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Page 25
[A] He means his adoptive father, his predecessor, the Emperor
Antoninus Pius. Compare vi. 30.
[B] He uses the word [Greek: koinono�mosun�]. See Gataker's
note.
[C] This passage is corrupt, and the exact meaning is
uncertain.
[D] Lorium was a villa on the coast north of Rome, and there
Antoninus was brought up, and he died there. This also is
corrupt.
[E] Xenophon, Memorab. i. 3, 15.
17. To the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers, good
parents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and
friends, nearly everything good. Further, I owe it to the gods that I
was not hurried into any offence against any of them, though I had a
disposition which, if opportunity had offered, might have led me to do
something of this kind; but, through their favor, there never was such a
concurrence of circumstances as put me to the trial. Further, I am
thankful to the gods that I was not longer brought up with my
grandfather's concubine, and that I preserved the flower of my youth,
and that I did not make proof of my virility before the proper season,
but even deferred the time; that I was subjected to a ruler and father
who was able to take away all pride from me, and to bring me to the
knowledge that it is possible for a man to live in a palace without
wanting either guards or embroidered dresses, or torches and statues,
and such-like show; but that it is in such a man's power to bring
himself very near to the fashion of a private person, without being for
this reason either meaner in thought, or more remiss in action, with
respect to the things which must be done for the public interest in a
manner that befits a ruler. I thank the gods for giving me such a
brother,[A] who was able by his moral character to rouse me to vigilance
over myself, and who at the same time pleased me by his respect and
affection; that my children have not been stupid nor deformed in body;
that I did not make more proficiency in rhetoric, poetry, and the other
studies, in which I should perhaps have been completely engaged, if I
had seen that I was making progress in them; that I made haste to place
those who brought me up in the station of honor, which they seemed to
desire, without putting them off with hope of my doing it some other
time after, because they were then still young; that I knew Apollonius,
Rusticus, Maximus; that I received clear and frequent impressions about
living according to nature, and what kind of a life that is, so that, so
far as depended on the gods, and their gifts, and help, and
inspirations, nothing hindered me from forthwith living according to
nature, though I still fall short of it through my own fault, and
through not observing the admonitions of the gods, and, I may almost
say, their direct instructions; that my body has held out so long in
such a kind of life; that I never touched either Benedicta or Theodotus,
and that, after having fallen into amatory passions, I was cured, and,
though I was often out of humor with Rusticus, I never did anything of
which I had occasion to repent; that, though it was my mother's fate to
die young, she spent the last years of her life with me; that, whenever
I wished to help any man in his need, or on any other occasion, I was
never told that I had not the means of doing it; and that to myself the
same necessity never happened, to receive anything from another; that I
have such a wife,[B] so obedient, and so affectionate, and so simple;
that I had abundance of good masters for my children; and that remedies
have been shown to me by dreams, both others, and against bloodspitting
and giddiness[C]...; and that, when I had an inclination to philosophy,
I did not fall into the hands of any sophist, and that I did not waste
my time on writers [of histories], or in the resolution of syllogisms,
or occupy myself about the investigation of appearances in the heavens;
for all these things require the help of the gods and fortune.
Among the Quadi at the Granua.[D]
[A] The emperor had no brother except L. Verus, his brother by
adoption.
[B] See the _Life of Antoninus_.
[C] This is corrupt.
[D] The Quadi lived in the southern part of Bohemia and
Moravia; and Antoninus made a campaign against them. (See the
_Life_.) Granua is probably the river Graan, which flows into
the Danube.
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