ADR 



ment to the public good, and binding himfcir by an oalli, 

 never to put a fenator to dcalb. Tlic Senate very readily 

 acceded to his recincft, and confirmed him in the empire to 

 ■which he was elecled. Adrian had now an opportunity of 

 indulging that love of peace to which he was naturally in- 

 clined. Accordingly he abandoned the conquefts of his 

 predecefibr in the tail, and having withdrawn his troops from 

 Armenia, Afiyni, and Mefopotamia, he agreed that the Eu- 

 phrates (houlil again be the boundary and barrier of the 

 Roman empire. He determined alfo to furrender Dacia, 

 but his friends prevailed with him to retain it for the fake 

 of thofe Roman citizens who had fettled in it. However, 

 he demoliflied the bridges which Trajan had erected over 

 the Danube, under the pretence of guarding the Roman 

 territories from the incurllons of t!ie barbariariS. In order 

 to reduce the Jews to abfolute fubjedion, he removed Lu- 

 iius Qiiietus, whom Trajan had commiflloned for this p\ir- 

 pofc, and whom he liad made governor of Paleftine, from 

 his government, and appointed his friend Martins Turbo to 

 fucceed him ; and he was alfo employed to quell the dilhirb- 

 auces in Mauritania, which the removal of Lufius had pro- 

 bably occafioned. After having fecurcd the tranquillity of 

 Dacia, by making peace with the Sarmatians and RoMolani, 

 which he endeavoured to render permanent in the following 

 year by pecuniary donations, granted alfo as the purchaie 

 of peace to other barbarous nations, he haftencd to return 

 to Rome; but did not arrive there till the year 1 1 8. Dur- 

 ing his voyage from Illyria, a confpiracy was form.ed againll 

 his life by four perfons of conlular dignity, viz. Domitius 

 Nigrinus, Lufius Quietus, Palma, and Celfus, wlio were 

 put to death by order of the Senate. This aft, however, 

 excited the public hatred againft Adrian. It was different 

 from the conduft of his predeceffor ; and it was confidered 

 as a violation of the oath which he had made on his accef- 

 fion to the empire. To remove thefe ill impreffions from 

 the public mind, he was liberal in his donatives to the 

 people. He remitted the debt due from cities and indivi- 

 duals to the imperial revenue, and to the public treafuiy, 

 which is faid to have amounted to feven millions of our 

 money, and burnt all the records which might afterwards 

 ferve to revive thefe claims. With a reference to this aft 

 cf generofity, Adrian is reprefented on one of the medals, 

 which lias reached our times, with a torch in his hand fctting 

 fire to the bonds, with a legend, fignifying, " He enriches the 

 whole world." He difcharged Italy from the tax paid to 

 viftoriouG emperors for decorating their triumphs, and re- 

 duced the amount of it in the provinces : and befides mak- 

 ing ranny prefents of money, and various articles of fubfift- 

 ence and luxuiy to the Roman citizens, he increafed the 

 funds, appointed by Trajan, for the fubliftence and educa- 

 tion of children of both fexes. The fum appropriated by 

 Adrian to thefe feveral purpofes was inimenfc ; and liis li- 

 berality was honoured with a monument, confeciated to his 

 memoi-y, and with an infcription which celebrated him, as 

 having thus exhibited a fmgular example of goodnefs to the 

 people. He was likewife affiduous in his attention to the 

 Senate, and treated this body with a degree of deference 

 and refpeft, which tended to remove the prejudices that 

 had been conceived agaiuil him, and to engage their affec- 

 tionate attachment. He affifted thofe fenalors who were 

 poor ; he enabled others to defray the charge of their offices ; 

 and he granted the honour of a third confulate to thofe 

 who delircd it. Upon his return to Rome, he was re- 

 ceived by all ranks of people with extraordinary demonftra- 

 tions of joy ; but he declined accepting the triumph which 

 had been prepared for Trajan, and which was now decreed 

 by tlie Senate to the new emperor. He had already on his 



3 



ADR 



acccfTion rcfufed the offer that had been made to him of tht 

 title oi fdtlnr of his ccuntiy, and deferred the acceptance of 

 it, after the example of Augullus, who had not taken it tiU- 

 lie had governed a certain number of years. 



