View source for Marcus Aurelius

{{Short description|Roman emperor (161–180)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox royalty
| image        = MSR-ra-61-b-1-DM.jpg
| alt          = Marble bust
| caption      = Marble bust, [[Musée Saint-Raymond]]
| succession   = [[Roman emperor]]
| reign        = 7 March 161 – 17 March 180
| reign-type   = [[Reign of Marcus Aurelius|Reign]]
| predecessor  = [[Antoninus Pius]]
| successor    = [[Commodus]]
| regent       = {{ubl|[[Lucius Verus]] (161–169)|[[Commodus]] (177–180)}}
| reg-type     = {{nowrap|Co-emperors}}
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|df=yes|121|4|26}}
| birth_place  = [[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italia]], [[Roman Empire]]
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|df=yes|180|3|17|121|4|26}}
| death_place  = [[Vindobona]], [[Pannonia Superior]], or {{awrap|[[Sirmium]], [[Pannonia Inferior]]}}
| burial_place = [[Hadrian's Mausoleum]]
| spouse       = [[Faustina the Younger]] {{awrap|({{married-in|145}}; {{died-in|175}})}}
| issue        = {{ubl|[[Lucilla]]|[[Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina|Faustina]]|[[Fadilla]]|[[Cornificia Faustina Minor]]|[[Commodus]]|[[Marcus Annius Verus Caesar|Annius Verus]]|[[Vibia Aurelia Sabina|Sabina]]}}
| issue-link   = #Marriage and issue
| issue-pipe   = Among others
| full name    = {{ubl|Marcus Annius Catilius Severus (birth)|Marcus Annius Verus (124)|Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar (138)|{{see below|{{section link||Name}} for details}}}}
| regnal name  = Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
| dynasty      = [[Nerva–Antonine dynasty|Nerva–Antonine]]
| father       = {{ubl|[[Marcus Annius Verus (father of Marcus Aurelius)|Marcus Annius Verus]]|[[Antoninus Pius]] (adoptive)}}
| mother       = [[Domitia Lucilla (mother of Marcus Aurelius)|Domitia Lucilla]]
| module       = {{Infobox philosopher
| embed             = yes
| notable_works     = ''[[Meditations]]''
| era               = [[Hellenistic philosophy]]
| region            = [[Western philosophy]]
| school_tradition  = [[Stoicism]]
| main_interests    = Ethics
| notable_ideas     = ''[[Memento mori]]''<ref>Henry Albert Fischel, ''Rabbinic Literature and Greco-Roman Philosophy: A Study of Epicurea and Rhetorica in Early Midrashic Writings'', E. J. Brill, 1973, p. 95.</ref>
}}
}}
{{Marcus Aurelius}}
{{Nerva–Antonine dynasty|image=[[File:INC-1604-a Ауреус Марк Аврелий цезарь ок. 152-153 гг. (аверс).png|150px]]|caption=Aureus of Marcus Aurelius}}

'''Marcus Aurelius Antoninus''' ({{IPAc-en|ɔː|ˈ|r|iː|l|i|ə|s}} {{respell|or|EE|lee|əs}},<ref>[https://www.dictionary.com/browse/marcus-aurelius 'Marcus Aurelius'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228082840/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/marcus-aurelius |date=28 December 2018}}. [[Dictionary.com]].</ref> {{IPA|la|ˈmaːrkʊs au̯ˈreːli.us antoːˈniːnʊs|lang}}; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was [[Roman emperor]] from 161 to 180 and a [[Stoicism|Stoic]] philosopher. He was a member of the [[Nerva–Antonine dynasty]], the last of the rulers later known as the [[Five Good Emperors]] and the last emperor of the [[Pax Romana]], an age of relative peace, calm, and stability for the [[Roman Empire]] lasting from 27 BC to 180 AD. He served as [[Roman consul]] in 140, 145, and 161.

Marcus Aurelius was the son of the [[praetor]] [[Marcus Annius Verus (father of Marcus Aurelius)|Marcus Annius Verus]] and his wife, [[Domitia Calvilla]]. He was related through marriage to the emperors [[Trajan]] and [[Hadrian]]. Marcus was three when his father died, and was raised by his mother and [[Marcus Annius Verus&nbsp;(II)|paternal grandfather]]. After Hadrian's [[Adoption in ancient Rome|adoptive]] son, [[Aelius Caesar]], died in 138, Hadrian adopted Marcus's uncle [[Antoninus Pius]] as his new heir. In turn, Antoninus adopted Marcus and [[Lucius Verus|Lucius]], the son of Aelius. Hadrian died that year, and Antoninus became emperor. Now heir to the throne, Marcus studied Greek and Latin under tutors such as [[Herodes Atticus]] and [[Marcus Cornelius Fronto]]. He married Antoninus's daughter [[Faustina the Younger|Faustina]] in 145.

After Antoninus died in 161, Marcus acceded to the throne alongside his adoptive brother, who took the [[regnal name]] Lucius Aurelius Verus. Under the [[reign of Marcus Aurelius]], the Roman Empire witnessed much military conflict. In the East, the Romans fought the [[Parthian War of Lucius Verus]] with a revitalised [[Parthian Empire]] and the rebel [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]]. Marcus defeated the [[Marcomanni]], [[Quadi]], and [[Sarmatian]] [[Iazyges]] in the [[Marcomannic Wars]]. These and other [[Germanic peoples]] began to represent a troubling reality for the Empire. He reduced the silver purity of the [[Roman currency]], the [[denarius]]. The [[persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire]] appears to have increased during his reign, although his involvement is unlikely since there are no Christian sources ascribing him the blame, and he was praised by [[Justin Martyr]] and [[Tertullian]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Keresztes |first=Paul |date=July 1968 |title=Marcus Aurelius a Persecutor? |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/harvard-theological-review/article/abs/marcus-aurelius-a-persecutor/E8F76CB327530CF310251FDFCC1ADDF2 |journal=Harvard Theological Review |language=en |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=321–341 |doi=10.1017/S0017816000029230 |s2cid=159950967 |issn=1475-4517 |access-date=3 June 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603131847/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/harvard-theological-review/article/abs/marcus-aurelius-a-persecutor/E8F76CB327530CF310251FDFCC1ADDF2 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The [[Antonine Plague]] broke out in 165 or 166 and devastated the [[population of the Roman Empire]], causing the deaths of five to ten million people. Lucius Verus may have died from the plague in 169. When Marcus himself died in 180, he was succeeded by his son [[Commodus]].

Commodus's succession after Marcus has been a subject of debate among both contemporary and modern historians. The [[Column of Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius]] still stand in Rome, where they were erected in celebration of his military victories. As a philosopher, his work ''[[Meditations]]'' is one of the most important sources for the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy. These writings have been praised by fellow writers, philosophers, monarchs, and politicians centuries after his death.

==Sources==

The major sources depicting the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. The most important group of sources, the biographies contained in the ''[[Augustan History|Historia Augusta]]'', claimed to be written by a group of authors at the turn of the 4th century AD, but it is believed they were in fact written by a single author (referred to here as 'the biographer') from about 395.<ref>Rohrbacher, p. 5.</ref> 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 considered to be more accurate.<ref name='Birley, 1889'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 229–230. The thesis of single authorship was first proposed in H. Dessau's 'Über Zeit und Persönlichkeit der ''Scriptores Historiae Augustae{{'}}'' (in German), ''Hermes'' 24 (1889), pp. 337ff.</ref> For Marcus's life and rule, the biographies of [[Hadrian]], [[Antoninus Pius|Antoninus]], Marcus, and [[Lucius Verus|Lucius]] are largely reliable, but those of [[Aelius Verus]] and [[Avidius Cassius]] are not.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 230. On the ''HA Verus'', see Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', pp. 65–74.</ref>

A body of correspondence between Marcus's tutor [[Marcus Cornelius Fronto|Fronto]] and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c. 138 to 166.<ref>Fleury, P. 2012. "Marcus Aurelius' Letters." In A Companion to Marcus Aurelius. Edited by M. van Ackeren, 62–76. Oxford and Malden, MA: Blackwell.</ref><ref>Freisenbruch, A. 2007. "Back to Fronto: Doctor and Patient in His Correspondence with an Emperor." In Ancient Letters: Classical and Late Antique Epistolography. Edited by R. Morello and A. D. Morrison, 235–256. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.</ref> Marcus's own ''Meditations'' offer a window on his inner life, but are largely undateable and make few specific references to worldly affairs.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 227.</ref> The main narrative source for the period is [[Cassius Dio]], a Greek senator from [[Bithynian]] [[Nicaea]] who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books. Dio is vital for the military history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices and strong opposition to imperial expansion obscure his perspective.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 228–229, 253.</ref> Some other literary sources provide specific details: the writings of the physician [[Galen]] on the habits of the Antonine elite, the orations of [[Aelius Aristides]] on the temper of the times, and the constitutions preserved in the ''[[Digest (Roman law)|Digest]]'' and ''[[Codex Justinianeus]]'' on Marcus's legal work.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 227–228.</ref> [[Epigraphy|Inscriptions]] and [[numismatics|coin finds]] supplement the literary sources.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 228.</ref>

==Early life==
{{Main|Early life of Marcus Aurelius}}

===Name===
Marcus was born in [[Rome]] on 26 April 121. His birth name is sometimes given as Marcus Annius Verus,<ref>Magill, p. 693.</ref> but sources assign this name to him upon his father's death and unofficial adoption by his grandfather, upon his coming of age.<ref name=dio69.21>[[Cassius Dio]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/69*.html#21 Book 69,21.1.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329072634/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/69*.html#21 |date=29 March 2020 }} "Marcus Annius Verus [...] This Marcus Annius, earlier named Catilius, was a grandson of [[Marcus Annius Verus (grandfather of Marcus Aurelius)|Annius Verus]] [...] He preferred Verus on account of his kinship and his age and because he was already giving indication of exceptional strength of character. This led Hadrian to apply to the young man the name ''Verissimus'', thus playing upon the meaning of the Latin word."</ref><ref name='Historia MA I.9–10'>''[[Historia Augusta]]'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Marcus_Aurelius Marcus Antoninus] I.9–10. "At the beginning of his life Marcus Antoninus was named Catilius Severus after his [[Lucius Catilius Severus|mother's grand-father]]. After the death of his real father, however, Hadrian called him Annius Verissimus, and, after he assumed the [[toga virilis]], Annius Verus."</ref><ref>Van Ackeren, p. 139.</ref><ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 33'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 33.</ref> He may have been known as "Marcus Annius Catilius Severus",<ref name=dio69.21/><ref name='Historia MA I.9–10'/><ref>McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor'', p. 24.</ref> at birth or some point in his youth,<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 33'/> or "Marcus Catilius Severus Annius Verus". Upon his adoption by Antoninus as heir to the throne, he was known as "Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar" and, upon his ascension, he was "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus" until his death;<ref>Van Ackeren, p. 78.</ref> [[Epiphanius of Salamis]], in his chronology of the Roman emperors included in his ''[[On Weights and Measures]]'', calls him ''Marcus Aurelius Verus''.<ref>Dean, p. 32.</ref>

