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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; 'Marcus Aurelius' . Dictionary.com. ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calm, and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to 180 AD. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.
Marcus Aurelius was the son of the praetor Marcus Annius Verus and his wife, Domitia Calvilla. He was related through marriage to the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. Marcus was three when his father died, and was raised by his mother and paternal grandfather. After Hadrian's adoptive son, Aelius Caesar, died in 138, Hadrian adopted Marcus's uncle Antoninus Pius as his new heir. In turn, Antoninus adopted Marcus and Lucius Verus, 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. He married Antoninus's daughter Faustina in 145.
After Antoninus died in 161, Marcus acceded to the throne alongside his adoptive brother, who took the regnal name Lucius Aurelius Verus. Under the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Empire witnessed much military conflict. In the East, the Romans fought the Parthian war of Lucius Verus with a revitalised Parthian Empire and the rebel Kingdom of Armenia. Marcus defeated the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatian Iazyges in the Marcomannic Wars. These and other Germanic peoples began to represent a troubling reality for the Empire. He reduced the silver purity of the Roman currency, the denarius. The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire appears to have increased during his reign, although his involvement is unlikely since there are no Christian sources ascribing him the blame, and he was praised by Justin Martyr and Tertullian. The Antonine Plague broke out in 165 or 166 and devastated the population of the Roman Empire, causing the deaths of five to ten million people. Lucius Verus may have died from the plague in 169. When Marcus himself died in 180, he was succeeded by his son Commodus.
Commodus' succession after Marcus has been a subject of debate among both contemporary and modern historians. The Column of Marcus Aurelius and Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius still stand in Rome, where they were erected in celebration of his military victories. As a philosopher, his work Meditations is one of the most important sources for the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy. These writings have been praised by fellow writers, philosophers, monarchs, and politicians centuries after his death.
A body of correspondence between Marcus's tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c. 138 to 166.Fleury, P. 2012. "Marcus Aurelius' Letters." In A Companion to Marcus Aurelius. Edited by M. van Ackeren, 62–76. Oxford and Malden, MA: Blackwell.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. Marcus's own Meditations offer a window on his inner life, but are largely undateable and make few specific references to worldly affairs.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 227. The main narrative source for the period is 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 expansion obscure his perspective.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 228–229, 253. Some other literary sources provide specific details: the writings of the physician 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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 227–228. Epigraphy and numismatics supplement the literary sources.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 228.
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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 29, citing Pliny, Epistulae 8.18.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 30. Marcus himself was born and raised in the Horti and referred to the Caelian hill as 'My Caelian'. Ad Marcum Caesarem ii. 8.2 (= Haines 1.142), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 31.
The adoptive family of Marcus was the gens Aurelia, an old Roman gens. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 436 (""). His adoptive father Antoninus Pius came from the Aurelii Fulvi, a branch of the Aurelii settled in the colony of Nemausus in Roman Gaul.Bury, p. 523.
From a young age, Marcus displayed enthusiasm for wrestling and boxing. He trained in wrestling as a youth and into his teenage years, learned to fight in armour and joined the Salii, an order of priests dedicated to the god Mars that were responsible for the sacred shields, called Ancile, and possibly for heralding war season's beginning and end. Marcus was educated at home, in line with contemporary aristocratic trends;McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, 20–21. he thanks Catilius Severus for encouraging him to avoid public schools. Meditations 1.4; McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, p. 20. One of his teachers, Diognetus, a painting master, proved particularly influential; he seems to have introduced Marcus Aurelius to the philosophic way of life. HA Marcus ii. 2, iv. 9; Meditations i. 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 37; McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, pp. 21–22. 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 persuaded him to sleep on a bed. HA Marcus ii. 6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 38; McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, p. 21. A new set of tutors – the scholar Alexander of Cotiaeum along with Trosius Aper and Tuticius Proculus, teachers of LatinBirley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 40, citing Aristides, Oratio 32 K; McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, p. 21. – took over Marcus's education in about 132 or 133. HA Marcus ii. 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 40, 270 n.27. Marcus thanks Alexander for his training in literary styling. Meditations i. 10; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 40; McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor, p. 22. Alexander's influence – an emphasis on matter over style and careful wording, with the occasional Homeric quotation – has been detected in Marcus's Meditations.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 40, 270 n.28, citing A. S. L. Farquharson, The Meditations of Marcus Antoninus (Oxford, 1944) ii. 453.
