Their united reigns are possibly the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government.
[Footnote 42: Without the help of medals and inscriptions, we should be ignorant of this fact, so honorable to the memory of Pius.

Note: Gibbon attributes to Antoninus Pius a merit which he either did not possess, or was not in a situation to display.
1.

He was adopted only on the condition that he would adopt, in his turn, Marcus Aurelius and L.Verus.
2.

His two sons died children, and one of them, M.Galerius, alone, appears to have survived, for a few years, his father's coronation.
Gibbon is also mistaken when he says (note 42) that "without the help of medals and inscriptions, we should be ignorant that Antoninus had two sons." Capitolinus says expressly, (c.

1,) Filii mares duo, duae-foeminae; we only owe their names to the medals.Pagi.Cont.