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Early life of Marcus Aurelius

The early life of Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) spans the time from his birth on 26 April 121 until his accession as Roman emperor on 8 March 161.

Marcus Aurelius
Marble statue of a young Marcus in military garb, wearing the muscle cuirass, Altes Museum, Berlin
Emperor of the Roman Empire
Reign8 March 161 – 17 March 180
PredecessorAntoninus Pius
SuccessorCommodus
Co-emperorsLucius Verus (161–169)
Commodus (177–180)
BornMarcus Annius Verus
26 April 121
Rome
Died17 March 180(180-03-17) (aged 58)
Vindobona or Sirmium
Burial
SpouseFaustina the Younger
Issue14, incl. Commodus, Marcus Annius Verus, Antoninus and Lucilla
Regnal name
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
DynastyNerva-Antonine
Father
MotherDomitia Lucilla Minor

Following the death of his father, Marcus Annius Verus (III), Marcus Aurelius was raised by his grandfather, Marcus Annius Verus (II). Educated at home, Marcus became an adherent of Stoicism at a young age. In 138 he was adopted by Titus Aurelius Antoninus, himself the adopted heir of Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian died later that year, and his adoptive son succeeded him under the name Antoninus Pius.

Among Marcus' tutors were the orators Marcus Cornelius Fronto and Herodes Atticus. Marcus held the consulship jointly with Antoninus Pius in 140 and in 145. In between his first and second consulships, Marcus served as a quaestor. In 145 he married his first cousin, Pius' daughter Faustina. They had a number of children, including the future empress Lucilla and the future emperor Commodus. Marcus took on more responsibilities of state as Pius aged; at the time of Pius' death in 161, he was consul with his adoptive brother Lucius. Upon their adoptive father's death, Marcus and Lucius became co-emperors.

Sources edit

The major sources for the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. This is particularly true of his youth. The biographies contained in the Historia Augusta claim to be written by a group of authors at the turn of the fourth century, but are in fact written by a single author (referred to here as "the biographer") from the later fourth century (c. 395). The later biographies and the biographies of subordinate emperors and usurpers are a tissue of lies and fiction, but the earlier biographies, derived primarily from now-lost earlier sources (Marius Maximus or Ignotus), are much better.[1] For Marcus' life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Pius, Marcus himself and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, but those of Aelius Verus and Avidius Cassius are full of fiction.[2]

A body of correspondence between Marcus' tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials (with a focus on Marcus himself) survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c. 138 to 166.[3] Marcus' own Meditations offer a window on his inner life, but are largely undateable, and make few specific references to worldly affairs.[4] The main narrative source for the period is Cassius Dio, a Greek senator from Bithynian Nicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books. Dio is vital for the military history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices and strong opposition to imperial expansion obscure his perspective.[5] Some other literary sources provide specific detail: the writings of the physician Galen on the habits of the Antonine elite, the orations of Aelius Aristides on the temper of the times, and the constitutions preserved in the Digest and Codex Justinianus on Marcus' legal work.[6] Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources.[7]

Family and childhood edit

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.[8] Marcus' paternal 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.[9] Cassius Dio asserts that the Annii were near-kin of Hadrian, and that it was to these familial ties that they owed their rise to power.[10] The precise nature of these kinship ties is nowhere stated. One conjectural bond runs through Annius Verus (II). Verus' wife Rupilia Faustina was the daughter of the consular senator Libo Rupilius Frugi and an unnamed mother. It has been hypothesized Rupilia Faustina's mother was Salonia Matidia, who was also the mother through another marriage of Vibia Sabina, Hadrian's wife,[11] but the theory is not universally accepted. Anthony Birley argued that it is implausible based on Rupilia's age. Historians Strachan and Christian Settipani proposed instead Vitellia, the daughter of emperor Vitellius, as her mother.[12][13] Verus' elder son—Marcus Aurelius' father—Marcus Annius Verus (III) married Domitia Lucilla Minor.[14]

 
Bust of Marcus Aurelius as a young boy (Capitoline Museum). Anthony Birley, Marcus' modern biographer, writes of the bust: "This is certainly a grave young man."[15]

Lucilla was the daughter of the patrician P. Calvisius Tullus Ruso and Domitia Lucilla Major. Lucilla Major had inherited a great fortune (described at length in one of Pliny's letters) from her maternal grandfather and her paternal grandfather by adoption.[16] 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.[17]

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.[18] Verus (III) probably died in 124, during his praetorship, when Marcus was only three years old.[19][notes 1] Though he can hardly have known him, Marcus wrote in his Meditations that he had learned "modesty and manliness" from his memories of his father and from the man's posthumous reputation.[21] Lucilla did not remarry.[19]

Lucilla, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Marcus was in the care of "nurses".[22] He credits his mother with teaching him "religious piety, simplicity in diet" and how to avoid "the ways of the rich".[23] 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".[24]

After his father's death, Marcus was adopted by his paternal grandfather, Marcus Annius Verus (II).[25] Another man, Lucius Catilius Severus, also participated in his upbringing. Severus is described as his "maternal great-grandfather"; he is probably the stepfather of the elder Lucilla.[25] Marcus was raised in the home of his mother (the Horti Domitiae Lucillae) on the Caelian Hill, a district he would affectionately refer to as "my Caelian".[26] It was an 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.[27]

Marcus thanks his grandfather for teaching him "good character and avoidance of bad temper".[28] He was less fond of the mistress his grandfather took and lived with after the death Rupilia Faustina, his wife and Marcus' grandmother.[29] Anthony Birley, Marcus' modern biographer, detects a hint of sexual tension in Marcus' writings on the mistress.[30] Marcus was grateful that he did not have to live with her longer than he did.[29] Marcus thanks the gods that he did not lose his virginity before its due time, and even held out a bit longer.[31] He is proud that he did not indulge himself with Benedicta or Theodotus (household slaves, presumably).[32][notes 2]

Early education, 128–136 edit

 
Bust of a young Marcus as the heir apparent, 138–144 AD, Altes Museum, Berlin

Marcus probably began his education at the age of seven.[34] He was taught at home, in line with contemporary aristocratic trends;[35] Marcus thanks his great-grandfather Catilius Severus for encouraging him to avoid public schools.[36] 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.[37] (He is said to have taught Marcus literature.[38]) Geminus is described as an actor, and he may have taught Marcus Latin pronunciation and general elocution.[37][notes 3] The educator would have been Marcus' overall supervisor, charged with his moral welfare and general development.[37] 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".[40] 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.[41] 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".[42] 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.[notes 4][44]

A new set of tutors—Alexander of Cotiaeum, Trosius Aper, and Tuticius Proculus[notes 5]—took over Marcus' education in about 132 or 133.[46] Little is known of the latter two (both teachers of Latin), but Alexander was a major littérateur, the leading Homeric scholar of his day.[47] Marcus thanks Alexander for his training in literary styling.[48] Alexander's influence—an emphasis on matter over style, on careful wording, with the occasional Homeric quotation—has been detected in Marcus' Meditations'' '.[49]

Civic duties and family connections, 127–136 edit

 
Bust of Emperor Hadrian (National Archaeological Museum of Athens). Hadrian patronized the young Marcus, and may have planned to make him his long-term successor.[50]

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, he 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.[51] Hadrian had a strong affection for Marcus, and nicknamed him Verissimus, "most true".[52][notes 6]

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 (and especially during the festival of Mars from 1 to 24 March), 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.[54] 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.[55] 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.[56]

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 7] By 135, however, he had returned to Italy for good. He had grown close to Lucius Ceionius Commodus, son-in-law of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, a dear friend of Hadrian whom the emperor 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, Ceionia Fabia.[58] 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.[59]

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.[60] At about this time, Marcus' sister, Annia Cornificia, married their first cousin Ummidius Quadratus. Marcus' mother asked her son to give part of his father's inheritance to Cornificia. He agreed to give her all of it, content as he was with his grandfather's estate.[61][notes 8]

Succession to Hadrian, 136–138 edit

 
Portrait of the young Marcus on a modern bust, marble, 150–200 AD; NG Prague, Kinský Palace.

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.[63] The selection was done invitis omnibus, "against the wishes of everyone";[64] its rationale is still unclear.[65] 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.[66][notes 9] On 24 January 138, Hadrian selected a new successor: Aurelius Antoninus,[68] the husband of Marcus' aunt Faustina.[13] 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 Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus; Lucius became Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus. At Hadrian's request, Antoninus' daughter, also named Faustina, was betrothed to Lucius.[69]

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.[70] 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.[71]

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.[72] 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, he 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."[73]

 
Baiae, seaside resort and site of Hadrian's last days. Marcus would holiday in the town with the imperial family in the summer of 143.[74] (J.M.W. Turner, The Bay of Baiae, with Apollo and Sybil, 1823)

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.[75] His remains were buried quietly at Puteoli.[76] Marcus held gladiatorial games at Rome while Pius finalized Hadrian's burial arrangements.[77] 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.[78] For his dutiful behavior, Antoninus was asked to accept the name "Pius".[79]

Heir to Antoninus Pius, 138–145 edit

 
Sestertius commemorating the betrothal of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger in 139
 
Bust of Antoninus Pius from the house of Jason Magnus at Cyrene, North Africa (British Museum).

