Hadrian had not been adopted by Trajan; he was merely a
compatriot and former ward of his, was of near kin to him and had
married his niece,— in short, he was a companion of his, sharing his
daily life, and had been assigned to Syria for the Parthian War. Yet he
had received no distinguishing mark of favour from Trajan, such as
being one of the first to be appointed consul. He became Caesar and
emperor owing to the fact that when Trajan died childless, Attianus, a
compatriot and former guardian of his, together with Plotina, who was
in love with him, secured him the appointment, their efforts being
facilitated by his proximity and by his possession of a large military
force. My father, Apronianus, who was governor of Cilicia, had
ascertained accurately the whole story about him, and he used to relate
the various incidents, in particular stating that the death of Trajan
was concealed for several days in order that Hadrian's adoption might
be announced first. This was shown also by Trajan's letters to the
senate, for they were signed, not by him, but by Plotina, although she
had not done this in any previous instance.
At the time that he was declared emperor, Hadrian was in Antioch, the
metropolis of Syria, of which he was governor. He had dreamed before
the day in question that a fire descended out of heaven, the day being
perfectly clear and bright, and fell first upon the left side of his
throat, passing then to the right side, though it neither frightened
nor injured him. And he wrote to the senate asking that body to confirm
the sovereignty to him and forbidding the passing either then or later
of any measure (as was so often done) that contained any special honour
for him, unless he should ask for it at some time.
The bones of Trajan were deposited in his Column, and the Parthian
Games, as they were called, continued for a number of years; but at a
later date even this observance, like many others, was abolished.
In a certain letter that Hadrian wrote, in which were many high-minded
sentiments, he swore that he would neither do anything contrary to the
public interest nor put to death any senator, and he invoked
destruction upon himself if he should violate these promises in any
wise.
Hadrian, though he ruled with the greatest mildness, was nevertheless
severely criticized for slaying several of the best men in the
beginning of his reign and again near the end of his life, and for this
reason he came near failing to be enrolled among the demigods. Those
who were slain at the beginning were Palma and Celsus, Nigrinus and
Lusius, the first two for the alleged reason that they had conspired
against him during a hunt, and the others on certain complaints, but in
reality because they had great influence and enjoyed wealth and fame.
Nevertheless, Hadrian felt so keenly the comments that this action
occasioned, that he made a defence and declared upon oath that he had
not ordered their deaths. Those who perished at the end of his reign
were Servianus and his grandson Fuscus.
Hadrian was a pleasant man to meet and he possessed a certain charm.
As regards birth Hadrian was the son of a man of senatorial rank, an
ex-praetor, Hadrianus Afer by name. By nature he was fond of literary
study in both the Greek and Latin languages, and has left behind a
variety of prose writings as well as compositions in verse. For his
ambition was insatiable, and hence he practised all conceivable
pursuits, even the most trivial; for example, he modelled and painted,
and declared that there was nothing pertaining to peace or war, to
imperial or private life, of which he was not cognizant. All this, of
course, did people no harm; but his jealousy of all who excelled in any
respect was most terrible and caused the downfall of many, besides
utterly destroying several. For, inasmuch as he wished to surpass
everybody in everything, he hated those who attained eminence in any
direction. It was this feeling that led him to undertake to overthrow
two sophists, Favorinus the Gaul, and Dionysius of Miletus, by various
methods, but chiefly by elevating their antagonists, who were of little
or no worth at all. Dionysius is said to have remarked then to Avidius
Heliodorus, who had had charge of the emperor's correspondence: "Caesar
can give you money and honour, but he cannot make you an orator." And
Favorinus, who was about to plead a case before the emperor in regard
to exemption from taxes, a privilege which he desired to secure to his
native land, suspected that he should be unsuccessful and receive
insults besides, and so merely entered the court-room and made this
brief statement: "My teacher stood besides me last night in a dream and
bade me serve my country, as having been born for her."
