1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:07,040 Chapter thirteen of Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. This is a LibriVox recording. All 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,960 LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, 3 00:00:12,359 --> 00:00:21,160 please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Leon Meyer, Chapter thirteen Marcus Aurelius 4 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:28,600 Antoninus by George long m A. Marcus Antoninus was born at rome A d. 5 00:00:28,839 --> 00:00:33,600 One twenty one on the twenty sixth of April. His father, Aias 6 00:00:33,679 --> 00:00:39,039 Verus, died while he was praetor. His mother was Domitia Culvilla, also 7 00:00:39,119 --> 00:00:46,320 named Lucilla. The emperor Titus. Antoninus Pius married Anea Galeria Faustina, the 8 00:00:46,399 --> 00:00:52,719 sister of Aeneas Verus, and was consequently the uncle of Marcus Antoninus. When 9 00:00:52,759 --> 00:00:59,520 Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pious and declared him his successor in the empire, Antoninus Pius 10 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:06,040 adopted both Lucius Saionius Commodus, the son of Elius Caesar, and Marcus Antoninus, 11 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:11,879 whose original name was Marcus Anius Verus. Antoninus then took the name of 12 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:17,040 Marcus Elius Aurelius Verus, to which was added the title of Caesar in eighty 13 00:01:17,239 --> 00:01:22,920 one thirty nine. The name Elius belonged to Hadrian's family, and Aurelius was 14 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:27,719 the name of Antoninus Pious. When Marcus Antoninus became Augustus, he dropped the 15 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:33,719 name of Verus and took the name of Antoninus. Accordingly, he is generally 16 00:01:33,799 --> 00:01:40,760 named Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, or simply Marcus Antoninus. The youth was most carefully 17 00:01:40,799 --> 00:01:45,599 brought up. He thinks the gods that he had good grandfathers, good parents, 18 00:01:45,719 --> 00:01:49,680 a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends, 19 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:55,400 nearly everything good. He had the happy fortune to witness the example of 20 00:01:55,439 --> 00:02:00,280 his uncle and adoptive father, Antonius Pius, and he has recorded in his 21 00:02:00,359 --> 00:02:06,000 work the virtues of this excellent man and prudent ruler. Like many young Romans, 22 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:10,000 he tried his hand at poetry and studied rhetoric. Herodes Atticus and Marcus 23 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:16,159 Cornelius Fronto were his teachers and eloquence. There are extant letters between Fronto and 24 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:21,800 Marcus which show the great affection of the pupil for the master, and the 25 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:28,960 master's great hopes of his industrious pupil. Footnote Marcus cornelia E Fontonis RILIKUII, 26 00:02:29,439 --> 00:02:34,919 Berlin, eighteen sixteen. There are a few letters between Fronto and Antoninus Pious. 27 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:40,560 In footnote, Marcus Antoninus mentions Fronto among those to whom he was indebted 28 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:46,599 for his education. When he was eleven years old, he assumed the dress 29 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:52,000 of philosophers, something plain and coarse, became a hard student, and lived 30 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,479 a most laborious, abstemious life, even so far as to injure his health. 31 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:01,520 Finally, he abandoned poetry and rhetoric for philosophy, and he attached himself 32 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:06,960 to the sect the Stoics. But he did not neglect the study of law, 33 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:09,919 which was a useful preparation for the high place which he was designed to 34 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:17,000 fill. His teacher was Lucius Phlacianus Macianus, a distinguished jurist. We must 35 00:03:17,039 --> 00:03:22,680 suppose that he learned the Roman discipline of arms, which was a necessary part 36 00:03:22,719 --> 00:03:27,159 of the education of a man who afterwards led his troops to battle against a 37 00:03:27,199 --> 00:03:34,240 warlike race. Antoninus has recorded in his first book the names of his teachers 38 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,960 and the obligations which he owed to each of them. The way in which 39 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,840 he speaks of what he learned from them might seem to savor of vanity or 40 00:03:40,879 --> 00:03:45,520 self praise. If we look carelessly at the way in which he has expressed 41 00:03:45,599 --> 00:03:51,120 himself. But if anyone draws this conclusion, he will be mistaken. Antoninus 42 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:54,240 means to commemorate the merits of his several teachers, what they taught, and 43 00:03:54,319 --> 00:03:59,120 what a pupil might learn from them. Besides, this book, like the 44 00:03:59,159 --> 00:04:02,319 eleven other books, was for his own use, And if we may trust 45 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,240 the note at the end of the first book, it was written during one 46 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:11,240 of Marcus Antoninus's campaigns against the Quadi, at a time when the commemoration of 47 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:15,439 the virtues of his illustrious teachers might remind him of their lessons in the practical 48 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:21,800 uses which he might derive from them. Among his teachers of philosophy was Sextus 49 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:28,120 of Karinea, a grandson of Plutarch. What he learned from this excellent man 50 00:04:28,199 --> 00:04:33,160 is told by himself. His favorite teacher was Quintus Junius Rusticus, a philosopher 51 00:04:33,199 --> 00:04:39,199 and also a man of practical good sense in public affairs. Rusticus was the 52 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:44,279 adviser of Antoninus after he became emperor. Young Men who are destined for high 53 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:48,000 places are not often fortunate in those who are about them, their companions and 54 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:53,600 teachers. And I do not know any example of a young prince having had 55 00:04:53,639 --> 00:04:58,560 an education which can be compared with that of Marcus Antoninus. Such a body 56 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,079 of teachers, distinguished by their requirements in their character, will hardly be collected 57 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:06,079 again. And as to the pupil, we have not had one like him 58 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:13,759 since Hadrian died in July A d. One thirty eight and was succeeded by 59 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:19,199 Antoninus Pious. Marcus Antoninus married Faustina, his cousin, the daughter of Pious, 60 00:05:19,639 --> 00:05:24,399 probably about a d. One forty six, for he had a daughter 61 00:05:24,439 --> 00:05:29,199 born in one forty seven. He received from his adoptive father the title of 62 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:33,160 Caesar, and was associated with him in the administration of the state. The 63 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:40,000 father and the adopted son lived together in perfect friendship and confidence. Antoninus was 64 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:46,839 a dutiful son, and the Emperor Pious loved and esteemed him. Antoninus Pious 65 00:05:46,879 --> 00:05:49,879 died in March A d. One sixty one. The Senate, it is 66 00:05:49,959 --> 00:05:55,920 said, urged Marcus Antoninus to take the sole administration of the empire, but 67 00:05:56,040 --> 00:06:00,240 he associated with himself the other adopted son of Pious, Lucia, Saianius Commodus, 68 00:06:00,639 --> 00:06:05,800 who was generally called Lucius Verus thus Rome for the first time had two 69 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:11,600 emperors. Verus was an indolent man of pleasure and unworthy of his station. 