119 



HADRIANUS, .ELIUS. 



HADRIANUS, ./ELIUS. 



230 



show, and he went about with as little state a? possible. He drew up 

 a series of military constitutions or laws, which remained long in use 

 after his time, and are quoted by Vegetius. He attached to every 

 cohort a certain number of builders, masons, and other workmen. 



In the following year, in the consulship of Anniua Verus, grand- 

 father of Marcus Aurelius, he left Germany, aud returned to Gaul, 

 whence he passed into Britain, where he is said by Spartianus to have i 

 reformed many abuses. Although Uadrianus did not live on very j 

 good terms with his wife Sabica, he punished those who presumed to 

 fail in respect to the empress ; among others, Suetonius Tranquillus, 

 the biographer, who was Hadrianus's epistolographer, or secretary, 

 whom he dismissed, as well as Clarus, the prsefect of the Praetorium. 

 While in Britain he constructed a rampart of earth, extending from 

 the Solway Frith to the German Ocean, near the mouth of the Tyne, 

 a little to the south of the more substantial wall afterwards raised by 

 Severus. On big return to Gaul, Hadrianus built a magnificent palace 

 at Xisines for Plautina, Trajan's widow. He thence proceeded into 

 Spain, and spent some time at Tarraco (Tarragona), where he held a 

 general assembly of the deputies of the various provinces of Spain, 

 and settled several disputes and complaints. While walking in the 

 palace garden at Tarraco a slave attempted to kill him. The emperor 

 parried the blow, and consigned the assassin to his guards, but on 

 hearing that the man was insane he ordered him to be taken care of 

 by his physicians. Hadrianua returned to Rome in the consulship of 

 Aulius Aviola and Cornelius Pansa in 122 ; but he left it again soon 

 after, and the next year we find him at Athens, a city to which he 

 was much attached. He ordered the embankment of the Cephisus, 

 which had damaged the town of Kleusis, and the construction and 

 reparation of various edifices; thence he went to Syria, and had a 

 conference with the King of the Parthians, when peace was confirmed 

 between the two empires. In the year following he visited various 

 parts of Asia Minor, and after building temples and other edifices at 

 Nicomedia, Cyzicum, Nicsea, and other towns, he sailed to the islands 

 of the .cEgean Sea, and returned to spend the winter at Athens, where 

 he was initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries, presided at the public 

 games, and showed many marks of favour to the Athenians. He next 

 went to Sicily, and ascended to the summit of /Etna to sec the sun 

 rise. He returned to Rome under the consulship of Verus and Junius 

 Bibulus in 126, and we know nothing of his movements for the two 

 following years. He appears to have been at Rome in the year 129, 

 under the consulship of Juventius Celsua and Julius Balbus, when a 

 violent earthquake having destroyed the towns of Nicomedia and 

 Nictea in Bithynia, and others, he ordered them to be rebuilt at his 

 own expense, for which he is styled on some medals the Restorer of 

 Bithynia. In the same year he set off for Africa, where he distin- 

 guished himself, as he had done on his previous travels, by his 

 munificence. Plautina having died meantime, Hadrianua returned to 

 Rome, and celebrated her funeral with great ceremony, and had her 

 numbered among the gods. In the following year, 130, he raised a 

 magnificent temple in honour of Venu and Rome, some remains of 

 which are still seen near the arch of Titus. The plan of the building 

 was made by Roman architects, and sent by the emperor to Apollo- 

 dorus, a celebrated Grecian architect, for his opinion. Apollodorua 

 observed that the building appeared too low for the size of the statues 

 of Venus and Rome, which were intended to be placed therein, aud 

 which it would appear were represented seated, as Apollodorm 

 remarked that those divinities, when once within, could not stand 

 upright or walk out of the temple, if they should take a fancy to do 

 so. Hadrianus, stung at this sarcasm, sent Apollodorus iuto exile ; 

 and it is added by some writers that he afterwards ordered him to be 

 put to death on some frivolous pretence. In that year Hadriauus set 

 off again for the east. He visited Cappadocia, where he held a con- 

 ference with several kings or chiefs of the Caucasian tribes, the Abaxi, 

 Zidretes, &c., whom he sent back loaded with presents. Even the 

 Bactriaus sent an embassy to propose an alliance with Rome. He 

 next proceeded to Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, in which last country 

 he remained two years. While he was in Egypt, and under the 

 consulship of Lajnas Pontianus and Antonius Rufinus, in 131, the 

 jurist Salvius Julianus completed by his order the Perpetual Edict, 

 which may be considered as the first general code of Roman law 

 published by authority. 



