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13 - M Aurelius Antoninus - The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius · The Philosophy Insights Collection

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Marcus Antoninus was born at Rome A d. One twenty one, on the
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twenty sixth of April. His father, Aeus Verus, died while he was
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praetor. His mother was Domitia Calvilla, also named Lucilla. The emperor Titus.
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Antoninus Pius married Aea Galeria Faustina, the sister of Aeneas Verus, and
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was consequently the uncle of Marcus Antoninus. When Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius and declared
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him his successor in the empire, Antoninus Pius adopted both Lucius Aeonius Combadus,
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the son of Elius Caesar, and Marcus Antoninus, whose original name was Marcus
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Anius Verus. Antoninus then took the name of Marcus Elius Aurelius Verus, to
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which was added the title of Caesar in a d. One thirty nine.
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The name Elius belonged to Hadrian's family, and Aurelius was the name of Antoninus
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Pius. When Marcus Antoninus became Augustus, he dropped the name of Verus and
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took the name of Antoninus. Accordingly, he is generally named Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,
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or simply Marcus Antoninus. The youth was most carefully brought up. He
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thinks the gods that he had good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister,
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good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything good.
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He had the happy fortune to witness the example of his uncle and adoptive
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father, Antonius Pious, and he has recorded in his work the virtues of
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this excellent man and prudent ruler. Like many young Romans, he tried his
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hand at poetry and studied rhetoric. Herodes Atticus and Marcus Cornelius Fronto were his
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teachers and eloquence. There are extant letters between Fronto and Marcus which show the
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great affection of the pupil for the master, and the master's great hopes of
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his industrious pupil. Footnote Marcus Cornelia e Fontonis RILIKUII, Berlin, eighteen sixteen.
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There are a few letters between Fronto and Antoninus Pious. In footnote Marcus
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Antoninus mentions Fronto among those to whom he was indebted for his education. When
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he was eleven years old, he assumed the dress of philosophers, something plain
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and coarse, became a hard student, and lived a most laborious, abstemious
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life, even so far as to injure his health. Finally, he abandoned
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poetry and rhetoric for philosophy, and he attached himself to the sect the Stoics.
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But he did not neglect the study of law, which was a useful
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preparation for the high place which he was designed to fill. His teacher was
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Lucius Phlacianus Micianus, a distinguished jurist. We must suppose that he learned the
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Roman discipline of arms, which was a necessary part of the education of a
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man who afterwards led his troops to battle against a warlike race. Antoninus has
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recorded in his first book the names of his teachers and the obligations which he
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owed to each of them. The way in which he speaks of what he
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learned from them might seem to savor of vanity or self praise if we look
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carelessly at the way in which he has expressed himself. But if anyone draws
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this conclusion, he will be mistaken. Antoninus means to commemorate the merits of
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his several teachers, what they taught and what a people might learn from them.
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Besides, this book, like the eleven other books, was for his
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own use, and if we may trust the note at the end of the
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first book. It was written during one of Marcus Antoninus's campaigns against the Quadi,
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at a time when the commemoration of the virtues of his illustrious teachers might
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remind him of their lessons and the practical uses which he might derive from them.
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Among his teachers of philosophy was Sextus of Karinea, a grandson of Plutar.
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What he learned from this excellent man is told by himself. His favorite
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teacher was Quintus Junius Rusticus, a philosopher and also a man of practical good
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sense in public affairs. Rusticus was the adviser of Antoninus after he became emperor.
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Young men who are destined for high places are not often fortunate in those
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who are about them, their companions and teachers. And I do not know
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any example of a young prince having had an education which can be compared with
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that of Marcus Antoninus. Such a body of teachers, distinguished by their requirements
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and their character, will hardly be collected again. And as to the pupil,
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we have not had one like him since Hadrian died in July A d.
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One thirty eight, and was succeeded by Antoninus Pious. Marcus Antoninus married
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Faustina, his cousin, the daughter of Pious, probably about AD one forty
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six, for he had a daughter born in one way forty seven. He
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received from his adoptive father the title of Caesar, and was associated with him
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in the administration of the state. The father and the adopted son lived together
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in perfect friendship and confidence. Antoninus was a dutiful son, and the emperor
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Pious loved and esteemed him. Antoninus Pious died in March eighty one, sixty
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one. The Senate, it is said, urged Marcus Antoninus to take the
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sole administration of the empire, but he associated with himself the other adopted son
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of Pious, Lucius Seanius Commidus, who was generally called Lucius Verus. Thus
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Rome for the first time had two emperors. Verus was an indolent man of
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pleasure and unworthy of his station. Antoninus, however, bore with him,
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and it is said that Verus had enough sense to pay his colleague the respect
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due to his character. A virtuous emperor and a loose partner lived together in
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peace, and their alliance was strengthened by Antoninus giving to Varius for wife his
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daughter Lucilla. The reign of Antoninus was first troubled by a Parthian war,
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in which Verus was sent to command, but he did nothing, and the
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success that was obtained by the Romans in Armenia and on the Euphrates and Tigris
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was due to his generals. This Parthian war ended in AD one sixty five.
