wikipedia_id
stringlengths 2
8
| wikipedia_title
stringlengths 1
243
| url
stringlengths 44
370
| contents
stringlengths 53
2.22k
| id
int64 0
6.14M
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
made a patrician in 73–74. Through his grandmother Rupilia, Marcus was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty; the emperor Trajan's sororal niece Salonia Matidia was the mother of Rupilia and her half-sister, Hadrian's wife Sabina.
## Childhood.
Marcus' sister, Annia Cornificia Faustina, was probably born in 122 or 123. His father probably died in 124, during his praetorship, when Marcus was three years old. 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 from the man's posthumous reputation. His mother Lucilla did not remarry and, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably
| 4,100 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
did not spend much time with her son. Instead, Marcus was in the care of 'nurses', and was raised after his father's death by his grandfather Marcus Annius Verus (II), who had always retained the legal authority of "patria potestas" over his son and grandson. Technically this was not an adoption, the creation of a new and different "patria potestas". Lucius Catilius Severus, described as Marcus' maternal great-grandfather, also participated in his upbringing; he was probably the elder Domitia Lucilla's stepfather. Marcus was raised in his parents' home on the Caelian Hill, which he would affectionately refer to as 'my Caelian'. It was an upscale area with few public buildings but many aristocratic
| 4,101 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
villas. Marcus' grandfather owned a palace beside the Lateran, where he would spend much of his childhood. Marcus thanks his grandfather for teaching him 'good character and avoidance of bad temper'. He was less fond of the mistress his grandfather took and lived with after the death of his wife Rupilia. Marcus was grateful that he did not have to live with her longer than he did.
Marcus was educated at home, in line with contemporary aristocratic trends; he thanks Catilius Severus for encouraging him to avoid public schools. One of his teachers, Diognetus, a painting master, proved particularly influential; he seems to have introduced Marcus Aurelius to the philosophic way of life. In April
| 4,102 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
132, at the behest of Diognetus, Marcus took up the dress and habits of the philosopher: he studied while wearing a rough Greek cloak, and would sleep on the ground until his mother convinced him to sleep on a bed. A new set of tutors – the Homeric scholar Alexander of Cotiaeum along with Trosius Aper and Tuticius Proculus, teachers of Latin – took over Marcus' education in about 132 or 133. Marcus thanks Alexander for his training in literary styling. Alexander's influence – an emphasis on matter over style and careful wording, with the occasional Homeric quotation – has been detected in Marcus' "Meditations".
## Succession to Hadrian.
In late 136, Hadrian almost died from a hemorrhage. Convalescent
| 4,103 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
in his villa at Tivoli, he selected Lucius Ceionius Commodus, Marcus' intended father-in-law, as his successor and adopted son, according to the biographer 'against the wishes of everyone'. While his motives are not certain, it would appear that his goal was to eventually place the then-too-young Marcus on the throne. As part of his adoption, Commodus took the name Lucius Aelius Caesar. His health was so poor that, during a ceremony to mark his becoming heir to the throne, he was too weak to lift a large shield on his own. After a brief stationing on the Danube frontier, Aelius returned to Rome to make an address to the senate on the first day of 138. The night before the speech, however, he
| 4,104 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
grew ill, and died of a hemorrhage later in the day.
On 24 January 138, Hadrian selected Aurelius Antoninus, the husband of Marcus' aunt Faustina the Elder, as his new successor. As part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus in turn adopted Marcus and Lucius Commodus, the son of Lucius Aelius. Marcus became M. Aelius Aurelius Verus, and Lucius became L. Aelius Aurelius Commodus. At Hadrian's request, Antoninus' daughter Faustina was betrothed to Lucius. Marcus reportedly greeted the news that Hadrian had become his adoptive grandfather with sadness, instead of joy. Only with reluctance did he move from his mother's house on the Caelian to Hadrian's private home.
At some time in 138, Hadrian requested
| 4,105 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
in the senate that Marcus be exempt from the law barring him from becoming "quaestor" before his twenty-fourth birthday. The senate complied, and Marcus served under Antoninus, the consul for 139. Marcus' adoption diverted him from the typical career path of his class. If not for his adoption, he probably would have become "triumvir monetalis", a highly regarded post involving token administration of the state mint; after that, he could have served as tribune with a legion, becoming the legion's nominal second-in-command. Marcus probably would have opted for travel and further education instead. As it was, Marcus was set apart from his fellow citizens. Nonetheless, his biographer attests that
| 4,106 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
his character remained unaffected: 'He still showed the same respect to his relations as he had when he was an ordinary citizen, and he was as thrifty and careful of his possessions as he had been when he lived in a private household'.
After a series of suicide attempts, all thwarted by Antoninus, Hadrian left for Baiae, a seaside resort on the Campanian coast. His condition did not improve, and he abandoned the diet prescribed by his doctors, indulging himself in food and drink. He sent for Antoninus, who was at his side when he died on 10 July 138. His remains were buried quietly at Puteoli. The succession to Antoninus was peaceful and stable: Antoninus kept Hadrian's nominees in office and
| 4,107 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
appeased the senate, respecting its privileges and commuting the death sentences of men charged in Hadrian's last days. For his dutiful behaviour, Antoninus was asked to accept the name 'Pius'.
## Heir to Antoninus Pius (138–145).
Immediately after Hadrian's death, Antoninus approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements be amended: Marcus' betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to Faustina, Antoninus' daughter, instead. Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus' proposal. He was made consul for 140 with Antoninus as his colleague, and was appointed as a "seviri",
| 4,108 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
one of the knights' six commanders, at the order's annual parade on 15 July 139. As the heir apparent, Marcus became "princeps iuventutis", head of the equestrian order. He now took the name Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar. Marcus would later caution himself against taking the name too seriously: 'See that you do not turn into a Caesar; do not be dipped into the purple dye – for that can happen'. At the senate's request, Marcus joined all the priestly colleges ("pontifices", "augures", "quindecimviri sacris faciundis", "septemviri epulonum", etc.); direct evidence for membership, however, is available only for the Arval Brethren.
Antoninus demanded that Marcus reside in the House of Tiberius,
| 4,109 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
the imperial palace on the Palatine, and take up the habits of his new station, the "aulicum fastigium" or 'pomp of the court', against Marcus' objections. Marcus would struggle to reconcile the life of the court with his philosophic yearnings. He told himself it was an attainable goal – 'Where life is possible, then it is possible to live the right life; life is possible in a palace, so it is possible to live the right life in a palace' – but he found it difficult nonetheless. He would criticize himself in the "Meditations" for 'abusing court life' in front of company.
As quaestor, Marcus would have had little real administrative work to do. He would read imperial letters to the senate when
| 4,110 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus was absent, and would do secretarial work for the senators. 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'. He was being 'fitted for ruling the state', in the words of his biographer. He was required to make a speech to the assembled senators as well, making oratorical training essential for the job.
On 1 January 145, Marcus was made consul a second time. Fronto urged him in a letter to have plenty of sleep 'so that you may come into the Senate with a good colour and read your speech with a strong voice'. Marcus had complained of an illness in an earlier letter: 'As far as my strength
| 4,111 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
is concerned, I am beginning to get it back; and there is no trace of the pain in my chest. But that ulcer [...] I am having treatment and taking care not to do anything that interferes with it'. Never particularly healthy or strong, Marcus was praised by Cassius Dio, writing of his later years, for behaving dutifully in spite of his various illnesses. In April 145, Marcus married Faustina, legally his sister, as had been planned since 138. Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but the biographer calls it 'noteworthy'. Coins were issued with the heads of the couple, and Antoninus, as "Pontifex Maximus", would have officiated. Marcus makes no apparent reference to the marriage in his
| 4,112 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
surviving letters, and only sparing references to Faustina.
