Marcus Aurelius

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Marcus Aurelius

Marble bust, Musée Saint-Raymond

Roman emperor

Reign 7 March 161 – 17 March 180

Predecessor Antoninus Pius

Successor Commodus

Lucius Verus (161–169)
Co-emperor

Commodus (177–180)

Born 26 April 121

Rome, Italy

Died 17 March 180 (aged 58)

 Vindobona, Pannonia Superior or

Sirmium, Pannonia Inferior

Burial Hadrian's Mausoleum

Spouse Faustina the Younger

(m. 145; died 175)

Issue 14, including Commodus, Marcus Annius Verus Caesar, Lucilla, Annia Galeria Aurelia

Detail Faustina, Fadilla, Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor, and Vibia Aurelia Sabina

Names

Marcus Aurelius (birth)

Marcus Annius Verus (124)

Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar (138)

(see section Name for details)

Regnal name

Marcus Aurelius

Dynasty Nerva–Antonine

Father Marcus Annius Verus

Antoninus Pius (adoptive)

Mother Domitia Calvilla

Philosophy career

Notable work Meditations

Era Hellenistic philosophy

Region Western philosophy

School Stoicism

Main interests
Ethics

Notable ideas
Memento mori[1]

show

Influences
show

Influenced

Roman imperial dynasties

Aureus of Marcus Aurelius

Nerva–Antonine dynasty (AD 96–192)

Chronology

Nerva 96–98
Trajan 98–117
Hadrian 117–138
Antoninus Pius 138–161
Lucius Verus 161–169
Marcus Aurelius 161–180
Commodus 177–192

Family

 Nerva–Antonine family tree

 Category:Nerva–Antonine dynasty

Succession
Preceded by Followed by
Flavian dynasty Year of the Five Emperors

 v

 t

 e
 Part of a series on

Marcus Aurelius

 Early life

Reign

 Parthian War

 Marcomannic Wars

 Antonine Plague

Misc.

 Meditations

 Temple

 Column

 Statue

 v

 t

 e

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: [ˈmaːr.kus̠ auˈreː.li.us̠ an.toː.ˈniː.nus̠]; English: /ɔː

ˈriːliəs/ aw-REE-lee-əs;  26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to
[2]

180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good
Emperors (a term coined some 13 centuries later by Niccolò Machiavelli), and the last
emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calmness 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 born during the reign of Hadrian to the emperor's nephew,
the praetor Marcus Annius Verus, and the heiress Domitia Calvilla. His father died when
he was three, and his mother and grandfather raised him. After
Hadrian's adoptive son, Aelius Caesar, died in 138, the emperor adopted Marcus's
uncle Antoninus Pius as his new heir. In turn, Antoninus adopted Marcus and Lucius,
the son of Aelius. Hadrian died that year, and Antoninus became emperor. Now heir to
the throne, Marcus studied Greek and Latin under tutors such as Herodes
Atticus and Marcus Cornelius Fronto. He married Antoninus' daughter Faustina in 145.
After Antoninus died in 161, Marcus Aurelius acceded to the throne alongside his
adoptive brother, who reigned under the name Lucius Verus. Under his rule the Roman
Empire witnessed heavy military conflict. In the East, the Romans fought
successfully with a revitalized Parthian Empire and the rebel Kingdom of Armenia.
Marcus defeated the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatian Iazyges in the Marcomannic
Wars; however, these and other Germanic peoples began to represent a troubling
reality for the Empire. He modified the silver purity of the Roman currency, the denarius.
The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire appears to have increased during
his reign, but his involvement in this is unlikely, as early Christians living in the 2nd
century never claimed him as a persecutor and Tertullian even called Marcus a
"protector of Christians".  The Antonine Plague broke out in 165 or 166 and devastated
[3]

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.
Unlike some of his predecessors, Marcus chose not to adopt an heir. His children
included Lucilla, who married Lucius, and Commodus, whose succession after Marcus
has been a subject of debate among both contemporary and modern historians.
The Column and Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius still stand in Rome, where they
were erected in celebration of his military victories. Meditations, the writings of "the
philosopher" – as contemporary biographers called Marcus – are a significant source of
the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy. These writings have been
praised by fellow writers, philosophers, monarchs, and politicians centuries after his
death.

