Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
Emperor of the Roman Empire
Bust of Marcus Aurelius in the Glyptothek, Munich
Reign	8 March 161–169 (with Lucius Verus); 169–177 (alone); 177–17 March 180 (with Commodus)
Full name	(Caesar) Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
Born	26 April 121(121-04-26)
Birthplace	Rome
Died	17 March 180 (aged 58)
Place of death	Vindobona or Sirmium
Buried	Hadrian's Mausoleum
Predecessor	Antoninus Pius
Successor	Commodus (alone)
Consort to	Faustina the Younger
Dynasty	Antonine
Father	Marcus Annius Verus
Mother	Domitia Lucilla
Children	13, incl. Commodus, Marcus Annius Verus, Antoninus and Lucilla

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus^{[notes 1]} (26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Lucius' death in 169. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers. His tenure was marked by wars in Asia against a revitalized Parthian Empire, and with Germanic tribes along the Limes Germanicus into Gaul and across the Danube. A revolt in the East, led by Avidius Cassius who previously fought under Lucius Verus against the Parthians, failed.

Marcus Aurelius' work Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty.

Contents 1 Early life and career 1.1 Family and childhood 1.2 Early education, 128–36 1.3 Civic duties and family connections, 127–36 1.4 Succession to Hadrian, 136–38 1.5 Heir to Antoninus Pius, 136–45 1.6 Fronto and further education, 136–46 1.7 The Stoic prince, 146–61 1.8 Births and deaths, 147–52 1.9 Pius' last years, 152–61 2 Emperor 2.1 Accession of Marcus and Lucius, 161 2.2 Early rule, 161–62 2.3 War with Parthia, 161–66 2.3.1 Origins to Lucius' dispatch, 161–62 2.3.2 Lucius' dispatch and time at Antioch, 162–65 2.3.3 Counterattack and victory, 163–66 2.3.4 Conclusion of the war and events at Rome, mid-160s–167 2.4 Germania and the Danube 2.5 Death and succession 3 Marriage and issue 4 Writings 5 In later arts 5.1 Literature 5.2 Film 6 Nervan–Antonine family tree 7 Notes 8 Citations 9 References 9.1 Ancient sources 9.2 Modern sources

Early life and career

Family and childhood

The gens Annia, to which Marcus belonged, had an undistinguished history. Their only famous member was Titus Annius Milo, a man known for hastening the end of the free republic through his use of political violence.^[1] Marcus Aurelius' family originated in Ucubi, a small town southeast of Córdoba in Iberian Baetica. The family rose to prominence in the late first century AD. Marcus' great-grandfather Marcus Annius Verus (I) was a senator and (according to the Historia Augusta) ex-praetor; in 73–74 his grandfather Marcus Annius Verus (II) was made a patrician.^[2] Verus' elder son—Marcus Aurelius' father—Marcus Annius Verus (III) married Domitia Lucilla.^[3]

Lucilla was the daughter of the patrician P. Calvisius Tullus Ruso and the elder Domitia Lucilla. The elder Domitia Lucilla had inherited a great fortune (described at length in one of Pliny's letters) from her maternal grandfather and her paternal grandfather by adoption.^[5] The younger Lucilla would acquire much of her mother's wealth, including a large brickworks on the outskirts of Rome—a profitable enterprise in an era when the city was experiencing a construction boom.^[6]

Lucilla and Verus (III) had two children: a son, Marcus, born on 26 April 121, and Annia Cornificia Faustina, probably born in 122 or 123.^[7] Verus (III) probably died in 124, during his praetorship, at a time when Marcus was only three years old.^[8] Though he can hardly have known him, Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations that he had learned "modesty and manliness" from his memories of his father and from the man's posthumous reputation.^[9] Lucilla did not remarry.^[8]

Lucilla, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Marcus was in the care of "nurses".^[10] Marcus credits his mother with teaching him "religious piety, simplicity in diet" and how to avoid "the ways of the rich".^[11] In his letters, Marcus makes frequent and affectionate reference to her; he was grateful that, "although she was fated to die young, yet she spent her last years with me".^[12]

After his father's death, Aurelius was adopted by his paternal grandfather Marcus Annius Verus (II).^[13] Another man, L. Catilius Severus, also participated in his upbringing. Severus is described as Marcus' "maternal great-grandfather"; he is probably the stepfather of the elder Lucilla.^[13] Marcus was raised in his parents' home on the Caelian Hill, a district he would affectionately refer to as "my Caelian".^[14] It was a upscale region, with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas. The most famous of these villas was the Lateran Palace, seized under Nero (r. 54–68) and thenceforth imperial property. Marcus' grandfather owned his own palace beside the Lateran, where Marcus would spend much of his childhood.^[15]

Marcus thanks his grandfather for teaching him "good character and avoidance of bad temper".^[16] He was less fond of the mistress his grandfather took and lived with after the death of Rupilia Faustina, his wife.^[17] Anthony Birley, Marcus' modern biographer, detects a hint of sexual tension in Marcus' writings on the mistress.^[18] Marcus was grateful that he did not have to live with her longer than he did.^[17]

Early education, 128–36

Marcus probably began his education at the age of seven.^[19] Three of his childhood tutors are known: Euphoric, Geminus, and an unnamed educator. These three are otherwise unattested in the ancient sources, and would probably have been household slaves or freedmen. Since Euphoric had a Greek name, he probably taught Marcus the basics of that language. Geminus is described as an actor, and he may have taught Marcus Latin pronunciation and general elocution. The educator would have been Marcus' overall supervisor, charged with his moral welfare and general development.^[20] Marcus speaks of him with admiration in his Meditations: he taught him to "bear pain and be content with little; to work with my own hands, to mind my own business, to be slow to listen to slander".^[21]

At the age of twelve, Marcus would have been ready for secondary education, under the grammatici. Two of his teachers at this age are known: Andro, a "geometrician and musician"; and Diognetus, a painting-master.^[22] Marcus thought of Diognetus as more than a mere painter, however. He seems to have introduced Marcus to the philosophic way of life. Marcus writes that Diognetus taught him "to avoid passing enthusiasms; to distrust the stories of miracle-workers and impostors about incantations and exorcism of spirits and such things; not to go cock-fighting or to get excited about such sports; to put up with outspokenness; and to become familiar with philosophy" and "to write philosophical dialogues in my boyhood".^[23] 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.^[24]

