Latest / Marcus Aurelius: Rome's Philosopher King — Fexingo History / The Philosopher King's Final Frontier: Rome's Eastern Question
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've spent a lot of time with Marcus on the Danube, freezing in his tent, writing those meditations while the Marcomanni pressed against the frontier. But there's a whole other side to his reign that we haven't really touched. The East. The Parthian Empire. Luna: Oh, right. I know the Parthians were the other big rival, but I guess I always thought of them as more of a Trajan or Hadrian thing. Lucas: Exactly, and that's fair. But Marcus had to deal with them too, and it shaped everything. When he came to power in 161, one of the first things that happened was a Parthian invasion of Armenia. They installed their own candidate on the throne, and Rome had to respond. So Marcus, who had never really left Italy, had to send an army east. And he sent his brother, Lucius Verus, to lead it. Luna: The co-emperor. The one who liked to party, right? Lucas: That's the image we get from the sources, anyway. Lucius was more into hunting and the theater than he was into military command. But he had good generals under him, and one of them was a man named Avidius Cassius. Cassius was a Syrian-born Roman of Greek descent, a tough, ambitious soldier. And he's the one who really did the heavy lifting. Lucas: So over the next few years, Cassius pushed the Parthians out of Armenia, then invaded Mesopotamia, and in 165 he did something that hadn't been done since Trajan. He sacked Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital. That's a huge deal. The Parthians were the only power that had ever really matched Rome, and to take their capital was a statement. Luna: That must have made Marcus look like a conquering hero, even if he wasn't there. Lucas: It did. He and Lucius took the title 'Parthicus Maximus.' But here's the twist. When the Roman soldiers came back from the East, they brought something with them. Something that didn't care about triumphal arches. The Antonine Plague. We've talked about it before, but the leading theory is that it was smallpox, and it may have come back with the troops from Seleucia, which is right next to Ctesiphon. The soldiers who sacked the city then spread it across the empire as they marched home. Luna: So the same victory that looked so glorious on the coinage ends up killing millions. That's brutal. Lucas: And it's estimated to have killed somewhere between five and ten million people, maybe more. It devastated the army, and it's part of why Marcus had such a hard time recruiting for the Marcomannic Wars. The plague also had a psychological effect. Some people called it the 'Parthian fever.' It was a reminder that even in victory, Rome was vulnerable. And for Marcus, who was already prone to reflection, it must have felt like a cosmic joke. He's trying to live according to Nature, and Nature is killing his soldiers. Luna: It's almost like the empire itself was a patient, and the war was a fever. But then, after the Parthian war, there was that revolt by Avidius Cassius, right? I remember hearing something about that. Lucas: Yes. That's the other big eastern story. In 175, while Marcus was on the Danube, Avidius Cassius declared himself emperor. He was responding to a rumor that Marcus had died. The rumor was false, but Cassius either believed it or saw his chance. Marcus, true to form, tried to resolve it peacefully. He offered Cassius a pardon, even. But it didn't matter. Cassius was assassinated by his own men after only a few months. Marcus then traveled east to restore order, and he famously refused to even look at Cassius's severed head. He just said, 'I would have preferred to forgive him.' Luna: Wow. That's very Stoic. But also a little naïve, maybe? Lucas: Maybe. But it shows how he tried to live his principles. He didn't want to be a tyrant. He wanted to be a philosopher king. But the empire kept dragging him into wars he didn't want. And after the revolt, he spent time in Syria, in Egypt, and he started thinking more about the eastern frontier. He actually had a plan, a big one. Lucas: You see, after the Marcomannic Wars, Marcus wanted to create two new provinces, Marcomannia and Sarmatia, on the Danube. We've talked about that. But he also had designs on Mesopotamia. He wanted to turn it into a Roman province, like Trajan had tried. He wanted to push the frontier beyond the Euphrates, all the way to the Tigris, maybe even to Ctesiphon again. He saw the Parthians as a perpetual threat, and he wanted to end it for good. Luna: So he was planning another Parthian war when he died? Lucas: That's what the sources suggest. Cassius Dio says that Marcus intended to campaign against the Parthians, and that he was making preparations. He was still on the Danube in 180, but he was getting ready to move east. But then he fell ill, likely with the plague, and he died in Vindobona, which is modern Vienna. His son Commodus, who was there with him, immediately made peace with the tribes and dropped the eastern plans. So Marcus's grand strategy, on both fronts, just evaporated. Luna: It's like he was trying to hold the whole world together with Stoic duty, and it just slipped through his fingers. Lucas: Yeah. And it's a poignant irony, because his son is the one who's remembered for abandoning everything his father stood for. Commodus was more interested in gladiatorial games than in