Stoic exemplars see the Introduction.1.16 My adopted father: Antoninus Pius. The sketch here seems to be a
development and expansion of the briefer assessment in 6.30.
Putting a stop to the pursuit of boys: This may be meant as a critique of
Antoninus’s predecessor, Hadrian (2), whose love affair with the youth
Antinoüs was notorious. Alternatively it might refer to legal restrictions on
pederasty (which was common in upper-class Greek and Roman society),
or to Antoninus’s own self-restraint.
The robe... the customs agent’s apology: These examples of
Antoninus’s modesty are too compressed and allusive to be intelligible to
anyone but Marcus himself.
as they say of Socrates: Marcus may be recalling a similar comment by
Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.3.14; Socrates’ ability to drink heavily without
any apparent effect is celebrated in Plato’s Symposium (179c, 220a).
Maximus’s illness: For Maximus see the Index of Persons; nothing is
known of his illness.
1.17 someone: Antoninus.
the kind of brother: Verus (3).
the honors they seemed to want: Marcus may be thinking of Herodes
Atticus and Fronto, both of whom held consulships in 143, soon after
Marcus became the heir apparent. Perhaps also of Rusticus, who held a
second consulship in 162.
I never laid a finger: Household slaves were often exposed to sexual
abuse at the hands of their owners.
That I have the wife I do: Faustina.
at Caieta: A seaport on the west coast of Italy. The Greek text adds an