Malay Peninsula). [270] He took great care in the theory and practice of legislation. 1 Technically this was not an adoption, the creation of a new and different patria potestas. A central theme to Meditations is the importance of analyzing one's judgment of self and others and the development of a cosmic perspective. [316] The oldest surviving complete manuscript copy is in the Vatican library and dates to the 14th century. [264], Starting in the 160s, Germanic tribes, and other nomadic people launched raids along the northern border, particularly into Gaul and across the Danube. Marcus had a long apprenticeship at the side of Antoninus, learning the business of government and assuming public roles, before peacefully assuming power upon Antoninus’s death. When Hadrian died, Antoninus assumed command. 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'. That is the world which I created. Height 5'10" … Marcus Aurelius : Maximus, that is why it must be you. The boy did not survive long, as evidenced by coins from 156, only depicting the two girls. [114] Marcus kept in close touch with Fronto, but would ignore Fronto's scruples. The military precariousness of the empire and the inflexibility of its financial structure in the face of emergencies now stood revealed; desperate measures were adopted to fill the depleted legions, and imperial property was auctioned to provide funds. [166] On 31 August, she gave birth at Lanuvium to twins: T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus. [240] When Lucius was hailed as imperator again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the Imperator II with him. Galen, who was in Rome when the plague spread to the city in 166,[282] mentioned that 'fever, diarrhoea, and inflammation of the pharynx, along with dry or pustular eruptions of the skin after nine days' were among the symptoms. The preponderance of Greek tutors indicates the importance of the Greek language to the aristocracy of Rome. It would have been clear to the public which emperor was the more senior. [199] Marcus was unprepared. 'When Glass Was Treasured in China'. Numerous members of Germanic tribes settled in frontier regions like Dacia, Pannonia, Germany, and Italy itself. [179], Lucius was less esteemed by Fronto than his brother, as his interests were on a lower level. [171] At the ceremonies commemorating the event, new provisions were made for the support of poor children, along the lines of earlier imperial foundations. [129] Faustina probably had another daughter in 151, but the child, Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina, might not have been born until 153. Who knows better than you how demanding it is! He was made consul soon after. Marcus Aurelius : My powers will pass to Maximus, to hold in trust until the Senate is ready to rule once more. But if he had put his family first he would not have risked all to honor the dead Emperor’s last wishes for a legacy greater than his conquests. [64] For his dutiful behaviour, Antoninus was asked to accept the name 'Pius'. There was, however, much precedent. When Marcus Aurelius was 17 years of age, his uncle became the emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned 138–161) and adopted him and another young man as his successors. [160] Upon his accession he also devalued the Roman currency. [275] In 168, he revalued the denarius, increasing the silver purity from 79% to 82% – the actual silver weight increasing from 2.57–2.67 g (0.091–0.094 oz). Marcus Aurelius, in full Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, original name (until 161 ce) Marcus Annius Verus, (born April 26, 121 ce, Rome [Italy]—died March 17, 180, Vindobona [Vienna, Austria] or Sirmium, Pannonia), Roman emperor (161–180 ce), best known for his Meditations on Stoic philosophy. After his death the empire quickly descended into civil war. [296] The last named went so far as to call him "more philanthropic and philosophic" than Antoninus and Hadrian, and set him against the persecuting emperors Domitian and Nero to make the contrast bolder. Marcus Aurelius named his adoptive brother co-emperor. [8] Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources. Marcus, with his preference for the philosophic life, found the imperial office unappealing. [37] Marcus thanks his grandfather for teaching him 'good character and avoidance of bad temper'. Marcus Aurelius (Emperor of Rome), André Dacier, Thomas Gataker (1701). Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10. [176], Fronto returned to his Roman townhouse at dawn on 28 March, having left his home in Cirta as soon as news of his pupils' accession reached him. He started nibbling on dry bread to give him the strength to stay awake through his morning receptions. Marcus Aurelius, however, is not … [14] Marcus was raised in his parents' home on the Caelian Hill, an upscale area with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas. [257], During the early 160s, Fronto's son-in-law Victorinus was stationed as a legate in Germany. Marcus Aurelius. [161], A possible contact with Han China occurred in 166 when a Roman traveller visited the Han court, claiming to be an ambassador representing a certain Andun (Chinese: 安 敦), ruler of Daqin, who can be identified either with Marcus or his predecessor Antoninus. Maximus : Two years, two hundred and sixty-four days and this morning. Claudius II (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Valerius Claudius Augustus;[1][2] May 10, 210 – July 270), commonly known as Claudius Gothicus, was Roman emperor from 268 to 270. [294][295], Christians such as Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, and Eusebius also gave him the title. [224], Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch, though he wintered at Laodicea and summered at Daphne, a resort just outside Antioch. [131] By 28 March 158, when Marcus replied, another of his children was dead. Man Should Upright. [44] A new set of tutors – the Homeric scholar Alexander of Cotiaeum along with Trosius Aper and Tuticius Proculus, teachers of Latin[45][note 3] – took over Marcus's education in about 132 or 133. Ackermann, Schroeder, Terry, Lo Upshur and Whitters, p. 39. Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', p. 68. The ab epistulis Sextus Caecilius Crescens Volusianus, in charge of the imperial correspondence, was replaced with Titus Varius Clemens. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. His father, Marcus Annius Verus III was a politician and a nobleman. It was to the credit of Marcus, who was intelligent as well as hardworking and serious-minded, that he grew impatient with the unending regime of advanced exercises in Greek and Latin declamation and eagerly embraced the Diatribai (Discourses) of a religious former slave, Epictetus, an important moral philosopher of the Stoic school. Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164. [49], In late 136, Hadrian almost died from a hemorrhage. Updates? ', 'Dwell on the beauty of life. His grandfather and great-grandfather on his father’s side were senators and his mother, Domitia Lucilla (known as the minor, c. 155-161 CE), also came from a wealthy and politically connected family. Unlike some of his predecessors, Marcus chose not to adopt an heir. Ah, yes, I remember. Marcus Aurelius' Meditations - tr. 662 likes . Then another: the girl alone. 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'. [150] Thus, although the senate planned to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers. [90] He thought the Stoics' desire for apatheia was foolish: they would live a 'sluggish, enervated life', he said. Although the main society literary figure of the age, Fronto was a dreary pedant whose blood ran rhetoric, but he must have been less lifeless than he now appears, for there is genuine feeling and real communication in the letters between him and both of the young men. Only with reluctance did he move from his mother's house on the Caelian to Hadrian's private home. [75] But he felt drowned in paperwork and complained to his tutor, Marcus Cornelius Fronto: 'I am so out of breath from dictating nearly thirty letters'. But whether or not Marcus ought to have known this to be so, the rejections of his son's claims in favour of someone else would almost certainly have involved one of the civil wars which were to proliferate so disastrously around future successions. What I was hoping for then, I have now. They have been praised by fellow writers, philosophers, monarchs, and politicians centuries after his death. Marcus Aurelius. Soon after the emperors' accession, Marcus' eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla, was betrothed to Lucius (in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her uncle). [198], There was threat of war on other frontiers as well – in Britain, and in Raetia and Upper Germany, where the Chatti of the Taunus mountains had recently crossed over the limes. Marcus Aurelius: Ah, yes. [51] While his motives are not certain, it would appear that his goal was to eventually place the then-too-young Marcus on the throne. 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. Lucius, who had just come to Rome, asked the Emperor, whom he met on his way, where he was going to and on what errand, and Marcus answered, ' it is good even for an old man to learn; I am now on my way to Sextus the philosopher to learn what I do not yet know.' However, although he was granted the name Augustus and the title imperator , and was elected Pontifex Maximus , Marcus appears to have taken these positions with some hesitation, having to be compelled to do so. His first consulship was in 161, so he was probably in his early thirties,[208] and as a patrician, he lacked military experience. Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164. “What injures the hive, injures the bee,” he said. The adoptive family of Marcus was of Roman Italo-Gallic origins: the gens Aurelia, into which Marcus was adopted at the age of 17, was a Sabine gens; Antoninus Pius, his adoptive father, came from the Aurelii Fulvi, a branch of the Aurelii based in Roman Gaul. His father, Marcus Annius Verus III was a politician and a nobleman. In modern editions of Fronto's works, it is labeled De bello Parthico (On the Parthian War). [163] The temple he had dedicated to his wife, Diva Faustina, became the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. He had rested, and would rest often, but 'this devotion to duty! Marco Aurelio (/ ɑː r i l i ə s / o / ɑː r i l j ə s / ; América : Marco Aurelio Augusto, 26 de abril de 121 - 17 de marzo 180) fue un emperador romano 161-180 y una filósofo estoico. [85] He had three tutors in Greek – Aninus Macer, Caninius Celer, and Herodes Atticus – and one in Latin – Fronto. A frontier post had been destroyed, and it looked like all the peoples of central and northern Europe were in turmoil. '[178] Fronto called on Marcus alone; neither thought to invite Lucius. [110] Marcus had grown tired of his exercises, of taking positions in imaginary debates. Marcus and his cousin-wife Faustina had at least 13 children during their 30-year marriage,[123][303] including two sets of twins. The latter two were the most esteemed orators of their time,[86] but probably did not become his tutors until his adoption by Antoninus in 138. Marcus Aurelius : When was the last time you were home? On March 7, 161, at a time when the brothers were jointly consuls (for the third and the second time, respectively), their father died. [71] Marcus would struggle to reconcile the life of the court with his philosophic yearnings. His name at birth was supposedly Marcus Annius Verus, but some sources assign this name to him upon his father's death and unofficial adoption by his grandfather, upon his coming of age, or at the time of his marriage. Now heir to the throne, Marcus studied Greek and Latin under tutors such as Herodes Atticus and Marcus Cornelius Fronto. And Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, born nearly two millennia ago (121 – 180), is a leader and example who provides a resounding yes. [33][note 2] Though he can hardly have known his father, Marcus wrote in his Meditations that he had learnt 'modesty and manliness' from his memories of his father and the man's posthumous reputation. He was the Roman ruler from 161 -180 CE and a Stoic philosopher. Marcus consented to Antoninus's proposal. Lucius addressed the assembled troops, which then acclaimed the pair as imperatores. [288], Marcus was succeeded by his son Commodus, whom he had named Caesar in 166 and with whom he had jointly ruled since 177. P. Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding X Gemina at Vindobona (Vienna), left for Cappadocia with detachments from the Danubian legions. The Dacias were still divided in three, governed by a praetorian senator and two procurators. This was a historical moment for Rome because, for the first time, it had two … [56] As part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus, in turn, adopted Marcus and Lucius Commodus, the son of Lucius Aelius. [305] Their children included: Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree. Maximus is trusted by Marcus Aurelius above all men because his excellence as a general doesn’t compromise his commitment to his family with ambition. This was not a new thing, but this time the numbers of settlers required the creation of two new frontier provinces on the left shore of the Danube, Sarmatia and Marcomannia, including today's Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary. The formalities of the position would follow. Únete a Facebook para conectar con Marcus Aurelius Maximus y otras personas que quizá conozcas. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. [141] In 160, Marcus and Lucius were designated joint consuls for the following year. Join Facebook to connect with Marcus Maximus Aurelius and others you may know. The peace could not hold long; Lower Pannonia did not even have a legion. [2] The later biographies and the biographies of subordinate emperors and usurpers are unreliable, but the earlier biographies, derived primarily from now-lost earlier sources (Marius Maximus or Ignotus), are much more accurate. [89] Atticus was an inveterate opponent of Stoicism and philosophic pretensions. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. When we find … [314], It is not known how widely Marcus's writings were circulated after his death. Although Marcus disliked the Christians, there was no systematic persecution of them during his reign. The governing class of the first age of the Roman Empire, the Julio-Claudian, had been little different from that of the late Republic: it was urban Roman (despising outsiders), extravagant, cynical, and amoral. He died after succumbing to the Plague of Cyprian that ravaged the provinces of the Empire. Let us hope for the last time. [183], In either autumn 161 or spring 162,[note 12] the Tiber overflowed its banks, flooding much of Rome.