===Family origins===
The father of Marcus Aurelius was [[Marcus Annius Verus (III)]].<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45180 | page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45180/page/n225 439] | quote=Marcus Aurelius Malennius and Numa. |title = The English Cyclopædia: A New Dictionary of Universal Knowledge. Biography| publisher=Bradbury & Evans |last1 = Knight|first1 = Charles|year = 1856}}</ref> His ''gens [[Annia gens|Annia]]'' was of Italic origin, but settled at some point in the small colony of [[Espejo, Córdoba|Ucubi]] (Colonia Claritas Iulia Ucubi) south-east of [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] in Iberian [[Baetica]] (modern [[Andalusia]], Spain); the ''gens'' had legendary claims of descendance from [[Numa Pompilius]].<ref name='Sánchez2010'>Sánchez, p. 165.</ref><ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 29; McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor'', p. 14.</ref> The ''Annii Veri'' rose to prominence in Rome in the late 1st century AD. Marcus's great-grandfather Marcus Annius Verus (I) was a [[Roman Senate|senator]] and (according to the ''Historia Augusta'') ex-[[praetor]]; his grandfather [[Marcus Annius Verus (II)]] was made [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] in 73–74.<ref>''HA Marcus'' i. 2, 4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 28; McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: A Life'', p. 14.</ref> Through his grandmother [[Rupilia Faustina]], Marcus was related to the [[Nerva-Antonine dynasty]]; Rupilla was the step-daughter of [[Salonia Matidia]], who was the niece of the emperor [[Trajan]].<ref>Giacosa, p. 8.</ref><ref>Levick, pp. 161, 163.</ref>{{refn|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.<ref>Dio 69.21.2, 71.35.2–3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 31.</ref> The precise nature of these kinship ties is nowhere stated, but is believed that [[Rupilia Faustina]] was the daughter of the consular senator [[Libo Rupilius Frugi]] and [[Vitellia (daughter of emperor Vitellius)|Vitellia]], daughter of emperor [[Vitellius]].<ref>[http://www.strachan.dk/family/rupilius.htm Rupilius] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214130401/http://www.strachan.dk/family/rupilius.htm |date=14 December 2022 }}. Strachan stemma.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Continuité gentilice et continuité familiale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale: mythe et réalité |last=Settipani |first=Christian |publisher=Unit for Prosopographical Research, Linacre College, University of Oxford |year=2000 |isbn=978-1900934022 |pages=278 |language=It |edition=illustrated |series=Prosopographica et genealogica |volume=2}}</ref><ref>''Codex Inscriptionum Latinarum'' 14.3579 {{Cite web |url=http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+14,+03579&r_sortierung=Belegstelle |title=Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby |access-date=15 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224027/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+14,+03579&r_sortierung=Belegstelle |archive-date=29 April 2012 |url-status=dead}}; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 29; McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor'', pp. 14, 575 n. 53, citing Ronald Syme, ''Roman Papers'' 1.244.</ref>|group=note}}

Marcus's mother, [[Domitia Lucilla Minor]] (also known as Domitia Calvilla), was the daughter of the Roman patrician P. Calvisius Tullus and inherited a great fortune (described at length in one of [[Pliny the Younger|Pliny]]'s letters) from her parents and grandparents. Her inheritance included large brickworks on the outskirts of Rome – a profitable enterprise in an era when the city was experiencing a construction boom – and the ''Horti Domitia Calvillae'' (or ''Lucillae''), a villa on the [[Caelian hill]] of Rome.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 29, citing Pliny, ''Epistulae'' 8.18.</ref><ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 30.</ref> Marcus himself was born and raised in the ''Horti'' and referred to the Caelian hill as 'My Caelian'.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/fronto.html | title=M. Cornelius Fronto: Epistulae | access-date=28 April 2019 | archive-date=15 April 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415121534/http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/fronto.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/newtopographical0000rich | url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/newtopographical0000rich/page/198 198] | quote=horti domizia lucilla. |title = A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome| publisher=JHU Press |isbn = 978-0801843006|last1 = l. Richardson|first1 = jr|last2 = Richardson|first2 = Professor of Latin (Emeritus) L.|date = October 1992}}</ref><ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' ii. 8.2 (= Haines 1.142), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 31.</ref>

The adoptive family of Marcus was the [[gens Aurelia]], an old Roman gens.<ref>''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. I, p. 436 ("[[s:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Aurelia gens|Aurelia Gens]]").</ref> His adoptive father [[Antoninus Pius]] came from the Aurelii Fulvi, a branch of the Aurelii settled in the colony of [[Nimes|Nemausus]] in [[Roman Gaul]].<ref>Bury, p. 523.</ref>
<!-- he was 3 wren his father died. -->

===Childhood===
Marcus's sister, [[Annia Cornificia Faustina]], was probably born in 122 or 123.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 31, 44.</ref> His father probably died in 125 or 126 when Marcus was three years old during his praetorship.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 31.</ref>{{refn|Farquharson dates his death to 130 when Marcus was nine.<ref>Farquharson, 1.95–96.</ref>|group=note}} Though he can hardly have known his father, Marcus wrote in his ''Meditations'' that he had learned 'modesty and manliness' from his memories of his father and the man's posthumous reputation.<ref>''Meditations'' 1.1, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 31.</ref> His mother Lucilla did not remarry<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 31'/> and, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Instead, Marcus was in the care of 'nurses',<ref>''HA Marcus'' ii. 1 and ''Meditations'' v. 4, qtd. in Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 32.</ref> 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's maternal great-grandfather, also participated in his upbringing; he was probably the elder Domitia Lucilla's stepfather.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 33'/> Marcus was raised in his parents' home on the [[Caelian Hill]], an upscale area with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas. Marcus's grandfather owned a palace beside the [[Lateran Palace|Lateran]], where he would spend much of his childhood.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 31–32.</ref> Marcus thanks his grandfather for teaching him 'good character and avoidance of bad temper'.<ref>''Meditations'' i. 1, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 35.</ref> He was less fond of the mistress his grandfather took and lived with after the death of his wife Rupilia.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 35'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 35.</ref> Marcus was grateful that he did not have to live with her longer than he did.<ref>''Meditations'' i. 17.2; Farquharson, 1.102; McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor'', p. 23; cf. ''Meditations'' i. 17.11; Farquharson, 1.103.</ref>

[[File:CapitoliniMAurelioGiovane3.jpg|thumb|left|A bust of young Marcus Aurelius ([[Capitoline Museum]]). [[Anthony Birley]], his modern biographer, writes of the bust: 'This is certainly a grave young man'.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 49.</ref>|alt=Bust of a young Marcus Aurelius]]
From a young age, Marcus displayed enthusiasm for [[wrestling]] and [[boxing]]. He trained in wrestling as a youth and into his teenage years, learned to fight in armour and joined the [[Salii]], an order of priests dedicated to the god [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] that were responsible for the sacred shields, called [[Ancile|Ancilia]], and possibly for heralding war season's beginning and end. Marcus was educated at home, in line with contemporary aristocratic trends;<ref>McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor'', 20–21.</ref> he thanks Catilius Severus for encouraging him to avoid public schools.<ref>''Meditations'' 1.4; McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor'', p. 20.</ref> One of his teachers, Diognetus, a painting master, proved particularly influential; he seems to have introduced Marcus Aurelius to the philosophic way of life.<ref>''HA Marcus'' ii. 2, iv. 9; ''Meditations'' i. 3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 37; McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor'', pp. 21–22.</ref> In April 132, at the behest of Diognetus, Marcus took up the dress and habits of the philosopher: he studied while wearing a rough [[Pallium (Roman cloak)|Greek cloak]], and would sleep on the ground until his mother persuaded him to sleep on a bed.<ref>''HA Marcus'' ii. 6; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 38; McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor'', p. 21.</ref> A new set of tutors – the [[Homer]]ic scholar [[Alexander of Cotiaeum]] along with [[Trosius Aper]] and [[Tuticius Proculus]], teachers of [[Latin]]<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 40, citing Aristides, ''Oratio'' 32 K; McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor'', p. 21.</ref>{{refn|Birley amends the text of the ''HA Marcus'' from 'Eutychius' to 'Tuticius'.<ref>Magie & Birley, ''Lives of the later Caesars'', pp. 109, 109 n.8; ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 40, 270 n.27, citing ''Bonner Historia-Augusta Colloquia'' 1966/7, pp. 39ff.</ref>|group=note}} – took over Marcus's education in about 132 or 133.<ref>''HA Marcus'' ii. 3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 40, 270 n.27.</ref> Marcus thanks Alexander for his training in literary styling.<ref>''Meditations'' i. 10; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 40; McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor'', p. 22.</ref> Alexander's influence – an emphasis on matter over style and careful wording,{{clarification needed|date=April 2025}} with the occasional Homeric quotation – has been detected in Marcus's ''Meditations''.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 40, 270 n.28, citing A. S. L. Farquharson, ''The Meditations of Marcus Antoninus'' (Oxford, 1944) ii. 453.</ref>

===Succession to Hadrian===

In late 136, Hadrian almost died from a [[haemorrhage]]. Convalescent in [[Hadrian's Villa|his villa]] at [[Tivoli, Italy|Tivoli]], he selected Lucius Ceionius Commodus, Marcus's intended father-in-law, as his successor and [[Adoption in ancient Rome|adopted son]],<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 41–42.</ref> according to the biographer 'against the wishes of everyone'.<ref>''HA Hadrian'' xiii. 10, qtd. in Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 42.</ref> While his motives are not certain, it would appear that his goal was to eventually place the then-too-young Marcus on the throne.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 42. Van Ackeren, 142. On the succession to Hadrian, see also: T.D. Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 57:1–2 (1967): 65–79; J. VanderLeest, 'Hadrian, Lucius Verus, and the Arco di Portogallo', ''Phoenix'' 49:4 (1995): pp. 319–330.</ref> 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.<ref>''HA Aelius'' vi. 2–3</ref> 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. However, the night before the scheduled speech, he grew ill and died of a haemorrhage later in the day.<ref>''HA Hadrian'' xxiii. 15–16; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 45; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', 148.</ref>{{refn|Commodus was a known consumptive at the time of his adoption, so Hadrian may have intended Marcus's eventual succession anyway.<ref>Dio, lxix.17.1; ''HA Aelius'', iii. 7, iv. 6, vi. 1–7; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 147.</ref>|group=note}}

[[File:AELIUS CAESAR RIC II 987-671493.jpg|thumb|upright=1.36|[[Roman currency|Coin]] (AD 136–138) of [[Hadrian]] (obverse) and his adoptive son, [[Lucius Aelius]] (reverse). Hadrian is wearing the [[laurel crown]]. Inscription: HADRIANVS ... / LVCIVS CAESAR.]]
On 24 January 138, Hadrian selected Aurelius Antoninus, the husband of Marcus's aunt [[Faustina the Elder]], as his new successor.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 46. Date: Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 148.</ref> As part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus, in turn, adopted Marcus and Lucius Commodus, the son of Lucius Aelius.<ref>Weigel, Richard D. [http://www.roman-emperors.org/tonypis.htm 'Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138–161)'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503141042/http://www.roman-emperors.org/tonypis.htm |date=3 May 2012 }}. Roman Emperors.</ref> Marcus became M. Aelius Aurelius Verus, and Lucius became L. Aelius Aurelius Commodus. At Hadrian's request, Antoninus's daughter Faustina was betrothed to Lucius.<ref>Dio 69.21.1; ''HA Hadrian'' xxiv. 1; ''HA Aelius'' vi. 9; ''HA Antoninus Pius'' iv. 6–7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 48–49.</ref> 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.<ref>''HA Marcus'' v. 3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 49.</ref>

At some time in 138, Hadrian requested 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.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 49–50.</ref> Marcus's 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 [[military tribune|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 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'.<ref>''HA Marcus'' v. 6–8, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 50.</ref>

After a series of suicide attempts, all thwarted by Antoninus, Hadrian left for [[Baiae]], a seaside resort on the [[Campania]]n 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.<ref>Dio 69.22.4; ''HA Hadrian'' xxv. 5–6; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 50–51. Hadrian's suicide attempts: Dio, lxix. 22.1–4; ''HA Hadrian'' xxiv. 8–13.</ref> His remains were buried quietly at [[Pozzuoli|Puteoli]].<ref>''HA Hadrian'' xxv. 7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 53.</ref> The succession to Antoninus was peaceful and stable: Antoninus kept Hadrian's nominees in office and appeased the senate, respecting its privileges and commuting the death sentences of men charged in Hadrian's last days.<ref>''HA Antoninus Pius'' v. 3, vi. 3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 55–56; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 151.</ref> For his dutiful behaviour, Antoninus was asked to accept the name 'Pius'.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 55; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 151.</ref>

===Heir to Antoninus Pius (138–145)===
[[File:Antoninus Pius, sestertius, AD 140-144, RIC III 601.jpg|thumb|upright=1.36|[[Sestertius]] of [[Antoninus Pius]] (AD 140–144). It celebrates the betrothal of Marcus Aurelius and [[Faustina the Younger]] in 139, pictured below Antoninus, who is holding a statuette of [[Concordia (mythology)|Concordia]] and clasping hands with [[Faustina the Elder]]. Inscription: ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P. P., TR. P., CO[N]S. III / CONCORDIAE S.C.<ref>Mattingly & Sydenham, ''Roman imperial coinage'', vol. III, p. 108.</ref>|alt=Coin commemorating the betrothal of Marcus Aurelius to his eventual wife Faustina.]]
[[File:Antoninus Pius, with Marcus Aurelius Caesar, denarius, AD 139, RIC III 412a.jpg|thumb|upright=1.36|[[Denarius]] of Antoninus Pius (AD 139), with a portrait of Marcus Aurelius on the reverse. Inscription: ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P. P. / AVRELIVS CAES. AVG. PII F. CO[N]S. DES.<ref>Mattingly & Sydenham, ''Roman imperial coinage'', vol. III, p. 77.</ref>|alt=Coin of Antoninus Pius, Marcus's predecessor, depicting Antoninus on the obverse and Marcus on the reverse.]]

