The reign of Marcus Aurelius began with his accession on 7 March 161 following the death of his adoptive father, Antoninus Pius, and ended with his own death on 17 March 180. Marcus first ruled jointly with his adoptive brother, Lucius Verus. They shared the throne until Lucius' death in 169. Marcus was succeeded by his son Commodus, who had been made co-emperor in 177.
Under Marcus, Rome fought the Roman–Parthian War of 161–66 and the Marcomannic Wars. The so-called Antonine plague occurred during his reign. In the last years of his rule, Marcus composed his personal writings on Stoic philosophy known as Meditations.
Sources
The major sources for the life and rule of Marcus are patchy and frequently unreliable. The biographies contained in the Historia Augusta claim to be written by a group of authors at the turn of the 4th century, but are in fact written by a single author (referred to here as "the biographer of the Historia Augusta") from the later 4th century (c. 395). The later biographies and the biographies of subordinate emperors and usurpers consist largely of lies and fiction, but the earlier biographies, derived primarily from now-lost earlier sources (Marius Maximus or Ignotus) are much more reliable.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 229–30. The thesis of single authorship was first proposed in H. Dessau's "Über Zeit und Persönlichkeit der Scriptoes Historiae Augustae" (in German), Hermes 24 (1889), pp. 337ff. For Marcus Aurelius' life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Pius, Marcus and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, but those of Aelius Verus and Avidius Cassius are partly invented.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 230. On the HA Verus, see Barnes, pp. 65–74.
A body of correspondence between Marcus Aurelius' tutor Marcus Cornelius Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c. 138 to 166.Mary Beard, "Was He Quite Ordinary?", London Review of Books 31:14 (23 July 2009), accessed 15 September 2009; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 226. Marcus' own Meditations offer a window on his inner life, but are largely undateable, and make few specific references to worldly affairs.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 227. The main narrative source for the period is Cassius Dio, a Greek senator from Bithynian Nicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books. Dio is vital for the military history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices and strong opposition to imperial expansion obscure his perspective.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 228–29, 253. Some other literary sources provide specific detail: the writings of the physician Galen on the habits of the Antonine elite, the orations of Aelius Aristides on the temper of the times, and the constitutions preserved in the Digest and Codex Justinianus on Marcus' legal work.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 227–28. Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 228.
Accession of Marcus and Lucius (161)
At the death of Antoninus Pius, Marcus was effectively sole ruler of the Empire. The formalities of the position would follow: The senate would soon grant him the name Augustus and the title imperator, and he would soon be formally elected as Pontifex Maximus, chief priest of the official cults. Marcus made some show of resistance: the biographer of the Historia Augusta writes that he was "compelled" to take imperial power.HA Marcus vii.5, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 116. This may have been a genuine horror imperii, "fear of imperial power". Marcus, with his preference for the philosophic life, found the imperial office unappealing. His training as a Stoic, however, had made the choice clear. It was his duty.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 116. Birley takes the phrase horror imperii from HA Pert. xiii.1 and xv.8.
Although Marcus shows no personal affection for Hadrian (significantly, he does not thank him in the first book of his Meditations), he presumably believed it his duty to enact the man's succession plans.Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", p. 156. Thus, although the senate planned to confirm Marcus Aurelius alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius, the son of Hadrian's long deceased chosen heir L. Aelius, received equal powers.HA Verus iii.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 48–49, 116; "Hadrian to the Antonines", p. 156. The senate accepted, granting Lucius the imperium, the tribunician power, and the name Augustus.HA Verus iv.1; Marcus 7.5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 116. Marcus became, in official titulature, Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; Lucius, forgoing his name Commodus and taking Marcus Aurelius' family name, Verus, became Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 116–17. It was the first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors.
In spite of their nominal equality, Marcus held more auctoritas, or "authority", than Verus. He had been consul once more than Verus, he had shared in Pius' administration, and he alone was Pontifex Maximus. It would have been clear to the public which emperor was the more senior. As the biographer of the Historia Augusta wrote, "Verus obeyed Marcus...as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor."HA Verus iv.2, tr. David Magie, cited in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 117, 278 n.4.
Immediately after their senate confirmation, the emperors proceeded to the Castra Praetoria, the camp of the Praetorian Guard. Lucius addressed the assembled troops, which then acclaimed the pair as imperatores, and like every new emperor since Claudius, promised the troops a special donative.HA Marcus vii.9; Verus iv.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 117–18. This donative, however, was twice the size of those past: 20,000 sesterces (5,000 denarii) per capita, more to officers. In return for this bounty, equivalent to several years' pay, the troops swore an oath to protect the emperors.HA Marcus vii.9; Verus iv.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 117–18. "twice the size": Richard Duncan-Jones, Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 109. The ceremony was perhaps not entirely necessary, given that Marcus' accession had been peaceful and unopposed, but it was good insurance against later military troubles.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118.
