WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we're looking 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:05.620 at a figure who is really a walking paradox. 00:00:05.980 --> 00:00:08.660 Yeah. He's etched into history as Marcus Aurelius 00:00:08.660 --> 00:00:10.900 Antoninus. The philosopher emperor. Exactly. 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:13.539 The man who wrote Meditations, which, I mean, 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:15.599 it's still on bestseller lists. It's this incredible 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:17.739 guide to resilience and duty that people are 00:00:17.739 --> 00:00:19.500 reading right now. And yet, if you look at his 00:00:19.500 --> 00:00:24.589 actual reign. 19 years, from 161 to 180 AD, it 00:00:24.589 --> 00:00:28.730 was just relentless, brutal crisis, one after 00:00:28.730 --> 00:00:31.070 another. You read his philosophy and you picture 00:00:31.070 --> 00:00:34.000 this quiet, contemplative man in a library. Right. 00:00:34.060 --> 00:00:36.240 Surrounded by scrolls. But the reality was he 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:38.759 spent most of his time as emperor on the freezing, 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:41.899 bloody frontier along the Danube River. Battling 00:00:41.899 --> 00:00:45.679 Germanic tribes, trying to manage a very unreliable 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:47.939 co -emperor and desperately trying to hold the 00:00:47.939 --> 00:00:50.399 empire together during a plague that just devastated 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:52.439 everything. The tension there is just immense. 00:00:52.579 --> 00:00:54.799 He's known as the last of the five good emperors, 00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:57.679 the final ruler of that Nerventine dynasty. Yeah. 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:00.859 And his death. It's often cited as the literal 00:01:00.859 --> 00:01:03.899 end of the Pax Romana. That 200 year stretch 00:01:03.899 --> 00:01:06.579 of relative peace and stability that started 00:01:06.579 --> 00:01:09.620 with Augustus. It just, it ends with him. It's 00:01:09.620 --> 00:01:11.700 the end of an era. And it's not just us looking 00:01:11.700 --> 00:01:14.040 back and saying that. Ancient historians felt 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:17.040 it in real time. Cassius Dio, writing not long 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.019 after, was just profoundly sad about it. He has 00:01:20.019 --> 00:01:22.299 that famous line, doesn't he? He does. He said 00:01:22.299 --> 00:01:24.640 that with Marcus's death, the history of Rome 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:27.200 descended from a kingdom of gold to one of iron 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:29.939 and rust. I mean, you can't get much more definitive 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:32.819 than that. We're looking at a... True turning 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:35.079 point. So for this deep dive, we have to talk 00:01:35.079 --> 00:01:37.530 about the sources because they are. Tricky. And 00:01:37.530 --> 00:01:39.810 that's really part of the mission here, wrestling 00:01:39.810 --> 00:01:41.969 with this record. It really is. We have the Historia 00:01:41.969 --> 00:01:44.549 Augusta, which has all these later biographies 00:01:44.549 --> 00:01:46.829 of the emperors. And it's full of colorful details, 00:01:46.989 --> 00:01:49.030 very specific stories. But you have to treat 00:01:49.030 --> 00:01:51.349 it with extreme caution. I mean, extreme. It 00:01:51.349 --> 00:01:53.750 was probably written much, much later than it 00:01:53.750 --> 00:01:56.549 claims by maybe just one author pretending to 00:01:56.549 --> 00:01:58.950 be multiple writers. So it sensationalizes things. 00:01:59.170 --> 00:02:02.290 Oh, absolutely. It sensationalizes. It fabricates 00:02:02.290 --> 00:02:04.810 material, especially as you get into this period, 00:02:04.870 --> 00:02:07.329 the later second century. So we have to fact 00:02:07.329 --> 00:02:09.770 check it constantly. Which is why the personal 00:02:09.770 --> 00:02:12.189 material we have for Marcus is just so incredibly 00:02:12.189 --> 00:02:14.430 valuable. It's a goldmine. We have these two 00:02:14.430 --> 00:02:17.710 amazing windows into his mind. First, there's 00:02:17.710 --> 00:02:19.789 the surviving correspondence he had with his 00:02:19.789 --> 00:02:21.810 tutor, Fronto. And that gives us a look at his 00:02:21.810 --> 00:02:24.490 youth, his education, his intellectual struggles. 00:02:24.810 --> 00:02:27.009 And then, of course, the big one, meditations, 00:02:27.110 --> 00:02:30.330 which is just raw, unfiltered, philosophical 00:02:30.330 --> 00:02:33.069 combat with himself. So our mission today is 00:02:33.069 --> 00:02:35.419 really to unpack that struggle. How does this 00:02:35.419 --> 00:02:38.219 incredibly thoughtful, deeply sensitive, duty 00:02:38.219 --> 00:02:41.360 -bound man handle military logistics, financial 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:43.780 collapse, and the death of millions? I want to 00:02:43.780 --> 00:02:46.500 see how that philosophical foundation, how it 00:02:46.500 --> 00:02:49.280 survived, or maybe how it was twisted and changed 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:51.319 by the unbelievable pressures of being emperor. 00:02:51.659 --> 00:02:53.340 Okay, let's get into it. Let's start at the beginning 00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:55.819 with the path that took this privileged Roman 00:02:55.819 --> 00:02:59.479 kid and put him in line for the throne. So Marcus 00:02:59.479 --> 00:03:02.000 Aurelius is born Marcus Antius Catillus Severus. 00:03:02.020 --> 00:03:05.080 That's in 121 AD. Right here in Rome. And you 00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:08.620 said it before, his start in life was anything 00:03:08.620 --> 00:03:11.599 but humble. Oh, not at all. He was born into 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:15.060 the absolute elite of the elite. But it's important 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:17.400 to understand the kind of wealth he had. It wasn't 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:19.539 just old aristocratic land. It was commercial 00:03:19.539 --> 00:03:22.199 wealth. Massive commercial wealth. His mother, 00:03:22.379 --> 00:03:25.000 Domitia Lucilla Minor, she owned some of the 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.599 most profitable brickworks just outside of Rome. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:28.979 And you have to think about what that means. 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:32.500 Rome is constantly building. Constantly. Aqueducts, 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:35.479 temples, apartment blocks, repairs. So if you 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:37.800 control the supply of brick, which is the primary 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:40.719 building material, you control enormous wealth 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:43.240 and, you know, a ton of political leverage. It 00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:45.159 also gave him a real sense of place in the city. 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:47.860 He had this beautiful villa on the Caelian Hill. 00:03:48.060 --> 00:03:50.680 The Horti d 'Amitia Calvelli. He called it my 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:52.979 Caelian. And you get the sense he really loved 00:03:52.979 --> 00:03:55.759 it there. It's such a contrast to the cold imperial 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:58.300 palaces he'd have to live in later. He always 00:03:58.300 --> 00:04:00.680 seemed to... I prefer that earlier, quieter life. 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:03.060 But that life gets completely turned on its head 00:04:03.060 --> 00:04:05.800 by the politics of the day. Specifically, the 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:08.000 Roman obsession with succession through adoption, 00:04:08.340 --> 00:04:10.810 not... You know, not just hoping your biological 00:04:10.810 --> 00:04:12.969 son turns out okay. It really was like an intricate 00:04:12.969 --> 00:04:15.449 game of chess. Yeah. The emperor, Hadrian, he 00:04:15.449 --> 00:04:18.189 doesn't have a biological heir he thinks is suitable. 00:04:18.490 --> 00:04:21.149 So first, he chooses a man named Aelius Caesar. 