## Fronto and further education.
After taking the "toga virilis" in 136, Marcus probably began his training in oratory. He had three tutors in Greek – Aninus Macer, Caninius Celer, and Herodes Atticus – and one in Latin – Fronto. The latter two were the most esteemed orators of their time, but probably did not become his tutors until his adoption by Antoninus in 138. The preponderance of Greek tutors indicates the importance of the Greek language to the aristocracy of Rome. This was the age of the Second Sophistic, a renaissance in Greek letters. Although educated in Rome, in his "Meditations", Marcus would write his inmost thoughts
| 4,113 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
in Greek.
Atticus was controversial: an enormously rich Athenian (probably the richest man in the eastern half of the empire), he was quick to anger, and resented by his fellow Athenians for his patronizing manner. Atticus was an inveterate opponent of Stoicism and philosophic pretensions. He thought the Stoics' desire for a 'lack of feeling' foolish: they would live a 'sluggish, enervated life', he said. In spite of the influence of Atticus, Marcus would later become a Stoic. He would not mention Herodes at all in his "Meditations", in spite of the fact that they would come into contact many times over the following decades.
Fronto was highly esteemed: in the self-consciously antiquarian
| 4,114 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
world of Latin letters, he was thought of as second only to Cicero, perhaps even an alternative to him. He did not care much for Atticus, though Marcus was eventually to put the pair on speaking terms. Fronto exercised a complete mastery of Latin, capable of tracing expressions through the literature, producing obscure synonyms, and challenging minor improprieties in word choice.
A significant amount of the correspondence between Fronto and Marcus has survived. The pair were very close, using intimate language such as 'Farewell my Fronto, wherever you are, my most sweet love and delight. How is it between you and me? I love you and you are not here' in their correspondence. Marcus spent time
| 4,115 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
with Fronto's wife and daughter, both named Cratia, and they enjoyed light conversation.
He wrote Fronto a letter on his birthday, claiming to love him as he loved himself, and calling on the gods to ensure that every word he learnt of literature, he would learn 'from the lips of Fronto'. His prayers for Fronto's health were more than conventional, because Fronto was frequently ill; at times, he seems to be an almost constant invalid, always suffering – about one-quarter of the surviving letters deal with the man's sicknesses. Marcus asks that Fronto's pain be inflicted on himself, 'of my own accord with every kind of discomfort'.
Fronto never became Marcus' full-time teacher, and continued
| 4,116 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
his career as an advocate. One notorious case brought him into conflict with Atticus. Marcus pleaded with Fronto, first with 'advice', then as a 'favour', not to attack Atticus; he had already asked Atticus to refrain from making the first blows. Fronto replied that he was surprised to discover Marcus counted Atticus as a friend (perhaps Atticus was not yet Marcus' tutor), and allowed that Marcus might be correct, but nonetheless affirmed his intent to win the case by any means necessary: '[T]he charges are frightful and must be spoken of as frightful. Those in particular which refer to the beating and robbing I will describe in such a way that they savour of gall and bile. If I happen to call
| 4,117 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
him an uneducated little Greek it will not mean war to the death'. The outcome of the trial is unknown.
By the age of twenty-five (between April 146 and April 147), Marcus had grown disaffected with his studies in jurisprudence, and showed some signs of general malaise. 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'. Marcus had grown tired of his exercises, of taking positions in imaginary debates. When he criticized the insincerity of conventional language, Fronto took to defend it. In any case, Marcus' formal education was now over. He had kept his teachers on
| 4,118 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
good terms, following them devotedly. It 'affected his health adversely', his biographer writes, to have devoted so much effort to his studies. It was the only thing the biographer could find fault with in Marcus' entire boyhood.
Fronto had warned Marcus against the study of philosophy early on: 'It is better never to have touched the teaching of philosophy...than to have tasted it superficially, with the edge of the lips, as the saying is'. He disdained philosophy and philosophers, and looked down on Marcus' sessions with Apollonius of Chalcedon and others in this circle. Fronto put an uncharitable interpretation of Marcus' 'conversion to philosophy': 'In the fashion of the young, tired of
| 4,119 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
boring work', Marcus had turned to philosophy to escape the constant exercises of oratorical training. Marcus kept in close touch with Fronto, but would ignore Fronto's scruples.
Apollonius may have introduced Marcus to Stoic philosophy, but Quintus Junius Rusticus would have the strongest influence on the boy. He was the man Fronto recognized as having 'wooed Marcus away' from oratory. He was older than Fronto and twenty years older than Marcus. As the grandson of Arulenus Rusticus, one of the martyrs to the tyranny of Domitian ("r". 81–96), he was heir to the tradition of 'Stoic Opposition' to the 'bad emperors' of the 1st century; the true successor of Seneca (as opposed to Fronto, the false
| 4,120 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
one). Marcus thanks Rusticus for teaching him 'not to be led astray into enthusiasm for rhetoric, for writing on speculative themes, for discoursing on moralizing texts... To avoid oratory, poetry, and 'fine writing".
Philostratus describes how even when Marcus was an old man, in the latter part of his reign, he studied under Sextus of Chaeronea:
The Emperor Marcus was an eager disciple of Sextus the Boeotian philosopher, being often in his company and frequenting his house. 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
| 4,121 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
to learn what I do not yet know.' And Lucius, raising his hand to heaven, said, ' O Zeus, the king of the Romans in his old age takes up his tablets and goes to school.'
## Births and deaths.
On 30 November 147, Faustina gave birth to a girl named Domitia Faustina. She was the first of at least thirteen children (including two sets of twins) that Faustina would bear over the next twenty-three years. The next day, 1 December, Antoninus gave Marcus the tribunician power and the "imperium" – authority over the armies and provinces of the emperor. As tribune, he had the right to bring one measure before the senate after the four Antoninus could introduce. His tribunician powers would be renewed
| 4,122 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
with Antoninus' on 10 December 147. The first mention of Domitia in Marcus' letters reveals her as a sickly infant. 'Caesar to Fronto. If the gods are willing we seem to have a hope of recovery. The diarrhea has stopped, the little attacks of fever have been driven away. But the emaciation is still extreme and there is still quite a bit of coughing'. He and Faustina, Marcus wrote, had been 'pretty occupied' with the girl's care. Domitia would die in 151.
In 149, Faustina gave birth again, to twin sons. 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'. They did
| 4,123 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
not survive long. Before the end of the year, another family coin was issued: it shows only a tiny girl, Domitia Faustina, and one boy baby. Then another: the girl alone. The infants were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian, where their epitaphs survive. They were called Titus Aurelius Antoninus and Tiberius Aelius Aurelius. Marcus steadied himself: 'One man prays: 'How I may not lose my little child', but you must pray: 'How I may not be afraid to lose him". He quoted from the "Iliad" what he called the 'briefest and most familiar saying...enough to dispel sorrow and fear':poem leaves,
the wind scatters some on the face of the ground;
like unto them are the children of men./poem
– "Iliad"
| 4,124 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
vi.146
Another daughter was born on 7 March 150, Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla. At some time between 155 and 161, probably soon after 155, Marcus' mother Domitia Lucilla died. Faustina probably had another daughter in 151, but the child, Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina, might not have been born until 153. Another son, Tiberius Aelius Antoninus, was born in 152. A coin issue celebrates "fecunditati Augustae", 'the Augusta's fertility', depicting two girls and an infant. The boy did not survive long, as evidenced by coins from 156, only depicting the two girls. He might have died in 152, the same year as Marcus' sister Cornificia. By 28 March 158, when Marcus replied, another of his children was
| 4,125 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
dead. Marcus thanked the temple synod, 'even though this turned out otherwise'. The child's name is unknown. In 159 and 160, Faustina gave birth to daughters: Fadilla and Cornificia, named respectively after Faustina's and Marcus' dead sisters.
