DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0220
reins of empire, which had been within his reach for so many
years. But the prince was cast in a different mould from other
men, and the bare idea of depriving any one, whose claims to
exercise imperial authority, however slight, were recognised by
the Senate or the people, would have been distasteful to so just
and thoughtful a man. In his earlier days he had adopted as
his future colleague, at the express desire of Hadrian, a little
boy named Lucius Ceionius Commodus, whose father had been
similarly adopted by that Emperor. To make the connection
still more binding, Marcus Aurelius gave him the name of
Verus, and a few years afterwards made him his son-in-law.
For eight years and a few months the Empire was ruled by
these two men conjointly, the one judicious in all his actions,
governing with wisdom and with the trained mind of a student
and philosopher ; the other, of depraved tastes and dissolute
habits, effeminate and extravagant, passing away at the age of
thirty-five, the victim of debauchery and riotous living. The
name of Verus would long ago have been almost forgotten had
it not been for inscriptions in which he figures as joint Emperor
with Marcus Aurelius. The monumental remains in Africa,
bearing so dishonoured a name, are fortunately few in number,
the most remarkable being the ruined triumphal arch at Tripoli,
referred to on page 121. The inscription, still unmutilated and
easily legible, runs thus r1
IMP • CAES • AVRELIO ■ ANTONIN • AVG ■ P ■ P ■ ET ■ IMP ■ CAES
L • AVRELIO • VERO ■ ARMENICO ■ AVG
SER • S • OEFRITVS • PROCOS • CVM • VTTEDIO • MARCELLO ■
LEG • SVO • DEDICAVIT ' C
CALPVRNIVS • CELSIVS ■ CVRATOR ■ MVNERIS ■ PVB ■ MVNE-
RARIVS • II VIR Q ■ Q ■ FLAMEN
PERPETVVS • ARCVS ■ MARMORE ■ SOLIDO • FECIT.
This dedication to the two Emperors appears to have been
about A.D. 163, at the close of a successful expedition against
the Armenians under the conduct of Verus. A traveller who
visited Tripoli more than two centuries ago was enraptured with
the beauty of this monument and its sculptures. He says :
' There are four gates (referring to this quadrifrontal arch) upon
which is a triumphal car with a figure of Alexander drawn by
1 Travels in the Footsteps of Bruce, p. 281.
years. But the prince was cast in a different mould from other
men, and the bare idea of depriving any one, whose claims to
exercise imperial authority, however slight, were recognised by
the Senate or the people, would have been distasteful to so just
and thoughtful a man. In his earlier days he had adopted as
his future colleague, at the express desire of Hadrian, a little
boy named Lucius Ceionius Commodus, whose father had been
similarly adopted by that Emperor. To make the connection
still more binding, Marcus Aurelius gave him the name of
Verus, and a few years afterwards made him his son-in-law.
For eight years and a few months the Empire was ruled by
these two men conjointly, the one judicious in all his actions,
governing with wisdom and with the trained mind of a student
and philosopher ; the other, of depraved tastes and dissolute
habits, effeminate and extravagant, passing away at the age of
thirty-five, the victim of debauchery and riotous living. The
name of Verus would long ago have been almost forgotten had
it not been for inscriptions in which he figures as joint Emperor
with Marcus Aurelius. The monumental remains in Africa,
bearing so dishonoured a name, are fortunately few in number,
the most remarkable being the ruined triumphal arch at Tripoli,
referred to on page 121. The inscription, still unmutilated and
easily legible, runs thus r1
IMP • CAES • AVRELIO ■ ANTONIN • AVG ■ P ■ P ■ ET ■ IMP ■ CAES
L • AVRELIO • VERO ■ ARMENICO ■ AVG
SER • S • OEFRITVS • PROCOS • CVM • VTTEDIO • MARCELLO ■
LEG • SVO • DEDICAVIT ' C
CALPVRNIVS • CELSIVS ■ CVRATOR ■ MVNERIS ■ PVB ■ MVNE-
RARIVS • II VIR Q ■ Q ■ FLAMEN
PERPETVVS • ARCVS ■ MARMORE ■ SOLIDO • FECIT.
This dedication to the two Emperors appears to have been
about A.D. 163, at the close of a successful expedition against
the Armenians under the conduct of Verus. A traveller who
visited Tripoli more than two centuries ago was enraptured with
the beauty of this monument and its sculptures. He says :
' There are four gates (referring to this quadrifrontal arch) upon
which is a triumphal car with a figure of Alexander drawn by
1 Travels in the Footsteps of Bruce, p. 281.