Sources[edit]
The major sources depicting the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and
frequently unreliable. The most important group of sources, the biographies contained in
the Historia Augusta, claimed to be written by a group of authors at the turn of the 4th
century AD, but it is believed they were in fact written by a single author (referred to
here as 'the biographer') from about AD 395.  The later biographies and the biographies
[4]

of subordinate emperors and usurpers are unreliable, but the earlier biographies,
derived primarily from now-lost earlier sources (Marius Maximus or Ignotus), are much
more accurate.  For Marcus's life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Antoninus,
[5]

Marcus, and Lucius are largely reliable, but those of Aelius Verus and Avidius

Cassius are not. [6]

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. [7]

 Marcus's own Meditations offer a window on his inner life, but are largely undateable
[8]

and make few specific references to worldly affairs.  The main narrative source for the
[9]

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.  Some other literary sources provide specific details: the
[10]

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' legal work.  Inscriptions and coin
[11]

finds supplement the literary sources. [12]

Early life[edit]
Main article: Early life of Marcus Aurelius
Name[edit]
Marcus was born in Rome on 26 April 121. His birth name is sometimes given as
Marcus Annius Verus,  but sources assign this name to him upon his father's death and
[13]

unofficial adoption by his grandfather, upon his coming of age.  He may have been [14][15][16][17]

known as Marcus Annius Catilius Severus,  at birth or some point in his youth,  or
[18] [14][17]

Marcus Catilius Severus Annius Verus. Upon his adoption by Antoninus as heir to the
throne, he was known as Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar and, upon his
ascension, he was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus until his death;  Epiphanius of [19]

Salamis, in his chronology of the Roman emperors included in his On Weights and
Measures, calls him Marcus Aurelius Verus. [20]

Family origins[edit]
Marcus' paternal family was of Roman Italo-Hispanic origins. His father was Marcus
Annius Verus (III).  The gens Annia was of Italic origins (with legendary claims of
[21]

descendance from Numa Pompilius) and a branch of it, the Annii Veri, moved to Ucubi,
a small town south east of Córdoba in Iberian Baetica.  This branch rose to [22][23]

prominence in Rome in the late 1st century AD. Marcus's great-grandfather Marcus
Annius Verus (I) was a senator and (according to the Historia Augusta) ex-praetor; his
grandfather Marcus Annius Verus (II) was made patrician in 73–74.  Through his [24]

grandmother Rupilia Faustina, Marcus was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty;

the emperor Trajan's sororal niece Salonia Matidia was the step-mother of Rupilia and
her step-sister, Hadrian's wife Sabina. [25][26][note 1]

Marcus's mother, Domitia Lucilla Minor (also known as Domitia Calvilla), was the

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

raised in the Horti and referred to the Caelian hill as 'My Caelian'. [33][34][35]

The adoptive family of Marcus was of Roman Italo-Gallic origins: the gens Aurelia, into
which Marcus was adopted at the age of 17, was a Sabine gens; Antoninus Pius, his
adoptive father, came from the Aurelii Fulvi, a branch of the Aurelii based in Roman
Gaul.
Childhood[edit]
Marcus's sister, Annia Cornificia Faustina, was probably born in 122 or 123.  His father [36]

probably died in 124, when Marcus was three years old during his praetorship. [37][note

 Though he can hardly have known his father, Marcus wrote in his Meditations that he
2]

had learned 'modesty and manliness' from his memories of his father and the man's
posthumous reputation.  His mother Lucilla did not remarry  and, following prevailing
[39] [37]

aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Instead, Marcus
was in the care of 'nurses',  and was raised after his father's death by his grandfather
[40]

Marcus Annius Verus (II), who had always retained the legal authority of patria
potestas over his son and grandson. Technically this was not an adoption, the creation
of a new and different patria potestas. Lucius Catilius Severus, described as Marcus's
maternal great-grandfather, also participated in his upbringing; he was probably the
elder Domitia Lucilla's stepfather.  Marcus was raised in his parents' home on [17]

the Caelian Hill, an upscale area with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas.
Marcus's grandfather owned a palace beside the Lateran, where he would spend much
of his childhood.  Marcus thanks his grandfather for teaching him 'good character and
[41]

avoidance of bad temper'.  He was less fond of the mistress his grandfather took and
[42]

lived with after the death of his wife Rupilia.  Marcus was grateful that he did not have to [43]

live with her longer than he did. [44]

