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1. eō prīncipe: ‘during his reign’; cf. hīs rēgnantibus, Bk. I, 2.
bellum … Marcomannicum: the Marcomanni, ‘men of the marshes,’ were a German tribe that threatened destruction to the Roman Empire. For thirteen years Marcus Aurelius with difficulty held them in check. He built many fortresses and a great wall to restrain them.
2. quantum … fuit: ‘it was greater than any in the memory of man’; i.e. there had been no war with the Germans equally formidable.
5. pestilentiae: the plague broke out in 167 A.D. and lasted for several years, despite all efforts to check its ravages. It was probably brought to Rome by the soldiers returning from the expedition against the Parthians.
Ch. 13.
10. Quādī: a powerful people who dwelt in the southeastern part of Germany. They had been taken under the protection of Rome by Tiberius. In 174 A.D. Marcus Aurelius defeated them in a fierce battle. They appear again during the reign of Gallienus (Bk. IX, 8). Towards the end of the fourth century they disappear from history. The Age of the Antonines, pp. 106-108.
Vandalī: a confederacy of German peoples, who dwelt originally on the northern coast of Germany. Later they settled north of the Marcomanni, whom they joined. They invaded Spain, and later Africa. Under their king Genseric they invaded Italy, and took and plundered Rome, 455 A.D.
Suēvī: an important confederacy of German tribes. Their name survives in the modern Suabia.
13. Caesarem fēcerat: the title of Caesar was now given to the person next in rank to the emperor, and who was intended to succeed him.