THE THOUGHTS
OF
THE EMPEROR
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS
GEORGE LONG
CONTENTS.
- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH9
- PHILOSOPHY OF MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS45
- THE THOUGHTS99
- INDEX OF TERMS305
- GENERAL INDEX311
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS.
M. Antoninus was born at Rome, A.D. 121, on the 26th of April.His father, Annius Verus, died while he was praetor. His mother wasDomitia Calvilla, also named Lucilla. The Emperor T. Antoninus Piusmarried Annia Galeria Faustina, the sister of Annius Verus, and wasconsequently the uncle of M. Antoninus. When Hadrian adoptedAntoninus Pius and declared him his successor in the empire,Antoninus Pius adopted both L. Ceionius Commodus, the son of AeliusCaesar, and M. Antoninus, whose original name was M. Annius Verus.Antoninus then took the name of M. Aelius Aurelius Verus, to whichwas added the title of Caesar in A.D. 139: the name Aelius belongedto Hadrian's family, and Aurelius was the name of Antoninus Pius.When M. Antoninus became Augustus, he dropped the name of Verus andtook the name of Antoninus. Accordingly he is generally named M.Aurelius Antoninus, or simply M. Antoninus.
The youth was most carefully brought up. He thanks the gods (i. 17) that he had good grandfathers, goodparents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, goodkinsmen and friends, nearly everything good. He had the happyfortune to witness the example of his uncle and adoptive fatherAntoninus Pius, and he has recorded in his word (i. 16; vi. 30) the virtues ofthe excellent man and prudent ruler. Like many young Romans hetried his hand at poetry and studied rhetoric. Herodes Atticus andM. Cornelius Fronto were his teachers in eloquence. There areextant letters between Fronto and Marcus,[A]which show the great affection of the pupil for the master, and themaster's great hopes of his industrious pupil. M. Antoninusmentions Fronto (i. 11) among those to whomhe was indebted for his education.
[A] M. CorneliiFrontonis Reliquiae, Berlin, 1816. There are a few letters betweenFronto and Antoninus Pius.
When he was eleven years old, he assumed the dress ofphilosophers, something plain and coarse, became a hard student,and lived a most laborious, abstemious life, even so far as toinjure his health. Finally, he abandoned poetry and rhetoric forphilosophy, and he attached himself to the sect of the Stoics. Buthe did not neglect the study o