Marcus Aurelius Totally Explained

Everything about Marcus Aurelius totally explained

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (called "the Wise") (April 26, 121 – March 17, 180) was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers.
His tenure was marked by wars in Asia against a revitalized Parthian Empire, and with Germanic tribes along the Limes Germanicus into Gaul and across the Danube. A revolt in the East, led by Avidius Cassius, failed.
Marcus Aurelius' work Meditations, written on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty and has been praised for its "exquisite accent and its infinite tenderness."

Early life

Family

He was originally named Marcus Annius Catilius Severus, when he married he took the name Marcus Annius Verus. When he was named Emperor, he was given the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
Marcus Aurelius was the only son to Marcus Annius Verus and Domitia Lucilla. His only natural sibling was his younger sister Annia Cornificia Faustina, who was about 2 years younger than he. Domitia Lucilla came from a wealthy family who were of consular rank. Marcus Aurelius' father was of Spanish origin, and served as a praetor and died when Marcus was three years old. Marcus Aurelius credits him with teaching him "manliness without ostentation". His father's maternal aunt was Vibia Sabina, wife of Roman Emperor Hadrian. Rupilia Faustina (Marcus Aurelius' paternal grandmother) and Vibia Sabina were half-sisters and were daughters of Salonina Matidia (niece of the Roman Emperor Trajan). His father's sister was Faustina the Elder a Roman Empress who married the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. After his father's death, Aurelius was adopted and raised by his mother and paternal grandfather Marcus Annius Verus. His paternal grandfather died in 138; he was almost ninety years old.

Heir to the Empire

In 136, Hadrian had announced that his eventual successor would be a certain Lucius Ceionius Commodus, renamed L. Aelius Caesar. Marcus had already attracted the attention of Hadrian (who had nicknamed him verissimus, which translates as "truest") and had been made a member of the equestrian order when he was six; he was subsequently engaged to Ceionia Fabia, Commodus' daughter. The engagement, however, was annulled later after the death of Commodus, as Marcus was betrothed to Antoninus' daughter. Therefore, on the death of Hadrian's first adopted son L. Aelius Verus, Hadrian made it a precondition of making Antoninus his successor that Antoninus would adopt Marcus (then called Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus) and Lucius Ceionius Commodus (Lucius Aelius' son, ten years junior than Marcus, renamed Lucius Aurelius Verus), and arrange for them to be next in the line.
This Antoninus did, adopting and designating them as his successors on February 25 138, when Marcus was only seventeen years of age. He would become emperor at 40. It has been suggested that Commodus and Antoninus Pius were designed by Hadrian only as "place warmers" for the young Marcus and Verus.
The years of Marcus' life during the reign of Antoninus are known through his correspondence with one of the teachers assigned him by Hadrian, Fronto, a relevant figure in the culture of the time. Through these letters Marcus appears as an intelligent, serious-minded and hardworking youth. They also show the growing importance of philosophy for the future emperor: showing impatience for the unending exercises with Greek and Latin declamations, he later became fond of the Diatribai ("Discourses") of Epictetus, an important moral philosopher of the Stoic school. Marcus also started to have an increasing public role at the side of Antoninus, holding the place of consul in 140, 145 and 161 and increasing collaboration in decisions. In 147 he received the proconsular imperium outside Rome and the tribunicia potestas, the main formal powers of emperorship. In 145, Marcus married Annia Galeria Faustina or Faustina the Younger, who was Antoninus' daughter and his paternal cousin.

Emperor

Joint emperorship

When Antoninus Pius died (March 7 161), Marcus accepted the throne on the condition that he and Verus were made joint emperors (Augusti). Though formally equal from the constitutional point of view, Verus, younger and probably less popular, looks to have been subordinate in practice.
   Marcus' insistence to have Verus elected with him was motivated by his loyalty towards the will of their adoptive father. The joint succession may have also been motivated by military experiences, since, during his reign, Marcus Aurelius was almost constantly at war with various peoples outside the empire. A highly authoritative figure was needed to command the troops, yet the emperor himself couldn't defend both the German and Parthian fronts at the same time. Neither could he simply appoint a general to lead the legions; earlier popular military leaders like Julius Caesar and Vespasian had used the military to overthrow the existing government and install themselves as supreme leaders. Marcus Aurelius solved the problem by sending Verus to command the legions in the east. Verus was authoritative enough to command the full loyalty of the troops, but already powerful enough that he'd little incentive to overthrow Marcus. Verus remained loyal until his death on campaign in 169.
   This joint emperorship was faintly reminiscent of the political system of the Roman Republic, which functioned according to the principle of collegiality and didn't allow a single person to hold supreme power. Joint rule was revived by Diocletian's establishment of the Tetrarchy in the late 3rd century.
   Immediately at the beginning of his reign, Marcus continued on the path of his predecessors by issuing numerous law reforms, mainly to clear away abuses and anomalies in the civil jurisprudence. In particular he promoted favourable measures towards categories like slaves, widows and minors; recognition to blood relationships in the field of succession was given. In the criminal law a distinction of class, with different punishments, was made between honestiores and humiliores ("The more distinguished" and "the more lowly", respectively).
   Under Marcus' reign, the status of Christians remained the same since the time of Trajan. They were legally punishable, though in fact rarely persecuted. In 177 a group of Christians were executed at Lyon, for example, but the act is mainly attributable to the initiative of the local governor.