## Antoninus Pius' last years.
Lucius started his political career as a quaestor in 153. He was consul in 154, and was consul again with Marcus in 161. Lucius had no other titles, except that of 'son of Augustus'. Lucius had a markedly different personality from Marcus: he enjoyed sports of all kinds, but especially hunting and wrestling; he took obvious pleasure in the circus games and gladiatorial fights. He did not marry until 164.
In 156, Antoninus
| 4,126 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
turned 70. He found it difficult to keep himself upright without stays. He started nibbling on dry bread to give him the strength to stay awake through his morning receptions. As Antoninus aged, Marcus would take on more administrative duties, more still when he became the praetorian prefect (an office that was as much secretarial as military) as Gavius Maximus died in 156 or 157. In 160, Marcus and Lucius were designated joint consuls for the following year. Antoninus may have already been ill.
Two days before his death, the biographer reports, Antoninus was at his ancestral estate at Lorium, in Etruria, about 19 kilometres (12 mi) from Rome. He ate Alpine cheese at dinner quite greedily.
| 4,127 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
In the night he vomited; he had a fever the next day. The day after that, 7 March 161, he summoned the imperial council, and passed the state and his daughter to Marcus. The emperor gave the keynote to his life in the last word that he uttered when the tribune of the night-watch came to ask the password – 'aequanimitas' (equanimity). He then turned over, as if going to sleep, and died. His death closed out the longest reign since Augustus, surpassing Tiberius by a couple of months.
# Emperor.
## Accession of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161).
After Antoninus died in 161, Marcus was effectively sole ruler of the Empire. The formalities of the position would follow. The senate would soon
| 4,128 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
grant him the name Augustus and the title "imperator", and he would soon be formally elected as "Pontifex Maximus", chief priest of the official cults. Marcus made some show of resistance: the biographer writes that he was 'compelled' to take imperial power. This may have been a genuine "horror imperii", 'fear of imperial power'. Marcus, with his preference for the philosophic life, found the imperial office unappealing. His training as a Stoic, however, had made the choice clear to him that it was his duty.
Although Marcus showed no personal affection for Hadrian (significantly, he does not thank him in the first book of his "Meditations"), he presumably believed it his duty to enact the man's
| 4,129 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
succession plans. Thus, although the senate planned to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers. The senate accepted, granting Lucius the "imperium", the tribunician power, and the name Augustus. Marcus became, in official titulature, Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; Lucius, forgoing his name Commodus and taking Marcus' family name Verus, became Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus. It was the first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors.
In spite of their nominal equality, Marcus held more "auctoritas", or 'authority', than Lucius. He had been consul once more than Lucius, he had shared in Antoninus' rule, and he alone
| 4,130 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
was "Pontifex Maximus". It would have been clear to the public which emperor was the more senior. As the biographer wrote, 'Verus obeyed Marcus...as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor'.
Immediately after their senate confirmation, the emperors proceeded to the Castra Praetoria, the camp of the Praetorian Guard. Lucius addressed the assembled troops, which then acclaimed the pair as "imperatores". Then, like every new emperor since Claudius, Lucius promised the troops a special donative. This donative, however, was twice the size of those past: 20,000 sesterces (5,000 denarii) per capita, with more to officers. In return for this bounty, equivalent to several years'
| 4,131 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
pay, the troops swore an oath to protect the emperors. The ceremony was perhaps not entirely necessary, given that Marcus' accession had been peaceful and unopposed, but it was good insurance against later military troubles. Upon his accession he also devalued the Roman currency. He decreased the silver purity of the denarius from 83.5% to 79% – the silver weight dropping from to .
Antoninus' funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, 'elaborate'. If his funeral followed those of his predecessors, his body would have been incinerated on a pyre at the Campus Martius, and his spirit would have been seen as ascending to the gods' home in the heavens. Marcus and Lucius nominated their
| 4,132 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
father for deification. In contrast to their behaviour during Antoninus' campaign to deify Hadrian, the senate did not oppose the emperors' wishes. A "flamen", or cultic priest, was appointed to minister the cult of the deified Divus Antoninus. Antoninus' remains were laid to rest in Hadrian's mausoleum, beside the remains of Marcus' children and of Hadrian himself. The temple he had dedicated to his wife, Diva Faustina, became the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. It survives as the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda.
In accordance with his will, Antoninus' fortune passed on to Faustina. (Marcus had little need of his wife's fortune. Indeed, at his accession, Marcus transferred part of his mother's
| 4,133 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
estate to his nephew, Ummius Quadratus.) Faustina was three months pregnant at her husband's accession. During the pregnancy she dreamed of giving birth to two serpents, one fiercer than the other. On 31 August she gave birth at Lanuvium to twins: T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus. Aside from the fact that the twins shared Caligula's birthday, the omens were favorable, and the astrologers drew positive horoscopes for the children. The births were celebrated on the imperial coinage.
## Early rule.
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). At the
| 4,134 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
ceremonies commemorating the event, new provisions were made for the support of poor children, along the lines of earlier imperial foundations. Marcus and Lucius proved popular with the people of Rome, who strongly approved of their "civiliter" ('lacking pomp') behaviour. The emperors permitted free speech, evidenced by the fact that the comedy writer Marullus was able to criticize them without suffering retribution. As the biographer wrote, 'No one missed the lenient ways of Pius'.
Marcus replaced a number of the empire's major officials. The "ab epistulis" Sextus Caecilius Crescens Volusianus, in charge of the imperial correspondence, was replaced with Titus Varius Clemens. Clemens was from
| 4,135 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
the frontier province of Pannonia and had served in the war in Mauretania. Recently, he had served as procurator of five provinces. He was a man suited for a time of military crisis. Lucius Volusius Maecianus, Marcus' former tutor, had been prefectural governor of Egypt at Marcus' accession. Maecianus was recalled, made senator, and appointed prefect of the treasury ("aerarium Saturni"). He was made consul soon after. Fronto's son-in-law, Gaius Aufidius Victorinus, was appointed governor of Germania Superior.
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 sent a note to the imperial freedman
| 4,136 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
Charilas, asking if he could call on the emperors. Fronto would later explain that he had not dared to write the emperors directly. The tutor was immensely proud of his students. Reflecting on the speech he had written on taking his consulship in 143, when he had praised the young Marcus, Fronto was ebullient: 'There was then an outstanding natural ability in you; there is now perfected excellence. There was then a crop of growing corn; there is now a ripe, gathered harvest. What I was hoping for then, I have now. The hope has become a reality.' Fronto called on Marcus alone; neither thought to invite Lucius.
Lucius was less esteemed by Fronto than his brother, as his interests were on a lower
| 4,137 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
level. Lucius asked Fronto to adjudicate in a dispute he and his friend Calpurnius were having on the relative merits of two actors. Marcus told Fronto of his reading – Coelius and a little Cicero – and his family. His daughters were in Rome with their great-great-aunt Matidia; Marcus thought the evening air of the country was too cold for them. He asked Fronto for 'some particularly eloquent reading matter, something of your own, or Cato, or Cicero, or Sallust or Gracchus – or some poet, for I need distraction, especially in this kind of way, by reading something that will uplift and diffuse my pressing anxieties.' Marcus' early reign proceeded smoothly; he was able to give himself wholly to
| 4,138 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
philosophy and the pursuit of popular affection. Soon, however, he would find he had many anxieties. It would mean the end of the "felicitas temporum" ('happy times') that the coinage of 161 had proclaimed.
