in which each of them may be useful to the commonwealth.”] That all his actions were prompted not by pretence but by real virtue is strikingly clear.  He lived fifty-eight years, ten months, and twenty-two days, and of this time he had spent considerable as assistant to the previous Antoninus and had himself been emperor nineteen years and eleven days, yet from first to last he remained the same and changed not a particle.  So truly was he a good man, without any pretence about him. [Sidenote:—­35—­] He was vastly helped by his education being an expert in rhetoric and in philosophical argument.  In the one he had Cornelius Fronto and Claudius Herodes for teachers, and in the other, Junius Rusticus and Apollonius of Nicomedea, [Footnote:  Since Apollonius was really from Chalcedon, an error may here charged to Dio’s or some one else’s account.] both of whom followed Zeno’s school.  As a result, great numbers pretended to engage in philosophy, in order that they might be enriched by the emperor.

After all, however, he owed his great attainments chiefly to his natural disposition; for even before he enjoyed the society of those men he was unflinchingly set upon virtue.  While still a boy he delighted all his relations, who were numerous and influential and wealthy, and was loved by all of them.  This, most of all, led Hadrian to adopt him into his family, and Marcus, for his part, did not grow haughty [but, though young and a Caesar he dutifully played the part of servant to Antoninus through all the latter’s reign and ungrudgingly did honor to the other men of eminence.  Before going to see his father he used to greet the most worthy men in the house near the Tiber where he lived, and in the very apartment where he slept; and all this time, instead of wearing the attire allowed by his rank, he went dressed as a private citizen.  He visited many who were sick and invariably met his teachers at the proper time.  Dark garments were what he wore on going out when not in his father’s company, and he never used the attendant for himself alone.  Upon being appointed leader of the knights he entered the Forum with the rest, although he was Caesar.  This shows how excellent was his own natural disposition, though it was aided to the greatest degree by education.] He was always steeped in Greek and Latin rhetorical and philosophical learning [though he had reached man’s estate and had hopes of becoming emperor].

[Sidenote:—­36—­] Before he was made Caesar he had a dream in which he seemed to have shoulders and hands of ivory and to use them in all respects as he did his real limbs.