00:04:21.389 --> 00:04:25.089 Right, but then Aelius dies suddenly in 138 AD, 00:04:25.250 --> 00:04:27.689 and Hadrian himself is fading, so he has to make 00:04:27.689 --> 00:04:30.810 another move fast. And this final move is what 00:04:30.810 --> 00:04:34.290 really locks in that entire stable period of 00:04:34.290 --> 00:04:37.300 the Antinodes. It's a master stroke. He chooses 00:04:37.300 --> 00:04:40.199 Antoninus Pius, who was Marcus's uncle by marriage. 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:43.000 But there's a condition, a huge one. He tells 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.139 Antoninus, you have to immediately adopt two 00:04:45.139 --> 00:04:48.399 boys as your designated heirs. Exactly. And those 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:51.439 two boys are Marcus, who was just 17 at the time, 00:04:51.459 --> 00:04:54.040 and Lucius Commodus, who was a very young son 00:04:54.040 --> 00:04:56.399 of the Aelius Caesar who had just died. It's 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:58.399 a brilliant way to transfer power. You bring 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:00.920 in new blood, but you also satisfy old political 00:05:00.920 --> 00:05:03.790 loyalties to Aelius's family. But look at Marcus's 00:05:03.790 --> 00:05:06.029 reaction to this. This wasn't a moment of, you 00:05:06.029 --> 00:05:08.750 know, hooray, I'm going to be emperor. No, the 00:05:08.750 --> 00:05:10.889 biographer is very clear about this. He received 00:05:10.889 --> 00:05:14.449 the news with sackness, sadness, and he only 00:05:14.449 --> 00:05:16.610 moved from his mother's house on the Kilian Hill 00:05:16.610 --> 00:05:19.670 to Hadrian's private home reluctantly. He was 00:05:19.670 --> 00:05:22.709 a student, a philosopher. He wanted a life of 00:05:22.709 --> 00:05:25.610 retreat, and suddenly he's dragged onto the world 00:05:25.610 --> 00:05:28.310 stage. It must have felt like a physical weight 00:05:28.310 --> 00:05:31.230 just landing on him. And with it comes the new 00:05:31.230 --> 00:05:35.750 name. Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar. The 00:05:35.750 --> 00:05:38.209 name itself signals he's on the path to the throne. 00:05:38.389 --> 00:05:41.329 And that path required a very specific kind of 00:05:41.329 --> 00:05:44.009 education. It was less about quiet contemplation 00:05:44.009 --> 00:05:46.310 and more about the practical art of ruling. And 00:05:46.310 --> 00:05:48.589 in Rome, that meant one thing above all else. 00:05:49.589 --> 00:05:51.790 Oratory. Absolutely. You had to be a performer. 00:05:52.129 --> 00:05:54.449 He got the best Tudor's money could buy, which 00:05:54.449 --> 00:05:57.610 sets up this clash of ideals that really defines 00:05:57.610 --> 00:05:59.769 his youth. This is the part of his story I find 00:05:59.769 --> 00:06:02.269 so fascinating, this internal intellectual conflict. 00:06:02.350 --> 00:06:04.990 He's being trained to be this elite public speaker, 00:06:05.170 --> 00:06:07.529 you know, someone who can sway the Senate. Exactly. 00:06:07.870 --> 00:06:11.410 For Greek, he had Herodotus Atticus, who was 00:06:11.410 --> 00:06:15.290 a phenomenal, if a bit of a controversial Athenian 00:06:15.290 --> 00:06:17.589 rhetorician. And for Latin? For Latin, he studied 00:06:17.589 --> 00:06:20.060 under Marcus Cornelius. fronto and fronto was 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:23.040 a giant in his day people considered him second 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:26.819 only to cicero he was all about Pure rhetorical 00:06:26.819 --> 00:06:29.620 style, using language to dazzle an audience. 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:31.839 Yeah. And we have their letters, the correspondence 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:34.540 with Fronto. It just paints such a clear picture 00:06:34.540 --> 00:06:36.579 of his life at this time. He was completely drowning 00:06:36.579 --> 00:06:38.379 in the administrative work of being an heir. 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:40.540 He was. We have one letter where he's writing 00:06:40.540 --> 00:06:42.759 to Fronto and he's complaining about being drowned 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:45.519 in paperwork. He says he was forced to dictate 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:48.680 nearly 30 letters. 30 letters. That's the reality 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:51.139 of it. It's not grand speeches all day. It's 00:06:51.139 --> 00:06:53.639 endless reports, endless correspondence. But 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:55.439 you can tell this formal training. this focus 00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:57.699 on performance, it just wasn't satisfying him 00:06:57.699 --> 00:07:00.740 on a deeper level. And then around age 25, he 00:07:00.740 --> 00:07:03.300 makes the pivot, the definitive turn to stoicism. 00:07:03.540 --> 00:07:06.160 And this changes everything. He moves from focusing 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:09.040 on that external performance to focusing on internal 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:11.600 discipline. And the change in his main teacher 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:14.420 was the key. He just became disaffected with 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:17.060 law studies and formal oratory. He thought it 00:07:17.060 --> 00:07:19.800 was empty. His true intellectual guide became 00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:23.139 Quintus Junius Rusticus. And Rusticus wasn't 00:07:23.139 --> 00:07:25.779 just some academic philosopher. No, he was a 00:07:25.779 --> 00:07:28.779 living symbol. He was the heir to the tradition 00:07:28.779 --> 00:07:31.899 of the Stoic opposition. These were the men who 00:07:31.899 --> 00:07:34.620 had dared to stand up to earlier tyrants, emperors 00:07:34.620 --> 00:07:36.800 like Domitian. So Rusticus basically gives him 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:38.980 permission not to be flashy. That's a great way 00:07:38.980 --> 00:07:41.579 to put it. Marcus praises him in meditations 00:07:41.579 --> 00:07:44.709 for teaching. him not to be led astray into enthusiasm 00:07:44.709 --> 00:07:47.769 for rhetoric. It wasn't about debating abstract 00:07:47.769 --> 00:07:50.290 ideas in public. It was about learning how to 00:07:50.290 --> 00:07:52.810 live a good life right now. This is the moment 00:07:52.810 --> 00:07:55.230 the inner emperor, the philosopher, really takes 00:07:55.230 --> 00:07:57.750 precedence over the public orator. And it wasn't 00:07:57.750 --> 00:07:59.750 just a phase he went through. There's this beautiful 00:07:59.750 --> 00:08:02.029 little story from Philostratus that shows his 00:08:02.029 --> 00:08:04.689 lifelong dedication to learning. Even when he 00:08:04.689 --> 00:08:08.389 was the old powerful emperor. Yes, his co -emperor 00:08:08.389 --> 00:08:10.790 Lucius sees him heading out one day with his 00:08:10.790 --> 00:08:13.370 school tablets under his arm, and Marcus just 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:16.449 says, It is good even for an old man to learn. 00:08:16.829 --> 00:08:19.670 I am now on my way to Sextus the Philosopher 00:08:19.670 --> 00:08:23.089 to learn what I do not yet know. That image is 00:08:23.089 --> 00:08:25.589 just so powerful. And the reaction from the people 00:08:25.589 --> 00:08:28.689 who saw it was, Oh Zeus! The king of the Romans 00:08:28.689 --> 00:08:30.769 in his old age takes up his tablets and goes 00:08:30.769 --> 00:08:33.690 to school. It just completely humanizes him. 00:08:33.809 --> 00:08:36.789 It shows a man who valued moral improvement over 00:08:36.789 --> 00:08:39.009 all the trappings of power. And he was going 00:08:39.009 --> 00:08:41.289 to need that identity, that identity as a learner, 00:08:41.389 --> 00:08:43.909 because his private world was about to be hit 00:08:43.909 --> 00:08:46.860 by just... immense personal tragedy. Yeah, let's 00:08:46.860 --> 00:08:49.820 talk about that private life. In 145 AD, he marries 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:52.120 Faustina the Younger, the daughter of Antoninus 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:54.980 Pius. Their marriage lasts 30 years, but it was 00:08:54.980 --> 00:08:57.639 filled with just tremendous, unrelenting loss. 00:08:57.940 --> 00:09:00.200 The numbers are devastating. Faustina gave birth 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:03.460 to at least 13 children. At least 13, including 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:06.200 two sets of twins. And we have these heartbreaking 00:09:06.200 --> 00:09:08.440 details from the sources about their deaths. 