A new set of tutors—Alexander of Cotiaeum, Trosius Aper, and Tuticius Proculus^{[notes 2]}—took over Marcus' education in about 132 or 133.^[26] Little is known of the latter two teachers, but Alexander was a major littérateur, the leading Homeric scholar of his day.^[27] Marcus thanks Alexander for his training in literary styling.^[28] Alexander's influence—an emphasis on matter over style, on careful wording, with the occasional Homeric quotation—has been detected in Marcus' Meditations.^[29]

Civic duties and family connections, 127–36

In 127, at the age of six, Marcus was enrolled in the equestrian order on the recommendation of Emperor Hadrian. Though this was not completely unprecedented, and other children are known to have joined the order, Marcus was still unusually young. In 128, Marcus was enrolled in the priestly college of the Salii. Since the standard qualifications for the college were not met—Marcus did not have two living parents—they must have been waived by Hadrian, Marcus' nominator, as a special favor to the child.^[31] Hadrian had a strong affection for the child, and nicknamed him Verissimus, "most true".^[32]

The Salii, after their name (salire: to leap, to dance), were devoted to ritual dance. Twice a year, at the Quinquatria on 19 March and the Armilustrium on 19 October, they played important roles in public ceremonies marking the opening and closing of the campaigning season. On other days in March and October, they would march through the streets of Rome, halting at intervals to perform their ritual dances, beat their shields with staffs, and sing the Carmen Saliare, a hymn in archaic Latin.^[33] The song would have been nearly unintelligible, but Marcus learned it by heart. He took his duties seriously. Marcus rose through the offices of the priesthood, becoming in turn the leader of the dance, the vates (prophet), and the master of the order.^[34] Once, when the Salii were throwing their crowns onto the banqueting couch of the gods, as was customary, Marcus' fell on the brow of Mars. In later years, this event would be read as an auspicious omen heralding Marcus' future rule.^[35]

Hadrian did not see much of Marcus in his childhood. He spent most of his time outside Rome, on the frontier, or dealing with administrative and local affairs in the provinces.^{[notes 3]} By 135, however, he had returned to Italy for good. He had grown close to Lucius Ceionius Commodus, husband of the daughter of Avidius Nigrinus, one of the men Hadrian had killed early in his reign. In 136, shortly after Marcus assumed the toga virilis symbolizing his passage into manhood, Hadrian arranged for his engagement to one of Commodus' daughters, Fabia.^[37] Marcus was made prefect of the city during the feriae Latinae soon after (he was probably appointed by Commodus). Although the office held no real administrative significance—the full-time prefect remained in office during the festival—it remained a prestigious office for young aristocrats and members of the imperial family. Marcus conducted himself well at the job.^[38]

Through Commodus, Marcus met Apollonius of Chalcedon, a Stoic philosopher. Apollonius had taught Commodus, and would be an enormous impact on Marcus, who would later study with him regularly. He is one of only three people Marcus thanks the gods for having met.^[39] At about this time, Marcus' younger sister, Annia Cornificia, married Ummidius Quadratus, her first cousin. Domitia Lucilla asked Marcus to give part of his father's inheritance to his sister. He agreed to give her all of it, content as he was with his grandfather's estate.^[40]

Succession to Hadrian, 136–38

In late 136, Hadrian almost died from a haemorrhage. Convalescent in his villa at Tivoli, he selected Lucius Ceionius Commodus as his successor, and adopted him as his son.^[41] The selection was done invitis omnibus, "against the wishes of everyone";^[42] its rationale is still unclear.^[43] As part of his adoption, Commodus took the name Lucius Aelius Caesar. 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. The night before the speech, however, he grew ill, and died of a haemorrhage later in the day.^{[44][notes 4]} On 24 January 138, Hadrian selected Aurelius Antoninus as his new successor.^[46] After a few days' consideration, Antoninus accepted. He was adopted on 25 February. As part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus adopted Marcus and Lucius Commodus, the son of Aelius. Marcus became M. Aelius Aurelius Verus; Lucius became L. Aelius Aurelius Commodus. At Hadrian's request, Antoninus' daughter Faustina was betrothed to Lucius.^[47]

The night of his adoption, Marcus had a dream. He dreamed that he had shoulders of ivory, and when asked if they could bear a burden, he found them much stronger than before.^[48] He was appalled to learn that Hadrian had adopted him. Only with reluctance did he move from his mother's house on the Caelian to Hadrian's private home.^[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, consul for 139.^[50] Marcus' adoption diverted him from the typical career path of his class. But 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."^[51]

His attempts at suicide 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.^[53] His remains were buried quietly at Puteoli.^[54] 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.^[55] For his dutiful behavior, Antoninus was asked to accept the name "Pius".^[56]

Heir to Antoninus Pius, 136–45

Immediately after Hadrian's death, Antoninus approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements be amended: Marcus' betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to Faustina, Antoninus' daughter, instead. Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus' proposal.^[57]

Pius bolstered Marcus' dignity: Marcus was made consul for 140, with Pius 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 Caesar: Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar.^[58] 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 happen".^[59] At the senate's request, Marcus joined all the priestly colleges (pontifices, augures, quindecimviri sacris faciundis, septemviri epulonum, etc.);^[60] direct evidence for membership, however, is available only for the Arval Brethren.^[61]

Pius demanded that Marcus take up residence in the House of Tiberius, the imperial palace on the Palatine. Pius also made him take up the habits of his new station, the aulicum fastigium or "pomp of the court", against Marcus' objections.^[60] 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"^[62]—but he found it difficult nonetheless. He would criticize himself in the Meditations for "abusing court life" in front of company.^[63]

