power.[273] He took great care in the theory and practice of legislation. Professional jurists called him and Lucius Verus. Inscription: M. ANTONINVS
'an emperor most skilled in the law'[274] and 'a most prudent and conscientiously just emperor'.[275] He showed AVG. ARM. PARTH. MAX. / TR. P. XXII, IMP. IIII,
marked interest in three areas of the law: the manumission of slaves, the guardianship of orphans and minors, COS III.[263]
and the choice of city councillors (decuriones).[276]

Marcus showed a great deal of respect to the Roman Senate and routinely asked them for permission to spend
money even though he did not need to do so as the absolute ruler of the Empire.[277] In one speech, Marcus
himself reminded the Senate that the imperial palace where he lived was not truly his possession but theirs.[278]
In 168, he revalued the denarius, increasing the silver purity from 79% to 82% – the actual silver weight
increasing from 2.57–2.67 g (0.091–0.094 oz). However, two years later he reverted to the previous values
because of the military crises facing the empire.[164]

Trade with Han China and outbreak of plague

Aureus of Marcus Aurelius (AD 176–177). The pile
A possible contact with Han China occurred in 166 when a Roman traveller visited the Han court, claiming to of trophies on the reverse celebrates the end of the
be an ambassador representing a certain Andun (Chinese: 安敦 ), ruler of Daqin, who can be identified either Marcomannic Wars. Inscription: M. ANTONINVS
AVG. GERM. SARM. / TR. P. XXXI, IMP. VIII,
with Marcus or his predecessor Antoninus.[279][280][281] In addition to Republican-era Roman glasswares found
[282] CO[N]S. III, P. P.[264]
at Guangzhou along the South China Sea, Roman golden medallions made during the reign of Antoninus
and perhaps even Marcus have been found at Óc Eo, Vietnam, then part of the Kingdom of Funan near the
Chinese province of Jiaozhi (in northern Vietnam). This may have been the port city of Kattigara, described by
Ptolemy (c. 150) as being visited by a Greek sailor named Alexander and lying beyond the Golden Chersonese (i.e. Malay Peninsula).[283][note 17] Roman coins from
the reigns of Tiberius to Aurelian have been found in Xi'an, China (site of the Han capital Chang'an), although the far greater amount of Roman coins in India
suggests the Roman maritime trade for purchasing Chinese silk was centred there, not in China or even the overland Silk Road running through Persia.[284]
The Antonine Plague started in Mesopotamia in 165 or 166 at the end of Lucius's campaign against the Parthians. It may
have continued into the reign of Commodus. Galen, who was in Rome when the plague spread to the city in 166,[285]
mentioned that 'fever, diarrhoea, and inflammation of the pharynx, along with dry or pustular eruptions of the skin after nine
days' were among the symptoms.[286] It is believed that the plague was smallpox.[287] In the view of historian Rafe de
Crespigny, the plagues afflicting the Eastern Han empire of China during the reigns of Emperor Huan of Han (r. 146–168)
and Emperor Ling of Han (r. 168–189), which struck in 151, 161, 171, 173, 179, 182, and 185, were perhaps connected to
the plague in Rome.[288] Raoul McLaughlin writes that the travel of Roman subjects to the Han Chinese court in 166 may
have started a new era of Roman–Far East trade. However, it was also a 'harbinger of something much more ominous'.
According to McLaughlin, the disease caused 'irreparable' damage to the Roman maritime trade in the Indian Ocean as
proven by the archaeological record spanning from Egypt to India, as well as significantly decreased Roman commercial
activity in Southeast Asia.[289]

Death and succession (180)

Marcus died at the age of 58 on 17 March 180[290] of unknown causes in his

military quarters near the city of Sirmium in Pannonia (modern Sremska
Mitrovica). He was immediately deified and his ashes were returned to Rome,
where they rested in Hadrian's mausoleum (modern Castel Sant'Angelo) until Bust of Marcus Aurelius in the
the Visigoth sack of the city in 410. His campaigns against Germans and Liebieghaus, Frankfurt.
Sarmatians were also commemorated by a column and a temple built in
Rome.[291] Some scholars consider his death to be the end of the Pax
Romana.[292]

Marcus was succeeded by his son Commodus, whom he had named Caesar in 166 and with whom he had jointly ruled
since 177.[293] Biological sons of the emperor, if there were any, were considered heirs;[294] however, it was only the
Last Words of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius
second time that a "non-adoptive" son had succeeded his father, the only other having been a century earlier when
(1844) by Eugène Delacroix
Vespasian was succeeded by his son Titus. Historians have criticized the succession to Commodus, citing Commodus's
erratic behaviour and lack of political and military acumen.[293] At the end of his history of Marcus's reign, Cassius
Dio wrote an encomium to the emperor, and described the transition to Commodus in his own lifetime with sorrow:[295]

[Marcus] did not meet with the good fortune that he deserved, for he was not strong in body and was involved in a multitude of troubles throughout
practically his entire reign. But for my part, I admire him all the more for this very reason, that amid unusual and extraordinary difficulties he both
survived himself and preserved the empire. Just one thing prevented him from being completely happy, namely, that after rearing and educating his son in
the best possible way he was vastly disappointed in him. This matter must be our next topic; for our history now descends from a kingdom of gold to one
of iron and rust, as affairs did for the Romans of that day.