00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:12.200 We know two twin sons were born around 149 AD, 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:16.240 Titus Aurelius Antoninus and Tiberius Aurelius. 00:09:16.700 --> 00:09:19.720 Neither of them survived infancy. You can actually 00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:21.620 track the tragedy through the coins the empire 00:09:21.620 --> 00:09:23.940 minted? You can. When the boys are born, the 00:09:23.940 --> 00:09:26.200 mint issues these celebratory coins that say, 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:28.419 Temporum Felicitas, the happiness of the times. 00:09:28.539 --> 00:09:30.720 And they often show the two little boys. And 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:32.820 then? Then a little later, new coins come out 00:09:32.820 --> 00:09:34.820 and they only show one boy. And then finally, 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:37.259 the coins only show their surviving older sister. 00:09:37.419 --> 00:09:39.980 It's just, it's a family tragedy playing out 00:09:39.980 --> 00:09:42.039 in public metal. And they lost other children. 00:09:42.440 --> 00:09:44.759 Over and over again. Another son, Tiberius and 00:09:44.759 --> 00:09:47.539 Aelius Antoninus, died young, too. You try to 00:09:47.539 --> 00:09:50.100 imagine enduring that level of grief year after 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:52.320 year. And watching the promise of succession 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:55.320 just fade away with each child. These are illnesses 00:09:55.320 --> 00:09:57.899 that all the power and wealth in the empire couldn't 00:09:57.899 --> 00:10:01.039 cure. For him, Stoic philosophy wasn't some academic 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:04.340 exercise. It was the tool he was using to survive 00:10:04.340 --> 00:10:06.960 this personal furnace. And this is where that 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:09.899 philosophy meets the raw, horrible reality of 00:10:09.899 --> 00:10:13.059 being a parent who loses a child. child he gives 00:10:13.059 --> 00:10:16.460 us the definitive stoic response to this kind 00:10:16.460 --> 00:10:19.779 of loss right in meditations he tells himself 00:10:19.779 --> 00:10:22.139 essentially not to pray for the impossible he 00:10:22.139 --> 00:10:24.080 needs to pray for the moral strength to accept 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:27.639 what's inevitable he writes one man prays how 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:30.100 I may not lose my little child but you must pray 00:10:30.100 --> 00:10:33.639 how I may not be afraid to lose him so it's about 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:35.980 shifting your focus from controlling the world 00:10:35.980 --> 00:10:37.779 to controlling your reaction to it precisely 00:10:37.779 --> 00:10:40.799 he consciously applies these philosophical concepts 00:10:40.940 --> 00:10:42.759 He quotes from the Iliad, where children are 00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:44.820 compared to leaves scattered by the wind. He's 00:10:44.820 --> 00:10:47.759 using these ideas to rationalize and dissipate 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:50.100 his own sorrow. It's a remarkable level of attempt 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:52.500 at emotional control. He was forging that mental 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:54.759 resilience, that internal discipline that he 00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:56.399 was going to desperately need when he finally 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:58.440 took the throne, and the scale of death went 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:01.639 from personal to imperial. So that focus on duty 00:11:01.639 --> 00:11:04.220 and equanimity, equanimitas, which was the final 00:11:04.220 --> 00:11:06.460 password of his predecessor, Antoninus Pius, 00:11:06.600 --> 00:11:08.759 that's what guides Marcus onto the throne in 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:12.080 161 AD. It is. And the very first major decision 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:14.600 he makes is, while it's politically novel and 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:17.659 hugely significant, he insists on sharing power. 00:11:17.820 --> 00:11:20.120 Even though he didn't have to. The Senate was 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:22.340 ready to make him the sole emperor. Absolutely. 00:11:22.779 --> 00:11:26.159 Legally, he was the sole heir, but he was driven 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:28.679 by the sense of obligation to his adopted family. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:31.899 And also, I think, as some sources suggest, a 00:11:31.899 --> 00:11:35.200 deep reluctance to hold absolute power by himself, 00:11:35.419 --> 00:11:38.620 a kind of horror, a terror of being emperor. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:40.860 So he insists that his adopted brother, Lucius 00:11:40.860 --> 00:11:43.980 Verus, received equal imperial powers. Right. 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:46.679 So for the very first time in Roman history, 00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:49.720 you have two emperors. Two men, at the same time, 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.799 holding the titles of Imperator, Augustus, and 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:55.259 Full Tribunician Power. But we should be careful 00:11:55.259 --> 00:11:57.799 not to mistake this for... you know, a true 50 00:11:57.799 --> 00:12:00.000 -50 partnership. No, you're right. The sources 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.039 make it pretty clear that while it was a legal 00:12:02.039 --> 00:12:04.539 reality, it wasn't a true sharing of authority. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:07.879 Marcus had greater auctoritas, that's moral and 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:09.659 political authority. He was older, he'd been 00:12:09.659 --> 00:12:12.179 consul more times. And crucially, he alone held 00:12:12.179 --> 00:12:14.960 the sacred office of Pontifex Maximus, the chief 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:17.320 priest of Rome. That was a huge deal. So the 00:12:17.320 --> 00:12:20.399 biographer puts it very plainly. Verus obeyed 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:24.289 Marcus as a lieutenant obeys a pro -consul. It's 00:12:24.289 --> 00:12:26.450 a de facto hierarchy. It's just disguised as 00:12:26.450 --> 00:12:28.769 a partnership. But partnership or not, the first 00:12:28.769 --> 00:12:31.110 thing any new emperor had to do was secure the 00:12:31.110 --> 00:12:33.970 loyalty of the army. And that meant a massive 00:12:33.970 --> 00:12:36.029 payout. The price of power was immediate and 00:12:36.029 --> 00:12:38.590 it was astronomical. Yes. The Praetorian Guard, 00:12:38.730 --> 00:12:40.610 that's the elite force stationed right in Rome, 00:12:40.750 --> 00:12:43.850 they demanded a huge donativum, a loyalty bonus. 00:12:44.269 --> 00:12:47.330 Marcus and Lucius paid them 20 ,000 sesterces 00:12:47.330 --> 00:12:50.330 per man. 20 ,000. To put that in context for 00:12:50.330 --> 00:12:52.690 you, a regular legionary soldier at the time 00:12:52.690 --> 00:12:55.649 earned about 1 ,200 sesterces a year. So this 00:12:55.649 --> 00:12:58.450 bonus was roughly 17 years of a legionary's base 00:12:58.450 --> 00:13:01.269 pay, paid out immediately to every single member 00:13:01.269 --> 00:13:03.269 of the Guard in Rome. It's an unbelievably expensive 00:13:03.269 --> 00:13:06.250 insurance policy. It is. And that level of spending 00:13:06.250 --> 00:13:08.789 immediately shows you how shaky the finances 00:13:08.789 --> 00:13:11.470 of this golden empire actually were. To cover 00:13:11.470 --> 00:13:13.889 this huge unbudgeted bonus, Marcus had to do 00:13:13.889 --> 00:13:16.309 something that was, well, deeply problematic. 