A bust of young Marcus Aurelius (Capitoline Museum). Anthony Birley, his modern biographer, writes of the bust: 'This is certainly a grave young man'. [45]

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 Ancilia, and possibly for heralding war season's beginning and
end. Marcus was educated at home, in line with contemporary aristocratic trends;  he [46]

thanks Catilius Severus for encouraging him to avoid public schools.  One of his [47]

teachers, Diognetus, a painting master, proved particularly influential; he seems to have

introduced Marcus Aurelius to the philosophic way of life.  In April 132, at the behest of [48]

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.  A new set of tutors – the Homeric scholar Alexander of
[49]

Cotiaeum along with Trosius Aper and Tuticius Proculus, teachers of Latin  – took [50] [note 3]

over Marcus's education in about 132 or 133.  Marcus thanks Alexander for his training [52]

in literary styling.  Alexander's influence – an emphasis on matter over style and careful
[53]

wording, with the occasional Homeric quotation – has been detected in

Marcus' Meditations. [54]

Succession to Hadrian[edit]
In late 136, Hadrian almost died from a hemorrhage. Convalescent in his villa at Tivoli,
he selected Lucius Ceionius Commodus, Marcus's intended father-in-law, as his
successor and adopted son,  according to the biographer 'against the wishes of
[55]

everyone'.  While his motives are not certain, it would appear that his goal was to
[56]

eventually place the then-too-young Marcus on the throne.  As part of his adoption, [57]

Commodus took the name, Lucius Aelius Caesar. His health was so poor that, during a
ceremony to mark his becoming heir to the throne, he was too weak to lift a large shield
on his own.  After a brief stationing on the Danube frontier, Aelius returned to Rome to
[58]

make an address to the Senate on the first day of 138. However, the night before the
scheduled speech, he grew ill and died of a hemorrhage later in the day. [59][note 4]

Coin (AD 136–138) of Hadrian (obverse) and his adoptive son, Lucius Aelius (reverse). Hadrian is wearing the laurel crown. Inscription: HADRIANVS ... / LVCIVS CAESAR.

On 24 January 138, Hadrian selected Aurelius Antoninus, the husband of Marcus's

aunt Faustina the Elder, as his new successor.  As part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus, [61]

in turn, adopted Marcus and Lucius Commodus, the son of Lucius Aelius.  Marcus [62]

became M. Aelius Aurelius Verus, and Lucius became L. Aelius Aurelius Commodus. At
Hadrian's request, Antoninus' daughter Faustina was betrothed to Lucius.  Marcus [63]

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. [64]

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.  Marcus's adoption [65]

diverted him from the typical career path of his class. If not for his adoption, he probably
would have become triumvir monetalis, a highly regarded post involving token
administration of the state mint; after that, he could have served as tribune with a legion,
becoming the legion's nominal second-in-command. Marcus probably would have opted
for travel and further education instead. As it was, Marcus was set apart from his fellow
citizens. Nonetheless, his biographer attests that his character remained unaffected: 'He
still showed the same respect to his relations as he had when he was an ordinary
citizen, and he was as thrifty and careful of his possessions as he had been when he
lived in a private household'. [66]

After a series of suicide attempts, all thwarted by Antoninus, Hadrian left for Baiae, a
seaside resort on the Campanian coast. His condition did not improve, and he
abandoned the diet prescribed by his doctors, indulging himself in food and drink. He
sent for Antoninus, who was at his side when he died on 10 July 138.  His remains were [67]

buried quietly at Puteoli.  The succession to Antoninus was peaceful and stable:
[68]

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.
 For his dutiful behaviour, Antoninus was asked to accept the name 'Pius'.
[69] [70]
Heir to Antoninus Pius (138–145)[edit]