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Aurelius and Verus had a triumph eighty one sixty six for the victories in
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the east. A pestilence followed, which carried off great numbers in Rome and
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Italy and spread to the west of Europe. The north of Italy was also
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threatened by the rude people beyond the Alps, from the borders of Gallia to
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the eastern side of the Hadriatic. These barbarians attempted to break into Italy,
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as the Germanic nations had attempted near three hundred years before, and the rest
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of the life of Antoninus, with some intervals, was employed in driving back
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the invaders. In one sixty nine, Varius suddenly died and Antoninus administered the
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state alone. During the German Wars, Antoninus resided for three years on the
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Danube a Carnuntum. The Marcomanni were driven out of Pannonia and almost destroyed in
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their retreat across the Danube, and in eighty one seventy four the emperor gained
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a great victory over the Quadi. In AD one seventy five, Avidius Cassius,
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a brave and skillful Roman commander who was at the head of the troops
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in Asia, revolted and declared himself Augustus. But Cassius was assassinated by some
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of his officers, and so the rebellion came to an end. Antoninus showed
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his humanity by his treatment of the family and the partisans of Cassius, and
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his letter to the Senate in which he recommends mercy is extant. Antoninus set
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out for the East on hearing of Cassius's revolt, though he appears to have
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returned to Rome in eighty one seventy four, he went back to prosecute the
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war against the Germans, and it is probable that he marched direct to the
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east from the German war. His wife, Faustina, who accompanied him into
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Asia, died suddenly at the foot of the Taurus, to the great grief
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of her husband. Captillinus, who has written the life of Antoninus, and
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also dion Cassius, accused the empress of scandalous infidelity to her husband and of
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abominable lewdness. But Capitellinus says that Antoninus either knew it not or pretended not
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to know it. Nothing is so common as such malicious reports in all ages,
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and the history of imperial Rome is full of them. Antoninus loved his
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wife, and he says that she was obedient, affectionate, and simple.
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The same scandal had been spread about Faustina's mother, the wife of Antoninus Pious,
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and yet he too was perfectly satisfied with his wife. Antoninus Pious says
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after her death in a letter to Fronto, that he would rather have lived
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in exile with his wife than in his palace at Rome without her. There
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are not many men who would give their wives a better character than these two
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emperors. Capitulinus wrote in the time of Diocletian. He may have intended to
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tell the truth, but he is a poor, feeble biographer. Dion Cassius,
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the most malignant of historians, always reports, and perhaps he believed any
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scandal against anybody. Antoninus continued his journey to Syria and Egypt, and on
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his return to Italy, through Athens, he was initiated into the Elusinian mysteries.
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It was the practice of the emperor to conform to the established rites of
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the age and to perform religious ceremonies with due solemnity. We cannot conclude from
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this that he was a superstitious man, though we might perhaps do so if
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his book did not show that he was not. But this is only one
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among many instances that a ruler's public acts do not always prove his real opinions.
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A prudent governor will not roughly oppose even the superstitions of his people,
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and though he may wish that they were wiser, he will know that he
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cannot make them so by offending their prejudices. Antoninus and his son Commodus entered
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Rome and triumph perhaps for some German victories, on the twenty third of December
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a D. One seventy six. In the following year, Commodists was associated
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with his father in the Empire and took the name of Augustus. This year
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A D. One seventy seven is memorable in ecclesiastical history. Hatilus and others
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were put to death at Lyon for their adherence to the Christian religion. The
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evidence of this persecution is a letter preserved by Eusebius. The letter is from
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the Christians of Vienna and Logdunum in Gallia, Vienne and Lyon to their Christian
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brethren in Asia and Phrygia, and it is preserved perhaps nearly entire. It
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contains a very particular description of the tortures inflicted on the Christians in Gallia,
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and it states that while the persecution was going on Atolas, a Christian and
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a Roman citizen was loudly demanded by the populace and brought into the amphitheater,
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But the governor ordered him to be reserved with the rest who were in prison
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until he had received instructions from the Emperor. Many had been tortured before the
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governor thought of applying to Antoninus. The Imperial rescript says the letter was that
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the Christians should be punished, but if they would deny their faith, they
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must be released. On this the work began again. The Christians who were
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Roman citizens were beheaded, the rest exposed to the wild beasts in the amphitheater.