00:13:16.370 --> 00:13:18.950 He had to devalue the currency. This is such 00:13:18.950 --> 00:13:21.970 a critical detail. He lowered the silver purity 00:13:21.970 --> 00:13:25.309 of the main Roman coin, the denarius, from 83 00:13:25.309 --> 00:13:29.029 .5 % down to 79%. It doesn't sound like much, 00:13:29.129 --> 00:13:31.070 that little drop. But what does it actually mean 00:13:31.070 --> 00:13:33.490 for the ordinary Roman on the street? It's basically 00:13:33.490 --> 00:13:37.509 a hidden tax on the entire population. By putting 00:13:37.509 --> 00:13:40.750 less silver in each coin, the imperial mint can 00:13:40.750 --> 00:13:43.230 stretch its silver supply and make more coins 00:13:43.230 --> 00:13:46.490 to pay the soldiers. But it reduces the real 00:13:46.490 --> 00:13:49.509 intrinsic value of every coin already out there. 00:13:49.649 --> 00:13:52.149 It fuels inflation. It absolutely fuels inflation. 00:13:52.309 --> 00:13:54.570 If you're a farmer selling your grain, the coins 00:13:54.570 --> 00:13:56.509 you get in return are worth less than they were 00:13:56.509 --> 00:13:59.009 yesterday. So right away, you see this tension 00:13:59.009 --> 00:14:01.809 between Marcus's philosophical ideal of honest 00:14:01.809 --> 00:14:04.610 government and the dirty, pragmatic need to pay 00:14:04.610 --> 00:14:07.100 the army to keep them loyal. So the Golden Age 00:14:07.100 --> 00:14:09.139 is already built on some fiscal instability right 00:14:09.139 --> 00:14:11.419 from the very start. And then, of course, nature 00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:13.940 decides to pile on. The Felicitas Temporum, the 00:14:13.940 --> 00:14:16.080 happiness of the times, it didn't even last six 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:19.960 months. In late 161 or early 162, the Tiber River 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:23.539 flooded. A massive flood. Massive. It inundated 00:14:23.539 --> 00:14:25.820 all the low -lying parts of Rome. It destroyed 00:14:25.820 --> 00:14:28.500 the crops in the fields outside the city, drowned 00:14:28.500 --> 00:14:31.360 livestock. It caused an immediate famine. The 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.460 new emperors had to spend all their energy just 00:14:33.460 --> 00:14:35.700 managing relief efforts and food distribution. 00:14:36.220 --> 00:14:38.720 It was a sign of things to come. Their reign 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:40.500 was going to be defined by crisis management. 00:14:40.759 --> 00:14:42.580 And before they could even catch their breath 00:14:42.580 --> 00:14:46.070 from that... The outside world strikes. The Parthian 00:14:46.070 --> 00:14:49.690 War breaks out in 161 AD and it forces Rome into 00:14:49.690 --> 00:14:51.870 a massive foreign war that's going to last for 00:14:51.870 --> 00:14:54.149 five years. And the provocation was clear. It 00:14:54.149 --> 00:14:56.929 was direct. Volagas is the fifth of Parthia. 00:14:57.049 --> 00:14:59.269 He invades the Roman client kingdom of Armenia, 00:14:59.549 --> 00:15:02.110 kicks out the Roman backed king and puts his 00:15:02.110 --> 00:15:04.649 own guy on the throne. Rome just cannot let that 00:15:04.649 --> 00:15:07.029 stand. No way. But their initial response was 00:15:07.029 --> 00:15:10.370 a total unmitigated disaster. And it really showed 00:15:10.370 --> 00:15:12.789 how unready the Roman military was. And that 00:15:12.789 --> 00:15:14.929 disaster involves one of the most bizarre and, 00:15:14.950 --> 00:15:17.070 frankly, embarrassing stories of the entire reign. 00:15:17.210 --> 00:15:20.090 It involves a conman prophet. It's a spectacular 00:15:20.090 --> 00:15:22.850 failure. The governor of Cappadocia, a man named 00:15:22.850 --> 00:15:26.350 Severianus, he's sent in with a legion, but he's 00:15:26.350 --> 00:15:28.909 disastrously overconfident. And why? Because 00:15:28.909 --> 00:15:30.929 he'd fallen under the spell of this traveling 00:15:30.929 --> 00:15:33.769 prophet, a guy named Alexander of Abinotesis. 00:15:33.889 --> 00:15:35.809 And Alexander tells him, go on in. It'll be an 00:15:35.809 --> 00:15:38.769 easy victory. Pretty much. So Severianus charges 00:15:38.769 --> 00:15:41.809 in. He's immediately trapped by the much larger 00:15:41.809 --> 00:15:44.669 Parthian army at a place called Elegea. He commits 00:15:44.669 --> 00:15:47.710 suicide and his entire legion is just massacred. 00:15:47.830 --> 00:15:50.009 The whole thing took three days. Three days. 00:15:50.009 --> 00:15:52.909 It was a humiliation on a scale Rome hadn't seen 00:15:52.909 --> 00:15:55.710 in decades. And this must have been a huge wake 00:15:55.710 --> 00:15:58.590 up call for Marcus, who had spent 23 years with 00:15:58.590 --> 00:16:01.950 Antoninus in Rome and had basically no real military 00:16:01.950 --> 00:16:04.289 experience. It showed him he had to take this 00:16:04.289 --> 00:16:07.070 threat with the utmost seriousness. The immediate 00:16:07.070 --> 00:16:09.490 result was a massive reallocation of military 00:16:09.490 --> 00:16:12.870 resources. He had to pull three full legions, 00:16:12.870 --> 00:16:15.330 plus all these detachments from the Danubian 00:16:15.330 --> 00:16:17.509 frontier, and send them all east. Which is a 00:16:17.509 --> 00:16:19.750 crucial detail because that weakens the northern 00:16:19.750 --> 00:16:22.629 border. It's what sets the stage for the catastrophic 00:16:22.629 --> 00:16:25.529 Germanic invasions that come later. Exactly. 00:16:25.549 --> 00:16:28.230 And this is where we see the logic of the dual 00:16:28.230 --> 00:16:31.450 emperorship at work. The strategic decision is 00:16:31.450 --> 00:16:34.330 made to send Lucius Vidas east to command the 00:16:34.330 --> 00:16:37.399 war in person. What was the thinking there? Well, 00:16:37.580 --> 00:16:40.360 the official reason was that Lucius was stronger, 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:43.539 healthier, better suited for military life. The 00:16:43.539 --> 00:16:45.480 unofficial reason, according to the biographer, 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:48.019 was maybe to get him out of Rome and curb his, 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:50.960 let's say his debaucheries, by exposing him to 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:53.399 the terror of war. And Marcus the philosopher, 00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:56.279 he's the one who has to stay in Rome. The source 00:16:56.279 --> 00:16:58.659 says the city demanded the presence of an emperor. 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:01.919 So the roles are set. The stoic holds down the 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:04.619 fragile heart of the empire while the more volatile 00:17:04.619 --> 00:17:08.099 brother goes to the war front. And Lucius. Well, 00:17:08.180 --> 00:17:10.319 he quickly confirmed everyone's worst fears about 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:12.380 his character. He did. While the actual campaign 00:17:12.380 --> 00:17:15.000 was raging, Lucius basically settles into the 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.240 city of Antioch and the nearby resort town of 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:19.519 Daphne, and he's just criticized relentlessly 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:21.599 for his behavior. Gambling, right. Gambling, 00:17:21.859 --> 00:17:24.319 dicing all night, surrounding himself with actors 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:26.880 and musicians. He was essentially treating the 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:29.400 war as a chance for an extended, decadent vacation. 00:17:29.880 --> 00:17:32.680 So if Lucius was busy gambling, who was actually 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:35.240 winning the war for Rome? The real engine of 00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:37.819 the victory was a brilliant general named Avidius 00:17:37.819 --> 00:17:40.220 Cassius. He was the commander of the Third Gallica 00:17:40.220 --> 00:17:42.900 Legion, and he proved to be a military genius. 00:17:43.660 --> 00:17:46.519 Cassius just systematically dismantled the Parthian 00:17:46.519 --> 00:17:49.380 threat. They start by taking back Armenia. Right. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:51.980 They recapture the Armenian capital, Artaxata. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:55.460 They install a new Roman -backed king, and they 00:17:55.460 --> 00:17:58.660 even rename the capital Cainpolis, the new city. 00:17:59.049 --> 00:18:01.390 And that's just the beginning of the push into 00:18:01.390 --> 00:18:04.150 Mesopotamia. Correct. They take the city of Edessa, 00:18:04.250 --> 00:18:07.670 then Nisibis. But the decisive campaign, the 00:18:07.670 --> 00:18:10.390 one that really ends the war, is when Cassius 00:18:10.390 --> 00:18:13.109 marches his army down the Euphrates River. He 00:18:13.109 --> 00:18:15.609 besieges and sacks the great city of Seleucia. 