How Did Marcus Aurelius Reunify The Roman Empire?

Marcus Aurelius would have had mixed feelings about the collapse of the Roman Empire in the mid-to-late third century AD. An admirer of change, Marcus would have accepted the direction that the Empire was heading in, but not necessarily through the murderous means in which it transpired. He also was an enormous aficionado of living as close to in accordance with nature as was possible and not enjoying an overly lavish lifestyle. Few of the Emperors during the mid-to-late third century AD were overtly careless with their reigns, and most were entirely focused on maintaining defense. According to Aurelius, nothing could be more in accordance with nature than death, or in this case a violent death, which was the fate of every emperor that took
Aurelian managed to reunify the Roman Empire and present the inhabitants a little sense of security that they had been missing. Marcus was a firm believer in grasping the moment and living in the present because he knew that everything that was important to him could vanish in an instant. Aurelian was the second Emperor in a row who attempted to better the political situation in the Empire, and truly made no excuse of the horrible hand he was dealt. Marcus would have been an admirer of Aurelian’s military and political successes. Over the course of the third century AD, the silver content of the “silver” coin, the antoninianus, had eroded consistently to the point where it was entirely a base metal with a thin layer of silver. However, Aurelian made great strides to help the economic depression of the empire by increasing the silver content in the antoninianus, occasionally issuing more gold coins, and minting subsidiary bronze pieces. He also showed great interest in the welfare of the masses of Rome, making sure that they had regulated bread prices in addition to free daily allotments of grain for qualified citizens. Moreover, he made sure that they had regular and free distributions of oil, salt, and pork. This might not have fully corrected the economic turmoil in
Marcus believed that there is a plethora of relationships that a person is responsible for maintaining, however, the most important is the relationship with the people living in life with you. He also believed that the work of a man should include loving his neighbor. The Roman Emperor Gallienus, reigning from 253-268, was undeniably more accommodating to other groups that were once persecuted or looked down upon. He could be given the posthumous nickname, “The People’s Champ”, because he no doubt wanted to help most citizens. Valerian, Gallienus’ co-Augustus for the first seven years of his rein, increased his persecution of Christians throughout the empire, specifically targeting their bishops. However, Gallienus attempted to extinguish the fires of unrest that were burning out of control from the hatred of Christians, and so because of his actions they enjoyed relative peace and prosperity for most of the second-half of the third century. The attempts of Gallienus to mend the wounds of the Christians is him looking out for his neighbors, which was exactly what Marcus believed in. The fact that Gallienus, even though he was an overall profound Emperor, was murdered in cold blood by a handful of his officers during the siege of Mediolanum in 268 AD. This is probably the farthest a group of people can be from loving their neighbor, not including the fact