page_title: Early life of Marcus Aurelius
section_title: The Stoic prince, 146–161
hierarchical_section_title: Early life of Marcus Aurelius / The Stoic prince, 146–161
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Marcus Aurelius as a young man, Antonine Period (138-192 AD), from the Area of San Teodoro on the Palatine, Palatine Museum, Rome
context_page_description: The early life of Marcus Aurelius spans the time from his birth on 26 April 121 until his accession as Roman emperor on 8 March 161.
  Following the death of his father, Marcus Annius Verus (III), Marcus Aurelius was raised by his grandfather, Marcus Annius Verus (II). Educated at home, Marcus became an adherent of Stoicism at a young age. In 138 he was adopted by Antoninus Pius, himself the adopted heir of Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian died later that year and was succeeded by Antoninus.
  Among Marcus' tutors were the orators Marcus Cornelius Fronto and Herodes Atticus. Marcus held the consulship jointly with Antoninus in 140, then he was quaestor, then he and Antoninus were consuls again for the year 145. In 145, he married Antoninus' daughter Faustina. Several children were born to the couple during Antoninus' reign, of whom only the future empress Lucilla survived. Marcus took on more responsibilities of state as Antoninus aged; at the time of Antoninus' death in 161, he was consul with his adoptive brother Lucius.
context_section_description: Fronto had warned Marcus Aurelius against the study of philosophy early on: "it is better never to have touched the teaching of philosophy...than to have tasted it superficially, with the edge of the lips, as the saying is". He disdained philosophy and philosophers, and looked down on Marcus Aurelius' sessions with Apollonius of Chalcedon and others in this circle. Fronto put an uncharitable interpretation of Marcus Aurelius' "conversion to philosophy": "in the fashion of the young, tired of boring work", Marcus Aurelius had turned to philosophy to escape the constant exercises of oratorical training. Marcus Aurelius kept in close touch with Fronto, but he would ignore his scruples.
  Apollonius may have introduced Marcus Aurelius to Stoic philosophy, but Quintus Junius Rusticus would have the strongest influence on the boy. He was the man Fronto recognized as having "wooed Marcus away" from oratory. He was twenty years older than Marcus Aurelius, older than Fronto. As the grandson of Arulenus Rusticus, one of the martyrs to the tyranny of Domitian (r. 81–96), he was heir to the tradition of "Stoic opposition" to the "bad emperors" of the first century; the true successor of Seneca (as opposed to Fronto, the false one). Marcus Aurelius' tribute to him in the Meditations points to a move away from the oratorical training of Fronto. He thanks Rusticus for teaching him "not to be led astray into enthusiasm for rhetoric, for writing on speculative themes, for discoursing on moralizing texts...To avoid oratory, poetry, and 'fine writing'".
  Claudius Severus, another friend, from a Greek family of Paphlagonia, gave Marcus Aurelius an understanding of what these philosophers stood for. Severus was not a Stoic, but a Peripatetic (an Aristotlean); the strength of his influence illustrates the breadth of Marcus Aurelius' philosophical horizons. Marcus Aurelius thanks three other friends for their influence: Claudius Maximus, Sextus of Chaeronea, and Cinna Catulus. Maximus is one of Marcus Aurelius' three most significant friends, alongside Apollonius and Rusticus. He taught Marcus Aurelius "mastery of self" and "to be cheerful in all circumstances". Unlike Marcus Aurelius' other friends, Sextus was a professional philosopher, devoted to teaching philosophy. Marcus Aurelius continued to attend his lectures even after becoming emperor, scandalizing the polite classes of Rome. Catulus is totally unknown outside Marcus Aurelius' brief words of praise in the Meditations and the notice in the Historia Augusta; Edward Champlin reckons him a senator.
caption: Portrait of Marcus Aurelius as a young man, Antonine period (138-192 AD), from the area of San Teodoro on the Palatine Hill, Palatine Museum, Rome
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