Immediately after Hadrian's death, Antoninus approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements be amended: Marcus's betrothal to [[Ceionia Fabia]] would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to [[Faustina the Younger|Faustina]], Antoninus's daughter, instead. Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus's proposal.<ref>''HA Marcus'' vi. 2; ''Verus'' ii. 3–4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 53–54.</ref> He was made [[Roman consul|consul]] for 140 with Antoninus as his colleague, and was appointed as a ''sevir'', one of the [[Equites|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.<ref>Dio 71.35.5; ''HA Marcus'' vi. 3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 56.</ref> 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 [[Tyrian purple|purple dye]] – for that can happen'.<ref>''Meditations'' vi. 30, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 57; cf. ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 270 n.9, with notes on the translation.</ref> At the senate's request, Marcus joined all the priestly colleges (''[[Pontiff|pontifices]]'', ''[[augur]]es'', ''[[quindecimviri sacris faciundis]]'', ''[[Epulones|septemviri epulonum]]'', etc.);<ref name='ReferenceA'>''HA Marcus'' vi. 3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 57.</ref> direct evidence for membership, however, is available only for the [[Arval Brethren]].<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 57, 272 n.10, citing ''Codex Inscriptionum Latinarum'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224044/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+06,+00032&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 6.32], [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224054/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+06,+00379&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 6.379], cf. ''Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224059/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+00360&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 360].</ref>

Antoninus demanded that Marcus reside in the House of Tiberius, 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's objections.<ref name='ReferenceA'/> 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'<ref>''Meditations'' 5.16, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 57.</ref> – but he found it difficult nonetheless. He would criticise himself in the ''Meditations'' for 'abusing court life' in front of company.<ref>''Meditations'' 8.9, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 57.</ref>

As quaestor, Marcus would have had little real administrative work to do. He would read imperial letters to the senate when Antoninus was absent and would do secretarial work for the senators.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 57–58.</ref> 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'.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' iv. 7, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 90.</ref> He was being 'fitted for ruling the state', in the words of his biographer.<ref>''HA Marcus'' vi. 5; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 58.</ref> He was required to make a speech to the assembled senators as well, making oratorical training essential for the job.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 89'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 89.</ref>

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'.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' v. 1, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 89.</ref> Marcus had complained of an illness in an earlier letter: 'As far as my strength is concerned, I am beginning to get it back; and there is no trace of the pain in my chest. But that ulcer [...]{{refn|The manuscript is corrupt here.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 89'/>|group=note}} I am having treatment and taking care not to do anything that interferes with it'.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' 4.8, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 89.</ref> 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.<ref>Dio 71.36.3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 89.</ref> In April 145, Marcus married Faustina, legally his sister, as had been planned since 138.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 90–91.</ref> Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but the biographer calls it 'noteworthy'.<ref>''HA Antoninus Pius'' x. 2, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 91.</ref> 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 surviving letters, and only sparing references to Faustina.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 91.</ref>

===Fronto and further education===
After taking the ''[[toga virilis]]'' in 136, Marcus probably began his training in [[Eloquence|oratory]].<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 61.</ref> He had three tutors in [[Greek language|Greek]] (Aninus Macer, Caninius Celer, and [[Herodes Atticus]]) and one in Latin ([[Marcus Cornelius Fronto]]). The latter two were the most esteemed orators of their time,<ref>''HA Marcus'' iii. 6; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 62.</ref> 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.<ref>''HA Marcus'' ii. 4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 62.</ref> 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 in Greek.<ref>Alan Cameron, review of Anthony Birley's ''Marcus Aurelius'', ''Classical Review'' 17:3 (1967): p. 347.</ref>

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 patronising manner.<ref>''Vita Sophistae'' 2.1.14; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 63–64.</ref> Atticus was an inveterate opponent of [[Stoicism]] and philosophic pretensions.<ref>[[Aulus Gellius]], ''[[Noctes Atticae]]'' 9.2.1–7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 64–65.</ref> He thought the Stoics' desire for [[apatheia]] was foolish: they would live a 'sluggish, enervated life', he said.<ref>[[Aulus Gellius]], ''[[Noctes Atticae]]'' 19.12, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 65.</ref> 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.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 65.</ref>

Fronto was highly esteemed: in the self-consciously antiquarian world of Latin letters,<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 67–68, citing Champlin, ''Fronto and Antonine Rome'', esp. chs. 3 and 4.</ref> he was thought of as second only to [[Cicero]], perhaps even an alternative to him.<ref name='ReferenceB'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 65–67.</ref>{{refn|Modern scholars have not offered as positive an assessment. His second modern editor, [[Barthold Georg Niebuhr|Niebhur]], thought him stupid and frivolous; his third editor, [[Samuel Adrian Naber|Naber]], found him contemptible.<ref>Champlin, ''Fronto'', pp. 1–2.</ref> Historians have seen him as a 'pedant and a bore', his letters offering neither the running political analysis of a Cicero or the conscientious reportage of a Pliny.<ref>Mellor, p. 460.</ref> Recent prosopographic research has rehabilitated his reputation, though not by much.<ref>Cf., e.g.: Mellor, p. 461 and ''passim''.</ref>|group=note}} 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 [[synonym]]s, and challenging minor improprieties in word choice.<ref name='ReferenceB'/>

A significant amount of the correspondence between Fronto and Marcus has survived.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 69'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 69.</ref> 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.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' iv. 6 (= Haines 1.80ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 76.</ref> Marcus spent time with Fronto's wife and daughter, both named Cratia, and they enjoyed light conversation.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' iv. 6 (= Haines 1.80ff); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 76–77.</ref>

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'.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' iii. 10–11 (= Haines 1.50ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 73.</ref> 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<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 73.</ref> – about one-quarter of the surviving letters deal with the man's sicknesses.<ref>Champlin, 'Chronology of Fronto', p. 138.</ref> Marcus asks that Fronto's pain be inflicted on himself, 'of my own accord with every kind of discomfort'.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' v. 74 ( =Haines 2.52ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 73.</ref>

Fronto never became Marcus's full-time teacher and continued his career as an advocate. One notorious case brought him into conflict with Atticus.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 77. On the date, see Champlin, 'Chronology of Fronto', p. 142, who (with Bowersock, ''Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire'' (1964), 93ff) argues for a date in the 150s; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 78–79, 273 n.17 (with Ameling, ''Herodes Atticus'' (1983), 1.61ff, 2.30ff) argues for 140.</ref> 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.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' iii. 2 (= Haines 1.58ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 77–78.</ref> Fronto replied that he was surprised to discover Marcus counted Atticus as a friend (perhaps Atticus was not yet Marcus's tutor), and allowed that Marcus might be correct,<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' iii. 3 (= Haines 1.62ff); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 78.</ref> 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 that refer to the beating and robbing I will describe so that they savour of gall and bile. If I happen to call him an uneducated little Greek it will not mean war to the death'.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' iii. 3 (= Haines 1.62ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 79.</ref> The outcome of the trial is unknown.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 80.</ref>

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'.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' iv. 13 (= Haines 1.214ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 93.</ref> Marcus had grown tired of his exercises, of taking positions in imaginary debates. When he criticised the insincerity of conventional language, Fronto took to defend it.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' iv. 3.1 (= Haines 1.2ff); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 94.</ref> In any case, Marcus's formal education was now over. He had kept his teachers on 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's entire boyhood.<ref>''HA Marcus'' iii. 5–8, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 94.</ref>

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".<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' iv. 3, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 69.</ref> He disdained philosophy and philosophers and looked down on Marcus's sessions with [[Apollonius of Chalcedon]] and others in this circle.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 69'/> Fronto put an uncharitable interpretation of Marcus's 'conversion to philosophy': 'In the fashion of the young, tired of boring work', Marcus had turned to philosophy to escape the constant exercises of oratorical training.<ref>''De Eloquentia'' iv. 5 (= Haines 2.74), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 95. Alan Cameron, in his review of Birley's biography (''The Classical Review'' 17:3 (1967): p. 347), suggests a reference to chapter 11 of Arthur Darby Nock's ''Conversion'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933, rept. 1961): 'Conversion to Philosophy'.</ref> Marcus kept in close touch with Fronto, but would ignore Fronto's scruples.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 94, 105.</ref>

Apollonius may have introduced Marcus to Stoic philosophy, but [[Junius Rusticus|Quintus Junius Rusticus]] would have the strongest influence on the boy.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 95; Champlin, ''Fronto'', p. 120.</ref>{{refn|Champlin notes that Marcus's praise of Rusticus in the ''Meditations'' is out of order (he is praised immediately after Diognetus, who had introduced Marcus to philosophy), giving him special emphasis.<ref>Champlin, ''Fronto'', p. 174 n. 12.</ref>|group=note}} He was the man Fronto recognised as having 'wooed Marcus away' from oratory.<ref>''Ad Antoninum Imperatorem'' i.2.2 (= Haines 2.36), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 95.</ref> 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;<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 94–95, 101.</ref> the true successor of [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] (as opposed to Fronto, the false one).<ref>Champlin, ''Fronto'', p. 120.</ref> Marcus thanks Rusticus for teaching him "not to be led astray into enthusiasm for rhetoric, for writing on speculative themes, for discoursing on moralising texts&nbsp;... To avoid oratory, poetry, and 'fine writing{{'"}}.<ref>''Meditations'' i.7, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 94–95.</ref>

[[Philostratus]] describes how even when Marcus was an old man, in the latter part of his reign, he studied under [[Sextus of Chaeronea]]:

<blockquote>The Emperor Marcus was an eager disciple of Sextus the [[Boeotia]]n 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 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 [[wax tablet|tablets]] and goes to school.'<ref>Philostratus, ''Vitae sophistorum'' ii. 9 (557); cf. Suda, ''Markos''</ref></blockquote>

===Birth and death===
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 [[tribune|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 with Antoninus's on 10 December 147.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 103'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 103.</ref> The first mention of Domitia in Marcus's letters reveals her as a sickly infant. 'Caesar to Fronto. If the gods are willing we seem to have a hope of recovery. The diarrhoea 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.<ref>''Ad Marcum Caesarem'' 4.11 (= Haines 1.202ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 105.</ref> Domitia would die in 151.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 247 F.1.</ref>

[[File:RomaCastelSantAngelo-2.jpg|thumb|The [[Mausoleum of Hadrian]], where the children of Marcus and Faustina were buried|alt=Mausoleum of Hadrian]]

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 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 [[Castel Sant'Angelo|Mausoleum of Hadrian]], where their epitaphs survive. They were called Titus Aurelius Antoninus and Tiberius Aelius Aurelius.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 106–07'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 206–207.</ref> 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'.<ref>''Meditations'' ix.40, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 207.</ref> He quoted from the ''[[Iliad]]'' what he called the "briefest and most familiar saying [...] enough to dispel sorrow and fear":<ref name="Meditations x pp. 78, 224">''Meditations'' x.34, tr. Farquharson, pp. 78, 224.</ref>

{{Poem quote|leaves,
the wind scatters some on the face of the ground;
like unto them are the children of men.|''Iliad'' vi.146<ref name="Meditations x pp. 78, 224"/>}}

Another daughter was born on 7 March 150, [[Lucilla|Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla]]. At some time between 155 and 161, probably soon after 155, Marcus's mother Domitia Lucilla died.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 107'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 107.</ref> Faustina probably had another daughter in 151, but the child, [[Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina]], might not have been born until 153.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 107–108.</ref> Another son, Tiberius Aelius Antoninus, was born in 152. A coin issue celebrates ''fecunditati Augustae'', 'to 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's sister Cornificia.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 108'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 108.</ref> By 28 March 158, when Marcus replied, another of his children was dead. Marcus thanked the temple synod, 'even though this turned out otherwise'. The child's name is unknown.<ref>''Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas pertinentes'' 4.1399, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 114.</ref> In 159 and 160, Faustina gave birth to daughters: Fadilla and Cornificia, named respectively after Faustina's and Marcus's dead sisters.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 114.</ref>