70 00:06:12,519 --> 00:06:15,399 Antoninus, however, bore with him, and it is said that Verus had 71 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,839 enough sense to pay his colleague the respect due to his character. A virtuous 72 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:25,519 emperor and a loose partner lived together in peace, and their alliance was strengthened 73 00:06:25,519 --> 00:06:30,920 by Antoninus giving to Verius for wife his daughter Lucilla. The reign of Antoninus 74 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:35,040 was first troubled by a Parthian war, in which Verus was sent to command, 75 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:39,639 but he did nothing, and the success that was obtained by the Romans 76 00:06:39,639 --> 00:06:44,800 in Armenia and on the Euphrates and Tigris was due to his generals. This 77 00:06:44,879 --> 00:06:49,399 Parthian war ended in AD one sixty five. Aurelius and Verus had a triumph 78 00:06:49,759 --> 00:06:55,839 AD one sixty six for the victories in the east. A pestilence followed, 79 00:06:55,879 --> 00:06:59,720 which carried off great numbers in Rome and Italy and spread to the west of 80 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:04,279 Europe. The north of Italy was also threatened by the rude people beyond the 81 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:09,319 Alps, from the borders of Gallia to the eastern side of the Hadriatic. 82 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:14,879 These barbarians attempted to break into Italy, as the Germanic nations had attempted near 83 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:18,199 three hundred years before, and the rest of the life of Antoninus, with 84 00:07:18,319 --> 00:07:24,279 some intervals, was employed in driving back the invaders. In one sixty nine, 85 00:07:24,399 --> 00:07:30,279 Veris suddenly died and Antoninus administered the state alone. During the German Wars, 86 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:35,639 Antoninus resided for three years on the Danube a carnuntum. The Marcomanni were 87 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:41,199 driven out of Pannonia and almost destroyed in their retreat across the Danube, and 88 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:46,279 in eighty one seventy four the emperor gained a great victory over the Quadi. 89 00:07:46,399 --> 00:07:50,600 In AD one seventy five, Avidius Cassius, a brave and skillful Roman commander 90 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:56,079 who was at the head of the troops in Asia, revolted and declared himself 91 00:07:56,120 --> 00:08:01,680 Augustus. But Cassius was assassinated by some of the officers, and so the 92 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,600 rebellion came to an end. Antoninus showed his humanity by his treatment of the 93 00:08:05,639 --> 00:08:11,160 family and the partisans of Cassius, and his letter to the Senate in which 94 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:16,160 he recommends mercy is extant. Antoninus set out for the east on hearing of 95 00:08:16,199 --> 00:08:22,000 Cassius's revolt, though he appears to have returned to Rome in eighty one seventy 96 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,199 four. He went back to prosecute the war against the Germans, and it 97 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:30,560 is probable that he marched direct to the east from the German war. His 98 00:08:30,639 --> 00:08:35,679 wife, Faustina, who accompanied him into Asia, died suddenly at the foot 99 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,440 of the Taurus, to the great grief of her husband. Capatilinus, who 100 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:45,639 has written the life of Antoninus and also dion Cassius, accused the empress of 101 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:52,759 scandalous infidelity to her husband and of abominable lewdness. But Capitellinus says that Antoninus 102 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:56,360 either knew it not or pretended not to know it. Nothing is so common 103 00:08:56,399 --> 00:09:01,799 as such malicious reports in all ages, and the history of Imperial Rome is 104 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:05,519 full of them. Antoninus loved his wife, and he says that she was 105 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:11,200 obedient, affectionate, and simple. The same scandal had been spread about Faustina's 106 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:16,200 mother, the wife of Antoninus Pious, and yet he too was perfectly satisfied 107 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:22,279 with his wife. Antoninus Pious says after her death in a letter to Fronto, 108 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:26,279 that he would rather have lived in exile with his wife than in his 109 00:09:26,399 --> 00:09:30,960 palace at Rome without her. There are not many men who would give their 110 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:35,200 wives a better character than these two emperors. Capitulinus wrote in the time of 111 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:39,320 Diocletian. He may have intended to tell the truth, but he is a 112 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:46,480 poor, feeble biographer. Dion Cassius, the most malignant of historians, always 113 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:52,960 reports, and perhaps he believed any scandal against anybody. Antoninus continued his journey 114 00:09:54,039 --> 00:09:58,039 to Syria and Egypt, and on his return to Italy, through Athens, 115 00:09:58,399 --> 00:10:03,120 he was initiated into the l Usinian mysteries. It was the practice of the 116 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:07,360 emperor to conform to the established rights of the age and to perform religious ceremonies 117 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:13,080 with due solemnity. We cannot conclude from this that he was a superstitious man, 118 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:16,799 though we might perhaps do so if his book did not show that he 119 00:10:16,879 --> 00:10:22,200 was not. But this is only one among many instances that a ruler's public 120 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,159 acts do not always prove his real opinions. A prudent governor will not roughly 121 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:31,240 oppose even the superstitions of his people, and though he may wish that they 122 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:33,799 were wiser, he will know that he cannot make them so by offending their 123 00:10:33,799 --> 00:10:41,039 prejudices. Antoninus and his son Commodus entered Rome and triumph perhaps for some German 124 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:46,919 victories, on the twenty third of December eighty one seventy six. In the 125 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,360 following year, Commodists was associated with his father in the Empire and took the 126 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:56,360 name of Augustus. This year a d. One seventy seven is memorable in 127 00:10:56,399 --> 00:11:01,440 ecclesiastical history. Atlas and others were put to death at Lyon for their adherence 128 00:11:01,519 --> 00:11:07,320 to the Christian religion. The evidence of this persecution is a letter preserved by 129 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,960 Eusebius. The letter is from the Christians of Vienna and Logdunum in Gallia, 130 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:16,639 Vienne and Lyon to their Christian brethren in Asia and Phrygia, and it is 131 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:22,879 preserved perhaps nearly entire It contains a very particular description of the tortures inflicted on 132 00:11:22,919 --> 00:11:28,159 the