Now Hadrian spared these men, displeased as he was with them, for he
could find no plausible pretext to use against them for their
destruction. But he first banished and later put to death Apollodorus,
the architect, who had built the various creations of Trajan in Rome —
the forum, the odeum and the gymnasium. The reason assigned was that he
had been guilty of some misdemeanour; but the true reason was that once
when Trajan was consulting him on some point about the buildings he had
said to Hadrian, who had interrupt with some remark: "Be off, and draw
your gourds. You don't understand any of these matters." (It chanced
that Hadrian at the time was pluming himself upon some such drawing.)
When he became emperor, therefore, he remembered this slight and would
not endure the man's freedom of speech. He sent him the plan of the
temple of Venus and Roma by way of showing him that a great work could
be accomplished without his aid, and asked Apollodorus whether the
proposed structure was satisfactory. The architect in his reply stated,
first, in regard to the temple, that it ought to have been built on
high ground and that the earth should have been excavated beneath it,
so that it might have stood out more conspicuously on the Sacred Way
from its higher position, and might also have accommodated the machines
in its basement, so that they could be put together unobserved and
brought into the theatre without anyone's being aware of them
beforehand. Secondly, in regard to the statues, he said that they had
been made too tall for the height of the cella. "For now," he said, "if
the goddesses wish to get up and go out, they will be unable to do so."
When he wrote this so bluntly to Hadrian, the emperor was both vexed
and exceedingly grieved because he had fallen into a mistake that could
not be righted, and he restrained neither his anger nor his grief, but
slew the man. Indeed, his nature was such that he was jealous not only
of the living, but also of the dead; at any rate he abolished Homer and
introduced in his stead Antimachus, whose very name had previously been
unknown to many.
Other traits for which people found fault with him were his great
strictness, his curiosity and his meddlesomeness. Yet he balanced and
atoned for these defects by his careful oversight, his prudence, his
munificence and his skill; furthermore, he did not stir up any war, and
he terminated those already in progress; and he deprived no one of
money unjustly, while upon many — communities and private citizens,
senators and knights — he bestowed large sums. Indeed, he did not even
wait to be asked, but acted in absolutely every case according to the
individual needs. He subjected the legions to the strictest discipline,
so that, though strong, they were neither insubordinate nor insolent;
and he aided the allied and subject cities most munificently. He had
seen many of them,— more, in fact, than any other emperor,— and he
assisted practically all of them, giving to some a water supply, to
others harbours, food, public works, money and various honours,
differing the different cities.
He led the Roman people rather by dignity than by flattery. Once at a
gladiatorial contest, when the crown was demanding something very
urgently, he not only would not grant it but further bade the herald
proclaim Domitian's command, "Silence." The word was not uttered,
however, for the herald raised his hand and by that very gesture
quieted the people, as heralds are accustomed to do (for crowds are
never silenced by proclamation), and then, when they had become quiet,
he said: "That is what he wishes." And Hadrian was not in the least
angry with the herald, but actually honoured him for not uttering the
rude order. For he could bear such things, and was not displeased if he
received aid either in an unexpected way or from ordinary men. At any
rate, once, when a woman made a request of him as he passed by on a
journey, he at first said to her, "I haven't time," but afterwards,
when she cried out, "Cease, then, being emperor," he turned about and
granted her a hearing.
He transacted with the aid of the senate all the important and most
urgent business and he held court with the assistance of the foremost
men, now in the palace, now in the Forum or the Pantheon or various
other places, always being seated on a tribunal, so that whatever was
done was made public. Sometimes he would join the consuls when they
were trying cases and he showed them honour at the horse-races. When he
returned home he was wont to be carried in a litter, in order not to
trouble anyone to accompany him. On the days that were neither sacred
nor suitable for public business he remained at home, and admitted no
one, even so much as just to greet him, unless it were on some urgent
matter; this was in order to spare people a troublesome duty. Both in
Rome and abroad he always kept the noblest men about him, and he used
to join them at banquets and for this reason often took three others
into his carriage. He went hunting as often as possible, and he
breakfasted without wine; he used to eat a good deal, and often in the
midst of trying a case he would partake of food; later he would dine in
the company of all the foremost and best men, and their meal together
was the occasion for all kinds of discussions. When his friends were
very ill, he would visit them, and he would attend their festivals, and
was glad to stay at their country seats and their town houses. Hence he
also placed in the Forum images of many when they were dead and of many
while they were still alive. No one of his associates, moreover,
displayed insolence or took money for divulging anything that Hadrian
either said or did, as the freedmen and other attendants in the suite
of emperors are accustomed to do.