Pius' funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer of the Historia Augusta, "elaborate".HA Marcus vii.10, tr. David Magie, cited in Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 118, 278 n.6. If his funeral followed the pattern of past funerals, his body would have been incinerated on a pyre at the Campus Martius, while his spirit would rise to the gods' home in the heavens. Marcus and Lucius nominated their father for deification. In contrast to their behavior during Pius' campaign to deify Hadrian, the senate did not oppose the emperors' wishes. A flamen, or cultic priest, was appointed to minister the cult of the deified Pius, now Divus Antoninus. Pius' remains were laid to rest in Hadrian's mausoleum, beside the remains of Marcus' children and of Hadrian himself.HA Marcus vii.10–11; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118. The temple Pius had dedicated to his wife, Diva Faustina, became the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. It survives as the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda.
In accordance with his will, Pius' fortune passed on to Faustina.HA Pius xii.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 118–19. (Marcus had little need of his wife's fortune. Indeed, at his accession, he transferred part of his mother's estate to his nephew, Ummius Quadratus.HA Marcus vii.4; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119.) Faustina was three months pregnant at her husband's accession. During the pregnancy she dreamed of giving birth to two serpents, one fiercer than the other.HA Commodus i.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119. On 31 August she gave birth at Lanuvium to twins: T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus.HA Commodus. i.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119. Aside from the fact that the twins shared Caligula's birthday, the omens were favorable, and the astrologers drew positive horoscopes for the children.HA Commodus. i.4, x.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119. The births were celebrated on the imperial coinage.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119, citing H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus (London, 1940), Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, nos. 155ff.; 949ff.
Early rule
Soon after the emperors' accession, Marcus' eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla, was betrothed to Verus (in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her uncle).HA Marcus vii.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118. At the ceremonies commemorating the event, new provisions were made for the support of poor children, along the lines of earlier imperial foundations.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 118, citing Werner Eck, Die Organisation Italiens (1979), pp. 146ff. Marcus and Lucius proved popular with the people of Rome, who strongly approved of their civiliter ("lacking pomp") behavior. The emperors permitted free speech, evinced by the fact that the comedy writer Marullus was able to criticize them without suffering retribution. At any other time, under any other emperor, he would have been executed. But it was a peaceful time, a forgiving time. And thus, as the biographer of the Historia Augusta wrote, "No one missed the lenient ways of Pius."HA Marcus viii.1, qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119; "Hadrian to the Antonines", p. 157.
Marcus replaced a number of the empire's major officials. The ab epistulis Sextus Caecilius Crescens Volusianus, in charge of the imperial correspondence, was replaced with Titus Varius Clemens. Clemens was from the frontier province of Pannonia and had served in the war in Mauretania. Recently, he had served as procurator of five provinces. He was a man suited for a time of military crisis.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 122–23, citing H.G. Pfalum, Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain I–III (Paris, 1960–61); Supplément (Paris, 1982), nos. 142; 156; Eric Birley, Roman Britain and the Roman Army (1953), pp. 142ff., 151ff. Marcus' former tutor Lucius Volusius Maecianus, who had been prefectural governor of Egypt at Marcus' accession, was recalled, made senator, and appointed prefect of the treasury (aerarium Saturni). He was made consul soon after.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123, citing H.G. Pfalum, Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain I–III (Paris, 1960–61); Supplément (Paris, 1982), no. 141. Fronto's son-in-law, Aufidius Victorinus, was appointed governor of Upper Germany.HA Marcus viii.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 123, citing W. Eck, Die Satthalter der germ. Provinzen (1985), pp. 65ff.
Fronto returned to his Roman townhouse at dawn on 28 March, having left his home in Cirta as soon as news of his pupils' accession reached him. He sent a note to the imperial freedman Charilas, asking if he could call on the emperors. Fronto would later explain that he had not dared to write the emperors directly.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120, citing Ad Verum Imperator 1.3.2 (= Haines 1.298ff). The tutor was immensely proud of his students. Reflecting on the speech he had written on taking his consulship in 143, when he had praised the young Marcus, Fronto was ebullient: "There was then an outstanding natural ability in you; there is now perfected excellence. There was then a crop of growing corn; there is now a ripe, gathered harvest. What I was hoping for then, I have now. The hope has become a reality."Ad Antoninum Imperator iv.2.3 (= Haines 1.302ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 119. Fronto called on Marcus alone; neither thought to invite Lucius.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 120.