As quaestor, Marcus would have had little real administrative work to do. He would read imperial letters to the senate when Pius was absent, and would do secretarial work for the senators. His duties as consul were more significant: one of two senior representatives of the senate, he would preside over meetings and take a major role in the body's administrative functions.^[64] He felt drowned in paperwork, and complained to his tutor, Fronto: "I am so out of breath from dictating nearly thirty letters".^[65] He was being "fitted for ruling the state", in the words of his biographer.^[66] He was required to make a speech to the assembled senators as well, making oratorical training essential for the job.^[67]

On 1 January 145, Marcus was made consul a second time. He might have been unwell at this time: a letter from Fronto that might have been sent at this time urges Marcus 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".^[68] 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 [...]^{[notes 5]} I am having treatment and taking care not to do anything that interferes with it."^[69] Marcus was never particularly healthy or strong. The Roman historian Cassius Dio, writing of his later years, praised him for behaving dutifully in spite of his various illnesses.^[70]

In April 145, Marcus married Faustina, as had been planned since 138. Since Marcus was, by adoption, Pius' son, under Roman law he was marrying his sister; Pius would have had to formally release one or the other from his paternal authority (his patria potestas) for the ceremony to take place.^[71] Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but it is said to have been "noteworthy".^[72] Coins were issued with the heads of the couple, and Pius, as Pontifex Maximus, would have officiated. Marcus makes no apparent reference to the marriage in his surviving letters, and only sparing references to Faustina.^[73]

Fronto and further education, 136–46

After taking the toga virilis in 136, Marcus probably began his training in oratory.^[74] He had three tutors in Greek, Aninus Macer, Caninius Celer, and Herodes Atticus, and one in Latin, Fronto. (Fronto and Atticus, however, probably did not become his tutors until his adoption by Antoninus in 138.) The preponderance of Greek tutors indicates the importance of the language to the aristocracy of Rome.^[75] 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.^[76] The latter two were the most esteemed orators of the day. Marcus' tutor in law was Lucius Volusius Maecianus, a knight Antoninus had taken on staff at his adoption by Hadrian, and the director of the public post (praefectus vehiculorum).^[77] Apollonius was compelled to return from Chalcedon to Rome at the request of Pius, and would continue teaching Marcus.^[78]

Herodes 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. He found oratory easy, and preferred subtle, metaphorical oratory to vigorous attack; "graceful" speech, to use the description of Philostratus, author of Lives of the Sophists.^[79] Atticus was an inveterate opponent of Stoicism and philosophic pretensions. He had once given a tramp calling himself a philosopher money to buy bread for a month, publicly declaiming men posing as philosophers all the while.^[80] He thought the Stoics' desire for a "lack of feeling" foolish: they would live a "sluggish, enervated life", he said.^[81] Marcus would 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.^[82]

Fronto was highly esteemed: he was thought of as second only to Cicero, perhaps even an alternative to him.^{[83][notes 6]} He did not care much for Herodes, 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.^[83] The Latin literary world of the day was self-consciously antiquarian: authors of the Silver Age—Seneca, Lucan, Martial, Juvenal, Pliny, Suetonius, and Tacitus—were ignored; only the greatest of the Golden Age, Virgil and Cicero, were widely read; only that pair and earlier writers, like Cato, Plautus, Terence, Gaius Gracchus, and (somewhat anachronistically) Sallust, were cited.^[87]

A significant amount of the correspondence between Fronto and Marcus has survived.^[88] The pair were very close. "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."^[89] Marcusc spent time with Fronto's wife and daughter, both named Cratia, and they enjoyed light conversation.^[90] 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 learned of literature, he would learn "from the lips of Fronto".^[91] 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^[92]—about one quarter of the surviving letters deal with the man's sicknesses.^[93] Marcus asks that Fronto's pain be inflicted on himself, "of my own accord with every kind of discomfort".^[94]

Fronto never became Marcus' full-time teacher, and continued his career as an advocate. One notorious case brought him into conflict with Herodes.^[95] Fronto had been retained as defense counsel by Tiberius Claudius Demostratus, a prominent Athenian. Herodes Atticus was chief prosecutor. Because of Herodes' fraught relationship with the city of Athens, the defense's strategy would probably include attacks on his character. Marcus pleaded with Fronto, first with "advice", then as a "favor", not to attack Herodes; he had already asked Herodes to refrain from making the first blows.^[96] Fronto replied that he was surprised to discover Marcus counted Herodes as a friend (perhaps Herodes was not yet Marcus' tutor), but allowed that Marcus might be correct, and agreed that the case should not be made into a spectacle.^[97] He nonetheless affirmed his intent to make use of the material available: "I warn you that I won't even use in a disproportionate way the opportunity that I have in my case, for the charges are frightful and must be spoken of as frightful. Those in particular which refer to the beating and robbing I will describe in such a way 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."^[98] Marcus was satisfied with Fronto's response.^[99]

The outcome of the trial is unknown,^[100] but Marcus succeeded in reconciling the two men. Soon after Fronto's tenure as consul suffectus in July and August 143, Marcus wrote a letter to him mentioning that Herodes' new-born son had recently died. Marcus asked Fronto to write Herodes a note of condolence. Fronto did, and part of the letter, written in Greek, survives.^[101] Fronto himself commended Marcus for his talents as a reconciler: "If anyone ever had power by his character to unite all his friends in mutual love for one another, you will surely accomplish this much more easily".^[102]

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."^[103] 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.^[104] In any case, Marcus' formal education was now over. He had kept his teachers on good terms, following them devotedly. His biographer records that he "kept gold statues of them in his private chapel, and always honoured their tombs by personal visits". It "affected his health adversely", his biographer adds, to have devoted so much effort to his studies. It was the only thing the biographer could find fault with in Marcus' entire boyhood.^[105]

The Stoic prince, 146–61

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".^[106] He disdained philosophy and philosophers, and looked down on Marcus' sessions with Apollonius of Chalcedon and others in this circle.^[88] Fronto put an uncharitable interpretation of Marcus' "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.^[107] Marcus kept in close touch with Fronto, but he would ignore his scruples.^[108]