This is a kind of preface, of a summary nature, that I have been giving
in regard to his character. I shall also relate in detail all the
events that require mention.
The Alexandrians had been rioting, and nothing would make them stop
until they received a letter from Hadrian rebuking them. So true is it
that an emperor's word will have more force than arms.
On coming to Rome he cancelled the debts that were owing to the
imperial treasury and to the public treasury of the Romans, fixing a
period of fifteen years from the first to the last of which this
remission was to apply. On his birthday he gave the usual spectacle
free to the people and slew many wild beasts, so that one hundred
lions, for example, and a like number of lionesses fell on this single
occasion. He also distributed gifts by means of little balls which he
threw broadcast both in the theatres and in the Circus, for the men and
for the women separately. And further, he also commanded them to bathe
separately. Besides these events of that year, Euphrates, the
philosopher, died a death of his own choosing, since Hadrian permitted
him to drink hemlock in consideration of his extreme age and his malady.
Hadrian travelled through one province after another, visiting the
various regions and cities and inspecting all the garrisons and forts.
Some of these he removed to more desirable places, some he abolished,
and he also established some new ones. He personally viewed and
investigated absolutely everything, not merely the usual appurtenances
of camps, such as weapons, engines, trenches, ramparts and palisades,
but also the private affairs of every one, but of the men serving in
the ranks and of the officers themselves,— their lives, their quarters
and their habits,— and he reformed and corrected in many cases
practices and arrangements for living that had become too luxurious. He
drilled the men for every kind of battle, honouring some and reproving
others, and he taught them all what should be done. And in order that
they should be benefited by observing him, he everywhere led a rigorous
life and either walked or rode on horseback on all occasions, never
once at this period setting foot in either a chariot or a four-wheeled
vehicle. He covered his head neither in hot weather nor in cold, but
alike amid German snows and under scorching Egyptian suns he went about
with his head bare. In fine, both by his example and by his precepts he
so trained and disciplined the whole military force throughout the
entire empire that even to-day the methods then introduced by him are
the soldiers' law of campaigning. This best explains why he lived for
the most part at peace with foreign nations; for as they saw his state
of preparation and were themselves not only free from aggression but
received money besides, they made no uprising. So excellently, indeed,
had his soldiery been trained that the cavalry of the Batavians, as
they were called, swam the Ister with their arms. Seeing all this, the
barbarians stood in terror of the Romans, they employed Hadrian as an
arbitrator of their differences.
He also constructed theatres and held games as he travelled about from
city to city, dispensing, however, with the imperial trappings; for he
never used these outside Rome. And yet he did not see his native land,
though he showed it great honour and bestowed many splendid gifts upon
it. He is said to have been enthusiastic about hunting. Indeed, he
broke his collar-bone at this pursuit and came near getting his leg
maimed; and to a city that he founded in Mysia he gave the name of
Hadrianotherae. However, he did not neglect any of the duties of his
office because of this pastime. Some light is thrown upon his passion
for hunting by what he did for his steed Borysthenes, which was his
favourite horse for the chase; when the animal died, he prepared a tomb
for him, set up a slab and placed an inscription upon it. It is not
strange, then, that upon the death of Plotina, the woman through whom
he had secured the imperial office because of her love for him, he
honoured her exceedingly, wearing black for nine days, erecting a
temple to her and composing some hymns in her memory.
When Plotina died, Hadrian praised her, saying: "Though she asked much
of me, she was never refused anything." By this he simply meant to say:
"Her requests were of such a character that they neither burdened me
nor afforded me any justification for opposing them."
He was so skilful in the chase that he once brought down a huge boar with a single blow.
On coming to Greece he was admitted to the highest grade at the Mysteries.
After this he passed through Judaea into Egypt and offered sacrifice to
Pompey, concerning whom he is said to have uttered this verse:
"Strange lack of tomb for one with shrines o'erwhelmed!"
Antinous:
a bust in the Vatican Museums.
