38 



ADHASTKA ADRIAN. 



by incision from the trunk or roots of n plant which 

 grows in the Levant The gum is of different colours, 

 while, red, grey, and black, ami is useful in medi- 

 cinr. Skinni'rs use great quantities, and prefer the 

 red to the black. It is Uie astragalus tragacanthtis 

 of Linnaeus. 



ADRASTKA ; a daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, 

 the servant of eternal Justice, the punisher of all 

 injustice, whom no mortal escapes. A. is generally 

 a mere rpithet, given to Nemesis, (q. v.) She is 

 represented sometimes with wings, sometimes with a 

 rudder, and sometimes with a wheel. 



ADRASTOS, king of Argos; son of Talaus and 

 Eurynome. In ooedience to the oracle which com- 

 manded him to give one of his daughters to a lion 

 and the other to a wild boar, he gave Argia to Po- 

 'ynices, who came to him in a lion's skin, and Dei- 

 pliyle to Tydeus, who was dressed in the skin of a 

 wild boar. He was one of the seven heroes who 

 encamped before Thel>es, and the only one who sur- 

 vived the siege. Ten years after this, he made a 

 second expedition against Thebes, accompanied by 

 the sons of his former allies, and took the city, but 

 lost his son in the engagement, and died himself of 

 grief. 



ADRIAN, the African, abbot of St Peter's, Canter- 

 bury, in the seventh century, accompanied Theodore, 

 archbishop of Canterbury, to England. A. was the 

 preceptor of Adhelm, and Bede extols the happy 

 time when the island enjoyed his tuition, and Kent 

 " was the fountain of knowledge to the rest of Eng- 

 land." 



ADRIAN, or HADRIAN, Publius ^Elius, a Roman em- 

 peror, the successor of Trajan, was born at Rome, 

 A. D. 76. His rather, Trajan's cousin, died when 

 A. was ten years of age. A. showed very early great 

 talents, and is said to have spoken the Greek lan- 

 guage so perfectly in his 15th year, that he was called 

 uie young Greek. His memory is said to have been 

 so extraordinary, that he could commit a book to me- 

 mory by once, perusing it, and that he could call all 

 his soldiers by name. These stories may be exagge- 

 rated, but they prove the estimation in which nis 

 talents were held. He was an orator, poet, gram- 

 marian, mathematician, physician, painter, musician, 

 and astrologer. The greater developement of the 

 sciences in modern times does not admit of distinc- 

 tion in so many branches. His great qualities, how- 

 ever, were stained by great faults, so that he never 

 won the affections of Trajan, who was his guardian. 

 He was indebted for his elevation to the throne to 

 the wife of Trajan, Plotina, who concealed the death 

 of her husband until she had time to forge a testa- 

 ment bearing the name of the late emperor, in which 

 he was made to adopt A. and declare him his suc- 

 cessor. Her bribes also had in the meantime pre- 

 pared the troops to espouse the cause of A. After 

 these preparations had been made, A. sent informa- 

 tion of the emperor's death from Antioch to Rome, 

 pretended that the imperial dignity had been forced 

 upon him, promised the senate that he would dis- 

 charge faithfully the duties of his station, and assured 

 the pretorian guards that they should receive twice 

 the usual present. A. D. 1 17, he ascended the im- 

 perial throne, appeared in Rome, and strove at first 

 to win the favour of the people by the mildness of 

 his administration. It was not long, however, before 

 he manifested a cowardly and suspicious character, 

 together with too great a devotion to pleasure. 

 Among other things, he purchased peace from the 

 Sarmatians and Roxolani, who had attacked lllyria, 

 by the payment of a tribute. From A. D. 120 to 

 131, he made his famous journey on foot, and with 

 his head uncovered, through all the provinces of his 

 empire. Among other places, he visited Britain, and 



caused a wall to be built from the mouth of the Tyne 

 to Solway Frith, to secure the Roman provinces 

 from the incursions' <>!' the Caledonians. In Egypt, 

 lie lost his favourite Antiuous (q. v.), whose death he 

 lamented lung and bitterly. During his stay of two 

 years in Athens, he established a colony of Roman 

 soldiers on the site of the ruined Jerusalem; and on 

 Uie spot where the temple of Solomon had stood, he 

 en cteil a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus. Upon this, 

 a dreadful insurrection broke out among the Jews, 

 which lasted two years and a half. He' embellished 

 Athens with buildings, and finished the temple of Uie 

 Olympian Jupiter, begun 660 years In-fore. A. died 

 at Uai;e, 138 A. D. in Uie 63d year of his age, and 

 the 21st of his reign. He liad good qualities and 

 great faults. He promoted literature and the arts, 

 did many good things on his journey, established the 

 I'llirtinii jxTfii'titiiin, enacted laws against dissipation 

 and the cruelties of the slave trade, prohibited human 

 sacrifices, forbade the indiscriminate bathing of men 

 and women, &c. Antoninus Pius succeeded him. 

 It was with much difficulty that .his successor could 

 obtain a decree from the senate, granting him, ac- 

 cording to usage, divine honours. A. wrote several 

 books ; among others a history of his own life, under 

 the name of Phlegon, one of his freedmen, which is 

 no longer extant. He composed, not long before he 

 breathed his last, the following lines : 



Animula, vagula, blandula, 

 Hospes, comesque corporis, 

 Qua* mine abibis in lo< a, 

 Pallidula, rigida, nudula ? 

 Nee, ut soles, dabis jocos. 



Pope lias imitated them. 



ADRIAN. There have been six popes of this name. 

 The first, a Roman, ruled from 772 to 795, was a 

 contemporary and friend of Charlemagne, who, on 

 account of A.'s able defence of his claims to the 

 crown of France, protected him with his army, 774. 

 against Desiderius, king of the Lombards, confirmed 

 the donation of Pepin to the territory of the church, 

 and made further grants himself. The pope was not 

 allowed, however, to enjoy in peace the gifts of 

 Charlemagne till 787, after the termination of the 

 frequent campaigns of this king against Uie Italian 

 princes, who claimed the territory. By confirming 

 the decrees of the council of Nice, 786, in favour of 

 the worship of images, A. gave offence to Charle- 

 magne, who was opposed to the practice, and pro- 

 cured a repeal of the decree at the council of Frank- 

 fort. The repeal was resisted by A.; but he so 

 carefully and skilfully avoided offending the king, 

 that he remained his friend, and honoured him after 

 his death, 795, with an inscription, yet preserved in 

 the Vatican. Though by no means a profound theo- 

 logian, A. obtained great influence by the correctness 

 01 his conduct, and his decision of character. By a 

 prudent use of this influence, he greatly increased 

 his power ADRIAN II., a Roman, was elected pope 

 in 867, at the age of 75 years. He was esteemed for 

 his virtues, and famous on account of his bold oppo- 

 sition to the divorce of Lothaire, king of Lotharingia, 

 from his wife Thietberga. By interfering in the dis- 

 pute, which arose after the death of Lothaire, between 

 Charles the Bald and the emperor Louis, respecting 

 the right of succession, he made the former his enemy. 

 He had another dispute in France, where bishop 

 Hincmar of Laon had been dismissed against his 

 will; he likewise excommunicated the patriarch 

 Photius of Constantinople, on account of his spiritual 

 jurisdiction over Bulgaria, which diminished the au- 

 thority of the pope, since the Greek church main- 

 tained its independence against him, and made Bul- 

 garia dependent on itself. He died in 872, in the 

 midst of his conflicts with this church. ADRIAN III., 



