WEBVTT 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.