Faustina the Younger

The work of Nero's own time had come to have that sort of old world and picturesque interest which the work of Louis has for ourselves, while without stretching a parallel too far we might perhaps liken the architectural finesse of the archaic Hadrian to the more excellent products of our own Gothic revival.

The temple of Antoninus and Faustina was still fresh in all the majesty of its closely arrayed columns of Cipollino.

But on the whole little had been added under the late and present emperors, and during fifty years of public quiet a sober brown and grey had grown apace on things.

The gilding on the roof of many a temple had lost its garishness.

Marius had been surprised at the luxurious variety of the litters borne through Rome, where no carriage horses were allowed, and just then one far more sumptuous than the rest, with dainty appointments of ivory and gold, was carried by.

All the town pressing with eagerness to get a glimpse of its most beautiful woman as she passed rapidly.

Yes, there was the wonder of the world, the Empress Faustina herself.

Marius could distinguish, could distinguish clearly the well-known profile between the floating purple curtains.

Stoicism at Court.

The very finest flower of the same company, Aurelius with the gilded fasces borne before him, a crowd of exquisites, the Empress Faustina herself and all the elegant blue stockings of the day, who maintained, people said, their private sophists to whisper philosophy into their ears winsomely as they performed the duties of the toilet, was assembled again a few months later in a different place, and for a very different purpose.

The Temple of Peace, a modernizing foundation of Hadrian, enlarged by a library and lecture rooms, had grown into an institution like something between a college and a literary club.

And here, Cornelius Fronto was to pronounce a discourse on the nature of morals.

Whatever misgivings the Roman people may have felt as to the leadership of the younger was unexpectedly set at rest, though with some temporary regret for the loss of what had been, after all, a popular figure on the world stage.

Traveling fraternally in the same litter with Aurelius, Lucius Verus was struck with a sudden and mysterious disease, and died as he hastened back to Rome.

His death awoke a swarm of sinister rumors to settle on Lucilla, jealous, it was said, of Fabia her sister, perhaps of Faustina, on Faustina herself who had accompanied the imperial progress, and was anxious now to hide a crime of her own even on the elder brother, who beforehand with the treasonable designs of his colleagues should have helped him at supper to a favorite morsel, cut with a knife poisoned ingeniously on one side only.

Aurelius certainly, with sincere distress, his long irritation so dutifully concealed or repressed, turned now into a single feeling of regret for the human creature, carried the remains back to Rome, and demanded of the Senate a public funeral, with a decree for the apotheosis or canonization of the dead.

You quietly consider a different profession.

The hairstyles of imperial women, such as Domitia Longina, wife of Emperor Domitian, influenced fashionable portraiture, while later women copied styles associated with figures such as Faustina the Younger and Julia Domna.

This means imperial fashion could spread through statues, coins and public images.

A woman in a provincial city might never meet the emperor's wife, but she could still know what the emperor's wife was doing with her hair, which is basically ancient celebrity culture.

Cassius Dio records a rumor that was going round at the time.

It was said that the emperor's own wife, Faustina, seeing her husband ill and fearing he would die and leave their son too young to rule, had secretly encouraged Cassius to be ready.

Many modern historians doubt this version, and it has never been proved.

But imagine what it must have been like for Marcus Aurelius to hear those whispers.

And here, the question I left you with at the start comes back.

What was in those letters? We'll never know.

But remember the rumor about Faustina, his wife.

If there was any truth in it, the proof may well have been in those papers.

Chapter 15.

Stoicism at Court The very finest flower of the same company, Aurelius with the gilded fasces borne before him, a crowd of exquisites, the Empress Faustina herself and all the elegant blue stockings of the day, who maintained, people said, their private sophists to whisper philosophy into their ears winsomely as they performed the duties of the toilet, was assembled again a few months later in a different place, and for a very different purpose.

The Temple of Peace, a modernizing foundation of Hadrian, enlarged by a library and lecture rooms, had grown into an institution like something between a college and a literary club.

And here Cornelius Fronto was to pronounce a discourse on the nature of morals.