Christians in Gallia, and it states that while the persecution was going on 133 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:33,799 Atolas, a Christian and a Roman citizen was loudly demanded by the populace and 134 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:37,240 brought into the amphitheater, but the governor ordered him to be reserved with the 135 00:11:37,279 --> 00:11:43,559 rest who were in prison until he had received instructions from the Emperor. Many 136 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:48,720 had been tortured before the governor thought of applying to Antoninus. The Imperial Rescript 137 00:11:48,879 --> 00:11:52,720 says, the letter was that the Christians should be punished, but if they 138 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:56,879 would deny their faith, they must be released. On this the work began 139 00:11:56,960 --> 00:12:01,120 again. The Christians, who were Roman citizens were behead head, the rest 140 00:12:01,159 --> 00:12:05,720 exposed to the wild beasts in the amphitheater. Some modern writers in ecclesiastical history, 141 00:12:07,039 --> 00:12:09,399 when they use this letter, say nothing of the wonderful stories of the 142 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:15,600 martyr's sufferings. Sanctus, as the letter says, was burnt with plates of 143 00:12:15,639 --> 00:12:20,440 hot iron till his body was one sore and he had lost all human form. 144 00:12:20,879 --> 00:12:24,679 But on being put to the rack, he recovered his former appearance under 145 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:28,080 the torture, which was thus a cure instead of a punishment. He was 146 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:33,120 afterwards torn by beasts and placed on an iron chair and roasted. He died 147 00:12:33,159 --> 00:12:39,360 at last. The letter is one piece of evidence. The writer, whoever 148 00:12:39,399 --> 00:12:41,480 he was, that wrote in the name of the Gallic Christians, is our 149 00:12:41,519 --> 00:12:46,759 evidence both for the ordinary and the extraordinary circumstances of the story. And we 150 00:12:46,799 --> 00:12:52,679 cannot accept his evidence for one part and reject the other. We often received 151 00:12:52,759 --> 00:12:56,519 small evidence as a proof of a thing which we believed to be within the 152 00:12:56,559 --> 00:13:01,960 limits of probability or possibility, and we rejected exactly the same evidence when the 153 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:07,639 thing to which it refers appears very improbable or impossible. But this is a 154 00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:11,120 false method of inquiry, though it is followed by some modern writers, who 155 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:15,360 select what they like from a story and reject the rest of the evidence, 156 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:18,879 or if they do not reject it, they dishonestly suppress it. A man 157 00:13:18,919 --> 00:13:24,480 can only act consistently by accepting all this letter or rejecting it all, and 158 00:13:24,519 --> 00:13:28,759 we cannot blame him for either. But he who rejects it may still admit 159 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:31,399 that such a letter may be founded on real facts, and he would make 160 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:35,759 this admission as the most probable way of accounting for the existence of the letter. 161 00:13:37,639 --> 00:13:41,320 But if, as he would suppose, the writer has stated some things 162 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:43,759 falsely, he cannot tell what part of his story is worthy of credit. 163 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:50,200 The war on the northern frontier appears to have been uninterrupted during the visit of 164 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:54,799 Antoninus to the east, and on his return the Emperor again left Rome to 165 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,480 oppose the barbarians. The Germanic people were defeated in a great battle a D. 166 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:03,559 One six nine During this campaign, the emperor was seized with some contigious 167 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:09,320 malady, of which he died in the camp at Sermium meet Ravitz on the 168 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:13,840 Sava in lower Pannonia, but at Vendabina Vienna, according to other authorities, 169 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:18,519 on the seventeenth March eighty one eighty, in the fifty ninth year of his 170 00:14:18,639 --> 00:14:24,720 age, his son Commodus was with him. The body or the ashes, 171 00:14:24,799 --> 00:14:28,519 probably the emperor, were carried to Rome, and he received the honor of 172 00:14:28,519 --> 00:14:33,440 deification. Those who could afford it had his statue or bust, and when 173 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:39,120 Capatalinus wrote, many people still had statues of Antoninus. Among the deopinatus or 174 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:43,279 household deities. He was, in a manner made a saint. Commodus erected 175 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:46,799 to the memory of his father. The Antonine Column, which is now in 176 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:52,480 the Piazza Colonna at Rome. The bas reliefs, which are placed in a 177 00:14:52,519 --> 00:14:56,559 spiral line round the shaft, commemorate the victories of Antoninus over the Marcomanni and 178 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:01,799 the Quadi, and the miraculous shower of reign, which refreshed the Roman soldiers 179 00:15:01,799 --> 00:15:05,799 and discomfited their enemies. The statue of Antoninus was placed on the capital of 180 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:11,039 the column, but it was removed at some time unknown, and a bronze 181 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:13,240 statue of Saint Paul was put in the place by Pope Sixtus the fifth. 182 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:20,279 The historical evidence for the times of Antoninus is very defective, and some of 183 00:15:20,279 --> 00:15:24,799 that which remains is not credible. The most curious is the story about the 184 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,279 miracle, which happened in eighty one seventy four during the war with the Quadi. 185 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:33,440 The Roman army was in danger of perishing by thirst, but a sudden 186 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:39,279 storm drenched them with rain while it discharged fire and hail on their enemies, 187 00:15:39,639 --> 00:15:43,919 and the Romans gained a great victory. All the authorities which speak of the 188 00:15:43,919 --> 00:15:48,279 battles speak also of the miracle the Gentile writers assigned to their gods, and 189 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:52,600 the Christians to the intercession of the Christian legion in the Emperor's army. To 190 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:56,799 confirm the Christian statement, it is added that the Emperor gave the title of 191 00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:02,200 thundering to this legion. Bute and others who maintain the Christian report of the 192 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:07,360 miracle admit that this title of thundering or lightning was not given to this legion 193 00:16:07,399 --> 00:16:11,120 because the Quadi were struck with lightning, but because there was a figure of 194 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:15,039 lightning on their shields, and that this title of the legion existed in the 195 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:19,519 time of Augustus. Scalager also had observed that the legion was called Thundering before 196 00:16:19,559 --> 00:16:25,440 the reign of Antoninus. We can learn this from Dion Cassius, who enumerates 197 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:30,519 all the legions of Augustus's time. The name thundering or lightning also occurs on 198 00:16:30,559 --> 00:16:34,679 an inscription of the reign