DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0219
CHAPTER VI
AFRICA UNDER MARCUS AURELIUS
A.D. 161-180
No Emperor ever acceded to a throne under more favourable
auspices than Marcus Aurelius. Adopted by Antonine at the
age of seventeen, when he bore the name of Marcus /Elius
Verus, and renamed (according to Capitolinus) zElius Aurelius
Antoninus Pius Csesar in compliment to the Emperor, this
fortunate prince enjoyed, till the age of forty, a sunny existence
unruffled by political dissensions, the clash of arms, or domestic
anxieties. Beloved by his adoptive father, surrounded by friends,
with a wife whom he trusted and children whom he adored,
Marcus Aurelius had everything which life could offer to make
it one long day of reasonable enjoyment. His affectionate
intimacy with the Emperor is amply attested by correspondence
and the wording of inscriptions discovered intact in various
parts of the Empire. So endearing an epithet as Verissimusy
which Antonine added to his name when he was a mere child,
conveys an idea of extreme sincerity of character and an earnest
desire to probe the truth for truth's sake. His philosophic
tendencies were conspicuous in his early years, due as much to
temperament as to the guidance of his instructors, selected by
Antonine himself. Rusticus and Apollonius the Stoic were his
masters in rhetoric ; Eutychius Proculus, a native of Cirta, and
Frontinius Cornelius his tutors for Latin ; while Cornelius
Fronto and Herodes the munificent Athenian roused his en-
thusiasm for philosophy. All these men were his intimate
friends as well as teachers, and to them we are indebted for
having brought to light those gentle qualities which are so
conspicuous in the correspondence between the young prince
and his attached friend of African birth, Cornelius Fronto.
On the death of Antonine, A.D. 161, Marcus Aurelius was
free to take undivided possession of the throne and to grasp the
AFRICA UNDER MARCUS AURELIUS
A.D. 161-180
No Emperor ever acceded to a throne under more favourable
auspices than Marcus Aurelius. Adopted by Antonine at the
age of seventeen, when he bore the name of Marcus /Elius
Verus, and renamed (according to Capitolinus) zElius Aurelius
Antoninus Pius Csesar in compliment to the Emperor, this
fortunate prince enjoyed, till the age of forty, a sunny existence
unruffled by political dissensions, the clash of arms, or domestic
anxieties. Beloved by his adoptive father, surrounded by friends,
with a wife whom he trusted and children whom he adored,
Marcus Aurelius had everything which life could offer to make
it one long day of reasonable enjoyment. His affectionate
intimacy with the Emperor is amply attested by correspondence
and the wording of inscriptions discovered intact in various
parts of the Empire. So endearing an epithet as Verissimusy
which Antonine added to his name when he was a mere child,
conveys an idea of extreme sincerity of character and an earnest
desire to probe the truth for truth's sake. His philosophic
tendencies were conspicuous in his early years, due as much to
temperament as to the guidance of his instructors, selected by
Antonine himself. Rusticus and Apollonius the Stoic were his
masters in rhetoric ; Eutychius Proculus, a native of Cirta, and
Frontinius Cornelius his tutors for Latin ; while Cornelius
Fronto and Herodes the munificent Athenian roused his en-
thusiasm for philosophy. All these men were his intimate
friends as well as teachers, and to them we are indebted for
having brought to light those gentle qualities which are so
conspicuous in the correspondence between the young prince
and his attached friend of African birth, Cornelius Fronto.
On the death of Antonine, A.D. 161, Marcus Aurelius was
free to take undivided possession of the throne and to grasp the