In either autumn 161 or spring 162, the Tiber overflowed its banks, flooding much of Rome. It drowned many animals, leaving the city in famine. Marcus and Lucius gave the crisis their personal attention. In other times of famine, the emperors are said to have provided for the Italian communities out of the Roman granaries.
Fronto's letters continued through Marcus' early reign. Fronto felt that, because of Marcus' prominence and public duties, lessons were more important now than they had
| 4,139 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
ever been before. He believed Marcus was 'beginning to feel the wish to be eloquent once more, in spite of having for a time lost interest in eloquence'. Fronto would again remind his pupil of the tension between his role and his philosophic pretensions: 'Suppose, Caesar, that you can attain to the wisdom of Cleanthes and Zeno, yet, against your will, not the philosopher's woolen cape'.
The early days of Marcus' reign were the happiest of Fronto's life: Marcus was beloved by the people of Rome, an excellent emperor, a fond pupil, and perhaps most importantly, as eloquent as could be wished. Marcus had displayed rhetorical skill in his speech to the senate after an earthquake at Cyzicus. It
| 4,140 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
had conveyed the drama of the disaster, and the senate had been awed: 'Not more suddenly or violently was the city stirred by the earthquake than the minds of your hearers by your speech'. Fronto was hugely pleased.
## War with Parthia (161–166).
On his deathbed, Antoninus spoke of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him. One of those kings, Vologases IV of Parthia, made his move in late summer or early autumn 161. Vologases entered the Kingdom of Armenia (then a Roman client state), expelled its king and installed his own – Pacorus, an Arsacid like himself. The governor of Cappadocia, the frontline in all Armenian conflicts, was Marcus Sedatius Severianus, a Gaul with
| 4,141 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
much experience in military matters.
Convinced by the prophet Alexander of Abonutichus that he could defeat the Parthians easily and win glory for himself, Severianus led a legion (perhaps the IX Hispana) into Armenia, but was trapped by the great Parthian general Chosrhoes at Elegia, a town just beyond the Cappadocian frontiers, high up past the headwaters of the Euphrates. After Severianus made some unsuccessful efforts to engage Chosrhoes, he committed suicide, and his legion was massacred. The campaign had lasted only three days.
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
| 4,142 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
over the "limes". Marcus was unprepared. Antoninus seems to have given him no military experience; the biographer writes that Marcus spent the whole of Antoninus' twenty-three-year reign at his emperor's side and not in the provinces, where most previous emperors had spent their early careers.
More bad news arrived: the Syrian governor's army had been defeated by the Parthians, and retreated in disarray. Reinforcements were dispatched for the Parthian frontier. P. Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding X Gemina at Vindobona (Vienna), left for Cappadocia with detachments from the Danubian legions. Three full legions were also sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany,
| 4,143 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
II Adiutrix from Aquincum, and V Macedonica from Troesmis.
The northern frontiers were strategically weakened; frontier governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible. M. Annius Libo, Marcus' first cousin, was sent to replace the Syrian governor. His first consulship was in 161, so he was probably in his early thirties, and as a patrician, he lacked military experience. Marcus had chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one.
Marcus took a four-day public holiday at Alsium, a resort town on the coast of Etruria. He was too anxious to relax. Writing to Fronto, he declared that he would not speak about his holiday. Fronto replied: 'What? Do I not know that you went to Alsium with
| 4,144 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
the intention of devoting yourself to games, joking, and complete leisure for four whole days?' He encouraged Marcus to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Antoninus had enjoyed exercise in the "palaestra", fishing, and comedy), going so far as to write up a fable about the gods' division of the day between morning and evening – Marcus had apparently been spending most of his evenings on judicial matters instead of at leisure. Marcus could not take Fronto's advice. 'I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off', he wrote back. Marcus Aurelius put on Fronto's voice to chastise himself: "Much good has my advice done you', you will say!' He had rested, and would rest
| 4,145 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
often, but 'this devotion to duty! Who knows better than you how demanding it is!'
Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material, and, to settle his unease over the course of the Parthian war, a long and considered letter, full of historical references. In modern editions of Fronto's works, it is labeled "De bello Parthico" ("On the Parthian War"). There had been reverses in Rome's past, Fronto writes, but in the end, Romans had always prevailed over their enemies: 'Always and everywhere [Mars] has changed our troubles into successes and our terrors into triumphs'.
Over the winter of 161–162, news that a rebellion was brewing in Syria arrived and it was decided that Lucius should direct
| 4,146 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
the Parthian war in person. He was stronger and healthier than Marcus, the argument went, and thus more suited to military activity. Lucius' biographer suggests ulterior motives: to restrain Lucius' debaucheries, to make him thrifty, to reform his morals by the terror of war, and to realize that he was an emperor. Whatever the case, the senate gave its assent, and, in the summer of 162, Lucius left. Marcus would remain in Rome, as the city 'demanded the presence of an emperor'.
Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch, though he wintered at Laodicea and summered at Daphne, a resort just outside Antioch. Critics declaimed Lucius' luxurious lifestyle, saying that he had taken to gambling,
| 4,147 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
would 'dice the whole night through', and enjoyed the company of actors. Libo died early in the war; perhaps Lucius had murdered him.
In the middle of the war, perhaps in autumn 163 or early 164, Lucius made a trip to Ephesus to be married to Marcus' daughter Lucilla. Marcus moved up the date; perhaps he had already heard of Lucius' mistress Panthea. Lucilla's thirteenth birthday was in March 163; whatever the date of her marriage, she was not yet fifteen. Lucilla was accompanied by her mother Faustina and Lucius' uncle (his father's half-brother) M. Vettulenus Civica Barbarus, who was made "comes Augusti", 'companion of the emperors'. Marcus may have wanted Civica to watch over Lucius, the
| 4,148 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
job Libo had failed at. Marcus may have planned to accompany them all the way to Smyrna (the biographer says he told the senate he would), but this did not happen. He only accompanied the group as far as Brundisium, where they boarded a ship for the east. He returned to Rome immediately thereafter, and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to give the group any official reception.
The Armenian capital Artaxata was captured in 163. At the end of the year, Lucius took the title "Armeniacus", despite having never seen combat; Marcus declined to accept the title until the following year. When Lucius was hailed as "imperator" again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the "Imperator
| 4,149 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
II" with him.
Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms. In 164, a new capital, Kaine Polis ('New City'), replaced Artaxata. A new king was installed: a Roman senator of consular rank and Arsacid descent, Gaius Julius Sohaemus. He may not even have been crowned in Armenia; the ceremony may have taken place in Antioch, or even Ephesus. Sohaemus was hailed on the imperial coinage of 164 under the legend : Lucius sat on a throne with his staff while Sohaemus stood before him, saluting the emperor.
In 163, the Parthians intervened in Osroene, a Roman client in upper Mesopotamia centred on Edessa, and installed their own king on its throne. In response, Roman forces were moved downstream,
| 4,150 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
to cross the Euphrates at a more southerly point. Before the end of 163, however, Roman forces had moved north to occupy Dausara and Nicephorium on the northern, Parthian bank. Soon after the conquest of the north bank of the Euphrates, other Roman forces moved on Osroene from Armenia, taking Anthemusia, a town southwest of Edessa.