Sestertius of Antoninus Pius (AD 140–144). It celebrates the betrothal of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger in 139, pictured below Antoninus, who is holding a statuette of Concordia and clasping hands

with Faustina the Elder. Inscription: ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P. P., TR. P., CO[N]S. III / CONCORDIAE S.C. [71]

Denarius of Antoninus Pius (AD 139), with a portrait of Marcus Aurelius on the reverse. Inscription: ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P. P. / AVRELIVS CAES. AVG. PII F. CO[N]S. DES. [72]

Immediately after Hadrian's death, Antoninus approached Marcus and requested that
his marriage arrangements be amended: Marcus's betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be
annulled, and he would be betrothed to Faustina, Antoninus' daughter, instead.
Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be
annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus's proposal.  He was made consul for 140 with [73]

Antoninus as his colleague, and was appointed as a seviri, one of the knights' six
commanders, at the order's annual parade on 15 July 139. As the heir apparent, Marcus
became princeps iuventutis, head of the equestrian order. He now took the name
Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar.  Marcus would later caution himself against [74]

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'.  At the senate's request, Marcus joined all the [75]

priestly colleges (pontifices, augures, quindecimviri sacris faciundis, septemviri

epulonum, etc.);  direct evidence for membership, however, is available only for
[76]

the Arval Brethren. [77]

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' objections.  Marcus would struggle to reconcile the [76]

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'  – but he found it difficult [78]

nonetheless. He would criticize himself in the Meditations for 'abusing court life' in front

of company. [79]
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.  But he felt drowned in paperwork and complained to his tutor, Marcus
[80]

Cornelius Fronto: 'I am so out of breath from dictating nearly thirty letters'.  He was [81]

being 'fitted for ruling the state', in the words of his biographer.  He was required to [82]

make a speech to the assembled senators as well, making oratorical training essential
for the job. [83]

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'.  Marcus had complained of an illness in an
[84]

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 [note 5]

taking care not to do anything that interferes with it'.  Never particularly healthy or [85]

strong, Marcus was praised by Cassius Dio, writing of his later years, for behaving
dutifully in spite of his various illnesses.  In April 145, Marcus married Faustina, legally
[86]

his sister, as had been planned since 138.  Little is specifically known of the ceremony,
[87]

but the biographer calls it 'noteworthy'.  Coins were issued with the heads of the couple,
[88]

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.[89]

Fronto and further education[edit]

After taking the toga virilis in 136, Marcus probably began his training in oratory.  He [90]

had three tutors in Greek (Aninus Macer, Caninius Celer, and Herodes Atticus) and one
in Latin (Marcus Cornelius Fronto). The latter two were the most esteemed orators of
their time,  but probably did not become his tutors until his adoption by Antoninus in
[91]

138. The preponderance of Greek tutors indicates the importance of the Greek
language to the aristocracy of Rome.  This was the age of the Second Sophistic, a
[92]

renaissance in Greek letters. Although educated in Rome, in his Meditations Marcus

would write his inmost thoughts in Greek. [93]

Atticus was controversial: an enormously rich Athenian (probably the richest man in the
eastern half of the empire), he was quick to anger and resented by his fellow Athenians
for his patronizing manner.  Atticus was an inveterate opponent of Stoicism and
[94]

philosophic pretensions.  He thought the Stoics' desire for apatheia was foolish: they
[95]

would live a 'sluggish, enervated life', he said.  In spite of the influence of Atticus, [96]

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. [97]

Fronto was highly esteemed: in the self-consciously antiquarian world of Latin letters,
 he was thought of as second only to Cicero, perhaps even an alternative to him.  He
[98] [99][note 6]

did not care much for Atticus, though Marcus was eventually to put the pair on speaking
terms. Fronto exercised a complete mastery of Latin, capable of tracing expressions
through the literature, producing obscure synonyms, and challenging minor
improprieties in word choice. [99]
A significant amount of the correspondence between Fronto and Marcus has survived.
 The pair were very close, using intimate language such as 'Farewell my Fronto,
[103]

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.  Marcus spent time with [104]

Fronto's wife and daughter, both named Cratia, and they enjoyed light conversation. [105]