–Dio lxxi. 36.3–4[295]

Dio adds that from Marcus's first days as counsellor to Antoninus to his final days as emperor of Rome, "he remained the same [person] and did not change in the
least."[296]

Michael Grant, in The Climax of Rome, writes of Commodus:[297]

The youth turned out to be very erratic, or at least so anti-traditional that disaster was inevitable. But whether or not Marcus ought to have known this to
be so, the rejections of his son's claims in favour of someone else would almost certainly have involved one of the civil wars which were to proliferate so
disastrously around future successions.[297]

Legacy and reputation

Marcus acquired the reputation of a philosopher king within his lifetime, and the title would remain after his death; both Dio and the biographer call him 'the
philosopher'.[298][299]

Christians such as Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, and Eusebius also gave him the title.[300] The last-named went so far as to call him "more philanthropic and
philosophic" than Antoninus and Hadrian, and set him against the persecuting emperors Domitian and Nero to make the contrast bolder.[301]

The historian Herodian wrote:

"Alone of the emperors, he gave proof of his learning not by mere words or knowledge of philosophical doctrines but by his blameless character and
temperate way of life."[302]

Iain King explains that Marcus's legacy was tragic:

"[The emperor's] Stoic philosophy – which is about self-restraint, duty, and respect for others – was so abjectly abandoned by the imperial line he
anointed on his death."[303]

Attitude towards Christians

In the first two centuries of the Christian era, it was local Roman officials who were largely responsible for the persecution of Christians. In the second century, the
emperors treated Christianity as a local problem to be dealt with by their subordinates.[304] The number and severity of persecutions of Christians in various locations
of the empire seemingly increased during the reign of Marcus. The extent to which Marcus himself directed, encouraged, or was aware of these persecutions is
unclear and much debated by historians.[305] The early Christian apologist, Justin Martyr, includes within his First Apology (written between 140 and 150 A.D.) a
letter from Marcus Aurelius to the Roman senate (prior to his reign) describing a battlefield incident in which Marcus believed Christian prayer had saved his army
from thirst when "water poured from heaven," after which, "immediately we recognized the presence of God." Marcus goes on to request the senate desist from
earlier courses of Christian persecution by Rome.[306]

Marriage and children

Marcus and his cousin-wife Faustina had at least 13 children during their 30-year
marriage,[126][307] including two sets of twins.[126][308] One son and four
daughters outlived their father.[309] Their children included:

Domitia Faustina (147–151)[126][138][310]

Titus Aelius Antoninus (149)[129][308][311]
Titus Aelius Aurelius (149)[129][308][311]
Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla (150[132][310]–182[312]), married her
father's co-ruler Lucius Verus,[138] then Tiberius Claudius
Pompeianus, had issue from both marriages
Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina (born 151),[134] married Gnaeus
Claudius Severus, had a son
Tiberius Aelius Antoninus (born 152, died before 156)[134]
Unknown child (died before 158)[136] Coin of Commodus and Annius, 161–165. Bust of Vibia Aurelia Sabina,
Annia Aurelia Fadilla (born 159[310][136]),[138] married Marcus Inscription: [ΝΕΩ]ΚΟΡΟΙ CΕΒΑCΤΟΥ i.e. the Prado Museum
Peducaeus Plautius Quintillus, had issue city (of Tarsus in Cilicia) had a temple of
Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor (born 160[310][136]),[138] married Augustus.
Marcus Petronius Sura Mamertinus, had a son
Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (161–165), elder twin brother of
Commodus[311]
Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (Commodus) (161–192),[313] twin brother of Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, later emperor,[311][314]
married Bruttia Crispina, no issue
Marcus Annius Verus Caesar (162[260]–169[307][315])[138]
Hadrianus[138]
Vibia Aurelia Sabina (170[311]– died before 217[316]),[138] married Lucius Antistius Burrus, no issue

Nerva–Antonine family tree

Nerva–Antonine family tree

Q. Marcius
Q. Marcius Antonia M. Cocceius Sergia P. Aelius
Barea
Barea Sura Furnilla Nerva Plautilla Hadrianus
Soranus

Aelius
TITUS Marcia TRAJANUS NERVA
Marcia Ulpia[i] Hadrianus
(r. 79–81) Furnilla PATER (r. 96–98)
Marullinus

C. Salonius TRAJAN P. Acilius P. Aelius Paulina

JULIA FLAVIA[ii] MARCIANA[iii] PLOTINA
Matidius[iv] (r. 98–117) Attianus Afer[v] Major[vi]

Lucius Libo Rupilius L. Vibius

Mindius Frugi MATIDIA[vii] Sabinus
(2) (3) (1)[viii]

Pau
Min

Matidia HADRIAN[v][xi][vi]
Suetonius?[x] SABINA[iii] ANTINOUS[xii]
Minor[vii] (r. 117–138)

Julia C. Fuscus
Balbilla?[xiii] Salinator I

M. Annius Rupilia Boionia Cn. Arrius

Verus[xiv] Faustina[xv] Procilla Antoninus
L. Ceionius Appia
Commodus Severa
L. Caesennius Arria Arria T. Aurelius
Paetus Antonina Fadilla[xvi] Fulvus
L. Caesennius
L. Commodus Plautia
Antoninus

M. Annius Domitia Fundania[xix] M. Annius FAUSTINA[xvi] ANTONINUS L. Aelius

Verus[xv] Calvilla[xviii] Libo[xv] PIUS Caesar[xvii]
 (r. 138–
161)[xvi]

LUCIUS
MARCUS VERUS
AURELIUS FAUSTINA C. Avidius Aurelia (r. 161– Ceionia Plautius
Cornificia[xv] (r. 161– Minor[xx] Cassius[xxi] Fadilla[xvi] Fabia[xvii] Quintillus[xxii]
180)[xx] 169)[xvii]
(1)

COMMODUS M. Annius Ti. Claudius

Cornificia M. Petronius M. Plautius
(r. 177– Fadilla[xxiii] Verus Pompeianus Lucilla[xx]
Minor[xxiii] Sura Quintillus[xvii]
192)[xx] Caesar[xx] (2)

L. Aurelius Aurelia L. Antistius C. Furius

Petronius Plautius Plautia Antonia
Agaclytus Burrus Sabinus
Antoninus Sabina[xxiii] Quintillus Servilla Gordiana
(2) (1) Timesitheus

G
Furia Sabina
Tranquillina

(1) = 1st spouse

(2) = 2nd spouse
(3) = 3rd spouse
Reddish purple indicates emperor of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty

lighter purple indicates designated imperial heir of said dynasty who never reigned

grey indicates unsuccessful imperial aspirants

bluish purple indicates emperors of other dynasties

dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships
SMALL CAPS = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)

Notes:

Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.

i. Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p. 7. xiii. Julia Balbilla a possible lover of Sabina: A. R. Birley (1997), H
ii. Giacosa (1977), p. 8. 251, cited in Levick (2014), p. 30, who is sceptical of this sugg
iii. Levick (2014), p. 161. xiv. Husband of Rupilia Faustina: Levick (2014), p. 163.
iv. Husband of Ulpia Marciana: Levick (2014), p. 161. xv. Levick (2014), p. 163.
v. Giacosa (1977), p. 7. xvi. Levick (2014), p. 162.
vi. DIR contributor (Herbert W. Benario, 2000), "Hadrian" (http://www.roman-emperors.org/hadria xvii. Levick (2014), p. 164.
n.htm). xviii. Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
vii. Giacosa (1977), p. 9. xix. Wife of M. Annius Libo: Levick (2014), p. 163.
viii. Husband of Salonia Matidia: Levick (2014), p. 161. xx. Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
ix. Smith (1870), "Julius Servianus" (http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3125.html). xxi. The epitomator of Cassius Dio (72.22 (http://penelope.uchicag
x. Suetonius a possible lover of Sabina: One interpretation of HA Hadrianus 11:3 (http://penelop assius_Dio/72*.html)) gives the story that Faustina the Elder p
e.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Hadrian/1*.html#11) Cassius. This is also echoed in HA "Marcus Aurelius" 24 (http
r/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Marcus_Aurelius/2*.html).
xi. Smith (1870), "Hadrian" (http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1427.html), pp. 319–322.
xxii. Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164.
xii. Lover of Hadrian: Lambert (1984), p. 99 and passim; deification: Lamber (1984), pp. 2–5, etc.
xxiii. Levick (2014), p. 117.

References:
DIR contributors (2000). "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families" (http://www.roman-emperors.org/). Retrieved
Giacosa, Giorgio (1977). Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta. ISBN 0-8390
Lambert, Royston (1984). Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-15708-2.
Levick, Barbara (2014). Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9.
William Smith, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Writings
While on campaign between 170 and 180, Marcus wrote his Meditations in Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. The original title of this
work, if it had one, is unknown. 'Meditations' – as well as other titles including 'To Himself' – were adopted later. He had a logical mind and his notes were
representative of Stoic philosophy and spirituality. Meditations is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty. According to Hays, the
book was a favourite of Christina of Sweden, Frederick the Great, John Stuart Mill, Matthew Arnold, and Goethe, and is admired by modern figures such as Wen
Jiabao and Bill Clinton.[317] It has been considered by many commentators to be one of the greatest works of philosophy.[318]

It is not known how widely Marcus's writings were circulated after his death. There are stray references in the ancient literature to the popularity of his precepts, and
Julian the Apostate was well aware of his reputation as a philosopher, though he does not specifically mention Meditations.[319] It survived in the scholarly traditions
of the Eastern Church and the first surviving quotes of the book, as well as the first known reference of it by name ('Marcus's writings to himself') are from Arethas of
Caesarea in the 10th century and in the Byzantine Suda (perhaps inserted by Arethas himself). It was first published in 1558 in Zurich by Wilhelm Xylander (ne
Holzmann), from a manuscript reportedly lost shortly afterwards.[320] The oldest surviving complete manuscript copy is in the Vatican library and dates to the 14th
century.[321]

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius

The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome is the only Roman equestrian statue which has survived into
the modern period.[323] This may be due to it being wrongly identified during the Middle Ages as a depiction of
the Christian emperor Constantine the Great, and spared the destruction which statues of pagan figures suffered.
Crafted of bronze in circa 175, it stands 11.6 ft (3.5 m) and is now located in the Capitoline Museums of Rome.
The emperor's hand is outstretched in an act of clemency offered to a bested enemy, while his weary facial
expression due to the stress of leading Rome into nearly constant battles perhaps represents a break with the
classical tradition of sculpture.[324]
Aureus of Marcus Aurelius (AD December 173 –
June 174), with his equestrian statue on the
reverse. inscription: M. ANTONINVS AVG. TR. P.
XXVIII / IMP. VI, CO[N]S III.[322]

A close up view of A full view of the Replica of the Replica of the

the Equestrian equestrian statue statue, Capitoline statue, Capitoline
statue of Marcus Hill Hill
Aurelius in the
Capitoline Museums

Column of Marcus Aurelius

Marcus's victory column, established in Rome either in his last few years of life or after his reign and completed in 193, was
built to commemorate his victory over the Sarmatians and Germanic tribes in 176. A spiral of carved reliefs wraps around the
column, showing scenes from his military campaigns. A statue of Marcus had stood atop the column but disappeared during
the Middle Ages. It was replaced with a statue of Saint Paul in 1589 by Pope Sixtus V.[325] The column of Marcus and the
column of Trajan are often compared by scholars given how they are both Doric in style, had a pedestal at the base, had
sculpted friezes depicting their respective military victories, and a statue on top.[326]

The Column of The column, right, in

Marcus Aurelius in the background of
Piazza Colonna. Panini's painting of
The five horizontal the Palazzo
slits allow light into Montecitorio, with
the internal spiral the base of the
staircase. Column of
Antoninus Pius in
the right foreground
(1747)

