Thoughts Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (novels to read for beginners .TXT) 📗

Story 1 (Biographical Sketch Of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) Pg 1

M. Antoninus Was Born At Rome,  A.D. 121,  On The 26th Of April. His

Father,  Annius Verus,  Died While He Was Praetor. His Mother Was Domitia

Calvilla,  Also Named Lucilla. The Emperor T. Antoninus Pius Married

Annia Galeria Faustina,  The Sister Of Annius Verus,  And Was Consequently

The Uncle Of M. Antoninus. When Hadrian Adopted Antoninus Pius And

Declared Him His Successor In The Empire,  Antoninus Pius Adopted Both L.

Ceionius Commodus,  The Son Of Aelius Caesar,  And M. Antoninus,  Whose

Original Name Was M. Annius Verus. Antoninus Then Took The Name Of M.

Aelius Aurelius Verus,  To Which Was Added The Title Of Caesar In A.D.

139: The Name Aelius Belonged To Hadrian's Family,  And Aurelius Was The

Name Of Antoninus Pius. When M. Antoninus Became Augustus,  He Dropped

The Name Of Verus And Took The Name Of Antoninus. Accordingly He Is

Generally Named M. Aurelius Antoninus,  Or Simply M. Antoninus.

 

The Youth Was Most Carefully Brought Up. He Thanks The Gods (I. 17) That

He Had Good Grandfathers,  Good Parents,  A Good Sister,  Good Teachers,

Good Associates,  Good Kinsmen And Friends,  Nearly Everything Good. He

Had The Happy Fortune To Witness The Example Of His Uncle And Adoptive

Father Antoninus Pius,  And He Has Recorded In His Word (I. 16; Vi. 30)

The Virtues Of The Excellent Man And Prudent Ruler. Like Many Young

Romans He Tried His Hand At Poetry And Studied Rhetoric. Herodes Atticus

And M. Cornelius Fronto Were His Teachers In Eloquence. There Are Extant

Letters Between Fronto And Marcus,[A] Which Show The Great Affection Of

The Pupil For The Master,  And The Master's Great Hopes Of His

Industrious Pupil. M. Antoninus Mentions Fronto (I. 11) Among Those To

Whom He Was Indebted For His Education.

 

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    [A] M. Cornelii Frontonis Reliquiae,  Berlin,  1816. There Are A

    Few Letters Between Fronto And Antoninus Pius.

 

When He Was Eleven Years Old,  He Assumed The Dress Of Philosophers,

Something Plain And Coarse,  Became A Hard Student,  And Lived A Most

Laborious,  Abstemious Life,  Even So Far As To Injure His Health.

Finally,  He Abandoned Poetry And Rhetoric For Philosophy,  And He

Attached Himself To The Sect Of The Stoics. But He Did Not Neglect The

Study Of Law,  Which Was A Useful Preparation For The High Place Which He

Was Designed To Fill. His Teacher Was L. Volusianus Maecianus,  A

Distinguished Jurist. We Must Suppose That He Learned The Roman

Discipline Of Arms,  Which Was A Necessary Part Of The Education Of A Man

Who Afterwards Led His Troops To Battle Against A Warlike Race.

 

Antoninus Has Recorded In His First Book The Names Of His Teachers,  And

The Obligations Which He Owed To Each Of Them. The Way In Which He

Speaks Of What He Learned From Them Might Seem To Savor Of Vanity Or

Self-Praise,  If We Look Carelessly At The Way In Which He Has Expressed

Himself; But If Any One Draws This Conclusion,  He Will Be Mistaken.

Antoninus Means To Commemorate The Merits Of His Several Teachers,  What

They Taught,  And What A Pupil Might Learn From Them. Besides,  This Book,

Like The Eleven Other Books,  Was For His Own Use; And If We May Trust

The Note At The End Of The First Book,  It Was Written During One Of M.

Antoninus' Campaigns Against The Quadi,  At A Time When The Commemoration

Of The Virtues Of His Illustrious Teachers Might Remind Him Of Their

Lessons And The Practical Uses Which He Might Derive From Them.

 

Among His Teachers Of Philosophy Was Sextus Of Chaeroneia,  A Grandson Of

Plutarch. What He Learned From This Excellent Man Is Told By Himself (I.

9). His Favorite Teacher Was Q. Junius Rusticus (I. 7),  A Philosopher,

And Also A Man Of Practical Good Sense In Public Affairs. Rusticus Was

The Adviser Of Antoninus After He Became Emperor. Young Men Who Are

Destined For High Places Are Not Often Fortunate In Those Who Are About

Them,  Their Companions And Teachers; And I Do Not Know Any Example Of A

Young Prince Having Had An Education Which Can Be Compared With That Of

M. Antoninus. Such A Body Of Teachers Distinguished By Their

Acquirements And Their Character Will Hardly Be Collected Again; And As

To The Pupil,  We Have Not Had One Like Him Since.

 

Hadrian Died In July A.D. 138,  And Was Succeeded By Antoninus Pius. M.

Antoninus Married Faustina,  His Cousin,  The Daughter Of Pius,  Probably

About A.D. 146,  For He Had A Daughter Born In 147. He Received From His

Adoptive Father The Title Of Caesar,  And Was Associated With Him In The

Administration Of The State. The Father And The Adopted Son Lived

Together In Perfect Friendship And Confidence. Antoninus Was A Dutiful

Son,  And The Emperor Pius Loved And Esteemed Him.

 

Antoninus Pius Died In March,  A.D. 161. The Senate,  It Is Said,  Urged M.