On 24 January 138, Hadrian selected Aurelius Antoninus, the husband of Marcus's aunt Faustina the Elder, as his new successor.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 46. Date: Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 148. As part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus, in turn, adopted Marcus and Lucius Commodus, the son of Lucius Aelius.Weigel, Richard D. 'Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138–161)' . Roman Emperors. 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.Dio 69.21.1; HA Hadrian xxiv. 1; HA Aelius vi. 9; HA Antoninus Pius iv. 6–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 48–49. 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. HA Marcus v. 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 49.
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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 49–50. 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 military tribune, 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'. HA Marcus v. 6–8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 50.
After a series of suicide attempts, all thwarted by Antoninus, Hadrian left for Baiae, a seaside resort on the 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.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. His remains were buried quietly at Pozzuoli. HA Hadrian xxv. 7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 53. 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. HA Antoninus Pius v. 3, vi. 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 55–56; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 151. For his dutiful behaviour, Antoninus was asked to accept the name 'Pius'.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 55; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 151.
Antoninus demanded that Marcus reside in the House of Tiberius, the imperial palace on the Palatine, and take up the habits of his new station, the aulicum fastigium or 'pomp of the court', against Marcus's objections. 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' Meditations 5.16, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 57. – but he found it difficult nonetheless. He would criticise himself in the Meditations for 'abusing court life' in front of company. Meditations 8.9, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 57.
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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 57–58. 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'. Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 7, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 90. He was being 'fitted for ruling the state', in the words of his biographer. HA Marcus vi. 5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 58. He was required to make a speech to the assembled senators as well, making oratorical training essential for the job.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 89.
On 1 January 145, Marcus was made consul a second time. Fronto urged him in a letter to have plenty of sleep 'so that you may come into the Senate with a good colour and read your speech with a strong voice'. Ad Marcum Caesarem v. 1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 89. Marcus had complained of an illness in an earlier letter: 'As far as my strength is concerned, I am beginning to get it back; and there is no trace of the pain in my chest. But that ulcer ... I am having treatment and taking care not to do anything that interferes with it'. Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 89. 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.Dio 71.36.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 89. In April 145, Marcus married Faustina, legally his sister, as had been planned since 138.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 90–91. Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but the biographer calls it 'noteworthy'. HA Antoninus Pius x. 2, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 91. 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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 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 patronising manner. Vita Sophistae 2.1.14; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 63–64. Atticus was an inveterate opponent of Stoicism and philosophic pretensions.Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 9.2.1–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 64–65. He thought the Stoics' desire for apatheia was foolish: they would live a 'sluggish, enervated life', he said.Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 19.12, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 65. 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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 65.
Fronto was highly esteemed: in the self-consciously antiquarian world of Latin letters,Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 67–68, citing Champlin, Fronto and Antonine Rome, esp. chs. 3 and 4. he was thought of as second only to Cicero, perhaps even an alternative to him.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 65–67. 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 , and challenging minor improprieties in word choice.
A significant amount of the correspondence between Fronto and Marcus has survived.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 69. 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. Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 6 (= Haines 1.80ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 76. Marcus spent time with Fronto's wife and daughter, both named Cratia, and they enjoyed light conversation. Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 6 (= Haines 1.80ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 76–77.
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'. Ad Marcum Caesarem iii. 10–11 (= Haines 1.50ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 73. 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 sufferingBirley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 73. – about one-quarter of the surviving letters deal with the man's sicknesses.Champlin, 'Chronology of Fronto', p. 138. Marcus asks that Fronto's pain be inflicted on himself, 'of my own accord with every kind of discomfort'. Ad Marcum Caesarem v. 74 ( =Haines 2.52ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 73.
Fronto never became Marcus's full-time teacher and continued his career as an advocate. One notorious case brought him into conflict with Atticus.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. 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. Ad Marcum Caesarem iii. 2 (= Haines 1.58ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 77–78. 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, Ad Marcum Caesarem iii. 3 (= Haines 1.62ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 78. but nonetheless affirmed his intent to win the case by any means necessary: 'The 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'. Ad Marcum Caesarem iii. 3 (= Haines 1.62ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 79. The outcome of the trial is unknown.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 80.
