A circumstance more characteristic, in the
record of those observances which attested the public feeling, is this--
that he who at that time had no bust, picture, or statue of Marcus in his
house, was looked upon as a profane and irreligious man. Finally, to do
him honor not by testimonies of men's opinions in his favor, but by facts
of his own life and conduct, one memorable trophy there is amongst the
moral distinctions of the philosophic Caesar, utterly unnoticed hitherto by
historians, but which will hereafter obtain a conspicuous place in any
perfect record of the steps by which civilization has advanced, and human
nature has been exalted. It is this: Marcus Aurelius was the first great
military leader (and his civil office as supreme interpreter and creator
of law consecrated his example) who allowed rights indefeasible--rights
uncancelled by his misfortune in the field, to the prisoner of war. Others
had been merciful and variously indulgent, upon their own discretion, and
upon a random impulse to some, or possibly to all of their prisoners; but
this was either in submission to the usage of that particular war, or to
special self-interest, or at most to individual good feeling.
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