of Trajan, which was found at Trieste. Eusebius, 199 00:16:34,679 --> 00:16:40,279 when he relates the miracle, quotes A. Polinarius, bishop of Hierapolis, 200 00:16:40,639 --> 00:16:44,519 as authority for this name being given to the legion Melatini by the emperor 201 00:16:45,039 --> 00:16:48,080 in consequence of the success which he had obtained through their prayers. From which 202 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:53,039 we may estimate the value of Pollinarius's testimony. Eusebius does not say in what 203 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:59,320 book of Apollinarius the statement occurs. Dion says that the Thundering Legion was stationed 204 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,799 in Cappadocia in the time of Augustus. Vllasius also observes that in the notitia 205 00:17:03,839 --> 00:17:08,599 of the Imperium Romanum there is mention under the commander of Armenia, the prefectura 206 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:15,119 of the twelfth Legion named Thundering Melatini, and this position in Armenia will agree 207 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:19,599 with what Dion says of its position in Cappadocia. Accordingly, Vllasius concludes that 208 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:23,240 Melatinia was not the name of the legion, but of the town in which 209 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,599 it was stationed. Melatini was also the name of the district in which this 210 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:32,759 town was situated. The legions did not, he says, take their name 211 00:17:32,799 --> 00:17:36,039 from the place where they were on duty, but from the country in which 212 00:17:36,079 --> 00:17:40,440 they were raised, and therefore what Eusebius says about the Melatini does not seem 213 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:45,440 probable to him. Yet Vllasius, on the authority of Apollinarius and Tertulian, 214 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,160 believed that the miracle was worked through the prayers of the Christian soldiers in the 215 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:52,640 Emperor's army. Rufinus does not give the name of Melatini to this legion, 216 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:59,119 says Vllasius, and probably he purposely omitted it because they knew that Melatini was 217 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,559 the name of a town in an Armenia minor where the legion was stationed. 218 00:18:02,599 --> 00:18:07,160 In his time. The emperor, it is said made a report of his 219 00:18:07,279 --> 00:18:11,160 victory to the Senate, which we may believe, for such was the practice. 220 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:14,119 But we do not know what he said in his letter, for it 221 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:18,920 is not extant. Dosier assumes that the Emperor's letter was purposely destroyed by the 222 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:23,119 Senate or the enemies of Christianity, that so honorable a testimony to the Christians 223 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:29,200 in their religion might not be perpetuated. The critic has, however, not 224 00:18:29,279 --> 00:18:33,279 seen that he contradicts when he tells us purport of the letter, for he 225 00:18:33,319 --> 00:18:37,759 says that it was destroyed, and even Eusebius could not find it. But 226 00:18:37,839 --> 00:18:41,079 there does exist a letter in Greek addressed by Antoninus to the Roman people and 227 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:47,400 the sacred Senate after this memorable victory. It is sometimes printed after Justin's first 228 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:52,160 apology, but is totally unconnected with the apologies. This letter is one of 229 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:56,160 the most stupid forgeries of the many which exist, and it cannot be possibly 230 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:00,000 founded even on the genuine report of Antoninus to the Senate. If it were 231 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,000 so or genuine, it would free the Emperor from the charge of persecuting men 232 00:19:03,039 --> 00:19:07,200 because they are Christians. For he says in this false letter that if a 233 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:11,119 man accused another only of being a Christian, and the accused confess, and 234 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:15,480 there is nothing else against him. He must be set free with this monstrous 235 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:19,960 edition made by man inconceivably ignorant, that the informer must be burnt alive. 236 00:19:22,799 --> 00:19:26,839 During the time of Antoninus Pious, in Marcus Antoninus there appeared the first Apology 237 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:32,720 of Justinus, and under Marcus Antoninus the Oration of Tatian against the Greeks, 238 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:37,920 which was a fierce attack on the established religions. The address of Athanagaris to 239 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:42,279 Marcus Antoninus on behalf of the Christians, and the apology of Malito, bishop 240 00:19:42,279 --> 00:19:48,400 of Sardes, also addressed to the Emperor, and that of Apollinarius. The 241 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:53,319 first Apology of Justinus is addressed to Titus Antoninus Pious and his two adopted sons, 242 00:19:53,319 --> 00:19:57,599 Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, but we do not know whether they read 243 00:19:57,599 --> 00:20:04,160 it. Footnote. Aurotius says that Justinus the philosopher presented to Antoninus Pious his 244 00:20:04,279 --> 00:20:08,359 work in defense of the Christian religion and made him merciful to the Christians. 245 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:15,839 In footnote, the second Apology of Justinus is entitled to the Roman Senate, 246 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:22,119 but this superscription is from some copyist. In the first chapter, Justinus addresses 247 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,799 the Romans. In the second chapter, he speaks of an affair that had 248 00:20:25,839 --> 00:20:30,559 recently happened in the time of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, as it seems, 249 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:34,559 and he also directly addresses the emperor, saying of a certain woman quote, 250 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,640 she addressed a petition to thee the Emperor, and thou didst grant the 251 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:45,480 petition unquote. In other passages, the writer addresses the two emperors, from 252 00:20:45,559 --> 00:20:49,240 which we must conclude that the apology was directed to them. Eusebius states that 253 00:20:49,279 --> 00:20:53,839 the second Apology was addressed to the successor of Antoninus Pious, and he names 254 00:20:53,880 --> 00:21:00,920 him Antoninus Verus, meaning Marcus Antoninus. In one passage of the Second Apology, 255 00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:04,079 Justinus or the writer, whoever he may be, says that even men 256 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:08,319 who followed the Stoic doctrines, when they ordered their lives according to ethical reason, 257 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:14,319 were hated and murdered, such as Heraclitus, Mousonius in his own times 258 00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:18,200 and others. For all, those who in any way labor to live according 259 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:22,880 to reason and avoided wickedness were always hated. And this was the effect of 260 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,759 the work of demons. Justinus himself is said to have been put to death 261 00:21:26,799 --> 00:21:32,680 at Rome because he refused to sacrifice to the gods. It cannot have been 262 00:21:32,759 --> 00:21:36,319 in the reign of Hadrian, as one authority states, nor in the time 263 