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Some modern writers in ecclesiastical history. When they used this letter, say
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nothing of the wonderful stories of the martyr's sufferings. Sanctus, as the letter
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says, was burnt with plates of hot iron till his body was one sore,
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and he had lost all human form. But on being put to the
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rack, he recovered his former appearance under the torture, which was thus a
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cure instead of a punishment. He was afterwards torn by beasts and placed on
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an iron chair and roasted. He died at last. The letter is one
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piece of evidence. The writer, whoever he was, that wrote in the
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name of the Gallic Christians, is our evidence both for the ordinary and the
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extraordinary circumstances of the story, and we cannot accept his evidence for one part
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and reject the other. We often receive small evidence as a proof of a
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thing which we believe to be within the limits of probability or possibility, and
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we reject exactly the same evidence when the thing to which it refers appears very
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improbable or impossible. But this is a false method of inquiry, though it
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is followed by some modern writers who select what they like from a story and
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reject the rest of the evidence or if they do not reject it, they
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dishonestly suppress it. A man can only act consistently by accepting all this letter
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or rejecting it all, and we cannot blame him for either. But he
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who rejects it may still admit that such a letter may be founded on real
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facts, and he would make this admission as the most probable way of accounting
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for the existence of the letter. But if, as he would suppose,
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the writer has stated some things falsely, he cannot tell what part of his
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stories worthy of credit. The war on the northern frontier appears to have been
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uninterrupted during the visit of Antoninus to the east, and on his return the
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emperor again left Rome to oppose the barbarians. The Germanic people were defeated in
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a great battle A. D. One seventy nine. During this campaign,
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the emperor was seized with some contigious malady, of which he died in the
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camp at Sermium meet Ravitz on the Sava in Lower Pannonia, but at Vandabena
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Vienna according to other authorities, on the seventeenth March a d. One eighty,
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in the fifty ninth year of his age. His son Commidus was with
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him. The body or the ash is probably the emperor, were carried to
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Rome, and he received the honor of deification. Those who could afford it
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had his statue or bust, and when Capatalinus wrote, many people still had
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statues of Antoninus among the de epinatus or household deities. He was, in
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a manner made a saint commodus, erected to the memory of his father.
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The Antonine Column, which is now in the Piazza Colonna at Rome. The
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bas reliefs, which are placed in a spiral line round the shaft, commemorate
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the victories of Antoninus over the Marcomanni and the Quadi, and the miraculous shower
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of rain which refreshed the Roman soldiers and discomfited their enemies. The statue of
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Antoninus was placed on the capital of the column, but it was removed at
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some time unknown, and a bronze statue of Saint Paul was put in the
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place by Pope Sixtus the fifth. The historical evidence for the times of Antoninus
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is very defective, and some of that which remains is not credible. The
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most curious is the story about the Marria, which happened in eighty one seventy
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four during the war with the Quadi. The Roman army was in danger of
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perishing by thirst, but a sudden storm drenched them with rain while it discharged
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fire and hail on their enemies, and the Romans gained a great victory.
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All the authorities which speak of the battles speak also of the miracle. The
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Gentile writers assigned it to their gods, and the Christians to the intercession of
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the Christian legion in the Emperor's army. To confirm the Christian statement, it
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is added that the emperor gave the title of thundering to this legion. But
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Dasier and others who maintained the Christian report of the miracle, admit that this
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title of thundering or lightning was not given to this legion because the Quadi were
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struck with lightning, but because there was a figure of lightning on their shields,
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and that this title of the legion existed in the time of Augustus.
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Scalager also had observed that the legion was called thundering before the reign of Antoninus.