Antoninus To Take The Sole Administration Of The Empire,  But He

Associated With Himself The Other Adopted Son Of Pius,  L. Ceionius

Commodus,  Who Is Generally Called L. Verus. Thus Rome For The First Time

Had Two Emperors. Verus Was An Indolent Man Of Pleasure,  And Unworthy Of

His Station. Antoninus However Bore With Him,  And It Is Said Verus Had

Sense Enough To Pay To His Colleague The Respect Due To His Character. A

Virtuous Emperor And A Loose Partner Lived Together In Peace,  And Their

Alliance Was Strengthened By Antoninus Giving To Verus For Wife His

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Daughter Lucilla.

 

The Reign Of Antoninus Was First Troubled By A Parthian War,  In Which

Verus Was Sent To Command; But He Did Nothing,  And The Success That Was

Obtained By The Romans In Armenia And On The Euphrates And Tigris Was

Due To His Generals. This Parthian War Ended In A.D. 165. Aurelius And

Verus Had A Triumph (A.D. 166) For The Victories In The East. A

Pestilence Followed,  Which Carried Off Great Numbers In Rome And Italy,

And Spread To The West Of Europe.

 

The North Of Italy Was Also Threatened By The Rude People Beyond The

Alps,  From The Borders Of Gallia To The Eastern Side Of The Hadriatic.

These Barbarians Attempted To Break Into Italy,  As The Germanic Nations

Had Attempted Near Three Hundred Years Before; And The Rest Of The Life

Of Antoninus,  With Some Intervals,  Was Employed In Driving Back The

Invaders. In 169 Verus Suddenly Died,  And Antoninus Administered The

State Alone.

 

During The German Wars Antoninus Resided For Three Years On The Danube

At Carnuntum. The Marcomanni Were Driven Out Of Pannonia And Almost

Destroyed In Their Retreat Across The Danube; And In A.D. 174 The

Emperor Gained A Great Victory Over The Quadi.

 

In A.D. 175,  Avidius Cassius,  A Brave And Skilful Roman Commander Who

Was At The Head Of The Troops In Asia,  Revolted,  And Declared Himself

Augustus. But Cassius Was Assassinated By Some Of His Officers,  And So

The Rebellion Came To An End. Antoninus Showed His Humanity By His

Treatment Of The Family And The Partisans Of Cassius; And His Letter To

The Senate,  In Which He Recommends Mercy,  Is Extant. (Vulcatius,  Avidius

Cassius,  C. 12.)

 

Antoninus Set Out For The East On Hearing Of Cassius' Revolt. Though He

Appears To Have Returned To Rome In A.D. 174,  He Went Back To Prosecute

The War Against The Germans,  And It Is Probable That He Marched Direct

To The East From The German War. His Wife Faustina,  Who Accompanied Him

Into Asia,  Died Suddenly At The Foot Of The Taurus,  To The Great Grief

Of Her Husband. Capitolinus,  Who Has Written The Life Of Antoninus,  And

Also Dion Cassius,  Accuses The Empress Of Scandalous Infidelity To Her

Husband,  And Of Abominable Lewdness. But Capitolinus Says That Antoninus

Either Knew It Not Or Pretended Not To Know It. Nothing Is So Common As

Such Malicious Reports In All Ages,  And The History Of Imperial Rome Is

Full Of Them. Antoninus Loved His Wife,  And He Says That She Was

"Obedient,  Affectionate,  And Simple." The Same Scandal Had Been Spread

About Faustina's Mother,  The Wife Of Antoninus Pius,  And Yet He Too Was

Perfectly Satisfied With His Wife. Antoninus Pius Says After Her Death,

In A Letter To Fronto,  That He Would Rather Have Lived In Exile With His

Wife Than In His Palace At Rome Without Her. There Are Not Many Men Who

Would Give Their Wives A Better Character Than These Two Emperors.

Capitolinus Wrote In The Time Of Diocletian. He May Have Intended To

Tell The Truth,  But He Is A Poor,  Feeble Biographer. Dion Cassius,  The

Most Malignant Of Historians,  Always Reports,  And Perhaps He Believed,

Any Scandal Against Anybody.

 

Antoninus Continued His Journey To Syria And Egypt,  And On His Return To

Italy Through Athens He Was Initiated Into The Eleusinian Mysteries. It

Was The Practice Of The Emperor To Conform To The Established Rites Of

The Age,  And To Perform Religious Ceremonies With Due Solemnity. We

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Cannot Conclude From This That He Was A Superstitious Man,  Though We

Might Perhaps Do So If His Book Did Not Show That He Was Not. But That

Is Only One Among Many Instances That A Ruler's Public Acts Do Not

Always Prove His Real Opinions. A Prudent Governor Will Not Roughly

Oppose Even The Superstitions Of His People; And Though He May Wish They

Were Wiser,  He Will Know That He Cannot Make Them So By Offending Their

Prejudices.

 

Antoninus And His Son Commodus Entered Rome In Triumph,  Perhaps For Some

German Victories,  On The 23d. Of December,  A.D. 176. In The Following

Year Commodus Was Associated With His Father In The Empire,  And Took

The Name Of Augustus. This Year A.D. 177 Is Memorable In Ecclesiastical

History. Attalus And Others Were Put To Death At Lyon For Their

Adherence To The Christian Religion. The Evidence Of This Persecution Is

A Letter Preserved By Eusebius (E.H. V. I; Printed In Routh's Reliquiae

Sacrae,  Vol. I,  With Notes). The Letter Is From The Christians Of Vienna

And Lugdunum In Gallia (Vienna And Lyon) To Their Christian Brethren In

Asia And Phrygia; And It Is Preserved Perhaps Nearly Entire. It Contains

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