Antoninus Pius, July 10, 138.—March 7, 161.
26. The reign of Antoninus Pius, from his forty-seventh to his seventieth year, was without doubt the happiest period of the Roman empire. He found everything already in excellent order; and those ministers which Adrian had appointed, he continued in their places. His quiet activity furnishes but little matter for history; and yet he was, perhaps, the most noble character that ever sat upon a throne. Although a prince, his life was that of the most blameless individual; while he administered the affairs of the empire as though they were his own. He honoured the senate; and the provinces flourished under him, not only because he kept a watchful eye over the conduct of the governors, but because he made it a maxim of his government to continue in their places all those whose probity he had sufficiently proved. He observed rigid order in the finances, and yet without sparing where it could be of service in the foundation or improvement of useful institutions; as his erection of many buildings, establishment of public teachers with salaries in all the provinces, and other examples fully show. He carried on no war himself; on the contrary, several foreign nations made choice of him to arbitrate their differences. Some rebellions which broke out in Britain and Egypt, and some frontier wars excited by the Germans, the Daci, the Moors, and the Alani, were quelled by his lieutenants.
The principal and almost the only source for the history of Antoninus Pius, Dion Cassius's history of this period being lost, is his Life by Julius Capitolinus in the Script. Hist. August. And even this refers to his private character rather than his public history. Compare the excellent Reflections of Marcus Aurelius, i, 16. upon this prince.
Vie des Empereurs Tite Antonin et Marc Aurele, par M. Gautier de Sibert. Paris, 1769, 8vo. A valuable essay on the lives of the two Antonines.
Marcus Aurelius, March 7, 161.—March 17, 180.
27. He was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the philosopher (aged 40—59 years), who immediately associated with himself, under the title of Augustus, L. Verus (aged 30—40 years, † 169), to whom he gave his daughter in marriage. Notwithstanding the differences of their character, the most cordial union existed between them during the whole of their common reign; L. Verus, indeed, being almost always absent in the wars, took but a very small share in the government. The reign of M. Aurelius was marked by several great calamities: a dreadful pestilence, a famine, and almost continual wars. Nothing short of a prince like Aurelius, who exhibited to the world the image of wisdom seated on a throne, could have made so much misery tolerable. Soon after 161—166. his accession, the Catti made an irruption upon the Rhine, and the Parthians in Asia. L. Verus was sent against them. But the wars on the Danube with the Marcomanni and their allies in Pannonia, and other The northern nations begin to press forward. northern nations, who now began to press forward with great force upon Dacia, were of much greater consequence. They occupied M. Aurelius from the year 167, with but little intermission, to the end of his reign. He succeeded, indeed, in maintaining the boundaries of the empire; but then he was the first who settled any of the barbarians within it, or took them into the Roman service. In the internal administration of affairs he closely followed the steps of his predecessor, Avidius Cassius's rebellion, except that he was rather too much influenced by his freedmen and family. The only rebellion which broke out against him, was that of Avidius Cassius, his lieutenant in Syria, occasioned by a false report of his and death, 175. death; but it was quelled by the destruction of that general, as soon as the truth was made known.
The war against the Parthians (see above, p. 304) was indeed brought to a successful issue by Verus, the principal cities of the Parthians falling into the hands of the Romans; Verus left them, however, to be carried on by his lieutenants, while he rioted in debaucheries at Antioch. The first war against the Marcomanni, carried on in the beginning and until the death of Verus, by the two emperors together, was highly dangerous for Rome, as many other nations had joined the Marcomanni, particularly the Quadi, Jazygi, and Vandals, and penetrated as far as Aquileia. M. Aurelius ended this war by a glorious peace, 174, as he found it necessary to stop the progress of Cassius's rebellion; in 178, however, the Marcomanni again commenced hostilities, and before their close M. Aurelius died at Sirmium. Contemporary with these wars, yet, as it seems, without any connection with them, were the attacks of other nations upon Dacia, the Bastarnæ, Alani, etc. who poured in from the north, probably pressed forward by the advance of the Goths. This was the first symptom of the great migration of nations now beginning.
The especial sources for the history of M. Aurelius, are the Biographies of him and L. Verus, written by Julius Capitolinus, as well as that of Avidius Cassius, by Vulcatius Gallicanus in Script. Hist. August. The letters discovered in Milan, among and together with the writings of Fronto, are of no historical service.—His principles are best learnt from his Meditations on himself.