About this time the young Prince lost his Governour. The Death of this Person touched him so sensibly, that he forgot his usual Fortitude, and shed Tears upon the Occasion. And when some of the Court rallied upon him, as if he had given way to an Inconsistency, the Emperour replied, Pray give him leave to be a Man, Nature will have its Course in some measure ; in spight both of Empire, and Philosophy.
He married Faustina two Years after his second Consulship, [1] This Princess was an extraordinary Beauty, but of too airy a Temper to be any great Blessing to her Husband ; she was for living by her Mothers Example, and getting Beaux to admire her Person : As for the Charms of Marcus Aurelius, she understood nothing of them, nor had any Relish for so much Wisdom and Regularity. He had a Daughter by her the first Year after he was married, at which time he had also the Tribunician and Proconsular Authority, which were commonly the sole Prerogatives of the Imperial Crown.
To this Dignity and Grandeur, the Senate added another extraordinary Privilege, first invented for Augustus, but much enlarged in the succeeding Reigns : By the Roman Law no Act could pass in the
- ↑ Id. An. Dom. 147.