Immediately after Hadrian's death, Pius 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, Pius' daughter, instead. Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Pius' proposal.[80]

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.[81] 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".[82] At the senate's request, Marcus joined all the priestly colleges (pontifices, augures, quindecimviri sacris faciundis, septemviri epulonum, etc.);[83] direct evidence for membership, however, is available only for the Arval Brethren.[84]

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.[83] 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"[85]—but he found it difficult nonetheless. He would criticize himself in the Meditations for "abusing court life" in front of company.[86]

Marcus had much love and respect for his adoptive father. The tribute he gives Pius in the first book of the Meditations is the longest of any. He would have more influence on the young Marcus than any other person.[87]

From my father: gentleness and unshaken resolution in judgments taken after full examination; no vainglory about external honours; love of work and perseverance; readiness to hear those who had anything to contribute to the public advantage; the desire to reward every man according to his desert without partiality; the experience that knew where to tighten the reign, where to relax. Prohibition of unnatural practices, social tact and permission to his suite not invariably to be present at his banquets nor to attend his progress from Rome, as a matter of obligation, and always to be found the same by those who had failed to attend him through engagements. Exact scrutiny in council and patience; not that he was avoiding investigation, satisfied with first impressions. An inclination to keep his friends, and nowhere fastidious or the victim of manias but his own master in everything, and his outward mien cheerful. His long foresight and ordering of the merest trifle without making scenes. The check-in his reign put upon organized applause and every form of lip-service; his unceasing watch over the needs of the empire and his stewardship of its resources; his patience under criticism by individuals of such conduct. No superstitious fear of divine powers nor with a man any courting of the public or obsequiousness or cultivation of popular favour, but temperance in all things and firmness; nowhere want of taste or search for novelty.[88]

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.[89] He felt drowned in paperwork, and complained to his tutor, Fronto: "I am so out of breath from dictating nearly thirty letters".[90] He was being "fitted for ruling the state", in the words of his biographer.[91] He was required to make a speech to the assembled senators as well, making oratorical training essential for the job.[92]

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 good colour and read your speech with a strong voice".[93] 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 10] I am having treatment and taking care not to do anything that interferes with it."[94] 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.[95]

 
 
Busts of Faustina the Younger, Louvre, Paris

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.[96] Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but it is said to have been "noteworthy".[97] 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.[98]

Fronto and further education, 136–146 edit

After taking the toga virilis in 136, Marcus probably began his training in oratory.[99] 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.[100] 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.[101] 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).[102] Apollonius was compelled to return from Chalcedon to Rome at the request of Pius, and would continue teaching Marcus.[103]

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.[104] 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.[105] He thought the Stoics' desire for apatheia foolish: they would live a "sluggish, enervated life", he said.[106] 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.[107]

 
Bust of Herodes Atticus, Marcus' tutor in Greek, from his villa at Kephissia (National Archaeological Museum of Athens)

Fronto was highly esteemed: he was thought of as second only to Cicero, perhaps even an alternative to him.[108][notes 11] 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.[108] The Latin literary world of the day was self-consciously antiquarian: authors of the Silver AgeSeneca, 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.[112]

A significant amount of the correspondence between Fronto and Marcus has survived.[113] 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."[114] Marcus spent time with Fronto's wife and daughter, both named Cratia, and they enjoyed light conversation.[115] 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".[116] 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[117]—about one-quarter of the surviving letters deal with Fronto's sicknesses.[118] Marcus asks that Fronto's pain be inflicted on himself, "of my own accord with every kind of discomfort".[119]

Fronto never became Marcus' full-time teacher and continued his career as an advocate. One notorious case brought him into conflict with Herodes.[120] 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.[121] 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.[122] 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."[123] Marcus was satisfied with Fronto's response.[124]

The outcome of the trial is unknown,[125] 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.[126] 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".[127]

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."[128] 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.[129] 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 in Marcus' entire boyhood.[130]

The Stoic prince, 146–161 edit

 
Portrait of Marcus as a young man, Antonine period (138–192 AD), from the area of San Teodoro on the Palatine Hill, Palatine Museum, Rome

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".[131] He disdained philosophy and philosophers, and looked down on Marcus' sessions with Apollonius of Chalcedon and others in this circle.[113] 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.[132] Marcus kept in close touch with Fronto, but he would ignore his scruples.[133]

Apollonius may have introduced Marcus to Stoic philosophy, but Quintus Junius Rusticus would have the strongest influence on Marcus.[134][notes 12] He was the man Fronto recognized as having "wooed Marcus away" from oratory.[136] 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;[137] the true successor of Seneca (as opposed to Fronto, the false one).[138] 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'".[139]

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.[140] Marcus thanks three other friends for their influence: Claudius Maximus, Sextus of Chaeronea, and Cinna Catulus.[141] 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".[142] 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.[143] Catulus is totally unknown outside Marcus' brief words of praise in the Meditations and the notice in the Historia Augusta;[144] Edward Champlin reckons him a senator.[145]

Births and deaths, 147–152 edit

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

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.[146]

 
Bust of Marcus as a young man, c. 150 AD, Venice National Archaeological Museum

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." Marcus wrote that he and Faustina had been "pretty occupied" with the girl's care.[147] Domitia would die in 151.[148]

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 baby boy. 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.[149]

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'."[150] 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[151]

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 died.[152] Faustina probably had another daughter in 151, but the child, Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina, might not have been born until 153.[153] 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.[154]

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 synod, "even though this turned out otherwise". The child's name is unknown.[155] In 159 and 160, Faustina gave birth to daughters: Fadilla, after one of Faustina's dead sisters, and Cornificia, after Marcus' sister.[156]

Pius' last years, 152–161 edit

 
Bust of Lucius Verus, Marcus' adoptive brother and co-emperor (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

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 his brother: he enjoyed sports of all kinds, but especially hunting and wrestling; he took obvious pleasure in the circus-games and gladiatorial fights.[157][notes 13] He did not marry until 164. Pius was not fond of Lucius' interests. He would keep Lucius in the family, but he was sure never to give the boy either power or glory.[161] To take a typical example, Lucius would not appear on Alexandrian coinage until 160/1.[162]

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.[163] 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.[156] 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.[164] It was 7 March 161.[165] Marcus was now emperor.[166]

Chronology edit

This table largely follows the chronology of Birley's Marcus Aurelius.[167] The chronology of Fronto's letters and miscellaneous works largely follows Champlin's "The Chronology of Fronto" and his Fronto and Antonine Rome.[168] A † indicates that a date is uncertain.

Date Event Source
121 Verus (II) consul for the second time, prefect of Rome
26 April 121 Marcus born in Rome HA Marcus 1.5
ca. 122 Marcus' sister Cornificia born[notes 14]
ca. 124 Marcus' father Verus (III) dies during his praetorship
126 Verus (II) consul for the third time
127 Marcus enrolled in the equites HA Marcus 4.1
128 Marcus made salius Palatinus HA Marcus 4.2
Marcus begins his elementary education[notes 15] e.g. Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 1.1.15–16
132, after 26 April Marcus introduced to "philosophy" by his painting-master Diognetus HA Marcus 2.6, cf. Meditations 1.6
133 Marcus begins his secondary education
136, ca. 17 March Marcus takes the toga virilis HA Marcus 4.5
136, after 26 April Marcus betrothed to Ceionia Favia, daughter of L. Commodus HA Marcus 4.5
Marcus is made prefect of the city during the feriae Latinae HA Marcus 4.6
136 Marcus meets Apollonius the Stoic HA Marcus 2.7
L. Commodus is adopted by Hadrian, becoming L. Aelius Caesar HA Hadrian 23.11
Cornificia marries Ummidius Quadratus†[170] HA Marcus 4.7, 7.4
Hadrian compels his brother-in-law Servianus and Servianus' grandson Fuscus Salinator to commit suicide HA Hadrian 15.8, 23.2–3, 23.8, 25.8; Dio 69.17.1–3
137 L. Aelius Caesar stationed in Pannonia HA Hadrian 23.13
1 January 138 L. Aelius Caesar dies HA Hadrian 23.16; HA Aelius 4.7
24 January 138 Hadrian chooses Marcus' uncle T. Aurelius Antoninus as his successor HA Hadrian 24.1, 26.6–10
25 February 138 Antoninus accepts Hadrian's choice, and is adopted HA Pius 4.6
25 February/26 April 138[notes 16] Antoninus adopts Marcus Aurelius and L. Commodus junior Dio 69.21.1–2; HA Aelius 5.12, 6.9; HA Hadrian 24.1, 26.6–10; HA Marcus 5.1,[notes 17] 5.5–6
Faustina betrothed to L. Commodus junior HA Aelius 6.9
Marcus moves to Hadrian's residence in Rome HA Marcus 5.3
Marcus named quaestor for 139 HA Marcus 5.6
Antoninus named consul for 139 HA Marcus 5.6
10 July 138 Hadrian dies at Baiae and Antoninus accedes to the emperorship HA Hadrian 26.6; HA Pius 5.1
Marcus' betrothal to Ceionia Fabia and Lucius' betrothal to Faustina made void
138, after 10 July Marcus betrothed to Faustina HA Marcus 6.2; HA Verus 2.3
Hadrian deified HA Hadrian 27.2; HA Pius 5.1
Antoninus named Pius HA Hadrian 27.4, cf. HA Pius 2.2–7[notes 18]
139 Pius consul
Marcus quaestor HA Marcus 5.6; HA Pius 6.9
Marcus designated consul for 140 HA Marcus 6.3; HA Pius 6.9
Marcus acts as a sevir turmarum equitum Romanorum HA Marcus 6.3
Marcus becomes princeps iuventutis, takes the name Caesar, and joins the major priestly colleges HA Marcus 6.3
Marcus moves into Pius' palace HA Marcus 6.3
Marcus begins his higher education
140 Marcus consul for the first time, with Pius HA Marcus 6.4
January 143 Herodes Atticus, Marcus' tutor, consul
July–August 143[173] Fronto, Marcus' tutor, consul Ad Marcum Caesarem, 2.9–12
January 145 Marcus consul for the second time, with Pius
Late spring 145 Marcus marries Faustina HA Marcus 6.6; HA Pius 10.2
30 November 147 Domitia Faustina is born to Faustina and Marcus[notes 19] Inscriptiones Italiae 13.1.207; cf. HA Marcus 6.6, Herodian 1.8.3
1 December 147 Marcus takes the tribunicia potestas HA Marcus 6.6
Faustina named Augusta HA Marcus 6.6
149 Twin sons are born to Faustina and Marcus; both die within the year
7 March 150 Lucilla born to Faustina and Marcus
152 Cornificia dies Inscriptiones Italiae 13.1.207
Lucius designated quaestor for 153
Tiberius Aelius Antoninus born†[notes 20] Inscriptiones Italiae 13.1.207
153 Lucius quaestor HA Pius 6.10, 10.3; HA Verus 2.11, 3.1–3
154 Lucius consul HA Pius 10.3; HA Verus 3.3
155 Victorinus, son-in-law of Fronto and friend of Marcus, consul
155–161 Domitia Lucilla Minor, Marcus' mother, dies
161 Marcus consul for the third time, with Lucius
7 March 161 Antoninus Pius dies Dio 71.33.4–5; cf. HA Marcus 7.3; HA Pius 12.4–7[notes 21]
8 March 161 Marcus and Lucius become emperors HA Marcus 7.3, 7.5; HA Verus 3.8