There is a letter of Hadrianus, written from Alexandria, to Servianus, 

 his brother-in-law, in which he describes the state of the population 

 of Egypt, and speaks of the various sect*, Jews, Christians, Samaritaus, 

 tc., who were very numerous in that country ; he says that they all 

 adored but one god, namely, their own interest. He also notices as 

 an extraordinary thing, that at Alexandria everybody, even the blind, 

 followed some trade or occupation ; a circumstance which probably 

 struck him by contrast with the habitual idleness of the people of 

 Rome. He restored the palace and museum of Alexandria, and held 

 disputations with the learned men there. About this time his favourite 

 Autinous did ; some say he drowned himself in the Nile, and Hadriauus 

 disgraced himself by the apotheosis and other absurd honours which 

 he paid to hi memory. He next went to Cyrenaica, where he is said 

 to have killed a large lion. Hadrianus was an expert sportsman, and is 

 said to have killed many wild beasta in his travel*. Under the consul- 

 ship of lliberua and Suenna. in 133, Hadrianus repaired to Syria, whence 

 be set oil for Thrace and Macedonia, and lastly stopped at Athens. 



The insurrection of the Jews of Palestine under Barcochebas raged 

 about this time. They took Jerusalem, and spread all over Syria, 

 and Hadriauus was obliged to send for his best general, Julius Severus, 

 who was in Britain, to assume the direction of the war against them, 

 which lasted about three years. [BARCOCHEBAS.] Hadrianus raised a 

 new city on the ruins of Jerusalem, which he called ^Elia Capitolina, 

 and he peopled it with a Roman colony, forbidding by an edict all 

 Jews from setting their feet within it. The Christians, who were 

 still confounded with the Jews by the Roman?, were included in the 

 prohibition. Hadrianus meantime made another long residence at 

 Athens, and in the festivals of Bacchus he appeared in the dress of an 

 arohon, and distributed money and corn to the people. He greatly 

 embellished that city, a district of which was called by the name of 

 Hadrianopolis. He also completed the temple of Jupiter Olympicus, 

 which had been commenced a long time before. He returned to 

 Rome under the consulship of Lupercus Pontianus and Rufus Aqui- 

 lianus in 135, where he received the visit of Pharasmanes, king of 

 Iberia, who came to answer several complaints laid against him by 

 Vologesus, king of Armenia. An exchange of rich presents took 

 place, aud Hadrianus took care that his should exceed in value those 

 brought to him by his visitor. Soon after, falling ill, he thought of 

 choosing a successor, and he fixed his choice upon Lajlius Aurelius 

 Ceionius Commodus Verus, whom he adopted and appointed Caesar 

 by the name of /Elius Verus. In the following year Hadrianus retired 

 to the neighbourhood of Tibur, where he built a magnificent villa, 

 many remains of which are still existing, and which contained repre- 

 sentations of the wonders of nature and of art which he had seen in 

 his travels. Protracted illness seems to have soured his naturally 

 suspicious temper, and he condemned several individuals to death, 

 among others his brother-in-law Servianus, a man far advanced in age. 

 -Elius Verus having died in the second year after his appointment as 

 Caesar, Hadrianus now fixed his choice upon Titus Aurelius Anto- 

 ninus, on condition that he should adopt Lucius Verus, son of .Kiius 

 Verus. After some deliberation Antoninus accepted the proposal, 

 and the double adoption was solemnised with the usual ceremonies in 

 February, 137. Sabina, Hadrianus's consort, died about the time, 

 and was numbered among the gods. Hadrianus still finding his 

 illness increase, at last removed to Baire, where, in spite of the 

 prescriptions of his physicians, he began to eat and drink according 

 to his pleasure. Seeing his end approach, he composed some lines 

 addressed to his soul, which show his doubts and fears concerning 

 another existence. He died in July 138, in his sixty-third year, and 

 the twenty-first of his reign. (Spartianus, Life of Hadrianua; Dion; 

 Aurelius Victor ; Eusebius.) 



Coin of Hadrianus 

 British Museum. Actual Bize. Copper. Weight 360 grains 



Reverses of Coins of Hadrianus. 



In his personal character Hadriauus had valuable qualities, tarnished 

 by some vices. As emperor, his reign may upon the whole be consi- 

 dered a happy one for the empire, which enjoyed almost uninterrupted 

 peace. Less warlike than Trajan, he made himself respected by foreign 

 nations without having occasion to resort to arms. His extensive 

 travels form an important epoch in the history of Roman civilisation, 

 which they must have tended to spread, while he corrected many 

 abuses of provincial administration, and thus cemented the union 

 between Rome and its vast dependencies. He used to say that an 

 emperor ought to be like the sun, visiting by turns all the regions of 

 the earth, lie built numerous towns, embellished others, and peopled 

 them with fresh colonies. Dion, who is in general not favourable to 

 Hadrianua'rf character, admits that he never appropriated to himself 

 other people's property, and that he would not receive anything left 



