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AURELIAN. number of statues aiul frescoes on the walls of houses filled in instead of being demolished in the hurry of building. A covered way at the base of the wall is provided with loopholes toward the outer and an arcade on the inner side. Tow- ers to the number of 381 connected with this passage and with the battlements above. The course of the wall followed the line of octroi. Until recent years tlie wall was in fair prcsen-a- tion, but is now falling into decay owing to the failure of the/iuthorities to provide for its main- tenance. For a full account, consult Lanciani. The Excarrffiovs of Ancient Rome (Boston, 1897).

AUEELIAN WAY. A military road leading from Rome along the coast to Pisa, extended in B.C. 109 to Genoa, and under Augustus into Gaul.

AURE'LIUS,, surnamed Antoninus (A.D. 121-180). A Roman Emperor. He was bom at Rome, April 21, 121, the son of Annius Verus and Domitia Calvilla. His original name was ^Marcus Annius Verus. On his father's death, he was adopted by his grandfather, who spared no pains to render him preeminent in every art and science. His tine qualities early attracted the no- tice of the Emperor Hadrian, who used to tenn him not Vcn'.s, but ]'crissiiiius, and who con- ferred high honors on him, even -while a child. When only 17 years of age, he was adopted, with Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus (com- monh- known as Lucius Verus), by Antoninus Pius, the successor of Hadrian; and Faustina, the daughter of Antoninus, was selected for his wife, in the year 140 he was made consul; and from this period to the death of Antoninus, in 101, he continued to discharge the duties of his various offices with the greatest promptitude and fidelity. The relation which subsisted between him and the Emperor was of the warmest and most familiar kind. On his accession to the throne he strikingly illustrated the magnanimity of his character by voluntarily sharing the gov- emnient (which Antoninus had left, in his last mnnients, and the Senate offered, to him alone) vrith yovnig Lucius ^'erus, to whom Aurelius gave his daughter Lucilla in marriage. Toward the close of IGl, the Parthian War broke out, and Lucius, a young man of vigor and action, was sent to the frontiers of the Empire to repel the incursions of the barbarians: but, intoxi- cated with the enervating pleasures of the East, lie obstinately refused to go beyond Antioch, and intrusted the command of the army to his lieutenant, C'assius. Avho gained several bril- liant victories. Lucius returned to Rome in 106, and enjoyed a triiimph to which he had no real claim : for all the great achievements of the war were accomplished by his officers, while lie was reveling in the most extravagant licen- tiousness.

In the meantime, Marcus Aurelius bad dis- finsuished himself by the prudence and energy with which he administered affairs at home. A formidable insurrection had long been pre- paring in the Oenuan Provinces: the Britons were on the point of revolt, and the Chatti (Hessians) were waiting for an opportunitv to devastate the Rhenish Provinces. Within Rome it-elf raced a pestilence, believed to have been brought home by the troops of Lucius; frightful inundations and earthquakes had laid large por- tions of the citv in ruins, destroved the gran- aries in which were kept the supplies of corn, and thus created almost universal distress, which stimulated to an incalculable degree the terror which the citizens entertained of their savage enemies. To allay the poimlar perturbation, ilarcus resolved to go forth to the war himself. Hecatombs were offered to the offended gods, and the Roman legions set out for the north. Mar- cus and Lucius were, for the time, com]iletely successful. The pride of the ilarcomanni and the other rebellious tribes inhabiting the coun- try between Hiyria and the sources of the Dan- ube, was humbled, and they were compelled to sue for peace in 1G8; in the following year Lucius died. The contest was renewed in 170, and may be said to have continued with intermissions during the whole life of the Em- peror. Although fond of peace, both from natural disposition and philosophic culture, he displayed the sternest rigor in suppressing the revolts of the barliarians ; but in order to ac- complish this, he had to enroll among his sol- diery vast numbers of gladiators and slaves, for his army had been thinned by the ravages of the plague. His headquarters were Pannonia, out of which he drove the Jlarcomanni, whom he sub- sequently all but annihilated in crossing the Danulie. The same fate befell the lazyges ; but the most famous as well as the most extraor- dinary of all his victories was the miraculous one which he gained over the Quadi (174), and which gave rise to copious discussion among Christian historians and others. Dio Cassius's account is that the Romans were jierishing of thirst in the heat of summer, when suddenly the cloudless sky darkened and abundant showers fell, of which the soldiers were taking advantage hen the barbarians attacked, and would liave cut them to pieces, if a storm of hail and tire had not descended on the former. That some extraordinary phenomenon occurred is evident, for there is a letter of Aurelius still extant in which he conuiiemorates the event; and he was a man incapable of uttering a falsehood, not to mention that there was an entire army living to disprove the statement if untrue. The effect of this remarkable victory was instantaneously and widely felt. The Germanic tribes hurried from all quarters to make their submission and ob- tain clemency: but the practical advantages that might have resulted from this were nullified by a new outbreak in the East, occasioned through the infamous treachery of the Empress, which demanded his presence; and though suft'ering from failing health, he was obliged to leave Pan- nonia. Before his departure, however, he learned that the ambitious governor, Avidius Cassius. who had rebelled against him and seized the whole of Asia Minor, had perished by assassina- tion. The conduct of Marcus Aurelius on hear- ing of his enemy's death was worthy of the sublime virtue of his character. He lamented that the fates had not granted him his fondest wish — to have freely pardoned the man who had .so basely conspired against his ha[)pine3S. Like Caesar in similar circumstances, but in a more purely humane spirit, he received the head of his murdered adversary with feelings quite op- posite to what had been anticipated, rejecting the bloody gift with all the loathing of a benevo- lent nature, and even shrinking from the presence of the murderers. On his arrival in the East, he exhibited the same remarkable magnanimity. He