And he restored his monument, which had fallen in ruin. In Egypt also
he rebuilt the city named henceforth for Antinous. Antinous was from
Bithynium, a city of Bithynia, which we also call Claudiopolis; he had
been a favourite of the emperor and had died in Egypt, either by
falling into the Nile, as Hadrian writes, or, as the truth is, by being
offered in sacrifice. For Hadrian, as I have stated, was always very
curious and employed divinations and incantations of all kinds.
Accordingly, he honoured Antinous, either because of his love for him
or because the youth had voluntarily undertaken to die (it being
necessary that a life should be surrendered freely for the
accomplishment of the ends Hadrian had in view), by building a city on
the spot where he had suffered this fate and naming it after him; and
he also set up statues, or rather sacred images, of him, practically
all over the world. Finally, he declared that he had seen a star which
he took to be that of Antinous, and gladly lent an ear to the
fictitious tales woven by his associates to the effect that the star
had really come into being from the spirit of Antinous and had then
appeared for the first time. On this account, then, he became the
object of some ridicule, and also because at the death of his sister
Paulina he had not immediately paid her any honour ...
At Jerusalem he founded a city in place of the one which had been razed
to the ground, naming it Aelia Capitolina, and on the site of the
temple of the god he raised a new temple to Jupiter. This brought on a
war of no slight importance nor of brief duration, for the Jews deemed
it intolerable that foreign races should be settled in their city and
foreign religious rites planted there. So long, indeed, as Hadrian was
close by in Egypt and again in Syria, they remained quiet, save in so
far as they purposely made of poor quality such weapons as they were
called upon to furnish, in order that the Romans might reject them and
they themselves might thus have the use of them; but when he went
farther away, they openly revolted. To be sure, they did not dare try
conclusions with the Romans in the open field, but they occupied the
advantageous positions in the country and strengthened them with mines
and walls, in order that they might have places of refuge whenever they
should be hard pressed, and might meet together unobserved under
ground; and they pierced these subterranean passages from above at
intervals to let in air and light.
At first the Romans took no account of them. Soon, however, all Judaea
had been stirred up, and the Jews everywhere were showing signs of
disturbance, were gathering together, and giving evidence of great
hostility to the Romans, partly by secret and partly by overt acts;
many outside nations, too, were joining them through eagerness for
gain, and the whole earth, one might almost say, was being stirred up
over the matter. Then, indeed, Hadrian sent against them his best
generals. First of these was Julius Severus, who was dispatched from
br, where he was governor, against the Jews. Severus did not venture to
attack his opponents in the open at any one point, in view of their
numbers and their desperation, but by intercepting small groups, thanks
to the number of his soldiers and his under-officers, and by depriving
them of food and shutting them up, he was able, rather slowly, to be
sure, but with comparatively little danger, to crush, exhaust and
exterminate them. Very few of them in fact survived. Fifty of their
most important outposts and nine hundred and eighty-five of their most
famous villages were razed to the ground. Five hundred and eighty
thousand men were slain in the various raids and battles, and the
number of those that perished by famine, disease and fire was past
finding out. Thus nearly the whole of Judaea was made desolate, a
result of which the people had had forewarning before the war. For the
tomb of Solomon, which the Jews regard as an object of veneration, fell
to pieces of itself and collapsed, and many wolves and hyenas rushed
howling into their cities. Many Romans, moreover, perished in this war.
Therefore Hadrian in writing to the senate did not employ the opening
phrase commonly affected by the emperors, "If you and our children are
in health, it is well; I and the legions are in health."
He sent Severus into Bithynia, which needed no armed force but a
governor and leader who was just and prudent and a man of rank. All
this qualifications Severus possessed. And he managed and administer
both their private and their public affairs in such a manner that we
are still, even to-day, wont to remember him. Pamphylia, in place
Bithynia, was given to the senate and made assignable by lot.
This, then, was the end of the war with the Jews. A second war was
begun by the Alani (they are Massagetae) at the instigation of
Pharasmanes. It caused dire injury to the Albanian territory and Media,
and then involved Armenia and Cappadocia; after which, as the Alani
were not only persuaded by gifts from Vologaesus but also stood in
dread of Flavius Arrianus, the governor of Cappadocia, it came to a
stop.
