ADR 



Sicyon, at which phicc he had inftitnted the Pj-thian games. 

 Paiifaiiias, Hb. ix. p. 286. Pindnr. Pyth. OJ. viii. 



There was anotlit.rv'A/ra/?;//, inPhrygia, at the time of the 

 ficge of Tioy, who is faid to have built a templo on tlie 

 river iEfepus, in Phrygia, in honour of Ncmcfis, the god- 

 defs of Revenge, hence called Adrajlca. 



Herodotus (lib. i. c. 35.) mentions an /Idrnjlm, who 

 fled for refuge to the court of Crcefus, king of Lydia, and 

 inadvertently killed his fon. 



ADRASUS, or Adjasson, in /tnclent Geography, be- 

 longed to Ifauria, and the metropolis of Selcucia. 

 ADRAZZO. See Ajaccio. 



ADRESTES, a people of India, fubducd by Alexan- 

 der. See Quintus Curtius, iib. viii. n. 9. 



ADRIA, or Hadria, in jincient Gec^riiphy, the name 

 of two towns in Italy ; one of them was htuated in the 

 country of the Veneti, on the river Tartarus, or Adria, be- 

 tween the Padus and the Athefis, and was called Atrius by 

 . Ptolemy, and alfo by Phny, (lib. iii. c. 16. torn. i. p. 173. 

 J^d. Hard.) but denominated Mnu by Strabo (lib. i. p. 82. 

 — hb. ii. p. 168. — lib. V. p. 328.): the other was in the 

 country of the Piceni, on the river Vomanus, to which An- 

 tonine's Itinerary from Rome is direfted, and which was the 

 country of the anccltors of the emperor Adrian. This is 

 now the dukedom of Atri, in Abruzzo. It has been a fub- 

 jeft of difpute which of theie two places gives its name to 

 the Adriatic fea. The etymology is generally deduced 

 from the Venetian Adr'ia ; and it is alleged, that the name 

 is retained in the fmall town, that was deftroyed by inun- 

 ditions and other calamities, now called Adr'ni, which is a 

 bi (hop's fee, twenty-five miles fouth fouth-weft of Venice. 

 N. hit. 45° 8'. E. long. 12° 5'. Aurelius Viftor deduces 

 the name from the Hadria of the Piceni. If this be the 

 true derivation, the appellation {hould be Hadnattc, bccaufe 

 the name of the emperor is infcribed on coins and ftonea 

 Hadriamis. But if the origin of the name is traced to the 

 Venetian y/^//7«, which is the mod ancient, and of which 

 the other is merely a colony, the ufual appellation is the 

 7noft correct. Euftathius in Dionyf. v. 92. traces it to 

 Adrias, the fon of Jaon. 



Adria, an archi-epifcopal city, in the patriarchate of Je- 

 rufalem. St. Jerome mentions a fmall illand of this name. 



Adria, Jean Jacqiies, of Mazara, in Sicily, graduated 

 at Salernum, in icio, and acquired fuch reputation for his 

 flcill in medicine, that he was made phyfician to the em- 

 peror Charles the Fifth, and appointed proto-medicus of 

 Sicily. He kft in manufcript tb.e fcjllowing : " De prefer- 

 vatione peftilenti;E." " De medicinis ad varios morbos." 

 " De phlebotomia, dedicated to the emperor." " De 

 Bahiei? Siculis." 



ADRIAN, or Hadrian, Publius ^Elius, the 

 Roman emperor, was born, according to Spartian, (in 

 Adr. p. I — 3.) in Rome, 'an the 24th of January, in the 

 y^th year of the Chriftian aera, A. U. C. 829. His ancef- 

 tovs lived at Italica, in Spain, which was the native city of 

 Trajan, whom he fucceeded in the empire, and whofe name 

 on that occafion he affumcd in addition to his own. At the 

 death of his father, when he was ten years of age, he was 

 left under the guardianfhip of Trajan and Cielius Tatianus, 

 or Attianus, a Roman knight. His proficiency in the 

 Greek language was fo confiderable, that, at the age of 

 fifteen, he was coifimonly called the young Grecian. When 

 Trajan was adopted by Nerva, Adrian f^rved as a tribune 

 in the army in Lower Mccfia, and v/as deputed to congra- 

 tulate his guardian on the event ; and wlicn Nerva died, he 

 was the firfl that communicated the news to Trajan, who was 

 tlien in Lower Germany, and that fuluted, him as emperor. 



