Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/610

 574 ANTONELLI Antommarchi in consequence of these disputes came to America about 1836, and practised homoeopathy at New Orleans and Havana. ANTONELLI, Giaeomo, an Italian cardinal and statesman, born at Sonnino, near Terracina, April 2, 1806. He was educated at the great seminary of Eome, and having early distin- guished himself by his ability and indomitable energy of character, he was appointed by Gregory XVI. to various civil offices, attain- ing in 1845 to the post of minister of finance. After the accession of Pius IX. he was made cardinal (June 12, 1847), and in 1848 prime minister, in which position he won at first the favor of the popular party. Though continuing to be the pope's chief political adviser, the op- ponents of innovations soon compelled him to make place for Mamiani. After the assassina- tion of the latter's successor, Rossi, Antonelli urged Pius IX. to leave Rome, and joined him at Gaeta (November, 1848), where he conducted the negotiations which resulted in the pope's return to his capital (April 12, 1850) under the protection of the French army of occupation. Antonelli was now made secretary of foreign affairs, in which capacity his retrogressive pol- icy exasperated the liberals, and even led to remonstrances on the part of foreign powers, but without shaking his position. He protested in vain against the progress of events in Italy, reorganized the civil administration on the most reactionary basis, and was opposed in his abso- lute policy even by some of his colleagues in the papal government, the principal of whom, Mgr. de Merode, minister of war, was removed in 1865. In 1867 he was made curator ad in- terim of the university of Rome. In January, 1868, by the death of Cardinal Ugolino, he be- came dean of the order of cardinal deacons. After the evacuation of Rome by the French in August, 1870, he appealed to various foreign powers for assistance, and remonstrated against the success of Victor Emanuel, who made his formal entry into Rome Nov. 21, 1871. An attempt upon his life was made in 1855. t VI OM l.l.o DA MESSINA, an Italian painter, born at Messina in 1414, died about 1493. According to Vasari and other authorities, he was the first Italian who painted in oil, learn- ing the art under Van Eyck at Bruges. Be- fore his journey to Bruges, he had already ac- quired some fame at Messina, Rome, and Paler- mo, which became more firmly established on his return, when he worked for some time at Milan and at Venice to some extent in portrait painting, but chiefly in religious pictures. ANTONINUS, Marcus AnreUns, a Roman empe- ror, son-in-law and successor of Antoninus Pius, born A. D. 121, ascended the throne in 161, died March 17, 180. His original name was Marcus Annius Verus. After the death of Ceionius Commodus, better known as Verus, Hadrian selected Antoninus Pius to succeed him, and caused the latter in his turn to adopt Marcus Annius and Lucius Verus, the son of Commodus, as his ultimate successors. During ANTONINUS the reign of Antoninus Pius, who had given to him his daughter Faustina in marriage, Marcus distinguished himself principally by his studies in philosophy, having assumed the mantle of the Stoics in his 12th year; while Verus so far disgraced himself by his early profligacy, that his adoptive father disinherited him, and, pro- curing the nomination of Marcus Aurelius as sole successor by the senate, associated him with himself in the empire. On his accession, how- ever, Marcus Aurelius, who now assumed the name of Antoninus, gave Verus an equal share of the government. Shortly after his acces- sion a war broke out with the Parthians in the east, the command of which, nominally given to Verus, was virtually held by his lieutenants, the principal of whom, Avidius Cassius, over- ran Mesopotamia, destroyed Seleucia, and pene- trated as far as Babylon, while one of his col- leagues made himself master of Armenia, re- placed the rightful king of the Parthians, Sozi- mus, on the throne, and reduced Vologeses, his rival and the instigator of the war, to sue for a dishonorable peace. This outbreak was follow- ed, or rather interrupted, by yet more danger- ous hostilities in the north, extending from the sources of the Danube to the Illyrian frontier, where the barbarous tribes of the Marcomanni, Alani, Jazyges, Quadi, Sarmatians, and others, all took arms at once in such force as compelled both the emperors to proceed to the frontiers. Here they were so successful, that in 169 the enemy sued for peace, and the colleagues set out on their return for home ; but Verus dy- ing of apoplexy on their journey, and the war being renewed, Marcus Aurelius again turned his face northward, and for the next five years carried on the war in person in Pannonia, with- out ever returning to Rome; enduring the greatest hardships with the serenity of a philos- opher, while he conducted his campaigns with the skill of a soldier. On one occasion a fierce battle was fought on the surface of the frozen Danube ; but the most remarkable victory was one gained over the Quadi in consequence of a sudden and terrific thunder storm, by which the Romans were saved from apparently immi- nent defeat, and the superstitious savages were confounded and put to rout. This victory was generally ascribed to divine interposition, the emperor and his Romans attributing it to Ju- piter Tonans, and the Christians, who com- posed the 12th or Meletine legion, to the influ- ence of their prayers. Eusebius goes so far as to assert that the emperor gave to that body of men the title of the " thundering legion ; " but in spite of his virtues, Marcus Aurelius per- secuted the Christians. His wife Faustina, learning the danger of her husband's situation, and fearing that in case of his death, and the long minority of her young son Commodus, she should sink into a private station, entered into an intrigue with Avidius Cassius, the empe- ror's deputy and general in Syria, promising him her hand in case of the death of Aurelius, and encouraging him in that event to seize the