Editing Lucius Verus (section)

=== Early rule (161–162) ===
[[File:Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna June 2006 050.jpg|thumb|upright|Bust of Lucius as a young man, in the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]], Vienna]]
Soon after the emperors' accession, Marcus's eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla, was betrothed to Lucius (in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her uncle).<ref>''HA Marcus'' 7.7; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 118.</ref> At the ceremonies commemorating the event, new provisions were made for the support of poor children, along the lines of earlier imperial foundations.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 118, citing [[Werner Eck]], ''Die Organisation Italiens'' (1979), 146ff.</ref> Marcus and Lucius proved popular with the people of Rome, who strongly approved of their ''civiliter'' (lacking pomp) behavior.<ref name=Birley-119>''HA Marcus'' 8.1, qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 119; "Hadrian to the Antonines", 157.</ref>

The emperors permitted free speech, evidenced by the fact that the comedy writer [[Marullus (humorist)|Marullus]] was able to criticize them without suffering retribution. At any other time, under any other emperor, he would have been executed. But it was a peaceful time, a forgiving time. And thus, as the biographer wrote, "No one missed the lenient ways of Pius."<ref name=Birley-119 />

Fronto returned to his Roman townhouse at dawn on 28 March, having left his home in [[Cirta]] as soon as news of his pupils' accession reached him. He sent a note to the imperial freedman Charilas, asking if he could call on the emperors. Fronto would later explain that he had not dared to write the emperors directly.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 120, citing ''Ad Verum Imperator'' 1.3.2 (= Haines 1.298ff).</ref> The tutor was immensely proud of his students. Reflecting on the speech he had written on taking his consulship in 143, when he had praised the young Marcus, Fronto was ebullient: "There was then an outstanding natural ability in you; there is now perfected excellence. There was then a crop of growing corn; there is now a ripe, gathered harvest. What I was hoping for then, I have now. The hope has become a reality."<ref>''Ad Antoninum Imperator'' 4.2.3 (= Haines 1.302ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 119.</ref> Fronto called on Marcus alone; neither thought to invite Lucius.<ref name=Birley-120>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 120.</ref>

Lucius was less esteemed by his tutor than his brother, as his interests were on a lower level. Lucius asked Fronto to adjudicate in a dispute he and his friend Calpurnius were having on the relative merits of two actors.<ref>Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 120, citing ''Ad Verum Imperator'' 1.1 (= Haines 1.305).</ref> Marcus told Fronto of his reading—[[Lucius Coelius Antipater|Coelius]] and a little Cicero—and his family. His daughters were in Rome, with their great-great-aunt [[Matidia Minor]]; Marcus thought the evening air of the country was too cold for them.<ref>''Ad Antoninum Imperator'' 4.1 (= Haines 1.300ff), ''Marcus Aurelius'', 120.</ref>

The emperors' early reign proceeded smoothly. Marcus was able to give himself wholly to philosophy and the pursuit of popular affection.<ref>''HA Marcus'' 8.3–4; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 120.</ref> Some minor troubles cropped up in the spring; there would be more later. In the spring of 162,{{#tag:ref|Because both Verus and Marcus are said to have taken active part in the recovery (''HA Marcus'' 8.4–5), the flood must have happened before Verus's departure for the east in 162; because it appears in the biographer's narrative after Pius' funeral has finished and the emperors have settled into their offices, it must not have occurred in the spring of 161. A date in autumn 161 or spring 162 is probable, and, given the normal seasonal distribution of Tiber flooding, the most probable date is in spring 162.<ref>Gregory S. Aldrete, ''Floods of the Tiber in ancient Rome'' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), 30–31.</ref> (Birley dates the flood to autumn 161).<ref name=Birley-120 />|group=notes}} the [[Tiber]] flooded over its banks, destroying much of Rome. It drowned many animals, leaving the city in famine. Marcus and Lucius gave the crisis their personal attention.<ref>''HA Marcus'' 8.4–5; Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 120.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Since 15 CE, the river had been administered by a Tiber conservancy board, with a consular senator at its head and a permanent staff. In 161, the ''curator alevi Tiberis et riparum et cloacarum urbis'' (curator of the Tiber bed and banks and the city sewers") was A. Platorius Nepos, son or grandson of [[Aulus Platorius Nepos|the builder]] of [[Hadrian's Wall]], whose name he shares. He probably had not been particularly incompetent. A more likely candidate for that incompetence is Nepos' likely predecessor, [[Marcus Statius Priscus|M. Statius Priscus]]. A military man and consul for 159, Priscus probably looked on the office as little more than "paid leave".<ref>''[[Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae]]'' [https://archive.org/details/inscriptioneslat21dessuoft/page/458 5932] (Nepos), [https://archive.org/details/inscriptioneslat01dessuoft/page/238 1092] (Priscus); Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 121.</ref>|group=notes}} In other times of famine, the emperors are said to have provided for the Italian communities out of the Roman granaries.<ref>''HA Marcus'' 11.3, cited in Birley, ''Marcus Aurelius'', 278 n.16.</ref>