Marcus Aurelius Born: Rome's Philosopher-Emperor

Marcus Aurelius became Roman Emperor at 40 and spent almost all of his nineteen-year reign fighting wars he hadn't wanted and hadn't started. The Antonine Plague, probably smallpox brought back by soldiers from Lucius Verus's eastern campaign, killed an estimated five million people across the empire during his reign. Entire legions were decimated. Revenue collapsed. He responded by selling imperial furniture, palace ornaments, and even his wife's silk dresses at public auction to fund the army rather than raise taxes. Born on April 26, 121 AD, in Rome, into a family of Spanish origin with strong political connections, he was adopted by Emperor Antoninus Pius at the age of seventeen at the direction of Hadrian, who had recognized his intelligence and seriousness. He studied rhetoric, law, and philosophy, becoming a devoted Stoic under the guidance of several tutors. He governed from the field for most of his reign, spending years on campaign along the Danube frontier against Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. At night, in his tent, he wrote the Meditations, a collection of philosophical reflections addressed to himself. They were never meant to be read by anyone else. They are practical, sometimes harsh on himself: reminders to be patient, to stop caring what people think, to accept what he cannot control, to do his job. The Meditations are the only surviving work of personal philosophy written by a Roman emperor. They have been translated into every major language and continue to be read as a foundational text of Stoic philosophy, alongside Epictetus and Seneca. The entries are not systematic; they were written in fragments between military campaigns, administrative duties, and illness. He broke with the tradition of adoptive succession by allowing his biological son Commodus to succeed him. Commodus proved to be one of the worst emperors in Roman history, and the Pax Romana effectively ended with Marcus's death. Historians have debated whether Marcus failed by not choosing a better successor or whether any father could have seen what Commodus would become. He died on March 17, 180 AD, probably of the plague that had stalked his reign, on campaign near modern Vienna.