It would be impossible here to detail even briefly all the manifold public services rendered by Marcus Aurelius to the Empire during his reign of twenty years.  Among his good works were these:  the establishment, upon eternal foundation, of the noble fabric of the Civil Law—­the prototype and basis of Justinian’s task; the founding of schools for the education of poor children; the endowment of hospitals and homes for orphans of both sexes; the creation of trust companies to receive and distribute legacies and endowments; the just government of the provinces; the complete reform of the system of collecting taxes; the abolition of the cruelty of the criminal laws and the mitigation of sentences unnecessarily severe; the regulation of gladiatorial exhibitions; the diminution of the absolute power possessed by fathers over their children and of masters over their slaves; the admission of women to equal rights to succession to property from their children; the rigid suppression of spies and informers; and the adoption of the principle that merit, as distinguished from rank or political friendship, alone justified promotion in the public service.

But the greatest reform was the reform in the Imperial Dignity itself, as exemplified in the life and character of the Emperor.  It is this fact which gives to the ‘Meditations’ their distinctive value.  The infinite charm, the tenderness and sweetness of their moral teachings, and their broad humanity, are chiefly noteworthy because the Emperor himself practiced in his daily life the principles of which he speaks, and because tenderness and sweetness, patience and pity, suffused his daily conduct and permeated his actions.  The horrible cruelties of the reigns of Nero and Domitian seemed only awful dreams under the benignant rule of Marcus Aurelius.

It is not surprising that the deification of a deceased emperor, usually regarded by Senate and people as a hollow mockery, became a veritable fact upon the death of Marcus Aurelius.  He was not regarded in any sense as mortal.  All men said he had but returned to his heavenly place among the immortal gods.  As his body passed, in the pomp of an imperial funeral, to its last resting-place, the tomb of Hadrian,—­the modern Castle of St. Angelo at Rome,—­thousands invoked the divine blessing of Antoninus.  His memory was sacredly cherished.  His portrait was preserved as an inspiration in innumerable homes.  His statue was almost universally given an honored place among the household gods.  And all this continued during successive generations of men.

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