Whatever misgivings the Roman people may have felt as to the leadership of the younger was unexpectedly set at rest, though with some temporary regret for the loss of what had been, after all, a popular figure on the world stage.

Traveling fraternally in the same litter with Aurelius, Lucius Verus was struck with a sudden and mysterious disease, and died as he hastened back to Rome.

His death awoke a swarm of sinister rumors to settle on Lucilla, jealous, it was said, of Fabia her sister, perhaps of Faustina.

On Faustina herself, who had accompanied the imperial progress, and was anxious now to hide a crime of her own, even on the elder brother, who beforehand with the treasonable designs of his colleagues should have helped him at supper to a favorite morsel, cut with a knife poisoned ingeniously on one side only.

The work of Nero's own time had come to have that sort of old world and picturesque interest which the work of Louis has for ourselves, while without stretching a parallel too far we might perhaps liken the architectural finesse of the archaic Hadrian to the more excellent products of our own Gothic revival.

The temple of Antoninus and Faustina was still fresh in all the majesty of its closely arrayed columns of Cipollino.

But on the whole little had been added under the late and present emperors, and during fifty years of public quiet a sober brown and grey had grown apace on things.

The gilding on the roof of many a temple had lost its garishness.

Marius had been surprised at the luxurious variety of the litters borne through Rome, where no carriage horses were allowed, and just then one far more sumptuous than the rest, with dainty appointments of ivory and gold, was carried by.

All the town pressing with eagerness to get a glimpse of its most beautiful woman as she passed rapidly.

Yes, there was the wonder of the world, the Empress Faustina herself.

Marius could distinguish, could distinguish clearly the well-known profile between the floating purple curtains.

And Marcus might have died from that himself.

It seems that that's likely to be what caused Faustina's death.

It seems even more likely that that's what caused, uh, the death, death of Lucius Verus at, at a young age.

Yeah.

Imagine the story that historians would tell about Marcus if the Meditations or the Memoranda had not survived, and all we had was the equestrian statue, the military leader.

Sure.

You know, the, the emperor with the terrible rumors about, you know, whether he's even Commodus' father, and Faustina, and Avitus Cassius, and Lucius Verus the playboy, and all this other stuff, right?

Right.

STOICISM AT COURT.

The very finest flower of the same company, Aurelius with the gilded fasces borne before him, a crowd of exquisites, the Empress Faustina herself, and all the elegant blue stockings of the day, who maintained, people said, their private sophists to whisper philosophy into their ears winsomely as they performed the duties of the toilet, was assembled again a few months later in a different place, and for a very different purpose.

the Temple of Peace, a modernizing foundation of Hadrian enlarged by a library and lecture rooms, had grown into an institution like something between a college and a literary club.

And here Cornelius Fronto was to pronounce a discourse on the nature of morals.

Whatever misgivings the Roman people may have felt as to the leadership of the younger was unexpectedly set at rest, though with some temporary regret for the loss of what had been, after all, a popular figure on the world stage.

Travelling fraternally in the same litter with Aurelius, Lucius Verus was struck with a sudden and mysterious disease, and died as he hastened back to Rome.

his death awoke a swarm of sinister rumours to settle on Lucilla, jealous, it was said, of Fabia her sister, perhaps of Faustina, on Faustina herself who had accompanied the imperial progress, and was anxious now to hide a crime of her own even on the elder brother, who beforehand with the treasonable designs of his colleagues should have helped him at supper to a favourite morsel cut with a knife

poisoned ingeniously on one side only.

Epictetus saw Diotimus die, and then Epictetus died.

Antoninus saw Faustina die, and then Antoninus died.

Such is everything.

Caelar saw Hadrianus die, and then Caelar died.

His father Aeneas Verus died while he was praetor.

His mother was Domitia Calvilla, also named Lucilla.

The emperor Titus Antoninus Pius married Aenea Galeria Faustina, the sister of Aeneas Verus, and was consequently the uncle of Marcus Antoninus.

When Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius and declared him his successor in the empire, Antoninus Pius adopted both Lucius Ceonius Commodus, the son of Aelius Caesar, and Marcus Antoninus, whose original name was Marcus Aeneas Verus.