Notes edit

  1. ^ Farquharson dates his death to 130, when Marcus was nine.[20]
  2. ^ Farquharson notes that, contrary to first impressions, these slaves probably were not Christians: these names were not common among Christians in this period, but are quite often found among pagan servants.[33]
  3. ^ McLynn describes Marcus' training in drama as a series of reviews and recitations of Euripides.[39]
  4. ^ Marcus also thanks Diognetus for having taught him to "aspire to the camp-bed and skin coverlet and the other things which are part of the Greek training".[43]
  5. ^ Birley amends the text of the HA Marcus from "Eutychius" to "Tuticius".[45]
  6. ^ Others put a harsher light on Hadrian's nickname. McLynn calls it an example of Hadrian's waspish (McLynn says "vespine") wit and adduces it in support of his contention that Marcus was a "prig".[53]
  7. ^ Birley, following the textual and epigraphic citations, concludes that he might only have seen Rome in 127, briefly in 128, and in 131.[57]
  8. ^ McLynn holds that Marcus' apparent beneficence was part of Hadrian's dynastic strategy: "Hadrian had dynastic plans of his own for Annia Cornificia and 'leaned on' Marcus to make the transfer".[62]
  9. ^ Commodus was a known consumptive at the time of his adoption, so Hadrian may have intended Marcus' eventual succession anyway.[67]
  10. ^ The manuscript is corrupt here.[92]
  11. ^ Moderns have not offered as positive an assessment. His second modern editor, Niebhur, thought him stupid and frivolous; his third editor, Naber, found him contemptible.[109] Historians have seen him as a "pedant and a bore", his letters offering neither the running political analysis of a Cicero or the conscientious reportage of a Pliny.[110] Recent prosopographic research has rehabilitated his reputation, though not by much.[111]
  12. ^ Champlin notes that Marcus' praise of him in the Meditations is out of order (he is praised immediately after Diognetus, who had introduced Marcus to philosophy), giving him special emphasis.[135]
  13. ^ Although part of the biographer's account of Lucius is fictionalized (probably to mimic Nero, whose birthday Lucius shared[158]), and another part poorly compiled from a better biographical source,[159] scholars have accepted these biographical details as accurate.[160]
  14. ^ It is known that she was younger than Marcus, so she could not have been born before 122.[169] Birley states that she was born "probably within the next two years" after Marcus' birth.[19]
  15. ^ Absent positive evidence either way, Birley assumes that Marcus follows the typical schedule of a Roman aristocrat's education.[29]
  16. ^ HA Marcus 5.6 states that Marcus was not adopted until his seventeenth birthday (26 April). It is uncertain how much this account can be trusted.[171]
  17. ^ HA Aelius 5.12 and Marcus 5.1 include the false report that Marcus adopted Lucius (he was adopted with Marcus, by Antoninus).
  18. ^ The biographer relates a number of fictions regarding Antoninus assumed name in this passage.[172]
  19. ^ Marcus and Faustina's first daughter has traditionally been identified with Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina (against Herodian 1.8.3, which calls Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla as the eldest).[174] Bol and Fittschen revised the chronology of Marcus and Faustina's children, and Domitia Faustina is now identified as the couple's first daughter.[175]
  20. ^ The Fasti Ostienses record the birth of a son in this year. He is identified with T. Aelius Antoninus by Bol and Fittschen.[176]
  21. ^ HA Pius 12.4 contains the false notice that Pius died in the seventieth year of his life; it was in fact the seventy-fifth.[177]

Citations edit

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 C.R. Haines' Loeb edition.