Detailed view of the Column of

Marcus Aurelius

In popular culture
In the 1965 epic drama The Fall of The Roman Empire, Alec Guinness portrays Marcus Aurelius. The film is noteworthy for using quotes from
'Meditations'.
In the 2000 British-American drama Gladiator, Richard Harris portrays Marcus Aurelius in a fictionalized version.
In the 2017 docu-drama miniseries Roman Empire, John Bach portrays Marcus Aurelius.
Notes
1. Dio asserts that the Annii were near-kin of Hadrian, and that it was to
these familial ties that they owed their rise to power.[27] The precise
nature of these kinship ties is nowhere stated, but is believed that
Rupilia Faustina was the daughter of the consular senator Libo
Rupilius Frugi and Matidia, who was also the mother (presumably
through another marriage) of Vibia Sabina, Hadrian's wife.[28]
2. Farquharson dates his death to 130 when Marcus was nine.[36]
3. Birley amends the text of the HA Marcus from 'Eutychius' to
'Tuticius'.[49]
4. Commodus was a known consumptive at the time of his adoption, so
Hadrian may have intended Marcus's eventual succession
anyway.[58]
5. The manuscript is corrupt here.[81]
6. Modern scholars have not offered as positive an assessment. His
second modern editor, Niebhur, thought him stupid and frivolous; his
third editor, Naber, found him contemptible.[98] Historians have seen
him as a 'pedant and a bore', his letters offering neither the running
political analysis of a Cicero or the conscientious reportage of a
Pliny.[99] Recent prosopographic research has rehabilitated his
reputation, though not by much.[100]
7. Champlin notes that Marcus's praise of Rusticus in the Meditations is
out of order (he is praised immediately after Diognetus, who had
introduced Marcus to philosophy), giving him special emphasis.[120]
8. Although part of the biographer's account of Lucius is fictionalized
(probably to mimic Nero, whose birthday Lucius shared[140]) and
another part poorly compiled from a better biographical source,[141]
scholars have accepted these biographical details as accurate.[142]
9. These name-swaps have proven so confusing that even the Historia
Augusta, our main source for the period, cannot keep them
straight.[157] The 4th-century ecclesiastical historian Eusebius of
Caesarea shows even more confusion.[158] The mistaken belief that
Lucius had the name 'Verus' before becoming emperor has proven
especially popular.[159]
10. There was, however, much precedent. The consulate was a twin
magistracy, and earlier emperors had often had a subordinate
lieutenant with many imperial offices (under Antoninus, the lieutenant
had been Marcus). Many emperors had planned a joint succession in
the past: Augustus planned to leave Gaius and Lucius Caesar as
joint emperors on his death; Tiberius wished to have Gaius Caligula
and Tiberius Gemellus do so as well; Claudius left the empire to
Nero and Britannicus, imagining that they would accept equal rank.
All of these arrangements had ended in failure, either through
premature death (Gaius and Lucius Caesar) or judicial murder
(Gemellus by Caligula and Britannicus by Nero).[159]
Citations
All citations to the Historia Augusta are to individual biographies, and are marked with a 'HA'. Citations to the works of Fronto are cross-referenced to C.R. Haines's
Loeb edition.
1. Henry Albert Fischel, Rabbinic Literature and Greco-Roman
Philosophy: A Study of Epicurea and Rhetorica in Early Midrashic
Writings, E. J. Brill, 1973, p. 95.
2. 'Marcus Aurelius' (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/marcus-aureliu
s) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20181228082840/https://ww
w.dictionary.com/browse/marcus-aurelius) 28 December 2018 at the
Wayback Machine. Dictionary.com.
3. Rohrbacher, p. 5.
4. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 229–30. The thesis of single authorship
was first proposed in H. Dessau's 'Über Zeit und Persönlichkeit der
Scriptoes Historiae Augustae' (in German), Hermes 24 (1889), pp.
337ff.
5. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 230. On the HA Verus, see Barnes,
'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', pp. 65–74.
6. Fleury, P. 2012. "Marcus Aurelius’ Letters." In A Companion to
Marcus Aurelius. Edited by M. van Ackeren, 62–76. Oxford and
Malden, MA: Blackwell.
7. Freisenbruch, A. 2007. "Back to Fronto: Doctor and Patient in His
Correspondence with an Emperor." In Ancient Letters: Classical and
Late Antique Epistolography. Edited by R. Morello and A. D.
Morrison, 235–256. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
8. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 227.
9. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 228–229, 253.
10. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 227–28.
11. The biographer relates the scurrilous (and, in the judgment of
Anthony Birley, untrue) rumor that Commodus was an illegitimate
child born of a union between Faustina and a gladiator.[171]
12. Because both Lucius and Marcus are said to have taken active part
in the recovery (HA Marcus viii. 4–5), the flood must have happened
before Lucius's departure for the east in 162; because it appears in
the biographer's narrative after Antoninus's funeral has finished and
the emperors have settled into their offices, it must not have occurred
in the spring of 161. A date in autumn 161 or spring 162 is probable,
and, given the normal seasonal distribution of Tiber flooding, the
most probable date is in spring 162.[187] (Birley dates the flood to
autumn 161.[182])
13. Since 15 AD, the river had been administered by a Tiber
Conservancy Board, with a consular senator at its head and a
permanent staff. In 161, the curator alevi Tiberis et riparum et
cloacarum urbis ('Curator of the Tiber Bed and Banks and the City
Sewers') was A. Platorius Nepos, son or grandson of the builder of
Hadrian's Wall, whose name he shares. He probably had not been
particularly incompetent. A more likely candidate for that
incompetence is Nepos's likely predecessor, M. Statius Priscus. A
military man and consul for 159, Priscus probably looked on the
office as little more than 'paid leave'.[189]
14. Alan Cameron adduces the 5th-century writer Sidonius Apollinaris's
comment that Marcus commanded 'countless legions' vivente Pio
(while Antoninus was alive) while contesting Birley's contention that
Marcus had no military experience. (Neither Apollinaris nor the
Historia Augusta (Birley's source) are particularly reliable on 2nd-
century history.[204])
15. Birley believes there is some truth in these considerations.[226]
16. The whole section of the vita dealing with Lucius's debaucheries (HA
Verus iv. 4–6.6), however, is an insertion into a narrative otherwise
entirely cribbed from an earlier source. Most of the details are
fabricated by the biographer himself, relying on nothing better than
his own imagination.[232]
17. For further information on Óc Eo, see Osborne, Milton. The Mekong:
Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future (https://books.google.com/books?id
=uxF2kH04WKgC). Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2006, revised
edition, first published in 2000. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-1741148930.
11. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 228.
12. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 49.
13. Magill, p. 693.
14. Historia MA I.9–10
15. Van Ackeren, p. 139.
16. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 33.
17. Dio 69.21.1; HA Marcus i. 10; McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior,
Philosopher, Emperor, p. 24.
18. Dio lxix.21.1; HA Marcus i. 9; McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior,
Philosopher, Emperor, p. 24.
19. Van Ackeren, p. 78.
20. Dean, p. 32.
21. Knight, Charles (1856). The English Cyclopædia: A New Dictionary
of Universal Knowledge. Biography (https://archive.org/details/in.ern
et.dli.2015.45180). Bradbury & Evans. p. 439 (https://archive.org/deta
ils/in.ernet.dli.2015.45180/page/n225). "Marcus Aurelius Malennius
and Numa."
22. Sánchez, p. 165.
23. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 29; McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior,
Philosopher, Emperor, p. 14.
24. HA Marcus i. 2, 4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 28; McLynn, Marcus
Aurelius: A Life, p. 14.
25. Giacosa, p. 8.
26. Levick, pp. 161, 163.
27. Dio 69.21.2, 71.35.2–3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 31.
28. Codex Inscriptionum Latinarum 14.3579 "Epigraphik-Datenbank
Clauss/Slaby" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224027/http://o
racle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CI
L+14,+03579&r_sortierung=Belegstelle). Archived from the original
(http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegst
elle=CIL+14,+03579&r_sortierung=Belegstelle) on 29 April 2012.
Retrieved 15 November 2011.; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 29;
McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, pp. 14, 575
n. 53, citing Ronald Syme, Roman Papers 1.244.
29. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 29, citing Pliny, Epistulae 8.18.
30. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 30.
31. "M. Cornelius Fronto: Epistulae" (https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/front
o.html).
32. l. Richardson, jr; Richardson, Professor of Latin (Emeritus) L.
(October 1992). A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (ht
tps://archive.org/details/newtopographical0000rich). JHU Press.
p. 198 (https://archive.org/details/newtopographical0000rich/page/19
8). ISBN 9780801843006. "horti domizia lucilla."
33. Ad Marcum Caesarem ii. 8.2 (= Haines 1.142), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 31.
34. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 31, 44.
35. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 31.
36. Farquharson, 1.95–96.
37. Meditations 1.1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 31.
38. HA Marcus ii. 1 and Meditations v. 4, qtd. in Birley, Marcus Aurelius,
p. 32.
39. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 31–32.
40. Meditations i. 1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 35.
41. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 35.
42. Meditations i. 17.2; Farquharson, 1.102; McLynn, Marcus Aurelius:
Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, p. 23; cf. Meditations i. 17.11;
Farquharson, 1.103.
43. Robertson, Donald J. "Stoicism as a Martial Art" (https://medium.com/
stoicism-philosophy-as-a-way-of-life/stoicism-as-a-martial-art-3ab930
2071f9). Medium. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
44. McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, 20–21.
45. Meditations 1.4; McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher,
Emperor, p. 20.
46. HA Marcus ii. 2, iv. 9; Meditations i. 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 37;
McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, pp. 21–22.
47. HA Marcus ii. 6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 38; McLynn, Marcus
Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, p. 21.
48. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 40, citing Aristides, Oratio 32 K; McLynn,
Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, p. 21.
49. Magie & Birley, Lives of the later Caesars, pp. 109, 109 n.8; Marcus
Aurelius, pp. 40, 270 n.27, citing Bonner Historia-Augusta Colloquia
1966/7, pp. 39ff.
50. HA Marcus ii. 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 40, 270 n.27.
51. Meditations i. 10; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 40; McLynn, Marcus
Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, p. 22.
52. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 40, 270 n.28, citing A.S.L. Farquharson,
The Meditations of Marcus Antoninus (Oxford, 1944) ii. 453.
53. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 41–42.
54. HA Hadrian xiii. 10, qtd. in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 42.
55. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 42. Van Ackeren, 142. On the succession
to Hadrian, see also: T.D. Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus',
Journal of Roman Studies 57:1–2 (1967): 65–79; J. VanderLeest,
'Hadrian, Lucius Verus, and the Arco di Portogallo', Phoenix 49:4
(1995): pp. 319–30.
56. HA Aelius vi. 2–3
57. HA Hadrian xxiii. 15–16; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 45; 'Hadrian to
the Antonines', 148.
58. Dio, lxix.17.1; HA Aelius, iii. 7, iv. 6, vi. 1–7; Birley, 'Hadrian to the
Antonines', p. 147.
59. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 46. Date: Birley, 'Hadrian to the
Antonines', p. 148.
60. Weigel, Richard D. 'Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138–161)' (http://www.roma
n-emperors.org/tonypis.htm). Roman Emperors.
61. Dio 69.21.1; HA Hadrian xxiv. 1; HA Aelius vi. 9; HA Antoninus Pius
iv. 6–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 48–49.
62. HA Marcus v. 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 49.
63. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 49–50.
64. HA Marcus v. 6–8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 50.
65. Dio 69.22.4; HA Hadrian xxv. 5–6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 50–
51. Hadrian's suicide attempts: Dio, lxix. 22.1–4; HA Hadrian xxiv. 8–
13.
66. HA Hadrian xxv. 7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 53.
67. HA Antoninus Pius v. 3, vi. 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 55–56;
'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 151.
68. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 55; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 151.
69. Mattingly & Sydenham, Roman imperial coinage, vol. III, p. 108.
70. Mattingly & Sydenham, Roman imperial coinage, vol. III, p. 77.
71. HA Marcus vi. 2; Verus ii. 3–4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 53–54.
72. Dio 71.35.5; HA Marcus vi. 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 56.
73. Meditations vi. 30, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 57; cf.
Marcus Aurelius, p. 270 n.9, with notes on the translation.
74. HA Marcus vi. 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57.
75. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 57, 272 n.10, citing Codex Inscriptionum
Latinarum 6.32 (https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224044/http://
oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=C
IL+06,+00032&r_sortierung=Belegstelle), 6.379 (https://web.archive.
org/web/20120429224054/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epi
gr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+06,+00379&r_sortierung=Beleg
stelle), cf. Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 360 (https://web.archive.org/
web/20120429224059/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/e
pieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+00360&r_sortierung=Belegstelle).
76. Meditations 5.16, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 57.
77. Meditations 8.9, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 57.
78. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 57–58.
79. Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 7, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 90.
80. HA Marcus vi. 5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 58.
81. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 89.
82. Ad Marcum Caesarem v. 1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 89.
83. Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 89.
84. Dio 71.36.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 89.
85. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 90–91.
86. HA Antoninus Pius x. 2, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 91.
87. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 91.
88. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 61.
89. HA Marcus iii. 6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 62.
90. HA Marcus ii. 4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 62.
91. Alan Cameron, review of Anthony Birley's Marcus Aurelius, Classical
Review 17:3 (1967): p. 347.
