ANTONINUS, Marcus Aurelius, surnamed the Philosopher, a very eminent Roman emperor, born at Rome on the 20th of April, A.D. 121. He was called by several names till he was admitted into the Aurelian family, when he took that of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Hadrian, upon the death of Ceionius Commodus, turned his eyes upon Marcus Aurelius; but, as he was not then 18 years of age, and consequently too young for so important a station, he fixed upon Antoninus Pius, whom he adopted, upon condition that he should likewise adopt Marcus Aurelius. The year after this adoption, Hadrian appointed him questor, though he had not yet attained the age prescribed by law. After the death of Hadrian, Aurelius married Faustina, the daughter of Antoninus Pius, by whom he had several children. In the year 139 he was invested with new honours by the Emperor Pius, which he bore in such a manner as endeared him to that prince and the whole people.
On the death of Pius, in the year 161, he was invested by the senate with the imperial power, taking as his colleague L. Ceionius Commodus, thenceforward called L. Aurelius Verus. Dion Cassius says that he was induced to this by his ill health, and the desire of leisure to pursue his studies; Lucius being of a strong, vigorous constitution, and consequently more fit for the fatigues of war. The same day he assumed the name of Antoninus, which he bestowed likewise on his colleague Verus, to whom, at the same time, he betrothed his daughter Lucilla.
The happiness which the empire began to enjoy under the two emperors was soon interrupted. In the year 162, a dreadful inundation of the Tiber destroyed a vast number of cattle, and occasioned a famine at Rome. This calamity was followed by the Parthian war; and at the same time the Catti ravaged Germany and Rhætia. Lucius Verus went in person to oppose the Parthians; and Antoninus remained
Antoninus at Rome, where his presence was necessary. Less through the ability of Verus than the conduct of his lieutenant, the war with the Parthians was successfully terminated. The two emperors shared the honours of a magnificent triumph at Rome in the year 165, and were honoured with the title of Fathers of their country. In this year the city was ravaged by famine and by a terrible pestilence which spread itself over the whole world. It was likewise in this year that the Marcomanni, and many other people of Germany, took up arms against the Romans; but the two emperors, having marched in person against them, obliged them to sue for peace. The war, however, was renewed the year following, and the two emperors again opened the campaign in person. Lucius Verus was seized with an apoplectic fit, and died at Altinum. The whole conduct of the war now devolved on his successor, who found his resources so straitened, that to save the people from new taxes, he parted with the plate and furniture of his palace, and even with the empress's jewels, in order to meet the demands of the war. His self-denying and vigorous exertions were crowned with the greatest success.
During this war, in 174, a very extraordinary event is said to have happened, which, according to Dion Cassius, was as follows: Antoninus's army being blocked up by the Quadi in a very disadvantageous place, where there was no possibility of procuring water, and being worn out with fatigue and wounds, oppressed with heat and thirst, and incapable of retiring or engaging the enemy, in an instant the sky was covered with clouds, and there fell a vast quantity of rain. The Roman army were about to quench their thirst when the enemy came upon them with such fury, that they must certainly have been defeated, had it not been for a shower of hail, accompanied with a storm of thunder and lightning, which fell upon the enemy without the least annoyance to the Romans, who by this means gained the victory.1 In 175 Antoninus made a treaty with several nations of Germany. Soon after, Avidius Cassius, governor of Syria, urged on by Faustina, revolted from the emperor. This insurrection, however, soon ended in the murder of Cassius by his own partisans. Antoninus behaved with great lenity towards those who had been engaged in Cassius's party: he would not put to death, nor imprison, nor even sit in judgment himself upon any of the senators engaged in this revolt; but he referred them to the senate, fixing a day for their appearance, as if it had been only a civil affair. He wrote also to the senate, desiring them to act with indulgence rather than severity; nor to shed the blood of any senator or person of quality, or of any other person whatever; but to allow this honour to his reign, that, even under the misfortune of a rebellion, none had lost their lives except in the first heat of the tumult. In 176 Antoninus visited Syria and Egypt. The kings of those countries, and ambassadors also from Parthia, came to visit him. He staid several days at Smyrna; and, after settling the affairs of the East, went to Athens; on which city he conferred several honours, and appointed public professors there. From thence he returned to Rome with his son Commodus, whom he chose consul for the year following, though he was then but 16 years of age, having obtained a dispensation for that purpose. On the 27th of September in the same year he gave him the title of Imperator; and on the 23d of December
he entered Rome in triumph with Commodus, on account of the victories gained over the Germans. Dion Cassius tells us that he remitted all the debts which were due to himself and the public treasury during 46 years, and burnt the writings relating to these debts. In the year 177 he left Rome with his son Commodus, to march against the Marcomanni and other barbarous nations. In the following year he gained a considerable victory over them, and would in all probability have entirely subdued them, had he not been seized with an illness, which carried him off on the 17th of March 180, in the 59th year of his age, and 20th of his reign. The character of this prince affords the highest instance of what the Stoical philosophy could do in moulding a disposition naturally tranquil and benevolent. Alike in his public and private life, Antoninus moved like a superior being among the rest of mankind. Master of himself, and ever influenced by the highest motives which heathen morality could suggest, he was deeply and universally beloved; and a people who believed in the divine descent of Romulus and his bodily return to heaven, might well celebrate with more than empty ceremony the apotheosis of Antoninus, and reverently set up his statue in their houses. But his persecution of the Christians, to which, doubtless, he was instigated by evil counsellors, is an indelible stain on a character otherwise so estimable. The martyrdom of Justin at Rome, of the venerable Polycarp, with many others at Smyrna, took place about the 7th year of his reign; and that he sanctioned the horrible atrocities perpetrated at Vienna and Lyons ten years later, is confirmed by the answer returned to the Roman governor, who applied for instructions, that all who professed Christianity should be put to death. The only work of his that remains, besides some letters in the remains of Fronto, discovered by Mai at Rome, is his book of Meditations, originally written in Greek (τῶν ἰς τὰντοῦν βιβλία δόδεκα). It consists of miscellaneous reflections on moral and religious subjects, expressive of the thoughts and feelings of the writer, in the midst of the daily business of life, the manifold cares and routine of a court, or the distracting tumult of the camp. Together with the writings of Epictetus, these form the most valuable remains of the Stoical school, and faithfully describe the mode of self-discipline by which its higher representatives formed their minds in the habit of virtue. The best edition is that of Gataker, Cantab. 1652, reprinted, London, 1697, with Dacier's notes and life of Antoninus, translated into Latin by Stanhope. It has been frequently translated. The best English version is that by Drs Moor and Hutcheson, 2 vols. 12mo, 1749.