  1. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 229–230. The thesis of single authorship was first proposed in H. Dessau's "Über Zeit und Persönlichkeit der Scriptoes Historiae Augustae" (in German), Hermes 24 (1889), 337ff.
  2. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 230. On the HA Verus, see Barnes, 65–74.
  3. ^ Mary Beard, "Was He Quite Ordinary?", London Review of Books 31:14 (23 July 2009), accessed 15 September 2009; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 226.
  4. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 227.
  5. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 228–229, 253.
  6. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 227–228.
  7. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 228.
  8. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 28.
  9. ^ HA Marcus 1.2, 1.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 28; McLynn, 14.
  10. ^ Dio 69.21.2, 71.35.2–3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31.
  11. ^ Codex Inscriptionum Latinarum 14.3579 2012-04-29 at the Wayback Machine; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 29; McLynn, 14, 575 n. 53, citing Ronald Syme, Roman Papers 1.244.
  12. ^ Rupilius. Strachan stemma.
  13. ^ a b Settipani, Christian (2000). Continuité gentilice et continuité familiale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale: mythe et réalité. Prosopographica et genealogica (in Italian). Vol. 2 (illustrated ed.). Unit for Prosopographical Research, Linacre College, University of Oxford. p. 278. ISBN 978-1900934022.
  14. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 29; McLynn, 14.
  15. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 49.
  16. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 29, citing Pliny, Epistulae 8.18.
  17. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 30.
  18. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31, 44.
  19. ^ a b c Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31.
  20. ^ Farquharson, 1.95–96.
  21. ^ Meditations 1.1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31.
  22. ^ HA Marcus 2.1 and Meditations 5.4, qtd. in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 32.
  23. ^ Meditations 1.3, qtd. in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 35.
  24. ^ Meditations 1.17.7, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 35.
  25. ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 33.
  26. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 2.8.2 (= Haines 1.142), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31.
  27. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31–32.
  28. ^ Meditations 1.1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 35.
  29. ^ a b c Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 35.
  30. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 35, 53.
  31. ^ Meditations 1.17.2; Farquharson, 1.102; McLynn, 23.
  32. ^ Meditations 1.17.11; Farquharson, 1.103; McLynn, 23.
  33. ^ Farquharson, 1.103.
  34. ^ Cf. Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 1.1.15–16; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 35–36; McLynn, 19.
  35. ^ McLynn, 20–21.
  36. ^ Meditations 1.4; McLynn, 20.
  37. ^ a b c HA Marcus 2.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 36.
  38. ^ HA Marcus 2.2; McLynn, 21.
  39. ^ McLynn, 22, citing S.F. Bonner, Education in Ancient Rome (Berkeley, 1977), 213–215.
  40. ^ Meditations 1.2, qtd. in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 36.
  41. ^ HA Marcus 2.2, 4.9; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 37; McLynn, 21–22.
  42. ^ Meditations 1.6, qtd. in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 37; cf. McLynn, 21–22.
  43. ^ Meditations 1.6, tr. Farquharson.
  44. ^ HA Marcus 2.6; cf. Meditations 1.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 38; McLynn, 21.
  45. ^ Birley, Later Caesars, 109, 109 n.8; Marcus Aurelius, 40, 270 n.27, citing Bonner Historia-Augusta Colloquia 1966/7, 39ff.
  46. ^ HA Marcus 2.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 40, 270 n.27.
  47. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 40, citing Aelius Aristides, Oratio 32 K; McLynn, 21.
  48. ^ Meditations 1.10; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 40; McLynn, 22.
  49. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 40, 270 n.28, citing A.S.L. Farquharson, The Meditations of Marcus Antoninus (Oxford, 1944) 2.453.
  50. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 42.
  51. ^ HA Marcus 4.1, 4.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 36.
  52. ^ HA Marcus 1.10, 2.1; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 38; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 147. The appellation also survives on inscriptions: Birley cites (at Marcus Aurelius, p. 270 n.24) Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 A 697, and L'Année épigraphique 1940.62 2013-01-27 at the Wayback Machine.
  53. ^ McLynn, 18, citing Michael Grant, The Antonines (1994), 26 for the characterization of verissimus as an example of Hadrian's waspish wit.
  54. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 36–37; McLynn, 18–19.
  55. ^ HA Marcus 4.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 37; McLynn, 19.
  56. ^ HA Marcus 4.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 37; McLynn, 19.
  57. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 38, 270 n.24.
  58. ^ HA Marcus 4.5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 39–40; McLynn, 24–25; R. Syme, "The Ummidii", Historia 17:1 (1968): 93–94.
  59. ^ HA Marcus 4.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 41.
  60. ^ HA Marcus 2.7; Meditations 1.17.5, cf. 1.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 41.
  61. ^ HA Marcus 4.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 41.
  62. ^ McLynn, 37.
  63. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 41–42.
  64. ^ HA Hadrian 23.10, qtd. in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 42.
  65. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 42. On the succession to Hadrian, see also: T.D. Barnes, "Hadrian and Lucius Verus", Journal of Roman Studies 57:1–2 (1967): 65–79; J. VanderLeest, "Hadrian, Lucius Verus, and the Arco di Portogallo", Phoenix 49:4 (1995): 319–330.
  66. ^ HA Hadrian 23.15–16; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 45; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 148.
  67. ^ Dio 69.17.1; HA Aelius 3.7, 4.6, 6.1–7; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 147.
  68. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 46. Date: Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 148.
  69. ^ Dio 69.21.1; HA Hadrian 24.1; HA Aelius 6.9; HA Pius 4.6–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 48–49.
  70. ^ Dio 71.36.1; HA Marcus 5.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 49.
  71. ^ HA Marcus 5.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 49.
  72. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 49–50.
  73. ^ HA Marcus 5.6–8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 50.
  74. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 80–81.
  75. ^ Dio 69.22.4; HA Hadrian 25.5–6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 50–51. Hadrian's suicide attempts: Dio 69.22.1–4; HA Hadrian 24.8–13.
  76. ^ HA Hadrian 25.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 53.
  77. ^ HA Marcus 6.1; McLynn, 42.
  78. ^ HA Pius 5.3, 6.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 55–56; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 151.
  79. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 55; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 151.
  80. ^ HA Marcus 6.2; Verus 2.3–4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 53–54.
  81. ^ Dio 71.35.5; HA Marcus 6.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 56.
  82. ^ Meditations 6.30, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57; cf. Marcus Aurelius, 270 n.9, with notes on the translation.
  83. ^ a b HA Marcus 6.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57.
  84. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57, 272 n.10, citing Codex Inscriptionum Latinarum 6.32 2012-04-29 at the Wayback Machine, 6.379 2012-04-29 at the Wayback Machine, cf. Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 360 2012-04-29 at the Wayback Machine.
  85. ^ Meditations 5.16, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57.
  86. ^ Meditations 8.9, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57.
  87. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 58–59.
  88. ^ Meditations 1.16, tr. Farquharson.
  89. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 57–58.
  90. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.7, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 90.
  91. ^ HA Marcus 6.5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 58.
  92. ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 89.
  93. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 5.1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 89.
  94. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 89.
  95. ^ Dio 71.36.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 89.
  96. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 90–91.
  97. ^ HA Pius 10.2, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 91.
  98. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 91.
  99. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 61.
  100. ^ HA Marcus 2.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 62.
  101. ^ Alan Cameron, review of Anthony Birley's Marcus Aurelius, Classical Review 17:3 (1967): 347.
  102. ^ HA Marcus 3.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 62.
  103. ^ HA Pius 10.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 62–63.
  104. ^ Vita Sophistae 2.1.14, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 63–64.
  105. ^ Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 9.2.1–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 64–65.
  106. ^ Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 19.12, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 65.
  107. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 65.
  108. ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 65–67.
  109. ^ Champlin, Fronto, 1–2.
  110. ^ Ronald Mellor, review of Edward Champlin's Fronto and Antonine Rome, The American Journal of Philology 103:4 (1982): 460.
  111. ^ Cf., e.g.: Ronald Mellor, review of Edward Champlin's Fronto and Antonine Rome, The American Journal of Philology 103:4 (1982): 461 and passim.
  112. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 67–68, citing E. Champlin, Fronto and Antonine Rome (1980), esp. chs. 3 and 4.
  113. ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 69.
  114. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.6 (= Haines 1.80ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 76.
  115. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.6 (= Haines 1.80ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 76–77.
  116. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 3.10–11 (= Haines 1.50ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 73.
  117. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 73.
  118. ^ Champlin, "Chronology of Fronto", 138.
  119. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 5.74 ( =Haines 2.52ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 73.
  120. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 77. On the date, see Champlin, "Chronology of Fronto", 142, who (with Bowersock, Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire (1964), 93ff) argues for a date in the 150s; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 78–79, 273 n.17 (with Ameling, Herodes Atticus (1983), 1.61ff, 2.30ff) argues for 140.
  121. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 3.2 (= Haines 1.58ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 77–78.
  122. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 3.3 (= Haines 1.62ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 78.
  123. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 3.3 (= Haines 1.62ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 79.
  124. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 3.5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 79–80.
  125. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 80.
  126. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 1.6–8 (= Haines 1.154ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 84–85.
  127. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 1.6–8 (= Haines 1.154ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 85.
  128. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.13 (= Haines 1.214ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 93.
  129. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.3.1 (= Haines 1.2ff); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 94.
  130. ^ HA Marcus 3.5–8, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 94.
  131. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.3, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 69.
  132. ^ De Eloquentia 4.5 (= Haines 2.74), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 95. Alan Cameron, in his review of Birley's biography (The Classical Review 17:3 (1967): 347), suggests a reference to chapter 11 of Arthur Darby Nock's Conversion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933, rept. 1961): "Conversion to Philosophy".
  133. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 94, 105.
  134. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 95; Champlin, Fronto, 120.
  135. ^ Champlin, Fronto, 174 n. 12.
  136. ^ Ad Antoninum Imperator 1.2.2 (= Haines 2.36), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 95.
  137. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 94–95, 101.
  138. ^ Champlin, Fronto, 120.
  139. ^ Meditations 1.7, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 94–95.
  140. ^ Meditations 1.14; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 95–96.
  141. ^ Meditations 1.15, 1.9, 1.13; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 96–98.
  142. ^ Meditations 1.15, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 97.
  143. ^ Dio 71.1.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 97.
  144. ^ Meditations, 1.13; HA Marcus 3.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 97–98; Champlin, Fronto, 174 n. 10.
  145. ^ Champlin, Fronto, 174 n. 10.
  146. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 103.
  147. ^ Ad Marcum Caesarem 4.11 (= Haines 1.202ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 105.
  148. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 247 F.1.
  149. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 206–207.
  150. ^ Meditations 9.40, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 207.
  151. ^ Meditations 10.34, tr. Farquharson, 78, 224.
  152. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 107.
  153. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 107–108.
  154. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 108.
  155. ^ Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas pertinentes 4.1399, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 114.
  156. ^ a b Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 114.
  157. ^ HA Verus 2.9–11; 3.4–7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 108.
  158. ^ Suetonius, Nero 6.1; HA Verus 1.8; Barnes, 67; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 158. See also: Barnes, 69–70; Pierre Lambrechts, "L'empereur Lucius Verus. Essai de réhabilitation" (in French), Antiquité Classique 3 (1934), 173ff.
  159. ^ Barnes, 66. Poorly compiled: e.g. Barnes, 68.
  160. ^ Barnes, 68–69.
  161. ^ HA Verus 2.9–11; 3.4–7; Barnes, 68; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 108.
  162. ^ Barnes, 68, citing J. Vogt, Die Alexandrinischen Miinzen (1924), I, III; 2, 62ff.
  163. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 112.
  164. ^ HA Pius 12.4–8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 114.
  165. ^ Dio 71.33.4–5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 114.
  166. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 116.
  167. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 44–45.
  168. ^ Champlin, Fronto, 131–136.
  169. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 243.
  170. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 41, 243; Syme, "The Ummidii", 98–99.
  171. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 271 n. 48.
  172. ^ Alan Cameron, review of Anthony Birley's Marcus Aurelius, Classical Review 17:3 (1967).
  173. ^ Champlin, "Chronology", 139.
  174. ^ e.g. Magie 147 n. 44; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 247.
  175. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 247, citing R. Bol, Das Statuenprogramm des Gerodes-Atticus-Nymphäums (Olympische Forschungen 15, Berlin, 1984), 31f., and Fittschen Die Bildnistypen der Faustina minor und die Fecunditas Augustae (Abhandlungen Akad, Göttingen, ph.-hist. Kl., 3rd series, 126, 1982), 43 n. 8.
  176. ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 247, citing R. Bol, Das Statuenprogramm des Gerodes-Atticus-Nymphäums (Olympische Forschungen 15, Berlin, 1984), 34f., and Fittschen Die Bildnistypen der Faustina minor und die Fecunditas Augustae (Abhandlungen Akad, Göttingen, ph.-hist. Kl., 3rd series, 126, 1982), 27f.
  177. ^ Magie, 129 n. 96; cf. HA Pius 1.8.

Bibliography edit

Ancient sources edit

  • Aelius Aristides. Orationes (Orations).
  • Cassius Dio. Roman History.
    • Cary, Earnest, trans. Roman History. 9 vols. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1914–27. Online at LacusCurtius. Accessed 26 August 2009.
  • Epitome de Caesaribus.
    • Banchich, Thomas M., trans. A Booklet About the Style of Life and the Manners of the Imperatores. Canisius College Translated Texts 1. Buffalo, NY: Canisius College, 2009. Online at De Imperatoribus Romanis. Accessed 31 August 2009.
  • Fronto, Marcus Cornelius.
    • Haines, Charles Reginald, trans. The Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto. 2 vols. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1920. Online at the Internet Archive: Vol. 1, 2. Accessed 26 August 2009.
  • Gellius, Aulus. Noctes Atticae (Attic Nights).
    • Rolfe, J.C., trans. The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius. 3 vols. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1927–28. Vols. 1 and 2 online at LacusCurtius. Accessed 26 August 2009.
  • Herodian. Ab Excessu Divi Marci (History of the Roman Empire from the Death of Marcus Aurelius).
    • Echols, Edward C., trans. Herodian of Antioch's History of the Roman Empire. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1961. Online at Tertullian and Livius. Accessed 14 September 2009.
  • Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Meditations.
    • Farquharson, A.S.L., trans. Meditations. New York: Knopf, 1946, rept. 1992.
  • Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria (Institutes of Oratory).
    • Butler, H.E., trans. The Orator's Education. 5 vols. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1920–22. Online at LacusCurtius. Accessed 14 September 2009.
  • Scriptores Historiae Augustae (Authors of the Historia Augusta). Historia Augusta (Augustan History).
    • Magie, David, trans. Historia Augusta. 3 vols. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1921–32. Online at LacusCurtius. Accessed 26 August 2009.
    • Birley, Anthony R., trans. Lives of the Later Caesars. London: Penguin, 1976.