92. Vita Sophistae 2.1.14; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 63–64.
93. Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 9.2.1–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp.
64–65.
94. Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 19.12, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, p. 65.
95. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 65.
96. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 67–68, citing Champlin, Fronto and
Antonine Rome, esp. chs. 3 and 4.
97. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 65–67.
98. Champlin, Fronto, pp. 1–2.
99. Mellor, p. 460.
100. Cf., e.g.: Mellor, p. 461 and passim.
101. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 69.
102. Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 6 (= Haines 1.80ff), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 76.
103. Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 6 (= Haines 1.80ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius,
pp. 76–77.
104. Ad Marcum Caesarem iii. 10–11 (= Haines 1.50ff), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 73.
105. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 73.
106. Champlin, 'Chronology of Fronto', p. 138.
107. Ad Marcum Caesarem v. 74 ( =Haines 2.52ff), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 73.
108. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 77. On the date, see Champlin,
'Chronology of Fronto', p. 142, who (with Bowersock, Greek Sophists
in the Roman Empire (1964), 93ff) argues for a date in the 150s;
Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 78–79, 273 n.17 (with Ameling, Herodes
Atticus (1983), 1.61ff, 2.30ff) argues for 140.
109. Ad Marcum Caesarem iii. 2 (= Haines 1.58ff), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, pp. 77–78.
10. Ad Marcum Caesarem iii. 3 (= Haines 1.62ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius,
p. 78.
11. Ad Marcum Caesarem iii. 3 (= Haines 1.62ff), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 79.
12. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 80.
13. Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 13 (= Haines 1.214ff), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 93.
14. Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 3.1 (= Haines 1.2ff); Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, p. 94.
15. HA Marcus iii. 5–8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 94.
16. Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 3, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 69.
17. De Eloquentia iv. 5 (= Haines 2.74), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, p. 95. Alan Cameron, in his review of Birley's biography
(The Classical Review 17:3 (1967): p. 347), suggests a reference to
chapter 11 of Arthur Darby Nock's Conversion (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1933, rept. 1961): 'Conversion to Philosophy'.
18. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 94, 105.
19. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 95; Champlin, Fronto, p. 120.
20. Champlin, Fronto, p. 174 n. 12.
21. Ad Antoninum Imperator i.2.2 (= Haines 2.36), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 95.
22. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 94–95, 101.
23. Champlin, Fronto, p. 120.
24. Meditations i.7, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 94–95.
25. Philostratus, Vitae sophistorum ii. 9 (557); cf. Suda, Markos
26. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 103.
27. Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.11 (= Haines 1.202ff), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 105.
28. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 247 F.1.
29. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 206–207.
30. Meditations ix.40, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 207.
31. Meditations x.34, tr. Farquharson, pp. 78, 224.
32. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 107.
33. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 107–08.
34. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 108.
35. Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas pertinentes 4.1399, qtd. and
tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114.
36. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114.
37. Reed, p. 194.
38. Lendering, Jona. 'Marcus Aurelius' (https://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_f
ratres/marcus.html). Livius.org.
39. HA Verus 2.9–11; 3.4–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 108.
40. Suetonius, Nero 6.1; HA Verus 1.8; Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius
Verus', 67; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 158. See also: Barnes,
'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', pp. 69–70; Pierre Lambrechts,
'L'empereur Lucius Verus. Essai de réhabilitation' (in French),
Antiquité Classique 3 (1934), pp. 173ff.
41. Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', p. 66. Poorly compiled: e.g.
Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', p. 68.
42. Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', pp. 68–69.
43. HA Verus 2.9–11; 3.4–7; Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', 68;
Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 108.
44. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 112.
45. Bowman, 156; Victor, 15:7
46. Victor, 15:7
47. Dio 71.33.4–5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114.
48. Bury, p. 532.
49. HA Antoninus Pius 12.4–8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114.
50. Bowman, p. 156.
51. HA Marcus vii. 5, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 116.
52. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 116. Birley takes the phrase horror imperii
from HA Pert. xiii. 1 and xv. 8.
53. Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 156.
54. HA Verus iii.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 116; 'Hadrian to the
Antonines', p. 156.
55. HA Verus iv.1; Marcus vii.5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 116.
56. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 116–17.
57. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 117; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 157
n.53.
58. Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 157 n.53.
59. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 117.
160. HA Verus iv.2, tr. Magie, cited in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 117, 278
n.4.
161. HA Marcus vii. 9; Verus iv.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 117–18.
162. HA Marcus vii. 9; Verus iv.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 117–18.
'twice the size': Duncan-Jones, p. 109.
163. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118.
164. 'Roman Currency of the Principate' (https://web.archive.org/web/2001
0210220413/http://www.tulane.edu/~august/handouts/601cprin.htm).
Tulane.edu. Archived 10 February 2001.
165. HA Marcus vii. 10, tr. Magie, cited in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 118,
278 n.6.
166. HA Marcus vii. 10–11; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118.
167. HA Antoninus Pius xii.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 118–19.
168. HA Marcus vii. 4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119.
169. HA Comm. i.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119.
170. HA Comm. i.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119.
171. HA Marcus xix. 1–2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 278 n.9.
172. HA Commodus. i.4, x.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119.
173. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119, citing H. Mattingly, Coins of the
Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to
Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos.
155ff.; 949ff.
174. HA Marcus vii. 7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118.
175. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118, citing Werner Eck, Die Organization
Italiens (1979), pp. 146ff.