Apollonius may have introduced Marcus to Stoic philosophy, but Quintus Junius Rusticus would have the strongest influence on the boy.^{[109][notes 7]} He was the man Fronto recognized as having "wooed Marcus away" from oratory.^[111] He was twenty years older than Marcus, older than Fronto. 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 first century;^[112] the true successor of Seneca (as opposed to Fronto, the false one).^[113] Marcus' tribute to him in the Meditations points to a move away from the oratorical training of Fronto. He 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'".^[114]

Claudius Severus, another friend, from a Greek family of Paphlagonia, gave Marcus an understanding of what these philosophers stood for. Severus was not a Stoic, but a Peripatetic (an Aristotlean); the strength of his influence illustrates the breadth of Marcus' philosophical horizons.^[115] Marcus thanks three other friends for their influence: Claudius Maximus, Sextus of Chaeronea, and Cinna Catulus.^[116] Maximus is one of Marcus' three most significant friends, alongside Apollonius and Rusticus. He taught Marcus "mastery of self" and "to be cheerful in all circumstances".^[117] Unlike Marcus' other friends, Sextus was a professional philosopher, devoted to teaching philosophy. Marcus continued to attend his lectures even after becoming emperor, scandalizing the polite classes of Rome.^[118] Catulus is totally unknown outside Marcus' brief words of praise in the Meditations and the notice in the Historia Augusta;^[119] Champlin reckons him a senator.^[120]

Births and deaths, 147–52

On 30 November 147, Faustina gave birth to a girl, named Domitia Faustina. It was the first of at least fourteen children (including two sets of twins) she would bear over the next twenty-three years. The next day, 1 December, Pius gave Marcus the tribunician power and the imperium—authority over the armies and provinces of the emperor. As tribune, Marcus had the right to bring one measure before the senate after the four Pius could introduce. His tribunican powers would be renewed, with Pius', on 10 December 147.^[121]

The first mention of Domitia in Marcus' letters reveals her as a sickly infant. "Caesar to Fronto. If the gods are willing we seem to have a hope of recovery. The diarrhoea 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.^[122] Domitia would die in 151.^[123]

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.^[124]

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'."^[125] He quoted from the Iliad what he called the "briefest and most familiar saying...enough to dispel sorrow and fear":

                                                        leaves,
the wind scatters some on the face of the ground;
like unto them are the children of men.

– Iliad 6.146^[126]

Another daughter was born on 7 March 150, Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla. At some time between 155 and 161, probably soon after 155, Marcus' mother, Domitia Lucilla, died.^[127] Faustina probably had another daughter in 151, but the child, Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina, might not have been born until 153.^[128] Another son, Tiberius Aelius Antoninus, was born in 152. A coin issue celebrates fecunditati Augustae, "the Augusta's fertility", depicting two girls and an infant. The boy did not survive long; on coins from 156, only the two girls were depicted. He might have died in 152, the same year as Marcus' sister, Cornificia.^[129]

A son was born in the late 150s. The synod of the temple of Dionysius at Smyrna sent Marcus a letter of congratulations. By 28 March 158, however, when Marcus replied, the child was dead. Marcus thanked the temple synod, "even though this turned out otherwise". The child's name is unknown.^[130] In 159 and 160, Faustina gave birth to daughters: Fadilla, after one of Faustina dead sisters, and Cornificia, after Marcus' dead sister.^[131]

Pius' last years, 152–61

In 152, Lucius was named quaestor for 153, two years before the legal age of twenty-five (Marcus held the office at seventeen). In 154, he was consul, nine years before the legal age of thirty-two (Marcus held the office at eighteen and twenty-three). Lucius had no other titles, except that of "son of Augustus". Lucius had a markedly different personality than Marcus: he enjoyed sports of all kinds, but especially hunting and wrestling; he took obvious pleasure in the circus-games and gladiatorial fights.^{[132][notes 8]} He did not marry until 164. Pius was not fond of his adopted son's interests. He would keep Lucius in the family, but he was sure never to give the boy either power or glory.^[136] To take a typical example, Lucius would not appear on Alexandrian coinage until 160/1.^[137]

In 156, Pius turned seventy. He found 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 Pius aged, Marcus would have taken on more administrative duties, more still when the praetorian prefect (an office that was as much secretarial as military) Gavius Maximus died in 156 or 157.^[138] In 160, Marcus and Lucius were designated joint consuls for the following year. Perhaps Pius was already ill; in any case, he died before the year was out.^[131] Two days before his death, the biographer records, Pius was at his ancestral estate in Lorium. He ate Alpine cheese at dinner quite greedily. In the night he vomited; he had a fever the next day. The day after that, he summoned the imperial council, and passed the state and his daughter to Marcus. He ordered that the golden statue of Fortune, which had been in the bedroom of the emperors, should go to Marcus' bedroom. Pius turned over, as if going to sleep, and died.^[139] It was 7 March 161.^[140]

Emperor

Accession of Marcus and Lucius, 161

At the death of Antoninus Pius, 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.^[141] 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. It was his duty.^[142]

Although Marcus shows 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.^[143] Thus, although the senate planned to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers.^[144] The senate accepted, granting Lucius the imperium, the tribunician power, and the name Augustus.^[145] Marcus became, in official titulature, Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; Lucius, forgoing his name Commodus and taking Marcus' family name, Verus, became Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus.^{[146][notes 9]} It was the first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors.^{[149][notes 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 Pius' administration, and he alone was Pontifex Maximus. It would have been clear to the public which emperor was the more senior.^[149] As the biographer wrote, "Verus obeyed Marcus...as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor."^[150]

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.^[151] This donative, however, was twice the size of those past: 20,000 sesterces (5,000 denarii) per capita, more to officers. In return for this bounty, equivalent to several years' pay, the troops swore an oath to protect the emperors.^[152] The ceremony was perhaps not entirely necessary, given that Marcus' accession had been peaceful and unopposed, but it was good insurance against later military troubles.^[153]

Pius' funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, "elaborate".^[154] If his funeral followed the pattern of past funerals, his body would have been incinerated on a pyre at the Campus Martius, while his spirit would rise to the gods' home in the heavens. Marcus and Lucius nominated their father for deification. In contrast to their behavior during Pius' 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 Pius, now Divus Antoninus. Pius' remains were laid to rest in the Hadrian's mausoleum, beside the remains of Marcus' children and of Hadrian himself.^[155] 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.^[153]

