Latest / Marcus Aurelius: Rome's Philosopher King — Fexingo History / Marcus Aurelius and the Stoic's Son: The Education of Commodus
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Marcus the emperor, Marcus the Stoic, Marcus the general on the Danube. But there's one role he couldn't escape, and it's the one that arguably undid everything he built: being a father to Commodus. Luna: Right — the son who became the tyrant everyone remembers. How did that happen? Lucas: That's exactly the question. And it's not just a biographical curiosity — it gets to the heart of Stoic philosophy itself. The Stoics believed that virtue could be taught, that character was shaped by training and environment. Marcus, who wrote in the Meditations about the importance of 'keeping the ruling center undisturbed,' was essentially conducting an experiment in applied Stoic education on his own son. Lucas: Commodus was born in 161 AD, the same year Marcus became emperor. He was one of twins — the other died young. So from infancy, he was the sole male heir. Marcus and Faustina had at least thirteen children, but only Commodus and his older sister Lucilla survived into adulthood. That put enormous pressure on this one boy. Luna: So Marcus must have handpicked his tutors very carefully. Lucas: He did. The most famous was Apollonius of Chalcedon — a Stoic philosopher whom Marcus himself had studied under. Marcus brought him to Rome specifically to teach Commodus. There was also Onesicrates, a grammarian, and various Greek and Latin rhetoricians. The curriculum was the standard elite Roman education, but with a heavy dose of Stoic ethics. Lucas: Herodian, who wrote a history of the empire after Marcus, tells us that Commodus was given the best teachers and showed early promise — he was athletic, rhetorically skilled, and apparently quite charming. But he also notes that Commodus was surrounded from a young age by flatterers and companions who indulged his worst impulses. Luna: So the problem wasn't the teachers — it was the court environment? Lucas: Partly. But there's another factor. While Marcus was away on the Marcomannic campaigns for years — from 169 to 175, and again from 178 to his death in 180 — Commodus stayed in Rome. He was being groomed for rule, but without direct supervision from his father. The contrast is striking: Marcus was living in a tent on the Danube, writing Stoic meditations, while his teenage son was in the palace, surrounded by luxury and sycophants. Lucas: Cassius Dio, who was a senator under Commodus, gives a more sinister account. He says that even as a boy, Commodus was cruel — he once threw a servant into a furnace because the bath water was too hot. That story might be exaggerated, but it reflects the perception that Commodus had a vicious streak from early on. Luna: Did Marcus know about that? Did he try to intervene? Lucas: It's hard to say. The Meditations don't mention Commodus by name — Marcus refers to his son only once, in a prayer thanking the gods that his son was not 'deformed in body or soul.' That's a revealingly low bar. But Marcus did make one major intervention: in 175, after the revolt of Avidius Cassius, Marcus took Commodus with him to the eastern provinces and then to the Danube frontier. He wanted Commodus to see what real rule looked like, to experience army life. Lucas: Commodus was given the title Germanicus in 175 after a victory over the Quadi, but he wasn't actually involved in the fighting. And in 177, at age fifteen, he was made co-emperor — Augustus alongside his father. That was a break with tradition. Marcus had shared power with Lucius Verus, but Verus was a grown man. Elevating a teenager to full imperial authority was unprecedented, and it set the stage for disaster. Luna: So Marcus effectively handed him the empire before he was ready. Lucas: He may have felt he had no choice. The dynastic principle was now firmly established — the previous emperors had all adopted heirs, but Marcus was the first to leave the throne to a biological son since Titus. And Marcus was dying — probably of the Antonine Plague. He died in March 180 at Vindobona, modern Vienna, and Commodus immediately abandoned the Marcomannic Wars and made peace with the tribes, a decision Marcus had explicitly opposed. Lucas: The Stoic philosopher Epictetus had written that 'the soul is shaped by the impressions it receives.' Marcus believed that. He curated Commodus's environment, gave him the best teachers, and wrote him letters of advice. But in the end, the impressions that shaped Commodus came from the palace, not the frontier. And that's a sobering thought for anyone who believes that philosophy alone can mold a character. Luna: It makes you wonder — if Marcus had lived longer, could he have turned things around? Lucas: That's the great counterfactual. But there are signs that even Marcus had doubts. The passage in the Meditations where he says 'the cucumber is bitter — throw it away' — some scholars read that as a veiled reference to Commodus. Maybe Marcus knew, on some level, that his experiment had failed. But he was trapped by his own philosophy: a Stoic does not despair, does not rage against fate. He accepts what he cannot change. Luna: That's heartbreaking, honestly. All that wisdom, and he couldn't save his own son. Lucas: It is. And it's the kind of thing that makes Marcus more human than the bronze statue on the Capitoline. He wasn't a perfect philosopher-king — he was a man trying to live by his principles in impossible circumstances, and sometimes failing. Lucas: You know, it's conversations like this that are the whole point of what we do here. We spend hours digging into primary sources, comparing accounts, trying to understand these figures as real people. And we do it without ads — no sponsors, no commercials interrupting the flow. If that kind of independent, ad-free history matters to you, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: It's a small way to keep this going — and we appreciate every person who chips in. Lucas: So back to Commodus. After Marcus died, Commodus ruled for twelve years, and the empire slid into chaos. But that's a story for another episode. For now, I think the lesson is that even the wisest emperor couldn't control the heart of his own household. Luna: And maybe that's the most human thing about Marcus — that he tried anyway. Lucas: Exactly. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on Fexingo History.