# M Aurelius Antoninus - The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

An episode of [The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1597045207), 24 Nov 2021, 42 min.

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## Transcript

[0:00] Marcus Antoninus was born at rome A d. One twenty one on the twenty
[0:05] sixth of April. His father, Anius Veres, died while he was praetor.
[0:11] His mother was Domecia Calvilla, also named Lucilla. The emperor Titus Antonius
[0:17] Pius married Onia Galleria Faustina, the sister of Anius Verus, and was consequently
[0:24] the uncle of Marcus Antoninus. When Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius and declared him his
[0:31] successor in the empire, Antoninus Pius adopted both Lucius Sayanius Commadus, the son
[0:37] of Elius Caesar, and Marcus Antoninus, whose original name was Marcus Anius Verus.
[0:44] Antoninus then took the name of Marcus Elius Aurelius Verus, to which was
[0:50] added the title of Caesar in AD one thirty nine. The name Elius belonged
[0:55] to Hadrian's family, and Aurelius was the name of Antoninus Pius. When Marcus
[1:00] Antoninus became Augustus, he dropped the name of Virus and took the name of
[1:04] Antoninus. Accordingly, he is generally named Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, or simply Marcus
[1:11] Antoninus. The youth was most carefully brought up. He thinks the gods that
[1:18] he had good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers,
[1:22] good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything good. He had the
[1:27] happy fortune to witness the example of his uncle and adoptive father, Antonius Pius,
[1:33] and he has recorded in his work the virtues of this excellent man and
[1:37] prudent ruler. Like many young Romans, he tried his hand at poetry and
[1:42] studied rhetoric. Herodes Atticus and Marcus Cornelius Fronto were his teachers and eloquence.
[1:49] There are extant letters between Fronto and Marcus which show the great affection of the
[1:53] pupil for the master, and the master's great hopes of his industrious pupil.
[2:00] Footnote Marcus Cornelia e frontonas Relikuie, Berlin, eighteen sixteen. There are a
[2:07] few letters between Fronto and Antoninus Pious. In footnote Marcus Antoninus mentions Fronto among
[2:15] those to whom he was indebted for his education. When he was eleven years
[2:19] old, he assumed the dress of philosophers, something plain and coarse, became
[2:24] a hard student, and lived a most laborious, abstemious life. Even so
[2:29] far as to injure his health. Finally, he abandoned poetry and rhetoric for
[2:34] philosophy, and he attached himself to the sect the Stoics. But he did
[2:39] not neglect the study of law, which was a useful preparation for the high
[2:44] place which he was designed to fill. His teacher was Lucius Velocianus Mycianus,
[2:50] a distinguished jurist. We must suppose that he learned the Roman discipline of arms,
[2:54] which was a necessary part of the education of a man who towards led
[3:00] his troops to battle against a warlike race. Antoninus has recorded in his first
[3:07] book the names of his teachers and the obligations which he owed to each of
[3:10] them. The way in which he speaks of what he learned from them might
[3:15] seem to savor of vanity or self praise if we look carelessly at the way
[3:19] in which he has expressed himself. But if anyone draws this conclusion, he
[3:23] will be mistaken. Antoninus means to commemorate the merits of his several teachers,
[3:29] what they taught and what a people might learn from them. Besides, this
[3:32] book, like the eleven other books, was for his own use and if
[3:37] we may trust the note at the end of the first book, it was
[3:39] written during one of Marcus Antoninus's campaigns against the Quadi, at a time when
[3:45] the commemoration of the virtues of his illustrious teachers might remind him of their lessons
[3:50] and the practical uses which he might derive from them. Among his teachers of
[3:54] philosophy was Sextus of Charinea, a grandson of Pluto arc What he learned from
[4:01] this excellent man as told by himself. His favorite teacher was Quintus Junius Rusticus,
[4:08] a philosopher and also a man of practical good sinse in public affairs.
[4:13] Rusticus was the adviser of Antoninus after he became emperor. Young men who are
[4:17] destined for high places are not often fortunate in those who are about them,
[4:21] their companions and teachers. And I do not know any example of a young
[4:27] prince having had an education which can be compared with that of Marcus Antoninus.
[4:31] Such a body of teachers, distinguished by their requirements and their character, will
[4:36] hardly be collected again. And as to the pupil, we have not had
[4:41] one like him since Hadrian died in July a d one thirty eight and was
[4:46] succeeded by Antoninus Pious. Marcus Antoninus married Faustina, his cousin, the daughter
[4:54] of Pious, probably about a d. One forty six, for he had
[4:58] a daughter born in one forty seven. He received from his adoptive father the
[5:02] title of Caesar, and was associated with him in the administration of the state.
[5:08] The father and the adopted son lived together in perfect friendship and confidence.