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We can learn this from dion Cassius, who in ume Rates all the
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legions of Augustus's time. The name Thundering or lightning also occurs on an inscription
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of the reign of Trajan, which was found at Trieste. Eusebius, when
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he relates the miracle, quotes A. Pollinarius, bishop of Hierapolis, as
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authority for this name being given to the Legion Melatini by the Emperor, in
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consequence of the success which he had obtained through their prayers, from which we
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may estimate the value of Pollinarius's testimony. Eusebius does not say in what book
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of Apollinarius the statement occurs. Dion says that the Thundering Legion was stationed in
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Cappadocia in the time of Augustus. Vllasius also observes that in the Notitia of
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the Imperium Romanum, there is mention under the commander of Armenia the prefectura of
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the twelfth Legion named Thundering Melatini, and this position in Armenia will agree with
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what Dion says of its position in Cappadocia. Accordingly, Vellasius concludes that Melatinia
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was not the name of the legion, but of the town in which it
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was stationed. Melatini was also the name of the district in which this town
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was situated. The legions did not, he says, take their name from
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the place where they were on duty, but from the country in which they
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were raised, and therefore what Eusebius says about the Melatini does not seem probable
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to him. Yet Vllasius, on the authority of a Pallinarius and Tertulian,
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believed that the miracle was worked through the prayers of the Christian soldiers in the
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Emperor's army. Rufinus does not give the name of Melatini to this legion,
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says Vllasius, and probably he purposely omitted it, because they knew that Melatini
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was the name of a town in Armenia Minor, where the legion was stationed.
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In his time, the Emperor, it is said, made a report
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of his victory to the Senate, which we may believe, for such was
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the practice. But we do not know what he said in his letter,
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for it is not extant. Dossier assumes that the Emperor's letter was purposely destroyed
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by the Senate or the enemies of Christianity. That so honorable a testimony to
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the Christians and their religion might not be perpetuated. The critic has, however,
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not seen that he contradicts when he tells us purport of the letter,
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for he says that it was destroyed and even Eusebius could not find it.
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But there does exist a letter in Greek addressed by Antoninus to the Roman people
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and the Sacred Senate after this memorable victory. It is sometimes printed after Justin's
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first Apology, but is totally unconnected with the apologies. This letter is one
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of the most stupid forgeries of the many which exist, and it cannot be
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possibly founded even on the genuine report of Antoninus to the Senate. If it
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were genuine, it would free the emperor from the charge of persecuting men because
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they are Christians, For he says in this false letter that if a man
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accused another only of being a Christian, and the accused confess, and there
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is nothing else against him, he must be set free. With this monstrous
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edition made by man inconceivably ignorant, that the informer must be burnt alive.
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During the time of Antoninus Pious in Mark Racasantininus, there appeared the first apology
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of Justinus, and under Marcus Antoninus the Oration of Tatian against the Greeks,
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which was a fierce attack on the established religions, the address of Athanagaris to
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Marcus Antoninus on behalf of the Christians, and the apology of Malito, bishop
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of Sardes, also addressed to the Emperor, and that of Apollinarius. The
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first apology of Justinus is addressed to Titus Antoninus Pius and his two adopted sons,
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Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, but we do not know whether they read
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it. Footnote. Aurotius says that Justinus the philosopher presented to Antoninus Pious his
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work in defense of the Christian religion and made him merciful to the Christians.
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In footnote, the second Apology of Justinus is entitled to the Roman Senate,
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but this superscription is from some copyist. In the first chapter, Justinus addresses
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the Romans. In the second chapter he speaks of affair that had recently happened
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in the time of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, as it seems, and
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he also directly addresses the Emperor, saying of a certain woman quote she addressed
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a petition to thee the Emperor, and thou didst grant the petition. In
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other passages, the writer addresses the two emperors, from which we must conclude
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that the Apology was directed to them. Eusebius states that the Second Apology was
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addressed to the successor of Antoninus Pious, and he names him Antoninus Verus,
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meaning Marcus Antoninus. In one passage of the Second Apology, Justinus or the
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writer, whoever he may be, says that even men who followed the Stoic
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doctrines, when they ordered their lives according to ethical reason, were hated and
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murdered, such as Heraclitus, Mousonius in his own times and others. For
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all, those who in any way labor to live according to reason and avoided
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wickedness were always hated, and this was the effect of the work of demons.
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Just Tinus himself is said to have been put to death at Rome because
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he refused to sacrifice to the gods. It cannot have been in the reign
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of Hadrian, as one authority states, nor in the time of Antoninus Pious.
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If the Second Apology was written in the time of Marcus Antoninus, and
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there is evidence that this event took place under Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus,
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when Rusticus was prefect of the city. The persecution in which Polycarps suffered at
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Smyrna belongs to the time of Marcus Antoninus. The evidence for it is the
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letter of the Church of Smyrna to the churches of Philomilium and the other Christian
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churches, and it is preserved by Eusebius. But the critics do not agree
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about the time of Polycarp's death, differing in the two extremes to the amount
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of twelve years. The circumstances of Polycarp's martyrdom were accompanied by miracles, one
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of which Eusebius has omitted, but it appears in the oldest Latin version of
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the letter, which Usher published, and it is supposed that this version was
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made not long after the time of Eusebius. The notice at the end of
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the letters states that it was transcribed by Caius from the copy of Ireneus the
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Disciple of Polycarp, then transcribed by Socrates at corinth Quote, after which I
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Pioneus again wrote it out from the copy above mentioned, having searched it out
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by the revelation of Polycarp, who directed it to me et cetera unquote.
