to time the forms
of invocation, he needed not the help of the prompter, or
ceremoniarius, who then approached, to assist him by whispering the
appointed words in his ear. It was that pontifical abstraction which
then impressed itself on Marius as the leading outward characteristic
of Aurelius; though to him alone, perhaps, in that vast crowd of
observers, it was no strange thing, but a matter he had understood from
of old.

Some fanciful writers have assigned the origin of these triumphal
processions to the mythic pomps of Dionysus, after his conquests in the
East; the very word Triumph being, according to this supposition, only
Thriambos-the Dionysiac Hymn. And certainly the younger of the two
imperial "brothers," who, with the effect of a strong contrast, walked
beside Aurelius, and shared the honours of the day, might well have
reminded people of the delicate Greek god of flowers and wine. This
[194] new conqueror of the East was now about thirty-six years old, but
with his scrupulous care for all the advantages of his person, and a
soft curling beard powdered with gold, looked many years younger. One
result of the more genial element in the wisdom of Aurelius had been
that, amid most difficult circumstances, he had known throughout life
how to act in union with persons of character very alien from his own;
to be more than loyal to the colleague, the younger brother in empire,
he had too lightly taken to himself, five years before, then an
uncorrupt youth, "skilled in manly exercises and fitted for war." When
Aurelius thanks the gods that a brother had fallen to his lot, whose
character was a stimulus to the proper care of his own, one sees that
this could only have happened in the way of an example, putting him on
his guard against insidious faults. But it is with sincere amiability
that the imperial writer, who was indeed little used to be ironical,
adds that the lively respect and affection of the junior had often
"gladdened" him. To be able to make his use of the flower, when the
fruit perhaps was useless or poisonous:--that was one of the practical
successes of his philosophy; and his people noted, with a blessing,
"the concord of the two Augusti."

The younger, certainly, possessed in full measure that charm of a
constitutional freshness of aspect which may defy for a long time
extravagant or erring habits of life; a physiognomy, [195]
healthy-looking, cleanly, and firm, which seemed unassociable with a