00:18:15.769 --> 00:18:17.930 And it moves on to Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital 00:18:17.930 --> 00:18:20.430 itself. And he burns the royal palace to the 00:18:20.430 --> 00:18:22.470 ground. It was a massive victory. It completely 00:18:22.470 --> 00:18:24.690 reestablished Roman military dominance in the 00:18:24.690 --> 00:18:28.359 east. But it was also... A bit morally ambiguous, 00:18:28.579 --> 00:18:30.700 wasn't it? The sack of Seleucia in particular. 00:18:31.079 --> 00:18:34.220 It was. Seleucia was a largely Greek city, and 00:18:34.220 --> 00:18:36.460 the citizens initially opened their gates to 00:18:36.460 --> 00:18:38.599 the Romans, saying, you know, we're on your side. 00:18:39.660 --> 00:18:42.700 Cassius ordered the city sacked anyway. He claimed 00:18:42.700 --> 00:18:45.140 they had broken faith first. It was an act of 00:18:45.140 --> 00:18:46.940 brutality that would have consequences later. 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:49.900 Still, the victory was undeniable. And Lucius 00:18:49.900 --> 00:18:51.680 Verus, who spent most of his time in Daphne, 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:54.859 he gets all the public glory. He takes the titles 00:18:54.859 --> 00:18:59.269 Arminiacus. Parthicus Maximus Medicus. And Marcus, 00:18:59.569 --> 00:19:02.269 ever the master of political tact, he delays 00:19:02.269 --> 00:19:04.950 accepting those same titles for himself. It was 00:19:04.950 --> 00:19:07.150 a deliberate move to elevate Lucius' status, 00:19:07.410 --> 00:19:09.490 to make the partnership look real. He eventually 00:19:09.490 --> 00:19:11.529 shared the honor, though. He did. He was hailed 00:19:11.529 --> 00:19:13.950 Imperator four times by the end of the war. So 00:19:13.950 --> 00:19:16.190 the war was over. Rome had won. But the seeds 00:19:16.190 --> 00:19:18.369 of the next catastrophe were already sown. They 00:19:18.369 --> 00:19:20.369 were literally marching home with the victorious 00:19:20.369 --> 00:19:23.549 army. That is the critical link. The troops coming 00:19:23.549 --> 00:19:25.750 back from Mesopotamia, they brought more than 00:19:25.750 --> 00:19:28.630 just plunder and victory titles. They brought 00:19:28.630 --> 00:19:31.049 back a biological agent that would fundamentally 00:19:31.049 --> 00:19:33.670 shatter the Golden Age. So this is where the 00:19:33.670 --> 00:19:36.849 crisis shifts from a military problem to a demographic 00:19:36.849 --> 00:19:39.950 one. We go straight from the success of the Parthian 00:19:39.950 --> 00:19:43.230 War into the horror of the Antonine Plague. Which 00:19:43.230 --> 00:19:46.069 historians now widely believe was a major smallpox 00:19:46.069 --> 00:19:49.109 epidemic. And it started in Mesopotamia. The 00:19:49.109 --> 00:19:51.130 returning army was the vector. They carried it 00:19:51.130 --> 00:19:54.069 back across the empire. starting around 165, 00:19:54.170 --> 00:19:57.230 166 A .D. And this wasn't a local outbreak. This 00:19:57.230 --> 00:19:59.890 was a continental catastrophe. The physician 00:19:59.890 --> 00:20:02.869 Galen, who was there, he recorded the symptoms 00:20:02.869 --> 00:20:07.190 in horrifying detail. A persistent fever, diarrhea, 00:20:07.529 --> 00:20:09.990 and these pustular eruptions breaking out all 00:20:09.990 --> 00:20:12.509 over the body. The numbers are just. They're 00:20:12.509 --> 00:20:14.730 hard to comprehend. Modern estimates suggest 00:20:14.730 --> 00:20:17.490 somewhere between 5 and 10 million deaths across 00:20:17.490 --> 00:20:19.549 the Roman world. You have to pause on that. In 00:20:19.549 --> 00:20:22.150 an empire of maybe 60 million people, that means 00:20:22.150 --> 00:20:24.369 losing up to a sixth of your entire population. 00:20:24.390 --> 00:20:26.769 It's an existential wound. It's not just mass 00:20:26.769 --> 00:20:29.250 death. It's the breakdown of society. Complete 00:20:29.250 --> 00:20:31.730 breakdown. You have labor shortages on the farms, 00:20:31.789 --> 00:20:34.430 which leads to famine. The supply chain is disrupted. 00:20:34.789 --> 00:20:37.509 And crucially for Marcus, it guts the ranks of 00:20:37.509 --> 00:20:40.470 the Roman legions. Many of these units had just 00:20:40.470 --> 00:20:43.369 returned from the east, victorious, only to be 00:20:43.369 --> 00:20:45.650 wiped out by the disease they themselves carried 00:20:45.650 --> 00:20:48.529 home. The historian Raoul McLaughlin called the 00:20:48.529 --> 00:20:51.069 damage to the entire administrative and military 00:20:51.069 --> 00:20:53.869 machine irreparable. And the plague literally 00:20:53.869 --> 00:20:57.029 ended the dual rule of the two emperors. Right, 00:20:57.109 --> 00:20:59.950 because Lucius Ferris dies in 169 AD. He does. 00:21:00.109 --> 00:21:02.230 He was returning from the northern frontier and 00:21:02.230 --> 00:21:05.049 he was only 39 years old. The exact cause is 00:21:05.049 --> 00:21:07.849 debated. Some sources say a stroke. But the most 00:21:07.849 --> 00:21:10.250 likely theory, given the timing and his proximity 00:21:10.250 --> 00:21:12.869 to the legions, is that he was a victim of the 00:21:12.869 --> 00:21:15.390 plague. So suddenly Marcus is the sole emperor, 00:21:15.630 --> 00:21:18.269 inheriting a state that is just bleeding manpower 00:21:18.269 --> 00:21:21.069 and struggling to function. And the global reach 00:21:21.069 --> 00:21:23.410 of this thing is also fascinating to think about. 00:21:23.529 --> 00:21:25.910 It wasn't just contained within Roman borders. 00:21:26.230 --> 00:21:27.849 Raoul McLaughlin connects it to the collapse 00:21:27.849 --> 00:21:30.259 of Roman trade in the Indian Ocean. He does. 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:33.900 The disease spreads so far that there are contemporary 00:21:33.900 --> 00:21:36.680 accounts from Han China that describe a very 00:21:36.680 --> 00:21:38.940 similar plague happening at almost the exact 00:21:38.940 --> 00:21:43.029 same time, around 166 AD. And that date is interesting. 00:21:43.289 --> 00:21:46.309 It's very interesting because 166 A .D. is when 00:21:46.309 --> 00:21:49.029 a Roman traveler shows up at the Han court claiming 00:21:49.029 --> 00:21:51.470 to be an ambassador from a ruler named Endon. 00:21:51.630 --> 00:21:54.289 Which is likely a phonetic version of Antoninus. 00:21:54.390 --> 00:21:57.369 Or Marcus. So you have this moment of first contact 00:21:57.369 --> 00:22:00.289 between these two great empires and it's happening 00:22:00.289 --> 00:22:03.369 in the shadow of a shared global pandemic. So 00:22:03.369 --> 00:22:05.890 Marcus is now facing this unprecedented demographic 00:22:05.890 --> 00:22:08.650 collapse, the financial strain from the currency 00:22:08.650 --> 00:22:11.500 devaluation, a bureaucracy decimated. by illness. 00:22:11.700 --> 00:22:13.680 And what happens next? The northern frontier 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:16.380 just explodes. This is the start of the Marcomannic 00:22:16.380 --> 00:22:20.559 Wars. 14 years of brutal nonstop fighting from 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:23.920 166 to 180 that consumed the entire rest of his 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:26.579 life. The timing isn't a coincidence. Not at 00:22:26.579 --> 00:22:29.119 all. The Parthian War had forced Marcus to pull 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:32.079 legions from the north. The plague had then weakened 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:34.859 the legions that were left. The northern tribes, 00:22:35.019 --> 00:22:36.779 they saw their opportunity. And the pressure 00:22:36.779 --> 00:22:38.759 on the Danube frontier was just unprecedented. 00:22:39.180 --> 00:22:42.079 It wasn't one tribe. It was a flood of Germanic 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:44.779 peoples. The Marcomanni, the Quadi, the Lombards. 00:22:44.819 --> 00:22:47.400 And the Sarmatian Yazidis, too. All of them crossing 00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:49.680 the river en masse. This wasn't just a border 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:53.559 raid. This was a deep military penetration into 00:22:53.559 --> 00:22:56.539 Roman territory. A true crisis of the empire's 00:22:56.539 --> 00:22:59.750 core security. It was. One tribe. the Kostobochi, 00:22:59.930 --> 00:23:02.430 they invaded deep into the Balkans. They reached 00:23:02.430 --> 00:23:05.650 Moesia, Macedonia, and unbelievably, they were 00:23:05.650 --> 00:23:08.450 even threatening Greece itself. You can imagine 00:23:08.450 --> 00:23:10.490 the panic in Rome when the enemy is suddenly 00:23:10.490 --> 00:23:12.849 operating in the Aegean. So Marcus had to raise 00:23:12.849 --> 00:23:15.890 new legions. Two entirely new legions, the Legio 00:23:15.890 --> 00:23:19.349 III Italica and Legio III Italica. And that name 00:23:19.349 --> 00:23:21.789 Italica was chosen specifically to indicate their 00:23:21.789 --> 00:23:24.500 purpose. the defense of Italy itself. Yeah, he 00:23:24.500 --> 00:23:26.539 had to manage this huge displacement of people, 00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:28.240 all these tribes trying to cross the border, 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:30.119 some seeking refuge, some looking to settle. 