Emperor Antoninus Research Articles

Curricular Sense and Sanity

AEQUANiMiTAs, even-mindedness, is said to have been the final watchword given by the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, perhaps just whispered from his dying lips on that occasion which proved to be the eve of his death. His had been a long reign, 138-161 A.D., and he had served with distinction in an office which made him lord of the Western world. Now, the leap from the era of a second-century Roman prince to the turbulent days of this eighth decade in the twentieth century is a long one; likewise, the management of an empire and the direction of a second ary school are obviously diverse. Yet there is a certain magnetism in such a watchword as even-mindedness, carrying with it an ageless admonition to those today striving mightily to make the secondary school cur riculum meaningful and truly educational. These are days when elementary, secondary, and college-university educations are closely interlocked, and when dialog among those involved in the levels is far commoner than once was the case. The elementary school admonishes, and is admonished by, the high school; the high school advises, and is advised by, the college-university. Hence there is, perhaps, some propriety in a note on secondary curricula from a college standpoint?especially if one has in mind a basically college-preparatory high school and not, for example, a technical or vocational high school. It is a truism but worth repeating that the secondary school belongs to that stage in human life that may easily be the most critical and the most demanding? more so, perhaps, than in the primary school or the college. But what Miller Upton, president of Beloit College, in a letter to the President of the United States dated May 11, 1970, had to say of college students ap plies as well to adolescents in the secondary schools: Of course, young people on the whole are wonderful, but what's new about that? . . . The idealism, absolutism, intellectual honesty and great aspiration of the young are the eternal attributes of this age group upon which society is dependent to preserve its vital, dynamic quality. These attributes are the standards of behavior to be expected, not glorified as unique in any narrow span of human history. America has long been definitely educational minded Russell Kirk, in an article entitled Does the Nation Spend Enough on Schooling? quoted Roger Freeman, then special assistant to the President of the United States, as saying: With only 6 per cent of the world's population and between one-fourth and one-third of its developed resources, the American people now invest in educational institutions annually almost as much as all other nations combined. Yet it is painfully obvious that education at all levels has not achieved a fulfillment of the roseate dreams Americans have long had for it. And Mr. Kirk consistently concluded with these words :

The Emperor Antoninus Pius and the Christians

After Nero, significantly, instituted the persecution of the Christians and after Domitian's rule, during which some notable cases of anti-Christian persecutions occurred in Rome as well as in proconsular Asia, Trajan's rule produced some scattered persecutions in the Greek East of the empire, of which the best known are the case of Ignatius of Antioch and the one in which Pliny the Younger was regretfully involved in Bithynia. The persecutions quite obviously got out of hand in Asia at about the time when Hadrian's administration replaced Trajan's, as is well illustrated by the correspondence of Serenius Granianus (Q. Licinius Silvanus Granianus), a governor of Asia, the emperor Hadrian, and Minucius (Minicius) Fundanus, Granianus's successor.

Marcus Aurelius a Persecutor?

The relative peace enjoyed by the Christians under the rule of the Emperor Antoninus Pius was followed during the next regime by an era of extraordinarily violent and massive anti-Christian movements that probably surpassed in intensity all the persecutions that the Christians endured during the first and second centuries. It is therefore not uncommon to hear the charges that Marcus Aurelius was a persecutor of the Christians; that he deliberately issued anti-Christian edicts; that the persecution under this Emperor was the first that deserved the name of persecution; that the persecutions during his rule had his sanction at least. Subsequent attempts by historians to exculpate the philosopher-emperor for his alleged responsibility — whether direct or indirect — in the persecutions under his rule are only to be expected. In contrast to these latter-day charges the ancient Christian writers, led by Justin, a victim of his rule, Melito, Athenagoras, and other writers of the same period and with hardly any exceptions, put an almost infinite trust in him and simply do not show any belief that he was a persecutor. Tertullian, in fact, roundly declared him to be a protector of the Christians. In spite of their rhetorical tendencies, they must have known better than these later historians. The absence of a clear view and historical interpretation of what happened under this philosopher-ruler is the most regrettable feature of most of the modern commentaries on the Christian problem of this era.

The Correspondence of Marcus Aurelius Fronto with Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Lucius Verus, Antoninus Pius, and Various Friends

The correspondence of Fronto--a much admired orator and rhetorician who was befriended by the emperor Antoninus Pius and teacher of his adopted sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus--offers an invaluable picture of aristocratic life and literary culture in the 2nd century. His letters reveal Fronto's strong stylistic views and dislike of Stoicism as well as his family joys and sorrows. They portray the successes and trials of a prominent figure in the palace, literary salons, the Senate, and lawcourts, and they give a fascinating record of the relationship between the foremost teacher of his time and his illustrious student Marcus Aurelius, his chief correspondent. The Loeb Classical Library edition of Fronto is in two volumes.