00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:40,400 of Antoninus Pious. If the Second Apology was written in the time of Marcus 264 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:45,000 Antoninus, and there was evidence that this event took place under Marcus Antoninus and 265 00:21:45,079 --> 00:21:51,039 Lucius Verus, when Rusticus was prefect to the city, the persecution in which 266 00:21:51,079 --> 00:21:56,720 Polycarps suffered at Smyrna belongs to the time of Marcus Antoninus. The evidence for 267 00:21:56,799 --> 00:22:00,599 it is the letter the Church of Smyrna to the churches of philam Emelium and 268 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,519 the other Christian churches, and it is preserved by Eusebius. But the critics 269 00:22:04,519 --> 00:22:08,599 do not agree about the time of Polycarp's death, differing in the two extremes 270 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:14,960 to the amount of twelve years. The circumstances of Polycarp's martyrdom were accompanied by 271 00:22:15,039 --> 00:22:18,279 miracles, one of which Eusebius has omitted, but it appears in the oldest 272 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:22,160 Latin version of the letter, which Usher published, and it is supposed that 273 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:26,400 this version was made not long after the time of Eusebius. The notice at 274 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:30,279 the end of the letter states that it was transcribed by Caius from the copy 275 00:22:30,319 --> 00:22:37,400 of Ireneus, the Disciple of Polycarp, then transcribed by Socrates at Corinth quote, 276 00:22:37,599 --> 00:22:41,519 after which I Pioneus again wrote it out from the copy above mentioned, 277 00:22:41,839 --> 00:22:45,480 having searched it out by the revelation of Polycarp, who directed it to me, 278 00:22:45,559 --> 00:22:52,119 etc. The story of Polycarp's martyrdom is embellished with miraculous circumstances, which 279 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:59,640 some modern writers on ecclesiastical history take the liberty of omitting footnote Conyer's Middleton and 280 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:03,880 in or into the Miraculous Powers, et cetera, Page one, twenty six. 281 00:23:03,559 --> 00:23:08,279 Middleton says that Eusebius omitted to mention the dove which flew out of Polycarp's 282 00:23:08,279 --> 00:23:14,000 body, and Dodwell and Archbishop Wake have done the same. Wake says, 283 00:23:14,519 --> 00:23:17,559 I am so little a friend to such miracles that I thought it better with 284 00:23:17,599 --> 00:23:23,680 Eusebius to omit that circumstance than to mention it from Bishop Basher's manuscript. Which 285 00:23:23,759 --> 00:23:29,599 manuscript, however, says Middleton, he afterwards declares to be so well attested 286 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:34,440 that we need not any further assurance of the truth of it in footnote. 287 00:23:34,839 --> 00:23:38,279 In order to form a proper notion of the condition of the Christians under Marcus 288 00:23:38,319 --> 00:23:44,240 Antoninus, we must go back to Trajan's time, when the younger Pliny was 289 00:23:44,279 --> 00:23:48,759 governor of Bethenia. The Christians were numerous in those parts, and the worshippers 290 00:23:48,759 --> 00:23:52,359 of the old religion were falling off. The temples were deserted, the festivals 291 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:57,200 neglected, and there were no purchasers of victims for sacrifice. Those who were 292 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:02,079 interested in the maintenance of the old relige religion thus found that their prophets were 293 00:24:02,079 --> 00:24:07,000 in danger. Christians of both sexes and of all ages were brought before the 294 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,240 governor, who did not know what to do with them. He could come 295 00:24:10,279 --> 00:24:15,160 to know their conclusion in this that those who confess to be Christians and persevered 296 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,079 in their religion ought to be punished, if for nothing else for their invincible 297 00:24:18,079 --> 00:24:23,319 obstinacy. He found no crimes proved against the Christians, and he could only 298 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:29,319 characterize their religion as a depraved and extravagant superstition, which might be stopped if 299 00:24:29,319 --> 00:24:33,440 the people are allowed the opportunity of recanting. Pliny wrote this in a letter 300 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,640 to Trajan. Footnote. The Martyrium ignatia E, first published in Latin by 301 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:44,039 Archbishop Usher, is the chief evidence for the circumstances of Ignatius's death. In 302 00:24:44,079 --> 00:24:48,480 footnote. In the time of Hadrian, it was no longer possible for the 303 00:24:48,559 --> 00:24:52,160 Roman government to overlook the great increase of the Christians and the hostility of the 304 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:56,240 common sword to them. If the governors and the provinces were willing to let 305 00:24:56,279 --> 00:25:00,880 them alone, they could not resist the fanaticism of the u Heathen community, 306 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:04,519 who looked on the Christians as atheists. The Jews, too, who were 307 00:25:04,519 --> 00:25:08,519 settled all over the Roman Empire, were as hostile to the Christians as the 308 00:25:08,559 --> 00:25:15,160 Gentiles were. Footnote we have the evidence of justinness to this effect. Quote, 309 00:25:15,519 --> 00:25:18,279 the Christians are attacked by the Jews as if they were men of a 310 00:25:18,279 --> 00:25:22,519 different race, and are persecuted by the Greeks, and those who hate them 311 00:25:22,559 --> 00:25:27,440 cannot give the reason of their enmity unquote. In footnote. With the time 312 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:33,319 of Hadrian began the Christian apologies, which show plainly what the popular feeling towards 313 00:25:33,319 --> 00:25:38,279 the Christians then. Was a rescript of Hadrian to Minucius Fondanas, the Proconsul 314 00:25:38,319 --> 00:25:42,640 of Asia, which stands at the end of Justine's first apology, instructs the 315 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:47,640 governor that innocent people must not be troubled, and false accusers must not be 316 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,960 allowed to extort money from them. The charges against the Christians must be made 317 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:56,319 in due form, and no attention must be paid to popular clamors. When 318 00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:00,440 Christians were regularly prosecuted and convicted of illegal acts, they must be punished according 319 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:06,599 to their deserts, and false accusers also must be punished. Footnote and in 320 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:11,359 Eusebius, Erosius says that Hadrian sent its rescript to Manusius Fandanus, proconsul of 321 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:17,599 Asia, after being instructed in books written on the Christian religion by Quadratus, 322 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:22,519 a disciple of the Apostles, and Aristides and Athenian, an honest and wise 323 00:26:22,559 --> 00:26:27,200 man, and Serenus Grenaeus. In the Greek text of Hadrian's rescript there is 324 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:33,160 mentioned Sereneus Grannianus, the predecessor of Minutius Fandanus in the government of Asia. 325 00:26:33,839 --> 00:26:37,920 This rescript of Hadrian has clearly been added to the apology by some editor. 326 00:26:38,599 --> 00:26:45,160 In footnote, Antonius Pious is said to have published rescripts to the same effect. 