In 165, Roman forces moved on Mesopotamia. Edessa was re-occupied, and Mannus, the king deposed by the Parthians, was re-installed. The Parthians retreated to Nisibis, but this too was besieged and captured. The Parthian army dispersed in the Tigris. A second force, under Avidius Cassius and the III Gallica, moved down the Euphrates, and fought a major battle at
| 4,151 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
Dura.
By the end of the year, Cassius' army had reached the twin metropolises of Mesopotamia: Seleucia on the right bank of the Tigris and Ctesiphon on the left. Ctesiphon was taken and its royal palace set to flame. The citizens of Seleucia, still largely Greek (the city had been commissioned and settled as a capital of the Seleucid Empire, one of Alexander the Great's successor kingdoms), opened its gates to the invaders. The city was sacked nonetheless, leaving a black mark on Lucius' reputation. Excuses were sought, or invented: the official version had it that the Seleucids broke faith first.
Cassius' army, although suffering from a shortage of supplies and the effects of a plague contracted
| 4,152 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
in Seleucia, made it back to Roman territory safely. Lucius took the title Parthicus Maximus, and he and Marcus were hailed as "imperatores" again, earning the title 'imp. III'. Cassius' army returned to the field in 166, crossing over the Tigris into Media. Lucius took the title 'Medicus', and the emperors were again hailed as "imperatores", becoming 'imp. IV' in imperial titulature. Marcus took the Parthicus Maximus now, after another tactful delay. On 12 October of that year, Marcus proclaimed two of his sons, Annius and Commodus, as his heirs.
## War with Germanic tribes (166–180).
During the early 160s, Fronto's son-in-law Victorinus was stationed as a legate in Germany. He was there
| 4,153 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
with his wife and children (another child had stayed with Fronto and his wife in Rome). The condition on the northern frontier looked grave. A frontier post had been destroyed, and it looked like all the peoples of central and northern Europe were in turmoil. There was corruption among the officers: Victorinus had to ask for the resignation of a legionary legate who was taking bribes.
Experienced governors had been replaced by friends and relatives of the imperial family. Lucius Dasumius Tullius Tuscus, a distant relative of Hadrian, was in Upper Pannonia, succeeding the experienced Marcus Nonius Macrinus. Lower Pannonia was under the obscure Tiberius Haterius Saturnius. Marcus Servilius Fabianus
| 4,154 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
Maximus was shuffled from Lower Moesia to Upper Moesia when Marcus Iallius Bassus had joined Lucius in Antioch. Lower Moesia was filled by Pontius Laelianus' son. The Dacias were still divided in three, governed by a praetorian senator and two procurators. The peace could not hold long; Lower Pannonia did not even have a legion.
Starting in the 160s, Germanic tribes, and other nomadic people launched raids along the northern border, particularly into Gaul and across the Danube. This new impetus westwards was probably due to attacks from tribes further east. A first invasion of the Chatti in the province of Germania Superior was repulsed in 162.
Far more dangerous was the invasion of 166, when
| 4,155 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
the Marcomanni of Bohemia, clients of the Roman Empire since 19 AD, crossed the Danube together with the Lombards and other Germanic tribes. Soon thereafter, the Iranian Sarmatian Iazyges attacked between the Danube and the Theiss rivers.
The Costoboci, coming from the Carpathian area, invaded Moesia, Macedonia, and Greece. After a long struggle, Marcus managed to push back the invaders. Numerous members of Germanic tribes settled in frontier regions like Dacia, Pannonia, Germany, and Italy itself. 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 Czech
| 4,156 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. Some Germanic tribes who settled in Ravenna revolted and managed to seize possession of the city. For this reason, Marcus decided not only against bringing more barbarians into Italy, but even banished those who had previously been brought there.
## Legal and administrative work.
Like many emperors, Marcus spent most of his time addressing matters of law such as petitions and hearing disputes, but unlike many of his predecessors, he was already proficient in imperial administration when he assumed power. He took great care in the theory and practice of legislation. Professional jurists called him 'an emperor most skilled in the law' and 'a most prudent and
| 4,157 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
conscientiously just emperor'. He showed marked interest in three areas of the law: the manumission of slaves, the guardianship of orphans and minors, and the choice of city councillors ("decuriones").
Marcus showed a great deal of respect to the Roman Senate and routinely asked them for permission to spend money even though he did not need to do so as the absolute ruler of the Empire. In one speech, Marcus himself reminded the Senate that the imperial palace where he lived was not truly his possession but theirs. In 168, he revalued the denarius, increasing the silver purity from 79% to 82% – the actual silver weight increasing from . However, two years later he reverted to the previous values
| 4,158 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
because of the military crises facing the empire.
### Trade with Han China and outbreak of plague.
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. In addition to Republican-era Roman glasswares found at Guangzhou along the South China Sea, Roman golden medallions made during the reign of Antoninus and perhaps even Marcus have been found at Óc Eo, Vietnam, then part of the Kingdom of Funan near the Chinese province of Jiaozhi (in northern Vietnam). This may have been the port city of Kattigara,
| 4,159 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
described by Ptolemy (c. 150) as being visited by a Greek sailor named Alexander and laying beyond the Golden Chersonese (i.e. Malay Peninsula). Roman coins from the reigns of Tiberius to Aurelian have been found in Xi'an, China (site of the Han capital Chang'an), although the far greater amount of Roman coins in India suggests the Roman maritime trade for purchasing Chinese silk was centred there, not in China or even the overland Silk Road running through Persia.
The Antonine Plague started in Mesopotamia in 165 or 166 at the end of Lucius' campaign against the Parthians. It may have continued into the reign of Commodus. Galen, who was in Rome when the plague spread to the city in 166, mentioned
| 4,160 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
that 'fever, diarrhoea, and inflammation of the pharynx, along with dry or pustular eruptions of the skin after nine days' were among the symptoms. It is believed that the plague was smallpox. In the view of historian Rafe de Crespigny, the plagues afflicting the Eastern Han empire of China during the reigns of Emperor Huan of Han (r. 146–168) and Emperor Ling of Han (r. 168–189), which struck in 151, 161, 171, 173, 179, 182, and 185, were perhaps connected to the plague in Rome. Raoul McLaughlin writes that the travel of Roman subjects to the Han Chinese court in 166 may have started a new era of Roman–Far East trade. However, it was also a 'harbinger of something much more ominous'. According
| 4,161 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
to McLaughlin, the disease caused 'irreparable' damage to the Roman maritime trade in the Indian Ocean as proven by the archaeological record spanning from Egypt to India, as well as significantly decreased Roman commercial activity in Southeast Asia.
## Death and succession (180).
Marcus died at the age of 58 on 17 March 180 due to natural causes in the city of Vindobona (modern Vienna). He was immediately deified and his ashes were returned to Rome, where they rested in Hadrian's mausoleum (modern Castel Sant'Angelo) until the Visigoth sack of the city in 410. His campaigns against Germans and Sarmatians were also commemorated by a column and a temple built in Rome. Some scholars consider
| 4,162 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
his death to be the end of the Pax Romana.