Modern sources edit

  • Barnes, Timothy D. "Hadrian and Lucius Verus." Journal of Roman Studies 57:1–2 (1967): 65–79.
  • Birley, Anthony R. Marcus Aurelius: A Biography. New York: Routledge, 1966, rev. 1987. ISBN 0415171253
  • Birley, Anthony R. "Hadrian to the Antonines." In The Cambridge Ancient History Volume XI: The High Empire, A.D. 70–192, edited by Alan Bowman, Peter Garnsey, and Dominic Rathbone, 132–194. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0521263351
  • Champlin, Edward. "The Chronology of Fronto." Journal of Roman Studies 64 (1974): 136–159.
  • Champlin, Edward. Fronto and Antonine Rome. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980. ISBN 0674326687
  • McLynn, Frank. Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor. London: Bodley Head, 2009. ISBN 978-0224072922
  • Robertson, D. How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2019.
  • Syme, Ronald. "The Ummidii." Historia 17:1 (1968): 72–105.

early, life, marcus, aurelius, early, life, marcus, aurelius, spans, time, from, birth, april, until, accession, roman, emperor, march, marcus, aureliusmarble, statue, young, marcus, military, garb, wearing, muscle, cuirass, altes, museum, berlinemperor, roman. The early life of Marcus Aurelius r 161 180 spans the time from his birth on 26 April 121 until his accession as Roman emperor on 8 March 161 Marcus AureliusMarble statue of a young Marcus in military garb wearing the muscle cuirass Altes Museum BerlinEmperor of the Roman EmpireReign8 March 161 17 March 180PredecessorAntoninus PiusSuccessorCommodusCo emperorsLucius Verus 161 169 Commodus 177 180 BornMarcus Annius Verus26 April 121RomeDied17 March 180 180 03 17 aged 58 Vindobona or SirmiumBurialHadrian s MausoleumSpouseFaustina the YoungerIssue14 incl Commodus Marcus Annius Verus Antoninus and LucillaRegnal nameMarcus Aurelius Antoninus AugustusDynastyNerva AntonineFatherMarcus Annius Verus Antoninus Pius adoptive MotherDomitia Lucilla MinorFollowing the death of his father Marcus Annius Verus III Marcus Aurelius was raised by his grandfather Marcus Annius Verus II Educated at home Marcus became an adherent of Stoicism at a young age In 138 he was adopted by Titus Aurelius Antoninus himself the adopted heir of Emperor Hadrian Hadrian died later that year and his adoptive son succeeded him under the name Antoninus Pius Among Marcus tutors were the orators Marcus Cornelius Fronto and Herodes Atticus Marcus held the consulship jointly with Antoninus Pius in 140 and in 145 In between his first and second consulships Marcus served as a quaestor In 145 he married his first cousin Pius daughter Faustina They had a number of children including the future empress Lucilla and the future emperor Commodus Marcus took on more responsibilities of state as Pius aged at the time of Pius death in 161 he was consul with his adoptive brother Lucius Upon their adoptive father s death Marcus and Lucius became co emperors Contents 1 Sources 2 Family and childhood 3 Early education 128 136 4 Civic duties and family connections 127 136 5 Succession to Hadrian 136 138 6 Heir to Antoninus Pius 138 145 7 Fronto and further education 136 146 8 The Stoic prince 146 161 9 Births and deaths 147 152 10 Pius last years 152 161 11 Chronology 12 Notes 13 Citations 14 Bibliography 14 1 Ancient sources 14 2 Modern sourcesSources editThe major sources for the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable This is particularly true of his youth The biographies contained in the Historia Augusta claim to be written by a group of authors at the turn of the fourth century but are in fact written by a single author referred to here as the biographer from the later fourth century c 395 The later biographies and the biographies of subordinate emperors and usurpers are a tissue of lies and fiction but the earlier biographies derived primarily from now lost earlier sources Marius Maximus or Ignotus are much better 1 For Marcus life and rule the biographies of Hadrian Pius Marcus himself and Lucius Verus are largely reliable but those of Aelius Verus and Avidius Cassius are full of fiction 2 A body of correspondence between Marcus tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials with a focus on Marcus himself survives in a series of patchy manuscripts covering the period from c 138 to 166 3 Marcus own Meditations offer a window on his inner life but are largely undateable and make few specific references to worldly affairs 4 The main narrative source for the period is Cassius Dio a Greek senator from Bithynian Nicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books Dio is vital for the military history of the period but his senatorial prejudices and strong opposition to imperial expansion obscure his perspective 5 Some other literary sources provide specific detail the writings of the physician Galen on the habits of the Antonine elite the orations of Aelius Aristides on the temper of the times and the constitutions preserved in the Digest and Codex Justinianus on Marcus legal work 6 Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources 7 Family and childhood editThe 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 8 Marcus paternal family originated in Ucubi a small town southeast of Cordoba 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 9 Cassius Dio asserts that the Annii were near kin of Hadrian and that it was to these familial ties that they owed their rise to power 10 The precise nature of these kinship ties is nowhere stated One conjectural bond runs through Annius Verus II Verus wife Rupilia Faustina was the daughter of the consular senator Libo Rupilius Frugi and an unnamed mother It has been hypothesized Rupilia Faustina s mother was Salonia Matidia who was also the mother through another marriage of Vibia Sabina Hadrian s wife 11 but the theory is not universally accepted Anthony Birley argued that it is implausible based on Rupilia s age Historians Strachan and Christian Settipani proposed instead Vitellia the daughter of emperor Vitellius as her mother 12 13 Verus elder son Marcus Aurelius father Marcus Annius Verus III married Domitia Lucilla Minor 14 nbsp Bust of Marcus Aurelius as a young boy Capitoline Museum Anthony Birley Marcus modern biographer writes of the bust This is certainly a grave young man 15 Lucilla was the daughter of the patrician P Calvisius Tullus Ruso and Domitia Lucilla Major Lucilla Major had inherited a great fortune described at length in one of Pliny s letters from her maternal grandfather and her paternal grandfather by adoption 16 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 17 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 18 Verus III probably died in 124 during his praetorship when Marcus was only three years old 19 notes 1 Though he can hardly have known him Marcus wrote in his Meditations that he had learned modesty and manliness from his memories of his father and from the man s posthumous reputation 21 Lucilla did not remarry 19 Lucilla following prevailing aristocratic customs probably did not spend much time with her son Marcus was in the care of nurses 22 He credits his mother with teaching him religious piety simplicity in diet and how to avoid the ways of the rich 23 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 24 After his father s death Marcus was adopted by his paternal grandfather Marcus Annius Verus II 25 Another man Lucius Catilius Severus also participated in his upbringing Severus is described as his maternal great grandfather he is probably the stepfather of the elder Lucilla 25 Marcus was raised in the home of his mother the Horti Domitiae Lucillae on the Caelian Hill a district he would affectionately refer to as my Caelian 26 It was an 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 27 Marcus thanks his grandfather for teaching him good character and avoidance of bad temper 28 He was less fond of the mistress his grandfather took and lived with after the death Rupilia Faustina his wife and Marcus grandmother 29 Anthony Birley Marcus modern biographer detects a hint of sexual tension in Marcus writings on the mistress 30 Marcus was grateful that he did not have to live with her longer than he did 29 Marcus thanks the gods that he did not lose his virginity before its due time and even held out a bit longer 31 He is proud that he did not indulge himself with Benedicta or Theodotus household slaves presumably 32 notes 2 Early education 128 136 edit nbsp Bust of a young Marcus as the heir apparent 138 144 AD Altes Museum BerlinMarcus probably began his education at the age of seven 34 He was taught at home in line with contemporary aristocratic trends 35 Marcus thanks his great grandfather Catilius Severus for encouraging him to avoid public schools 36 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 37 He is said to have taught Marcus literature 38 Geminus is described as an actor and he may have taught Marcus Latin pronunciation and general elocution 37 notes 3 The educator would have been Marcus overall supervisor charged with his moral welfare and general development 37 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 40 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 41 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 42 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 notes 4 44 A new set of tutors Alexander of Cotiaeum Trosius Aper and Tuticius Proculus notes 5 took over Marcus education in about 132 or 133 46 Little is known of the latter two both teachers of Latin but Alexander was a major litterateur the leading Homeric scholar of his day 47 Marcus thanks Alexander for his training in literary styling 48 Alexander s influence an emphasis on matter over style on careful wording with the occasional Homeric quotation has been detected in Marcus Meditations 49 Civic duties and family connections 127 136 edit nbsp Bust of Emperor Hadrian National Archaeological Museum of Athens Hadrian patronized the young Marcus and may have planned to make him his long term successor 50 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 he 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 51 Hadrian had a strong affection for Marcus and nicknamed him Verissimus most true 52 notes 6 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 and especially during the festival of Mars from 1 to 24 March 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 54 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 55 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 56 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 7 By 135 however he had returned to Italy for good He had grown close to Lucius Ceionius Commodus son in law of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus a dear friend of Hadrian whom the emperor 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 Ceionia Fabia 58 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 59 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 60 At about this time Marcus sister Annia Cornificia married their first cousin Ummidius Quadratus Marcus mother asked her son to give part of his father s