“The reign of Antoninus is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history, which is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.”

— Edward Gibbon 1737 – 1794 CE
from Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire

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“The prestige of Greek learning of an approved and settled type was as high in the Rome of Antoninus Pius as it was in the Oxford and Cambridge of Victorian England. The Greek scholar received the same mixture of unintelligent deference and practical contempt.”

— H. G. Wells 1866 – 1946 CE
A father of science fiction and One World Government apostle
from Outline of History

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“If a man were called upon to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would without hesitation name that which elapsed from the accession of Nerva to the death of Aurelius. Their united reign are possibly the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government:”

— Edward Gibbon 1737 – 1794 CE
from Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire

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“Although Pius had two sons, he preferred the welfare of Rome to the interest of his family, gave his daughter Faustina in marriage to young Marcus, and with a noble disdain or rather ignorance of jealousy, associated him to all the labors of government... Their united reigns are possibly the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government.”

— Edward Gibbon 1737 – 1794 CE
from Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire

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“Do everything as a disciple of Antoninus. Remember his constancy in every reasonable act, his evenness in all things, his piety, and the serenity of his countenance, and his disregard of empty fame... with how little he was satisfied, how laborious and patient, how religious without superstition.”

— Marcus Aurelius 121 – 219 CE
from Meditations Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν

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“Of Antoninus there is no history, for he had almost no faults and committed no crimes... He gave the Empire the most equitable—and not the least efficient—government it would ever have.”

— Will Durant 1885 – 1981 CE
Philosophy apostle and popularizer of history's lessons
from Caesar and Christ

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