of the GrcBco-Roman Era in certain ancient Sites of Asia Minor. 149 



Now, it is certain, that the document of which I have just now given an 

 account, proves nothing : it informing us only of an act of the Pergamene 

 authorities, at a period when there existed every possible inducement to pay 

 court to Hadrian, without the slightest risk attending the flattery. But with 

 what an argument would Dodwell have been furnished, as well as Gibbon, 

 who inclines to his opinion, had he been in possession of a document of import 

 almost precisely similar to the one I have described, a public act of the authorities 

 of Pergamus, passed during the life-time of Trajan, and conferring an honour 

 on Hadrian : an act wherein he is styled the son of that emperor, virtually, 

 under the title of the grandson of Nerva ? 



e. Such an act is the inscription to which I now beg to direct the at- 

 tention of my audience, or rather somewhat more ; for I have abundant 

 reason to believe that, independently of being styled the grandson of Nerva, 

 Hadrian is described in the very commencement as Publius Aelius Trajanus 

 Hadrianus. 



I found the marble on which it was engraved in the court of an obscure 

 dwelling belonging to a Greek of Pergamus, set into one of the side-walls, and 

 half-buried in the pavement of the yard. I was obliged, therefore, in order to 

 copy it more perfectly, to employ persons to displace the stones. It was con- 

 siderably defaced, as may be observed by the frequency of the dotted lines in my 

 copy, which mark the passages where time and accident have impaired the dis- 

 tinctness of the characters : but of the substantial accuracy of the translation 

 which I now offer, I am of opinion that no reasonable doubt can be entertained. 

 It is as follows : 



Publius Aelius Trajanus Hadrianus, Pro-consul of Pergamus, and Pro- 

 prcBtor to the Emperor Nerva Trajanus, Caesar, Augustus, Germanicus, 

 Dacicus, of Syrophoenicia, Commagene ; Grandson of the August Nerva ; 

 Curio of Nerva ; late Demarch of the Antiocheans in the territory of the 

 Chrysorrhoatce ; the Senate and People of the Pergamenes {have honoured) 

 through Apollonius Dionysius .... and Malchio, and Cephalo Artemidorus, 

 and Dionysius Demetrius, son of Amyntas 



Such is the document : the questions which involve critical inquiry, it 

 would not be expedient under present circumstances to enter into, or discuss, 

 with any degree of minuteness : this I have reserved for a more suitable occa- 