===Antoninus Pius's last years===
[[File:Imperator Antoninus Pius.jpg|thumb|Bust of [[Antoninus Pius]], [[British Museum]]]]
Lucius started his political career as a quaestor in 153. He was consul in 154,<ref>Reed, p. 194.</ref> and was consul again with Marcus in 161.<ref name='livius1'>Lendering, Jona. [https://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html 'Marcus Aurelius'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125175619/https://www.livius.org/di-dn/divi_fratres/marcus.html |date=25 November 2005 }}. Livius.org.</ref> 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.<ref>''HA Verus'' 2.9–11; 3.4–7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 108.</ref>{{refn|Although part of the biographer's account of Lucius is fictionalised (probably to mimic Nero, whose birthday Lucius shared<ref>Suetonius, ''Nero'' 6.1; ''HA Verus'' 1.8; Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', 67; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 158. See also: Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', pp. 69–70; Pierre Lambrechts, 'L'empereur Lucius Verus. Essai de réhabilitation' (in French), ''Antiquité Classique'' 3 (1934), pp. 173ff.</ref>) and another part poorly compiled from a better biographical source,<ref>Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', p. 66. Poorly compiled: e.g. Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', p. 68.</ref> scholars have accepted these biographical details as accurate.<ref>Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', pp. 68–69.</ref>|group=note}} He did not marry until 164.<ref>''HA Verus'' 2.9–11; 3.4–7; Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', 68; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 108.</ref>

In 156, Antoninus turned 70. He found it difficult to keep himself upright without [[corset|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) when Marcus Gavius Maximus died in 156 or 157.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 112.</ref> In 160, Marcus and Lucius were designated joint consuls for the following year. Antoninus may have already been ill.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114'/>

Two days before his death, the biographer reports, Antoninus was at his ancestral estate at [[Lorium]], in [[Etruria]],<ref>Bowman, 156; Victor, 15:7</ref> about 19 kilometres (12&nbsp;mi) from Rome.<ref name='Victor, 15:7'>Victor, 15:7</ref> He ate Alpine cheese at dinner quite greedily. In the night he vomited; he had a fever the next day. The day after that, 7 March 161,<ref>Dio 71.33.4–5; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 114.</ref> 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).<ref name='Bury 532'>Bury, p. 532.</ref> He then turned over, as if going to sleep, and died.<ref>''HA Antoninus Pius'' 12.4–8; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 114.</ref> His death closed out the longest reign since Augustus, surpassing [[Tiberius]] by a couple of months.<ref>Bowman, p. 156.</ref>

==Emperor==
{{Main|Reign of Marcus Aurelius}}

===Accession of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161)===
[[File:Co-emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, British Museum (23455313842).jpg|thumb|left|Busts of the co-emperors Marcus Aurelius (left) and [[Lucius Verus]] (right), [[British Museum]]|alt=Busts of Marcus Aurelius and his co-ruler Lucius Verus]]
After Antoninus died in 161, Marcus was effectively sole ruler of the Empire. The formalities of the position would follow. The Senate would soon 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.<ref>''HA Marcus'' vii. 5, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 116.</ref> 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 [[Stoicism|Stoic]] however, had made the choice clear to him that it was his duty.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 116. Birley takes the phrase ''horror imperii'' from ''HA Pert''. xiii. 1 and xv. 8.</ref>

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 succession plans.<ref>Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 156.</ref> Thus, although the Senate planned to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers.<ref>''HA Verus'' iii.8; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 116; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 156.</ref> The Senate accepted, granting Lucius the ''imperium'', the tribunician power, and the title [[Augustus (title)|Augustus]].<ref>''HA Verus'' iv.1; ''Marcus'' vii.5; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 116.</ref> Marcus became, in official titulature, Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; Lucius, forgoing his name Commodus and taking Marcus's family name Verus, became Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 116–117.</ref>{{refn|These name-swaps have proven so confusing that even the ''Historia Augusta'', our main source for the period, cannot keep them straight.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 117; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 157 n.53.</ref> The 4th-century ecclesiastical historian [[Eusebius of Caesarea]] shows even more confusion.<ref>Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 157 n.53.</ref> The mistaken belief that Lucius had the name 'Verus' before becoming emperor has proven especially popular.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 117'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 117.</ref>|group=note}} It was the first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 117'/>{{refn|There was, however, much precedent. The consulate was a twin magistracy, and earlier emperors had often had a subordinate lieutenant with many imperial offices (under Antoninus, the lieutenant had been Marcus). Many emperors had planned a joint succession in the past: [[Augustus]] planned to leave [[Gaius Caesar|Gaius]] and [[Lucius Caesar]] as joint emperors on his death; Tiberius wished to have [[Gaius Caligula]] and [[Tiberius Gemellus]] do so as well; [[Claudius]] left the empire to [[Nero]] and [[Britannicus]], imagining that they would accept equal rank. All of these arrangements had ended in failure, either through premature death (Gaius and Lucius Caesar) or judicial murder (Gemellus by Caligula and Britannicus by Nero).<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 117'/>|group=note}}

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's rule, and he alone was ''pontifex maximus''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Christer Bruun, J. C. Edmondson|title=The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2bDBAAAQBAJ&dq=Pupienus+Balbinus+pontifex+maximus+shared&pg=PA191|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195336467|page=191}}</ref> It would have been clear to the public which emperor was the more senior.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 117'/> As the biographer wrote: "Verus obeyed Marcus [...] as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor".<ref>''HA Verus'' iv.2, tr. Magie, cited in Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 117, 278 n.4.</ref>

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 ''[[donativum]]''.<ref>''HA Marcus'' vii. 9; ''Verus'' iv.3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 117–118.</ref> This [[wikt:donative|donative]], however, was twice the size of those past: 20,000 [[Sestertius|sesterces]] (5,000 [[Denarius|denarii]]) per capita, with more to officers. In return for this bounty, equivalent to several years' pay, the troops swore an oath to protect the emperors.<ref>''HA Marcus'' vii. 9; ''Verus'' iv.3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 117–118. 'twice the size': Duncan-Jones, p. 109.</ref> The ceremony was perhaps not entirely necessary, given that Marcus's accession had been peaceful and unopposed, but it was good insurance against later military troubles.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 118.</ref> 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 {{cvt|2.68|g|oz}} to {{cvt|2.57|g|oz}}.<ref name='TulaneUniversity'>[https://web.archive.org/web/20010210220413/http://www.tulane.edu/~august/handouts/601cprin.htm 'Roman Currency of the Principate']. Tulane.edu. Archived 10 February 2001.</ref>
[[File:MarcusAureliusStatue.jpg|thumb|Marcus Aurelius Statue, [[Nation's Library]] in Turkiye]]
Antoninus's funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, 'elaborate'.<ref>''HA Marcus'' vii. 10, tr. Magie, cited in Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 118, 278 n.6.</ref> If his funeral followed those of his predecessors, his body would have been cremated 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 father for deification. In contrast to their behaviour during Antoninus's 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's remains were laid to rest in [[Castel Sant'Angelo|Hadrian's mausoleum]], beside the remains of Marcus's children and of Hadrian himself.<ref>''HA Marcus'' vii. 10–11; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 118.</ref> 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.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118'/>

In accordance with his will, Antoninus's fortune passed on to Faustina.<ref>''HA Antoninus Pius'' xii.8; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 118–119.</ref> (Marcus had little need of his wife's fortune. Indeed, at his accession, Marcus transferred part of his mother's estate to his nephew, [[Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus|Ummius Quadratus]].<ref>''HA Marcus'' vii. 4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 119.</ref>) 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.<ref>''HA Comm''. i.3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 119.</ref> On 31 August, she gave birth at [[Lanuvium]] to twins: T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus.<ref>''HA Comm''. i.2; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 119.</ref>{{refn|The biographer relates the scurrilous (and, in the judgement of Anthony Birley, untrue) rumour that Commodus was an illegitimate child born of a union between Faustina and a gladiator.<ref>''HA Marcus'' xix. 1–2; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 278 n.9.</ref>|group=note}} Aside from the fact that the twins shared [[Caligula]]'s birthday, the omens were favourable, and the astrologers drew positive horoscopes for the children.<ref>''HA Commodus''. i.4, x.2; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 119.</ref> The births were celebrated on the imperial coinage.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 119, citing H. Mattingly, ''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus'' (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 155ff.; 949ff.</ref>

===Early rule===
[[File:Marcus Aurelius Louvre MR561 n01.jpg|thumb|left|Bust of Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-169, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York]]
Soon after the emperor's accession, Marcus's eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla, was betrothed to Lucius (in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her uncle).<ref>''HA Marcus'' vii. 7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 118.</ref> At the ceremonies commemorating the event, new provisions were made for the support of poor children, along the lines of earlier imperial foundations.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 118, citing Werner Eck, ''Die Organization Italiens'' (1979), pp. 146ff.</ref> 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 criticise them without suffering retribution. As the biographer wrote, "No one missed the lenient ways of Pius".<ref>''HA Marcus'' viii. 1, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 119; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 157.</ref>

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 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.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 122–123, citing H.G. Pfalum, ''Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain'' I–III (Paris, 1960–61); ''Supplément'' (Paris, 1982), nos. 142; 156; Eric Birley, ''Roman Britain and the Roman Army'' (1953), pp. 142ff., 151ff.</ref> Lucius Volusius Maecianus, Marcus's former tutor, had been [[Augustal prefect|prefectural governor]] of [[Egypt (Roman province)|Egypt]] at Marcus's accession. Maecianus was recalled, made senator, and appointed prefect of the treasury (''[[aerarium Saturni]]''). He was made consul soon after.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123, citing H.G. Pfalum, ''Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain'' I–III (Paris, 1960–61); ''Supplément'' (Paris, 1982), no. 141.</ref> Fronto's son-in-law, [[Gaius Aufidius Victorinus]], was appointed governor of [[Germania Superior]].<ref name='HA Marcus 8 1985'>''HA Marcus'' viii. 8; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123, citing W. Eck, ''Die Satthalter der germ. Provinzen'' (1985), pp. 65ff.</ref>

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 Charilas, asking if he could call on the emperors. Fronto would later explain that he had not dared to write the emperors directly.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 120, citing ''Ad Verum Imperatorem'' i.3.2 (= Haines 1.298ff).</ref> 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".<ref>''Ad Antoninum Imperatorem'' iv.2.3 (= Haines 1.302ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 119.</ref> Fronto called on Marcus alone; neither thought to invite Lucius.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120'>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 120.</ref>

Lucius was less esteemed by Fronto than his brother, as his interests were on a lower level. Lucius asked Fronto to adjudicate in a dispute he and his friend Calpurnius were having on the relative merits of two actors.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 120, citing ''Ad Verum Imperatorem'' i.1 (= Haines 1.305).</ref> Marcus told Fronto of his reading – [[Lucius Coelius Antipater|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.'<ref>''Ad Antoninum Imperatorem'' iv.1 (= Haines 1.300ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 120.</ref> Marcus's early reign proceeded smoothly; he was able to give himself wholly to philosophy and the pursuit of popular affection.<ref>''HA Marcus'' viii. 3–4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 120.</ref> 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.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 120, citing H. Mattingly, ''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus'' (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 841; 845.</ref>
{{multiple image|total_width=500
|image1=12 dicembre 2008 piena del tevere 17.JPG
|alt1=Tiber Island in flood, December 2008
|image2=Piena del Tevere - Tiber in flood - Ponte Sisto - Rome, Italy - 12 Dec. 2008.jpg
|alt2=Tiber Island in flood, December 2008
|footer=[[Tiber Island]] seen at a forty-year high-water mark of the [[Tiber]], December 2008
}}
In either autumn 161 or spring 162,{{refn|Because both Lucius and Marcus are said to have taken active part in the recovery (''HA Marcus'' viii. 4–5), the flood must have happened before Lucius's departure for the east in 162; because it appears in the biographer's narrative after Antoninus's funeral has finished and the emperors have settled into their offices, it must not have occurred in the spring of 161. A date in autumn 161 or spring 162 is probable, and, given the normal seasonal distribution of Tiber flooding, the most probable date is in spring 162.<ref>Gregory S. Aldrete, ''Floods of the Tiber in ancient Rome'' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), pp. 30–31.</ref> (Birley dates the flood to autumn 161.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120'/>)|group=note}} 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.<ref>''HA Marcus'' viii. 4–5; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 120.</ref>{{refn|Since AD 15, the river had been administered by a Tiber Conservancy Board, with a consular senator at its head and a permanent staff. In 161, the ''curator alevi Tiberis et riparum et cloacarum urbis'' ('Curator of the Tiber Bed and Banks and the City Sewers') was A. Platorius Nepos, son or grandson of [[Aulus Platorius Nepos|the builder]] of [[Hadrian's Wall]], whose name he shares. He probably had not been particularly incompetent. A more likely candidate for that incompetence is Nepos's likely predecessor, [[Marcus Statius Priscus|M. Statius Priscus]]. A military man and consul for 159, Priscus probably looked on the office as little more than 'paid leave'.<ref>''Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224106/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+05932&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 5932] (Nepos), [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224111/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+01092&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 1092] (Priscus); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 121.</ref>|group=note}} In other times of famine, the emperors are said to have provided for the Italian communities out of the Roman granaries.<ref>''HA Marcus'' xi. 3, cited in Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 278 n.16.</ref>