[5:13] Antoninus was a dutiful son, and the Emperor Pious loved and esteemed him.
[5:19] Antoninus Pius died in March eighty one, sixty one. The Senate, it
[5:25] is said, urged Marcus Antoninus to take the sole administration of the empire,
[5:30] but he associated with himself the other adopted son of Pius, Lucius Sayanius Commidus,
[5:35] who was generally called Lucius Verus. Thus Rome for the first time had
[5:41] two emperors. Verus was an indolent man of pleasure and unworthy of his station.
[5:46] Antoninus, however, bore with him, and it is said that Verus
[5:50] had enough sense to pay his colleague the respect due to his character. A
[5:55] virtuous emperor and a loose partner lived together in peace, and their alliance was
[6:00] strengthened by Antoninus giving to Varus for wife his daughter Lucilla. The reign of
[6:05] Antoninus was first troubled by a Ptarthian war, in which Veris was sent to
[6:10] command, but he did nothing, and the success that was obtained by the
[6:14] Romans in Armenia and on the Euphrates and Tigris was due to his generals.
[6:18] This Ptarthian war ended in eighty one sixty five. Aurelius and Verus had a
[6:24] triumph eighty one sixty six for the victories in the east. A pestilence followed,
[6:30] which carried off great numbers in Rome, in Italy and spread to the
[6:33] west of Europe. The north of Italy was also threatened by the rude people
[6:39] beyond the Alps, from the borders of Gallia to the eastern side of the
[6:43] Hadriatic. These barbarians attempted a break into Italy, as the Germanic nations had
[6:48] attempted near three hundred years before, and the rest of the life of Antoninus,
[6:53] with some intervals, was employed in driving back the invaders. In one
[6:58] sixty nine, Veris suddenly died and Antoninus administered the state alone. During the
[7:04] German Wars, Antoninus resided for three years on the Danube a carnuntum. The
[7:10] Marcomanni were driven out of Pennonia and almost destroyed in their retreat across the Danube,
[7:15] and in eighty one seventy four the emperor gained a great victory over the
[7:18] Quadi. In ady one seventy five, Avidius Cassius, a brave and skillful
[7:25] Roman commander who was at the head of the troops in Asia, revolted and
[7:30] declared himself Augustus. But Cassius was assassinated by some of his officers, and
[7:35] so the rebellion came to an end. Antoninus showed his humanity by his treatment
[7:41] of the family and the partisans of Cassius, and his letter to the Senate
[7:45] in which he recommends mercy is extant. Antoninus set out for the East on
[7:50] hearing of Cassius's revolt, though he appears to have returned to Rome in eighty
[7:56] one seventy four, he went back to prosecute the war against the German and
[8:00] it is probable that he marched direct to the east from the German war.
[8:05] His wife, Faustina, who accompanied him into Asia, died suddenly at the
[8:09] foot of the Taurus to the great grief of her husband. Capitolinus, who
[8:15] has written the life of Antoninus, and also dion Cassius, accused the empress
[8:20] of scandalous infidelity to her husband and of abominable lewdness. But Capitalinus says that
[8:26] Antoninus either knew it not or pretended not to know it. Nothing is so
[8:31] common as such malicious reports in all ages, and the history of imperial Rome
[8:35] is full of them. Antoninus loved his wife, and he says that she
[8:41] was obedient, affectionate, and simple. The same scandal had been spread about
[8:46] Faustina's mother. The wife of Antonine is Pious, and yet he too was
[8:50] perfectly satisfied with his wife. Antoninus Pious says after her death in a letter
[8:56] to Fronto, that he would rather have lived in exile with his wife then
[9:00] in his palace at Rome without her. There are not many men who would
[9:05] give their wives a better character than these two emperors. Capitolinus wrote in the
[9:09] time of Diocletian. He may have intended to tell the truth, but he
[9:15] is a poor, feeble biographer. Dion Cassius, the most malignant of historians,
[9:20] always reports, and perhaps he believed any scandal against anybody. Antoninus continued
[9:28] his journey to Syria and Egypt, and on his return to Italy, through
[9:31] Athens, he was initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. It was the practice of
[9:37] the emperor to conform to the established rites of the age and to perform religious
[9:41] ceremonies with due solemnity. We cannot conclude from this that he was a superstitious
[9:46] man, though we might perhaps do so if his book did not show that
[9:50] he was not. But this is only one among many instances that a ruler's
[9:56] public acts do not always prove his real opinions. A prudent governor will not
[10:01] roughly oppose even the superstitions of his people, and though he may wish that
[10:05] they were wiser, he will know that he cannot make them so by offending
[10:09] their prejudices. Antoninus and his son Commadus entered Rome in triumph, perhaps for
[10:16] some German victories, on the twenty third of December eighty one seventy six.
