Message #48717

[Bianca]

This fell upon Antoninus Pius, on condition that he adopted L. Verus (Aelius Verus' son) and an older boy, Marcus Aurelius, as his own heirs. Pedanius Fuscus was outraged, foolishly became involved in a plot to seize the throne, and was arrested and executed. A surviving horoscope by Antigonus of Nicaca says that he 'was born to become, at the age of 25, the cause of his own destruction and that of his parents', and gives the reasons for his fall - which include his being ill-advised because Mercury and Saturn were in a male sign, being discovered in a plot because the Moon was in Scorpio, and dying because Mars and Aquarius rose at the same time.

Antoninus Pius, who reigned between 138 and 161, and Marcus Aurelius (161-180), seem to have had few formal dealings with astrologers; at least, there is no record of any, and it has been conjectured that this was because of the increased influence of Stoic philosophy in Rome. If the future is absolutely fixed, then no amount of foreknowledge can make any difference; and in that case, what is the point of prediction?

                                           

As might be expected, however, M. Aurelius accepted astrology as a useful tool. He was interested too in dreams
as a means of divination. He had the horoscopes of his twin sons drawn up, when they were born in August 161.
Both were favourable, and the fact that the elder boy died when he was four does not seem to have shaken
the Emperor's faith. He settled the succession on his younger son, Commodus.