Marcus Aurelius was a student of Stoic philosophy. His reign was nothing like his predecessors in bloodletting, at least in Rome. He spent most of his reign fighting barbarians in remote corners of the empire. Marcus was disappointed in his named heir apparent, Commodus.

Commodus was only nineteen years old when Marcus died. His cowardice made him a toady of sycophants who introduced him to licentiousness and blood-lust. The paranoid emperor exiled his own sister Lucilla for treason, and his wife Crispina for adultery, later put to death at Capri. Commodus behaved with a lack of restraint unusual even for an emperor. Even in this video there wasn't enough time to recount all of his victims. But you can read about them in the book by Frank Wallis, Roman Scandal.

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