[10:20] In the following year, Commidus was associated with his father in the empire and
[10:24] took the name of Augustus. This year a d. One seventy seven is
[10:30] memorable in ecclesiastical history. Hatillus and others were put to death at Lyon for
[10:35] their adherence to the Christian religion. The evidence of this persecution is a letter
[10:41] preserved by Eusebius. The letter is from the Christians of Vienna and Lugdunum in
[10:46] Gallia, Vienne and Lyon to their Christian brethren in Asia and Phrygia, and
[10:52] it is preserved perhaps nearly entire. It contains a very particular description of the
[10:56] tortures inflicted on the Christians in Gallia, and it states that while the persecution
[11:01] was going on, Atilus, a Christian and a Roman citizen, was loudly
[11:05] demanded by the populace and brought into the amphitheater, but the governor ordered him
[11:11] to be reserved with the rest who were in prison, until he had received
[11:15] instructions from the Emperor. Many had been tortured before the governor thought of applying
[11:20] to Antoninus. The Imperial rescript says the letter was that the Christians should be
[11:26] punished, but if they would deny their faith, they must be released.
[11:30] On this the work began again. The Christians who were Roman citizens were beheaded,
[11:35] the rest exposed to the wild beasts, and the Amphitheater. Some modern
[11:39] writers in ecclesiastical history, when they used this letter, say nothing of the
[11:43] wonderful stories of the martyr's sufferings. Sanctus, as the letter says, was
[11:48] burnt with plates of hot iron till his body was one sore, and he
[11:52] had lost all human form. But on being put to the rack, he
[11:56] recovered his former appearance under the torture, which was thus a cure instead of
[12:01] a punishment. He was afterwards torn by beasts and placed on an iron chair
[12:07] and roasted. He died at last. The letter is one piece of evidence.
[12:13] The writer, whoever he was, that wrote in the name of the
[12:15] Gallic Christians, is our evidence both for the ordinary and the extraordinary circumstances of
[12:20] the story, and we cannot accept his evidence for one part and reject the
[12:24] other. We often receive small evidence as a proof of a thing which we
[12:30] believe to be within the limits of probability or possibility, and we reject exactly
[12:35] the same evidence when the thing to which it refers appears very improbable or impossible.
[12:41] But this is a false method of inquiry, though it is followed by
[12:45] some modern writers who select what they like from a story and reject the rest
[12:48] of the evidence, or if they do not reject it, they dishonestly suppress
[12:52] it. A man can only act consistently by accepting all this letter or rejecting
[12:58] it all, and we cannot blame and for either. But he who rejects
[13:01] it may still admit that such a letter may be founded on real facts,
[13:05] and he would make this admission as the most probable way of accounting for the
[13:09] existence of the letter. But if, as he would suppose, the writer
[13:15] has stated some things falsely, he cannot tell what part of his story is
[13:18] worthy of credit. The war on the northern frontier appears to have been uninterrupted
[13:24] during the visit of Antoninus to the east, and on his return the Emperor
[13:28] again left Rome to oppose the barbarians. The Germanic people were defeated in a
[13:33] great battle a. D. One seventy nine. During this campaign, the
[13:37] emperor was seized with some contagious malady, of which he died in the camp
[13:41] at Sirmium meet rivets on the Tsava in lower Pannonia, but at Vindaubena Vienna,
[13:48] according to other authorities, on the seventeenth March a d. One eighty
[13:52] in the fifty ninth year of his age, his son Commedus was with him.
[13:58] The body or the ashes, probably belief the emperor, were carried to
[14:01] Rome, and he received the honor of deification. Those who could afford it
[14:05] had his statue or bust, and when Capitalinus wrote, many people still had
[14:09] statues of Antoninus. Among the deapinatus or household deities. He was, in
[14:16] a manner made a Saint Comedus, erected to the memory of his father.
[14:20] The Antonine Column, which is now in the Piazza Colonna at Rome. The
[14:24] ba reliefs, which are placed in a spiral line round the shaft, commemorate
[14:30] the victories of Antoninus over the Marcomanni and the Quaddy, and the miraculous shower
[14:33] of rain which refreshed the Roman soldiers and discomfited their enemies. The statue of
[14:39] Antoninus was placed on the capital of the column, but it was removed at
[14:43] some time unknown, and a bronze statue of Saint Paul was put in the
[14:46] place by Pope Sixtus the fifth. The historical evidence for the times of Antoninus
[14:52] is very defective, and some of that which remains is not credible. The
[14:56] most curious is the story about the marri which happened in eighty one seventy four
[15:01] during the war with the Quadi. The Roman army was in danger of perishing
[15:07] by thirst, but a sudden storm drenched them with rain while it discharged fire
[15:11] and hail on their enemies, and the Romans gained a great victory. All
[15:16] the authorities which speak of the battles speak also of the miracle. The Gentile
[15:22] writers assigned it to their gods, and the Christians to the intercession of the
[15:24] Christian legion and the Emperor's army. To confirm the Christian statement, it is
[15:30] added that the emperor gave the title of thundering to this legion. But Dacier
[15:35] and others who maintained the Christian report of the miracle, admit that this title
[15:39] of thundering or lightning was not given to this legion because the Quady were struck
[15:43] with lightning, but because there was a figure of lightning on their shields,
[15:46] and that this title of the legion existed in the time of Augustus. Scaliger
[15:52] also had observed that the legion was called thundering before the reign of Antoninus.
