Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Antoninus 1.

ANTO'NINUS. 1. A Roman of high rank, and a contemporary and friend of Pliny the Younger, among whose letters there are three addressed to Antoninus. Pliny heaps the most extravagant praise upon his friend both for his personal character and his skill in composing Greek epigrams and iambics. (Plin. Epist. iv. 3, 18, v. 10.)

2. A new-Platonist, who lived early in the fourth century of our era, was a son of Eustathius and Sosipatra, and had a school at Canopus, near Alexandria in Egypt. He devoted himself wholly to those who sought his instructions, but he never expressed any opinion upon divine things, which he considered beyond man's comprehension. He and his disciples were strongly attached to the heathen religion; but he had acuteness enough to see that its end was near at hand, and he predicted that after his death all the splendid temples of the gods would be changed into tombs. His moral conduct is described as truly exemplary. (Eunapius, Vit. Aedesii, p. 68, ed. Antw. 1568.)

[L. S.]