327 00:26:45,759 --> 00:26:49,359 The terms of Hadrian's rescript seem very favorable to the Christians. But if 328 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,920 we understand it in this sense that they are only to be punished like other 329 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,799 people for illegal acts, it would have no meaning, for that could have 330 00:26:56,799 --> 00:27:02,119 been done without asking the emperor's advice. The real purpose of the rescript is 331 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:06,359 that Christians must be punished if they persisted in their belief and would not prove 332 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:11,160 their renunciation of it by acknowledging the Heathen religion. This was Trajan's rule, 333 00:27:11,559 --> 00:27:15,559 and we have no reason for supposing that Hadrian granted more to the Christians than 334 00:27:15,599 --> 00:27:19,680 Trajan did. There is also printed at the end of Justine's First Apology a 335 00:27:19,759 --> 00:27:25,839 rescript of Antoninus Pious to the Commune of Asia, and it is also an 336 00:27:25,839 --> 00:27:30,559 Eusebius. The date of the rescript is the third consulship of Antoninus Pious. 337 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:33,839 The rescript declares that the Christians, for they are meant, though the name 338 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,759 Christians does not occur in the rescript, were not to be disturbed unless they 339 00:27:37,799 --> 00:27:41,799 were attempting something against the Roman rule, and no man was to be punished 340 00:27:41,799 --> 00:27:48,119 simply for being a Christian. But this rescript is spurious. Any man moderately 341 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:52,240 acquainted with Roman history will see by the style and tenor that it is a 342 00:27:52,279 --> 00:27:59,319 clumsy forgery. In the time of Marcus Antoninus, the opposition between the old 343 00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:03,000 and the new believe chief was still stronger, and the adherents of the Heathen 344 00:28:03,039 --> 00:28:07,960 religion urged those in authority to a more regular resistance to the invasions of the 345 00:28:07,039 --> 00:28:12,880 Christian faith. Melito, in his Apology to Marcus Antoninus, represents the Christians 346 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:18,759 of Asia as persecuted under new imperial orders shameless informers. He says, men 347 00:28:18,799 --> 00:28:22,720 who were greedy after the property of others used these orders as a means of 348 00:28:22,799 --> 00:28:27,200 robbing those who were doing no harm. He doubts if a just emperor could 349 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:32,359 have ordered anything so unjust, and if the last order was really not from 350 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:36,000 the emperor. The Christians entreat him not to give them up to their enemies. 351 00:28:36,799 --> 00:28:41,319 We conclude from this that there were at least imperial rescripts or constitutions of 352 00:28:41,359 --> 00:28:45,799 Marcusantoninus which are made the foundations of these persecutions. The fact of being a 353 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:52,359 Christian was now a crime and punished unless the accused denied their religion. Then 354 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:56,240 come the persecutions at Smyrna, which some modern critics place in eighty one sixty 355 00:28:56,279 --> 00:29:02,240 seven, ten years before the persecution of Leone. The governors of the provinces 356 00:29:02,319 --> 00:29:07,440 under Marcus Antoninus might have found enough even in Trajan's rescript to warrant them in 357 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,720 punishing Christians, and the fanaticism of the people would drive them to persecution even 358 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:17,319 if they were unwilling. But besides the fact of the Christians rejecting all the 359 00:29:17,359 --> 00:29:21,960 Heathen ceremonies, we must not forget that they plainly maintained that all the Heathen 360 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:26,200 religions were false. The Christians thus declared war against the Heathen Rites, and 361 00:29:26,319 --> 00:29:32,000 it is hardly necessary to observe that this was a declaration of hostility against the 362 00:29:32,079 --> 00:29:36,480 Roman government, which tolerated all the various forms of superstition that existed in the 363 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:41,880 empire, and could not consistently tolerate another religion which declared that all the rest 364 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:45,079 are false, and all the splendid ceremonies of the Empire only a worship of 365 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:51,759 devils. If we had a true ecclesiastical history, we should know how the 366 00:29:51,839 --> 00:29:56,039 Roman empires attempted to check the new religion, how they enforced their principle of 367 00:29:56,039 --> 00:30:00,559 finally punishing Christians simply as Christians, which just and in his apology affirms that 368 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:04,400 they did. And I have no doubt that he tells the truth. How 369 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:10,039 far popular clamor and riots went in this matter, and how far many fanatical 370 00:30:10,119 --> 00:30:14,920 and ignorant Christians, for there were many such, contributed to excite the fanaticism 371 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:18,680 on the other side and to embedter the quarrel between the Roman government and the 372 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:25,359 new religion. Our extant ecclesiastical histories are manifestly falsified, and what truth they 373 00:30:25,359 --> 00:30:29,960 contain is grossly exaggerated. But the fact is certain that in the time of 374 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:34,319 Marcus Antoninus, the Heathen populations were an open hostility to the Christians, and 375 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:41,079 that under Antoninus's rule men were put to death because they were Christians. Eusebius, 376 00:30:41,079 --> 00:30:44,559 in the preface to his fifth book, remarks that in the seventeenth year 377 00:30:44,599 --> 00:30:48,279 of Antoninus's reign, in some parts of the world, the persecution of the 378 00:30:48,359 --> 00:30:52,920 Christians became more violent, and that it proceeded from the populace in the cities. 379 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:56,400 And he adds, in his usual style of exaggeration, that we may 380 00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:00,720 infer from what took place in a single nation that myriads of martyrs are made 381 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:06,319 in the habitable earth. The nation which he alludes to is Gallia, and 382 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:10,680 he then proceeds to give the letter the churches of Vienna in Lagdunum. It 383 00:31:10,759 --> 00:31:15,119 is probable that he has assigned the true cause of the persecutions the fanaticism of 384 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:18,960 the populace, and that both governors and emperor had a great deal of trouble 385 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:22,799 with these disturbances. How far Marcus was cognizant to these cruel proceedings we do 386 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:27,440 not know, for the historical records of his reign are very defective. He 387 00:31:27,519 --> 00:31:30,839 did not make the rule against the Christians, for Trajan did that. And 388 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:33,920 if we admit that he would have been willing to let the Christians alone, 389 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:37,240 we cannot affirm that he was in his power, for it would be a 390 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:42,400 great mistake to suppose that Antoninus had the unlimited authority which some modern sovereigns have 391 00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:48,640 had. His power was limited by certain constitutional forms, by the Senate, 392 00:31:48,799 --> 00:31:52,000 and by the precedence of his predecessors. We cannot admit that such a man 393 00:31:52,039 --> 00:31:56,000 was an active persecutor, for there is no evidence that he was. Though 394 00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:00,480 it is certain that