ABSTRACT
Marcus Aurelius preserved Rome's Golden Age by defending the empire against multiple invasions and enforcing a personal discipline and magnanimity that inspired those he led. In 161, upon the death of Antonius Pius, Marcus became emperor and asked that Lucius serve with him as co-emperor. As emperor, Marcus began his reign by improving the legal and administrative reforms begun under his predecessors, Hadrian and Trajan. He set a careful personal example by limiting the imperial household's consumption of luxuries and by keeping the usual scandals of the throne to a minimum. During Marcus's lifetime, philosophy was not as highly regarded as oratory—the ability to speak and convince. Therefore, although Marcus's allegiance to the Stoic school, which emphasized self-reliance, self-control, and altruism, was personally inspirational to him, and created a reserved personality that was a good example to the Roman people, his studies of philosophy were not widely appreciated during his lifetime.