In accordance with his will, Pius' fortune passed on to Faustina.^[156] (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.^[157]) 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.^[158] On 31 August she gave birth at Lanuvium to twins: T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus.^{[159][notes 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.^[161] The births were celebrated on the imperial coinage.^[162]

Early rule, 161–62

Soon after the emperors' accession, Marcus' eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla, was betrothed to Lucius (in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her uncle).^[163] At the ceremonies commemorating the event, new provisions were made for the support of poor children, along the lines of earlier imperial foundations.^[164] Marcus and Lucius proved popular with the people of Rome, who strongly approved of their civiliter ("lacking pomp") behavior. The emperors permitted free speech, evinced by the fact that the comedy writer Marullus was able to criticize them without suffering retribution. At any other time, under any other emperor, he would have been executed. But it was a peaceful time, a forgiving time. And thus, as the biographer wrote, "No one missed the lenient ways of Pius."^[165]

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.^[166] Lucius Volusius Maecianus, Marcus' former tutor, had been prefectural governor of Egypt at Marcus' accession. Maecianus was recalled, made senator, and appointed prefect of the treasury (aerarium Saturni). He was made consul soon after.^[167] Fronto's son-in-law, Aufidius Victorinus, was appointed governor of Upper Germany.^[168]

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.^[169] 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."^[170] Fronto called on Marcus alone; neither thought to invite Lucius.^[171]

Lucius was less esteemed by his tutor 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.^[172] 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."^[173] Marcus' early reign proceeded smoothly. Marcus was able to give himself wholly to philosophy and the pursuit of popular affection.^[174] Soon, however, Marcus would find he had many anxieties. It would mean the end of the felicitas temporum ("happy times") that the coinage of 161 had so glibly proclaimed.^[175]

In the spring of 162,^{[notes 12]} the Tiber flooded over its banks, destroying much of Rome. It drowned many animals, leaving the city in famine. Marcus and Lucius gave the crisis their personal attention.^{[178][notes 13]} In other times of famine, the emperors are said to have provided for the Italian communities out of the Roman granaries.^[180]

Fronto's letters continued through Marcus' early reign. Fronto felt that, because of Marcus' 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".^[181] 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."^[182] The early days of Marcus' reign were the happiest of Fronto's life: his pupil was beloved by the people of Rome, an excellent emperor, a fond pupil, and, perhaps most importantly, as eloquent as could be wished.^[183] 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.^[184]

War with Parthia, 161–66

For details, see: Lucius Verus: War with Parthia, 161–66

Origins to Lucius' dispatch, 161–62

On his deathbed, Pius spoke of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him.^[185] One of those kings, Vologases IV of Parthia, made his move in late summer or early autumn 161.^[186] Vologases entered the Kingdom of Armenia (then a Roman client state), expelled its king and installed his own—Pacorus, an Arsacid like himself.^[187] At the time of the invasion, the governor of Syria was L. Attidius Cornelianus. Attidius had been retained as governor even though his term ended in 161, presumably to avoid giving the Parthians the chance to wrong-foot his replacement. The governor of Cappadocia, the front-line in all Armenian conflicts, was Marcus Sedatius Severianus, a Gaul with much experience in military matters. But living in the east had a deleterious effect on his character.^[188]

The confidence man Alexander of Abonutichus, a prophet who carried a snake named Glycon around with him, had enraptured Severianus, as he had many others.^[189] Father-in-law to the respected senator P. Mummius Sisenna Rutilianus, then-proconsul of Asia, Abonutichus was friends with many members of the east Roman elite.^[190] Alexander convinced Severianus that he could defeat the Parthians easily, and win glory for himself.^[191] Severianus led a legion (perhaps the IX Hispana^[192]) into Armenia, but was trapped by the great Parthian general Chosrhoes at Elegia, a town just beyond the Cappadocian frontiers, high up past the headwaters of the Euphrates. Severianus made some attempt to fight Chosrhoes, but soon realized the futility of his campaign, and committed suicide. His legion was massacred. The campaign had only lasted three days.^[193]

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.^[194] Marcus was unprepared. Pius seems to have given him no military experience; the biographer writes that Marcus spent the whole of Pius' twenty-three-year reign at his emperor's side—and not in the provinces, where most previous emperors had spent their early careers.^{[195][notes 14]} Marcus made the necessary appointments: Marcus Statius Priscus, the governor of Britain, was sent to replace Severianus as governor of Cappadocia.^[197] Sextus Calpurnius Agricola would take Priscus' former office.^[168]

More bad news arrived: Attidius Cornelianus' army had been defeated in battle against the Parthians, and retreated in disarray.^[198] 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.^[199] Three full legions were also sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany,^[200] II Adiutrix from Aquincum,^[201] and V Macedonica from Troesmis.^[202] The norther frontiers were strategically weakened; frontier governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible.^[203] Attidius Cornelianus himself was replaced by M. Annius Libo, Marcus' first cousin. He was young—his first consulship was in 161, so he was probably in his early thirties^[204]—and, as a mere patrician, lacked military experience. Marcus had chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one.^[205]

Marcus took a four-day public holiday at Alsium, a resort town on the Etrurian coast. He was too anxious to relax. Writing to Fronto, he declared that he would not speak about his holiday.^[206] Fronto replied ironically: "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?"^[207] He encouraged Marcus to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Pius had enjoyed exercise in the palaestra, fishing, and comedy),^[208] 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.^[209] Marcus could not take Fronto's advice. "I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off," he wrote back.^[210] Marcus 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!"^[211]

Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material, including Cicero's pro lege Manilia, in which the orator had argued in favor of Pompey taking supreme command in the Mithridatic War. It was an apt reference (Pompey's war had taken him to Armenia), and may have had some impact on the decision to send Lucius to the eastern front.^[212] "You will find in it many chapters aptly suited to your present counsels, concerning the choice of army commanders, the interests of allies, the protection of provinces, the discipline of the soldiers, the qualifications required for commanders in the field and elsewhere [...]^{[notes 15]}"^[214] To settle his unease over the course of the Parthian war, Fronto wrote Marcus a long and considered letter, full of historical references. In modern editions of Fronto's works, it is labeled De bello Parthico (On the Parthian War). There had been reverses in Rome's past, Fronto writes, at Allia, at Caudium, at Cannae, at Numantia, Cirta, and Carrhae;^[215] under Trajan, Hadrian, and Pius;^[216] 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".^[217]

Lucius' dispatch and time at Antioch, 162–65

Over the winter of 161–62, as more bad news arrived—a rebellion was brewing in Syria—it was decided that Lucius should direct the Parthian war in person. He was stronger and healthier than Marcus, the argument went, more suited to military activity.^[218] Lucius' biographer suggests ulterior motives: to restrain Lucius' debaucheries, to make him thrifty, to reform his morals by the terror of war, to realize that he was an emperor.^{[219][notes 16]} Whatever the case, the senate gave its assent, and Lucius left. Marcus would remain in Rome; the city "demanded the presence of an emperor".^[221]

Lucius left in the summer of 162 to take a ship from Brundisium; Marcus followed him as far as Capua. Lucius feasted himself in the country houses along his route, and hunted at Apulia. He fell ill at Canosa, probably afflicted with a mild stroke, and took to bed.^[222] Marcus made prayers to the gods for his safety in front of the senate, and hurried south to see him.^[223] Fronto was upset at the news, but was reassured when Lucius sent him a letter describing his treatment and recovery. In his reply, Fronto urged his pupil to moderate his desires, and recommended a few days of quiet bedrest. Lucius was better after three days' fasting and a bloodletting. It was probably only a mild stroke.^[224]

Verus continued east via Corinth, Athens, and the seaside towns of southern Asia Minor to his destination at Antioch.^[225] It is not known how long Verus' journey east took; he might not have arrived in Antioch until after 162.^[226] Statius Priscus, meanwhile, must have already arrived in Cappadocia; he would earn fame in 163 for successful generalship.^[227]

Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch, though he wintered at Laodicea and summered at Daphne, a resort just outside Antioch.^[228] Critics declaimed Lucius' luxurious lifestyle.^[229] He had taken to gambling, they said; he would "dice the whole night through".^[230] He enjoyed the company of actors.^[231] This, at least, is how the biographer has it. The whole section of the vita dealing with Lucius' debaucheries (HA Verus 4.4–6.6) 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]

Libo died early in the war; perhaps Lucius, tired of his self-aggrandizement and challenges (he claimed responsibility to Marcus alone, and no doubt interfered in Lucius' plans) had murdered him. In any case, rumors to this effect were widespread. Libo was replaced as governor of Syria by Gnaeus Julius Verus, an experienced man.^[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' daughter Lucilla.^[234] Lucilla's thirteenth birthday was in March 163; whatever the date of her marriage, she was not yet fifteen.^[235] Marcus had moved up the date: perhaps stories of Panthea had disturbed him.^[236] Lucilla was accompanied by her mother Faustina and M. Vettulenus Civica Barbarus, the half-brother of Lucius' father.^[237] Civica was made comes Augusti; perhaps Marcus wanted him 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); this did not happen.^[239] Marcus only accompanied the group as far as Brundisium, where they boarded a ship for the east.^[240] Marcus returned to Rome immediately thereafter, and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to give the group any official reception.^[241] Lucilla would bear three of Fronto's children in the coming years. Lucilla became Lucilla Augusta.^[242]

Counterattack and victory, 163–66

I Minervia and V Macedonica, under the legates M. Claudius Fronto and P. Martius Verus, served under Statius Priscus in Armenia, earning success for Roman arms during the campaign season of 163,^[243] including the capture of the Armenian capital Artaxata.^[244] At the end of the year, Verus took the title Armeniacus, despite having never seen combat; Marcus declined to accept the title until the following year.^[245] When Lucius was hailed as imperator again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the Imperator II with him.^[246] The army of Syria was reinforced by II Adiutrix and Danubian legions under X Gemina's legate Geminius Marcianus.^[247]

Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms. In 164, a new capital, Kaine Polis ('New City'), replaced Artaxata.^[248] On Birley's reckoning, it was thirty miles closer to the Roman border.^[236] Detachments from Cappadocian legions are attested at Echmiadzin, beneath the southern face of Mount Ararat, 400 km east of Satala. It would have meant a march of twenty days or more, through mountainous terrain, from the Roman border; a "remarkable example of imperialism", in the words of Fergus Millar.^[249] A new king was installed: a Roman senator of consular rank and Arsacid descent, C. Iulius Sohaemus. He may not even have been crowned in Armenia; the ceremony may have taken place in Antioch, or even Ephesus.^[250] Sohaemus was hailed on the imperial coinage of 164 under the legend Rex armeniis Datus: Verus sat on a throne with his staff while Sohamenus stood before him, saluting the emperor.^[251]

In 163, while Statius Priscus was occupied in Armenia, the Parthians intervened in Osroene, a Roman client in upper Mesopotamia, just east of Syria, with its capital at Edessa. They deposed the country's leader, Mannus, and replaced him with their own nominee, who would remain in office until 165.^[252] (The Edessene coinage record actually begins at this point, with issues showing Vologases IV on the obverse and "Wael the king" (Syriac: W'L MLK') on the reverse.^[253]) In response, Roman forces were moved downstream, to cross the Euphrates at a more southerly point.^[254] On the evidence of Lucian, the Parthians still held the southern, Roman bank of the Euphrates (in Syria) as late as 163 (he refers to a battle at Sura, which is on the southern side of the river).^[255] Before the end of the year, however, Roman forces had moved north to occupy Dausara and Nicephorium on the northern, Parthian bank.^{[256][notes 17]} Soon after the conquest of the north bank of the Euphrates, other Roman forces moved on Osroene from Armenia, taking Anthemusia, a town south-west of Edessa.^[259] There was little movement in 164; most of the year was spent on preparations for a renewed assault on Parthian territory.^[236]