he had no good opinion of the Christians, as appears 395 00:32:00,519 --> 00:32:05,839 from his own words footnote, except that of Erosius, who says that during 396 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:10,039 the Parthian War there were grievous persecutions of the Christians in Asia and Gallia under 397 00:32:10,039 --> 00:32:15,839 the orders of Marcus Prakepto Ayus, and quote many were crowned with a martyrdom 398 00:32:15,839 --> 00:32:22,680 of saints unquote in footnote. But he knew nothing of them except their hostility 399 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:27,440 to the Roman religion, and he probably thought that they were dangerous to the 400 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:31,759 state, notwithstanding the profession's false or true of some of the apologists. So 401 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:37,119 much I have said because it would be unfair not to state all that can 402 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:42,880 be urged against a man whom his contemporaries and subsequent ages venerated as a model 403 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,400 of virtue and benevolence. If I admitted the genuineness of some documents, he 404 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:52,160 would be altogether clear from the charge of even allowing any persecutions. But as 405 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:55,720 I seek the truth and am sure that they are false, I leave him 406 00:32:55,720 --> 00:33:00,000 to bear whatever blame is his due. Footnote. Doctor F. C. 407 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:07,039 Bauer, in his work entitled does christinetum undi christly kakirka derdry erstag yo Hunderta 408 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:13,200 et cetera has examined this question with great good sense and fairness, and I 409 00:33:13,279 --> 00:33:15,480 believe he has stated the truth as near as our authorities enable us to reach 410 00:33:15,519 --> 00:33:22,119 it. In footnote, I add that it is quite certain that Antoninus did 411 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:25,319 not derive any of his ethical principles from a religion of which he knew nothing. 412 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:31,599 Footnote. In the digest there is the following excerpt from Modestinus. Quote 413 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:42,640 see KUIs ali kuit fekeret kuo leis hominoma nima separastiona namenus terrerin d u s 414 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:51,720 marcus hu yas mada homenas in insulam relegela rescripsit unquote. There is no doubt 415 00:33:51,799 --> 00:33:55,839 that the Emperor's Reflections or his meditations, as they are generally named, is 416 00:33:55,920 --> 00:34:00,640 a genuine work. In the first book he speaks of an himself, his 417 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:05,680 family, and his teachers, and in other books he mentions himself. Soueidis 418 00:34:05,839 --> 00:34:09,039 notices the work of Antoninus in twelve books, which he names the conduct of 419 00:34:09,039 --> 00:34:14,000 his own life, and he cites the book under several words in his dictionary, 420 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:17,039 giving the Emperor's name but not the title of the work. There are 421 00:34:17,079 --> 00:34:23,079 also passages cited by Suidas from Antoninus without mention of the emperor's name. The 422 00:34:23,119 --> 00:34:28,840 true title of the work is unknown. Zilander, who published the first edition 423 00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:32,320 of this book with a Latin version, used a manuscript which contained the twelve 424 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:37,480 books, but it is not known where the manuscript is now. The only 425 00:34:37,519 --> 00:34:42,480 other complete manuscript which is known to exist is in the Vatican Library, but 426 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:45,840 it has no titles in no inscriptions. Of the several books, the eleventh 427 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:51,800 only has the inscription marked with an asterisk. The other Vatican manuscripts in the 428 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:57,239 three Florentine contain only excerpts from the Emperor's book. All the titles of the 429 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:01,280 excerpts nearly agree with that which Silander prefix to his edition. This title has 430 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:07,400 been used by all subsequent editors. We cannot tell whether Antoninus divided his work 431 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,159 into books or somebody else did it. If the inscriptions at the end of 432 00:35:10,159 --> 00:35:15,039 the first and second books are genuine, he may have made the division himself. 433 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:19,440 It is plain that the emperor wrote down his thoughts or reflections as the 434 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,840 occasions arose, and since they were intended for his own use, it is 435 00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:28,199 no improbable conjecture that he left a complete copy behind him, written with his 436 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,199 own hand, for it is not likely that so diligent a man would use 437 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:36,960 the labor of a transcriber for such a purpose and expose his most secret thoughts 438 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,840 to any other eye. He may have also intended the book for his son 439 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:45,320 Eusebius Combatusts, who however, had no taste for his father's philosophy. Some 440 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:51,199 careful hand preserved the precious volume and a work by Antoninus, as mentioned by 441 00:35:51,199 --> 00:35:57,599 other late writers beside Suidas, Many critics have labored on the text of Antoninus. 442 00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:01,880 The most complete edition is that by Thomas Gataker sixteen fifty two quarto. 443 00:36:02,559 --> 00:36:07,679 The second edition of Gataker was superintended by George Stannup sixteen ninety seven quarto. 444 00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:14,480 There is also an edition of seventeen o four. Gataker made and suggested many 445 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:17,360 good corrections, and he also made a new Latin version, which is not 446 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:22,199 a very good specimen of Latin, but it generally expresses the sense of the 447 00:36:22,199 --> 00:36:27,280 original, and often better than some of the more recent translations. He added 448 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:31,559 in the margin opposite to each paragraph references to the other parallel passages, and 449 00:36:31,639 --> 00:36:36,079 he wrote a commentary, one of the most complete that has been written on 450 00:36:36,119 --> 00:36:40,840 any ancient author. This commentary contains the editor's exposition of the more difficult passages 451 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,559 and quotations from all the Greek and Roman writers for the illustration of the text. 452 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:51,480 It is a wonderful monument of learning and labor, and certainly no Englishman 453 00:36:51,559 --> 00:36:54,039 has yet done anything like it. At the end of his prevace, the 454 00:36:54,199 --> 00:36:58,880 editor says that he wrote it at Rotherhis, near London, in a severe 455 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,039 winter, when he was in the seventy eighth year of his age sixteen fifty 456 00:37:02,079 --> 00:37:07,800 one, a time when Milton Selden and other great men of the Commonwealth time 457 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:13,480 were living, and the great French scholar Solma's Soulmatius, with whom Gadaker corresponded 458 00:37:13,559 --> 00:37:17,360 and received help from him for his edition of Antoninus. The Greek text has 459 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:22,559 also been edited by J. M. Schultz Leipzic eighteen o two eight volumes, 460 00:37:22,639 --> 00:37:29,199 and by the learned Greek Athamontainus Coret Paris eighteen sixteen, eight volumes. 