Marcus Aurelius (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) (121-180)
Marcus Aurelius was born in Rome. He came from an aristocratic family long
established in Spain. His father was Annius Verus. When only a small child, he
attracted the attention of the Emperor Hadrian (r. 117-138) - a pedophile and
his fellow-countryman. He was appointed by the Emperor to a priesthood in 129,
and Hadrian also supervised his education, which was entrusted to the best
professors of literature, rhetoric and philosophy of the time. From his early
twenties he deserted his other studies for philosophy. The Emperor Antoninus,
who succeeded Hadrian, adopted Marcus Aurelius as his son in 138. He treated
Aurelius as a confidant and helper throughout his reign. Aurelius was admitted
to the Senate, and then twice the consulship. In 147 he shared tribunician power
with Antoninus. During this time he began composition of his Meditations, which
he wrote in Greek in army camps- Thus Book I is headed 'This among the Quadi on
the Gran', and Book II 'Written at Carnuntum'.
In 161 Marcus Aurelius ascended the throne and shared his imperial power with
his adopted brother Lucius Aurelius Verus. Useless and lazy, Verus was regarded
as a kind of junior emperor, but he died in 169. After Verus's death he ruled
alone, until he admitted his own son, Commodus, to full participation in the
government in 177.
As an emperor Marcus Aurelius was conservative and just by Roman standards. He
was beset by internal disturbances - famines and plagues - and by the external
threat posed by the Germans in the north and the Parthians in the east. Toward
the end of his reign, in 175, he was faced with a revolt by Avidius Cassius,
whom he praised and attempted to accommodate. Faustina, Marcus Aurelius's wife,
may have been involved in this conspiracy. An epidemic of plague followed
Cassius's army from the East. Year after year Aurelius tried to push barbarians
back but witnessed the gradual crumbling of the Roman frontiers. In these times
of disasters, he turned more and more to study of Stoic philosophy.
The Latin writings of Marcus Aurelius, letters to a teacher, Fronto, are not
interesting, but the "Writings to Himself", called Meditations, are remarkable.
They are personal reflections and aphorisms, written for his own edification
during a long career of public service, after marching or battle in the remote
Danube. Meditations are valuable primarily as a personal document, what it is to
be a Stoic. His opinions in central philosophical questions are very much
similar to Epictetus' (c. 55-135 AD) teachings. Epictetus's two basic principles
were: Endure and Abstain. He stressed that inner freedom is to be attained
through submission to providence, and rigorous detachment from everything not in
our power.
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