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'. Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 13 (= Haines 1.214ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 93. Marcus had grown tired of his exercises, of taking positions in imaginary debates. When he criticised the insincerity of conventional language, Fronto took to defend it. Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 3.1 (= Haines 1.2ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 94. 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. HA Marcus iii. 5–8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 94.
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". Ad Marcum Caesarem iv. 3, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 69. He disdained philosophy and philosophers and looked down on Marcus's sessions with Apollonius of Chalcedon and others in this circle. 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. 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'. Marcus kept in close touch with Fronto, but would ignore Fronto's scruples.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 94, 105.
Apollonius may have introduced Marcus to Stoic philosophy, but Junius Rusticus would have the strongest influence on the boy.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 95; Champlin, Fronto, p. 120. He was the man Fronto recognised as having 'wooed Marcus away' from oratory. Ad Antoninum Imperatorem i.2.2 (= Haines 2.36), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 95. 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;Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 94–95, 101. the true successor of Seneca (as opposed to Fronto, the false one).Champlin, Fronto, p. 120. Marcus thanks Rusticus for teaching him "not to be led astray into enthusiasm for rhetoric, for writing on speculative themes, for discoursing on moralising texts ... To avoid oratory, poetry, and 'fine writing. Meditations i.7, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 94–95.
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 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 wax tablet and goes to school.'Philostratus, Vitae sophistorum ii. 9 (557); cf. Suda, Markos
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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 206–207. 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'. Meditations ix.40, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 207. He quoted from the Iliad what he called the "briefest and most familiar saying ... enough to dispel sorrow and fear": Meditations x.34, tr. Farquharson, pp. 78, 224.
Another daughter was born on 7 March 150, Lucilla. At some time between 155 and 161, probably soon after 155, Marcus's mother Domitia Lucilla died.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 107. Faustina probably had another daughter in 151, but the child, Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina, might not have been born until 153.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 107–108. 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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 108. 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. Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas pertinentes 4.1399, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114. In 159 and 160, Faustina gave birth to daughters: Fadilla and Cornificia, named respectively after Faustina's and Marcus's dead sisters.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114.
In 156, Antoninus turned 70. He found it difficult to keep himself upright without corset. 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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 112. In 160, Marcus and Lucius were designated joint consuls for the following year. Antoninus may have already been ill.
Two days before his death, the biographer reports, Antoninus was at his ancestral estate at Lorium, in Etruria,Bowman, 156; Victor, 15:7 about 19 kilometres (12 mi) from Rome.Victor, 15:7 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,Dio 71.33.4–5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114. 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 ask the password – 'aequanimitas' (equanimity).Bury, p. 532. He then turned over, as if going to sleep, and died. HA Antoninus Pius 12.4–8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114. His death closed out the longest reign since Augustus, surpassing Tiberius by a couple of months.Bowman, p. 156.
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.Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 156. Thus, although the Senate planned to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers. HA Verus iii.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 116; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 156. The Senate accepted, granting Lucius the imperium, the tribunician power, and the title Augustus. HA Verus iv.1; Marcus vii.5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 116. 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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 116–117. It was the first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors.
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.Christer Bruun, J. C. Edmondson (2025). 9780195336467, Oxford University Press. . ISBN 9780195336467 It would have been clear to the public which emperor was the more senior. As the biographer wrote: "Verus obeyed Marcus ... as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor". HA Verus iv.2, tr. Magie, cited in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 117, 278 n.4.
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 donativum. HA Marcus vii. 9; Verus iv.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 117–118. This , however, was twice the size of those past: 20,000 Sestertius (5,000 Denarius) 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. HA Marcus vii. 9; Verus iv.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 117–118. 'twice the size': Duncan-Jones, p. 109. 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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118. 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 to . 'Roman Currency of the Principate'. Tulane.edu. Archived 10 February 2001.
Antoninus's funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, 'elaborate'. HA Marcus vii. 10, tr. Magie, cited in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 118, 278 n.6. If his funeral followed those of his predecessors, his body would have been cremated 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. HA Marcus vii. 10–11; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118. 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.
In accordance with his will, Antoninus's fortune passed on to Faustina. HA Antoninus Pius xii.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 118–119. (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. HA Marcus vii. 4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119.) 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. HA Comm. i.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119. On 31 August, she gave birth at Lanuvium to twins: T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus. HA Comm. i.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119. Aside from the fact that the twins shared Caligula's birthday, the omens were favourable, and the astrologers drew positive horoscopes for the children. HA Commodus. i.4, x.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119. The births were celebrated on the imperial coinage.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.