In 165, Roman forces, perhaps led by Martius Verus and the V Macedonica, moved on Mesopotamia. Edessa was re-occupied, Mannus re-installed.^[260] His coinage resumed, too: 'Ma'nu the king' (Syriac: M'NW MLK') or Antonine dynasts on the obverse, and 'King Mannos, friend of Romans' (Greek: Basileus Mannos Philorōmaios) on the reverse.^[253] The Parthians retreated to Nisibis, but this too was besieged and captured. The Parthian army dispersed in the Tigris; their general Chosrhoes swam down the river and made his hideout in a cave.^[261] A second force, under Avidius Cassius and the III Gallica, moved down the Euphrates, and fought a major battle at Dura.^[262] By the end of the year, Cassius' 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 got sacked nonetheless, leaving a black mark on Lucius' reputation. Excuses were sought, or invented: the official version had it that the Seleucids broke faith first.^[263] Whatever the case, the sacking marks a particularly destructive chapter in Seleucia's long decline.^[264]

Cassius' army, although suffering from a shortage of supplies and the effects of a plague contracted in Seleucia, made it back to Roman territory safely.^[265] Iunius Maximus, a young tribunus laticlavius serving in III Gallica under Cassius, took the news of the victory to Rome. Maximus received a generous cash bounty (dona) for bringing the good news, and immediate promotion to the quaestorship.^[266] Lucius took the title Parthicus Maximus, and he and Marcus were hailed as imperatores again, earning the title 'imp. III'.^[267] Cassius' army returned to the field in 166, crossing over the Tigris into Media. Lucius took the title 'Medicus',^[268] and the emperors were again hailed as imperatores, becoming 'imp. IV' in imperial titulature. Marcus took the Parthicus Maximus now, after another tactful delay.^[269]

Conclusion of the war and events at Rome, mid-160s–167

Most of the credit for the war's success must be ascribed to subordinate generals. The forces that advanced on Osroene were led by M. Claudius Fronto, an Asian provincial of Greek descent who had led I Minervia in Armenia under Priscus. He was probably the first senator in his family.^[270] Fronto was consul for 165, probably in honor of the capture of Edessa. Claudius Fronto returned to Italy for his consulship; the governor of Syria, Cn. Iulius Verus, also returned.^[271] P. Martius Verus had led V Macedonica to the front, and also served under Priscus. Martius Verus was a westerner, whose patria was perhaps Tolosa in Gallia Narbonensis.^[272] The most prominent general, however, was C. Avidius Cassius, commander of III Gallica, one of the Syrian legions. Cassius was young senator of low birth from the north Syrian town of Cyrrhus. His father, Heliodorus, had not been a senator, but was nonetheless a man of some standing: he had been Hadrian's ab epistulis, followed the emperor on his travels, and was prefect of Egypt at the end of Hadrian's reign. Cassius also, with no small sense of self-worth, claimed descent from the Seleucid kings.^[273] Cassius and Martius Verus, still probably in their mid-thirties, took the consulships for 166. After their consulships, they were made governors: Cassius, of Syria; Martius Verus, of Cappadocia.^[274]

At Rome, Marcus was occupied with family matters. Matidia, his great-aunt, had died. Her will was invalid under the lex Falcidia: Matidia had assigned more than three-quarters of her estate to non-relatives; her clients had convinced her to include them in codicils to her will. Matidia had never confirmed the documents, but, as she lay unconscious, her clients had sealed them in with the original, making them valid. It was an embarrassing situation. Fronto urged Marcus to push the family's case; Marcus demurred. He was going to consult his brother, who would make the final call.^{[275][notes 18]}

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.^[277] 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.^[278] Experienced governors had been replaced by friends and relatives of the imperial family. L. Dasumius Tullius Tuscus, a distant relative of Hadrian, was in Upper Pannonia, succeeding the experienced M. Nonius Macrinus. Lower Pannonia was under the obscure Ti. Haterius Saturnius. M. Servilius Fabianus Maximus was shuffled from Lower Moesia to Upper Moesia when 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.^[279]

On the return from the campaign, Lucius was awarded with a triumph; the parade was unusual because it included the two emperors, their sons and unmarried daughters as a big family celebration. Marcus Aurelius' two sons, Commodus five years old and Annius Verus of three, were elevated to the status of Caesar for the occasion.

The returning army carried with them a plague, afterwards known as the Antonine Plague, or the Plague of Galen, which spread through the Roman Empire between 165 and 180. The disease was a pandemic believed to be either of smallpox or measles, and would ultimately claim the lives of two Roman emperors—Lucius Verus, who died in 169, and Marcus Aurelius, whose family name, Antoninus, was given to the epidemic. The disease broke out again nine years later, according to the Roman historian Dio Cassius, and caused up to 2,000 deaths a day at Rome, one quarter of those infected. Total deaths have been estimated at five million.

A possible contact with Han China occurred in 166 when a Roman traveller visited the Han court, claiming to be an ambassador representing a certain Andun (Chinese: 安敦), who can be identified either with Marcus Aurelius or his predecessor Antoninus Pius.^[280]

Germania and the Danube

Starting from the 160s, Germanic tribes and other nomadic people launched raids along the Northern border, particularly into Gaul and across the Danube. This new impetus westwards was probably due to attacks from tribes farther east. A first invasion of the Chatti in the province of Germania Superior was repulsed in 162. Far more dangerous was the invasion of 166, when the Marcomanni of Bohemia, clients of the Roman Empire since 19, crossed the Danube together with the Lombards and other German tribes. At the same time, the Iranian Sarmatians attacked between the Danube and the Theiss rivers.

Due to the situation in the East, only a punitive expedition could be launched in 167. Both Marcus and Verus led the troops. After the death of Verus (169), Marcus led personally the struggle against the Germans for the great part of his remaining life. The Romans suffered at least two serious defeats by the Quadi and Marcomanni, who could cross the Alps, ravage Opitergium (Oderzo) and besiege Aquileia, the Roman main city of north-east Italy. At the same time the Costoboci, coming from the Carpathian area, invaded Moesia, Macedonia and Greece. After a long struggle, Marcus Aurelius managed to push back the invaders. Numerous Germans 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 Bohemia and Hungary.