Fronto's letters continued through Marcus's early reign. Fronto felt that, because of Marcus's prominence and public duties, lessons were more important now than they had 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'.<ref>''Ad Antoninum Imperatorem'' 1.2.2 (= Haines 2.35), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 128.</ref> 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 of Citium|Zeno]], yet, against your will, not the philosopher's woolen cape'.<ref>''De eloquentia'' 1.12 (= Haines 2.63–65), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 128.</ref>

The early days of Marcus's 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.<ref>''Ad Antoninum Imperatorem'' 1.2.2 (= Haines 2.35); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 127–128.</ref> Marcus had displayed rhetorical skill in his speech to the senate after an earthquake at [[Cyzicus]]. It 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.<ref>''Ad Antoninum Imperatorem'' 1.2.4 (= Haines 2.41–43), tr. Haines; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 128.</ref>

===War with Parthia (161–166)===
{{main|Roman–Parthian War of 161–166}}
{{see also|Roman–Persian Wars}}
[[Image:VologasesIV.jpg|thumb|upright=1.36|Coin of [[Vologases IV of Parthia]]. Inscription: above ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΔΟΥ, right ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΒΟΛΑΓΑΣΟΥ, left ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ, below ΔΙΟΥ (Greek inscription for KING OF KINGS – ARSAKIS VOLAGASES – ILLUSTRIUS PHILELLENE). Year ΔΟΥ = ΥΟΔ΄ = 474 = 162–163.]]
On his deathbed, Antoninus spoke of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him.<ref>''HA Antoninus Pius'' xii.7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 114, 121.</ref> One of those kings, [[Vologases IV of Parthia]], made his move in late summer or early autumn 161.<ref>Event: ''HA Marcus'' viii. 6; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 121. Date: Jaap-Jan Flinterman, 'The Date of Lucian's Visit to Abonuteichos,' ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' 119 (1997): p. 281.</ref> Vologases entered the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]] (then a Roman client state), expelled its king and installed his own – [[Pacorus of Armenia|Pacorus]], an [[Arsacid Empire|Arsacid]] like himself.<ref>''HA Marcus'' viii. 6; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 121.</ref> The governor of Cappadocia, the frontline in all Armenian conflicts, was [[Marcus Sedatius Severianus]], a Gaul with much experience in military matters.<ref>Lucian, ''Alexander'' 27; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 121.</ref>

Convinced by the prophet [[Alexander of Abonoteichus]] that he could defeat the Parthians easily and win glory for himself,<ref>Lucian, ''Alexander'' 27; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 121–122. On Alexander, see: Robin Lane Fox, ''Pagans and Christians'' (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), pp. 241–250.</ref> Severianus led a legion (perhaps the [[Legio IX Hispana|IX Hispana]]<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 278 n.19.</ref>) into Armenia, but was trapped by the Parthian general [[Chosrhoes]] at [[Elegeia]], 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.<ref>Dio 71.2.1; Lucian, ''Historia Quomodo Conscribenda'' 21, 24, 25; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 121–122.</ref>

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 (Roman Empire)|limes]]''.<ref>''HA Marcus'' viii. 7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 122.</ref> Marcus was unprepared. Antoninus seems to have given him no military experience; the biographer writes that Marcus spent the whole of Antoninus's twenty-three-year reign at his emperor's side and not in the provinces, where most previous emperors had spent their early careers.<ref>''HA Antoninus Pius'' vii.11; ''Marcus'' vii.2; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 103–104, 122.</ref>{{refn|[[Alan Cameron (classical scholar)|Alan Cameron]] adduces the 5th-century writer [[Sidonius Apollinaris]]'s comment that Marcus commanded 'countless legions' ''vivente Pio'' (while Antoninus was alive) while contesting Birley's contention that Marcus had no military experience. (Neither Apollinaris nor the ''Historia Augusta'' (Birley's source) are particularly reliable on 2nd-century history.<ref>''Pan. Ath.'' 203–204, qtd. and tr. Alan Cameron, review of Anthony Birley's ''Marcus Aurelius'', ''The Classical Review'' 17:3 (1967): p. 349.</ref>)|group=note}}

More bad news arrived: the Syrian governor's army had been defeated by the Parthians, and retreated in disarray.<ref>''HA Marcus'' viii. 6; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.</ref> Reinforcements were dispatched for the Parthian frontier. P. Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding [[Legio X Gemina|X Gemina]] at [[Vindobona]] ([[Vienna]]), left for Cappadocia with detachments from the Danubian legions.<ref>''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223837/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+08,+07050&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 8.7050]–[https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223843/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+08,+07051&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 51]; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.</ref> Three full legions were also sent east: [[Legio I Minervia|I Minervia]] from Bonn in Upper Germany,<ref>''Incriptiones Latinae Selectae'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223850/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+01097&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 1097]–[https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223856/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+01098&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 98]; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.</ref> [[Legio II Adiutrix|II Adiutrix]] from Aquincum,<ref>''Incriptiones Latinae Selectae'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223904/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+01091&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 1091]; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.</ref> and [[Legio V Macedonica|V Macedonica]] from Troesmis.<ref>''Incriptiones Latinae Selectae'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223912/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+02311&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 2311]; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.</ref>

The northern frontiers were strategically weakened; frontier governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible.<ref>''HA Marcus'' xii. 13; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.</ref> [[Marcus Annius Libo (consul 161)|M. Annius Libo]], Marcus's first cousin, was sent to replace the Syrian governor. His first consulship was in 161, so he was probably in his early thirties,<ref>''L'Année Épigraphique'' 1972.657 {{Cite web |url=http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=AE+1972,+00657&r_sortierung=Belegstelle |title=Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby |access-date=15 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223919/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=AE+1972,+00657&r_sortierung=Belegstelle |archive-date=29 April 2012 |url-status=dead}}; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 125.</ref> and as a patrician, he lacked military experience. Marcus had chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one.<ref>''HA Verus'' 9.2; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 125.</ref>
[[File:Marcus Aurelius, aureus, AD 166, RIC III 160.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.36|Aureus of Marcus Aurelius (AD 166). On the reverse, [[Victoria (mythology)|Victoria]] is holding a shield inscribed 'VIC(toria) PAR(thica)', referring to his victory against the Parthians. Inscription: M. ANTONINVS AVG. / TR. P. XX, IMP. IIII, CO[N]S. III.<ref>Mattingly & Sydenham, ''Roman imperial coinage'', vol. III, p. 226.</ref>|alt=Coin of Marcus Aurelius. Victoria appears on the reverse, commemorating Marcus's Parthian victory.]]
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.<ref>''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 1 (= Haines 2.3); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 126.</ref> Fronto replied: 'What? Do I not know that you went to Alsium with the intention of devoting yourself to games, joking, and complete leisure for four whole days?'<ref>''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 3.1 (= Haines 2.5), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 126.</ref> He encouraged Marcus to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Antoninus had enjoyed exercise in the ''[[palaestra]]'', fishing, and comedy),<ref>''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 3.4 (= Haines 2.9); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 126–127.</ref> 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.<ref>''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 3.6–12 (= Haines 2.11–19); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 126–127.</ref> Marcus could not take Fronto's advice. 'I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off', he wrote back.<ref>''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 4, tr. Haines 2.19; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 127.</ref> 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 often, but 'this devotion to duty! Who knows better than you how demanding it is!'<ref>''De Feriis Alsiensibus'' 4 (= Haines 2.19), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 127.</ref>

{{multiple image
| total_width       = 500
| image1            = Antioch in Syria engraving by William Miller after H Warren.jpg
| caption1          = The dissolute Syrian army spent more time in [[Antioch]]'s open-air taverns than with their units<ref>''Ad Verum Imperatorem'' 2.1.19 (= Haines 2.149); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 129.</ref> (engraving by [[William Miller (engraver)|William Miller]] after a drawing by H. Warren from a sketch by Captain [[Thomas Byam Martin|Byam Martin]], R.N., 1866).
| alt1              = Depiction of Antioch, Syria
| image2            = ArRaqqahEuphrates.jpg
| caption2          = The Euphrates River near [[Raqqa]], Syria
| alt2              = Euphrates River
}}

Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material,<ref>''De bello Parthico'' x. (= Haines 2.31), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 127.</ref> 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 labelled ''De bello Parthico'' (''On the Parthian War''). There had been reverses in Rome's past, Fronto writes,<ref>''De bello Parthico'' i–ii. (= Haines 2.21–23).</ref> 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'.<ref>''De bello Parthico'' i. (= Haines 2.21), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 127.</ref>

Over the winter of 161–162, news that a rebellion was brewing in Syria arrived and it was decided that Lucius should direct the Parthian war in person. He was stronger and healthier than Marcus, the argument went, and thus more suited to military activity.<ref>Dio, lxxi. 1.3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 123.</ref> Lucius's biographer suggests ulterior motives: to restrain Lucius's debaucheries, to make him thrifty, to reform his morals by the terror of war, and to realise that he was an emperor.<ref>''HA Verus'' v. 8; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 123, 125.</ref>{{refn|Birley believes there is some truth in these considerations.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 125.</ref>|group=note}} 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'.<ref>''HA Marcus'' viii. 9, tr. Magie; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 123–126. On Lucius's voyage, see: ''HA Verus'' vi. 7–9; ''HA Marcus'' viii. 10–11; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 125–126.</ref>

Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch, though he wintered at [[Laodicea in Syria|Laodicea]] and summered at Daphne, a resort just outside Antioch.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129.</ref> Critics decried Lucius's luxurious lifestyle,<ref>''HA Verus'' iv.4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129.</ref> saying that he had taken to gambling, would 'dice the whole night through',<ref>''HA Verus'' iv. 6, tr. Magie; cf. v. 7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129.</ref> and enjoyed the company of actors.<ref>''HA Verus'' viii. 7, viii. 10–11; Fronto, ''Principia Historiae'' 17 (= Haines 2.217); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129.</ref>{{refn|The whole section of the ''vita'' dealing with Lucius's debaucheries (''HA Verus'' iv. 4–6.6), however, is an insertion into a narrative otherwise entirely cribbed from an earlier source. Most of the details are fabricated by the biographer himself, relying on nothing better than his own imagination.<ref>Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus.', p. 69.</ref>|group=note}} Libo died early in the war; perhaps Lucius had murdered him.<ref>''HA Verus'' ix. 2; ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' 3.199 {{Cite web |url=http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+03,+00199&r_sortierung=Belegstelle |title=Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby |access-date=15 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429224122/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=CIL+03,+00199&r_sortierung=Belegstelle |archive-date=29 April 2012 |url-status=dead}}; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 130–131.</ref>
[[File:Statue of Lucilla detail.jpg|thumb|Marble statue of [[Lucilla]], AD 150–200, [[Bardo National Museum (Tunis)|Bardo National Museum]], [[Tunisia]]|alt=Statue of Marcus's daughter Lucilla]]
In the middle of the war, perhaps in autumn 163 or early 164, Lucius made a trip to [[Ephesus]] to be married to Marcus's daughter Lucilla.<ref>''HA Verus'' vii. 7; ''Marcus'' ix. 4; Barnes, 'Hadrian and Lucius Verus', p. 72; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163; cf. also Barnes, 'Legislation against the Christians', p. 39; 'Some Persons in the Historia Augusta', p. 142, citing the ''Vita Abercii'' 44ff.</ref> Marcus moved up the date; perhaps he had already heard of Lucius's mistress Panthea.<ref>''HA Verus'' 7.10; Lucian, ''Imagines'' 3; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131. Cf. Lucian, ''Imagines'', ''Pro Imaginibus'', ''passim''.</ref> Lucilla's thirteenth birthday was in March 163; whatever the date of her marriage, she was not yet fifteen.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163.</ref> Lucilla was accompanied by her mother Faustina and Lucius's uncle (his father's half-brother) M. Vettulenus Civica Barbarus,<ref>''HA Verus'' vii. 7; ''Marcus'' ix. 4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131.</ref> who was made ''[[comes]] Augusti'', 'companion of the emperors'. Marcus may have wanted Civica to watch over Lucius, the job Libo had failed at.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 131, citing ''Année Épigraphique'' 1958.15.</ref> 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.<ref>''HA Verus'' 7.7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131.</ref> He only accompanied the group as far as [[Brundisium]], where they boarded a ship for the east.<ref>''HA Marcus'' ix. 4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131.</ref> He returned to Rome immediately thereafter, and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to give the group any official reception.<ref>''HA Marcus'' ix. 5–6; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131.</ref>