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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 122–123, 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. Lucius Volusius Maecianus, Marcus's former tutor, had been Augustal prefect 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.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. Fronto's son-in-law, Gaius Aufidius Victorinus, was appointed governor of Germania Superior. HA Marcus viii. 8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123, citing W. Eck, Die Satthalter der germ. Provinzen (1985), pp. 65ff.
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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120, citing Ad Verum Imperatorem i.3.2 (= Haines 1.298ff). 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". Ad Antoninum Imperatorem iv.2.3 (= Haines 1.302ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119. Fronto called on Marcus alone; neither thought to invite Lucius.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120.
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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120, citing Ad Verum Imperatorem i.1 (= Haines 1.305). 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.' Ad Antoninum Imperatorem iv.1 (= Haines 1.300ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120. Marcus's early reign proceeded smoothly; he was able to give himself wholly to philosophy and the pursuit of popular affection. HA Marcus viii. 3–4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120. 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.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.
In either autumn 161 or spring 162, 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. HA Marcus viii. 4–5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120. In other times of famine, the emperors are said to have provided for the Italian communities out of the Roman granaries. HA Marcus xi. 3, cited in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 278 n.16.
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'. Ad Antoninum Imperatorem 1.2.2 (= Haines 2.35), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 128. Fronto would again remind his pupil of the tension between his role and his 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'. De eloquentia 1.12 (= Haines 2.63–65), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 128.
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. Ad Antoninum Imperatorem 1.2.2 (= Haines 2.35); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 127–128. 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. Ad Antoninum Imperatorem 1.2.4 (= Haines 2.41–43), tr. Haines; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 128.
Convinced by the prophet Alexander of Abonoteichus that he could defeat the Parthians easily and win glory for himself,Lucian, Alexander 27; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 121–122. On Alexander, see: Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), pp. 241–250. Severianus led a legion (perhaps the IX HispanaBirley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 278 n.19.) into Armenia, but was trapped by the great Parthian general Chosrhoes at Elegeia, a town just beyond the Cappadocian frontiers, high up past the headwaters of the Euphrates. After Severianus made some unsuccessful efforts to engage Chosrhoes, he committed suicide, and his legion was massacred. The campaign had lasted only three days.Dio 71.2.1; Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 21, 24, 25; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 121–122.
There was threat of war on other frontiers as well – in Britain, and in Raetia and Upper Germany, where the Chatti of the Taunus mountains had recently crossed over the limes. HA Marcus viii. 7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 122. 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. HA Antoninus Pius vii.11; Marcus vii.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 103–104, 122.
More bad news arrived: the Syrian governor's army had been defeated by the Parthians, and retreated in disarray. HA Marcus viii. 6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123. 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. Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 8.7050– 51; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123. Three full legions were also sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany, Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 1097– 98; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123. II Adiutrix from Aquincum, Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 1091; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123. and V Macedonica from Troesmis. Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 2311; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123.
The northern frontiers were strategically weakened; frontier governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible. HA Marcus xii. 13; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123. 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, L'Année Épigraphique 1972.657 ; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 125. and as a patrician, he lacked military experience. Marcus had chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one. HA Verus 9.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 125. 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. De Feriis Alsiensibus 1 (= Haines 2.3); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 126. 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?' De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.1 (= Haines 2.5), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 126. He encouraged Marcus to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Antoninus had enjoyed exercise in the palaestra, fishing, and comedy), De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.4 (= Haines 2.9); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 126–127. 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. De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.6–12 (= Haines 2.11–19); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 126–127. Marcus could not take Fronto's advice. 'I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off', he wrote back. De Feriis Alsiensibus 4, tr. Haines 2.19; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 127. 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 'this devotion to duty! Who knows better than you how demanding it is!' De Feriis Alsiensibus 4 (= Haines 2.19), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 127.
Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material, De bello Parthico x. (= Haines 2.31), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 127. and, to settle his unease over the course of the Parthian war, a long and considered letter, full of historical references. In modern editions of Fronto's works, it is labelled De bello Parthico ( On the Parthian War). There had been reverses in Rome's past, Fronto writes, De bello Parthico i–ii. (= Haines 2.21–23). 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'. De bello Parthico i. (= Haines 2.21), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 127.