176. HA Marcus viii. 1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119; 'Hadrian
to the Antonines', p. 157.
177. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 122–23, citing H.G. Pfalum, Les carrières
procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain I–III (Paris,
1960–61); Supplément (Paris, 1982), nos. 142; 156; Eric Birley,
Roman Britain and the Roman Army (1953), pp. 142ff., 151ff.
178. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123, citing H.G. Pfalum, Les carrières
procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain I–III (Paris,
1960–61); Supplément (Paris, 1982), no. 141.
179. HA Marcus viii. 8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123, citing W. Eck, Die
Satthalter der germ. Provinzen (1985), pp. 65ff.
180. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120, citing Ad Verum Imperator i.3.2 (=
Haines 1.298ff).
181. Ad Antoninum Imperator iv.2.3 (= Haines 1.302ff), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 119.
182. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120.
183. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120, citing Ad Verum Imperator i.1 (=
Haines 1.305).
184. Ad Antoninum Imperator iv.1 (= Haines 1.300ff), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 120.
185. HA Marcus viii. 3–4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120.
186. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120, citing H. Mattingly, Coins of the
Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to
Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos.
841; 845.
187. Gregory S. Aldrete, Floods of the Tiber in ancient Rome (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), pp. 30–31.
188. HA Marcus viii. 4–5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120.
189. Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 5932 (https://web.archive.org/web/201
20429224106/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_
en?p_belegstelle=D+05932&r_sortierung=Belegstelle) (Nepos),
1092 (https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224111/http://oracle-vm.
ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+01092&r
_sortierung=Belegstelle) (Priscus); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 121.
190. HA Marcus xi. 3, cited in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 278 n.16.
191. Ad Antoninum Imperator 1.2.2 (= Haines 2.35), qtd. and tr. Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 128.
192. De eloquentia 1.12 (= Haines 2.63–65), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, p. 128.
193. Ad Antoninum Imperator 1.2.2 (= Haines 2.35); Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, pp. 127–28.
194. Ad Antoninum Imperator 1.2.4 (= Haines 2.41–43), tr. Haines; Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 128.
195. HA Antoninus Pius xii.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 114, 121.
196. Event: HA Marcus viii. 6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 121. Date: Jaap-
Jan Flinterman, 'The Date of Lucian's Visit to Abonuteichos,'
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 119 (1997): p. 281.
197. HA Marcus viii. 6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 121.
198. Lucian, Alexander 27; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 121.
99. Lucian, Alexander 27; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 121–22. On
Alexander, see: Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), pp. 241–50.
00. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 278 n.19.
01. Dio 71.2.1; Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 21, 24, 25;
Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 121–22.
02. HA Marcus viii. 7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 122.
03. HA Antoninus Pius vii.11; Marcus vii.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp.
103–04, 122.
04. Pan. Ath. 203–04, qtd. and tr. Alan Cameron, review of Anthony
Birley's Marcus Aurelius, The Classical Review 17:3 (1967): p. 349.
05. HA Marcus viii. 6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123.
06. Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 8.7050 (https://web.archive.org/web/
20120429223837/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epiein
zel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+08,+07050&r_sortierung=Belegstelle)–
51 (https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223843/http://oracle-vm.ku-
eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+08,+0705
1&r_sortierung=Belegstelle); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123.
07. Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 1097 (https://web.archive.org/web/2012
0429223850/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_e
n?p_belegstelle=D+01097&r_sortierung=Belegstelle)–98 (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20120429223856/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:
8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+01098&r_sortierung=Bel
egstelle); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123.
08. Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 1091 (https://web.archive.org/web/2012
0429223904/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_e
n?p_belegstelle=D+01091&r_sortierung=Belegstelle); Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, p. 123.
09. Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 2311 (https://web.archive.org/web/2012
0429223912/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_e
n?p_belegstelle=D+02311&r_sortierung=Belegstelle); Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, p. 123.
10. HA Marcus xii. 13; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123.
11. L'Année Épigraphique 1972.657 "Epigraphik-Datenbank
Clauss/Slaby" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223919/http://o
racle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=A
E+1972,+00657&r_sortierung=Belegstelle). Archived from the
original (http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p
_belegstelle=AE+1972,+00657&r_sortierung=Belegstelle) on 29
April 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2011.; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p.
125.
12. HA Verus 9.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 125.
13. Mattingly & Sydenham, Roman imperial coinage, vol. III, p. 226.
14. De Feriis Alsiensibus 1 (= Haines 2.3); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p.
126.
15. De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.1 (= Haines 2.5), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, p. 126.
16. De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.4 (= Haines 2.9); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp.
126–27.
17. De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.6–12 (= Haines 2.11–19); Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, pp. 126–27.
18. De Feriis Alsiensibus 4, tr. Haines 2.19; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p.
127.
19. De Feriis Alsiensibus 4 (= Haines 2.19), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, p. 127.
20. Ad Verum Imperator 2.1.19 (= Haines 2.149); Birley, Marcus Aurelius,
p. 129.
21. De bello Parthico x. (= Haines 2.31), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, p. 127.
22. De bello Parthico i–ii. (= Haines 2.21–23).
23. De bello Parthico i. (= Haines 2.21), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, p. 127.
24. Dio, lxxi. 1.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123.
25. HA Verus v. 8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 123, 125.
26. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 125.
27. HA Marcus viii. 9, tr. Magie; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 123–26. On
Lucius's voyage, see: HA Verus vi. 7–9; HA Marcus viii. 10–11;
Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 125–26.
28. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129.
29. HA Verus iv.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129.
30. HA Verus iv. 6, tr. Magie; cf. v. 7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129.