In the following year Adrian was conful a third tim.e, but 

 he refigned tiie fafces after four months, and never ..Fter- 

 waids refumed them. Having taken lueafures for eftabliili- 

 ing his power at home, he was under a neCeflity of leaviing 

 Rome, in order to check the incurfions of the barbarians*, 

 who invaded Illyrieura. The war was foon terminated ; and 

 Martius "^rurbo, who was recalled from Mauritania, wag 

 appointed governor of Pannonia and Dacia. Towards the 

 clofe of this year the emperor went into Campania, where 

 he gcneroully relieved the poor inhabitants of all the citlys 

 through which he paffcd. About this time he conceived 

 a deiign of vifiting all the provinces of the empire, and exa- 

 mining for himfelf the itate of each country fubjeft to 

 Rome, that he might not be obliged to depend entirely on 

 the reports of his mimfterG and governors; alleging,, that an 

 emperor ought to relemble the lun, which extends illumina- 

 tion to all the regions of the earth. Accordingly he bcgau 

 his travels in the third or fourth year of his reign; that is, in 

 the i2oth or 12 ill year of the Chriftian a;ra, A. U. C. 871, 

 according to Tillemont. He firft vilitcd Gaul, where he 

 difplayed great liberahty ; and from thence he went into 

 GeiTnaiiy, where the chief army of the empire was ftationcd, 

 and the difeipline of which he revived and eilablillied. In the 

 following year he paifcd over into Britain, where he re- 

 formed many abufes. Although the greateft part of the 

 idand was fubjeft to Rome, the northern nations, after the 

 departure of Agricola, had revolted, and recovered their 

 ancient liberty. Adrian, without entering into any new 

 contell, propofed merely to fecure the fouthern part, wliich 

 belonged to the Romann, againil the incurfions of tlie war- 

 hke Caledonians, and, with this view, he caufed a rampart, or 

 WALL, to be raifed, extending from the Solway Firth on the 

 weft, to the mouth of the river Tyne, near Newcaftle, on 

 the eart, about eighty miles in length. In other places he 

 fupplied the dcfeft of natural barriers by mounds of earth 

 ftrengthcncd by flakes driven into the ground. Here he 

 alfo difgi-aced and difcharged his fecretary, Suetonius Tran- 

 •quiUus, the hillorian, and Septicius Clarus, captain of the 

 pr;ctorian guards, for their difreipcftful behaviour to the 

 emprefs Subina. Upon his return to Gaul, he built at 

 Nifmes a magnificent palace in honour of Plotina, the widow 

 of Trajan. From Gaul he proceeded to Spain, and win- 

 tered at Tan-agona, where he rebuilt the temple of 

 Auguftus, founded by Tiberius, and held a general affem- 

 bly of the ftates, in order to compofe the differences occa- 

 fioned by raifing levies for the Roman armies. Here a 

 flave, in a fit of infanity, attempted to kill him ; but he 

 happily efcaped, and committing the unhappy mauiac to 

 medical care, took no farther notice of the affault. From 

 Spain the emperor returned to Rome in April ; and towards 

 the end of this year, or the beginning of the i-ext, he went, 

 as fome fay, to Mauritania, and afterwards to Athens, 

 where he built a bridge over the Cephifus ; from Athens he 

 proceeded to the extremities of the Roman empire in .the 

 call ; and after having quieted the commotions of the Par- 

 thians, he returned through Afia, vifiting the feveral pro- 

 vinces, and erefting edifices in feveral of their chief cities ; 

 and having paffed through the iflands of the Archipelago, 

 he fettled at Athens during the winter, and was there ini- 

 tiated into the Eleufinian myilerics. From Athens he 

 went into Sicily to vifit the top of Mount jEtna, that he 

 miglit obferve the rifing fun, which was faid there to exhibit 

 all the colours of the rainbow ; and returned to Rome in the 



beginning 