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.Dio, lxxi. 1.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123. 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 realise that he was an emperor. HA Verus v. 8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 123, 125. 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'. HA Marcus viii. 9, tr. Magie; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 123–126. On Lucius's voyage, see: HA Verus vi. 7–9; HA Marcus viii. 10–11; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 125–126.
Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch, though he wintered at Laodicea and summered at Daphne, a resort just outside Antioch.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129. Critics decried Lucius's luxurious lifestyle, HA Verus iv.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129. saying that he had taken to gambling, would 'dice the whole night through', HA Verus iv. 6, tr. Magie; cf. v. 7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129. and enjoyed the company of actors. HA Verus viii. 7, viii. 10–11; Fronto, Principia Historiae 17 (= Haines 2.217); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129. Libo died early in the war; perhaps Lucius had murdered him. HA Verus ix. 2; Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 3.199 ; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 130–131. 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. 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. Marcus moved up the date; perhaps he had already heard of Lucius's mistress Panthea. HA Verus 7.10; Lucian, Imagines 3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131. Cf. Lucian, Imagines, Pro Imaginibus, passim. Lucilla's thirteenth birthday was in March 163; whatever the date of her marriage, she was not yet fifteen.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163. Lucilla was accompanied by her mother Faustina and Lucius's uncle (his father's half-brother) M. Vettulenus Civica Barbarus, HA Verus vii. 7; Marcus ix. 4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131. who was made comes Augusti, 'companion of the emperors'. Marcus may have wanted Civica to watch over Lucius, the job Libo had failed at.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131, citing Année Épigraphique 1958.15. 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. HA Verus 7.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131. He only accompanied the group as far as Brundisium, where they boarded a ship for the east. HA Marcus ix. 4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131. He returned to Rome immediately thereafter, and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to give the group any official reception. HA Marcus ix. 5–6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 131.
The Armenian capital Artaxata was captured in 163. HA Marcus ix. 1; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162. 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. HA Marcus ix. 1; HA Verus vii. 1–2; Ad Verum Imperatorem 2.3 (= Haines 2.133); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162. When Lucius was hailed as imperator again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the Imperator II with him.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.
Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms. In 164, a new capital, Kaine Polis ('New City'), replaced Artaxata.Dio, lxxi.3.1; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 131; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162; Millar, Near East, p. 113. 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.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 280 n. 42; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162. 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.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.
In 163, the Parthians intervened in Osroene, a Roman client in upper Mesopotamia centred on Edessa, and installed their own king on its throne.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. In response, Roman forces were moved downstream, to cross the Euphrates at a more southerly point.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 130; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162. Before the end of 163, however, Roman forces had moved north to occupy Dausara and Nicephorium on the northern, Parthian bank.Fronto, Ad Verum Imperatorem ii.1.3 (= Haines 2.133); Astarita, 41; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 130; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162. 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. Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 1098; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 130.
In 165, Roman forces moved on Mesopotamia. Edessa was re-occupied, and Mannus, the king deposed by the Parthians, was re-installed.Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 M 169. The Parthians retreated to Nisibis, but this too was besieged and captured. The Parthian army dispersed in the Tigris.Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 15, 19; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163. A second force, under Avidius Cassius and the III Gallica, moved down the Euphrates, and fought a major battle at Dura.Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 20, 28; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163, citing Syme, Roman Papers, 5.689ff.
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 Diadochi), 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. 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.
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.Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164. Lucius took the title Parthicus Maximus, and he and Marcus were hailed as imperatores again, earning the title 'imp. III'.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. Cassius's army returned to the field in 166, crossing over the Tigris into Media. Lucius took the title 'Medicus',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. and the emperors were again hailed as imperatores, becoming 'imp. IV' in imperial titulature. Marcus took the Parthicus Maximus now, after another tactful delay.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. On 12 October of that year, Marcus proclaimed two of his sons, Annius and Commodus, as his heirs.Adams, p. 94.
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' 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.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.
Starting in the 160s, Germanic tribes, and other nomadic people launched raids along the limes Germanicus, particularly into Gaul and across the Danube. This new impetus westwards was probably due to attacks from tribes further east. A first invasion by the Chatti in the province of Germania Superior was repulsed in 162.McLynn, Marcus Aurelius: A Life, pp. 323–324.
