The Roaming Roman All the News Romans Need to Know 182AD Rome

Letter to the Editor Connelius Reillium

Dear Roaming Roman,

I am writing this letter because I want you to know I am sorry, but only that I failed to kill Commodus. If I had succeeded, Lucilla and her husband would have brought the Roman Empire back to the glory we saw when her father Marcus Aurelius ruled. The two years since he died have been terrible for the Roman Empire. In his 58 years of life, the only thing he did that was bad for the Romans was to let Commodus into power. Marcus Aurelius was a great man. Plato himself would have said he was the Philosopher King he hoped would rule an empire. I read his Meditations regularly and find his Stoicism so different from the terrible policies of Commodus. Commodus does not seem to care about us Romans. Commodus had everything handed to him, but your father was different. His father died when he was two, but that did not stop Marcus Aurelius. He became a consul at 18 and a tribune at 25. He even died fighting the German tribes. Romans need a leader like your father. Commodus needs to be killed, but he will certainly sentence me to death for trying to kill him outside the theater today. I only hope someone finds my dagger and finishes the job.

Sincerely, Appius Claudius Quintianus, 182AD

Bust of Emperor Marcus Aurelius 160-170 Source: British Museum

Sources: Aurelius, Marcus, The Emperor’s Handbook Boak, Arthur, A History of Rome to A.D.565 Birley, Anthony, Marcus Aurelius Knight, Judson, Ancient Civilizations: Biographies