MARCUS AURELIUS, ROMAN EMPEROR

Reigned a.d. 161 to March 17, 180; b. Rome, April 26, 121; d. Sirmium (Mitrovica) or Vindobona (Vienna). Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was originally named Marcus Annius Verus. He was the son of Annius Verus and Domitia Lucilla. His father, who was of Spanish descent

and had been three times consul and prefect of Rome, died when Marcus was only three months old. Adopted by his paternal grandfather, he was enrolled among the equestrians by Hadrian at the age of six and made a Salian priest at eight. of a serious and retiring temperament, Marcus was given the best education available. He studied literature and rhetoric under Herodes Atticus and Marcus Cornelius Fronto, but later abandoned these pursuits to take up philosophy under the Stoic Rusticus and law under Lucius Volusius Moecianus. In 138, shortly before his death, Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius on the condition that he would in turn adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.

Marcus was quaestor in 139 and consul for the first time in 140 and married the daughter of Antoninus Pius, Faustina the Younger, in 145, when he was consul for the second time. After living for years in the household of Antoninus, Marcus succeeded him as emperor on March 7, 161. He immediately asked the Senate to appoint Lucius Aurelius Verus as his colleague and gave him his daughter Lucilla in marriage. Verus, who proved to be an ineffective ruler, died early in 169, leaving Marcus as sole ruler of the Empire.

Marcus Aurelius was undoubtedly one of the best of the "good emperors." He tried valiantly to live up to Plato's ideal of the philosopher-king (Julius Capitolinus, Marcus Antoninus 27.7), but his reign was marked by continued misfortunes: a pestilence that swept through the empire, revolts in Britain and Asia Minor, and frequent incursions of Germanic tribes in Pannonia and Noricum. It was while engaged in defending the frontiers in 172 that Marcus began his Meditations. Written in Greek, these reflections are a kind of philosophical diary in which Marcus gives a Stoic interpretation to the meaning of life and the practice of virtue. They reveal the nobility of his soul in the face of suffering, but also the shortcomings of stoicism for a man of affairs.

Among Marcus's most important civil acts was a reform of the judiciary. As a natural conservative and official protector of the traditional religion, he looked with disfavor upon the introduction of superstitious practices (Modestinus, Dig. 48.19.30; Paulus, Sent. 5.21.2). He attributed the refusal of Christians to offer sacrifice to "mere obstinacy" (Meditations 11.3). Though no general persecution can be attributed to him, he seems to have done nothing during his reign to stop the popular uprisings against the Christians in various parts of the empire. When consulted by the governor of Lyons and Vienne on what to do with Roman citizens accused of Christianity, he replied that they should be executed if they did not recant (Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.47). Among those known to have suffered for the faith at this time may be numbered Sagaris of Laodicea; Thraseas of Eumenus; Publius, Bishop of Athens; and justin martyr and his companions.

The extent of the persecutions is indicated by the protests made in the apologies of Justin, Melito, Apollinaris, and athenagoras. Despite his many natural virtues, such a policy was consistent with Marcus's convictions, which placed the good of the state over that of individuals: "What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee" (Meditations 6.54); "The end of rational animals is to follow the reason and the law of the most ancient city and polity" (ibid. 2.16). As M. J. Lagrange has observed, "paganism laid her hand upon this man, naturally good, to make of him the minister of her works" [RevBibl 10 (1913) 584].

Bibliography: h. von arnim, Paulys Realenzyklopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft (Stuttgart 1893–) 1.2:2279–2309. m. j. lagrange in Revue biblique l0 (1913) 243–259, 394–420,568–587. h. d. sedgwick, Marcus Aurelius (New Haven 1921). roberto paribeni, Enciclopedia Italiana di scienzi, littere ed arti (Rome 1929–39; suppl. 1938–) 22:256–259.

[m. j. costelloe]