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The story of Polycarp's martyrdom is embellished with miraculous circumstances, which some modern writers
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on ecclesiastical history take the liberty of omitting. Footnote Conyer's middleton An Inquiry into
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the Miraculous Powers, et cetera, Page one, twenty six, Middleton says
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that Eusebius omitted to mention the dove which flew out of Polycarp's body, and
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Dodwell and Archbishop Wake have done the same. Wake says, I am so
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little a friend to such miracles that I thought it better with Eusebius to omit
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that circumstance than to mention it from Bishop Basher's manuscript unquote. Which manus script,
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however, says Middleton. He afterwards declares to be so well attested that
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we need not any further assurance of the truth of it in footnote. In
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order to form a proper notion of the condition of the Christians under Marcus Antoninus,
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we must go back to Trajan's time, when the younger Pliny was governor
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of Bathenia. The Christians were numerous in those parts, and the worshippers of
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the old religion were falling off. The temples were deserted, the festivals neglected,
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and there were no purchasers of victims for sacrifice. Those who were interested
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in the maintenance of the old religion thus found that their prophets were in danger.
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Christians of both sexes and of all ages were brought before the governor,
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who did not know what to do with them. He could come to know
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their conclusion than this, that those who confess to be Christians and persevered in
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their religion ought to be punished, if for nothing else for their invincible obstinacy.
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He found no crimes proved against the Christians, and he could only characterize
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their religion as a depraved and extravagant superstition, which might be stopped if the
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people are allowed the opportunity of recanting. Pliny wrote this in a letter to
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Trajan footnote. The Martyrium ignatia E, first published in Latin by Archbishop Usher,
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is the chief evidence for the circumstances of Ignatius's death. In footnote.
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In the time of Hadrian, it was no longer possible for the Roman government
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to overlook the great increase of the Christians in the hostility of the common sword
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to them. If the governors and the provinces were willing to let them alone,
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they could not resist the fanaticism of the Heathen community, who looked on
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the Christians as atheists. The Jews, too, who were settled all over
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the Roman Empire, were as hostile to the Christians as the Gentiles were.
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Footnote we have the evidence of justiness to this effect. Quote the Christians are
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attacked by the Jews as if they were men of a different race, and
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are persecuted by the Greeks, and those who hate them cannot give the reason
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of their enmity. In footnote. With the time of Hadrian began the Christian
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apologies, which show plainly what the popular feeling towards the Christians then. Was
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a rescript of Hadrian to Minucius Fundanus, the proconsul of Asia, which stands
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at the end of Justin's first apology, instructs the governor that innocent people must
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not be troubled, and false accusers must not be allowed to extort money from
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them. The charges against the Christians must be made in due form, and
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no attention must be paid to popular clamors. When Christians were regularly prosecuted and
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convicted of illegal acts. They must be punished according to their deserts, and
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false accusers also must be punished. Footnote and in Eusebius, Erosius says that
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Hadrian sent this rescript to Manusius Fundanus, proconsul of Asia, after being instructed
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in books written on the Christian religion by Quadratus, a disciple of the Apostles,
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and Aristides and Athenian, an honest and wise man, and Serenus Grenaeus.
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In the Greek text of Hadrian's rescript there is mentioned Sereneus Grennianus, the
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predecessor of Minutius Fandanus in the government of Asia. This rescript of Hadrian has
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clearly been added to the apology by some editor. In footnote, Antonius Pious
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is said to have published rescripts to the same effect. The terms of Hadrian's
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rescript seem very favorable to the Christians, But if we understand it in this
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sense that they are only to be punished like other people for illegal acts,
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it would have no meaning, for that could have been done without asking the
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emperor's advice. The real purpose of the rescript is that Christians must be punished
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if they persisted in their belief and would not prove their renunciation of it by
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acknowledging the Heathen religion. This was Trajan's rule, and we have no reason
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for supposing that Hadrian granted more to the Christians than Trajan did. There is
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also printed at the end of Justine's first Apology a rescript of Antoninus Pious to
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the Commune of Asia, and it is also an Eusebius. The date of
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the rescript is the third consulship of Antoninus Pious. The rescript declares that the
27:07
Christians, for they are meant, though the name Christians does not occur in
27:11
the rescript, were not to be disturbed unless they were attempting something against the
27:15
Roman rule, and no man was to be punished simply for being a Christian.
