Contempt of virtue

Even virtue itself is regarded with contempt by many and is said to be mere pretense and display. M. Tullius Cicero. De Amicitia. Laelius on friendship. Section 86.

James Cameron's Smith's eyes inserted into a sculpture of Antoninus Pius courtesy of James Cameron Smith on Pinterest.

Born into a senatorial family, Antoninus held various offices during the reign of emperor Hadrian, who adopted him as his son and successor shortly before his death. Antoninus acquired the cognomen Pius after his accession to the throne, either because he compelled the Senate to deify his adoptive father, or because he had saved senators sentenced to death by Hadrian in his later years. Unlike his adoptive father who was known for his empire-wide travels, Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, never left Italy during his twenty-three year reign. Instead, Antoninus dealt with provincial matters of war and peace through their governors or through imperial letters to the cities such as Ephesus. Antoninus was the last Roman Emperor recognized by India, Bactria, and Hyrcania. Even the so-called Antonine wall was constructed by proxy, Quintus Lollius Urbicus, a native of Numidia and previously governor of Germania Inferior. Under instructions from Antoninus, Lollius invaded southern Scotland, won some significant victories, and constructed the wall from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. The wall enclosed a relatively barren area, though, and it has been speculated that the invasion of Lowland Scotland and the building of the wall had to do mostly with internal politics, that is, offering Antoninus an opportunity to gain some modicum of necessary military prestige at the start of his reign much like Claudius' invasion of Britain. Actually, the campaign in Britannia was followed by an Imperial salutation – that is, by Antoninus formally taking for the second (and last) time the title of Imperator – in 142 CE.