ANTONI'NUS, 31Ancirs AunEmus, the son of Annius Verus and Domitia Calvilla, was b. at Rome on the 20th of April, 121, A.D. His original name was Marcus Annius Verus. On the death of his father, he was adopted by his grandfather, who spared no pains to render him pre-eminent in every art and science. Ills fine qualities early attracted the notice of the emperor Hadrian, who used to term him not Verus, but Verissimus, and who conferred high honors on him, even while a child. When only 17 years of age, lie was adopted, along with Lucius C. Commodus, by Antoninus Pius, the successor of Hadrian; and Faustina, the daughter of Pius, was selected for his wife. In the year 140 A.D., he was made consul; and from this period to the death of Pius, in 161 A.D., be continued to discharge the duties of his various offices with the greatest promptitude and fidelity. The relation which subsisted between him and the emperor was of the warmest and most familiar kind. On his accession to the throne, he strikingly illustrated the magnanimity of his character, by voluntarily sharing the government (which Pius had left iu his last moments, and the senate offered to him alone) with young Commodus, who henceforth bore the name of Lucius Aurelius Verus, and to whom he gave his daughter Lucilla in marriage. Towards the close of 161 A.D., the Parthian war broke out, and Lucius, a young man of vigorous bodily habits, was sent to the frontiers of the empire, to repel the incursions of the barbarians; but intoxicated with the enervating pleasures of the east, lie obstinately refused to go beyond Antioch, and intrusted the command of the army to his lieutenant Cassius, who gained several brilliant victories. Lucius returned to Rome (166 A.D.), and enjoyed a triumph to which he had no real claim; for all the great achievements of the war were accomplished by his officers, while he was reveling in the most extravagant licentiousness. In the meantime, Marcus Aurelius had distinguished himself by the prudence and energy with which he administered affairs at home. A formidable insurrection had long been preparing in the German provinces; the Britons were ou the point of revolt, and the Catti waiting for an opportunity to devastate the Rhenish provinces. Within Rome itself raged a pestilence, believed to have been brought home by the troops of Lucius; frightful inundations and earthquakes had laid large por tions of the city in ruins, destroyed the granaries in which were kept the supplies of corn, and thus created almost universal distress, which stimulated to an incalculable degree the terror which the citizens entertained of their savage enemies. To allay the popular perturbation, Marcus resolved to go forth to the war himself. Hecatombs were offered to the offended gods, and the Roman legions set out for the north. Marcus and Lucius were, for the time, completely successful. The pride of the Marcomanni, and the other rebellious tribes inhabiting the country between Illyria and the sources of the Danube, was humbled, and they were compelled to sue for peace in 168 A.D. ; in the year after which Lucius died. The contest was renewed in 170 A.D., and may be said to have continued with intermission during the whole life of the emperor. Although fond of
peace, both from natural disposition and philosophic culture, lie displayed the sternest vigor in suppressing the revolts of the barbarians; but in order to accomplish this, he had to enroll amongst his soldiery vast numbers of gladiators and slaves, for his army had been thinned by the ravages of the plague. His head-quarters were Pannonia, out of which he drove the Marcomanni, whom he subsequently all but annihilated in crossing the Danube. The same that befell the Jazyges; but the most famous as well as the most extraordinary of all his victories was the miraculous one gained over the Quadi (174 A.D.), and which gave rise to copious discussion amongst Christian historians and others. on Cassius's account is that the Romans were perishing of thirst in the heat of summer, when suddenly the cloudless sky darkened, and abundant showers fell, of which the soldiers were taking advantage when the barbarians attacked, and would have cut them to pieces, if a storm of hail and fire had not descended on the former. That some extraordinary phenomenon occurred is evident, for there is a letter of Aurelius still extant in which he commemorates the event; and the emperor was a man incapable of uttering a falsehood, not to mention that there was an entire army living to disprove the statement, if untrue. The effect of this remarkable victory was instantaneously and widely felt. The Germanic tribes hurried from all quarters to make their submission, and obtain clemency; but the practical advantages that might have resulted from it were nullified by a new outbreak in the east, occasioned through the infamous treachery of his own wife, which demanded his presence; and though suffering from failing health, he was obliged to leave Pannonia. Before his departure, however, he learned that the ambi tious governor, Avidius Cassius, who had rebelled against him, and seized the whole of Asia Minor, had perished by assassination. The conduct of Marcus Aurelius on hearing of his enemy's death was worthy of the sublime virtue of his character. He lamented that the fates had not granted him his fondest wish—to have freely pardoned the man who had so basely conspired against his happiness. Like Caesar in similar circumstances, but in a more purely humane spirit, he received the head of his murdered adversary with quite opposite feelings to what had been anticipated, rejecting the bloody gilt with all th loathing of a benevolent nature, and even shrinking from the presence of the murder ers. On his arrival in the east, he exhibited the same illustrious magnanimity. He burned the papers of Cassius, without reading them, so that he might not be at liberty to suspect any as traitors; treated the provinces which had rebelled with extreme gentle ness; disarmed the enmity and dispelled the fears of the nobleswho had openly favored his insurgent lieutenant. While pursuing his work of restoring tranquillity, Faustina died in an obscure village at the foot of Mt. Taurus; and her husband (and this was per haps the single frailty of his character), though undoubtedly conscious of her glaring profligacy and infidelity, paid the most lavish honors to her memory.