The Armenian capital [[Artashat (ancient city)|Artaxata]] was captured in 163.<ref>''HA Marcus'' ix. 1; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.</ref> 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.<ref>''HA Marcus'' ix. 1; ''HA Verus'' vii. 1–2; ''Ad Verum Imperatorem'' 2.3 (= Haines 2.133); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.</ref> When Lucius was hailed as ''imperator'' again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the ''Imperator II'' with him.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 129; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162, citing H. Mattingly, ''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus'' (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 233ff.</ref>

Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms. In 164, a new capital, Kaine Polis ('New City'), replaced Artaxata.<ref>Dio, lxxi.3.1; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 131; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162; Millar, ''Near East'', p. 113.</ref> A new king was installed: a Roman senator of consular rank and Arsacid descent, [[Sohaemus of Armenia|Gaius Julius Sohaemus]]. He may not even have been crowned in Armenia; the ceremony may have taken place in Antioch, or even Ephesus.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 280 n. 42; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.</ref> Sohaemus was hailed on the imperial coinage of 164 under the legend {{Smallcaps|Rex armeniis Datus}}: Lucius sat on a throne with his staff while Sohaemus stood before him, saluting the emperor.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 131; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162, citing H. Mattingly, ''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus'' (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 261ff.; 300 ff.</ref>

In 163, the Parthians intervened in [[Osroene]], a Roman client in upper Mesopotamia centred on [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]], and installed their own king on its throne.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', pp. 130, 279 n. 38; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163, citing ''Prosopographia Imperii Romani''<sup>2</sup> M 169; Millar, ''Near East'', p. 112.</ref> In response, Roman forces were moved downstream, to cross the [[Euphrates]] at a more southerly point.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 130; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.</ref> Before the end of 163, however, Roman forces had moved north to occupy Dausara and Nicephorium on the northern, Parthian bank.<ref>Fronto, ''Ad Verum Imperatorem'' ii.1.3 (= Haines 2.133); Astarita, 41; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 130; 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 162.</ref> 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.<ref>''Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120429223856/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=D+01098&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 1098]; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 130.</ref>

In 165, Roman forces moved on Mesopotamia. Edessa was re-occupied, and Mannus, the king deposed by the Parthians, was re-installed.<ref>Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163, citing ''Prosopographia Imperii Romani''<sup>2</sup> M 169.</ref> The Parthians retreated to Nisibis, but this too was besieged and captured. The Parthian army dispersed in the [[Tigris]].<ref>Lucian, ''Historia Quomodo Conscribenda'' 15, 19; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163.</ref> A second force, under Avidius Cassius and the III Gallica, moved down the Euphrates, and fought a major battle at Dura.<ref>Lucian, ''Historia Quomodo Conscribenda'' 20, 28; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 163, citing Syme, ''Roman Papers'', 5.689ff.</ref>

By the end of the year, Cassius's 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 [[Diadochi|successor kingdoms]]), opened its gates to the invaders. The city was sacked nonetheless, leaving a black mark on Lucius's reputation. Excuses were sought, or invented: the official version had it that the Seleucids broke faith first.<ref>''HA Verus'' 8.3–4; Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', 163. Birley cites R. H. McDowell, ''Coins from Seleucia on the Tigris'' (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1935), pp. 124ff., on the date.</ref>

Cassius's army, although suffering from a shortage of supplies and the effects of a plague contracted in Seleucia, made it back to Roman territory safely.<ref>Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164.</ref> Lucius took the title Parthicus Maximus, and he and Marcus were hailed as ''imperatores'' again, earning the title 'imp. III'.<ref>Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164, citing H. Mattingly, ''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus'' (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 384 ff., 1248 ff., 1271 ff.</ref> Cassius's army returned to the field in 166, crossing over the Tigris into [[Media (region)|Media]]. Lucius took the title 'Medicus',<ref>Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164, citing P. Kneissl, ''Die Siegestitulatur der römischen Kaiser. Untersuchungen zu den Siegerbeinamen des 1. und 2. Jahrhunderts'' (Göttingen, 1969), pp. 99 ff.</ref> and the emperors were again hailed as ''imperatores'', becoming 'imp. IV' in imperial titulature. Marcus took the Parthicus Maximus now, after another tactful delay.<ref>Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', p. 164, citing H. Mattingly, ''Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus'' (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 401ff.</ref> On 12 October of that year, Marcus proclaimed two of his sons, [[Marcus Annius Verus Caesar|Annius]] and [[Commodus]], as [[Caesar (title)|his heirs]].<ref name='auto'>Adams, p. 94.</ref>

===War with Germanic tribes (166–180)===
{{main|Marcomannic Wars}}
{{multiple image|header = Scenes from the [[Marcomannic Wars]], 176–180 (bas reliefs from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius, now in the [[Capitoline Museums]])
|align = left
|image1=0 Relief - Monument honoraire de Marc Aurèle - La soumission des germains (1).JPG
|width1=160
|caption1=Marcus Aurelius receiving the submission of the vanquished, with raised ''[[vexillum]]'' standards
|alt1 =Scene from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius
|image2=Rilievo da monumento onorario di Marco Aurelio trionfo, 176-180.JPG
|width2=195
|caption2=Marcus Aurelius celebrating [[Roman triumph|his triumph]] over Rome's enemies in 176, riding in a ''[[quadriga]]'' chariot
|alt2=Scene from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius
}}
During the early 160s, Fronto's son-in-law Victorinus was stationed as a legate in Germany. He was there with his wife and children (another child had stayed with Fronto and his wife in Rome).<ref>Dio 72.11.3–4; ''Ad amicos'' 1.12 (= Haines 2.173); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 132.</ref> 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.<ref>Dio, lxxii. 11.3–4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 132, citing ''De nepote amisso'' ii (= Haines 2.222); ''Ad Verum Imperatorem'' ii. 9–10 (= Haines 2.232ff.).</ref>

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 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.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 133, citing Geza Alföldy, ''Konsulat und Senatorenstand'' (1977), Moesia Inferior: pp. 232ff.; Moesia Superior: pp. 234ff.; Pannonia Superior: pp. 236ff.; Dacia: pp. 245ff.; Pannonia Inferior: p. 251.</ref>

Starting in the 160s, [[Germanic tribes]], and other nomadic people launched raids along the [[limes Germanicus|northern border]], particularly into [[Gaul]] and across the [[Danube#History|Danube]]. This new impetus westwards was probably due to attacks from tribes further east. A first invasion by the Chatti in the province of Germania Superior was repulsed in 162.<ref name='McLynn2010'>McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: A Life'', pp. 323–324.</ref>
[[File:Marcus Aurelius, AE medallion, AD 168, Gnecchi II 52.jpg|thumb|upright=1.36|alt=Bust of Marcus Aurelius.|Bronze medallion of Marcus Aurelius (AD 168). The reverse depicts [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], flanked by Marcus and [[Lucius Verus]]. Inscription: M. ANTONINVS AVG. ARM. PARTH. MAX. / TR. P. XXII, IMP. IIII, COS III.<ref>Gnecchi, ''Medaglioni Romani'', p. 33.</ref>]]
[[File:Marcus Aurelius, aureus, AD 161-180, RIC III 362.jpg|thumb|upright=1.36|[[Aureus]] of Marcus (176–177). The pile of trophies on the reverse celebrates the end of the Marcomannic Wars. Inscription: M. ANTONINVS AVG. GERM. SARM. / TR. P. XXXI, IMP. VIII, CO[N]S. III, P. P.<ref>Mattingly & Sydenham, ''Roman imperial coinage'', vol. III, p. 241.</ref>|alt=Aureus of Marcus Aurelius.]]

Far more dangerous was the invasion of 166, when the [[Marcomanni]] of Bohemia, clients of the Roman Empire since AD 19, crossed the Danube together with the [[Lombards]] and other Germanic tribes.<ref name='Bohec2013'>Le Bohec, p. 56.</ref> Soon thereafter, the Iranian [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]] [[Iazyges]] attacked between the Danube and the [[Tisza|Theiss]] rivers.<ref name='Grant2016'>Grant, ''The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition'', p. 29.</ref>

The [[Costoboci]], coming from the [[Carpathian Mountains|Carpathian]] area, invaded [[Moesia]], [[Macedonia (Roman province)|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 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.<ref>Dio, lxxii.11.4–5; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 253.</ref> In 168, the two emperors embarked on a new military campaign, expelling the invading Marcomanni and [[Quadi]] from [[Aquileia]]. Lucius Verus fell ill and died on his way back to Rome, probably due to the plague, in January or February 169.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bishop |first=M. C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDdjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT149 |title=Lucius Verus and the Roman Defence of the East |date=2018 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1-4738-4945-7 |pages=120–122 |quote=The [[terminus post quem]] is 10 December 168, when Lucius' tribunician power was renewed, while a [[terminus ante quem]] is provided by the first record of Marcus as sole ruler on May 29. |access-date=31 May 2024 |archive-date=31 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531223958/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDdjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT149 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Legal and administrative work===

Like many emperors, Marcus spent most of his time addressing matters of law such as petitions and hearing disputes,<ref>Fergus Millar, ''The Emperor in the Roman World, 31 BC&nbsp;–&nbsp;AD 337'' (London: Duckworth, 1977), 6 and ''passim''. See also: idem. 'Emperors at Work', ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 57:1/2 (1967): 9–19.</ref> but unlike many of his predecessors, he was already proficient in imperial administration when he assumed power.<ref>[http://www.military-history.org/articles/thinkers-at-war-marcus-aurelius.htm 'Thinkers At War – Marcus Aurelius'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909052223/https://www.military-history.org/articles/thinkers-at-war-marcus-aurelius.htm |date=9 September 2017 }}. [http://www.military-history.org ''Military History Monthly''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027145143/http://www.military-history.org/ |date=27 October 2014 }}, published 2014. (This is the conclusion of [[Iain King]]'s biography of Marcus Aurelius.) 'Pius, one of longest-serving emperors, became infirm in his last years, so Marcus Aurelius gradually assumed the imperial duties. By the time he succeeded in 161, he was already well-practised in public administration.'</ref> He took great care in the theory and practice of legislation. Professional jurists called him "an emperor most skilled in the law"<ref>''Codex Justinianeus'' 7.2.6, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 133.</ref> and "a most prudent and conscientiously just emperor".<ref>''Digest'' 31.67.10, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 133.</ref> 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'').<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 133.</ref>

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.<ref>Irvine, pp. 57–58.</ref> In one speech, Marcus himself reminded the Senate that the imperial palace where he lived was not truly his possession but theirs.<ref>Dio, lxxii.33</ref> In 168, he revalued the denarius, increasing the silver purity from 79% to 82% – the actual silver weight increasing from {{cvt|2.57–2.67|g|oz}}. However, two years later he reverted to the previous values because of the military crises facing the empire.<ref name='TulaneUniversity'/>

====Trade with Han China and outbreak of plague====
{{main|Sino-Roman relations|Antonine Plague}}
A possible contact with the Chinese [[Han dynasty]] (202&nbsp;BC{{snd}}220&nbsp;AD) occurred in 166 when a [[Sino-Roman relations|Roman traveller visited the Han court]], claiming to be an ambassador representing "Andun" ({{zh|c=安敦}}), ruler of [[Daqin]], who can be identified either with Marcus or his predecessor Antoninus.<ref>Pulleyblank, Leslie and Gardiner, pp. 71–79.</ref><ref>Yü, pp. 460–461.</ref><ref>De Crespigny, p. 600.</ref> In addition to [[Roman Republic|Republican]]-era [[Roman glass]]wares found at [[Guangzhou]] along the [[South China Sea]],<ref>An, 83.</ref> 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]], described by [[Ptolemy]] (c. 150) as being visited by a Greek sailor named Alexander and lying beyond the [[Golden Chersonese]] (i.e. [[Malay Peninsula]]).<ref name='young 2001 pp. 29-30'>Young, pp. 29–30.</ref><ref group=note>For further information on [[Óc Eo]], see Osborne, Milton. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uxF2kH04WKgC ''The Mekong: Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future'']. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2006, revised edition, first published in 2000. pp. 24–25. {{ISBN|978-1741148930}}.</ref> Roman coins from the reigns of Tiberius to [[Aurelian]] have been found in [[Xi'an]],  the site of the Han capital [[Chang'an]], although the far greater amount of [[Indo-Roman trade relations|Roman coins in India]] suggests the Roman maritime trade for [[History of silk|purchasing Chinese silk]] was centred there, not in China or even the overland [[Silk Road]] running through Persia.<ref name='ball 2016 p154'>Ball, p. 154.</ref>