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'.  His prayers for Fronto's health were more than conventional,
[106]

because Fronto was frequently ill; at times, he seems to be an almost constant invalid,
always suffering  – about one-quarter of the surviving letters deal with the man's
[107]

sicknesses.  Marcus asks that Fronto's pain be inflicted on himself, 'of my own accord
[108]

with every kind of discomfort'. [109]

Fronto never became Marcus's full-time teacher and continued his career as an
advocate. One notorious case brought him into conflict with Atticus.  Marcus pleaded [110]

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.  Fronto replied that he was[111]

surprised to discover Marcus counted Atticus as a friend (perhaps Atticus was not yet
Marcus' tutor), and allowed that Marcus might be correct,  but nonetheless affirmed his [112]

intent to win the case by any means necessary: '[T]he charges are frightful and must be
spoken of as frightful. Those in particular that refer to the beating and robbing I will
describe so that they savour of gall and bile. If I happen to call him an uneducated little
Greek it will not mean war to the death'.  The outcome of the trial is unknown.
[113] [114]

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'.  Marcus had grown tired of his exercises, of taking positions in imaginary
[115]

debates. When he criticized the insincerity of conventional language, Fronto took to

defend it.  In any case, Marcus' formal education was now over. He had kept his
[116]

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. [117]

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".  He disdained philosophy and philosophers and
[118]

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':
[103]

'In the fashion of the young, tired of boring work', Marcus had turned to philosophy to
escape the constant exercises of oratorical training.  Marcus kept in close touch with
[119]

Fronto, but would ignore Fronto's scruples. [120]

Apollonius may have introduced Marcus to Stoic philosophy, but Quintus Junius

Rusticus would have the strongest influence on the boy.  He was the man Fronto [121][note 7]

recognized as having 'wooed Marcus away' from oratory.  He was older than Fronto [123]

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;  the true successor of Seneca (as [124]

opposed to Fronto, the false one).  Marcus thanks Rusticus for teaching him 'not to be
[125]

led astray into enthusiasm for rhetoric, for writing on speculative themes, for discoursing
on moralizing texts.... To avoid oratory, poetry, and 'fine writing''. [126]

Philostratus describes how even when Marcus was an old man, in the latter part of his
reign, he studied under Sextus of Chaeronea:
The Emperor Marcus was an eager disciple of Sextus the Boeotian philosopher, being
often in his company and frequenting his house. Lucius, who had just come to Rome,
asked the Emperor, whom he met on his way, where he was going to and on what
errand, and Marcus answered, ' it is good even for an old man to learn; I am now on my
way to Sextus the philosopher to learn what I do not yet know.' And Lucius, raising his
hand to heaven, said, ' O Zeus, the king of the Romans in his old age takes up
his tablets and goes to school.' [127]

Births and deaths[edit]

On 30 November 147, Faustina gave birth to a girl named Domitia Faustina. She was
the first of at least thirteen children (including two sets of twins) that Faustina would
bear over the next twenty-three years. The next day, 1 December, Antoninus gave
Marcus the tribunician power and the imperium – authority over the armies and
provinces of the emperor. As tribune, he had the right to bring one measure before the
senate after the four Antoninus could introduce. His tribunician powers would be
renewed with Antoninus's on 10 December 147.  The first mention of Domitia in [128]

Marcus's letters reveals her as a sickly infant. 'Caesar to Fronto. If the gods are willing
we seem to have a hope of recovery. The diarrhea has stopped, the little attacks of
fever have been driven away. But the emaciation is still extreme and there is still quite a
bit of coughing'. He and Faustina, Marcus wrote, had been 'pretty occupied' with the
girl's care.  Domitia would die in 151.
[129] [130]

The Mausoleum of Hadrian, where the children of Marcus and Faustina were buried

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.  Marcus steadied himself: 'One [131]
man prays: 'How I may not lose my little child', but you must pray: 'How I may not be
afraid to lose him'.  He quoted from the Iliad what he called the "briefest and most
[132]

familiar saying [...] enough to dispel sorrow and fear": [133]

 leaves,
the wind scatters some on the face of the ground;
like unto them are the children of men.
– Iliad vi.146 [133]