Far more dangerous was the invasion of 166, when the Marcomanni of Bohemia, clients of the Roman Empire since AD 19, crossed the Danube together with the Lombards and other Germanic tribes.Le Bohec, p. 56. Soon thereafter, the Iranian Sarmatians Iazyges attacked between the Danube and the Tisza rivers.Grant, The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition, p. 29.
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 settlers required the creation of 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.Dio, lxxii.11.4–5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 253. In 168, the two emperors embarked on a new military campaign, expelling the invading Marcomanni and Quadi from Aquileia. Lucius Verus fell ill and died on his way back to Rome, probably due to the plague, in January or February 169.
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.Irvine, pp. 57–58. In one speech, Marcus himself reminded the Senate that the imperial palace where he lived was not truly his possession but theirs.Dio, lxxii.33 In 168, he revalued the denarius, increasing the silver purity from 79% to 82% – the actual silver weight increasing from . However, two years later he reverted to the previous values because of the military crises facing the empire.
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,Haas, pp. 1093–1098. 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.Murphy, Verity. 'Past pandemics that ravaged Europe' . BBC News, 7 November 2005. It is believed that the plague was smallpox. 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.De Crespigny, p. 514. Raoul McLaughlin writes that the travel of Roman subjects to the Han 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 Roman Egypt to India, as well as significantly decreased Roman commerce activity in Southeast Asia.McLaughlin, pp. 59–60.
Marcus was succeeded by his son Commodus, whom he had named Caesar in 166 and with whom he had jointly ruled since 177.Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', pp. 186–191. Biological sons of the emperor, if there were any, were considered heirs;Kemezis, p. 45. however, it was only the second time that a "non-adoptive" son had succeeded his father, the only other having been a century earlier when Vespasian was succeeded by his son Titus. Historians have criticised the succession to Commodus, citing Commodus' erratic behaviour and lack of political and military acumen. 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:Tr. Cary, ad loc.
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 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."Dio lxxii. 36, 72.34
Michael Grant, in The Climax of Rome, writes of Commodus:
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.Grant, The Climax Of Rome, p. 15.
Marcus Aurelius mentions Christians only once in his personal writings, the Meditations. In Book XI.3, he criticizes what he perceives as their theatrical approach to martyrdom, writing that readiness for death "must spring from a man's inner judgment, and not be the result of mere opposition as. It must be associated with deliberation and dignity and, if others too are to be convinced, with nothing like stage-heroics."Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, XI.3Haines, C.R., The Communings with Himself of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, 1916
A letter purportedly from Marcus Aurelius to the Roman Senate, included in Justin Martyr's First Apology, describes a battlefield incident where Marcus allegedly credited Christian prayer with saving his army when "water poured from heaven," and subsequently requested that the Senate cease persecution of Christians.The First Apology of Justin Martyr, Chapter LXVIII However, modern scholars widely consider this letter to be inauthentic, likely composed by Justin Martyr or another Christian author rather than by Marcus Aurelius himself.For discussion of authenticity, see Kovac, Peter, Marcus Aurelius's Rain Miracle and the Marcomannic Wars Contemporary non-Christian sources, including the historian Cassius Dio, attribute the same "rain miracle" to an Egyptian magician named Harnuphis who accompanied the Roman legions.Cassius Dio, Roman History 71.8-10
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.Stertz, p. 434, citing Themistius, Oratio 6.81; HA Cassius 3.5; Victor, De Caesaribus 16.9. 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 to 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, from a manuscript reportedly lost shortly afterwards.Hays, pp. xlviii–xlix. The oldest surviving complete manuscript copy is in the Vatican library and dates to the 14th century.Hadot, p. 22.
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". HA Marcus i. 1, xxvii. 7; Dio lxxi. 1.1; James Francis, Subversive Virtue: Asceticism and Authority in the Second-Century Pagan World (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), 21 n. 1.Mark, Joshua. 'Marcus Aurelius: Plato's Philosopher King' . World History Encyclopedia. 8 May 2018. Christians such as Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, and Eusebius also gave him the title.Francis, p. 21 n.1, citing Justin, 1 Apologia 1; Athenagoras, Leg. 1; Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 4.26.9–11. The latter 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.Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 4.26.9–11, qtd. and tr. Francis, 21 n. 1.
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.Herodian, Ab Excessu Divi Marci i.2.4, tr. Echols.
Iain King says Marcus's legacy was tragic:
The 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.Thinkers at War.
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