The [[Antonine Plague]] started in [[Mesopotamia]] in 165 or 166 at the end of Lucius's 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,<ref name="auto1">Haas, pp. 1093–1098.</ref> 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.<ref name=murphy>Murphy, Verity. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4381924.stm 'Past pandemics that ravaged Europe'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007210210/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4381924.stm |date=7 October 2017 }}. BBC News, 7 November 2005.</ref> It is believed that the plague was [[smallpox]].<ref name="auto1"/> 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.<ref>De Crespigny, p. 514.</ref> Raoul McLaughlin writes that the travel of Roman subjects to the Han 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 to McLaughlin, the disease caused "irreparable" damage to the Roman maritime trade in the Indian Ocean as proven by the archaeological record spanning from [[Roman Egypt|Egypt]] to [[Indo-Roman relations|India]], as well as significantly decreased [[Roman commerce|Roman commercial]] activity in Southeast Asia.<ref name='mclaughlin 2010 p59-60'>McLaughlin, pp. 59–60.</ref>

===Death and succession (180)===
[[File:Delacroix-Marc Aurèle-MBA-Lyon.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Last Words of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius]]'' (1844) by [[Eugène Delacroix]]|alt=Painting that depicts Marcus on his deathbed and his son Commodus, surrounded by the emperor's philosopher friends]]
Marcus Aurelius died at the age of 58 on 17 March 180<ref>Dio [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/72*.html 72.33.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408220149/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/72%2A.html |date=8 April 2023 }}</ref> of unknown causes in his military quarters either in the city of [[Vindobona]] (province of [[Pannonia Superior]], today [[Vienna]]) or near [[Sirmium]] (province of [[Pannonia Inferior]], modern [[Sremska Mitrovica]]).{{refn|Vindobona as Marc Aurel's death place is mentioned by [[Aurelius Victor]] in his ''De Caesaribus'' (16.14), Sirmium on the other hand in [[Tertullian]]'s ''Apologeticum'' (25)|group=note}} He was immediately deified and [[Cremation|his ashes]] were returned to Rome, where they rested in Hadrian's [[mausoleum]] (modern [[Castel Sant'Angelo]]) until the [[Visigoth]] [[Sack of Rome (410)|sack of the city]] in 410. His campaigns against Germans and Sarmatians were also commemorated by a [[Column of Marcus Aurelius|column]] and a [[temple of Marcus Aurelius|temple]] built in Rome.<ref name='Kleiner2016'>Kleiner, p. 230.</ref> Some scholars consider his death to be the end of the ''[[Pax Romana]]''.<ref name='Merrony2017'>Merrony, p. 85.</ref>

[[File:Aurelius180AD.png|thumb|upright=1.6|The [[Roman Empire]] at the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180, represented in purple. His annexation of lands of the Marcomanni and the Jazyges – perhaps to be provincially called [[Marcomannia]] and Sarmatia<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 253.</ref> – was cut short in 175 by the revolt of [[Avidius Cassius]] and by his death.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', p. 183.</ref> The light pink territory represents Roman dependencies: [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]], [[Colchis]], [[Kingdom of Iberia|Iberia]], and [[Caucasian Albania|Albania]].|alt=Expanse of the Roman Empire during Marcus Aurelius's reign]]
Marcus was succeeded by his son [[Commodus]], whom he had named Caesar in 166 and with whom he had jointly ruled since 177.<ref name='Birley186–91'>Birley, 'Hadrian to the Antonines', pp. 186–191.</ref> Biological sons of the emperor, if there were any, were considered heirs;<ref>Kemezis, p. 45.</ref> 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 criticised the succession to Commodus, citing Commodus' erratic behaviour and lack of political and military acumen.<ref name='Birley186–91'/> At the end of his history of Marcus's reign, Cassius Dio wrote an [[encomium]] to the emperor, and described the transition to Commodus in his own lifetime with sorrow:<ref name="Tr. Cary, ad loc">Tr. Cary, ''ad loc''.</ref>

<blockquote>[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 lxxi. 36.3–4<ref name="Tr. Cary, ad loc"/></blockquote>

Dio adds that from Marcus's 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."<ref>Dio lxxii. 36, 72.34</ref>

[[Michael Grant (classicist)|Michael Grant]], in ''The Climax of Rome'', writes of Commodus:<ref name='Grant2011'/>

<blockquote>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.<ref name='Grant2011'>Grant, ''The Climax Of Rome'', p. 15.</ref></blockquote>

==Attitude towards Christians==
In the first two centuries of the Christian era, local Roman officials were largely responsible for the [[Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire|persecution of Christians]]. In the second century, the emperors treated Christianity as a local problem to be dealt with by their subordinates.<ref>Barnes, 'Legislation against the Christians'.</ref> The number and severity of persecutions of Christians in various locations of the empire seemingly increased during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. The extent to which the emperor himself directed, encouraged, or was aware of these persecutions is unclear and much debated by historians.<ref name='McLynn2010295'>McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: A Life'', p. 295.</ref>

Marcus Aurelius mentions Christians only once in his personal writings, the ''[[Meditations]]''. In Book XI.3, he criticizes what he perceives as their theatrical approach to martyrdom, writing that readiness for death "must spring from a man's inner judgment, and not be the result of mere opposition [as is the case with the Christians]. It must be associated with deliberation and dignity and, if others too are to be convinced, with nothing like stage-heroics."<ref>Marcus Aurelius, ''Meditations'', XI.3</ref><ref name="Haines1916">Haines, C.R., ''The Communings with Himself of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus'', 1916</ref>

A letter purportedly from Marcus Aurelius to the Roman Senate, included in [[Justin Martyr]]'s ''[[First Apology of Justin Martyr|First Apology]]'', describes a battlefield incident where Marcus allegedly credited Christian prayer with saving his army when "water poured from heaven," and subsequently requested that the Senate cease persecution of Christians.<ref>The First Apology of Justin Martyr, Chapter LXVIII</ref> However, modern scholars widely consider this letter to be inauthentic, likely composed by Justin Martyr or another Christian author rather than by Marcus Aurelius himself.<ref name="authenticity">For discussion of authenticity, see Kovac, Peter, ''Marcus Aurelius's Rain Miracle and the Marcomannic Wars''</ref> Contemporary non-Christian sources, including the historian [[Cassius Dio]], attribute the same "rain miracle" to an Egyptian magician named Harnuphis who accompanied the Roman legions.<ref>Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' 71.8-10</ref>

==Marriage and issue==
[[File:Roman Empress Faustina the Younger, 161-170 CE, marble. Acquired in Paris, France, in 1742 CE. Altes Museum in Berlin.jpg|thumb|Bust of Faustina the Younger, AD 161-170, [[Altes Museum]], Berlin]]

Marcus and his wife [[Faustina the Younger|Faustina]] had at least 14 children<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Companion to Marcus Aurelius|last=van Ackeren|first=Marcel|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2012|isbn=978-1118219843|pages=229}}</ref> during their 30-year marriage,<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 103'/><ref name='Stephens, p. 31'>Stephens, p. 31.</ref> including two sets of twins.<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 103'/> One son and four daughters outlived their father.<ref>Ackermann, Schroeder, Terry, Lo Upshur and Whitters, p. 39.</ref> Their children included:
* Domitia Faustina (147–151)<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 103'/><ref name='McLynn, A Life, p. 92'>McLynn, ''Marcus Aurelius: A Life'', p. 92.</ref>
* Titus Aelius Antoninus (149)<ref name="Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 106–07" /><ref name='livius3'>Lendering, Jona. [https://www.livius.org/articles/person/antoninus-and-aelius/ 'Antoninus and Aelius'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522142049/https://www.livius.org/articles/person/antoninus-and-aelius/ |date=22 May 2020 }}. Livius.org.</ref>
* Titus Aelius Aurelius (149)<ref name="Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 106–07" />
* [[Lucilla|Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla]] (150–182)<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 107'/><ref>Lendering, Jona. [https://www.livius.org/articles/person/lucilla/ 'Lucilla'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222011706/https://www.livius.org/articles/person/lucilla/ |date=22 December 2019 }}. Livius.org.</ref> married her father's co-ruler [[Lucius Verus]],<ref name='livius1'/> then [[Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus]], had issue from both marriages
* [[Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina]] (born 151),<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 108'/> married [[Gnaeus Claudius Severus (consul 167)|Gnaeus Claudius Severus]], had a son
* [[Tiberius Aelius Antoninus]] (born 152, died before 156)<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 108'/>
* Unknown child (died before 158)<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114'/>
* [[Fadilla|Annia Aurelia Fadilla]] (born 159),<ref name='McLynn, A Life, p. 92'/><ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114'/> married [[Marcus Peducaeus Plautius Quintillus]], had issue
* [[Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor]] (born 160),<ref name='Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 114'/> married [[Marcus Petronius Sura Mamertinus]], had a son
* Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (161–165), elder twin brother of Commodus<ref name='levick171'>Levick, p. 171.</ref>
* [[Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus]] (Commodus) (161–192),<ref>Gagarin, p. 37.</ref> twin brother of Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, later emperor,<ref name='levick171'/><ref>Benario, Herbert W. [http://www.roman-emperors.org/marcaur.htm 'Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161–180)'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201181634/http://www.roman-emperors.org/marcaur.htm |date=1 February 2013 }}. Roman Emperors.</ref> married [[Bruttia Crispina]], no issue
* [[Marcus Annius Verus Caesar]] (162–169)<ref name='Stephens, p. 31'/>
* Hadrianus<ref name='livius1'/>
* [[Vibia Aurelia Sabina]] (170 – died before 217),<ref>Levick, pp. 160, 171.</ref> married [[Lucius Antistius Burrus]], no issue

{{Nerva–Antonine family tree}}

==Writings and legacy==
{{further|Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius}} 
=== ''Meditations'' ===
{{main|Meditations}}
[[File:MeditationsMarcusAurelius1811.jpg|thumb|First page of the 1811 English translation by [[Richard Graves]]]]
While on campaign between 170 and 180, Marcus 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. According to Hays, the book was a favourite of [[Frederick the Great]], [[John Stuart Mill]], [[Matthew Arnold]], and [[Goethe]].<ref>Hays, p. xlix.</ref> It has been considered by many commentators to be one of the greatest works of philosophy.<ref name='Collins1973'>Collins, p. 58.</ref> ''Meditations'' sold 16,000 copies in 2012. In 2019, 100,000 copies were sold.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Love |first=Shayla |date=29 June 2021 |title=The Revival of Stoicism |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-revival-of-stoicism/ |access-date=12 December 2023 |website=Vice |language=en |archive-date=12 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212190934/https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgxvmw/the-revival-of-stoicism |url-status=live }}</ref>

It is not known how widely Marcus's 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''.<ref>Stertz, p. 434, citing Themistius, ''Oratio'' 6.81; ''HA Cassius'' 3.5; Victor, ''De Caesaribus'' 16.9.</ref> 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 to it by name ('Marcus's writings to himself') are from [[Arethas of Caesarea]] in the 10th century and in the Byzantine [[Suda]] (perhaps inserted by Arethas himself). It was [[list of editiones principes in Greek|first published]] in 1558 in Zurich by [[Wilhelm Xylander|Wilhelm Xylander (né Holzmann)]], from a manuscript reportedly lost shortly afterwards.<ref>Hays, pp. xlviii–xlix.</ref> The oldest surviving complete manuscript copy is in the [[Vatican library]] and dates to the 14th century.<ref>Hadot, p. 22.</ref>

[[File:Roman - Portrait of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius - Walters 23215 (cropped).jpg|thumb|A 2nd century [[Roman portraiture|Roman sculpted portrait]] of Marcus Aurelius, which captures the pensive temperament of the philosopher-emperor, now in the [[Walters Art Museum]]]]