Envoys were sent from Vologaesus and from the Iazyges; the former made
some charges against Pharasmanes and the latter wished to confirm the
peace. He introduced them to the senate and was empowered by that body
to return appropriate answers; and these he accordingly prepared and
read to them.
Hadrian completed the Olympieum at Athens, in which his own statue also
stands, and dedicated there a serpent, which had been brought from
India. He also presided at the Dionysia, first assuming the highest
office among the Athenians, and arrayed in the local costume, carried
it through brilliantly. He allowed the Greeks to build in his honour
the shrine which was named the Panhellenium, and instituted a series of
games in connection with it; and he granted to the Athenians large sums
of money, an annual dole of grain, and the whole of Cephallenia. Among
numerous laws that he enacted was one to the effect that no senator,
either personally or through the agency of another, should have any tax
farmed out to him. After he had returned to Rome the crowd at a
spectacle shouted their request for the emancipation of a certain
charioteer; but he replied in writing on a bulletin-board: "It is not
right for you either to ask me to free another's slave or to force his
master to do so."
He now began to be sick; for he had been subject even before this to a
flow of blood from the nostrils, and at this time it became distinctly
more copious. He therefore despaired of his life, and on this account
appointed Lucius Commodus to be Caesar for the Romans, although this
man frequently vomited blood. Servianus and his grandson Fuscus, the
former a nonagenarian and the latter eighteen years of age, were put to
death on the ground that they were displeased at this action. Servianus
before being executed asked for fire, and as he offered incense he
exclaimed: "That I am guilty of no wrong, ye, O Gods, are well aware;
as for Hadrian, this is my only prayer, that he may long for death but
be unable to die." And, indeed, Hadrian did linger on a long time in
his illness, and often prayed that he might expire, and often desired
to kill himself. There is, indeed, a letter of his in existence which
gives proof of precisely this — how dreadful it is to long for death
and yet be unable to die. This Servianus had been regarded by Hadrian
as capable of filling even the imperial office. For instance, Hadrian
had once at a banquet told his friends to name him ten men who were
competent to be sole ruler, and then, after a moment's pause, had
added: "nine only I want to know; for one I have already — Servianus."
Other excellent men, also, came to light during that period, of whom
the most distinguished were Turbo and Similis, who, indeed, were
honoured with statues. Turbo was a man of the greatest generalship and
had become prefect, or commander of the Praetorians. He displayed
neither effeminacy nor haughtiness in anything that he did, but lived
like one of the multitude; among other things, he spent the entire day
near the palace and often he would go there even before midnight, when
some of the others were just beginning to sleep. In this connexion the
following anecdote is related of Cornelius Fronto, who was the foremost
Roman of the time in pleading before the courts. One night he was
returning home from dinner very late, and ascertained from a man whose
counsel he had promised to be that Turbo was already holding court.
Accordingly, just as he was, in his dinner dress, he went into Turbo's
court-room and greeted him, not with the morning salutation, Salve, but
with the one appropriate to the evening, Vale. Turbo was never seen at
home in the day-time, even when he was sick; and to Hadrian, who
advised him to remain quiet, he replied: "The prefect ought to die on
his feet."
Similis was of more advanced years and rank than Turbo, and in
character was second to none of the great men, in my opinion. This may
be inferred even from incidents that are very trivial. For instance
when Trajan of course summoned him, while he was still a centurion, to
enter his presence ahead of the prefects, he said: "It is a shame,
Caesar, that you should be talking with a centurion while the prefects
stand outside." Moreover, he assumed the command of the Praetorians
reluctantly, and after assuming it resigned it. Having with difficulty
secured his release, he spent the rest of his life, seven years,
quietly in the country, and upon his tomb he caused this inscription to
be placed: "Here lies Similis, who existed so-and-so many years, and
lived seven."
Julius Fabius, not being able to endure his son's effeminacy, desired to throw himself into the river.