[15:56] We can learn this from dion Cassius, who inumerates all the legions of Augustus's
[16:00] time. The name Thundering or Lightning also occurs on an inscription of the reign
[16:06] of Trajan, which was found at Trieste. Eusebius, when he relates the
[16:11] miracle, quotes A Pollinarius, bishop of Hierapolis, as authority for this name
[16:15] being given to the Legion Melatini by the Emperor, in consequence of the success
[16:21] which he had obtained through their prayers, from which we may estimate the value
[16:25] of Pollinarius's testimony. Eusebius does not say in what book of a Pollinarius the
[16:30] statement occurs. Dion says that the Thundering Legion was stationed in Cappadocia in the
[16:34] time of Augustus. Vilaceus also observes that in the Notitia of the Imperium Romanum,
[16:41] there is mentioned under the commander of Armenia the prefectura of the twelfth legion
[16:45] named Thundering Melatini, and this position in Armenia will agree with what Dion says
[16:51] of its position in Cappadocia. Accordingly, Vlaceus concludes that Melatinia was not the
[16:56] name of the legion, but of the town in which it was stationed.
[17:00] Melatini was also the name of the district in which this town was situated.
[17:04] The legions did not, he says, take their name from the place where
[17:07] they were on duty, but from the country in which they were raised.
[17:11] And therefore what Eusebius says about the Melatini does not seem probable to him.
[17:17] Yet Vllasius, on the authority of Apollinarius and Tertullian, believed that the miracle
[17:21] was worked through the prayers of the Christian soldiers in the Emperor's army. Refinus
[17:26] does not give the name of Melatini to this legion, says Vlasius, and
[17:30] probably he purposely omitted it because he knew that Melatini was the name of a
[17:33] town in Armenia Minor, where the legion was stationed. In his time,
[17:38] the Emperor, it is said, made a report of his victory to the
[17:41] Senate, which we may believe, for such was the practice. But we
[17:45] do not know what he said in his letter, for it is not extant.
[17:49] Dossier assumes that the Emperor's letter was purposely destroyed by the Senate or the
[17:53] enemies of Christianity. That so honorable a testimony to the Christians in their religion
[18:00] might not be perpetuated. The critic has, however, not seen that he
[18:03] contradicts when he tells Us purported the letter, for he says that it was
[18:07] destroyed and even Eusebius could not find it. But there does exist a letter
[18:12] in Greek addressed by Antoninus to the Roman people and the Sacred Senate after this
[18:18] memorable victory. It is sometimes printed after Justin's first apology, but is totally
[18:22] unconnected with the apologies. This letter is one of the most stupid forgeries of
[18:27] the many which exist, and it cannot be possibly founded even on the genuine
[18:32] report of Antoninus to the Senate. If it were genuine, it would free
[18:36] the emperor from the charge of persecuting men because they are Christians. For he
[18:40] says in this false letter that if a man accused another only of being a
[18:42] Christian, and the accused confess, and there is nothing else against him,
[18:47] he must be set free. With this monstrous edition made by a man inconceivably
[18:52] ignorant, that the informer must be burnt alive. During the time of Antonine's
[18:59] pious in Marcus Antoninus, there appeared the first apology of Justinus and under Marcus
[19:03] Antoninus the Oration of Tatian against the Greeks, which was a fierce attack on
[19:08] the established religions, the address of Athanagorus to Marcus Antoninus on behalf the Christians,
[19:15] and the apology of Malito, bishop Ofsardes, also addressed to the Emperor,
[19:19] and that of Apollinarius. The first apology of Justinus is addressed to Titus
[19:26] Antoninus Pius and his two adopted sons, Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, but
[19:32] we do not know whether they read it. Footnote. Aurochius says that Justinus
[19:36] the philosopher presented to Antoninus Pius his work in defense of the Christian religion and
[19:41] made him merciful to the Christians. In footnote, the second Apology of Justinus
[19:48] is entitled to the Roman Senate, but this superscription is from some copyist.
