[Born at Rome, A.D. 121. Died at Sirmium, in Pannonia, A.D. 180. Aged
59.]
Surnamed “The Philosopher.” One of the best and greatest princes of
antiquity. He succeeded his adoptive father Antoninus Pius in A.D. 161,
and from that time until his death, his public and private acts conduced
to the welfare of his people and to the true glory of the empire. His
sole misfortune was to be father of the brutal Commodus, who succeeded
him on the Imperial throne. He was clement, charitable, generous, and
forgiving. His bodily health, always weakly, gave way beneath excessive
labour of mind and body, and his death created universal sorrow. After
the lapse of a hundred years his memory was still held in veneration by
the people. He was of a thoughtful nature. At an early period he admired
the precepts and adopted the costume of the Stoic philosophers. Later in
life he was wont to repeat with great satisfaction the saying of
Plato--“How happy would the people be, if philosophers were kings, and
kings philosophers.” His “Meditations”--a work in the Greek language--is
one of the noblest productions of Pagan philosophy.
[From the marble in the Berlin Museum. No. 48A is called the young M.
Aurelius. The colossal head from the Louvre is described under No.
344, Handbook to Roman Court and Nave. The Senate decreed that a bust
of M. Aurelius should be in every house.]
48A. MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS. _Roman Emperor._