27:18
But this rescript is spurious. Any man moderately acquainted with Roman history will
27:25
see by the style and tenour that it is a clumsy forgery. In the
27:30
time of Marcus Antoninus, the opposition between the old and the new belief was
27:34
still stronger, and the adherents of the Heathen religion urged those in authority to
27:40
a more regular resistance to the invasions of the Christian faith. Melito, in
27:45
his apology to Marcus Antoninus, represents the Christians of Asia as persecuted under new
27:49
imperial orders shameless informers. He says, men who are greedy after the property
27:56
of others used these orders as a means of robbing those who were doing thens
28:00
harm. He doubts if a just emperor could have ordered anything so unjust,
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and if the last order was really not from the emperor. The Christians entreat
28:08
him not to give them up to their enemies. We conclude from this that
28:12
there were at least imperial rescripts or constitutions of Marcus Antoninus, which are made
28:18
the foundations of these persecutions. The fact of being a Christian was now a
28:22
crime and punished unless the accused denied their religion. Then come the persecutions at
28:27
Smyrna, which some modern critics place in eighty one sixty seven, ten years
28:33
before the persecution of Lyon. The governors of the provinces under Marcus Antoninus might
28:38
have found enough even in Trajan's rescript to warrant them in punishing Christians, and
28:44
the fanaticism of the people would drive them to persecution even if they were unwilling.
28:48
But besides the fact of the Christians rejecting all the Heathen ceremonies, we
28:53
must not forget that they plainly maintained that all the Heathen religions were false.
28:57
The Christians thus declared war against the Heathen rites, and it is hardly necessary
29:03
to observe that this was a declaration of hostility against the Roman government, which
29:07
tolerated all the various forms of superstition that existed in the Empire, and could
29:11
not consistently tolerate another religion which declared that all the rest are false, and
29:18
all the splendid ceremonies of the Empire only a worship of devils. If we
29:22
had a true ecclesiastical history, we should know how the Roman empires attempted to
29:27
check the new religion, how they enforced their principle of finally punishing Christians simply
29:33
as Christians, which Justin in his apology affirms that they did, and I
29:37
have no doubt that he tells the truth. How far popular clamor and riots
29:41
went in this matter, and how far many fanatical and ignorant Christians, for
29:45
there were many such contributed to excite the fanaticism on the other side, and
29:51
to embedter the quarrel between the Roman government and the new religion. Our extant
29:55
ecclesiastical histories are manifestly falsified, and true they contain is grossly exaggerated. But
30:03
the fact is certain that in the time of Marcus Antoninus, the Heathen populations
30:07
were an open hostility to the Christians, and that under Antoninus's rule men were
30:11
put to death because they were Christians. Eusebius, in the preface to his
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fifth book, remarks that in the seventeenth year of Antoninus's reign, in some
30:21
parts of the world, the persecution of the Christians became more violent, and
30:25
that it proceeded from the populace in the cities. And he adds, in
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his usual style of exaggeration, that we may infer from what took place in
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a single nation, that myriads of martyrs are made in the habitable earth.
30:37
The nation which he alludes to is Gallia. And he then proceeds to give
30:41
the letter the churches of Vienna in Lagdunum. It is probable that he's assigned
30:47
the true cause of the persecutions the fanaticism of the populace, and that both
30:51
governors and emperor had a great deal of trouble with these disturbances. How far
30:56
Marcus was cognizant to these cruel proceedings we do not know. The historical records
31:00
of his reign are very defective. He did not make the rule against the
31:03
Christians, for Trajan did that. And if we admit that he would have
31:07
been willing to let the Christians alone, we cannot affirm that he was in
31:11
his power, For it would be a great mistake to suppose that Antoninus had
31:15
the unlimited authority which some modern sovereigns have had. His power was limited by
31:21
certain constitutional forms, by the Senate, and by the precedence of his predecessors.
31:26
We cannot admit that such a man was an active persecutor, for there
31:29
is no evidence that he was, though it is certain that he had no
31:33
good opinion of the Christians, as appears from his own words. Footnote except
31:37
that of Erosius, who says that during the Parthian War there were grievous persecutions
31:42
of the Christians in Asia and Gallia under the orders of Marcus pricepto Ayus,
31:48
and quote. Many were crowned with a martyrdom of saints unquote. In footnote.