[19:53] In the first chapter, Justinus addresses the Romans. In the second chapter he
[19:59] speaks of an affair that had recently happened in the time of Marcus Antoninus and
[20:03] Lucius Verus, as it seems, and he also directly addresses the Emperor,
[20:07] saying of a certain woman quote she addressed a petition to thee the emperor,
[20:12] and thou didst grant the petition unquote. In other passages, the writer addresses
[20:18] the two emperors, from which we must conclude that the Apology was directed to
[20:22] them. Eusebius states that the Second Apology was addressed to the successor of Antoninus
[20:27] Pius, and he names him Antoninus Verus, meaning Marcus Antoninus. In one
[20:33] passage of the Second Apology, Justinus or the writer, whoever he may be,
[20:37] says that even men who followed the Stoic doctrines, when they ordered their
[20:41] lives according to ethical reason, were hated and murdered, such as Heraclidus Musonius
[20:48] in his own times and others. For all, those who in any way
[20:52] labor to live according to reason and avoided wickedness were always hated, and this
[20:56] was the effect of the work of demons. Just Tinus himself is said to
[21:00] have been put to death at Rome because he refused to sacrifice to the gods.
[21:06] It cannot have been in the reign of Hadrian, as one authority states,
[21:10] nor in the time of Antoninus Pious. If the Second Apology was written
[21:14] in the time of Marcus Antoninus, and there is evidence that this event took
[21:18] place under Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, when Rusticus was prefect of the city.
[21:23] The persecution in which Polycarp suffered at Smyrna belongs to the time of Marcus
[21:29] Antoninus. The evidence for it is the letter of the Church of Smyrna to
[21:33] the churches of Philomelium and the other Christian churches, and it is preserved by
[21:37] Eusebius. But the critics do not agree about the time of Polycarp's death,
[21:42] differing in the two extremes to the amount of twelve years. The circumstances of
[21:47] Polycarp's martyrdom were accompanied by miracles, one of which Eusebius has omitted, but
[21:52] it appears in the oldest Latin version of the letter, which Usher published,
[21:56] and it is supposed that this version was made not long after the time of
[22:00] Eusebius. The notice at the end of the letter states that it was transcribed
[22:03] by Caius from the copy of Ireneus the Disciple of Polycarp, then transcribed by
[22:10] Socrates at corinth Quote, after which I Pioneus again wrote it out from the
[22:15] copy above mentioned, having searched it out by the revelation of Polycarp, who
[22:18] directed it to me, etc. The story of Polycarp's martyrdom is embellished with
[22:25] miraculous circumstances, which some modern writers on ecclesiastical history take the liberty of omitting.
[22:32] Footnote Conyer's Middleton An Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers, etc. Page one,
[22:37] twenty six. Middleton says that Eusebius omitted to mention the dove which flew
[22:42] out of Polycarp's body, and Dodwell and Archbishop Wake have done the same.
[22:48] Wake says, I am so little a friend of such miracles that I thought
[22:52] it better with Eusebius to omit that circumstance than to mention it from Bishopasher's manuscript
[22:57] unquote which manu script, However, says Middleton. He afterwards declares to be
[23:03] so well attested that we need not any further assurance of the truth of it
[23:07] in footnote. In order to form a proper notion of the condition of the
[23:12] Christians under Marcus Antoninus, we must go back to Trajan's time, when the
[23:18] younger Pliny was governor of Bathynia. The Christians were numerous in those parts,
[23:22] and the worshippers of the old religion were falling off, the temples were deserted,
[23:26] the festivals neglected, and there were no purchasers of victims for sacrifice.
[23:32] Those who were interested in the maintenance of the old religion thus found that their
[23:36] profits were in danger. Christians of both sexes and of all ages were brought
[23:41] before the governor, who did not know what to do with them. He
[23:44] could come to know their conclusion than this, that those who confess to be
[23:48] Christians and persevered in their religion ought to be punished, if for nothing else
[23:52] for their invincible obstinacy. He found no crimes proved against the Christians, and
[23:57] he could only characterize their religion as a depraved and extravagant superstition, which might
[24:03] be stopped if the people are allowed the opportunity of recanting. Pliny wrote this
[24:07] in a letter to Trajan. Footnote. The Marterium ignatia E, first published
[24:11] in Latin by Archbishop Usher, is the chief evidence for the circumstances of Ignatius's
[24:17] death. In footnote In the time of Hadrian, it was no longer possible
[24:22] for the Roman government to overlook the great increase of the Christians in the hostility
[24:26] of the common sword to them. If the governors and the provinces were willing
[24:30] to let them alone. They could not resist the fanaticism of the Heathen community,
[24:36] who looked on the Christians as atheists. The Jews, too, who
[24:40] were settled all over the Roman Empire, were as hostile to the Christians as
[24:44] the Gentiles were. Footnote we have the evidence of just highness to this effect.