Challenges faced

War with Parthia

In Asia, a revitalized Parthian Empire renewed its assault in 161, defeating two Roman armies and invading Armenia and Syria. Marcus Aurelius sent his joint emperor Verus to command the legions in the east to face this threat. The war ended successfully in 166, although the merit must be mostly ascribed to subordinate generals like Gaius Avidius Cassius. On the return from the campaign, Verus was awarded with a triumph; the parade was unusual because it included the two emperors, their sons and unmarried daughters as a big family celebration. Marcus Aurelius' two sons, Commodus five years old and Annius Verus of three, were elevated to the status of Caesar for the occasion.
The returning army carried with them a plague, afterwards known as the Antonine Plague, or the Plague of Galen, which spread through the Roman Empire between 165 and 180. The disease was a pandemic believed to be either of smallpox or measles, and would ultimately claim the lives of two Roman emperors—Lucius Verus, who died in 169, and Marcus Aurelius, whose family name, Antoninus, was given to the epidemic. The disease broke out again nine years later, according to the Roman historian Dio Cassius, and caused up to 2,000 deaths a day at Rome, one quarter of those infected. Total deaths have been estimated at five million.

Germania and the Danube

   Starting from the 160s, Germanic tribes and other nomadic people launched raids along the Northern border, particularly into Gaul and across the Danube. This new impetus westwards was probably due to attacks from tribes farther east. A first invasion of the Chatti in the province of Germania Superior was repulsed in 162. Far more dangerous was the invasion of 166, when the Marcomanni of Bohemia, clients of the Roman Empire since 19, crossed the Danube together with the Lombards and other German tribes. At the same time, the Iranian Sarmatians attacked between the Danube and the Theiss rivers.
   Due to the situation in the East, only a punitive expedition could be launched in 167. Both Marcus and Verus led the troops. After the death of Verus (169), Marcus led personally the struggle against the Germans for the great part of his remaining life. The Romans suffered at least two serious defeats by the Quadi and Marcomanni, who could cross the Alps, ravage Opitergium (Oderzo) and besiege Aquileia, the Roman main city of north-east Italy. At the same time the Costoboci, coming from the Carpathian area, invaded Moesia, Macedonia and Greece. After a long struggle, Marcus Aurelius managed to push back the invaders. Numerous Germans settled in frontier regions like Dacia, Pannonia, Germany and Italy itself. This wasn't 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 Bohemia and Hungary.
   The emperor's plans were, however, prevented by a revolt in East, led by Avidius Cassius, which was prompted by false news of the death of Marcus after an illness. Of the eastern provinces, only Cappadocia and Bithynia didn't side with the rebels. When it became clear that Marcus Aurelius was still alive, Cassius' fortunes declined quickly and he was killed by his troops after only 100 days of power.
   Together with his wife Faustina, Marcus Aurelius toured the eastern provinces until 173. He visited Athens, declaring himself a protector of philosophy. After a triumph in Rome, the following year he marched again to the Danubian frontier. After a decisive victory in 178, the plan to annex Bohemia seemed poised for success but was abandoned after Marcus Aurelius again fell ill with chickenpox in 180.

Death and succession

Marcus Aurelius died on March 17 180, in the city of Vindobona (modern Vienna), his son and successor Commodus accompanying him. He was immediately deified and his ashes were returned to Rome, and rested in Hadrian's mausoleum (modern Castel Sant'Angelo) until the Visigoth sack of the city in 410. His campaigns against Germans and Sarmatians were also commemorated by a column in Rome.
Marcus Aurelius was able to secure the succession for Commodus, whom he'd named Caesar in 166 and made co-emperor in 177, though the choice may have been unknowingly unfortunate. This decision, which put an end to the fortunate series of "adoptive emperors", was highly criticized by later historians since Commodus was a political and military outsider, as well as an extreme egotist with neurotic problems. For this reason, Marcus Aurelius' death is often held to have been the end of the Pax Romana. It is possible that he chose Commodus simply in the absence of other candidates, or as a result of the fear of succession issues and the possibility of civil war.
Historian Michael Grant, in The Climax of Rome (1968), states about Commodus, "The youth turned out to be very erratic or at least so anti-traditional that disaster was inevitable. But whether or not Marcus ought to have known this to be so, the rejections of his son's claims in favour of someone else would almost certainly involved one of the civil wars which were to proliferate so disastrous around future successions." Therefore, it would be logical to assume that Marcus Aurelius stoically chose Commodus to prevent civil war.

