Antoninus Pius

The father's family of Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Antoninus Pius came from Transalpine Gaul, namely from Nemausus; his grandfather was Titus Aurelius Fulvus, who through various honors came to a second consulship and the prefecture of the city; his father was Aurelius Fulvus, who was himself also consul, a grave and upright man; his maternal grandmother was Boionia Procilla; his mother Arria Fadilla; his maternal grandfather Arrius Antoninus, twice consul, a holy man, who had pitied Nerva for having begun to reign; his sister by the same mother Julia Fadilla; his stepfather Julius Lupus, of consular rank; his father-in-law Annius Verus; his wife Annia Faustina; his children two sons and two daughters; his sons-in-law, through the elder daughter, Lamia Silanus, and through the younger, Marcus Antoninus. Antoninus Pius himself was born on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of October, in the consulship of Flavius Domitianus, for the twelfth time, and Cornelius Dolabella, in a country house at Lanuvium. He was reared at Lorium on the Aurelian Way, where afterward he built a palace, the remains of which stand even today. He passed his boyhood with his paternal grandfather, then with his maternal grandfather, honoring all his kin religiously; and to such a degree was he enriched by the inheritance of his cousins and his stepfather and many of his relatives.

He was a man conspicuous in form, distinguished in talent, merciful in character, noble in countenance, calm in disposition, of singular eloquence, of polished learning, especially temperate, a diligent cultivator of the land, gentle, generous, abstaining from what was another's—and all these things with measure and without ostentation; and, in short, praiseworthy in all respects, and one who is deservedly compared, in the judgment of good men, with Numa Pompilius. He was surnamed Pius by the senate, either because he supported with his hand the age of his father-in-law, now worn out, in the presence of the senate (which indeed is no sufficient proof of any great piety, since he is more impious who does not do such things than he is pious who pays a debt); or because those whom Hadrian, through ill health, had ordered to be killed, he preserved; or because, against the wishes of all, he decreed after Hadrian's death fortified and immense honors to him; or because, when Hadrian wished to kill himself, he took care, with great watchfulness and diligence, that he should not be able to do it; or because, truly most merciful by nature, he did nothing harsh in his times. He also lent money at a third's interest—that is, at the smallest rate—so that he might assist very many out of his own patrimony. He was a generous quaestor, a splendid praetor, consul with Catilius Severus. In all his private life he lived very often on his estates, but he was distinguished in every place. By Hadrian he was chosen among the four men of consular rank to whom Italy was committed, to govern that part of Italy in which he possessed the most, so that Hadrian might provide both for the honor and for the repose of such a man.

To him, while he was governing Italy, an omen of empire was given; for when he had mounted the tribunal, among other acclamations it was said, "Augustus, may the gods preserve you." The proconsulship of Asia he conducted in such a way that he alone surpassed his grandfather. In the proconsulship too he received an omen of empire thus: for when a priestess at Tralles, according to custom, always greeted the proconsuls by this name, she did not say "Hail, proconsul," but "Hail, emperor." At Cyzicus too a crown was transferred from the image of the god to his statue. And after his consulship, in a garden, a marble bull was hung up by its horns, with the branches of a tree growing up around it; and lightning came from a clear sky, without harm, into his house; and in Etruria casks which had been buried were found above the ground; and a swarm of bees covered his statues throughout all Etruria; and he was often warned in a dream to set the image of Hadrian among his household gods. Setting out to his proconsulship, he lost his elder daughter. Concerning the wife of this daughter, many things were said because of her excessive freedom and her easy way of living, which this man, with grief of heart, suppressed. After the proconsulship he lived frequently at Rome in the councils of Hadrian, always showing the milder opinion concerning all matters on which Hadrian consulted.

