We find the following striking words relating to Pius written by Marcus in this little book after the great Emperor, who had trained him so well for his high destiny, had passed away. It was in the form of a soliloquy with himself—with his own soul:
"Life is short; the only fruit of the earth-life is to do good to the men among whom our lot is cast. Ever act as a true pupil of Antoninus (Pius). Call to mind his invariable fixity of purpose in carrying out what was reasonable; remember how calm was his conduct under all circumstances; think of his piety; remember that serene expression of his; his invariable sweetness—his contempt for vainglory; his constant care in sifting the truth; his indifference to unjust reproaches . . . never suspicious; utterly careless of his own personal comfort; paying little heed to his food or his clothes; indefatigable in work; ever patient and self-denying. . . . Think (O my soul) of all this, so that when your own hour for departure strikes, it may find you, as it found him, conscious that the life-work had been well done."
Antoninus Pius had inherited a great fortune; and at the time of his adoption by Hadrian he was well on in middle life, and had filled with dignity and honour many of the high offices of State. When he succeeded to supreme power as the absolute and irresponsible sovereign of the greatest Empire ever under the sceptre of one man; after carefully discharging the many duties of his great position in his magnificent palace overlooking the Roman Forum, its splendid temples and its yet more splendid memories, he loved to retire for a brief season to his ancestral home and farm of Lorium in Etruria.
Antoninus Pius delighted in exchanging the imperial state and wearisome pomp of his Roman court, the artificial pleasures of the theatre and the circus, which gave him no real satisfaction, for the true and healthy joys of the woods and the fields. He enjoyed the harvest and the vintage festivals of the people. He loved the excitement of the chase; he was at once a devoted fisherman and a hunter, though for these things he never neglected the graver duties and the awful responsibilities of his great position. The Fronto