[24:48] Quote. The Christians are attacked by the Jews as if they were men
[24:52] of a different race, and are persecuted by the Greeks, and those who
[24:56] hate them cannot give the reason of their enmity unquote end footnote. With the
[25:03] time of Hadrian began the Christian apologies, which show plainly what the popular feeling
[25:07] towards the Christians then. Was a rescript of Hadrian to Menucius Pandanus, the
[25:12] proconsul of Asia, which stands at the end of Justine's first apology, instructs
[25:18] the governor that innocent people must not be troubled, and false accusers must not
[25:22] be allowed to extort money from them. The charges against the Christians must be
[25:26] made in due form, and no attention must be paid to popular clamors.
[25:30] When Christians were regularly prosecuted and convicted of illegal acts, they must be punished
[25:34] according to their deserts, and false accusers also must be punished. Footnote and
[25:41] in Eusebius Eurosius says that Hadrian sent its rescript to Menucius Pandanus, proconsul of
[25:47] Asia, after being instructed in books written on the Christian religion by Quadratus,
[25:52] a disciple of the Apostles, and Aristides, an Athenian, an honest and
[25:56] wise man, and Serenus Grenaeus. In the Greek text of Hadrian's rescript there
[26:03] is mentioned Serenius Grnianus, the predecessor of Menucius Phandanus in the government of Asia.
[26:08] This rescript of Hadrian has clearly been added to the apology by some editor.
[26:14] In footnote, Antonius Pius is said to have published rescripts to the same
[26:18] effect. The terms of Hadrian's rescript seem very favorable to the Christians, But
[26:25] if we understand it in this sense that they were only to be punished like
[26:27] other people for illegal acts, it would have no meaning, for that could
[26:32] have been done without asking the emperor's advice. The real purpose of the rescript
[26:36] is that Christians must be punished if they persisted in their belief and would not
[26:40] prove their renunciation of it by acknowledging the Heathen religion. This was Trajan's rule,
[26:45] and we have no reason for supposing that Hadrian granted more to the Christians
[26:49] than Trajan did. There is also printed at the end of Justin's First Apology
[26:55] a rescript of Antoninus Pius to the Commune of Asia, and it is also
[27:00] in Eusebius. The date of the rescript is the third consulship of Antoninus Pious.
[27:06] The rescript declares that the Christians, for they are meant, though the
[27:08] name Christians does not occur in the rescript, were not to be disturbed unless
[27:12] they were attempting something against the Roman rule, and no man was to be
[27:17] punished simply for being a Christian. But this rescript is spurious. Any man
[27:22] moderately acquainted with Roman history will see by the style and tenor that it is
[27:27] a clumsy forgery. In the time of Marcus Antoninus, the opposition between the
[27:33] old and the new belief was still stronger, and the adherents of the Heathen
[27:37] religion urged those in authority to a more regular resistance to the invasions of the
[27:41] Christian faith. Melito, in his apology to Marcus Antoninus represents the Christians of
[27:48] Asia as persecuted under new imperial orders, shameless and formers. He says,
[27:53] men who were greedy after the property of others used these orders as a means
[27:57] of robbing those who were doing harm. He doubts if a just emperor could
[28:03] have ordered anything so unjust, and if the last order was really not from
[28:07] the emperor. The Christians entreat him not to give them up to their enemies.
[28:11] We conclude from this that there were at least imperial rescripts or constitutions of
[28:15] Marcus Antoninus, which are made the foundations of these persecutions. The fact of
[28:21] being a Christian was now a crime and punished unless the accused denied their religion.
