He was still young, also, when on the day of his adoption by
Antoninus Pius he saw himself in a dream, with as it were shoulders
of ivory, like the images of the gods, and found them more capable
than shoulders of flesh. Yet he was now well-nigh fifty years of
age, setting out with two-thirds of life behind him, upon a labour
which would fill the remainder of it with anxious cares--a labour for
which he had perhaps no capacity, and certainly no taste.

That ancient suit of armour was almost the only object Aurelius now
possessed from all those much cherished articles of vertu collected
by the Caesars, making the imperial residence like a magnificent
museum. Not men alone were needed for the war, so that it became
necessary, to the great disgust alike of timid persons and of [61]
the lovers of sport, to arm the gladiators, but money also was
lacking. Accordingly, at the sole motion of Aurelius himself,
unwilling that the public burden should be further increased,
especially on the part of the poor, the whole of the imperial
ornaments and furniture, a sumptuous collection of gems formed by
Hadrian, with many works of the most famous painters and sculptors,
even the precious ornaments of the emperor's chapel or Lararium, and
the wardrobe of the empress Faustina, who seems to have borne the
loss without a murmur, were exposed for public auction. "These
treasures," said Aurelius, "like all else that I possess, belong by
right to the Senate and People." Was it not a characteristic of the
true kings in Plato that they had in their houses nothing they could
call their own? Connoisseurs had a keen delight in the mere reading
of the Praetor's list of the property for sale. For two months the
learned in these matters were daily occupied in the appraising of the
embroidered hangings, the choice articles of personal use selected
for preservation by each succeeding age, the great outlandish pearls