Author(s): Marcus Aurelius

Cultural Studies

Excerpt from The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius: Translated; With His Life, and an Essay on His Philosophy by the Translator Hadrian died in July a.d. 138, and was succeeded by Antoninus Pius. M. Antoninus married Faustina, his cousin, the daughter of Pius, probably about a.d. 146, for he had a daughter born in 147. M. Antoninus received from his adoptive father the title of Caesar and was asso ciated with him in the administration of the state. The father and the adopted son lived together in perfect friend ship and confidence. Antoninus was a dutiful son, and the Emperor Pius loved and esteemed him. Antoninus Pius died in March a.d. 161. The Senate, it is said, urged M. Antoninus to take the sole administra tion of the empire, but he associated with himself the other adopted son of Pius, L. Ceionius Commodus, who is gener ally called L. Verus. Thus Rome for the first time had two emperors. Verus was an indolent man of pleasure and unworthy of his station. Antoninus however bore with him, and it is said that Verus had sense enough to pay to his colleague the respect due to his character. A virtuous emperor and a loose partner lived together in peace, and their alliance was strengthened by Antoninus giving to Verus for wife his daughter Lucilla. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.