ANTONINUS

ANTONINUS, Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius, surnamed Pius, emperor of Rome, was born A.D. 86, at Lanuvium in Italy. The family of his father, from whom he inherited great wealth, was originally from Nismes in Gaul. Both his father and grandfather had held the office of consul. Arrius Antoninus, his maternal grandfather, by his amiable disposition and love of literature, had acquired an eminent character, and was very intimate with Pliny the younger. Under him the young Titus, after his father's death, completed his education. His character, on arriving at the age of maturity, manifested itself in the most promising manner. To an outward mien at once mild and dignified, he joined a cultivated understanding, a virtuous heart, and a manly eloquence. Simple in his tastes, and

Antoninus, guided by temperance in all his sentiments and actions, he was entirely free from the usual vices of imperial rank.

In the year 120, among the many public honours which his birth and connections gave him a claim to, he was elevated to the high post of consul, and was afterwards appointed by Hadrian to be one of the four consulars among whom the supreme power of Italy was divided. Becoming in his turn proconsul of Asia, he acquitted himself with such reputation that he even excelled his grandfather Arrius, who had formerly enjoyed that high trust. Returning from Asia, he was received into the favour and confidence of Hadrian. He married Annia Faustina, the daughter of Annius Verus, whose character was far from being irreproachable; but his lenient disposition induced him to avoid public scandal, and he behaved towards his aged father-in-law with the most becoming respect. Two sons and two daughters were the fruits of this marriage. The sons died young, and the eldest daughter, who was married to Lamia Syllanus, died, when Titus proceeded towards his Asiatic government. Faustina, the youngest, married Marcus Aurelius, who was afterwards emperor.

After the death of Verus, Hadrian adopted Antoninus as his successor in the Roman empire, with the title of Caesar, A.D. 138; and at the same time created him his colleague in the proconsular and tribunitian offices. Extending his plans of adoption still farther, he caused Antoninus to adopt the son of Verus, then seven years of age, and Marcus Anninus, afterwards named Aurelius, then seventeen years of age, a relation of Hadrian's, and nephew to his own wife. The dutiful and merited attention which Antoninus bestowed on Hadrian during the last months of his illness, justifies, in conjunction with his general character, the epithet afterwards bestowed upon him. On July 10, A.D. 138, he succeeded to the empire amidst the universal acclamations of the senate and people, who anticipated in his well-tried virtues that happiness which a good and wise sovereign is able to bestow upon his subjects.

The Roman world enjoyed such tranquillity under his reign that it affords few materials for history; yet it is to be regretted that Capitolinus is the only historian from whom any direct information can be received concerning this peaceful period, and he is none of the most perspicuous. It however appears that the usual honours and titles, together with the addition of the surname of Pius, which the general tenor of his life and his zeal in defending and honouring the memory of his predecessor united to suggest, were willingly conferred upon him by the senate. In the beginning of his reign there were several conspiracies formed against him; but these only afforded him opportunities of signalizing his singular clemency. Though unable to prevent the course of justice against the ringleaders, he prohibited the prosecution of their accomplices, and took the son of Attilius, one of the principal conspirators, under his protection. Various commotions were raised in several parts of the empire; but by the vigilance of his lieutenants these were easily quelled. The incursions of the Brigantes in Britain were restrained, and a new wall which was built to the north of that of Hadrian, extending from the Forth to the Clyde, and which was called the Wall of Antoninus, was fixed as the boundary of the Roman province in Britain. The reign of Antoninus, upon the whole, was singularly peaceful, and realised a saying of Scipio, that "he preferred saving the life of one citizen, to destroying a thousand enemies."

Jurisprudence was to this emperor, as it was to his predecessor, an interesting subject for improvement; and several decrees which he issued display his commendable spirit of equity. The natural consequence of this equity was, that Antoninus acquired a reputation and fame which no military achievements could have conferred; and his friendship was courted by the neighbouring princes.

There is scarcely a blot to be found to tarnish his character; and frugality, modesty, and harmless amusement continued to employ his private hours. In the management of his complicated business he was exact to such a degree, that it was even ridiculed by some; but he found the daily advantage of this accuracy. The growing virtue of Marcus Aurelius soon drew his attention after he ascended the throne, and having given him his daughter in marriage, he declared him Caesar. Nor was he mistaken in his choice; for Aurelius acted with the utmost fidelity and affection amid all the honours that he continued to confer upon him. But his prosperous reign was drawing to a close: in the 75th year of his life he was seized with a fever at his favourite country-seat of Lorium. Assured of his approaching death, he convened the principal officers of the state, confirmed his election of Aurelius, and gave him the imperial ensigns. A delirium ensued, in an interval of which the tribune of the night-watch having come, as was customary, to receive the pass-word, the dying emperor uttered the stoical watchword Aquanimitas, and calmly resigned his breath in the 23d year of his reign. His ashes were consigned to the tomb of Hadrian, and divine honours paid to his memory. He was universally regretted, and succeeding emperors for more than a century bore his name as a title of honour. The senate and his successor erected a sculptured pillar to his memory, which still exists as one of the chief ornaments of the city of Rome.