Another daughter was born on 7 March 150, Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla. At some time
between 155 and 161, probably soon after 155, Marcus's mother Domitia Lucilla died.
 Faustina probably had another daughter in 151, but the child, Annia Galeria Aurelia
[134]

Faustina, might not have been born until 153.  Another son, Tiberius Aelius Antoninus, [135]

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.  By 28 March 158, when Marcus replied, another of his
[136]

children was dead. Marcus thanked the temple synod, 'even though this turned out
otherwise'. The child's name is unknown.  In 159 and 160, Faustina gave birth to [137]

daughters: Fadilla and Cornificia, named respectively after Faustina's and Marcus's
dead sisters. [138]

Antoninus Pius's last years[edit]

Bust of Antoninus Pius, British Museum

Lucius started his political career as a quaestor in 153. He was consul in 154,  and was [139]

consul again with Marcus in 161.  Lucius had no other titles, except that of 'son of
[140]

Augustus'. Lucius had a markedly different personality from Marcus: he enjoyed sports
of all kinds, but especially hunting and wrestling; he took obvious pleasure in the circus
games and gladiatorial fights.  He did not marry until 164.
[141][note 8] [145]
In 156, Antoninus turned 70. He found it difficult to keep himself upright without stays.
He started nibbling on dry bread to give him the strength to stay awake through his
morning receptions. As Antoninus aged, Marcus would take on more administrative
duties, more still when he became the praetorian prefect (an office that was as much
secretarial as military) when Marcus Gavius Maximus died in 156 or 157.  In 160, [146]

Marcus and Lucius were designated joint consuls for the following year. Antoninus may
have already been ill. [138]

Two days before his death, the biographer reports, Antoninus was at his ancestral
estate at Lorium, in Etruria,  about 19 kilometres (12 mi) from Rome.  He ate Alpine
[147] [148]

cheese at dinner quite greedily. In the night he vomited; he had a fever the next day.
The day after that, 7 March 161,  he summoned the imperial council, and passed the
[149]

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).  He then turned over, as if going to sleep, and died.  His
[150] [151]

death closed out the longest reign since Augustus, surpassing Tiberius by a couple of
months. [152]

Emperor[edit]
Main article: Reign of Marcus Aurelius
Accession of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161)[edit]

Busts of the co-emperors Marcus Aurelius (left) and Lucius Verus (right), British Museum

After Antoninus died in 161, Marcus was effectively sole ruler of the Empire. The
formalities of the position would follow. The Senate would soon grant him the name
Augustus and the title imperator, and he would soon be formally elected as pontifex
maximus, chief priest of the official cults. Marcus made some show of resistance: the
biographer writes that he was 'compelled' to take imperial power.  This may have been [153]

a genuine horror imperii, 'fear of imperial power'. Marcus, with his preference for the
philosophic life, found the imperial office unappealing. His training as a Stoic however,
had made the choice clear to him that it was his duty. [154]

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.  Thus, although the Senate planned to confirm
[155]

Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers.  The [156]

Senate accepted, granting Lucius the imperium, the tribunician power, and the
title Augustus.  Marcus became, in official titulature, Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius
[157]

Antoninus Augustus; Lucius, forgoing his name Commodus and taking Marcus's family
name Verus, became Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus.  It was the [158][note 9]

first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors. [161][note 10]

In spite of their nominal equality, Marcus held more auctoritas, or 'authority', than

Lucius. He had been consul once more than Lucius, he had shared in Antoninus's rule,
and he alone was pontifex maximus.  It would have been clear to the public which
[162]

emperor was the more senior.  As the biographer wrote: "Verus obeyed Marcus [...] as
[161]

a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor". [163]

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.  This donative, [164]

however, was twice the size of those past: 20,000 sesterces (5,000 denarii) per capita,
with more to officers. In return for this bounty, equivalent to several years' pay, the
troops swore an oath to protect the emperors.  The ceremony was perhaps not entirely
[165]

necessary, given that Marcus's accession had been peaceful and unopposed, but it was
good insurance against later military troubles.  Upon his accession he also devalued
[166]

the Roman currency. He decreased the silver purity of the denarius from 83.5% to 79%
– the silver weight dropping from 2.68 g (0.095 oz) to 2.57 g (0.091 oz). [167]