Hadrian became consumptive as a result of his great loss of blood, and
this led to dropsy. And as it happened that Lucius Commodus was
suddenly carried off by a severe haemorrhage, the emperor convened at
his house the most prominent and most respected of the senators; and
lying there upon his couch, he spoke to them as follows: "I, my
friends, have not been permitted by nature to have a son, but you have
made it possible by legal enactment. Now there is this difference
between the two methods — that a begotten son turns out to be whatever
sort of person Heaven pleases, whereas one that is adopted a man takes
to himself as the result of a deliberate selection. Thus by the process
of nature a maimed and witless chid is often given to a parent, but by
process of selection one of found body and sound mind is certain to be
chosen. For this reason I formerly selected Lucius before all others —
a person such a I could never have expected a child of my own to
become. But since Heaven has bereft us of than, I have found as emperor
for you in his place the man whom I now give you, one who is noble,
mild, tractable, prudent, neither young enough to do anything reckless
nor old enough to neglect aught, one who has been brought up according
to the laws and one who has exercised authority in accordance with our
traditions, so that he is not ignorant of any matters pertaining to the
imperial office, but could handle them all effectively. U refer to our
Antoninus here. Although I know him to be the least inclined of men to
become involved in affairs and to be far from desiring any such power
still I do not that he will deliberately disregard either me or you,
but will accept the off even against his will."
So it was that Antoninus became emperor. And since he had no male
offspring, Hadrian adopted for him Commodus' son Commodus, and, in
addition to him, Marcus Annius Verus; for he wished to appoint those
who were afterwards to be emperors for as long a time ahead as
possible. This Marcus Annius, earlier named Catilius, was a grandson of
Annius Verus who had been consul thrice and prefect of the city. And
though had kept urging Antoninus to adopt them both, yet he preferred
Verus on account of his kinship and his age and because he was already
giving indication of exceptional strength of character. This led
Hadrian to apply to the young man the name Verissimus, thus playing
upon the meaning of the Latin word.
By certain charms and magic rites Hadrian would be relieved for a time
of his dropsy, but would soon be filled with water again. Since,
therefore, he was constantly growing worse and might be said to be
dying day by day, he began to long for death; and often he would ask
for poison or a sword, but no one would give them to him. As no one
would listen to him, although he promised money and immunity, he sent
for Mastor, one of the barbarian Iazyges, who had become a captive and
had been employed by Hadrian in his hunting because of his strength and
daring; and partly by threatening him and partly by making promises, he
compelled the man to promise to kill him. He drew a coloured line about
a spot beneath the nipple that had been shown him by Hermogenes, his
physician, in order that he might there be struck a fatal blow and
perish painlessly. But even this plan did not succeed, for Mastor
became afraid of the business and drew back in terror. The emperor
lamented bitterly the plight to which his malady and his helplessness
had brought him, in that he was not able to make away with himself,
though he still had the power, even when so near death, to destroy
anybody else. Finally he abandoned his careful regimen and by indulging
in unsuitable foods and drinks met his death, shouting aloud the
popular saying: "Many physicians have slain a king."
He had lived sixty-two years, five months and nineteen days, and had
been emperor twenty years and eleven months. He was buried near the
river itself, close to the Aelian bridge; for it was there that he had
prepared his tomb, since the tomb of Augustus was full, and from this
time no body was deposited in it.
Hadrian was hated by the people, in spite of his generally excellent
reign, on account of the murders committed by him at the beginning and
end of his reign, since they had been unjustly and impiously brought
about. Yet he was so far from being of a bloodthirsty disposition that
even in the case of some who clashed with him he thought it sufficient
to write to their native places the bare statement that they did not
please him. And if it was absolutely necessary to punish any man who
had children, yet in proportion to the number of children he would
lighten the penalty imposed. Nevertheless, the senate persisted for a
long time in its refusal to vote him the usual honours and in its
stricture upon some of those who had committed excesses during his
reign and had been honoured therefor, when they ought to have been
punished.
Fragment
After Hadrian's death there was erected to him a huge equestrian statue
representing him with a four-horse chariot. It was so large that the
bulkiest man could walk through the eye of each horse, yet because of
the extreme height of the foundation persons passing along on the
ground below believe that the horses themselves as well as Hadrian are
very small.
End of Etext Cassius Dio Roman History Epitome of Book LXIX
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