BOOK I
honour[1] as they seemed to desire, and that I did not put them off with the hope that I would do this later on since they were still young. That I got to know Apollonius, Rusticus, Maximus.
That I had clear and frequent conceptions as to the true meaning of a life according to Nature,[2] so that as far as the Gods were concerned and their blessings and assistance and intention, there was nothing to prevent me from beginning at once to live in accordance with Nature, though I still come short of this ideal by my own fault, and by not attending to the reminders, nay, almost the instructions, of the Gods.
That my body holds out so long in such a life as mine[3]; that I did not touch Benedicta or Theodotus, but that even afterwards, when I did give way to amatory passions, I was cured of them; that, though often offended with Rusticus, I never went so far as to do anything for which I should have been sorry; that my mother,[4] though she was to die young, yet spent her last years with me.
That as often as I had the inclination to help anyone, who was in pecuniary distress or needing any other assistance, I was never told that there was no money available for the purpose; and that I was never under any similar need of accepting help from another. That I have been blessed with a wife so docile,[5] so affectionate, so unaffected;[6] that I had no lack of suitable tutors for my children.
- ↑ e.g. Rusticus, cons. ii. in 162, and praef. urbi; Proculus, see Capit. ii. 5.
- ↑ i. 9.
- ↑ Dio 71. 36, § 3.
- ↑ Domitia Lucilla, dau. of P. Calvisius Tullus. She died in 156, aged about 50. For her see above i. 3; viii. 25; Fronto, ad Caes. iv. 6; Capit. vi. 9. Her head appears on a coin of Nicaea in Bithynia.
- ↑ cp. Fronto, ad Caes. v. 11.
- ↑ cp. Fronto, ad Pium 2, ad fin. for Pius' opinion of his daughter. The coiffure of the younger Faustina as seen on coins is much simpler than that of her mother. She was with Marcus in Pannonia for a time at least.
