[The same man would not slay nor imprison nor did he put under any guard any one of the senators associated with Cassius. He did not so much as bring them before his own court, but merely sent them before the senate, nominally under some other complaint, and appointed them a fixed day on which to have their case heard. Of the rest he brought to justice a very few, who had not only cooperated with Cassius to the extent of some overt action but were personally guilty of some crime. A proof of this is that he did not murder nor deprive of his property Flavius Calvisius, the governor of Egypt, but merely confined him on an island. The records made about his case Marcus caused to be burned, in order that no reproach might attach to him from them. Furthermore he released all his relatives.]
A.D. 176 (a.u. 929)
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About this same time Faustina died, either of the gout from which she had suffered or from less natural causes and to avoid being convicted of her compact with Cassius.--Moreover, Marcus destroyed the documents [found in the chests of Pudens], [
] not even reading them, in order that he might not learn even a name of any of the conspirators who had written something against him and that he might not [therefore] be reluctantly forced to hate any one. Another account is that Verus, who was sent ahead into Syria, of which he had secured the governorship, found them among the effects of Cassius and put them out of the way, saying that this course would most probably be agreeable to the emperor, but even if he should be angry, it would be better that he [Verus] himself should perish than many others. Marcus was so averse to slaughter that he saw to it that the gladiators in Rome contended without danger, like athletes; for he never permitted any of them to have any sharp iron, but they fought with blunt weapons, rounded off at the ends. [And so far was he from countenancing any slaughter that though at the request of the populace he ordered to be brought in a lion trained to eat men, he would not look at the beast nor emancipate its teacher, in spite of the long-continued and urgent demands of the people. Instead, he commanded proclamation to be made that the man had done nothing to deserve freedom.]
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