[28:26] Then come the persecutions at Smyrna, which some modern critics place in eighty
[28:30] one sixty seven, ten years before the persecution of Lyon. The governors of
[28:36] the provinces under Marcus Antoninus might have found enough even in Trajan's rescript to warrant
[28:41] them in punishing Christians, and the fanaticism of the people would drive them to
[28:45] persecution even if they were unwilling. But besides the fact of the Christians rejecting
[28:52] all the Heathen ceremonies. We must not forget that they plainly maintain that all
[28:56] the Heathen religions were false. The Christians thus declared war against the Heathen rits,
[29:00] and it is hardly necessary to observe that this was a declaration of hostility
[29:06] against the Roman government, which tolerated all the various forms of superstition that existed
[29:11] in the Empire, and could not consistently tolerate another religion, which declared that
[29:15] all the rest are false, and all the splendid ceremonies of the Empire only
[29:19] a worship of devils. If we had a true ecclesiastical history, we should
[29:26] know how the Roman empires attempted to check the new religion, how they enforced
[29:30] their principle of finally punishing Christians simply as Christians, which Justin, in his
[29:34] apology affirms that they did, and I have no doubt that he tells the
[29:38] truth. How far popular clamor and riots went in this matter, and how
[29:42] far many fanatical and ignorant Christians, for there were many such, contributed to
[29:48] excite the fanaticism on the other side, and to embedter the quarrel between the
[29:52] Roman government and the New religion. Our extant ecclesiastical histories are manifestly falsified,
[29:59] and what true they contain is grossly exaggerated. But the fact is certain that
[30:03] in the time of Marcus Antoninus, the Heathen populations were in open hostility to
[30:07] the Christians, and that under Antoninus's rule men were put to death because they
[30:12] were Christians. Eusebius, in the preface to his fifth book, remarks that
[30:18] in the seventeenth year of Antoninus's reign, in some parts of the world,
[30:22] the persecution of the Christians became more violent, and that it proceeded from the
[30:26] populace in the cities. And he adds, in his usual style of exaggeration,
[30:30] that we may infer from what took place in a single nation, that
[30:34] myriads of martyrs are made in the habitable earth. The nation which he alludes
[30:38] to is Gallia. And he then proceeds to give the letter the churches of
[30:42] Vienna and Lugdunum. It is probable that he has assigned the true cause of
[30:47] the persecutions the fanaticism of the populace, and that both governors and emperor had
[30:52] a great deal of trouble with these disturbances. How far Marcus was cognizant to
[30:56] these cruel proceedings we do not know, for the historical records of his reign
[31:00] are very defective. He did not make the rule against the Christians, for
[31:04] Trajan did that. And if we admit that he would have been willing to
[31:07] let the Christians alone, we cannot affirm that it was in his power,
[31:11] for it would be a great mistake to suppose that Antoninus had the unlimited authority
[31:15] which some modern sovereignts have had. His power was limited by certain constitutional forms
[31:22] by the Senate and by the precedence of his predecessors. We cannot admit that
[31:26] such a man was an active persecutor, for there is no evidence that he
[31:30] was, though it is certain that he had no good opinion of the Christians,
[31:33] as appears from his own words footnote except that of Eurosius, who says
[31:40] that during the Ptarthian War there were grievous persecutions of the Christians in Asia and
[31:44] Gallia under the orders of Marcus pracepto Ayus and quote many were crowned with the
[31:51] martyrdom of saints unquote in footnote. But he knew nothing of them except their
[31:57] hostility to the Roman religion, and he probably thought that they were dangerous to
[32:01] the state. Notwithstanding the profession's false or true of some of the apologists.
[32:07] So much I have said because it would be unfair not to state all that
[32:10] can be urged against a man whom his contemporaries and subsequent ages venerated as a
[32:16] model of virtue and benevolence. If I admitted the genuineness of some documents,
[32:22] he would be altogether clear from the charge of even allowing any persecutions. But
[32:27] as I seek the truth and am sure that they are false, I leave
[32:30] him to bear whatever blame is his due. Footnote. Doctor F. C.
[32:36] Bauer, in his work entitled DoLS Christine tum undi Chrislicakirka der dry Erstanyahunderta
[32:43] et cetera, has examined this question with great good sense and fairness, and
[32:47] I believe he has stated the truth as near as our authorities enableness to reach
[32:51] it. In footnote, I add that it is quite certain that Antoninus did
[32:57] not derive any of his ethical principles from a religiou of which he knew nothing.
[33:01] Footnote. In the Digests, there is the following excerpt from Modus Tinus
[33:06] quote sikuis alikuit fakeret kuoleus homoma nima septona naminas terreriter dius marcus hu yasmada hominas
[33:20] in insulam rilega rescrips it. 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. Suidas notices the work of Antoninus in twelve
[33:42] books, which he names the conduct of his own life, and he cites
[33:45] 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. Silander, who published the first edition of this book with a Latin
[34:04] version, used a manuscript which contain 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 an
[34:22] asterisk. The other Vatican manuscripts in the three Florentine contain only excerpts from the
[34:29] Emperor's book. All the titles of the excerpts nearly agree with that which Silander
[34:34] 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 it.
[34:44] If the inscriptions at the end of the first and second books are genuine,
[34:47] he may have made the division himself. It is plain that the emperor
[34:52] wrote down his thoughts or reflections as the occasions arose, and since they were
[34:55] intended for his own use, it is nonprobable conjecture that he left a complete
[35:00] copy behind him, written with his own hand, for it is not likely
[35:05] that so diligent a man would use the labor of a transcriber for such a
[35:07] purpose and expose his most secret thoughts to any other eye. He may have
[35:14] also intended the book for a son, Eusebius Combatus, who however, had
[35:17] no taste for his father's philosophy. Some careful hand preserved the precious volume and
[35:23] a work by Antoninus as mentioned by other late writers. Beside suey Dos,
[35:29] many critics have labored on the text of Antoninus. The most complete edition is
[35:34] that by Thomas Gadacer sixteen fifty two quarto. The second edition of Gadacer was
[35:39] superintended by George Stannup sixteen ninety seven quarto. There is also an edition of
[35:45] seventeen o four. Gadacer 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 inslations. He added in the margin opposite to each
[36:02] paragraph references to the other parallel passages. And he wrote a commentary, one
[36:08] of the most complete that has been written on any ancient author. This commentary
[36:13] contains the editor's exposition of the more difficult passages and quotations from all the Greek
[36:17] and Roman writers for the illustration of the text. It is a wonderful monument
[36:22] of learning and labor, and certainly no Englishman has yet done anything like it.