inheritance to Cornificia He agreed to give her all of it content as he was with his grandfather s estate 61 notes 8 Succession to Hadrian 136 138 edit nbsp Portrait of the young Marcus on a modern bust marble 150 200 AD NG Prague Kinsky Palace 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 63 The selection was done invitis omnibus against the wishes of everyone 64 its rationale is still unclear 65 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 66 notes 9 On 24 January 138 Hadrian selected a new successor Aurelius Antoninus 68 the husband of Marcus aunt Faustina 13 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 Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Lucius became Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus At Hadrian s request Antoninus daughter also named Faustina was betrothed to Lucius 69 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 70 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 71 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 72 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 he 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 73 nbsp Baiae seaside resort and site of Hadrian s last days Marcus would holiday in the town with the imperial family in the summer of 143 74 J M W Turner The Bay of Baiae with Apollo and Sybil 1823 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 75 His remains were buried quietly at Puteoli 76 Marcus held gladiatorial games at Rome while Pius finalized Hadrian s burial arrangements 77 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 78 For his dutiful behavior Antoninus was asked to accept the name Pius 79 Heir to Antoninus Pius 138 145 edit nbsp Sestertius commemorating the betrothal of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the Younger in 139 nbsp Bust of Antoninus Pius from the house of Jason Magnus at Cyrene North Africa British Museum Immediately after Hadrian s death Pius 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 Pius daughter instead Faustina s betrothal to Ceionia s brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled Marcus consented to Pius proposal 80 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 81 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 82 At the senate s request Marcus joined all the priestly colleges pontifices augures quindecimviri sacris faciundis septemviri epulonum etc 83 direct evidence for membership however is available only for the Arval Brethren 84 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 83 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 85 but he found it difficult nonetheless He would criticize himself in the Meditations for abusing court life in front of company 86 Marcus had much love and respect for his adoptive father The tribute he gives Pius in the first book of the Meditations is the longest of any He would have more influence on the young Marcus than any other person 87 From my father gentleness and unshaken resolution in judgments taken after full examination no vainglory about external honours love of work and perseverance readiness to hear those who had anything to contribute to the public advantage the desire to reward every man according to his desert without partiality the experience that knew where to tighten the reign where to relax Prohibition of unnatural practices social tact and permission to his suite not invariably to be present at his banquets nor to attend his progress from Rome as a matter of obligation and always to be found the same by those who had failed to attend him through engagements Exact scrutiny in council and patience not that he was avoiding investigation satisfied with first impressions An inclination to keep his friends and nowhere fastidious or the victim of manias but his own master in everything and his outward mien cheerful His long foresight and ordering of the merest trifle without making scenes The check in his reign put upon organized applause and every form of lip service his unceasing watch over the needs of the empire and his stewardship of its resources his patience under criticism by individuals of such conduct No superstitious fear of divine powers nor with a man any courting of the public or obsequiousness or cultivation of popular favour but temperance in all things and firmness nowhere want of taste or search for novelty 88 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 89 He felt drowned in paperwork and complained to his tutor Fronto I am so out of breath from dictating nearly thirty letters 90 He was being fitted for ruling the state in the words of his biographer 91 He was required to make a speech to the assembled senators as well making oratorical training essential for the job 92 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 good colour and read your speech with a strong voice 93 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 10 I am having treatment and taking care not to do anything that interferes with it 94 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 95 nbsp nbsp Busts of Faustina the Younger Louvre Paris 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 96 Little is specifically known of the ceremony but it is said to have been noteworthy 97 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 98 Fronto and further education 136 146 editAfter taking the toga virilis in 136 Marcus probably began his training in oratory 99 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 100 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 101 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 102 Apollonius was compelled to return from Chalcedon to Rome at the request of Pius and would continue teaching Marcus 103 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 104 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 105 He thought the Stoics desire for apatheia foolish they would live a sluggish enervated life he said 106 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 107 nbsp Bust of Herodes Atticus Marcus tutor in Greek from his villa at Kephissia National Archaeological Museum of Athens Fronto was highly esteemed he was thought of as second only to Cicero perhaps even an alternative to him 108 notes 11 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 108 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 112 A significant amount of the correspondence between Fronto and Marcus has survived 113 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 114 Marcus spent time with Fronto s wife and daughter both named Cratia and they enjoyed light conversation 115 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 116 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 117 about one quarter of the surviving letters deal with Fronto s sicknesses 118 Marcus asks that Fronto s pain be inflicted on himself of my own accord with every kind of discomfort 119 Fronto never became Marcus full time teacher and continued his career as an advocate One notorious case brought him into conflict with Herodes 120 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 121 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 122 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 123 Marcus was satisfied with Fronto s response 124 The outcome of the trial is unknown 125 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 126 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 127 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 128 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 129 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 in Marcus entire boyhood 130 The Stoic prince 146 161 edit nbsp Portrait of Marcus as a young man Antonine period 138 192 AD from the area of San Teodoro on the Palatine Hill Palatine Museum RomeFronto 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 131 He disdained philosophy and philosophers and looked down on Marcus sessions with Apollonius of Chalcedon and others in this circle 113 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 132 Marcus kept in close touch with Fronto but he would ignore his scruples 133 Apollonius may have introduced Marcus to Stoic philosophy but Quintus Junius Rusticus would have the strongest influence on Marcus 134 notes 12 He was the man Fronto recognized as having wooed Marcus away from oratory 136 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 137 the true successor of Seneca as opposed to Fronto the false one 138 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 139 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 140 Marcus thanks three other friends for their influence Claudius Maximus Sextus of Chaeronea and Cinna Catulus 141 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 142 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 143 Catulus is totally unknown outside Marcus brief words of praise in the Meditations and the notice in the Historia Augusta 144 Edward Champlin reckons him a senator 145 Births and deaths 147 152 edit nbsp The Mausoleum of Hadrian where the children of Marcus and Faustina were buriedOn 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 147 146 nbsp Bust of Marcus as a young man c 150 AD Venice National Archaeological MuseumThe 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 Marcus wrote that he and Faustina had been pretty occupied with the girl s care 147 Domitia would die in 151 148 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 baby boy 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 149 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 150 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 6 146 151 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 died 152 Faustina probably had another daughter in 151 but the child Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina might not have been born until 153 153 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 154 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 synod even though this turned out otherwise The child s name is unknown 155 In 159 and 160 Faustina gave birth to daughters Fadilla after one of Faustina s dead sisters and Cornificia after Marcus sister 156 Pius last years 152 161 edit nbsp Bust of Lucius Verus Marcus adoptive brother and co emperor Metropolitan Museum of Art 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 his brother he enjoyed sports of all kinds but especially hunting and wrestling he took obvious pleasure in the circus games and gladiatorial fights 157 notes 13 He did not marry until 164 Pius was not fond of Lucius interests He would keep Lucius in the family but he was sure never to give the boy either power or glory 161 To take a typical example Lucius would not appear on Alexandrian coinage until 160 1 162 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 157 163 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 156 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 164 It was 7 March 161 165 Marcus was now emperor 166 Chronology editThis table largely follows the chronology of Birley s Marcus Aurelius 167 The chronology of Fronto s letters and miscellaneous works