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Marcus Aurelius Sestertius
Attribution: RIC III 964
Date: AD 168-169
Obverse: M ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXIII, laureate head r.
Reverse: SALVTI AVG COS III, Salus stg. l. feeding snake wrapped around altar, and holding scepter, S-C across fields
Size: 30-34 mm
Weight: 25.93 grams
(Image of Marcus Aurelius courtesy Phillip Harland: Archaeological Museum, Selçuk, Turkey)
“He studied philosophy with ardor, even as a youth. For when he was twelve years old he adopted the dress and, a little later, the hardiness of a philosopher, pursuing his studies clad in a rough Greek cloak and sleeping on the ground; at his mother’s solicitation, however, he reluctantly consented to sleep on a couch strewn with skins.” – Historia Augusta Life of Marcus II.6
Marcus Aurelius assumed the role of emperor upon the death of the Deified Antoninus Pius in AD 161. He quickly made his brother, Lucius Verus, joint emperor. This partnership endured successfully until the death of Verus in AD 169. Unfortunately, Marcus’ rule was one beleaguered by warfare (i.e. the Parthian War) made worse by the plague (brought back from the war), invasion (the Germanic Quadi and Marcomanni on the Danube front), and insurrection (the revolt of Cassius, governor of Syria). Marcus sought solace in his philosophical meanderings. His writings were not bright and cheerful, because, after all, they came from a man latent with preoccupations. During another campaign against the Germanic Quadi in AD 179-180, Marcus fell ill. He had dealt with stomach and chest problems for a few years prior to this (some historians speculate it was cancer). He took the drug theriac to endure the pain. Theriac contains opium, so Marcus may have been addicted to this “medication”. He lived only one week after the inception of this final malady. He died near Sirmium on March 17, AD 180. His body was placed in the Mausoleum of Hadrian, and he was subsequently deified by the senate.
“The first rule is, to keep an untroubled spirit; for all things must bow to Nature’s law, and soon enough you must vanish into nothingness, like Hadrian and Augustus. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are, remembering that it is your duty to be a good man. Do without flinching what man’s nature demands; say what seems to you most just – though with courtesy, modesty, and sincerity.” – Marcus Aurelius Meditations (To Myself) VIII.5
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