31:56
But he knew nothing of them except their hostility to the Roman religion,
32:00
and he probably thought that they were dangerous to the state, notwithstanding the profession's
32:04
false or true of some of the apologists. So much I have said,
32:07
because it would be unfair not to state all that can be urged against a
32:13
man whom his contemporaries and subsequent ages venerated as a model of virtue and benevolence.
32:20
If I admitted the genuineness of some documents, he would be altogether clear
32:23
from the charge of even allowing any persecutions. But as I seek the truth
32:29
and am sure that they are false, I leave him to bear whatever blame
32:31
is his due. Footnote. Doctor F. C. Bauer, in his
32:36
work entitled does christinetum undi christli kakirka daredry erstagno hunderta et cetera, has examined
32:45
this question with great good sense and fairness, and I believe he has stated
32:49
the truth as near as our authorities enable as to reach it. In footnote,
32:53
I add that it is quite certain that Antoninus did not derive any of
32:57
his ethical principles from a religion of which he knew nothing. Footnote In the
33:02
digest. There is the following excerpt from Modus Tinus quote see KUIs alikuit fekeret
33:09
kuo lewis hominoma nima separstitiona namenus terrerinter d u s marcus hu yasmda hominus in
33:20
insulam relega rescripsit end quote. There is no doubt that the Emperor's Reflections or
33:28
his Meditations as they are generally named, is a genuine work. In the
33:32
first book he speaks of himself, his family, and his teachers, and
33:37
in other books he mentions himself. Souidas notices the work of Antoninus in twelve
33:42
books, which he names the conduct of his own life, and he cites
33:46
the book under several words in his dictionary, giving the emperor's name, but
33:50
not the title of the work. There are also passages cited by Suidas from
33:54
Antoninus without mention of the emperor's name. The true title of the work is
34:00
unknown. Czylander, who published the first edition of this book with a Latin
34:04
version, used a manuscript which contained the twelve books, but it is not
34:08
known where the manuscript is now. The only other complete manuscript which is known
34:14
to exist is in the Vatican Library, but it has no titles in no
34:19
inscriptions. Of the several books, the eleventh only has the inscription marked with
34:22
an asterisk. The other Vatican manuscripts in the three Florentine contain only excerpts from
34:29
the Emperor's book. All the titles of the excerpts nearly agree with that which
34:32
Silander prefixed to his edition. This title has been used by all subsequent editors.
34:38
We cannot tell whether Antoninus divided his work into books or somebody else did
34:43
it. If the inscriptions at the end of the first and second books are
34:46
genuine, he may have made the division himself. It is plaining that the
34:51
emperor wrote down his thoughts or reflections as the occasions arose, and since they
34:55
were intended for his own use, it is no improbable conjecture that he left
35:00
a complete copy behind him, written with his own hand, for it is
35:05
not likely that so diligent a man would use the labor of a transcriber for
35:07
such a purpose and expose his most secret thoughts to any other eye. He
35:13
may have also intended the book for his son Eusebius Combatusts, who however,
35:17
had no taste for his father's philosophy. Some careful hand preserved the precious volume
35:23
and a work by Antoninus, as mentioned by other late writers beside Suidas,
35:29
many critics have labored on the text of Antoninus. The most complete edition is
35:34
that by Thomas Gataker sixteen fifty two quarto. The second edition of Gataker was
35:39
superintended by George Stanup sixteen ninety seven quarto. There is also an edition of
35:45
seventeen o four. Gataker made and suggested many good corrections, and he also
35:51
made a new Latin version, which is not a very good specimen of Latin,
35:54
but it generally expresses the sense of the original, and often better than
35:58
some of the more recent trends translations. He added in the margin opposite to
36:02
each paragraph references to the other parallel passages, and he wrote a commentary,
36:08
one of the most complete that has been written on any ancient author. This
36:13
commentary contains the editor's exposition of the more difficult passages and quotations from all the
36:17
Greek and Roman writers for the illustration of the text. It is a wonderful
36:22
monument of learning and labour, and certainly no Englishman has yet done anything like
36:27
it. At the end of his prevace The editor says that he wrote it
36:30
at Rotherhiss, near London, in a severe winter, when he was in
36:35
the seventy eighth year of his age sixteen fifty one, a time when Milton
36:38
Selden and other great men of the Commonwealth time were living, and the great
36:44
French scholar Selma's Sulmatius, with whom Gadiker corresponded and received help from him for
36:49
his edition of Antoninus. The Greek text has also been edited by J.