00:23:30.259 --> 00:23:32.640 His approach was mixed. It shows a real willingness 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:35.980 to compromise, to be pragmatic. Initially, he 00:23:35.980 --> 00:23:38.079 allowed a number of tribes to settle in frontier 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:41.160 regions like Dacia and Pannonia. The hope was 00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:43.579 to use them as a buffer and maybe even a source 00:23:43.579 --> 00:23:46.460 of new soldiers. But that was a calculated risk. 00:23:46.619 --> 00:23:49.059 A huge risk. And the instability of that strategy 00:23:49.059 --> 00:23:52.000 became very clear very quickly in Italy itself. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:55.440 This is the incident in Ravenna. Exactly. Marcus 00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:57.960 permitted some Germanic tribes to settle in Ravenna, 00:23:58.039 --> 00:24:00.640 which was a key port city. They almost immediately 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:03.579 revolted. After that, Marcus reversed course. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:06.660 He banished them and he made a firm policy decision. 00:24:07.059 --> 00:24:10.000 No more barbarians would be brought into Italy 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:12.619 proper. The threat to Roman stability was just 00:24:12.619 --> 00:24:16.630 too great. Marcomannic Wars. This was a massive 00:24:16.630 --> 00:24:18.950 undertaking. It basically forced Marcus, the 00:24:18.950 --> 00:24:21.650 philosopher, to become a full -time field commander, 00:24:21.890 --> 00:24:24.289 the one life he had always tried to avoid. He 00:24:24.289 --> 00:24:26.190 spent immense amounts of time on the frontier. 00:24:26.509 --> 00:24:29.190 The Danube became his primary residence. He was 00:24:29.190 --> 00:24:31.470 literally living out his philosophy of duty under 00:24:31.470 --> 00:24:34.130 the most extreme conditions imaginable. The fighting 00:24:34.130 --> 00:24:36.289 was just prolonged and brutal. And difficult. 00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:39.019 You're fighting these highly mobile, decentralized 00:24:39.019 --> 00:24:42.059 tribal armies in very tough terrain, often in 00:24:42.059 --> 00:24:45.359 winter. The famous rain miracle, where the army 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:47.740 was saved from dehydration, it shows you just 00:24:47.740 --> 00:24:50.500 how desperate the situation could get. And despite 00:24:50.500 --> 00:24:53.599 this constant draining war. Marcus' ambition 00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:56.680 was actually enormous. He didn't just want to 00:24:56.680 --> 00:24:59.099 contain the threat. No, he wanted to push the 00:24:59.099 --> 00:25:01.180 border forward and create a permanent security 00:25:01.180 --> 00:25:05.000 buffer for the empire. His final plan was monumental. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:08.079 The new provinces? The new provinces of Sarmatia 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:10.799 and Markomania. This would have meant annexing 00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:13.099 huge swaths of what is now the Czech Republic, 00:25:13.339 --> 00:25:16.579 Slovakia, and Hungary. It was a massive expansionist 00:25:16.579 --> 00:25:19.220 vision, all aimed at creating a truly secure, 00:25:19.460 --> 00:25:22.069 defensible border. But that project gets cut 00:25:22.069 --> 00:25:24.670 short, first by the revolt of his best general, 00:25:24.829 --> 00:25:27.509 Ovidius Cassius. And then by his own death. The 00:25:27.509 --> 00:25:29.849 Cassius Revolt is this fascinating hiccup in 00:25:29.849 --> 00:25:32.809 the middle of a huge foreign war. Cassius, the 00:25:32.809 --> 00:25:34.910 general who won the Parthian War, was now in 00:25:34.910 --> 00:25:37.029 charge of all the legions in the East. And in 00:25:37.029 --> 00:25:39.910 175 AD, a rumor starts that Marcus is dying. 00:25:40.299 --> 00:25:43.279 Right. And Cassius uses that rumor to proclaim 00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:46.299 himself emperor. It's the constant risk of the 00:25:46.299 --> 00:25:49.420 Roman system. Your most successful general is 00:25:49.420 --> 00:25:52.059 also your biggest potential threat. So Marcus 00:25:52.059 --> 00:25:55.559 has to pause this vital northern campaign and 00:25:55.559 --> 00:25:59.039 prepare to march east to fight a civil war. How 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:01.799 did he react to this ultimate betrayal? According 00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:04.460 to the sources, he was remarkably restrained, 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:07.920 even charitable. He reportedly told his soldiers 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:09.900 that he regretted that he would have to fight 00:26:09.900 --> 00:26:12.779 Cassius, a man he had trusted, and he hoped that, 00:26:12.900 --> 00:26:15.119 if he won, he wouldn't have to execute him. He 00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:17.420 wanted to show clemency. But the revolt was actually 00:26:17.420 --> 00:26:20.559 very short -lived. It was. Cassius' own supporters, 00:26:20.740 --> 00:26:22.859 once they heard that Marcus was actually alive 00:26:22.859 --> 00:26:25.559 and on his way, they assassinated him just three 00:26:25.559 --> 00:26:27.730 months after he started the revolt. And Marcus's 00:26:27.730 --> 00:26:29.930 reaction to that is just as telling. He refused 00:26:29.930 --> 00:26:31.789 to look at the documents that would have named 00:26:31.789 --> 00:26:34.490 Cassius's co -conspirators. He had them all burned, 00:26:34.589 --> 00:26:37.150 unread, saying he didn't want to live in suspicion 00:26:37.150 --> 00:26:39.470 of his own Senate. It's a direct application 00:26:39.470 --> 00:26:41.950 of his stoic principles right in the middle of 00:26:41.950 --> 00:26:44.990 a political crisis. It is. And amidst all this 00:26:44.990 --> 00:26:48.670 chaos, the plague, the wars, the revolt. It's 00:26:48.670 --> 00:26:50.809 so important to remember that he was also an 00:26:50.809 --> 00:26:53.730 incredibly diligent and ethical ruler back in 00:26:53.730 --> 00:26:56.369 Rome. He was celebrated as a jurist. This might 00:26:56.369 --> 00:26:58.750 be the greatest testament to his character. While 00:26:58.750 --> 00:27:01.109 the empire is literally falling apart at the 00:27:01.109 --> 00:27:04.009 edges, he is maintaining this unwavering commitment 00:27:04.009 --> 00:27:08.059 to careful, reasoned lawmaking. The jurists just 00:27:08.059 --> 00:27:10.700 praised him endlessly. They called him an emperor 00:27:10.700 --> 00:27:13.119 most skilled in the law and a most prudent and 00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:15.920 conscientiously just emperor. And his specific 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:18.599 legal interests, they really reflect his philosophical 00:27:18.599 --> 00:27:20.819 dedication to human dignity. They absolutely 00:27:20.819 --> 00:27:23.240 do. His reform is focused on protecting the vulnerable. 00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:25.640 First, the manumission of slaves, making sure 00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:28.200 that process was fair. Second, the guardianship 00:27:28.200 --> 00:27:30.220 of orphans and minors, protecting them from being 00:27:30.220 --> 00:27:32.920 exploited. And third, the choice of city counselors, 00:27:33.140 --> 00:27:35.299 making sure local government was in good hands. 00:27:35.460 --> 00:27:39.220 So why that focus on... Because Stoicism emphasizes 00:27:39.220 --> 00:27:42.240 the shared humanity of all people, regardless 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:45.099 of their social status, it's an ethics of care. 00:27:45.579 --> 00:27:48.420 For Marcus, the law wasn't just a tool for order. 