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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Drusus, post: 394526, member: 6370&quot;]Thats the funny thing about history. The Julio-Claudians (in the imperial age) were, more often than not, terrible despots. Not to get into comparisons or anything to make a point. The family history reads like an ancient soap opera as they played deadly family games and engaged their passions at the expense of the people. But it is the Julio Claudians that so many people seem interested in because of it...</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If I were to say I was crazy about Antoninus Pius...most people would be saying WHO? Then again an able, capable, good emperor with a long peaceful reign just isnt as interesting...While with Caligula or Nero it was almost a race to see how much blood one could spill...Antoninus on the other hand was a rare good man:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: blue">Not much is known of his young life but it can be assumed that with the likes of family friends such as Pliny the Younger he was under the best tutelage. Along with good looks and a kind disposition he grew into a well respected and well educated man who was well versed in the matters of empire with a relative respect for those around him.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: blue">Holding many offices under Trajan and Hadrian he showed he was a man of considerable talents and he was adopted by the emperor Hadrian on the condition that he would adopt Marcus Aurilius and Lucius Verus as his sons and heirs. On succeeding Hadrian he remained a humble man choosing to live and conduct his life much the same way he always had as a private citizen and it is commonly believed he administered the empire with marked ability and integrity. </span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: blue">His reign was the longest since Augustus which may have been made possible by a strong empire under able leadership leading to relative peace and contentment with few internal or external conflicts and his relative good temperament and fair minded policies and actions. Indeed he is said to have been proud of the fact that few had died because of acts against him and those few who did, did so through the actions of the senate and not by his decree.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: blue">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. He spurned the very conspiracies that were formed against him into opportunities for demonstrating his clemency. Rather than give occasion to that oppression which he regarded as inseparable from an emperor&#039;s progress through his dominions, he was content to spend all the years of his reign in Rome, or its neighbourhood.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: blue">It is almost certain not only that at no time in his life did he ever see, let alone command, a Roman army, but that, throughout the twenty-three years of his reign, he never went within five hundred miles of a legion&quot;. His reign was the most peaceful in the entire history of the Principate</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: blue">Of Antoninus Julius Capitolinus states &quot;With such care did he govern all peoples under him that he looked after all things and all men as if they were his own.&quot; This fairness and kindness showed in his marked disdain of the use of informers and treason trials, his monetary policies and social policies which were both conservative and fair. His general good nature and respect for human life might have earned him the name &#039;Pius&#039; or it may have been his aid to those who faced death under unfair rulings, but the name fits this rare emperor who seemed to be lacking the common imperial traits of ambition and cruelty.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: blue">His name would become synonymous with &#039;Good Emperor&#039; since his nephew and successor Marcus Aurelius would also bear this name. The name Antoninus would be adopted by many successive emperors (most who shared none of his good qualities) wishing to associate themselves with the reign of this rare good emperor.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The story just isnt that juicy and exciting...no incest, no mass murder, no insanity and sexual depravity....<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> But it was a true golden age for Rome.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src="http://www.cachecoins.org/piusb.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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