Marriage and issue

Aurelius married Faustina the Younger in 145. During their 30-year marriage Faustina bore 13 children, only one son and four daughters of which outlived their father:

Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina (147-after 165)
Gemellus Lucillae (died around 150), twin brother of Lucilla
Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla (148/50-182), twin sister of Gemellus, married her father's co-ruler Lucius Verus
Titus Aelius Antoninus (born after 150, died before 7 March 161)
Titus Aelius Aurelius (born after 150, died before 7 March 161)
Hadrianus (152-157)
Domitia Faustina (born after 150, died before 7 March 161)
Fadilla (159-after 211)
Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor (160-after 211)
Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus (161-165), twin brother of Commodus
Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus(Commodus) (161-192), twin brother of Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, later emperor
Marcus Annius Verus Caesar (162-169)
Vibia Aurelia Sabina (170-died before 217)

Writings

While on campaign between 170 and 180, Aurelius wrote his Meditations as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. He had been a priest at the sacrificial altars of Roman service and was an eager patriot. He had a logical mind and his notes were representative of Stoic philosophy and spirituality. Meditations is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty. It has been praised for its "exquisite accent and its infinite tenderness" and "saintliness", and has also been called the "gospel of his life." John Stuart Mill, in his Utility of Religion, compared the Meditations to the Sermon on the Mount.
   The book itself was first published in 1558 in Zurich, from a manuscript copy that's now lost. The only other surviving complete copy of the manuscript is in the Vatican library.
   The significance of death was very important in the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius. He didn't believe in the afterlife. He wrote: 'We live for an instant, only to be swallowed in "complete forgetfulness and the void of infinite time on this side of us." "Think how many ere now, after passing their life in implacable enmity, suspicion, hatred... are now dead and burnt to ashes." According to Marcus Aurelius everything will be turned in absolute oblivion, even legends. "Of the life of man the duration is but a point, its substance streaming away, its perception dim, the fabric of the entire body prone to decay, and the soul a vortex, and fortune incalculable, and fame uncertain. In a word all things of the body are as a river, and the things of the soul as a dream and a vapour; and life is a warfare and a pilgrim's sojourn, and fame after death is only forgetfulness." 'Everything existing "is already disintegrating and changing... everything is by nature made but to die." 'The length of one's life is irrelevant, "for look at the yawning gulf of time behind thee and before thee at another infinity to come. In this eternity the life of a baby of three days and the life of a Nestor of three centuries are as one." 'To desire is to be permanently disappointed and disturbed, since everything we desire in this world is "empty and corrupt and paltry." For Marcus Aurelius, death was desirable, because it would make an end to all desires.
   Despite these thoughts on life and death, Marcus Aurelius was an advocate of rational virtue. According to Jonathan Dollimore, Marcus Aurelius had a kind of indifference towards the brutalities in life. As an emperor, he persecuted Christians and went frequently on military campaigns. He justified his deeds by pointing at the insignificance of worldly affairs.

Marcus Aurelius in later arts

Literature

John Steinbeck in East of Eden has the character Lee read often from Meditations as a sage-like character.

A Man in Full, a 1998 novel by Tom Wolfe. One of the characters reads Marcus Aurelius while in jail and is heavily influenced by his Stoicism. It helps him deal with his suffering and the injustice of his incarceration. However, Wolfe more strongly uses Epictetus.

Mémoires d'Hadrien (1951), a fictitious but plausible autobiography (in form of a series of letters directed to his adoptive grandson "Marcus") of one of his predecessors, Hadrian, by Marguerite Yourcenar. It is one of the best-selling European novels of the 20th century.

Household Gods, a 1999 novel by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove.

John Irving in "The World According to Garp" has the character Garp reflect on a quote of Marcus Aurelius from "Meditations".

Film

The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), played by Alec Guinness

The Silence of the Lambs (1991), referenced by Hannibal Lecter (Sir Anthony Hopkins) when helping Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) hunt down the killer Buffalo Bill.

Gladiator (2000), played by Richard HarrisFurther Information

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