Marcus was succeeded by his son Commodus, whom he had named Caesar in 166 and with whom he had jointly ruled since 177. Biological sons of the emperor, if there were any, were considered heirs; however, it was only the second time that a 'non-adoptive' son had succeeded his father, the only other having been a century earlier when Vespasian was succeeded by his son Titus. Historians have criticized the succession to Commodus, citing Commodus' erratic behaviour and lack of political and military acumen. At the end of his history of Marcus' reign, Cassius Dio wrote an encomium to the emperor, and described the transition to Commodus in his own lifetime
| 4,163 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
with sorrow:
[Marcus] did not meet with the good fortune that he deserved, for he was not strong in body and was involved in a multitude of troubles throughout practically his entire reign. But for my part, I admire him all the more for this very reason, that amid unusual and extraordinary difficulties he both survived himself and preserved the empire. Just one thing prevented him from being completely happy, namely, that after rearing and educating his son in the best possible way he was vastly disappointed in him. This matter must be our next topic; for our history now descends from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust, as affairs did for the Romans of that day.
Dio adds that from Marcus'
| 4,164 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
first days as counsellor to Antoninus to his final days as emperor of Rome, 'he remained the same [person] and did not change in the least.'
Michael Grant, in "The Climax of Rome", writes of Commodus:
The youth turned out to be very erratic, or at least so anti-traditional that disaster was inevitable. 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.
# Legacy and reputation.
Marcus acquired the reputation of a philosopher king within his lifetime, and the title would remain his after death;
| 4,165 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
both Dio and the biographer call him 'the philosopher'. Christians such as Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, and Melito also gave him the title. 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. 'Alone of the emperors,' wrote the historian Herodian, 'he gave proof of his learning not by mere words or knowledge of philosophical doctrines but by his blameless character and temperate way of life'. Iain King concludes that Marcus' legacy is tragic, because the emperor's 'Stoic philosophy – which is about self-restraint, duty, and respect for others – was
| 4,166 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
so abjectly abandoned by the imperial line he anointed on his death'.
# Attitude towards Christians.
In the first two centuries of the Christian era, it was local Roman officials who were largely responsible for the persecution of Christians. In the second century, the emperors treated Christianity as a local problem to be dealt with by their subordinates. The number and severity of persecutions of Christians in various locations of the empire seemingly increased during the reign of Marcus. The extent to which Marcus himself directed, encouraged, or was aware of these persecutions is unclear and much debated by historians. The early Christian apologist, Justin Martyr includes within his First
| 4,167 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
Apology (written between 140 and 150 A.D.,) a letter from Marcus Aurelius to the Roman senate (prior to his reign) describing a battlefield incident in which Aurelius believed Christian-prayer had saved his army from thirst when ' water poured from heaven,' after which, ' immediately we recognized the presence of God.' Aurelius goes on to request the senate desist from earlier courses of Christian persecution by Rome.
# Marriage and children.
Marcus and his cousin-wife Faustina had at least 13 children during their 30-year marriage, including two sets of twins. One son and four daughters outlived their father. Their children included:
- Domitia Faustina (147–151)
- Titus Aelius Antoninus
| 4,168 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
(149)
- Titus Aelius Aurelius (149)
- Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla (150–182), married her father's co-ruler Lucius Verus
- Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina (born 151)
- Tiberius Aelius Antoninus (born 152, died before 156)
- Unknown child (died before 158)
- Annia Aurelia Fadilla (born 159)
- Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor (born 160)
- Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (161–165), elder twin brother of Commodus
- Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (Commodus) (161–192), twin brother of Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, later emperor
- Marcus Annius Verus Caesar (162–169)
- Hadrianus
- Vibia Aurelia Sabina (170– died before 217)
# Writings.
While on campaign between 170 and 180, Marcus
| 4,169 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
wrote his "Meditations" in Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. The original title of this work, if it had one, is unknown. 'Meditations' – as well as other titles including 'To Himself' – were adopted later. He had a logical mind and his notes were representative of Stoic philosophy and spirituality. "Meditations" is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty. According to Hays, the book was a favourite of Christina of Sweden, Frederick the Great, John Stuart Mill, Matthew Arnold, and Goethe, and is admired by modern figures such as Wen Jiabao and Bill Clinton. It has been considered by many commentators to be one of the greatest works of
| 4,170 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
philosophy.
It is not known how widely Marcus' writings were circulated after his death. There are stray references in the ancient literature to the popularity of his precepts, and Julian the Apostate was well aware of his reputation as a philosopher, though he does not specifically mention "Meditations". It survived in the scholarly traditions of the Eastern Church and the first surviving quotes of the book, as well as the first known reference of it by name ('Marcus' writings to himself') are from Arethas of Caesarea in the 10th century and in the Byzantine Suda (perhaps inserted by Arethas himself). It was first published in 1558 in Zurich by Wilhelm Xylander (ne Holzmann), from a manuscript
| 4,171 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
reportedly lost shortly afterwards. The oldest surviving complete manuscript copy is in the Vatican library and dates to the 14th century.
# Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius.
The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome is the only Roman equestrian statue which has survived into the modern period. This may be due to it being wrongly identified during the Middle Ages as a depiction of the Christian emperor Constantine the Great, and spared the destruction which statues of pagan figures suffered. Crafted of bronze in circa 175, it stands and is now located in the Capitoline Museums of Rome. The emperor's hand is outstretched in an act of clemency offered to a bested enemy, while his
| 4,172 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
weary facial expression due to the stress of leading Rome into nearly constant battles perhaps represents a break with the classical tradition of sculpture.
# Column of Marcus Aurelius.
Marcus' victory column, established in Rome either in his last few years of life or after his reign and completed in 193, was built to commemorate his victory over the Sarmatians and Germanic tribes in 176. A spiral of carved reliefs wraps around the column, showing scenes from his military campaigns. A statue of Marcus had stood atop the column but disappeared during the Middle Ages. It was replaced with a statue of Saint Paul in 1589 by Pope Sixtus V. The column of Marcus and the column of Trajan are often
| 4,173 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
compared by scholars given how they are both Doric in style, had a pedestal at the base, had sculpted friezes depicting their respective military victories, and a statue on top.
# Citations.
All citations to the "Historia Augusta" are to individual biographies, and are marked with a "HA". Citations to the works of Fronto are cross-referenced to C.R. Haines' Loeb edition.
# References.
## Ancient sources.
- Aristides, Aelius. "Orationes" (in Latin).
- Victor, Aurelius. "De Caesaribus" (in Latin).
- Dio, Cassius. "Roman History" (in Greek).
- "Digest" (in Latin).
- Epiphanius of Salamis. "On Weights and Measures" (in Latin).
- Fronto, Marcus Cornelius. "The Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius
| 4,174 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
Fronto: With Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Lucius Verus, Antoninus Pius, and Various Friends" (in Latin).
- Gellius, Aulus. "Noctes Atticae" ("Attic Nights").
- Herodian. "Ab Excessu Divi Marci" ("History of the Roman Empire from the Death of Marcus Aurelius", in Latin).
- Lucian.
- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. "Meditations".
- "Scriptores Historiae Augustae" (Authors of the Historia Augusta). "Historia Augusta" ("Augustan History").
- Themistius. "Orationes" (in Latin).
## Modern sources.
- Ackermann, Marsha E.; Schroeder, Michael J.; Terry, Jancie J.; Lo Upshur, Jiu-Hwa; Whitters, Mark F. "Encyclopedia of World History, Ackerman-Schroeder-Terry-Hwa Lo, 2008: Encyclopedia of World History".
| 4,175 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
New York: Facts on File, 2008. .
- Adams, Geoff W. "Marcus Aurelius in the Historia Augusta and Beyond". Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2013. .
- An, Jiayao. 'When Glass Was Treasured in China'. Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner (eds), "Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road", 79–94. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 2002. .
- Astarita, Maria L. "Avidio Cassio" (in Italian). Rome: Edizione di Storia e Letteratura, 1983. .