461 00:37:29,679 --> 00:37:35,480 The text of Schultz was republished by Taupnitz eighteen twenty one. There are English, 462 00:37:35,639 --> 00:37:39,480 German, French, Italian, and Spanish translations of Marcus Antoninus, and 463 00:37:39,559 --> 00:37:45,159 there may be others. I have not seen all the English translations. There 464 00:37:45,199 --> 00:37:50,199 is one by Jeremy Collier seventeen o two eight volumes, a most coarse and 465 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:54,199 vulgar copy of the original. The latest French translation, by Alexis Pieron, 466 00:37:54,679 --> 00:38:00,360 in the collection of Charpontier, is better than Dossier's, which has been honored 467 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:06,719 with an Italian version Udinae seventeen seventy two. There is an Italian version sixteen 468 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,440 seventy five, which I have not seen. It is by a cardinal quote 469 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:15,760 a man illustrious in the church. The Cardinal Francis Barberini, the elder nephew 470 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:20,840 of Pope Urban the seventh, occupied the last years of his life in translating 471 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:24,039 into his native language the thoughts of the Roman Emperor, in order to diffuse 472 00:38:24,079 --> 00:38:30,800 among the faithful the fertilizing and vivifying seeds. He dedicated this translation to his 473 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:35,199 soul to make it, as he says in his energetic style, redder than 474 00:38:35,199 --> 00:38:40,840 his purple at the side of the virtues of this gentile. I have made 475 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:45,559 this translation at intervals, after having used the book for many years. It 476 00:38:45,639 --> 00:38:49,719 is made from the Greek, but I have not always followed one text, 477 00:38:50,159 --> 00:38:53,840 and I have occasionally compared other versions with my own. I made this translation 478 00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:58,639 for my own use because I found that it was worth the labor. But 479 00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:01,360 it may be useful to others also, and therefore I determine to print it. 480 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:07,039 As the original is sometimes very difficult to understand, and still more difficult 481 00:39:07,039 --> 00:39:12,599 to translate. It is not possible that I have always avoided error, but 482 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,119 I believe that I have not often missed the meaning. And those who will 483 00:39:15,119 --> 00:39:20,360 take the trouble to compare the translation with the original should not hastily conclude that 484 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:23,639 I am wrong if they do not agree with me. Some passages do give 485 00:39:23,679 --> 00:39:27,840 the meaning, though at first sight they may not appear to do so. 486 00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:31,159 And when I differ from the translators, I think in some places they are 487 00:39:31,159 --> 00:39:36,000 wrong, and in other places I am sure that they are. I have 488 00:39:36,079 --> 00:39:39,719 placed in some passages a plus sign, which indicates corruption in the text or 489 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:44,920 great uncertainty in the meaning. I could have made the language more easy and 490 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:49,480 flowing, but I have preferred a ruder style as being better suited to express 491 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,519 the character of the original. And sometimes the obscurity which may appear in the 492 00:39:52,599 --> 00:39:57,360 version is a fair copy of the obscurity of the Greek. If I have 493 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:00,239 not given the best words for the Greek, I have done the best that 494 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:04,119 I could, And in the next text I have always given the same translation 495 00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:08,519 of the same word. The last reflection of the Stoic philosophy that I have 496 00:40:08,599 --> 00:40:15,679 observed is in Simplicius's commentary of the Incridian of Epictetus. Simplicius was not a 497 00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:21,079 Christian, and such a man was not likely to be converted at a time 498 00:40:21,119 --> 00:40:25,400 when Christianity was grossly corrupted. But he was a really religious man, and 499 00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:30,639 he includes his commentary with a prayer to the Deity, which no Christian could 500 00:40:30,679 --> 00:40:36,000 improve. From the time of Zeno to Simplicius, a period of about nine 501 00:40:36,079 --> 00:40:39,320 hundred years, the Stoic philosophy formed the characters of some of the best and 502 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:45,039 greatest men. Finally it became extinct, and we hear no more of it 503 00:40:45,079 --> 00:40:51,000 till the revival of letters. In Italy, Angelo Poliziano met with two very 504 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:58,000 inaccurate and incomplete manuscripts of Epictetus's in Caridian, which he translated into Latin and 505 00:40:58,119 --> 00:41:01,199 dedicated to his great patron, Lorenzo dme Medici, in whose collection he had 506 00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:07,119 found the book Poliziano's version was printed in the first ball edition of the Encridian 507 00:41:07,599 --> 00:41:15,679 eighty fifteen thirty one aped andream Cartandrum. Policiano recommends the Encridian to Lorenzo as 508 00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:20,039 a work well suited to his temper and useful in the difficulties by which he 509 00:41:20,119 --> 00:41:25,159 was surrounded. Epictetus and Antoninus have had readers ever since they were printed. 510 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:31,079 The Little Book of Antoninus has been the companion of some great men. Macchiavelli's 511 00:41:31,159 --> 00:41:36,199 Art of War and Marcus Antoninus were the two books which were used when he 512 00:41:36,239 --> 00:41:39,280 was a young man by Captain John Smith, and he could not have found 513 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:43,400 two writers better fitted to form the character of a soldier and a man. 514 00:41:44,239 --> 00:41:49,199 Smith is almost unknown and forgotten in England, his native country, but not 515 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:52,480 in America, where he saved the young colony of Virginia. He was great 516 00:41:52,519 --> 00:41:57,280 in his heroic mind and his deeds in arms, but greater still in the 517 00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:01,079 nobleness of his character. For a man's greatness lies not in wealth and station, 518 00:42:01,639 --> 00:42:07,159 as the vulgar believe, nor yet in his intellectual capacity, which is 519 00:42:07,199 --> 00:42:10,840 often associated with the meanest moral character, the most abject servility to those in 520 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:16,599 high places, and arrogance to the poor lowly. But a man's true greatness 521 00:42:16,639 --> 00:42:21,800 lies in the consciousness of an honest purpose in life, founded on a just 522 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:27,440 estimate of himself and everything else, on frequent self examination, and a steady 523 00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:30,880 obedience to the rule which he knows to be right, without troubling himself. 524 00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:36,480 As the Emperor says, he should not about what others may think or say, 525 00:42:37,199 --> 00:42:40,480 or whether they do or do not do that which he thinks and says 526 00:42:40,679 --> 00:42:45,480 and does. End of Chapter thirteen.