Marcus Aurelius, the gentle philosopher who lived through the inconceivable, heart-wrenching loss of ten children.  Heir to Antoninus Pius against his will, he became emperor of 1/3 of the known world just as the Pax Romana began to fracture.  True to his stoic core, Marcus set aside personal wants and rose to the occasion, transforming himself from the first philosopher-emperor into the first warrior-emperor who spend his final 10 years camped on the Danube, fighting the barbarian wave that would eventually overwhelm the West.