The emperor's plans were, however, prevented by a revolt in East, led by Avidius Cassius, which was prompted by false news of the death of Marcus after an illness. Of the eastern provinces, only Cappadocia and Bithynia did not side with the rebels. When it became clear that Marcus Aurelius was still alive, Cassius' fortunes declined quickly and he was killed by his troops after only 100 days of power.

Together with his wife Faustina, Marcus Aurelius toured the eastern provinces until 173. He visited Athens, declaring himself a protector of philosophy. After a triumph in Rome, the following year he marched again to the Danubian frontier. After a decisive victory in 178, the plan to annex Bohemia seemed poised for success but was abandoned after Marcus Aurelius again fell ill in 180.

Death and succession

Marcus Aurelius died on 17 March 180, in the city of Vindobona (modern Vienna), his son and successor Commodus accompanying him. He was immediately deified and his ashes were returned to Rome, and rested in Hadrian's mausoleum (modern Castel Sant'Angelo) until the Visigoth sack of the city in 410. His campaigns against Germans and Sarmatians were also commemorated by a column and a temple built in Rome.

Marcus Aurelius was able to secure the succession for Commodus, whom he had named Caesar in 166 and made co-emperor in 177, though the choice may have been unknowingly unfortunate. This decision, which put an end to the fortunate series of "adoptive emperors", was highly criticized by later historians since Commodus was a political and military outsider, as well as an extreme egotist with neurotic problems. For this reason, Marcus Aurelius' death is often held to have been the end of the Pax Romana.

At the end of his history of Marcus' reign, Cassius Dio wrote an encomium to the emperor, and described the transition to Commodus, to Dio's own times, with sorrow.

...[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 person 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.

– Cassius Dio 71.36.3–4^[281]

It is possible that he chose Commodus simply in the absence of other candidates, or as a result of the fear of succession issues and the possibility of civil war. Michael Grant, in The Climax of Rome (1968), 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 involved one of the civil wars which were to proliferate so disastrous around future successions."

Marriage and issue

Aurelius married Faustina the Younger in 145. During their 30-year marriage Faustina bore 13 children. Only one son and four daughters outlived their father:

1. Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina (147-after 165)
2. Gemellus Lucillae (died around 150), twin brother of Lucilla
3. Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla (148/50-182), twin sister of Gemellus, married her father's co-ruler Lucius Verus
4. Titus Aelius Antoninus (born after 150, died before 7 March 161)
5. Titus Aelius Aurelius (born after 150, died before 7 March 161)
6. Hadrianus (152-157)
7. Domitia Faustina (born after 150, died before 7 March 161)
8. Fadilla (159-after 211)
9. Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor (160-after 211)
10. Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (161-165), twin brother of Commodus
11. Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (Commodus) (161-192), twin brother of Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, later emperor
12. Marcus Annius Verus Caesar (162-169)
13. Vibia Aurelia Sabina (170-died before 217)

Writings

While on campaign between 170 and 180, Aurelius wrote his Meditations in Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. He had been a priest at the sacrificial altars of Roman service and was an eager patriot. 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. The book has been a favourite of Frederick the Great, John Stuart Mill, Matthew Arnold and Goethe.^[282]

The book itself, though mentioned in correspondence by Arethas in the 10th century and in the Byzantine Suda, was first published in 1558 in Zurich by Wilhelm Holzmann, from a manuscript copy that is now lost.^[283] The only other surviving complete copy of the manuscript is in the Vatican library.

In later arts

Literature

• Marcus Aurelius appears as a minor character and is mentioned extensively in Marius the Epicurean by Walter Pater.

Film

• The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), played by Alec Guinness
• Gladiator (2000), played by Richard Harris

Nervan–Antonine family tree

• (1) = 1st spouse
• (2) = 2nd spouse (not shown)
• (3) = 3rd spouse
• SMALL CAPS = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)
• dotted lines indicate adoption or (in the case of Hadrian and Antinous) lovers

Marcia

TRAJANUS PATER

NERVA (r. 96-98)

Ulpia

MARCIANA

TRAJAN, adoptive son (r. 98-117)

PLOTINA

Aelius Afer

Paulina Major

Libo Rupilius Frugi (3)

MATIDIA

L. Vibius Sabinus (1)

Rupilia Annia

M. Annius Verus

Rupilia Faustina

SABINA

HADRIAN, adoptive son (r. 117-138)

ANTINOUS

Paulina Minor

Domitia Lucilla

M. Annius Verus

M. Annius Libo

FAUSTINA

ANTONINUS PIUS, adoptive son (r. 138-161)

Aelius, adoptive son

Julia Paulina

Cornificia

MARCUS AURELIUS, adoptive son (r. 161-180)

FAUSTINA Iunior

Aurelia Fadilla

two infant sons

Salinator

VERUS, adoptive son (r. 161-169)

Fadilla

Cornificia

COMMODUS (r. 177-192)

nine other children

Lucilla

Notes

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 the English translation by C.R. Haines.

References

Ancient sources

Modern sources

Marcus Aurelius Antonine dynasty Cadet branch of the Nervan-Antonian Dynasty Born: 26 April 121 Died: 17 March 180
Regnal titles
Preceded by Antoninus Pius	Roman Emperor 161–180 (with Lucius Verus 161–169)	Succeeded by Commodus
Political offices
Preceded by Antoninus Pius, Gaius Bruttius Praesens and Lucius Fulvius Rusticus	Consul of the Roman Empire with Antoninus Pius 140	Succeeded by Titus Hoenius Severus and Marcus Peducaeus Stloga Priscinus
Preceded by Lollianus Avitus and Titus Statilius Maximus	Consul of the Roman Empire with Antoninus Pius 145	Succeeded by Sextus Erucius Clarus and Cnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus
Preceded by Appius Annius Atilius Bradua and Titus Clodius Vibius Varus	Consul of the Roman Empire with Lucius Verus 161	Succeeded by Quintus Iunius Rusticus and Lucius Titius Plautius Aquilinus

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