00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:50.819 It was a mechanism for codifying compassion. 00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:53.940 He was using imperial power to protect those 00:27:53.940 --> 00:27:56.420 who couldn't protect themselves. And his relationship 00:27:56.420 --> 00:27:59.440 with the Senate. He treated them with a respect 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:01.619 that had been missing for a long time. He was 00:28:01.619 --> 00:28:04.130 almost deferential. He would routinely ask their 00:28:04.130 --> 00:28:06.509 permission for expenditures, even though as emperor 00:28:06.509 --> 00:28:09.789 he had absolute authority. He made this powerful, 00:28:09.869 --> 00:28:12.089 symbolic declaration that the imperial palace 00:28:12.089 --> 00:28:14.690 wasn't really his, but belonged to the Senate 00:28:14.690 --> 00:28:16.910 and the Roman people. It was a commitment to 00:28:16.910 --> 00:28:19.910 the old Republican ideal, even if it was mostly 00:28:19.910 --> 00:28:23.019 theoretical by his time. So his rule is this 00:28:23.019 --> 00:28:25.900 incredible paradox, a constant state of military 00:28:25.900 --> 00:28:28.440 emergency combined with this era of profound 00:28:28.440 --> 00:28:30.880 internal legal stability and ethical governance. 00:28:31.160 --> 00:28:33.480 Yeah. As we move into the final part of his life, 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:35.200 we have to talk about the monument to his inner 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:38.500 life, the meditations. And the context is everything. 00:28:38.660 --> 00:28:40.779 He wrote this philosophical manual during the 00:28:40.779 --> 00:28:43.000 absolute height of all the chaos we just described. 00:28:43.220 --> 00:28:46.519 Between 170 and 180 AD, while he was on campaign 00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:49.170 in the north. And it is so vital to remember 00:28:49.170 --> 00:28:51.509 what this book is. It wasn't written for publication. 00:28:51.710 --> 00:28:53.890 It wasn't for academic debate. It was for himself. 00:28:54.089 --> 00:28:56.730 Only for himself. He wrote it in Greek, which 00:28:56.730 --> 00:28:58.710 was the language of philosophy and introspection. 00:28:58.970 --> 00:29:02.430 The original title is Lost. The one we use, Meditations, 00:29:02.529 --> 00:29:05.369 which means things written to himself. It perfectly 00:29:05.369 --> 00:29:08.069 captures its function. It's a journal. It's a 00:29:08.069 --> 00:29:10.730 manual for how to stay sane and ethical under 00:29:10.730 --> 00:29:13.250 impossible pressure. And it's just astonishing 00:29:13.250 --> 00:29:15.890 that this book. written for an audience of one, 00:29:16.089 --> 00:29:18.769 has become this cornerstone of global thought. 00:29:19.009 --> 00:29:21.630 I mean, it was praised by Goethe, by John Stuart 00:29:21.630 --> 00:29:24.250 Mill. And its modern popularity is undeniable. 00:29:24.650 --> 00:29:27.730 It's sold over 100 ,000 copies in 2019 alone. 00:29:27.950 --> 00:29:30.150 Why do you think that is? Because it speaks to 00:29:30.150 --> 00:29:32.730 the timeless struggle for internal order. The 00:29:32.730 --> 00:29:35.089 Meditations offers you concrete techniques for 00:29:35.089 --> 00:29:37.970 emotional resilience, how to accept fate, how 00:29:37.970 --> 00:29:40.230 to recognize that external fortune is temporary, 00:29:40.450 --> 00:29:43.250 and how to focus only on your own judgment and 00:29:43.250 --> 00:29:45.430 your own actions. It's a blueprint for navigating 00:29:45.430 --> 00:29:48.680 stress. Exactly. It's just as applicable in a 00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:50.900 modern office as it was on the frozen bank of 00:29:50.900 --> 00:29:53.740 the Danube. He really earned his title as the 00:29:53.740 --> 00:29:56.920 philosopher. The historian Herodian summed it 00:29:56.920 --> 00:29:59.519 up perfectly. What did he say? He said that Marcus, 00:29:59.799 --> 00:30:02.940 alone of the emperors, he gave proof of his learning 00:30:02.940 --> 00:30:05.339 not by mere words or knowledge of philosophical 00:30:05.339 --> 00:30:08.700 doctrines, but by his blameless character and 00:30:08.700 --> 00:30:11.980 temperate way of life. His philosophy was just 00:30:11.980 --> 00:30:14.660 inseparable from his duty. Okay, so speaking 00:30:14.660 --> 00:30:16.460 of philosophical duty, this is where we have 00:30:16.460 --> 00:30:18.440 to confront the uncomfortable paradox of how 00:30:18.440 --> 00:30:21.839 he treated Christians. Because despite all his 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:25.160 personal ethics, his reign saw more and more 00:30:25.160 --> 00:30:28.000 severe... persecutions across the empire. Yeah, 00:30:28.119 --> 00:30:30.640 the historical record confirms that. The persecution 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:34.079 in Lugdunum, which is modern Leon, in 177 A .D. 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:36.559 was particularly brutal. Now, historians debate 00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:39.180 Marcus's direct personal role in this. He might 00:30:39.180 --> 00:30:40.920 have just been letting existing laws run their 00:30:40.920 --> 00:30:42.720 course. He might have, just allowing standing 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:44.960 laws against unregistered cults to be enforced. 00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:47.240 But the fact remains, a philosophical emperor 00:30:47.240 --> 00:30:49.700 presided over the suffering of this new religious 00:30:49.700 --> 00:30:52.180 minority. And his only direct mention of Christians 00:30:52.180 --> 00:30:56.039 in meditations is, well, It's less about their 00:30:56.039 --> 00:30:59.019 theology and more a pointed philosophical critique 00:30:59.019 --> 00:31:01.759 of how they face death. It's a stunning insight 00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:05.259 into the Stoic mind. He criticizes what he sees 00:31:05.259 --> 00:31:08.519 as their theatrical approach to martyrdom. For 00:31:08.519 --> 00:31:10.519 Marcus, your readiness for death had to come 00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:12.619 from inner judgment, from rational preparation. 00:31:13.099 --> 00:31:15.599 What the Stoics called practical wisdom. Right. 00:31:15.660 --> 00:31:18.519 And he saw the Christian's eagerness to die as 00:31:18.519 --> 00:31:22.569 just stubborn opposition. obstinatio for him 00:31:22.569 --> 00:31:25.210 they lacked that stoic dignity that detached 00:31:25.210 --> 00:31:27.809 acceptance of the natural order they were dying 00:31:27.809 --> 00:31:30.289 for the wrong reason so the stoic faces death 00:31:30.289 --> 00:31:33.490 with quiet resignation but he saw the christian 00:31:33.490 --> 00:31:35.869 martyr as putting on a show a performative spectacle 00:31:35.869 --> 00:31:38.869 exactly lacking any genuine philosophical grounding 00:31:38.869 --> 00:31:41.230 and this clash of narratives is perfectly captured 00:31:41.230 --> 00:31:43.910 in the story of the rain miracle during the marcomanic 00:31:43.910 --> 00:31:45.970 wars it's a brilliant example of how history 00:31:45.970 --> 00:31:48.309 gets warped by different perspectives tell us 00:31:48.309 --> 00:31:51.970 about that So around 172 A .D., during a desperate 00:31:51.970 --> 00:31:54.150 moment in the campaign, the Roman army is trapped. 00:31:54.269 --> 00:31:55.710 They're out of water. They're about to be wiped 00:31:55.710 --> 00:31:59.410 out. And then a sudden massive downpour saves 00:31:59.410 --> 00:32:02.230 them. A miracle. A miracle. And the later Christian 00:32:02.230 --> 00:32:04.990 sources, specifically this inauthentic letter 00:32:04.990 --> 00:32:07.450 supposedly from Marcus to the Senate, they credit 00:32:07.450 --> 00:32:10.029 the miracle entirely to the prayers of Christian 00:32:10.029 --> 00:32:12.750 soldiers in the Roman army. So the Christians 00:32:12.750 --> 00:32:15.269 claim their God saved the emperor. But what do 00:32:15.269 --> 00:32:17.869 the contemporary non -Christian sources say? 00:32:18.200 --> 00:32:21.220 The historian Cassius Dio, writing not long after, 00:32:21.380 --> 00:32:24.380 he attributes the exact same miracle to a completely 00:32:24.380 --> 00:32:27.440 different source, an Egyptian magician named 00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:29.720 Harnoufus who is traveling with the legions. 00:32:29.720 --> 00:32:31.880 So who was right? The point isn't who was right. 