Publius Martius Verus

But the very same news carried another detail that hardly anyone remembers.

The man who warned Marcus Aurelius of the rebellion was another general, Martius Verus, governor of Cappadocia, right next door to the rebel provinces.

He had every reason to throw in his lot with Cassius.

He could have sat tight and waited to see who came out on top.

What he did was learn.

And learning is very different from becoming bitter.

Remember Martius Verus, the governor of Cappadocia.

In the very same crisis in which one general betrayed Marcus Aurelius, another stayed faithful when it would have been far easier not to.