largely follows Champlin s The Chronology of Fronto and his Fronto and Antonine Rome 168 A indicates that a date is uncertain Date Event Source121 Verus II consul for the second time prefect of Rome26 April 121 Marcus born in Rome HA Marcus 1 5ca 122 Marcus sister Cornificia born notes 14 ca 124 Marcus father Verus III dies during his praetorship126 Verus II consul for the third time127 Marcus enrolled in the equites HA Marcus 4 1128 Marcus made salius Palatinus HA Marcus 4 2Marcus begins his elementary education notes 15 e g Quintilian Institutio Oratoria 1 1 15 16132 after 26 April Marcus introduced to philosophy by his painting master Diognetus HA Marcus 2 6 cf Meditations 1 6133 Marcus begins his secondary education136 ca 17 March Marcus takes the toga virilis HA Marcus 4 5136 after 26 April Marcus betrothed to Ceionia Favia daughter of L Commodus HA Marcus 4 5Marcus is made prefect of the city during the feriae Latinae HA Marcus 4 6136 Marcus meets Apollonius the Stoic HA Marcus 2 7L Commodus is adopted by Hadrian becoming L Aelius Caesar HA Hadrian 23 11Cornificia marries Ummidius Quadratus 170 HA Marcus 4 7 7 4Hadrian compels his brother in law Servianus and Servianus grandson Fuscus Salinator to commit suicide HA Hadrian 15 8 23 2 3 23 8 25 8 Dio 69 17 1 3137 L Aelius Caesar stationed in Pannonia HA Hadrian 23 131 January 138 L Aelius Caesar dies HA Hadrian 23 16 HA Aelius 4 724 January 138 Hadrian chooses Marcus uncle T Aurelius Antoninus as his successor HA Hadrian 24 1 26 6 1025 February 138 Antoninus accepts Hadrian s choice and is adopted HA Pius 4 625 February 26 April 138 notes 16 Antoninus adopts Marcus Aurelius and L Commodus junior Dio 69 21 1 2 HA Aelius 5 12 6 9 HA Hadrian 24 1 26 6 10 HA Marcus 5 1 notes 17 5 5 6Faustina betrothed to L Commodus junior HA Aelius 6 9Marcus moves to Hadrian s residence in Rome HA Marcus 5 3Marcus named quaestor for 139 HA Marcus 5 6Antoninus named consul for 139 HA Marcus 5 610 July 138 Hadrian dies at Baiae and Antoninus accedes to the emperorship HA Hadrian 26 6 HA Pius 5 1Marcus betrothal to Ceionia Fabia and Lucius betrothal to Faustina made void138 after 10 July Marcus betrothed to Faustina HA Marcus 6 2 HA Verus 2 3Hadrian deified HA Hadrian 27 2 HA Pius 5 1Antoninus named Pius HA Hadrian 27 4 cf HA Pius 2 2 7 notes 18 139 Pius consulMarcus quaestor HA Marcus 5 6 HA Pius 6 9Marcus designated consul for 140 HA Marcus 6 3 HA Pius 6 9Marcus acts as a sevir turmarum equitum Romanorum HA Marcus 6 3Marcus becomes princeps iuventutis takes the name Caesar and joins the major priestly colleges HA Marcus 6 3Marcus moves into Pius palace HA Marcus 6 3Marcus begins his higher education140 Marcus consul for the first time with Pius HA Marcus 6 4January 143 Herodes Atticus Marcus tutor consulJuly August 143 173 Fronto Marcus tutor consul Ad Marcum Caesarem 2 9 12January 145 Marcus consul for the second time with PiusLate spring 145 Marcus marries Faustina HA Marcus 6 6 HA Pius 10 230 November 147 Domitia Faustina is born to Faustina and Marcus notes 19 Inscriptiones Italiae 13 1 207 cf HA Marcus 6 6 Herodian 1 8 31 December 147 Marcus takes the tribunicia potestas HA Marcus 6 6Faustina named Augusta HA Marcus 6 6149 Twin sons are born to Faustina and Marcus both die within the year7 March 150 Lucilla born to Faustina and Marcus152 Cornificia dies Inscriptiones Italiae 13 1 207Lucius designated quaestor for 153Tiberius Aelius Antoninus born notes 20 Inscriptiones Italiae 13 1 207153 Lucius quaestor HA Pius 6 10 10 3 HA Verus 2 11 3 1 3154 Lucius consul HA Pius 10 3 HA Verus 3 3155 Victorinus son in law of Fronto and friend of Marcus consul155 161 Domitia Lucilla Minor Marcus mother dies161 Marcus consul for the third time with Lucius7 March 161 Antoninus Pius dies Dio 71 33 4 5 cf HA Marcus 7 3 HA Pius 12 4 7 notes 21 8 March 161 Marcus and Lucius become emperors HA Marcus 7 3 7 5 HA Verus 3 8Notes edit Farquharson dates his death to 130 when Marcus was nine 20 Farquharson notes that contrary to first impressions these slaves probably were not Christians these names were not common among Christians in this period but are quite often found among pagan servants 33 McLynn describes Marcus training in drama as a series of reviews and recitations of Euripides 39 Marcus also thanks Diognetus for having taught him to aspire to the camp bed and skin coverlet and the other things which are part of the Greek training 43 Birley amends the text of the HA Marcus from Eutychius to Tuticius 45 Others put a harsher light on Hadrian s nickname McLynn calls it an example of Hadrian s waspish McLynn says vespine wit and adduces it in support of his contention that Marcus was a prig 53 Birley following the textual and epigraphic citations concludes that he might only have seen Rome in 127 briefly in 128 and in 131 57 McLynn holds that Marcus apparent beneficence was part of Hadrian s dynastic strategy Hadrian had dynastic plans of his own for Annia Cornificia and leaned on Marcus to make the transfer 62 Commodus was a known consumptive at the time of his adoption so Hadrian may have intended Marcus eventual succession anyway 67 The manuscript is corrupt here 92 Moderns have not offered as positive an assessment His second modern editor Niebhur thought him stupid and frivolous his third editor Naber found him contemptible 109 Historians have seen him as a pedant and a bore his letters offering neither the running political analysis of a Cicero or the conscientious reportage of a Pliny 110 Recent prosopographic research has rehabilitated his reputation though not by much 111 Champlin notes that Marcus praise of him in the Meditations is out of order he is praised immediately after Diognetus who had introduced Marcus to philosophy giving him special emphasis 135 Although part of the biographer s account of Lucius is fictionalized probably to mimic Nero whose birthday Lucius shared 158 and another part poorly compiled from a better biographical source 159 scholars have accepted these biographical details as accurate 160 It is known that she was younger than Marcus so she could not have been born before 122 169 Birley states that she was born probably within the next two years after Marcus birth 19 Absent positive evidence either way Birley assumes that Marcus follows the typical schedule of a Roman aristocrat s education 29 HA Marcus 5 6 states that Marcus was not adopted until his seventeenth birthday 26 April It is uncertain how much this account can be trusted 171 HA Aelius 5 12 and Marcus 5 1 include the false report that Marcus adopted Lucius he was adopted with Marcus by Antoninus The biographer relates a number of fictions regarding Antoninus assumed name in this passage 172 Marcus and Faustina s first daughter has traditionally been identified with Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina against Herodian 1 8 3 which calls Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla as the eldest 174 Bol and Fittschen revised the chronology of Marcus and Faustina s children and Domitia Faustina is now identified as the couple s first daughter 175 The Fasti Ostienses record the birth of a son in this year He is identified with T Aelius Antoninus by Bol and Fittschen 176 HA Pius 12 4 contains the false notice that Pius died in the seventieth year of his life it was in fact the seventy fifth 177 Citations editAll 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 C R Haines Loeb edition Birley Marcus Aurelius 229 230 The thesis of single authorship was first proposed in H Dessau s Uber Zeit und Personlichkeit der Scriptoes Historiae Augustae in German Hermes 24 1889 337ff Birley Marcus Aurelius 230 On the HA Verus see Barnes 65 74 Mary Beard Was He Quite Ordinary London Review of Books 31 14 23 July 2009 accessed 15 September 2009 Birley Marcus Aurelius 226 Birley Marcus Aurelius 227 Birley Marcus Aurelius 228 229 253 Birley Marcus Aurelius 227 228 Birley Marcus Aurelius 228 Birley Marcus Aurelius 28 HA Marcus 1 2 1 4 Birley Marcus Aurelius 28 McLynn 14 Dio 69 21 2 71 35 2 3 Birley Marcus Aurelius 31 Codex Inscriptionum Latinarum 14 3579 Archived 2012 04 29 at the Wayback Machine Birley Marcus Aurelius 29 McLynn 14 575 n 53 citing Ronald Syme Roman Papers 1 244 Rupilius Strachan stemma a b Settipani Christian 2000 Continuite gentilice et continuite familiale dans les familles senatoriales romaines a l epoque imperiale mythe et realite Prosopographica et genealogica in Italian Vol 2 illustrated ed Unit for Prosopographical Research Linacre College University of Oxford p 278 ISBN 978 1900934022 Birley Marcus Aurelius 29 McLynn 14 Birley Marcus Aurelius 49 Birley Marcus Aurelius 29 citing Pliny Epistulae 8 18 Birley Marcus Aurelius 30 Birley Marcus Aurelius 31 44 a b c Birley Marcus Aurelius 31 Farquharson 1 95 96 Meditations 1 1 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 31 HA Marcus 2 1 and Meditations 5 4 qtd in Birley Marcus Aurelius 32 Meditations 1 3 qtd in Birley Marcus Aurelius 35 Meditations 1 17 7 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 35 a b Birley Marcus Aurelius 33 Ad Marcum Caesarem 2 8 2 Haines 1 142 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 31 Birley Marcus Aurelius 31 32 Meditations 1 1 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 35 a b c Birley Marcus Aurelius 35 Birley Marcus Aurelius 35 53 Meditations 1 17 2 Farquharson 1 102 McLynn 23 Meditations 1 17 11 Farquharson 1 103 McLynn 23 Farquharson 1 103 Cf Quintilian Institutio Oratoria 1 1 15 16 Birley Marcus Aurelius 35 36 McLynn 19 McLynn 20 21 Meditations 1 4 McLynn 20 a b c HA Marcus 2 2 Birley Marcus Aurelius 36 HA Marcus 2 2 McLynn 21 McLynn 22 citing S F Bonner Education in Ancient Rome Berkeley 1977 213 215 Meditations 1 2 qtd in Birley Marcus Aurelius 36 HA Marcus 2 2 4 9 Birley Marcus Aurelius 37 McLynn 21 22 Meditations 1 6 qtd in Birley Marcus Aurelius 37 cf McLynn 21 22 Meditations 1 6 tr Farquharson HA Marcus 2 6 cf Meditations 1 6 Birley Marcus Aurelius 38 McLynn 21 Birley Later Caesars 109 109 n 8 Marcus Aurelius 40 270 n 27 citing Bonner Historia Augusta Colloquia 1966 7 39ff HA Marcus 2 3 Birley Marcus Aurelius 40 270 n 27 Birley Marcus Aurelius 40 citing Aelius Aristides Oratio 32 K McLynn 21 Meditations 1 10 Birley Marcus Aurelius 40 McLynn 22 Birley Marcus Aurelius 40 270 n 28 citing A S L Farquharson The Meditations of Marcus Antoninus Oxford 1944 2 453 Birley Marcus Aurelius 42 HA Marcus 4 1 4 2 Birley Marcus Aurelius 36 HA Marcus 1 10 2 1 Birley Marcus Aurelius 38 Hadrian to the Antonines 147 The appellation also survives on inscriptions Birley cites at Marcus Aurelius p 270 n 24 Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 A 697 and L Annee epigraphique 1940 62 Archived 2013 01 27 at the Wayback Machine McLynn 18 citing Michael Grant The Antonines 1994 26 for the characterization of verissimus as an example of Hadrian s waspish wit Birley Marcus Aurelius 36 37 McLynn 18 19 HA Marcus 4 4 Birley Marcus Aurelius 37 McLynn 19 HA Marcus 4 3 Birley Marcus Aurelius 37 McLynn 19 Birley Marcus Aurelius 38 270 n 24 HA Marcus 4 5 Birley Marcus Aurelius 39 40 McLynn 24 25 R Syme The Ummidii Historia 17 