- Ball, Warwick. "Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire", 2nd edition. London: Routledge, 2016. .
- Barnes, Timothy D. 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus'. "Journal of Roman Studies" 57:1–2 (1967): 65–79. . .
- Barnes, Timothy D. 'Legislation
| 4,176 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
against the Christians'. Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 58 (1968): 32–50. . .
- Barnes, Timothy D. 'Some Persons in the Historia Augusta', "Phoenix" 26:2 (1972): 140–82. . .
- Birley, Anthony R. "Marcus Aurelius: a biography". London: Routledge, 1966, rev. 1987. .
- Birley, Anthony R. 'Hadrian to the Antonines'. In "The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 11, The High Empire, AD 70-192", edited by Alan Bowman, Peter Garnsey, and Dominic Rathbone, 132–94. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. .
- Bowman, John L. "A Reference Guide to Stoicism". Bloomington, IN: Author House, 2014. .
- Bury, John Bagnell. "The Student's Roman Empire: A History of the Roman Empire from Its Foundation to
| 4,177 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
the Death of Marcus Aurelius (27 B.C.–180 A.D.)". New York: Harper, 1893. .
- Champlin, Edward. 'The Chronology of Fronto'. "Journal of Roman Studies" 64 (1974): 136–59. . .
- Champlin, Edward. "Fronto and Antonine Rome". Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980. .
- Collins, Desmond. "Background to Archaeology: Britain in its European Setting". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Archive, 1973. .
- De Crespigny, Rafe. "A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD)". Boston: Brill, 2007. .
- Duncan-Jones, Richard. "Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. .
- 'Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius'. Musei Capitolini.
-
| 4,178 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
Gagarin, Michael. "The Oxford encyclopedia of ancient Greece and Rome. Volume 7, Temples – Zoology". Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. .
- Giacosa, Giorgio. "Women of the Caesars: their lives and portraits on coins". Translated from Italian by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta, 1977. .
- Gilliam, J. F. 'The Plague under Marcus Aurelius'. "American Journal of Philology" 82.3 (1961): 225–51. . .
- Gnecchi, Francesco. "I medaglioni Romani", 3 Vols, Milan, 1912. .
- Grant, Michael. "The Antonines: the Roman Empire in transition". London: Routledge, 2016. .
- Grant, Michael. "The Climax Of Rome". London: Orion, 2011. .
- Haas, Charles. The Antonine plague (in French). "Bulletin
| 4,179 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
de l'Académie Nationale de Médecine". Académie nationale de médecine. 190 (2006): 1093–98. .
- Hadot, Pierre. "The inner citadel: the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius". Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. .
- Hays, Gregory. "Meditations". London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003. .
- Irvine, William B. "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy". Oxford University Press, 2009. .
- Kemezis, Adam M. "Greek Narratives of the Roman Empire under the Severans: Cassius Dio, Philostratus and Herodian". Cambridge University Press, 2014. .
- Kleiner, Fred S. "Gardner's art through the ages. Volume II: the western perspective". Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2008. .
- Le Bohec, Yann.
| 4,180 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
"The Imperial Roman Army". Routledge, 2013. .
- Levick, Barbara M. "Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age". New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. .
- Magill, Frank N. "Dictionary of World Biography". London: Routledge, 2003. .
- Mattingly, Harold; Sydenham, Edward A. "The Roman imperial coinage. Vol. III, Antoninus Pius to Commodus". London: Spink & Son, 1930. .
- Mellor, Ronald, review of Edward Champlin's "Fronto and Antonine Rome", "American Journal of Philology" 103:4 (1982).
- Merrony, Mark. "The Plight of Rome in the Fifth Century AD". London: Routledge, 2017. .
- McLaughlin, Raoul. "Rome and the Distant East: Trade Routes to the Ancient Lands of Arabia, India, and
| 4,181 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
China". London & New York: Continuum, 2010. .
- McLynn, Frank. "Marcus Aurelius: A Life". New York: Da Capo Press, 2009. .
- McLynn, Frank. "Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor". London: Bodley Head, 2009. .
- Millar, Fergus. "The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.–A.D. 337". Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993. .
- Pulleyblank, Edwin G.; Leslie, D. D.; Gardiner, K. H. J. 'The Roman Empire as Known to Han China'. "Journal of the American Oriental Society", 1999. 119 (1). . .
- Reed, J. Eugene. "The Lives of the Roman Emperors and Their Associates from Julius Cæsar (B.C. 100) to Agustulus (A.D. 476)". Philadelphia, PA: Gebbie & Company, 1883.
- Robertson, D. "How to Think Like
| 4,182 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius". New York: St. Martin's Press, 2019.
- Sánchez, Jorge Pisa. "Breve historia de Hispania: La fascinante historia de Hispania, desde Viriato hasta el esplendor con los emperadores Trajano y Adriano. Los protagonistas, la cultura, la religión y el desarrollo económico y social de una de las provincias más ricas del Imperio romano" ["Brief history of Hispania: the fascinating history of Hispania, from Viriato to the splendor with the Emperors Trajan and Hadrian. The protagonists, culture, religion, and the economic and social development of one of the richest provinces of the Roman Empire"]. (in Spanish) Ediciones Nowtilus S.L., 2010. .
-
| 4,183 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
Stephens, William O. "Marcus Aurelius: A Guide for the Perplexed". London: Continuum, 2012. .
- Stertz, Stephen A. 'Marcus Aurelius as Ideal Emperor in Late-Antique Greek Thought'. "The Classical World" 70:7 (1977): 433–39. . .
- Syme, Ronald. 'The Ummidii'. "Historia" 17:1 (1968): 72–105. .
- Van Ackeren, Marcel. "A Companion to Marcus Aurelius". New York: Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. . .
- Young, Gary K. "Rome's Eastern Trade: International Commerce and Imperial Policy 31 BC – AD 305". London: Routledge, 2003. .
- Yü, Ying-shih. 'Han Foreign Relations', in Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe (eds), "The Cambridge History of China: Volume 1, The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC–AD 220",
| 4,184 |
20155
|
Marcus Aurelius
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus%20Aurelius
|
Marcus Aurelius
l Emperor in Late-Antique Greek Thought'. "The Classical World" 70:7 (1977): 433–39. . .
- Syme, Ronald. 'The Ummidii'. "Historia" 17:1 (1968): 72–105. .
- Van Ackeren, Marcel. "A Companion to Marcus Aurelius". New York: Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. . .
- Young, Gary K. "Rome's Eastern Trade: International Commerce and Imperial Policy 31 BC – AD 305". London: Routledge, 2003. .
- Yü, Ying-shih. 'Han Foreign Relations', in Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe (eds), "The Cambridge History of China: Volume 1, The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC–AD 220", 377–462. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. .
# External links.
- Marcus Aurelius at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
| 4,185 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
Frederick Denison Maurice
John Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–1872), known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican theologian, a prolific author, and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since World War II, interest in Maurice has expanded.
# Early life and education.
John Frederick Denison Maurice was born in Normanton, Suffolk, on 29 August 1805, the only son of Michael Maurice and his wife, Priscilla. Michael Maurice was the evening preacher in a Unitarian chapel. Deaths in the family brought about changes in the family's "religious convictions" and "vehement disagreement" between family members. Maurice later wrote about these disagreements and their effect on him:
Michael was
| 4,186 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
"of no little learning" and gave his son his early education. The son "appears to have been an exemplary child, responsive to teaching and always dutiful. He read a good deal on his own account, but had little inclination for games. Serious and precocious, he even at this time harboured ambitions for a life of public service."