ANTONINUS'S WALL, the name of the third rampart or defence that had been built or repaired by the Romans against the incursions of the North Britons. It is called by the people in the neighbourhood Graham's Dike, from the opinion that one Graham, or Grimus, first made a breach in it after the retreat of the Romans out of Britain. The first barrier erected by the Romans was the chain of forts made by Agricola from the firth of Forth to that of Clyde, in the year 81, to protect his conquest from the inroads of the Caledonians. The second was the vallum or dike thrown up by Hadrian in the year 121. It terminated on the western side of the kingdom at Axelodunum or Brugh, on the Solway sands, and at Pons Elii or Newcastle on the eastern. The rampart of Hadrian was situated much farther south than Agricola's chain; the country to the north having been either recovered, according to some authors, by the native Britons after the departure of Agricola, or, according to others, voluntarily slighted by Hadrian. However, this work of Hadrian's did not long continue to be the extreme boundary of the Roman territories to the north in Britain; for Antoninus Pius, the adopted son and immediate successor of Hadrian, having, by his lieutenant Lollius Urbicus, recovered the country once conquered by Agricola, commanded another rampart to be erected between the firths of Forth and Clyde, in the track where Agricola had formerly built his chain of forts. The great number of inscriptions which have been found in or near the ruins of this wall or rampart, to the honour of Antoninus Pius, leave us no room to doubt its having been built by his direction and command. If the fragment of a Roman pillar with an inscription, now in the college library of Edinburgh, belonged to this work, as is generally supposed, it fixes the date of its execution in the third consulship of Antoninus, which was A.D. 140, only twenty years after that of Hadrian, of which this seems to have been an imitation. This wall or rampart, as some imagine, reached from Carriden on the firth of Forth to Old Kirkpatrick on the Clyde; or, as others think, from Kinniel on the east to Dunlass on the west. These different suppositions hardly make a mile of difference in the length of this work, which, from several actual mensurations, appears to have been 37 English or 40 Roman miles. Capitolinus, in his life of Antoninus Pius, directly affirms that

Antonius's Wall. the wall which that emperor built in Britain was of turf. This in the main is unquestionably true, though it is evident (from the vestiges of it still remaining, which not very many years ago were dug up and examined for near a mile together) that the foundation was of stone. Mr Camden also tells us that the principal rampart was faced with square stone, to prevent the earth from falling into the ditch. The chief parts of this work were as follows: 1. A broad and deep ditch, whose dimensions cannot now be discovered with certainty and exactness, though Mr Pont says it was 12 feet wide. 2. The principal wall or rampart was about 12 feet thick at the foundation, but its original height cannot now be determined. This wall was situated on the south brink of the ditch. 3. A military way on the south side of the principal wall, well paved, and raised a little above the level of the ground. This work, as well as that of Hadrian, was defended by garrisons placed in forts and stations along the line of it. The number of these forts or stations, whose vestiges were visible in Mr Pont's time, was 18, situated at about the distance of two miles from each other. In the intervals between the forts there were turrets or watch-towers; but the number of these, and their distance from each other, cannot now be discovered.

It is not a little surprising, that though it is now more than 1700 years since this work was finished, and more than 1400 since it was neglected, we can yet discover, from authentic monuments which are still remaining, by what particular bodies of Roman troops almost every part of it was executed. This discovery is made from inscriptions upon stones, which were originally built into the face of the wall, and have been found in or near its ruins. From these inscriptions it appears in general, that this great work was executed by the second legion, the vexillations of the sixth legion and of the twentieth legion, and one cohort of auxiliaries. Some of these inscriptions have suffered greatly by the injuries of time and other accidents; so that we cannot discover from them with absolute certainty how many paces of this work were executed by each of these bodies of troops. The sum of the certain and probable information contained in these inscriptions, as it is collected by Mr Horsley, stands thus:

or 39 Roman miles 726 paces, nearly the length of the wall. It would be both useful and agreeable to know how long these troops were employed in the execution of this great work. But of this we have no information. Neither do we know what particular bodies of troops were in garrison in the several forts and stations along the line of this wall, because these garrisons were withdrawn before the Notitia Imperii was written.—See Gordon's Itinerarium Septentrionale, and Maitland's History of Scotland.

Though we cannot discover exactly how many years this wall of the Emperor Antoninus continued to be the boundary of the Roman territories in Britain, yet we know with certainty that it was not very long. For we are told by an author of undoubted credit (Dion Cassius, lib. lxxii.), that, in the reign of Commodus, A.D. 180, "he had wars with several foreign nations, but none so dangerous as that of

Britain; for the people of the island having passed the wall which divided them from the Romans, attacked them, and cut them to pieces."