Click2Flicks - Gladiator - Chapter 2

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>COMMODUS AND THE GLADIATORS</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 2 - MARCUS AURELIUS</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Commodus, the ruthless slayer of men and animals, was the son of Emperor <a target="_blank" href="http://www.phil.uni-erlangen.de/~p1altar/photo_html/portraet/roemisch/kaiserzeit/antoninen/marcus_aurelius/marc1.JPG"><b>Marcus Aurelius</b></a> and his wife, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.phil.uni-erlangen.de/~p1altar/photo_html/portraet/roemisch/kaiserzeit/antoninen/faustina_minor/fausmi2.JPG"><b>Faustina the Younger</b></a>. Adopted by Emperor <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vroma.org/~riley/images/antoninus.pius.03.85.jpg"><b>Antoninus Pius</b></a> (Faustina's father and his own uncle by marriage), Marcus Aurelius was groomed for ruling Rome at an early age. A prolific writer, his <a href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0140441409.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" target="_blank"><b><i>Meditations</b></i></a> are still studied - and quoted - today:<ul> <p><b><li><i><font face="times new roman" size=3 color=000000>The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts</li></p> <p><li>Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.</li></p> <p><li>The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.</font></i></li></b></p> </ul> <p>By the time Marcus Aurelius became <a target="_blank" href="http://www.romeguide.it/MONUM/STORICI/capitoline_hill/marcus.jpg"><b>Emperor</b></a> in 161, <a href="http://www.dalton.org/groups/Rome/RMap2.html" target="_blank"><b>trade routes</b></a> between Rome and her provinces had been established. But when Marcus Aurelius assumed sole power, the Empire's <a href="http://www.friesian.com/images/maps/rome-big.gif" target="_blank"><b>northern and eastern borders</b></a> were not secure. (Follow this link to an animated map of Rome's expanding and shrinking territory throughout the centuries.) In 167, Rome's Emperor and his <a href="http://www.roman-empire.net/army/pics/legionary.jpg" target="_blank"><b>legions</b></a> were fighting Germanic tribes along the Rhine-Danube frontier. At the time, Rome's army was mostly loyal to the Emperor.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="gladiator_ch1.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER   </a>     <a href="gladiator_ch3.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>