A History of Rome to 565 A. D.

by Arthur E. R. Boak

III. The Antonines, 138–192 a. d.

Antoninus Pius, 138–161 A. D. Antoninus, who received the name of Pius in the first year of his rule, was the personification of ancient Roman piety, i. e. the dutiful performance of obligations in public and private life. His mildness and uprightness enabled him to act in perfect harmony with the senators, and as a concession to them he removed the four consulares juridici whom Hadrian had appointed in Italy.

His public policy. Antoninus adhered to Hadrian’s peaceful foreign policy, but had to wage several border wars and suppress some insurrections in the provinces. In Britain a line of fortifications was constructed from the Firth of Forth to the Clyde. Antoninus laid great emphasis upon an upright administration of justice. At this time, too, the Roman law was greatly enriched through the introduction of principles of equity and began to receive at the hands of the jurists the systematic form by which it was later characterized. In 147 A. D. he conferred the title of Caesar upon the elder of his adopted sons, Marcus Aurelius, whom he had previously married to his daughter, and took him as an associate in the government. Upon the death of Antoninus in March, 161 A. D., Aurelius succeeded to the principate.

The dual principate—Marcus Aurelius, 161–180 A. D., and Lucius Verus, 161–169. Marcus Aurelius at once took as associate in the principate his adoptive brother, Lucius Verus, and for the first time two Augusti shared the imperium. But the real power rested [pg 250]in the hands of Aurelius, for Verus was a weak character, indolent and sensual. Although he did not take the oath not to put a senator to death, and restored the consulares iuridici removed by Antoninus, the elder Augustus respected the Senate and remained on good terms with it. Marcus Aurelius was by nature a student and philosopher, a devoted follower of the Stoic rule of life; his Meditations bear testimony to the true nobility of his character. Such was the princeps who was fated to spend his remaining years in an unceasing struggle against the enemies of the state and, true to his principles, he obeyed the call of duty and devoted himself unsparingly to the public service.

Parthian war: 161–65 A. D. Even before the death of Antoninus, Vologases III of Parthia had begun hostilities and had overrun Armenia. The Roman legate of Cappadocia was defeated and the Parthians broke into Syria, where they won another victory. The situation was critical. Aurelius sent his colleague Verus to the scene, and although the latter displayed neither energy nor capacity, his able generals restored the fortunes of the Roman arms. In 163 Statius Priscus reëstablished Roman authority over Armenia and placed a Roman vassal on the throne. In 164–65, Avidius Cassius invaded Mesopotamia and took the Parthian capitals Seleucia and Ctesiphon. Yet, on the march back, he suffered considerable losses from hunger and disease, and a peace was made with Parthia which gave the Romans territory in upper Mesopotamia to the east of the Euphrates (166 A. D.). But the returning troops brought with them a plague which ravaged the whole empire and caused widespread depopulation.

Wars with the Marcomanni, Quadi and Iazyges: 167–175 A. D. In the meantime a dangerous situation had arisen on the Danubian frontier, where, probably in consequence of the pressure of migratory peoples, the Marcomanni, Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges united in an attempt to force their way into the Roman provinces. The army of the Danube had been weakened to reinforce the Syrian troops in the Parthian war and this enabled the barbarians to penetrate the frontier defences and ravage Noricum and Pannonia as far as Aquileia at the head of the Adriatic. The two Augusti proceeded to the scene of war, and after a protracted struggle in which Dacia suffered from a hostile invasion, the enemy were forced to make peace. The Marcomanni submitted in 172, and the Quadi and Sarmatians in 175 A. D. They were forced to surrender the prisoners carried off from the [pg 251]Roman provinces, over 160,000 in number, and to furnish military aid to Rome, while large numbers of them were settled on waste lands south of the Danube under the obligation of tilling the soil and rendering military service. The Roman victory was commemorated by the erection of a column at Rome with sculptures picturing incidents of the war, in imitation of Trajan’s memorial. In addition to the prosecution of this war, the strength of the empire had been taxed by serious outbreaks in Mauretania, Gaul and Egypt.

Revolt of Avidius Cassius, 175 A. D. The complete subjugation of the northern foe was hindered by the revolt of Avidius Cassius, the general who had distinguished himself in the Parthian war and had suppressed the revolt in Egypt. Verus, the colleague of Aurelius, had died in 169, and at a rumor of the death of Aurelius himself in 175 A. D., Cassius proclaimed himself Imperator in Syria. Thereupon Aurelius hastened to conclude peace with the Sarmatians and proceeded to the East. Upon his arrival he found that Cassius had been killed by his own soldiers. Soon afterwards Commodus, the son of Aurelius, received the title Augustus and became co-ruler with his father (177 A. D.).

Second war with the Marcomanni and Quadi, 177–180 A. D. In 177 A. D. war broke out anew with the Quadi and Marcomanni. Aurelius again took command on the Danube and after two years’ fighting had won so complete a victory that he contemplated the annexation of the region occupied by these peoples. But for a second time he was robbed of the fruits of his toil, on this occasion by the hand of death, 17 March, 180 A. D. The principate passed to his son and colleague, Commodus.

Lucius Aurelius Commodus, sole princeps, 180–192 A. D. Lucius Aurelius Commodus, the ignoble son of a noble father, is one of the few in the long line of Roman rulers of whom nothing good can be said. Cowardly, cruel and sensual, he gave himself up to a life of pleasure and left the conduct of the government in the hands of a succession of favorites, who used their power to further their own interests. He abandoned the war with the Marcomanni and Quadi without carrying out his father’s plans and granted them peace on lenient terms so that he might return to the enjoyments of the capital. His chief ambition was to win fame as a gladiator. He frequently appeared in the arena, and finally determined to assume the consulate on 1 January, 193 A. D. in a gladiator’s cos[pg 252]tume. However, on the preceding night he was assassinated at the instigation of the pretorian prefect, Quintus Aemilius Laetus.