OMPEY: Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106–48 B.C.), Roman politician and
general who rose to power in the 60s on the basis of a series of successful
campaigns in the East. His brief political alliance with Julius CAESAR gave
way to mutual rivalry and suspicion. When Caesar’s march on Rome
precipitated civil war in 49, Pompey led the senatorial resistance. Following
his defeat at the battle of Pharsalus, he fled to Egypt, where he was
murdered. (3.3, 8.3; family 8.31)
YTHAGORAS: Greek mathematician, philosopher, and mystic of the late sixth
century B.C. He founded a religious community in southern Italy whose
members were known especially for their devotion to music and geometry.
(6.47; compare 11.27)
USTICUS: Quintus Junius Rusticus, twice consul and city prefect of Rome in
the mid-160s. His influence on Marcus is attested by the Historia Augusta,
although the reference to him in 1.17 suggests that their relationship had its
ups and downs. (1.7, 1.17)ATYRON: Unknown, though evidently a contemporary of Marcus. (10.31)
CIPIO: Either Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (c. 235–183 B.C.), who
defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War, or his grandson by adoption,
Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus (185/4–129 B.C.), the conqueror of
Carthage in the Third Punic War. (4.33)
ECUNDA: Wife of MAXIMUS. (8.25)
EVERUS (1): Lucius Catilius Severus, Marcus’s great-grandfather. (1.4)
EVERUS (2): Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus from Pompeiopolis in Asia
Minor, consul in 146; his son (perhaps the Severus of 10.31) married one of
Marcus’s daughters. He was an adherent of the Peripatetic school, which
traced its heritage back to Aristotle. (1.14)
EXTUS: Sextus of Chaeronea, Stoic philosopher, teacher of both Marcus and
Lucius VERUS, and nephew of the great biographer and antiquarian Plutarch.
(1.9)