The manner of his adoption is reported to have been such: when Aelius Verus, whom Hadrian had adopted for himself and named Caesar, had died, a sitting of the senate was being held; to it Arrius Antoninus came, supporting the steps of his father-in-law, and for this reason he is said to have been adopted by Hadrian. But this could not, nor ought to have been, the sole cause of the adoption, especially since Antoninus had always managed public affairs well and had shown himself holy and grave in his proconsulship. So when Hadrian had made public that he wished to adopt him, time was granted for deliberation, whether he wished to be adopted by Hadrian. The condition of the adoption was given in this fashion: that just as Antoninus was being adopted by Hadrian, so he himself should adopt Marcus Antoninus, the son of his wife's brother, and Lucius Verus, the son of Aelius Verus, who had been adopted by Hadrian—who was afterward called Verus Antoninus. He was adopted on the fifth day before the Kalends of March, giving thanks in the senate that Hadrian had thus thought of him, and was made his colleague both in the proconsular power and in the tribunician authority. This saying of his is reported to be his first: when he was rebuked by his wife as if he were too sparing in giving I know not what to his own people, he said, "Foolish woman, since we have passed to the empire, we have lost even that which we had before." He gave a largess to the people out of his own funds, and those things which his father had promised; and he contributed very much to the works of Hadrian, and the crown-gold, which had been offered on the occasion of his adoption, he returned wholly to the Italians and half to the provincials.

And while his father lived, he obeyed him most reverently; but when Hadrian had died at Baiae, he conveyed his remains to Rome with holiness and reverence, and placed them in the gardens of Domitia; and, even against the opposition of all, he enrolled him among the gods. He permitted his wife Faustina to be called Augusta by the senate. He received the appellation of Pius. He gladly accepted the statues decreed to his father and mother and grandfathers and brothers, who were now dead; and he did not reject the games of the circus dedicated on his birthday, though he refused other honors. He set up a most magnificent shield to Hadrian and instituted priests. Made emperor, he gave a successor to none of those whom Hadrian had advanced, and was of such constancy that he kept good governors in the provinces for seven and nine years at a time. Through his legates he waged many wars; for he both conquered the Britons through his legate Lollius Urbicus—the barbarians being driven back, another wall of turf was built—and compelled the Moors to sue for peace, and crushed the Germans and the Dacians and many peoples, and the Jews in their rebellion, through his governors and legates. In Achaia too and in Egypt he repressed rebellions.

The Alani, when they made trouble, he often curbed. He ordered his procurators both to take up the tributes with moderation and commanded those who exceeded the measure to render an account of their deeds; nor was he ever glad of any gain by which a provincial was oppressed. He gladly heard those who complained against his procurators. For those whom Hadrian had condemned he sought indulgence in the senate, saying that Hadrian himself too would have done this. He brought down the loftiness of empire to the highest degree of citizen-like behavior, by which it grew the greater—though the court attendants resented it, who, since he did nothing through intermediaries, could neither terrify men at times nor sell those things which were not hidden. He showed to the senate as emperor as much deference as, when he was a private man, he wished to be shown to himself by another prince. The name of Father of his Country, conferred by the senate, which at first he had put off, he took up with a great rendering of thanks. In the third year of his reign he lost his wife Faustina, who was consecrated by the senate, with games of the circus conferred and a temple and priestesses and statues of gold and silver; since he himself even granted this, that her image should be set up at all the games of the circus. He accepted the golden statue conferred and set up by the senate. He made Marcus Antoninus, a quaestor, consul, at the senate's request. Annius Verus, who was afterward called Antoninus, he designated quaestor before the time. He established nothing concerning the provinces or any acts, except what he first referred to his friends, and composed his decisions according to their opinion. He was seen indeed by his friends both in private dress and performing certain household tasks.

