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 ANTONINUS PIUS ANTONIUS 575 reins of the government. A false report of the defeat and death of Aurelius following, Avidius Cassius assumed the purple. Despair- ing of pardon when he learned the falsity of the report, he persisted in his rebellion, and rapid- ly made himself master of several Roman prov- inces in Asia. "While the emperor was making preparations to reduce him, the usurper was assassinated by a centurion of his own army. The conduct of Marcus Aurelius was magnani- mous in the extreme. He put no one to death in consequence of the overt treason, punished but few, and burned the letters of Cassius, in order to avoid learning who had seconded or in- stigated him in his proceedings. Faustina, who had remained in her husband's company during these compromising events, and whose privity he either did not suspect, or, more probably, did not choose to perceive, died in Cilicia, it was supposed by suicide. In 176 the emperor visited Rome after an absence of eight years, and celebrated his victories by a splendid triumph, and by a largess to every Roman citi- zen of eight pieces of gold; then having as- sociated with himself in the sovereignty his unworthy son Commodus, and celebrated the young man's nuptials with Orispina, he march- ed in company with his expectant successor to conclude the war with the northern barbarians, and, in the midst of a career of uninterrupt- ed triumph, died at Vindobona, now Vienna. Commodus was suspected of hastening his end. Marcus Aurelius was an excellent man and an admirable monarch. His whole life was a prac- tical example of his own philosophic doctrines. The only blot on his character was a cruel per- secution of the Christians in Gaul ; and this is so inconsistent with the spirit of his own char- acter, with his general principles of mildness and toleration, and with the example of his predecessor, by which he was for the most part strongly influenced, that it is difficult to explain. His "Meditations," which are still extant, would be an honor to any writer of any age, and breathe the very spirit of the re- ligion which he persecuted. The best edition is Gataker's (4to, Cambridge, 1652). The best English translation is that of George Long, "Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus." ANTONINUS PIUS, Titus inrelius Fnhins, a Ro- man emperor, born near Rome, Sept. 19, A. D. 86, began to reign in 138, died in 161. He was descended from a respectable provincial family of Nemausus (Nimes) in Gaul. He rose during the reign of Hadrian to the administra- tion of Asia, and afterward to the manage- ment of one of the four regions of Italy, and was selected by Hadrian as his successor, whol- ly on account of his fitness for the dangerous eminence. His reign was eminently happy and prosperous, and so peaceful that it passed away leaving no striking mark upon the page of his- tory. He made no effort to advance the limits of the empire, but by his firmness and wisdom deterred the barbarians on his frontiers from disturbing the peace of the realm. The Ger- mans, the Dacians, the Mauritanians, tho Greeks, the Egyptians, all exhibited at times some tendency to give trouble ; but their ag- gressions were easily frustrated by military de- monstrations. The only commotion of any real consequence was that of the Brigantes in the northern part of Yorkshire, who repeatedly invaded the central parts of the British prov- ince, but were* severely defeated by the legate Lollius Urbicus (141), who built a strong ram- part of turf and stone, the ruins of which can be still traced, and are to this day known as the wall of Antoninus, from the mouth of the Esk to that of the Tweed, some distance to the north of that of Hadrian, which had been erected to prevent the incursions of the Cale- donians, from the mouth of the Tyne to that of the Solway. The Parthians gave up their hos- tile views against Armenia, owing solely to his remonstrances ; the Scythians submitted their disputes to his arbitration ; and the barbarians on the upper Danube received a king of his ap- pointment. At home he promoted literature and education, and made up for the losses of citizens through public calamities out of his private purse. He was fond of country life, and passed much of his time at his Campanian vil- las, never after his accession appearing at the head of his armies, and refusing to travel hi his provinces, in order that they might not be sub- jected to the expenses of a royal progress. He died in the 75th year of his age. His reign of peace and order, and his observance of reli- gious rites, procured for him the title of the sec- ond Numa, while he owed his surname Pius to the zeal with which he advocated in the senate the granting of divine honors to his paternal predecessor. He tolerated and protected the Christians, and received with favor the first apology for the Christian religion, addressed to him by Justin Martyr. By his wife Faustina he had two sons, both of whom died before their father, and two daughters. One of the latter, a second Faustina, inherited both the beauty and the profligacy of her mother ; she was married to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. ANTONIO, Nicolas, a Spanish bibliographer of Flemish origin, born at Seville in 1617, died in Madrid in 1684. He lived in Rome 20 years (1659-'79) as agent of Philip IV. and in other official capacities, and collected a library there said to have been only second in importance to that of the Vatican. His fame rests on his Bibliotheca Hispana Nova and Bibliotheca Hwpana Vetus, which comprehend all the liter- ary names of Spain, and in some cases of Portu- gal, from the 1st century to nearly the end of the 17th. In many instances biographies are given of the various authors. ANTONIUS, Marcus, a Roman orator, born in 143 B. 0., killed in 87. In 104 he was praetor, in 99 consul, and in 97 censor. He was famed for his eloquence in the forum, rendering Italy, according to Cicero, the rival of Greece. As an aristocrat, he adopted the party of Sylla,