Marcus was enrolled in the equestrians at the age of six and the next year he was given special permission to attend the priestly college of the Salii in Rome. It was here that Marcus was taught by the greatest thinkers of the day that represented many different cultures. Young Marcus Aurelius’s education embraced rhetoric and philosophy and he had a very serious manner. His intellectual pursuits were also deep and devoted. Hadrian took an interest in Marcus Aurelius and called him “Verissimus” or “Most Truthful”. he received numerous public honors from an early age and was thought to be a potential successor by Hadrian for a long time.

The disease that killed Marcus Aurelius while fighting in the north is unknown. For a few days Marcus did not eat or drink being eager to die. His ashes were taken to Rome and placed in Hadrian’s mausoleum. Commodus succeeded without any opposition but pulling out of the war went against all of his father’s ambitions. The succession was called a change from a golden kingdom to one of iron and rust. Marcus has been called a “philosophical monarch” which sets him apart from all other Roman emperors.

There is no record of Marcus Aurelius’s intentions for his campaign in the north but the various stages of his plan were clear. First, he was to drive the enemy out of Italy and back into their homeland beyond the Danube. He intended to isolate the tribes and then defeat them individually to take full advantage of the manpower superiority and Rome’s greater skill in warfare and logistics could be more easily used. Marcus’s plan worked as one tribe after another was defeated and reestablished ties with Rome. It turned out to be an expensive and time consuming operation, requiring Rome to recruit two new legions II Italica and III Italica, along with the construction of many new camps, such as the legionary fortress at Regensburg, with success increasing every year. Marcus Aurelius intended to create two new provinces in Marcomannia and Sarmatia afterwards, getting rid of the Hungarian Plain and the headwaters of the Elbe as staging areas for invasion.

In the year 161 Marcus celebrated his fortieth birthday and was a figure of noble appearance and unblemished character. He was leading a life which gave him as much honor and glory as he could have ever wanted. Probably much more than Marcus may have really enjoyed. Marcus’s life and the empire of Rome soon changed. The emperor Antoninus Pius died on March 7 of that year but not before clearly indicating to magistrates and the senate that he wanted Marcus Aurelius to succeed him by having the statue of Fortuna, which had been in Pius’s bedroom, transferred to Marcus. There was no opposition or contrary voices to his succession. Marcus immediately chose his brother as co-emperor, as Hadrian had planned. From the beginning of the year they were joint consuls and held office for the entire year. Their official names were Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus and Imperator Caesar L. Aurelius Verus Augustus.

As a philosopher he is remembered for his Meditations, a set of 12 books of moral ideas that were written in Greek. His work is an important foundation to the philosophy of Stoicism and reveals his belief that the moral life leads to tranquility and stresses virtues like wisdom, justice, fortitude, and moderation. The books that make up the set are the most introspective of any ancient philosophical writing to where they can be called a diary. Marcus was consoled in his writings by the fact that life is short and that the spirit, which is the only thing that is valuable to a person, is refused into the universe at death.

The two emperors quickly went north, after a quick mobilization of their forces, which even included the drafting of slaves since the potential manpower of the Romans had been depleted by the after effects of the plague and troop commitments in the east. Verus died while in the north and Marcus Aurelius returned to Rome with the body and gave

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