31. HA Verus viii. 7, viii. 10–11; Fronto, Principae Historia 17 (= Haines
2.217); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129.
32. Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus.', p. 69.
233. HA Verus ix. 2; Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 3.199 "Epigraphik-
Datenbank Clauss/Slaby" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224
122/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_bel
egstelle=CIL+03,+00199&r_sortierung=Belegstelle). Archived from
the original (http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_e
n?p_belegstelle=CIL+03,+00199&r_sortierung=Belegstelle) on 29
April 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2011.; Birley, Marcus Aurelius,
pp. 130–31.
234. HA Verus vii. 7; Marcus ix. 4; Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', p.
72; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163; cf. also Barnes,
'Legislation against the Christians', p. 39; 'Some Persons in the
Historia Augusta', p. 142, citing the Vita Abercii 44ff.
235. HA Verus 7.10; Lucian, Imagines 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131.
Cf. Lucian, Imagines, Pro Imaginibus, passim.
236. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163.
237. HA Verus vii. 7; Marcus ix. 4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131.
238. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131, citing Année Épigraphique 1958.15.
239. HA Verus 7.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131.
240. HA Marcus ix. 4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131.
241. HA Marcus ix. 5–6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131.
242. HA Marcus ix. 1; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.
243. HA Marcus ix. 1; HA Verus vii. 1–2; Ad Verrum Imperator 2.3 (=
Haines 2.133); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129; 'Hadrian to the
Antonines', p. 162.
244. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162,
citing H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum
IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius
and Lucius Verus, nos. 233ff.
245. Dio, lxxi.3.1; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131; 'Hadrian to the Antonines',
p. 162; Millar, Near East, p. 113.
246. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 280 n. 42; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p.
162.
247. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162,
citing H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum
IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius
and Lucius Verus, nos. 261ff.; 300 ff.
248. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 130, 279 n. 38; 'Hadrian to the
Antonines', p. 163, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 M 169;
Millar, Near East, p. 112.
249. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 130; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.
250. Fronto, Ad Verum Imperator ii.1.3 (= Haines 2.133); Astarita, 41;
Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 130; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.
251. Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 1098 (https://web.archive.org/web/201
20429223856/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_
en?p_belegstelle=D+01098&r_sortierung=Belegstelle); Birley,
Marcus Aurelius, p. 130.
252. Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163, citing Prosopographia
Imperii Romani2 M 169.
253. Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 15, 19; Birley, 'Hadrian to
the Antonines', p. 163.
254. Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 20, 28; Birley, 'Hadrian to
the Antonines', p. 163, citing Syme, Roman Papers, 5.689ff.
255. HA Verus 8.3–4; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', 163. Birley cites
R.H. McDowell, Coins from Seleucia on the Tigris (Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 1935), pp. 124ff., on the date.
256. Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164.
257. Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164, citing H. Mattingly, Coins of
the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to
Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos.
384 ff., 1248 ff., 1271 ff.
258. Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164, citing P. Kneissl, Die
Siegestitulatur der römischen Kaiser. Untersuchungen zu den
Siegerbeinamen des 1. und 2. Jahrhunderts (Göttingen, 1969), pp.
99 ff.
259. Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164, citing H. Mattingly, Coins of
the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to
Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos.
401ff.
260. Adams, p. 94.
261. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 253.
262. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 183.
263. Gnecchi, Medaglioni Romani, p. 33.
264. Mattingly & Sydenham, Roman imperial coinage, vol. III, p. 241.
265. Dio 72.11.3–4; Ad amicos 1.12 (= Haines 2.173); Birley, Marcus
Aurelius, p. 132.
66. Dio, lxxii. 11.3–4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 132, citing De nepote
amisso ii (= Haines 2.222); Ad Verum Imperator ii. 9–10 (= Haines
2.232ff.).
67. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 133, citing Geza Alföldy, Konsulat und
Senatorenstand (1977), Moesia Inferior: pp. 232ff.; Moesia Superior:
pp. 234ff.; Pannonia Superior: pp. 236ff.; Dacia: pp. 245ff.; Pannonia
Inferior: p. 251.
68. McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: A Life, pp. 323–24.
69. Le Bohec, p. 56.
70. Grant, The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition, p. 29.
71. Dio, lxxii.11.4–5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 253.
72. Fergus Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World, 31 BC – AD 337
(London: Duckworth, 1977), 6 and passim. See also: idem.
'Emperors at Work', Journal of Roman Studies 57:1/2 (1967): 9–19.
73. 'Thinkers At War – Marcus Aurelius' (http://www.military-history.org/art
icles/thinkers-at-war-marcus-aurelius.htm). Military History Monthly (h
ttp://www.military-history.org), published 2014. (This is the conclusion
of Iain King's biography of Marcus Aurelius.) 'Pius, one of longest-
serving emperors, became infirm in his last years, so Marcus
Aurelius gradually assumed the imperial duties. By the time he
succeeded in AD 161, he was already well-practised in public
administration.'
74. Codex Justinianeus 7.2.6, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 133.
75. Digest 31.67.10, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 133.
76. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 133.
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External links
Texts on Wikisource:
The Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
 "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus". Catholic Encyclopedia. 2. 1907.
"Marcus Aurelius Antoninus". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 693–96.
"Aurelius Antoninus, Marcus". The New Student's Reference Work. 1914.
Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Μάρκος Αὐρήλιος
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Marcus Aurelius (http://www.iep.utm.edu/marcus/) at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Marcus Aurelius
Antonine dynasty
Born: 26 April 121 Died: 17 March 180

Regnal titles
Roman emperor
Preceded by 161–180 Succeeded by
Antoninus Pius With: Lucius Verus (161–169) Commodus
Commodus (177–180)

Political offices
Preceded by
Consul of Rome Succeeded by
M. Ceccius Justinus
January–April 140 Q. Antonius Isauricus
G. Julius Bassus
With: Antoninus Pius L. Aurelius Flaccus
as suffect consuls

Preceded by
Consul of Rome Succeeded by
L. Marcius Celer M. Calpurnius Longus
January–February 145 L. Plautius Lamia Silvanus
D. Velius Fidus
With: Antoninus Pius L. Poblicola Priscus
as suffect consuls

Preceded by Consul of Rome Succeeded by

Ti. Oclatius Severus January 161 M. Annius Libo
Novius Sabinianus With: Lucius Verus Q. Camurius Numisius Junior

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