Antoninus's funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, 'elaborate'.  If his [168]

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.  The temple he had dedicated to his wife, Diva Faustina, became the Temple
[169]

of Antoninus and Faustina. It survives as the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda. [166]

In accordance with his will, Antoninus's fortune passed on to Faustina.  (Marcus had [170]

little need of his wife's fortune. Indeed, at his accession, Marcus transferred part of his
mother's estate to his nephew, Ummius Quadratus. ) Faustina was three months [171]

pregnant at her husband's accession. During the pregnancy she dreamed of giving birth
to two serpents, one fiercer than the other.  On 31 August, she gave birth
[172]

at Lanuvium to twins: T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus. [173][note

 Aside from the fact that the twins shared Caligula's birthday, the omens were
11]
favorable, and the astrologers drew positive horoscopes for the children.  The births [175]

were celebrated on the imperial coinage. [176]

Early rule[edit]
Soon after the emperor's accession, Marcus's eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla,
was betrothed to Lucius (in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her uncle).  At the [177]

ceremonies commemorating the event, new provisions were made for the support of
poor children, along the lines of earlier imperial foundations.  Marcus and Lucius proved
[178]

popular with the people of Rome, who strongly approved of their civiliter ("lacking

pomp") behaviour. The emperors permitted free speech, evidenced by the fact that the
comedy writer Marullus was able to criticize them without suffering retribution. As the
biographer wrote, "No one missed the lenient ways of Pius". [179]

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.  Lucius Volusius
[180]

Maecianus, Marcus's former tutor, had been prefectural governor of Egypt at Marcus's

accession. Maecianus was recalled, made senator, and appointed prefect of the
treasury (aerarium Saturni). He was made consul soon after.  Fronto's son-in-
[181]

law, Gaius Aufidius Victorinus, was appointed governor of Germania Superior. [182]

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.  The tutor was immensely
[183]

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".  Fronto called on Marcus alone;
[184]

neither thought to invite Lucius.

[185]

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.  Marcus told Fronto of his reading
[186]

– 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.'  Marcus's early reign proceeded smoothly; he was able to give
[187]

himself wholly to philosophy and the pursuit of popular affection.  Soon, however, he
[188]

would find he had many anxieties. It would mean the end of the felicitas
temporum ('happy times') that the coinage of 161 had proclaimed. [189]
Tiber Island seen at a forty-year high-water mark of the Tiber, December 2008

In either autumn 161 or spring 162,  the Tiber overflowed its banks, flooding much of [note 12]

Rome. It drowned many animals, leaving the city in famine. Marcus and Lucius gave the
crisis their personal attention.  In other times of famine, the emperors are said to have
[191][note 13]

provided for the Italian communities out of the Roman granaries. [193]

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'.  Fronto [194]

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'. [195]

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.  Marcus had displayed rhetorical skill in [196]

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. [197]

War with Parthia (161–166)[edit]

Main article: Roman–Parthian War of 161–166
See also: Roman–Persian Wars
Coin of Vologases IV of Parthia. Inscription: above ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΔΟΥ, right ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΒΟΛΑΓΑΣΟΥ, left ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ, below ΔΙΟΥ (Greek inscription for KING OF KINGS – ARSAKIS

VOLAGASES – ILLUSTRIUS PHILELLENE). Year ΔΟΥ = ΥΟΔ΄ = 474 = 162–163.

On his deathbed, Antoninus spoke of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who
had wronged him.  One of those kings, Vologases IV of Parthia, made his move in late
[198]

summer or early autumn 161.  Vologases entered the Kingdom of Armenia (then a

[199]

Roman client state), expelled its king and installed his own – Pacorus, an Arsacid like
himself.  The governor of Cappadocia, the frontline in all Armenian conflicts,
[200]

was Marcus Sedatius Severianus, a Gaul with much experience in military matters. [201]

Convinced by the prophet Alexander of Abonoteichus that he could defeat the Parthians

easily and win glory for himself,  Severianus led a legion (perhaps the IX Hispana ) into
[202] [203]

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