Marcus acquired the reputation of a [[philosopher king]] within his lifetime, and the title would remain after his death; both Dio and the biographer call him "the philosopher".<ref>''HA Marcus'' i. 1, xxvii. 7; Dio lxxi. 1.1; James Francis, ''Subversive Virtue: Asceticism and Authority in the Second-Century Pagan World'' (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), 21 n. 1.</ref><ref>Mark, Joshua. [https://www.worldhistory.org/article/174/marcus-aurelius-platos-philosopher-king/ 'Marcus Aurelius: Plato's Philosopher King'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420053011/https://www.worldhistory.org/article/174/marcus-aurelius-platos-philosopher-king/ |date=20 April 2021 }}. ''World History Encyclopedia''. 8 May 2018.</ref> Christians such as [[Justin Martyr]], [[Athenagoras of Athens|Athenagoras]], and [[Eusebius]] also gave him the title.<ref>Francis, p. 21 n.1, citing Justin, ''1 Apologia'' 1; Athenagoras, ''Leg''. 1; Eusebius, ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' 4.26.9–11.</ref> The last 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.<ref>Eusebius, ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' 4.26.9–11, qtd. and tr. Francis, 21 n. 1.</ref>

The historian Herodian wrote:

<blockquote>Alone of the emperors, 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.<ref>Herodian, ''Ab Excessu Divi Marci'' i.2.4, tr. Echols.</ref></blockquote>

[[Iain King]] says Marcus's legacy was tragic:

<blockquote>[The emperor's] Stoic philosophy – which is about self-restraint, duty, and respect for others – was so abjectly abandoned by the imperial line he anointed on his death.<ref>Thinkers at War.</ref></blockquote>

=== Equestrian Statue ===
{{Main|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.<ref>Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius.</ref> Crafted of bronze in {{Circa|175}}, it stands {{cvt|11.6|ft|m}} 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 weary facial expression due to the stress of leading Rome into nearly constant battles perhaps represents a break with the [[Ancient Greek art|classical tradition]] of [[Ancient Greek sculpture|sculpture]].<ref>Kleiner, p. 193.</ref>

<gallery widths="250" heights="160">
File:Marcus Aurelius, aureus, AD 174, RIC III 295.jpg|alt=Aureus of Marcus Aurelius|[[Aureus]] of Marcus Aurelius (AD December 173 – June 174), with his equestrian statue on the reverse. inscription: M. ANTONINVS AVG. TR. P. XXVIII / IMP. VI, CO[N]S III.<ref>Mattingly & Sydenham, ''Roman imperial coinage'', vol. III, p. 236.</ref>
File:Estàtua_eqüestre_de_Marc_Aureli_(176_dC),_Museu_Capitolí_(Roma)._Vista_general_de_la_sala_d'exposició.jpg|alt=Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius|The original [[Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius]], 2nd century AD, now located in the [[Palazzo dei Conservatori]]
</gallery>

=== Column ===
{{Main|Column of Marcus Aurelius}}

Marcus's [[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 [[relief]]s 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]].<ref>[https://curate.nd.edu/show/ft848p61g5s 'Column of Marcus Aurelius: Overall view, of base and column'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522142047/https://curate.nd.edu/show/ft848p61g5s |date=22 May 2020 }}. [[University of Notre Dame]], [[Hesburgh Library]]. Accessed 24 November 2018.</ref> The column of Marcus and the [[column of Trajan]] are often compared by scholars given how they are both [[Doric order|Doric]] in style, had a pedestal at the base, had sculpted [[frieze]]s depicting their respective military victories, and a statue on top.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scenes for Comparison · The Columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius · Classics|url=https://classics.sites.grinnell.edu/exhibits/show/columns-exhibit/comparative-sequences|access-date=21 July 2021|website=classics.sites.grinnell.edu|archive-date=21 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721192821/https://classics.sites.grinnell.edu/exhibits/show/columns-exhibit/comparative-sequences|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Roman emperors]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==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's Loeb edition.

{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
===Ancient===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Aristides, Aelius. ''Orationes'' (in Latin).
:Trapp, Michael B. ''Orations. 1: Orationes 1–2''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2017. {{ISBN|978-0674996465}}.
* Victor, Aurelius. ''De Caesaribus'' (in Latin).
:Bird, H.W. ''De Caesaribus''. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1994. {{ISBN|978-0853232186}}.
* Dio, Cassius. ''Roman History'' (in Greek).
:Cary, Earnest, trans. ''Roman History''. 9 vols. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1914–27. {{OCLC|500523615}}. Online at [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html LacusCurtius] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210404013041/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html |date=4 April 2021 }}.
* ''Digest'' (in Latin).
:Scott, S.P., trans. ''The Digest or Pandects'' in ''The Civil Law''. 17 vols. Cincinnati: Central Trust Company, 1932. {{OCLC|23759480}}. Online at the [http://www.constitution.org/sps/sps.htm Constitution Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011111072105/http://www.constitution.org/sps/sps.htm |date=11 November 2001 }}.
* [[Epiphanius of Salamis]]. ''[[On Weights and Measures]]'' (in Latin).
:Dean, James Elmer, ed. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=FnMlnQEACAAJ Epiphanius' Treatise on Weights and Measures – The Syriac Version]''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1935. {{OCLC|123314338}}.
* Fronto, Marcus Cornelius. ''The Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto: With Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Lucius Verus, Antoninus Pius, and Various Friends'' (in Latin).
:Haines, Charles Reginald, trans. ''The Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto: With Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Lucius Verus, Antoninus Pius, and Various Friends''. 2 vols. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1920. {{OCLC|476921438}}. Online at the Internet Archive: Vol. [https://archive.org/details/correspondencem00auregoog 1], [https://archive.org/details/correspondencem00frongoog 2].
* Gellius, Aulus. ''Noctes Atticae'' (''Attic Nights'').
:Rolfe, J.C., trans. ''The Attic nights of Aulus Gellius''. 3 vols. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1927–28. {{OCLC|59229750}} (Vol. 1), {{OCLC|1072405870}} (Vol. 2), {{OCLC|1021363430}} (Vol. 3). Vols. 1 and 2 online at [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Gellius/home.html LacusCurtius].
* Herodian. ''Ab Excessu Divi Marci'' (''History of the Roman Empire from the Death of Marcus Aurelius'', in Latin).
:Echols, Edward C., trans. ''Herodian of Antioch's History of the Roman empire: From the death of Marcus Aurelius to the accession of Gordian III''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1961. {{OCLC|463202486}}. Online at [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/herodian_00_intro.htm Tertullian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620222227/http://tertullian.org/fathers/herodian_00_intro.htm |date=20 June 2010 }} and [https://www.livius.org/sources/content/herodian-s-roman-history/ Livius] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229010221/https://www.livius.org/sources/content/herodian-s-roman-history/ |date=29 December 2019 }}.
* Lucian.
:Fowler, F.G.; Fowler, H.W., trans. ''The works of Lucian of Samosata''. Oxford: Clarendon P., 1949. {{OCLC|503242210}}.
:''Alexander'' (in Latin). Translation online at [http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/lucian/lucian_alexander.htm Tertullian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109160831/http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/lucian/lucian_alexander.htm |date=9 November 2017 }}.
:Translations (from Latin) of [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl2/wl210.htm ''Historia Quomodo Conscribenda'' (''The Way to Write History'')] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415073949/http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl2/wl210.htm |date=15 April 2009 }}, [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl3/wl303.htm ''Imagines'' (''A Portrait–Study'')] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810172847/http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl3/wl303.htm |date=10 August 2007 }}, and [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl3/wl304.htm ''Pro Imaginibus'' (''Defence of the 'Portrait–Study{{'}}'')] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327111532/http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl3/wl304.htm |date=27 March 2009 }} online at Sacred Texts, based on the [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6585 Gutenberg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110173214/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6585 |date=10 November 2020 }} e-text.
* Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. ''Meditations''.
:Farquharson, A.S.L., trans. ''Meditations''. New York: Knopf, 1946, rept. 1992. {{OCLC|897495952}}.
* ''Scriptores Historiae Augustae'' (Authors of the Historia Augusta). ''Historia Augusta'' (''Augustan History'').
:Magie, David, trans. ''Historia Augusta''. 3 vols. Loeb ed. London: Heinemann, 1921–32. Online at [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/home.html LacusCurtius] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725071321/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/home.html |date=25 July 2021 }}.
:Magie, David; Birley, Anthony R. ''Lives of the later Caesars''. London: The Folio Society, 2005. {{ISBN|0141935995}}.
* Themistius. ''Orationes'' (in Latin).
:Penella, Robert J. ''The private orations of Themistius''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0520218215}}.
{{Refend}}

===Modern===
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{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|Marcus Aurelius|s=Author:Marcus Aurelius|wikt=no|n=no|v=Nature philosophy|b=no}}
* {{wikisource-inline|list=
** [[s:The Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus|The Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus]]
** {{cite CE1913 <!--|last=Healy |first=Patrick Joseph--> |wstitle=Marcus Aurelius Antoninus |volume=2 |noicon=x |short=x}}
** {{cite EB1911 <!--|last=Mitchell |first=John Malcolm--> |wstitle=Marcus Aurelius Antoninus|volume=17 |pages=693–696 |noicon=x |short=x}}
** {{cite NSRW|wstitle=Aurelius Antoninus, Marcus |noicon=x |short=x}}
}}
* {{Wikisourcelang-inline|el|Μάρκος Αυρήλιος|Μάρκος Αὐρήλιος |noicon=y}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/marcus-aurelius}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=998| name=Marcus Aurelius}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Marcus Aurelius}}
* {{Librivox author |id=4398}}
* [http://www.iep.utm.edu/marcus/ Marcus Aurelius] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627115759/http://www.iep.utm.edu/marcus/ |date=27 June 2018 }} at the [[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]

{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[Nerva–Antonine dynasty|Antonine dynasty]]|26 April|121|17 March|180}}
{{S-reg}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Antoninus Pius]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Roman emperors|Roman emperor]]|years=161–180|with=[[Lucius Verus]] (161–169)|with2=[[Commodus]] (177–180)}}
{{s-aft|after=Commodus}}
{{S-off}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Marcus Ceccius Justinus|M. Ceccius Justinus]] |before2=[[Gaius Julius Bassus (consul 139)|G. Julius Bassus]]|as=suffect consuls}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Roman consul]] |with=Antoninus Pius|years = January–April 140}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Quintus Antonius Isauricus|Q. Antonius Isauricus]] |after2=[[Lucius Aurelius Flaccus|L. Aurelius Flaccus]]}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Lucius Marcius Celer Marcus Calpurnius Longus|L. Marcius Celer M. Calpurnius Longus]] |before2=[[Decimus Velius Fidus|D. Velius Fidus]]|as=suffect consuls}}
{{s-ttl|title = Roman consul |with=Antoninus Pius|years = January–February 145}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Lucius Plautius Lamia Silvanus|L. Plautius Lamia Silvanus]] |after2=[[Lucius Poblicola Priscus|L. Poblicola Priscus]]}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Tiberius Oclatius Severus|Ti. Oclatius Severus]] |before2=[[Novius Sabinianus]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = Roman consul |with=Lucius Verus|years = January 161}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Marcus Annius Libo (consul 161)|M. Annius Libo]] |after2=[[Quintus Camurius Numisius Junior|Q. Camurius Numisius Junior]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Roman emperors}}
{{Pharaohs}}
{{Stoicism}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcus Aurelius}}
[[Category:Marcus Aurelius| ]]
[[Category:121 births]]
[[Category:180 deaths]]
[[Category:2nd-century philosophers]]
[[Category:2nd-century Roman consuls]]
[[Category:2nd-century Roman emperors]]
[[Category:Aelii]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman adoptees]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman philhellenes]]
[[Category:Annii]]
[[Category:Augurs of the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Aurelii Fulvi|Marcus]]
[[Category:Burials at the Castel Sant'Angelo]]
[[Category:Deified Roman emperors]]
[[Category:Glycon cult]]
[[Category:Greek-language writers]]
[[Category:Moneyers of ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Nerva–Antonine dynasty]]
[[Category:Philosophers of law]]
[[Category:Philosophers of mind]]
[[Category:Philosophers of Roman Italy]]
[[Category:Philosophy writers]]
[[Category:Political philosophers]]
[[Category:Roman pharaohs]]
[[Category:Roman-era Stoic philosophers]]
[[Category:Social philosophers]]
[[Category:Stoic philosophers]]