he obtained the consulship in 120; he was next chosen one of the four consulars for Italy, and greatly increased his reputation by his conduct as proconsul of Asia. He acquired much influence with the emperor Hadrian, who adopted him as his son and successor on the 25th of February 138, after the death of his first adopted son Aelius Verus, on condition that he himself adopted Marcus Annius Verus, his wife’s brother’s son, and Lucius, son of Aelius Verus, afterwards the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Aelius Verus (colleague of Marcus Aurelius). A few months afterwards, on Hadrian’s death, he was enthusiastically welcomed to the throne by the Roman people, who, for once, were not disappointed in their anticipation of a happy reign. For Antoninus came to his new office with simple tastes, kindly disposition, extensive experience, a well-trained intelligence and the sincerest desire for the welfare of his subjects. Instead of plundering to support his prodigality, he emptied his private treasury to assist distressed provinces and cities, and everywhere exercised rigid economy (hence the nickname κυμινοπρίστης, “cummin-splitter”). Instead of exaggerating into treason whatever was susceptible of unfavourable interpretation, he turned the very conspiracies that were formed against him into opportunities of signalizing his clemency. Instead of stirring up persecution against the Christians, he extended to them the strong hand of his protection throughout the empire. Rather than give occasion to that oppression which he regarded as inseparable from an emperor’s progress through his dominions, he was content to spend all the years of his reign in Rome, or its neighbourhood. Under his patronage the science of jurisprudence was cultivated by men of high ability, and a number of humane and equitable enactments were passed in his name. Of the public transactions of this period we have but scant information, but, to judge by what we possess, those twenty-two years were not remarkably eventful. One of his first acts was to persuade the senate to grant divine honours to Hadrian, which they had at first refused; this gained him the title of Pius (dutiful in affection). He built temples, theatres, and mausoleums, promoted the arts and sciences, and bestowed honours and salaries upon the teachers of rhetoric and philosophy. His reign was comparatively peaceful. Insurrections amongst the Moors, Jews, and Brigantes in Britain were easily put down. The one military result which is of interest to us now is the building in Britain of the wall of Antoninus from the Forth to the Clyde. In his domestic relations Antoninus was not so fortunate. His wife, Faustina, has almost become a byword for her lack of womanly virtue; but she seems to have kept her hold on his affections to the last. On her death he honoured her memory by the foundation of a charity for orphan girls, who bore the name of Alimentariae Faustinianae. He had by her two sons and two daughters; but they all died before his elevation to the throne, except Annia Faustina, who became the wife of Marcus Aurelius. Antoninus died of fever at Lorium in Etruria, about 12 m. from Rome, on the 7th of March 161, giving the keynote to his life in the last word that he uttered when the tribune of the night-watch came to ask the password—aequanimitas.
The only account of his life handed down to us is that of Julius Capitolinus, one of the Scriptores Historiae Augustae. See Bossart-Müller, Zur Geschichte des Kaisers A. (1868); Lacour-Gayet, A. le Pieux et son Temps (1888); Bryant, The Reign of Antonine (Cambridge Historical Essays, 1895); P. B. Watson, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (London, 1884), chap. ii.
ANTONIO, known as “The Prior of Crato” (1531–1595), claimant of the throne of Portugal, was the natural son of Louis (Luis), duke of Beja, by Yolande (Violante) Gomez, a Jewess, who is said to have died a nun. His father was a younger son of Emanuel, king of Portugal (1495–1521). Antonio was educated at Coimbra, and was placed in the order of St John. He was endowed with the wealthy priory of Crato. Little is known of his life till 1578. In that year he accompanied King Sebastian (1557–1578) in his invasion of Morocco, and was taken prisoner by the Moors at the battle of Alcazar-Kebir, in which the king was slain. Antonio is said to have secured his release on easy terms by a fiction. He was asked the meaning of the cross of St John which he wore on his doublet, and replied that it was the sign of a small benefice which he held from the pope, and would lose if he were not back by the 1st of January. His captor, believing him to be a poor man, allowed him to escape for a small ransom. On his return to Portugal he found that his uncle, the cardinal Henry, only surviving son of King John III. (1521–1557), had been recognized as king. The cardinal was old, and was the last legitimate male representative of the royal line (see Portugal: History). The succession was claimed by Philip II. of Spain. Antonio, relying on the popular hostility to a Spanish ruler, presented himself as a candidate. He had endeavoured to prove that his father and mother had been married after his birth. There was, however, no evidence of the marriage. Antonio’s claim, which was inferior not only to that of Philip II., but to that of the duchess of Braganza, was not supported by the nobles or gentry. His partisans were drawn exclusively from the inferior clergy, the peasants and workmen. The prior endeavoured to resist the army which Philip II. marched into Portugal to enforce his pretensions, but was easily routed by the duke of Alva, the Spanish commander, at Alcantara, on the 25th of August 1580. At the close of the year, or in the first days of 1581, he fled to France carrying with him the crown jewels, which included many valuable diamonds. He was well received by Catherine de’ Medici, who had a claim of her own on the crown of Portugal, and looked upon him as a convenient instrument to be used against Philip II. By promising to cede the Portuguese colony of Brazil to her, and by the sale of part of his jewels, Antonio secured means to fit out a fleet manned by Portuguese exiles and French and English adventurers. As the Spaniards had not yet occupied the Azores he sailed to them, but was utterly defeated at sea by the marquis of Santa Cruz off Saint Michael’s on the 27th of July 1582. He now returned to France, and lived for a time at Ruel near Paris. Peril from the assassins employed by Philip II. to remove him drove Antonio from one refuge to another, and he finally came to England. Elizabeth favoured him for much the same reasons as Catherine de’ Medici. In 1589, the year after the Armada, he accompanied an English expedition under the command of Drake and Norris to the coast of Spain and Portugal. The force consisted partly of the queen’s ships, and in part of privateers who went in search of booty. Antonio, with all the credulity of an exile, believed that his presence would provoke a general rising against Philip II., but none took place, and the expedition was a costly failure. In 1590 the pretender left England and returned to France, where he fell into poverty. His remaining diamonds were disposed of by degrees. The last and finest was acquired by M. de Sancy, from whom it was purchased by Sully and included in the jewels of the crown. During his last days he lived as a private gentleman on a small pension given him by Henry IV., and he died in Paris on the 26th of August 1595. He left two illegitimate sons, and his descendants can be traced till 1687. In addition to papers published to defend his claims Antonio was the author of the Panegyrus Alphonsi Lusitanorum Regis (Coimbra, 1550), and of a cento of the Psalms, Psalmi Confessionales (Paris 1592), which was translated into English under the title of The Royal Penitent by Francis Chamberleyn (London, 1659), and into German as Heilige Betrachtungen (Marburg, 1677).
Authorities.—Antonio is frequently mentioned in the French, English, and Spanish state papers of the time. A life of him, attributed to Gomes Vasconcellos de Figueredo, was published in a French translation by Mme de Sainctonge at Amsterdam (1696). A modern account of him, Un prétendant portugais au XVI. siècle, by E. Fournier (Paris, 1852), is based on authentic sources. See also Dom Antonio Prior de Crato—notas de bibliographia, by J. de Aranjo (Lisbon, 1897). (D. H.)
ANTONIO, NICOLAS (1617–1684), Spanish bibliographer, was born at Seville on the 31st of July 1617. After taking his degree at Salamanca (1636–1639), he returned to his native city, wrote his treatise De Exilio (which was not printed till 1659), and began his monumental register of Spanish writers. The fame of his learning reached Philip IV., who conferred the order of Santiago on him in 1645, and sent him as general agent to Rome in 1654.