ADR 



Trajan, however, conceived prejudices apaiiift hiits on ac- 

 count of the levity of his mind, the fufpicion and jcaloiify 

 of his temper, and the extravagance to which he was ad- 

 ditled : and though he manifeltcd a ftudious difpofition, and 

 made great acquirements in Greek and Latin, in philofopliy 

 and the law, Trajan had not been accuftomed to eftimatc 

 thefe endowments very lughly, nor did lie form any flatter- 

 ing expeftation of the advantages that were likely to .accrue 

 from them in the military profeifion, and in the extenfion of 

 empire, to which he was devoted. Adrian pei-ccived that 

 he was no favourite ; and therefore endeavoured to conci- 

 liate the favour of the etnprcfs Plotina, by an afllduity of 

 attention, which, as Dion Caflius intimates, bv the exprcf- 

 fion i| i^uWKr.i (fiAir-f, (torn. ii. p. 1 149. Ed. Reimari) feenis 

 to have tranfgre(red the bounds of virtue. However, 

 Adrian fucceeded in fecuring the intereft of the emprefs, and 

 by her means, in obtaining the emperor's grand-niece, and 

 next heirefs, Sabina, for his wife. This was the firft ftep 

 to his future advancement, and facilitated his afcent to the 

 throne, much more than the aliurance of the Mocfian aftro- 

 loger, th.at the fovcreign power was deflined to bin by the 

 fates, or the prediiftion to the fame purpofe of his great 

 uncle ^lius Adrianus. Soon after his marriage he wag ap- 

 pointed qua-ftor j and at the expiration of this office, he 

 wi3 employed in digefting tlie deliberations of the fenate ; 

 but he foon furrendered this occupation, and followed Tra- 

 jan to the war againil the Dacjans. Trajan having left his 

 army in Syria, and propofing to return to Rome, after a 

 variety of extenfive and rapid conquefts, gave the command 

 of it to Adrian ; but he had neither capacity nor zeal for re- 

 taining, much lefs lor enlarging, the emperor's conquefi •, 

 The conqueror's abfence was the lofs of all the advantages 

 he had gained. His death at the fame time was gradually 

 approaching, and opened profpefts of ambition to Adrian, of 

 which he wasdefirous of availing himfclf. He had already 

 been quceftor, in the year of Rome 852, tribune of the people 

 in 856, pr^tor in 858, fubitituted conful in 860, and con- 

 ful in ordinary and commander in chief in the laft year of 

 Trajan's reign, pie bad alio accompanied Trajan in moil 

 of his expeditions, had the command of a legion in the fecond 

 Daoian war, and obtained for his valiant conduft a prcfent 

 from the emperor of the diamond v.'hich Ntn'a had given 

 him, which he confidered as a pledge oi his future adoption. . 

 In the interval between his prajtorfiiip and confulfliip, he 

 had been governor of Lower Paivonia, and difcharged the 

 duties of his various offices with univerfal fatisfaction. Tra- 

 jan, however, never loved Adrian, nor did he intend to 

 adopt him. Accordingly, Dion Caflius affirms, (torn. ii. 

 p. 1 149.) that he never was adopted. Neverthelefs he fuc- 

 ceeds him in virtue of a feigned adoption. Upon the em- 

 peror's death at Selinontum, in Cdicia, in his way to Rome, 

 Plotina, affiiled by Tatian, who had been preceptor to 

 Adrian in his vouth, contrived to fend notice to the Senate, 

 that Trajan, whom (lie had attended at the time of his 

 death, had adopted Adrian : and, it is faid, that (lie con- 

 cealed a man, who perfonated the dying emperor, and who 

 with a feeble voice, declared that he adopted Adrian. This 

 is certain, that Adrian, who was then at Antioch, received 

 the news of his adoption on the 9th of Auguit, and that of 

 Trajan's death on the I ith. On this day, in the year 117, 

 ( A. U. C. 870, or according to Crevicr, who follows Tille- 

 mont, 868.) he was proclaimed emperor by the legions of 

 Syria, and immediately wrote to the Senate to rcqueft a 

 confinnation of the act of the foldiers ; apologizing, at the 

 fame time, for tlie impatience of the legions, forbidding 

 them to beftow upon him any titles of honour without his 

 previous coafctit, promifmg that he would direit his govern- 



I i 2 meat 