For his higher education in civil law, Maurice entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1823 that required no religious test for admissions though only members of the established church were eligible to obtain a degree. With John Sterling Maurice founded the Apostles' Club. He moved to Trinity Hall in 1825. In 1826, Maurice went to London to read for the bar and returned
| 4,187 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
to Cambridge where he obtained a first-class degree in civil law in 1827.
During the 1827–1830 break in his higher education, Maurice lived in London and Southampton. While in London, he contributed to the "Westminster Review" and made the acquaintance of John Stuart Mill. With Sterling he also edited the "Athenaeum". The magazine did not pay and his father had lost money which entailed moving the family to a smaller house in Southampton and Maurice joined them. During his time in Southampton, Maurice rejected his earlier Unitarianism and decided to be ordained in the Church of England.
Maurice entered Exeter College, Oxford, in 1830 to prepare for ordination. He was older than most of students,
| 4,188 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
he was very poor and he "kept to himself, toiling at his books". However, "his honesty and intellectual powers" impressed others. In March 1831, Maurice was baptised in the Church of England. After taking a second-class degree in November 1831, he worked as a "private tutor" in Oxford until his ordination as a deacon in January 1834 and appointment to a curacy in Bubbenhall near Leamington. Being twenty-eight years old when he was ordained deacon, Maurice was older and with a wider experience than most ordinands. He had attended both universities and been active in "the literary and social interests of London". All this, coupled with his diligence in study and reading, gave Maurice a knowledge
| 4,189 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
"scarcely paralleled by any of his contemporaries". He was ordained as priest in 1835.
# Career and marriages.
Except for his 1834–1836 first clerical assignment, Maurice's career can be divided between his conflicted years in London (1836–1866) and his peaceful years in Cambridge (1866–1872)
For his first clerical assignment, Maurice served an assistant curacy in Bubbenhall in Warwickshire from 1834 until 1836. During his time in Bubbenhall, Maurice began writing on the topic of "moral and metaphysical philosophy". Writing on this topic by "revision and expansion" continued the rest of his life until the publication of "Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy, 2 vols" in 1871–1872, the year of
| 4,190 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
his death. Also, Maurice's novel "Eustace Conway", begun , was published in 1834 and was praised by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
In 1836, he was appointed chaplain of Guy's Hospital where he took up residence and "lectured the students on moral philosophy". He continued this post until 1860. Maurice's public life began during his years at Guy's.
In June 1837, Maurice met Anna Barton. They became engaged and were married on 7 October 1837."
In 1838, the first edition of "The Kingdom of Christ" was published. It was "one of his most significant works." A second enlarged edition was published in 1842 and a third edition in 1883. For Maurice the signs of this kingdom are "the sacraments of baptism
| 4,191 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
and the eucharist, to which must be added the creeds, the liturgy, the episcopate, and the scriptures—in fact, all the marks of catholicity as exemplified in the Church of England." The book was met with criticism when published, a criticism "that lasted throughout Maurice's career."
## London.
Maurice served as editor of the "Educational Magazine" during its entire 1839–1841 existence. He argued that "the school system should not be transferred from the church to the state." Maurice was elected professor of English literature and history at King's College, London, in 1840. When the college added a theological department in 1846, he became a professor there also. That same year Maurice was
| 4,192 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
elected chaplain of Lincoln's Inn and resigned the chaplaincy at Guy's Hospital.
In 1845, Maurice was made both the Boyle lecturer by the Archbishop of York's nomination and the Warburton lecturer by the Archbishop of Canterbury's nomination. He held these chairs until 1853.
Maurice's wife, Anna, died on 25 March 1845, leaving two sons, one of whom was John Frederick Maurice who wrote his father's biography.
Queen’s College
During his London years, Maurice engaged in two lasting educational initiatives: founding Queen's College, London in 1848 and the Working Men's College in 1854.
In 1847, Maurice and "most of his brother-professors" at King's College formed a Committee on Education for
| 4,193 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
the education of governesses. This committee joined a scheme for establishing a College for Women that resulted in the founding of Queen's College. Maurice was its first principal. The college was "empowered to grant certificates of qualification 'to governesses' and 'to open classes in all branches of female education'."
One of the early graduates of Queen's College who was influenced by Maurice was Matilda Ellen Bishop who became the first Principal of Royal Holloway College.
On 4 July 1849, Maurice remarried, this time to Georgina Hare-Naylor.
Dismissed from King's College
"Maurice was dismissed from his professorships because of his leadership in the Christian Socialist Movement, and
| 4,194 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
because of the supposed unorthodoxy of his "Theological Essays" (1853)." His work "The Kingdom of Christ" had evoked virulent criticism. The publication of his "Theological Essays" in 1853 evoked even more and precipitated his dismissal from King's College. At the instigation of Richard William Jelf, the Principal of the College, the Council of the College, asked Maurice to resign. He refused and demanded that he be either "acquitted or dismissed." He was dismissed. To prevent the controversy from affecting Queen's College, Maurice "severed his relations" with it.
The public and his friends were strongly in support of Maurice. His friends "looked up to him with the reverence due to a great
| 4,195 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
spiritual teacher." They were devoted to him and wanted to protect Maurice against his opponents.
Working Men's College
Although his relations with King's College and Queen's College had been severed, Maurice continued to work for the education of workers. In February 1854, he developed plans for a Working Men's College. Maurice gained enough support for the college by giving lectures that by 30 October 1854 the college opened with over 130 students. "Maurice became principal, and took an active part both in teaching and superintending during the rest of his life in London."
Maurice's teaching led to some "abortive attempts at co-operation among working men" and to the more enduring Christian
| 4,196 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
Socialism movement and the Society for Promoting Working Men's Associations.
In July 1860, in spite of controversy, Maurice was appointed to the benefice of the chapel of St. Peter's, Vere Street. He held the position until 1869.
## Cambridge University.
"On 25 October 1866 Maurice was elected to the Knightbridge professorship of casuistry, moral theology, and moral philosophy at [the University of] Cambridge." This professorship was the "highest preferment" Maurice attained. Among his books he cited in his application, were his "Theological Essays" and "What is Revelation?" that had evoked opposition elsewhere. But at Cambridge, Maurice was "almost unanimously elected" to the faculty. Maurice
| 4,197 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
was "warmly received" at Cambridge, where "there were no doubts of his sufficient orthodoxy".
While teaching at Cambridge, Maurice continued as the Working Men's College principal, though he was there less often. At first, he retained the Vere Street, London, cure which entailed a weekly rail trip to London to officiate at services and preach. When this proved too strenuous, upon medical advice, Maurice resigned this cure in October 1869. In 1870, by accepting the offer of St Edward's, Cambridge, where he had "an opportunity for preaching to an intelligent audience" with few pastoral duties, albeit with no stipend.
In July 1871 Maurice accepted the Cambridge preachership at Whitehall. "He
| 4,198 |
206518
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick%20Denison%20Maurice
|
Frederick Denison Maurice
was a man to whom other men, no matter how much they might differ from him, would listen."
Royal Commissioner
In spite of declining health, in 1870 Maurice agreed to serve on the Royal Commission regarding the Contagious Diseases Act of 1871, and travelled to London for the meetings. "The Commission consisted of twenty-three men, including ten parliamentarians (from both Houses), some clergy, and some eminent scientists (such as T.H. Huxley)."
Dean Francis Close wrote a monograph about the proceedings of the royal commission. The issue was whether earlier acts legalising and policing prostitution for the armed forces should be repealed. Close quoted a commission member's speech to the House
| 4,199 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.