[36:28] At the end of his preface, the editor says that he wrote it
[36:30] at rother Histh near London, in a severe winter when he was in the
[36:35] seventy eighth year of his age sixteen fifty one, a time when Milton Selden
[36:39] and other great men of the Commonwealth time were living, and the great French
[36:44] scholars Samas Salmatius, with whom Gaddeker corresponded and received help from him for his
[36:50] edition of Antoninus. The Greek text has also been edited by J. M.
[36:53] Schultz, Leipzig, eighteen o two eight volumes, and by the learned
[36:59] Greek the Montineouse Coray, Paris eighteen sixteen, eight volumes. The text of
[37:05] Schultz was republished by Taucnetz eighteen twenty one. There are English, German,
[37:10] French, Italian, and Spanish translations of Marcus Anta Ninus, and there may
[37:15] be 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
[37:24] of the original. The latest French translation, by Alexis Pieron in the collection
[37:30] of Charpontier, is better than Dassier's, which has been honored with an Italian
[37:36] version Oudinay 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 the
[38:00] fertilizing and vivifying seeds. He dedicated this translation to his soul to make it,
[38:07] as he says in his energetic style, redder than his purple at the
[38:09] side of the virtues of this gentile. I have made this translation at intervals,
[38:17] after having used the book for many years. It is made from the
[38:22] Greek, but I have not always followed one text, and I have occasionally
[38:25] compared other versions with my own. I made this translation for my own use
[38:30] because I found that it was worth the labor. But it may be useful
[38:34] to others also, and therefore I determined to print it. As the original
[38:38] is sometimes very difficult to understand and still more difficult to translate. It is
[38:44] not possible that I have always avoided error, but I believe that I have
[38:47] not often missed the meaning and those who will take the trouble to compare the
[38:52] translation with the original should not hastily conclude that I am wrong if they do
[38:55] not agree with me. Some passages do give the meaning, though at first
[39:00] sight they may not appear to do so. And when I differ from the
[39:04] translators, I think in some places they are wrong, and in other places
[39:07] I am sure that they are. I have placed in some passages a plus
[39:12] sign, which indicates corruption in the text, or a great uncertainty in the
[39:15] meaning. I could have made the language more easy in 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 Encoredian of Epictetus. Simplicius was not a Christian, and such
[39:52] a man was not likely to be converted at a time when Christianity was grossly
[39:57] corrupted. But he was a really religious man, and he includes his commentary
[40:01] with a prayer to the Deity, which no Christian could improve. From the
[40:07] time of Zeno to Simplicius, a period of about nine hundred years, the
[40:12] Stoic philosophy formed the characters of some of the best and greatest men. Finally
[40:16] it became extinct, and we hear no more of it till the revival of
[40:20] letters. In Italy, Angelo Polyziano met with two very inaccurate and incomplete manuscripts
[40:28] of Epictetus's Encridian, which he had translated into Latin and dedicated to his great
[40:34] patron Lorenzo de Medici, in whose collection he had found the book. Polyziano's
[40:38] version was printed in the first ball edition of the Encridian eighty fifteen thirty one,
[40:44] aped Andrea Curtandrum. Polyziano recommends the Encridian to Lorenzo as a work well
[40:51] suited to his temper and useful in the difficulties by which he was surrounded.
[40:57] Epictetus and Antoninus have had readers since they were printed. The Little Book of
[41:01] Antoninus has been the companion of some great men. Macchiavelli's Art of War and
[41:07] Marcus Antoninus were the two books which were 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] in his deeds and arms, but greater still in the nobleness of his
[41:32] character. For a man's greatness lies not in wealth and station, as the
[41:37] vulgar believe, nor yet in his intellectual capacity, which is often associated with
[41:43] the meanest moral character, the most abject civility to those in high places,
[41:46] and arrogance to the poor 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
[41:57] in everything else, on free when self examination, and a steady obedience to
[42:02] the rule which he knows to be right, without troubling himself. As the
[42:07] Emperor says, he should not about what others may think or say, or
[42:12] whether they do or do not do that which he thinks and says and does

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