36:53
M. Schultz, Leipzig eighteen o two eight volumes, and by the learned
36:59
Greek the Montagnus Corat Paris eighteen sixteen, eight volumes. The text of Schultz
37:05
was republished by Taupnetz eighteen twenty one. There are English, German, French,
37:10
Italian, and Spanish translations of Marcus Santa Ninus, and there may be
37:15
others. I have not seen. All the English translations, there is one
37:20
by Jeremy Collier seventeen o two eight volumes, a most coarse and vulgar copy
37:25
of the original. The latest French translation, by Alexis Pieron in the collection
37:30
of Charpontier, is better than Dossier's, which has been honored with an Italian
37:36
version Udinae, seventeen seventy two. There is an Italian version sixteen seventy five
37:42
which I have not seen. It is by a cardinal quote a man illustrious
37:46
in the church. The Cardinal Francis Barberini, the elder nephew of Pope Urban
37:52
the seventh, occupied the last years of his life in translating into his native
37:55
language the thoughts of the Roman Emperor, in order to diffuse among the faithful
38:00
the fertilizing and vivifying seeds. He dedicated this translation to his soul to make
38:06
it, as he says in his energetic style, redder than his purple at
38:09
the side of the virtues of this gentile. I have made this translation at
38:17
intervals, after having used the book for many years. It is made from
38:22
the Greek, but I have not always followed one text, and I have
38:24
occasionally compared other versions with my own. I made this translation for my own
38:30
use because I found that it was worth the labor. But it may be
38:34
useful to others also, and therefore I determined to print it. As the
38:37
original is sometimes very difficult to understand and still more difficult to translate. It
38:44
is not possible that I have always avoided error, but I believe that I
38:47
have not often missed the meaning. And those who will take the trouble to
38:51
compare the translation with the original should not hastily conclude that I am wrong if
38:55
they do not agree with me. Some passages do give the meaning, though
39:00
at first sight they may not appear to do so. And when I differ
39:04
from the translators, I think in some places they are wrong, and in
39:07
other places I am sure that they are. I have placed in some passages
39:12
a plus sign, which indicates corruption in the text or great uncertainty in the
39:15
meaning. I could have made the language more easy and flowing, but I
39:21
have preferred a ruder style as being better suited to express the character of the
39:24
original. And sometimes the obscurity which may appear in the version is a fair
39:29
copy of the obscurity of the Greek. If I have not given the best
39:32
words for the Greek, I have done the best that I could, And
39:36
in the next text I have always given the same translation of the same word.
39:40
The last reflection of the Stoic philosophy that I have observed is in Simplicius's
39:46
commentary of the Incridian of Epictetus Simplicius was not a Christian, and such a
39:52
man was not likely to be converted at a time when Christianity was grossly corrupted.
39:58
But he was a really religious man, and he includes his commentary with
40:01
a prayer to the Deity, which no Christian could improve. From the time
40:07
of Zeno to Simplicius, a period of about nine hundred years, the Stoic
40:12
philosophy formed the characters of some of the best and greatest men. Finally it
40:16
became extinct, and we hear no more of it till the revival of letters.
40:21
In Italy, Angelo Poliziano met with two very inaccurate and incomplete manuscripts of
40:28
Epictetus's Incridian, which he translated into Latin and dedicated to his great patron,
40:34
Lorenzo de Medici, in whose collection he had found the book. Poliziano's version
40:38
was printed in the first ball edition of the Incridian eighty fifteen thirty one,
40:44
aped Andrean Caretandrum. Poliziano recommends the Incridian to Lorenzo as a work well suited
40:51
to his temper and useful in the difficulties by which he was surrounded. Epictetus
40:58
and Antoninus have had readers ever since they were printed. The Little Book of
41:01
Antoninus has been the companion of some great men. Machiavelli's Art of War and
41:07
Marcus Antoninus were the two books which are used when he was a young man
41:12
by Captain John Smith, and he could not have found two writers better fitted
41:15
to form the character of a soldier and a man. Smith is almost unknown
41:20
and forgotten in England, his native country, but not in America, where
41:24
he saved the young colony of Virginia. He was great in his heroic mind
41:29
and his deeds in arms, but greater still in the nobleness of his character.
41:34
For a man's greatness lies not in wealth and station, as the vulgar
41:37
believe, nor yet in his intellectual capacity, which is often associated with the
41:43
meanest moral character, the most abject servility to those in high places, and
41:47
arrogance to the poor and lowly. But a man's true greatness lies in the
41:52
consciousness of an honest purpose in life, founded on a just estimate of himself
41:58
and everything else on freak, with self examination and a steady obedience to the
42:02
rule which he knows to be right, without troubling himself. As the Emperor
42:07
says, He should not about what others may think or say, or whether
42:12
they do or do not do that which he thinks and says and does