Antoninus Pius
Death
After the longest reign since Augustus, Antoninus died of fever at
Lorium in
Etruria, about twelve miles from Rome, on
March 7 161, giving the keynote to his life in the last word that he uttered when the
tribune of the night-watch came to ask the password — "aequanimitas" (equanimity). His body was placed in
Hadrian's mausoleum, a
column was dedicated to him on the
Campus Martius, and the
temple he had built in the Forum in 141 to his deified wife Faustina was rededicated to the deified Faustina and the deified Antoninus.
In his domestic relations Antoninus was not so fortunate. His wife,
Faustina the Elder, has almost become a byword for her lack of womanly virtue; but she seems to have kept her hold on his affections to the last. On her death in the third year of his reign, he honoured her memory by the foundation of a
charity for orphan girls, who bore the name of
Alimentariae Faustinianae, following the practice of prior emperors in endowing an
alimentaria to promote the welfare of children and an increased population. He had by her two sons and two daughters; but they all died before his elevation to the throne, except
Annia Faustina, who became the wife of Marcus Aurelius.
The only account of his life handed down to us is that of the
Historia Augusta, an unreliable and mostly fabricated work. Antoninus is unique among Roman emperors in that he has no other biographies. Historians have therefore turned to public records for what details we know.
Antoninus in many ways was the ideal of the landed gentleman praised not only by ancient Romans, but also by later scholars of classical history, such as
Edward Gibbon or the author of the article on Antoninus Pius in the ninth edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannica:
A few months afterwards, on Hadrian's death, he was enthusiastically welcomed to the throne by the Roman people, who, for once, were not disappointed in their anticipation of a happy reign. For Antoninus came to his new office with simple tastes, kindly disposition, extensive experience, a well-trained intelligence and the sincerest desire for the welfare of his subjects. Instead of plundering to support his prodigality, he emptied his private treasury to assist distressed provinces and cities, and everywhere exercised rigid economy (hence the nickname κυμινοπριστης "cummin-splitter"). Instead of exaggerating into treason whatever was susceptible of unfavorable interpretation, he spurned the very conspiracies that were formed against him into opportunities for demonstrating his clemency. Instead of stirring up persecution against the Christians, he extended to them the strong hand of his protection throughout the empire. Rather than give occasion to that oppression which he regarded as inseparable from an emperor's progress through his dominions, he was content to spend all the years of his reign in Rome, or its neighbourhood.
* Bossart-Mueller,
Zur Geschichte des Kaisers A. (1868)
* Lacour-Gayet,
A. le Pieux et son Temps (1888)
* Bryant,
The Reign of Antonine (Cambridge Historical Essays, 1895)
* P. B. Watson,
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (London, 1884), chap. ii.
