AURELIUS ANTONINUS, MARCUS. 



AUHEUU3 ANTONINUS. MARCUi 



440 



limits, ha returned to Rome, when he celebrated hit various victories 

 with a triumph of more than usual magnificence. Gibbon, with aome 

 other excellent modern authorities, maVs the rebellion which occurred 

 in oooeequeooe of Aurelian a attempt to netore the coinage to its true 

 standard, to hare happeoad after hia triumph ; but the order of events, 

 and indeed the whole chronology of Aurelin's perioil, U very confuted. 



After tliii ceremony the emporor visit-d Oaul and lllynoum ; but 

 bia atay waa abort, fur in a few month* from the date of it we find 

 him trading an army against Persia, to revenge the defeat and degrada- 

 tion of Valmian. On hia march between Hrraclea and Bycantium he 

 wa aeuuuinated, in consequence of the treachery of one of hia secre- 

 taries, named Mneatheus, whom he had threatened with punishment ; 

 and the emperor' threata were known aeldom to be made in vain. The 

 aecretary forged a liat of namea thoee of the chief officers of the army 

 ostensibly devoted to death ; and the reetleia character of Aurelian 

 eaoaed the fraud to be readily believed, and promptly acted on. The 

 conspirators were those whoae station* gave them a right to be near 

 hia person ; he was murdered about the beginning of 275. He left a 

 aingle daughter, whoae descendants remained at Rome when Vopiscus 



Aurelian is not ill-described by Eutropius aa of a character " neces- 

 sary on aome occasions rather than loveable on any ; but har."h on nil." 

 Yet he bad many qualities noble and valuable in a ruler: he was 

 fnural in hia expenses, temperate in his pleasures, moderate in-providing 

 for friends and adherent*, strict in preserving good order, and resolute 

 in repressing peculation, and punishing those who grew rich on pecu- 

 lation and the spoils of the provinces. But these good qualities were 

 obscured by a temper naturally harh, and trained by a loug and 

 exclusive course of military service into total carelessness for the 

 suff rings of other* ; insomuch, that the Emperor Diocletian, himself 

 not over inclined to companion, said on that account that Aurelian 

 waa better suited to command an army than an empire. (Vopiscus, 

 in the ' Hiatoria Augusta'; Eutropius; Aur. Victor; Qibbon, c. xi. ; 

 Crevier, ' Histoire des Empereurs Remains,' vol. vL) Vopiscus 

 informs us (cap. i.) that his ' Life of Aurelian ' was founded on Greek 

 authorities (there having been no Latin history of Aureliau before his), 

 and on the Journals and Campaigns of the emperor, which were then 

 kept in the Ulpian Library at Rome. 



Gold. British Muteum. Diameter doubled. 



AURE'LIUS ANTONINUS, MARCUS, was the son of Annius 

 Vents and Domitia Calvilla. Verus traced hia pedigree to Numa, and 

 Domltia hers to Malenuiua, a Salentine prince; the fathers of both 

 wars consuls. Aurelius was bom on Mount Ccoliui, in Rome, on the 

 24th of April, AD. 121, and waa named Annius \Vrus. Ha<lrian, with 

 whom be was a favourite from infancy, familiarly called him Veris- 

 aimoa, a distinction whioh he aven then merited. To his natural 

 disposition, habits, and early acquirement', which it U honourable to 

 the emperor to have perceived and cherished, he owed his adoption 

 into the Aurolian family by Antoninus 1'ius. Hadrian adopted Anto- 

 ninus Pius on the condition that he should adopt Annius Verus, and 

 alao Lucius Verus, the sou of a deceased favourite, L. Ceionius 

 Commodos (called, after his adoption by Hadrian, -,-Klius Verus 

 Omar), who waa to have been bia successor. [VIRUS.] The father of 

 Aureliu* dying while he waa young, hia grandfather took charge of 

 hia education, and gave him every advantage which the age he lived in 

 could afford. We learn from himself that be had masters in every 

 doe* and polite art, whoae names and qualifications he baa most 

 gratefully recorded, modestly attributing all bis acquirements to their 

 instruction and example, and whose merita he did not fail to reward 

 when the means of ao doing were in his power. (See Book I. of the 

 Mediation-.') Two of them wen raised to the consulate. These 

 men, therefore, were not only tutor*, but models upon which the 

 character of Aurelius waa formed ; the foundation of which however 

 he piously saya was laid by his parents. Mojt of his teachers were 

 Stows. One of the moat dintinguiabed of them, Kusticus, procured 

 him a copy of the works of Epiotetus, whioh confirmed his natural 

 inclination to Stoicism, and became bia inseparable companions. The 

 life sod writings of the emperor rank him, indeed, amongst the best 

 teachers and brightest ornaments of the Stoical school. The work of 

 Aureliun, in which he baa moat fully exhibited the rules and principles 

 of Stoicism u be understood and practised it, is divided into twelve 



books, and written in Greek, and is generally known by the name of 

 hia ' Meditations.' It appears to have been a private note-book, kept 

 elm-fly to aid him in self-examination. But the ' Meditations ' contain 

 also the bitory of his education, and a collection of rules, dogmas, 

 theorems, comments, and opinion*, put down as they were suggested 

 by passing events, reading, or conversation. They may be considered 

 as a supplement to Epictetua, and the two together form the best code 

 of moral di-cipliue left to us by the ancient philosophers. This book 

 waa firnt edited in Greek and Latin by Xylander, Zurich, 1558, then 

 by M. Casaubon in 1643, much improved; but still more by Gataker, 

 Cauib. 1052, with aome valuable tables of reference. Subsequent 

 editions of it, and translations into most modern languages, are 

 numerous. None of the English translations are above the merest 

 mediocrity. 



