defeated in a great battle A.D. 179. During this campaign the emperor
was seized with some contagious malady, of which he died in the camp at
Sirmium (Mitrovitz), on the Save, in Lower Pannonia, but at Vindebona
(Vienna), according to other authorities, on the 17th of March, A.D.
180, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. His son Commodus was with him.
The body, or the ashes probably, of the emperor were carried to Rome,
and he received the honor of deification. Those who could afford it had
his statue or bust; and when Capitolinus wrote, many people still had
statues of Antoninus among the Dei Penates or household deities. He was
in a manner made a saint. Commodus erected to the memory of his father
the Antonine column which is now in the Piazza Colonna at Rome. The
_bassi rilievi_ which are placed in a spiral line round the shaft
commemorate the victories of Antoninus over the Marcomanni and the
Quadi, and the miraculous shower of rain which refreshed the Roman
soldiers and discomfited their enemies. The statue of Antoninus was
placed on the capital of the column, but it was removed at some time
unknown, and a bronze statue of St. Paul was put in the place by Pope
Sixtus the fifth.

The historical evidence for the times of Antoninus is very defective,
and some of that which remains is not credible. The most curious is the
story about the miracle which happened in A.D. 174, during the war with
the Quadi. The Roman army was in danger of perishing by thirst, but a
sudden storm drenched them with rain, while it discharged fire and hail
on their enemies, and the Romans gained a great victory. All the
authorities which speak of the battle speak also of the miracle. The
Gentile writers assign it to their gods, and the Christians to the
intercession of the Christian legion in the emperor's army. To confirm
the Christian statement it is added that the emperor gave the title of
Thundering to this legion; but Dacier and others, who maintain the