With such diligence, indeed, did he rule the peoples subject to him that he cared for everything and everyone as if they were his own. The provinces all flourished under him; the false accusers were extinguished. The confiscation of goods was rarer than ever, so that one man only was proscribed as guilty of aiming at tyranny—that is, Atilius Titianus, the senate punishing him—and from this man's accomplices he forbade inquiry to be made, his son being always assisted in all things. Priscianus too perished, guilty of aiming at tyranny, but by a voluntary death; concerning which conspiracy he forbade inquiry to be made. The mode of life of Antoninus Pius was such that there was opulence without reproach, frugality without meanness; and his table was furnished by his own slaves, by his own fowlers, fishermen, and hunters. The bath which he had used he offered to the people without charge, nor did he change anything at all of the manner of his private life. He withdrew salaries from many whom he saw receiving them in idleness, saying that nothing was baser—nay, crueler—than for a man to gnaw away at the state who contributed nothing to it by his own labor. Whence too he reduced the salary of the lyric poet Mesomedes. He knew thoroughly the accounts of all the provinces and of the revenues. His private patrimony he conferred upon his daughter, but he gave its proceeds to the state. The superfluous imperial possessions and estates he sold, and lived on his own estates, variously and according to the seasons. Nor did he undertake any expeditions, except that he set out to his own fields and to Campania, saying that the retinue of a prince was burdensome to the provincials, even if too sparing. And yet he had vast authority among all peoples, since he sat in the city for this reason: that, being in the middle, he might be able to receive messengers from all sides the more quickly.

He gave a largess to the people; he added a donative to the soldiers; he established, in honor of Faustina, girls maintained at public cost, called the Faustinianae. These works of his survive: at Rome the temple of Hadrian, dedicated in honor of his father; the Greek stadium restored after a fire; the Amphitheater repaired; the tomb of Hadrian; the temple of Agrippa; the Sublician Bridge; the restoration of the lighthouse; the harbor of Caieta; the restoration of the harbor of Tarracina; the bath at Ostia; the aqueduct of Antium; the temples at Lanuvium. He aided many cities too with money, that they might either make new works or restore old ones; so that he assisted both the magistrates and the senators of the city in their duties. The inheritances of those who had sons he declined. He first established that a legacy left for the sake of punishment should not stand. He gave a successor, while alive, to no good judge, except to Orfitus, the prefect of the city, and that at his own request; for Gavius Maximus, the prefect of the guard, continued under him to the twentieth year, a most severe man, whom Tattius Maximus succeeded; in whose place, when he had died, he substituted two prefects, Fabius Cornelius Repentinus and Furius Victorinus. But Repentinus was struck by a notorious tale, that he had come to the prefecture through the prince's concubine. To such a degree was no senator put to death under him, that even a parricide who confessed was placed on a deserted island, because it was not permitted him to live by the laws of nature. The scarcity of wine, oil, and wheat he remedied, at the cost of his own treasury, by buying and giving freely to the people.

These adversities arose in his times: the famine, of which we have spoken; the collapse of the Circus; an earthquake, by which the towns of the Rhodians and of Asia fell; all of which he wonderfully restored. And a fire at Rome, which consumed three hundred and forty blocks or houses; and a city of Narbonensis and the town of Antioch and the forum of Carthage burned. There was also a flood of the Tiber; and a comet appeared; and a two-headed boy was born; and at one birth of a woman five children were brought forth. In Arabia a crested serpent larger than usual was seen, which ate itself from the tail to the middle. There was also a plague in Arabia. Barley grew in Moesia on the tops of trees. Four tame lions, moreover, offered themselves of their own accord to be captured in Arabia. King Pharasmanes came to him at Rome and showed him more deference than to Hadrian. He gave Pacorus as king to the Lazi. The king of the Parthians he repelled from the assault on the Armenians by a letter alone. King Abgarus, from the parts of the East, he drew off by his authority alone. He settled royal disputes. To the king of the Parthians, who demanded back the royal throne which Trajan had taken, he flatly refused it. Rhoemetalces he sent back to the Bosporan kingdom, after a dispute between him and his guardian had been heard. To the Olbiopolitans he sent auxiliaries into Pontus against the Tauroscythians, and conquered the Tauroscythians until they gave hostages to the Olbiopolitans. Indeed, no one had so much authority among foreign peoples, since he always loved peace, to such a degree that he frequently repeated the saying of Scipio, by which that man said he would rather preserve one citizen than kill a thousand enemies.