Aurelius passed through all the office* usually given to persons of 

 his rank and pretensions, and u he moat punctually attended to his 

 duty in them, he obtained thoae facilities as a 'man of business for 

 which he was remarkable. In bis fifteenth year the daughter of 

 Ceionius Commodii* was betrothed to him by the d-ire of Hadrian, 

 but the union waa dissolved by Antoninus Pius after Hadrian's death. 

 After the death of Hadrian he married his couin Faustina, daughter 

 of Antoninus Pius. Upon the death of Antoninus Pius in 161, he 

 took the name of Antoninus, and immediately associated Lucius Verua 

 with himself as partner in the empire : he also gave Virus his daughter 

 Lucilla iu marriage. Aurelius accepted the throne at the request of 

 the senate, much against his inclination ; but having accepted it, he 

 never suffer, d his fondness for study and philosophic retirement to 

 interfere with his public duty. A troublesome reign ensued, begin- 

 ning with inundations, earthquakes, famine, and pestilence, causing 

 universal distress, which it required extraordinary exertion to alleviate. 

 The life of a man whose object was peace was almost entirely occupied 

 by war, owing to former emperors having conquered more countries 

 than they could unite in one empire. He felt however that the safety 

 of the empire depended upon its keeping all its provinces, for if its in- 

 ability to do so could be proved, common cause would be made 

 ngain-t it, and its destruction would follow. Aurelius by his activity, 

 fortitude, and a prudent choice of his lieutenants, suppressed the insur- 

 rections that broke out in all quarters : he was everywhere victorious ; 

 and he took the best means in his power to make his victories effective, 

 by showing mercy and clemency to the conquered. 



The calamities iu Italy were not ended when the Parthian war 

 broke out ; Verus took the command iu this war, and returned vic- 

 torious, A.D. 166, but brought the plague with him to Home. [Venus.] 

 Calpumius Agricola was sent against the Britaius, who threatened 

 insurrection ; and Aufidius Victoriuus against the C'atti. The two 

 emperors soon after marched together against the Murcomauni, and 

 obliged them to sue for peace. In returning from this expedition 

 Verus died, A.D. 169. In the ye.xr 170 Aurelius had to make war 

 against the German nations. The preparations for the German war 

 were commensurate with the importance of the undertaking, and even 

 slaves and gladiators were enrolled among the troops. The details 

 of these wars are not well recorded ; but we know that the emperor 

 showed himself a brave soldier, a skilful general, and a humane man. 

 He drove the Marcomanni out of Paunonia, and also the S irinntions, 

 Vandals, and Qtiadi. The Marcomanni were almost annihilated while 

 they were retreating across the Danube; and Dion (71, c. 7) makes 

 the same statement as to the lazygra, and describes a victory over 

 them obtained by thu Romans on the frozen river. During this expe- 

 dition Aurelius resided for three yean at Carnuntum on the Danube. 

 The great event of the German wars was the battle with the Quadi, 

 174, in which the emperor and his army were saved by a miracle. It 

 was in the beat of summer, while the emperor was carrying on the 

 campaign against the Quadi, probably in the country north of the 

 Danube, that the Romans were hemmed up in a dangerous position 

 by the enemy, and were in danger of perishing of thirst On a sudden 

 the clouds collected, and a copious shower descended to refresh the 

 exhausted soldiers, whom the barbarians attacked while the Romans 

 were more intent on satisfying their thirst than on fighting. The. 

 army would have been cut to pieces if a shower of hail accompanied 

 with lightning had not fallen on the Quadi. Thus fire and water 

 came down at the aame time, fire on the barbarians and water on the 

 Romans ; or if the fire came on the Romans, it was quenched by the 

 water ; and if the water fell on the barbarians, it only added fuel to 

 the fire, as if it had been oil. The Romans gained a great victory, and 

 Aurelius, who was saluted Imperator for the seventh time, shortly 

 afterwards assumed the title of Germauicus, which appears on his 

 medals. He wrote, says Dion, an account of this miraculous deliver- 

 ance to the senate ; and there is now extant a letter of Aurelius in 

 Greek, addressed to the senate, which commemorates this event 



The miracle is mentioned by all the authorities who mention the 

 battle ; but the heathen writers give the credit of it to their false gods, 

 and the Chri-tian writers attribute it to the intercession of the 

 Christian soldiers in the emperor's army. Apolinariu*, bishop of 

 Hierapolis, a contemporary of Aurcliim, is cited by Kusebius as 

 evidence for this ; but Eusebius does not give his words. It is said 

 that there wai a legion of Christian soldiers in the army, called the 

 legion of Melitena ; and Apo.iuarius, according to Kusebiun, adds, 

 that in consequence of their services on this occasion the emperor 