conquest. He gave up the Danube provinces, he gave up the eastern ambitions, and he basically let the empire coast. So Marcus's last years were a race against time, and he didn't win. But maybe that's the Stoic lesson, right? We don't control the outcome, only our efforts. Luna: That's a heavy thought. But it makes me wonder, if Marcus had lived, could he have actually pulled it off? Lucas: That's one of those great counterfactuals. He was a capable administrator, and he had the military experience by then. But the plague had weakened the army, and the Parthians were still strong. It's not clear he could have held Mesopotamia for long, even if he'd conquered it. And then there's the constant pressure on the Danube. He was trying to do too much, and maybe he knew it. In the Meditations, he often writes about the brevity of life and the futility of ambition. Maybe he was preparing himself for the fact that he might not finish what he started. Luna: It's like he was writing his own eulogy in advance. Lucas: In a way, yes. And that's part of why his Meditations feel so intimate. They're not a public document. They're his private notes to himself. He's constantly reminding himself of what matters: justice, self-control, duty. He writes things like, 'The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.' And he tries to live by that, even with Cassius. He sends a message to the Senate saying he hopes Cassius's family will be spared. He's trying to be the better man, even when the world is falling apart. Luna: And that's what makes him so compelling, right? He's not some perfect marble statue. He's a flesh and blood ruler struggling with the same fears and doubts we all have. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the thing we try to capture in these conversations. We're not just talking about dates and battles. We're talking about a human being. And if you've been following along with us, you know that's what we care about. It's also why our listeners' support matters so much. It keeps the show ad-free and lets us dig into these stories properly. If you've ever thought about supporting the work, you can do that at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small way to keep these conversations going. Luna: Yeah, every little bit helps. And it's a nice way to say thanks for the time we put into research. Lucas: Alright, so back to the East. There's one more thing I want to bring up. The Parthian campaign is also where we see the darker side of Roman imperialism. When the troops sacked Ctesiphon, they didn't just take the city. They burned it, and they slaughtered a lot of people. The sources say that the Romans were shocked by their own brutality. And this is the same army that Marcus was commanding, in his name. So how do we reconcile that with the philosopher king? He wasn't a saint. He was a Roman emperor, and he did what Roman emperors did. He just thought about it more than most. Luna: It's a good reminder that history is messy. The same guy who wrote about kindness and forgiveness could authorize a war that killed thousands. Lucas: And that's what makes him so interesting. He's not a simple hero or villain. He's a person in a position of immense power, trying to do his best with the tools he had. And the tools were violent. He carried out executions, he enslaved prisoners, he ruined cities. But he also tried to be just. He tried to govern with reason. And that tension, between the ideal and the reality, is something we can all relate to, even if we're not running an empire. So when we think about Marcus's eastern plans, we're not just thinking about military strategy. We're thinking about what it means to be a good person in a bad world. Luna: And he didn't get to see it through. He died before he could make his mark on the East. Do you think that's part of why he's remembered so fondly? Because his story is unfinished? Lucas: That's a nice thought. Maybe. We remember him as the thoughtful emperor who wrote beautiful notes to himself. If he'd lived to conquer the Parthians, if he'd become another Trajan, maybe we'd remember him differently. The conquests might have overshadowed the philosophy. But because he died in the middle of things, we get to imagine what he might have done. And in the Meditations, we have a direct window into his mind. That's rare for any ancient figure, let alone an emperor. Lucas: He also left us with a poignant image. In one passage, he writes about how all the great conquerors are now just dust: Alexander, Pompey, Caesar. He says, 'They are all gone, and their names are but a sound.' He's aware that his own empire will eventually crumble. And yet he still does his duty, every day, without complaint. That's the Stoic ideal. Not to be indifferent to outcomes, but to care deeply about doing the right thing, regardless of whether you'll be remembered or not. Luna: So even though he didn't get his eastern triumph, he still achieved something more lasting. A way of thinking that people still turn to today. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the legacy we keep exploring. So maybe we'll pick up the Eastern thread again sometime. There's a lot more to say about the Parthians and the Romans. But for now, I think we've done a good job of sketching out that final chapter. Thanks for being here with us, Luna. Luna: Always a pleasure, Lucas. And thanks to all our listeners for joining us on this journey through the mind of an emperor.