The senate decreed that the months of September and October should be called Antoninus and Faustinus; but Antoninus rejected this. The marriage of his daughter Faustina, when he joined her with Marcus Antoninus, he made most celebrated, even to a donative for the soldiers. Verus Antoninus, after his quaestorship, he made consul. When he had summoned Apollonius, whom he had called from Chalcis, to the Tiberian house, in which he was living, that he might hand over Marcus Antoninus to him, and that man had said, "The teacher ought not to come to the pupil, but the pupil to the teacher," he laughed at him, saying, "It was easier for Apollonius to come from Chalcis to Rome than from his own house to the Palace"; and he noted his greed even in the matter of fees. Among the proofs of his devotion this too is reckoned: when Marcus was weeping for his dead tutor and was being called away by the court attendants from this display of devotion, he himself said, "Permit him to be a man; for neither philosophy nor empire removes the affections." His prefects he both enriched and presented with consular ornaments. If he condemned any for extortion, he restored to their children their paternal goods, yet on this condition: that they should return to the provincials what their parents had received. He was most inclined to acts of indulgence. He gave shows in which he exhibited elephants and hyenas and tigers and rhinoceroses, crocodiles too and hippopotamuses, and all things from the whole world; he even exhibited a hundred lions together with tigers in a single show.

With his friends, during his reign, he behaved no otherwise than as a private man, since they themselves never sold anything in his name, under cover of smoke, through his freedmen; indeed, he treated his freedmen most severely. He loved the arts of the actors; he greatly delighted himself by fishing and hunting and by walking with his friends and by conversation. He held his vintages with his friends in the manner of a private man. On the rhetoricians and philosophers throughout all the provinces he conferred both honors and salaries. Many have said that the orations which are circulated under his name belonged to others; Marius Maximus says they were his own. He shared his banquets with his friends, both private and public, and he performed no sacrifice through a deputy, except when he was ill. When he sought honors for himself and his sons, he did everything as if a private man. He himself too frequented the banquets of his friends. Among other things, this too is an especial proof of his citizen-like manner: that, when, visiting the house of Homullus and admiring the porphyry columns, he had asked whence he had them, and Homullus had said to him, "When you come into another man's house, be both mute and deaf," he bore it patiently; and many sayings of this Homullus he always took patiently.

He enacted much concerning the law, and made use of the legal experts Vindius Verus, Salvius Valens, Volusius Maecianus, Ulpius Marcellus, and Diavolenus. Seditions, wherever they arose, he suppressed not by cruelty but by moderation and gravity. He forbade the dead to be buried within cities. He established a limit to the expense for gladiatorial shows. He relieved the postal service with the utmost diligence. Of all that he did, both in the senate and through edicts, he rendered an account. He died in his seventieth year, but he was missed as if a young man. His death, moreover, is related to have been such: when at dinner he had eaten Alpine cheese rather greedily, he vomited it up by night, and the next day was seized by a fever. On the third day, when he saw himself growing worse, he commended the state and his daughter to Marcus Antoninus, in the presence of the prefects, and ordered the golden Fortune, which was wont to be placed in the bedchamber of the princes, to be transferred to him. He gave the tribune the watchword "equanimity," and thus, turning over as if to sleep, he gave up the ghost at Lorium. In his delirium during the fever he spoke of nothing else but the state and those kings with whom he was angry. His private patrimony he left to his daughter; but by his will he provided for all his people with suitable legacies.

He was of tall stature and comely; but since he was tall and old and was becoming bent, he was bound up with strips of linden wood placed on his chest, so that he might walk upright. Even as an old man, before the visitors who came to greet him arrived, he would eat dry bread to sustain his strength. He had a voice that was rough yet sonorous, with a pleasantness. By the senate he was called divine, all striving in rivalry to bring it about, since all praised his devotion, his mercy, his talent, his holiness. There were decreed too all the honors which had before been conferred on the best princes. He merited a flamen and games of the circus and a temple and the Antoninian fellowship; and he alone, almost of all the princes, lived utterly without civil and hostile bloodshed, so far as concerned himself, and is one who may rightly be compared with Numa, whose felicity and piety and security and observances he always maintained.