00:32:32.119 --> 00:32:34.539 The point is that the exact same historical event 00:32:34.539 --> 00:32:37.359 was immediately absorbed and reinterpreted by 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:39.259 these competing groups to validate their own 00:32:39.259 --> 00:32:42.299 beliefs. Marcus, the ember, just became a symbol 00:32:42.299 --> 00:32:44.859 that all sides used for their own ends. And his 00:32:44.859 --> 00:32:47.240 life of relentless duty finally comes to an end 00:32:47.240 --> 00:32:51.579 on campaign. He dies on March 17th, 180 AD. He 00:32:51.579 --> 00:32:54.380 was 58 years old. He was probably in Vindobona, 00:32:54.519 --> 00:32:57.500 modern Vienna, or maybe Sirmium, preparing for 00:32:57.500 --> 00:33:00.119 the final phase of the wars. He was immediately 00:33:00.119 --> 00:33:03.200 deified by the Senate. The empire had lost its 00:33:03.200 --> 00:33:05.779 stabilizing force. But the last and most debated 00:33:05.779 --> 00:33:08.650 decision of his life was a succession. This is 00:33:08.650 --> 00:33:10.650 the one historians have argued over for centuries. 00:33:11.130 --> 00:33:13.730 Marcus breaks that successful pattern of adoptive 00:33:13.730 --> 00:33:16.450 succession. He names his biological son Commodus 00:33:16.450 --> 00:33:19.430 as his heir. And Commodus had already been made 00:33:19.430 --> 00:33:22.089 co -emperor, sharing the title of Augustus back 00:33:22.089 --> 00:33:25.390 in 177. This was only the second non -adoptive 00:33:25.390 --> 00:33:27.329 succession since the very beginning of the empire. 00:33:27.690 --> 00:33:30.230 It seems to contradict every principle of prudence 00:33:30.230 --> 00:33:32.849 that Marcus upheld. It's the tragic flaw of the 00:33:32.849 --> 00:33:35.970 philosopher -king. Cassius Dio saw this as the 00:33:35.970 --> 00:33:38.900 precise moment of failure. This is when he says 00:33:38.900 --> 00:33:41.200 Rome descended from a kingdom of gold to one 00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:43.660 of iron and rust, because Commodus' behavior 00:33:43.660 --> 00:33:46.279 quickly devolved into tyranny and neglect. So 00:33:46.279 --> 00:33:49.380 why? If Marcus was the wisest of men, why would 00:33:49.380 --> 00:33:51.599 he risk the entire empire on an heir who was, 00:33:51.740 --> 00:33:54.779 at best, unstable? Well, the modern historical 00:33:54.779 --> 00:33:57.700 defense of Marcus is based on pragmatic necessity, 00:33:58.099 --> 00:34:00.859 not a failure of judgment. As Michael Grant points 00:34:00.859 --> 00:34:03.700 out, rejecting Commodus at that point would have 00:34:03.700 --> 00:34:05.960 been incredibly destabilizing. Because he had 00:34:05.960 --> 00:34:07.960 already been named Caesar and Augustus. He had 00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:10.780 military loyalty. Exactly. To push him aside 00:34:10.780 --> 00:34:12.880 and choose someone else would have been a direct 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:15.380 provocation. It would have almost certainly triggered 00:34:15.380 --> 00:34:17.960 a brutal civil war, the kind of war that defined 00:34:17.960 --> 00:34:20.739 future successions. So he was caught. He was 00:34:20.739 --> 00:34:23.079 caught between his philosophical duty to the 00:34:23.079 --> 00:34:25.619 state, which says choose the best man, and his 00:34:25.619 --> 00:34:28.360 duty to his family and the pragmatic desire to 00:34:28.360 --> 00:34:32.260 avoid immediate bloody conflict. He chose stability 00:34:32.260 --> 00:34:34.980 over competence, probably hoping Commodus would 00:34:34.980 --> 00:34:37.119 mature into the role. It was a choice rooted 00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:39.559 in duty, but it failed. It failed, but it was 00:34:39.559 --> 00:34:42.699 a calculated risk to avoid civil war. And you 00:34:42.699 --> 00:34:44.579 can see the weight of that choice and the weight 00:34:44.579 --> 00:34:47.280 of his entire reign immortalized in the monuments 00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:50.500 he left behind. The equestrian statue of Marcus 00:34:50.500 --> 00:34:52.659 Aurelius is a crucial piece of evidence. It's 00:34:52.659 --> 00:34:55.840 the only Roman equestrian bronze statue to survive 00:34:55.840 --> 00:34:58.449 from the classical era. Right. And only because 00:34:58.449 --> 00:35:00.170 medieval Christians thought it was the Christian 00:35:00.170 --> 00:35:02.610 Emperor Constantine. But look at the details. 00:35:02.829 --> 00:35:05.289 The horse is restless. It suggests he's on campaign. 00:35:06.090 --> 00:35:09.030 Marcus's gesture is one of clemency. His hand 00:35:09.030 --> 00:35:12.030 outstretched to a defeated enemy. But his face. 00:35:12.510 --> 00:35:14.650 Art historians always point to his face. It is 00:35:14.650 --> 00:35:17.190 marked by this deep, weary expression. It reflects 00:35:17.190 --> 00:35:20.210 the stress of constant warfare. It's a monument 00:35:20.210 --> 00:35:23.590 to duty, not to triumph. And his column in Rome, 00:35:23.789 --> 00:35:25.869 which was finished after his death, it's like 00:35:25.869 --> 00:35:28.510 a visual autobiography of those Marcomannic wars. 00:35:28.809 --> 00:35:31.349 Just like Trajan's column, it has this continuous 00:35:31.349 --> 00:35:34.570 spiral of carved reliefs. But unlike Trajan's 00:35:34.570 --> 00:35:36.590 column, which is all about overwhelming success, 00:35:37.090 --> 00:35:39.809 Marcus's column is starker. Sometimes it's brutal. 00:35:39.929 --> 00:35:42.440 It memorializes the intense grinding military 00:35:42.440 --> 00:35:45.880 pressure he faced every single day. It is a monument 00:35:45.880 --> 00:35:48.239 to struggle and endurance. So we've traced the 00:35:48.239 --> 00:35:51.300 life of Marcus Aurelius, a man of deep contemplation, 00:35:51.300 --> 00:35:54.199 dedicated to stoicism, to the idea of equanimitas, 00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:56.780 who was forced to spend his entire reign managing 00:35:56.780 --> 00:35:59.400 one devastating external crisis after another. 00:35:59.619 --> 00:36:03.639 The Parthian War, the financial crisis, the Antonine 00:36:03.639 --> 00:36:07.380 Plague, the grueling Markomanic Wars. He was 00:36:07.380 --> 00:36:09.780 a philosopher who was just... utterly unable 00:36:09.780 --> 00:36:12.199 to escape the reality of the battlefield. His 00:36:12.199 --> 00:36:14.519 life is really a masterclass in applying ancient 00:36:14.519 --> 00:36:17.619 philosophy to modern problems of chaos and grief. 00:36:17.980 --> 00:36:20.980 He used his personal journal, Meditations, not 00:36:20.980 --> 00:36:23.639 to escape reality, but as a practical tool to 00:36:23.639 --> 00:36:26.599 help him show up every day and do his duty. Even 00:36:26.599 --> 00:36:29.320 when that duty involved decisions like devaluing 00:36:29.320 --> 00:36:31.900 the currency or fighting a prolonged war, that 00:36:31.900 --> 00:36:34.460 the... private philosophical man would have found 00:36:34.460 --> 00:36:37.420 deeply distasteful. He achieved equanimity not 00:36:37.420 --> 00:36:39.800 by avoiding the pressure, but by performing his 00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:41.719 duty in the face of that impossible pressure. 00:36:41.960 --> 00:36:44.360 He was the wisest of emperors, ruling during 00:36:44.360 --> 00:36:47.300 a time of immense systemic stress. And that really 00:36:47.300 --> 00:36:49.219 brings us to the final provocative thought we 00:36:49.219 --> 00:36:51.219 want to leave with you. How much agency does 00:36:51.219 --> 00:36:54.099 a ruler, even one who embodies the ideal of rational 00:36:54.099 --> 00:36:56.599 virtue, truly have over the course of history? 00:36:57.070 --> 00:36:59.809 Marcus Aurelius was powerless to stop the collapse 00:36:59.809 --> 00:37:02.750 of the Pax Romana. It wasn't ended by his failings. 00:37:02.750 --> 00:37:04.829 It was ended by these overwhelming external forces, 00:37:04.909 --> 00:37:08.929 plague, war, and the done. Well, the caprice 00:37:08.929 --> 00:37:11.980 of fate embodied in his own son. So did his commitment 00:37:11.980 --> 00:37:15.320 to familial duty, his decision to anoint Commodus, 00:37:15.380 --> 00:37:17.760 ultimately override his higher philosophical 00:37:17.760 --> 00:37:20.800 duty to the state? Or was that choice, however 00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:22.679 tragic its outcome, turned out to be the most 00:37:22.679 --> 00:37:25.400 stoic duty of all, choosing to avoid a greater, 00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:28.039 more immediate evil in a civil war? That is the 00:37:28.039 --> 00:37:30.159 central, painful question at the end of the Golden 00:37:30.159 --> 00:37:32.559 Age. And it's something for you to consider long 00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:33.800 after we finish this deep dive.