1 1968 93 94 HA Marcus 4 6 Birley Marcus Aurelius 41 HA Marcus 2 7 Meditations 1 17 5 cf 1 8 Birley Marcus Aurelius 41 HA Marcus 4 7 Birley Marcus Aurelius 41 McLynn 37 Birley Marcus Aurelius 41 42 HA Hadrian 23 10 qtd in Birley Marcus Aurelius 42 Birley Marcus Aurelius 42 On the succession to Hadrian see also T D Barnes Hadrian and Lucius Verus Journal of Roman Studies 57 1 2 1967 65 79 J VanderLeest Hadrian Lucius Verus and the Arco di Portogallo Phoenix 49 4 1995 319 330 HA Hadrian 23 15 16 Birley Marcus Aurelius 45 Hadrian to the Antonines 148 Dio 69 17 1 HA Aelius 3 7 4 6 6 1 7 Birley Hadrian to the Antonines 147 Birley Marcus Aurelius 46 Date Birley Hadrian to the Antonines 148 Dio 69 21 1 HA Hadrian 24 1 HA Aelius 6 9 HA Pius 4 6 7 Birley Marcus Aurelius 48 49 Dio 71 36 1 HA Marcus 5 2 Birley Marcus Aurelius 49 HA Marcus 5 3 Birley Marcus Aurelius 49 Birley Marcus Aurelius 49 50 HA Marcus 5 6 8 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 50 Birley Marcus Aurelius 80 81 Dio 69 22 4 HA Hadrian 25 5 6 Birley Marcus Aurelius 50 51 Hadrian s suicide attempts Dio 69 22 1 4 HA Hadrian 24 8 13 HA Hadrian 25 7 Birley Marcus Aurelius 53 HA Marcus 6 1 McLynn 42 HA Pius 5 3 6 3 Birley Marcus Aurelius 55 56 Hadrian to the Antonines 151 Birley Marcus Aurelius 55 Hadrian to the Antonines 151 HA Marcus 6 2 Verus 2 3 4 Birley Marcus Aurelius 53 54 Dio 71 35 5 HA Marcus 6 3 Birley Marcus Aurelius 56 Meditations 6 30 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 57 cf Marcus Aurelius 270 n 9 with notes on the translation a b HA Marcus 6 3 Birley Marcus Aurelius 57 Birley Marcus Aurelius 57 272 n 10 citing Codex Inscriptionum Latinarum 6 32 Archived 2012 04 29 at the Wayback Machine 6 379 Archived 2012 04 29 at the Wayback Machine cf Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 360 Archived 2012 04 29 at the Wayback Machine Meditations 5 16 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 57 Meditations 8 9 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 57 Birley Marcus Aurelius 58 59 Meditations 1 16 tr Farquharson Birley Marcus Aurelius 57 58 Ad Marcum Caesarem 4 7 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 90 HA Marcus 6 5 Birley Marcus Aurelius 58 a b Birley Marcus Aurelius 89 Ad Marcum Caesarem 5 1 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 89 Ad Marcum Caesarem 4 8 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 89 Dio 71 36 3 Birley Marcus Aurelius 89 Birley Marcus Aurelius 90 91 HA Pius 10 2 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 91 Birley Marcus Aurelius 91 Birley Marcus Aurelius 61 HA Marcus 2 4 Birley Marcus Aurelius 62 Alan Cameron review of Anthony Birley s Marcus Aurelius Classical Review 17 3 1967 347 HA Marcus 3 6 Birley Marcus Aurelius 62 HA Pius 10 4 Birley Marcus Aurelius 62 63 Vita Sophistae 2 1 14 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 63 64 Aulus Gellius Noctes Atticae 9 2 1 7 Birley Marcus Aurelius 64 65 Aulus Gellius Noctes Atticae 19 12 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 65 Birley Marcus Aurelius 65 a b Birley Marcus Aurelius 65 67 Champlin Fronto 1 2 Ronald Mellor review of Edward Champlin s Fronto and Antonine Rome The American Journal of Philology 103 4 1982 460 Cf e g Ronald Mellor review of Edward Champlin s Fronto and Antonine Rome The American Journal of Philology 103 4 1982 461 and passim Birley Marcus Aurelius 67 68 citing E Champlin Fronto and Antonine Rome 1980 esp chs 3 and 4 a b Birley Marcus Aurelius 69 Ad Marcum Caesarem 4 6 Haines 1 80ff qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 76 Ad Marcum Caesarem 4 6 Haines 1 80ff Birley Marcus Aurelius 76 77 Ad Marcum Caesarem 3 10 11 Haines 1 50ff qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 73 Birley Marcus Aurelius 73 Champlin Chronology of Fronto 138 Ad Marcum Caesarem 5 74 Haines 2 52ff qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 73 Birley Marcus Aurelius 77 On the date see Champlin Chronology of Fronto 142 who with Bowersock Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire 1964 93ff argues for a date in the 150s Birley Marcus Aurelius 78 79 273 n 17 with Ameling Herodes Atticus 1983 1 61ff 2 30ff argues for 140 Ad Marcum Caesarem 3 2 Haines 1 58ff qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 77 78 Ad Marcum Caesarem 3 3 Haines 1 62ff Birley Marcus Aurelius 78 Ad Marcum Caesarem 3 3 Haines 1 62ff qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 79 Ad Marcum Caesarem 3 5 Birley Marcus Aurelius 79 80 Birley Marcus Aurelius 80 Ad Marcum Caesarem 1 6 8 Haines 1 154ff Birley Marcus Aurelius 84 85 Ad Marcum Caesarem 1 6 8 Haines 1 154ff qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 85 Ad Marcum Caesarem 4 13 Haines 1 214ff qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 93 Ad Marcum Caesarem 4 3 1 Haines 1 2ff Birley Marcus Aurelius 94 HA Marcus 3 5 8 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 94 Ad Marcum Caesarem 4 3 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 69 De Eloquentia 4 5 Haines 2 74 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 95 Alan Cameron in his review of Birley s biography The Classical Review 17 3 1967 347 suggests a reference to chapter 11 of Arthur Darby Nock s Conversion Oxford Oxford University Press 1933 rept 1961 Conversion to Philosophy Birley Marcus Aurelius 94 105 Birley Marcus Aurelius 95 Champlin Fronto 120 Champlin Fronto 174 n 12 Ad Antoninum Imperator 1 2 2 Haines 2 36 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 95 Birley Marcus Aurelius 94 95 101 Champlin Fronto 120 Meditations 1 7 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 94 95 Meditations 1 14 Birley Marcus Aurelius 95 96 Meditations 1 15 1 9 1 13 Birley Marcus Aurelius 96 98 Meditations 1 15 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 97 Dio 71 1 2 Birley Marcus Aurelius 97 Meditations 1 13 HA Marcus 3 2 Birley Marcus Aurelius 97 98 Champlin Fronto 174 n 10 Champlin Fronto 174 n 10 Birley Marcus Aurelius 103 Ad Marcum Caesarem 4 11 Haines 1 202ff qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 105 Birley Marcus Aurelius 247 F 1 Birley Marcus Aurelius 206 207 Meditations 9 40 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 207 Meditations 10 34 tr Farquharson 78 224 Birley Marcus Aurelius 107 Birley Marcus Aurelius 107 108 Birley Marcus Aurelius 108 Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas pertinentes 4 1399 qtd and tr Birley Marcus Aurelius 114 a b Birley Marcus Aurelius 114 HA Verus 2 9 11 3 4 7 Birley Marcus Aurelius 108 Suetonius Nero 6 1 HA Verus 1 8 Barnes 67 Birley Marcus Aurelius 158 See also Barnes 69 70 Pierre Lambrechts L empereur Lucius Verus Essai de rehabilitation in French Antiquite Classique 3 1934 173ff Barnes 66 Poorly compiled e g Barnes 68 Barnes 68 69 HA Verus 2 9 11 3 4 7 Barnes 68 Birley Marcus Aurelius 108 Barnes 68 citing J Vogt Die Alexandrinischen Miinzen 1924 I III 2 62ff Birley Marcus Aurelius 112 HA Pius 12 4 8 Birley Marcus Aurelius 114 Dio 71 33 4 5 Birley Marcus Aurelius 114 Birley Marcus Aurelius 116 Birley Marcus Aurelius 44 45 Champlin Fronto 131 136 Birley Marcus Aurelius 243 Birley Marcus Aurelius 41 243 Syme The Ummidii 98 99 Birley Marcus Aurelius 271 n 48 Alan Cameron review of Anthony Birley s Marcus Aurelius Classical Review 17 3 1967 Champlin Chronology 139 e g Magie 147 n 44 Birley Marcus Aurelius 247 Birley Marcus Aurelius 247 citing R Bol Das Statuenprogramm des Gerodes Atticus Nymphaums Olympische Forschungen 15 Berlin 1984 31f and Fittschen Die Bildnistypen der Faustina minor und die Fecunditas Augustae Abhandlungen Akad Gottingen ph hist Kl 3rd series 126 1982 43 n 8 Birley Marcus Aurelius 247 citing R Bol Das Statuenprogramm des Gerodes Atticus Nymphaums Olympische Forschungen 15 Berlin 1984 34f and Fittschen Die Bildnistypen der Faustina minor und die Fecunditas Augustae Abhandlungen Akad Gottingen ph hist Kl 3rd series 126 1982 27f Magie 129 n 96 cf HA Pius 1 8 Bibliography editEarly life of Marcus Aurelius at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Definitions from Wiktionary nbsp Media from Commons nbsp News from Wikinews nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Texts from Wikisource nbsp Textbooks from Wikibooks nbsp Resources from Wikiversity Ancient sources edit Aelius Aristides Orationes Orations Cassius Dio Roman History Cary Earnest trans Roman History 9 vols Loeb ed London Heinemann 1914 27 Online at LacusCurtius Accessed 26 August 2009 Epitome de Caesaribus Banchich Thomas M trans A Booklet About the Style of Life and the Manners of the Imperatores Canisius College Translated Texts 1 Buffalo NY Canisius College 2009 Online at De Imperatoribus Romanis Accessed 31 August 2009 Fronto Marcus Cornelius Haines Charles Reginald trans The Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto 2 vols Loeb ed London Heinemann 1920 Online at the Internet Archive Vol 1 2 Accessed 26 August 2009 Gellius Aulus Noctes Atticae Attic Nights Rolfe J C trans The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius 3 vols Loeb ed London Heinemann 1927 28 Vols 1 and 2 online at LacusCurtius Accessed 26 August 2009 Herodian Ab Excessu Divi Marci History of the Roman Empire from the Death of Marcus Aurelius Echols Edward C trans Herodian of Antioch s History of the Roman Empire Berkeley and Los Angeles University of California Press 1961 Online at Tertullian and Livius Accessed 14 September 2009 Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Meditations Farquharson A S L trans Meditations New York Knopf 1946 rept 1992 Quintilian Institutio Oratoria Institutes of Oratory Butler H E trans The Orator s Education 5 vols Loeb ed London Heinemann 1920 22 Online at LacusCurtius Accessed 14 September 2009 Scriptores Historiae Augustae Authors of the Historia Augusta Historia Augusta Augustan History Magie David trans Historia Augusta 3 vols Loeb ed London Heinemann 1921 32 Online at LacusCurtius Accessed 26 August 2009 Birley Anthony R trans Lives of the Later Caesars London Penguin 1976 Modern sources edit Barnes Timothy D Hadrian and Lucius Verus Journal of Roman Studies 57 1 2 1967 65 79 Birley Anthony R Marcus Aurelius A Biography New York Routledge 1966 rev 1987 ISBN 0415171253 Birley Anthony R Hadrian to the Antonines In The Cambridge Ancient History Volume XI The High Empire A D 70 192 edited by Alan Bowman Peter Garnsey and Dominic Rathbone 132 194 New York Cambridge University Press 2000 ISBN 978 0521263351 Champlin Edward The Chronology of Fronto Journal of Roman Studies 64 1974 136 159 Champlin Edward Fronto and Antonine Rome Cambridge MA Harvard University Press 1980 ISBN 0674326687 McLynn Frank Marcus Aurelius Warrior Philosopher Emperor London Bodley Head 2009 ISBN 978 0224072922 Robertson D How to Think Like a Roman Emperor The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius New York St Martin s Press 2019 Syme Ronald The Ummidii Historia 17 1 1968 72 105 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Early life of Marcus Aurelius amp oldid 1179438168, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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