Historia Augusta: Hadrianus

I. 1 Origo imperatoris Hadriani vetustior a Picentibus, posterior ab Hispaniensibus manat, si quidem Hadria hortos maiores suos apud Italicam Scipionum temporibus resedisse in libris vitae suae Hadrianus ipse commemoret. 2 Hadriano pater Aelius Hadrianus cognomento Afer fuit, consobrinus Traiani imperatoris, mater Domitia Paulina Gadibus orta, soror Paulina nupta Serviano, uxor Sabina, atavus Maryllinus, qui primus in sua familia senator populi Romani fuit. 3 Natus est Romae VIIII.

1. 1 The origin of the emperor Hadrian flows more anciently from the Picentes, later from the Spaniards, if indeed Hadrian himself records in the books of his life that his ancestors, sprung from Hadria, settled at Italica in the times of the Scipios. 2 For Hadrian, his father was Aelius Hadrianus by the cognomen Afer (“African”), a cousin of the emperor Trajan; his mother was Domitia Paulina, born at Gades; his sister Paulina was married to Servianus; his wife was Sabina; his forefather was Maryllinus, who was the first in his family to be a senator of the Roman people. 3 He was born at Rome on the 9th.

kl. Feb. Vespasiano septies et Tito quinquies consulibus. 4 ac decimo aetatis anno patre orbatus Ulpium Traianum praetorium tunc, consobrinum suum, qui postea imperium tenuit, et Caelium Atatianum equitem Romanum tutores habuit.

on the Kalends of February, with Vespasian consul for the 7th time and Titus for the 5th. 4 and in the 10th year of his age, bereft of his father, he had Ulpius Trajan, then of praetorian rank, his cousin, who afterward held the imperium, and Caelius Atatianus, a Roman eques, as guardians.

5 imbutusque inpensius Graecis studiis, ingenio eius sic ad ea declinante, ut a nonnullis Graeculus diceretur,

5 and, being more earnestly imbued with Greek studies, his disposition thus inclining toward them, he was called by some a Greekling,

II. 1 quinto decimo anno ad patriam redit ac statim militiam iniit, venando usque ad reprehensionem studiosus. 2 quare a Traiano abductus a patria et pro filio habitus nec multo post decemvir litibus iudicandis datus atque inde tribunus secundae Adiutricis legionis creatus. 3 post haec in inferiorem Moesiam translatus extremis iam Domitianis temporibus.

2. 1 in his fifteenth year he returned to his fatherland and at once entered military service, devoted to hunting even up to censure. 2 wherefore by Trajan he was taken away from his homeland and held as a son, and not long after he was appointed a decemvir for adjudging litigations, and from there was made tribune of the Second Adiutrix Legion. 3 after these things he was transferred into Lower Moesia, already in the latest times of Domitian.

4 ibi a mathematico quodam de futuro imperio id dicitur comperisse, quod a patruo magno Aelio Hadriano peritia caelestium callente praedictum esse conpererat. 5 Traiano a Nerva adoptato ad gratulationem exercitus missus in Germaniam superiorem translatus est. 6 ex qua festinans ad Traianum, ut primus nuntiaret excessum Nervae, a Serviano, sororis viro, qui et sumptibus et aere alieno eius prodito Traiani odium in eum movit diu detentus fractoque consulte vehiculo tardatus, pedibus iter faciens eiusdem Serviani beneficiarium antevenit.

4 there he is said to have learned from a certain mathematician (astrologer) about his future empire, a thing which he had discovered had been predicted by his great-uncle Aelius Hadrianus, skilled in celestial lore. 5 after Trajan was adopted by Nerva, sent to offer the army’s congratulations, he was transferred into Upper Germany. 6 from there, hurrying to Trajan so that he might be the first to announce Nerva’s death, he was long detained by Servianus, his sister’s husband, who, having exposed his expenditures and indebtedness, stirred Trajan’s hatred against him; and, with his vehicle deliberately broken, being delayed, making the journey on foot he outstripped the beneficiary (orderly) of that same Servianus.

7 fuitque in amore Traiani, nec tamen ei per paedagogos puerorum, quos Traianus impensius diligebat, + Gallo favente defuit. 8 quo quidem tempore cum sollicitus de imperatoris erga se iudicio Vergilianas sortes consuleret,

7 and he was in the love of Trajan, nor, however, was there lacking to him, through the pedagogues of the boys, whom Trajan loved more earnestly, + with Gallus favoring. 8 at that very time, when, anxious about the emperor’s judgment toward himself, he consulted the Vergilian lots,

Quis procul ille autem ramis insignis olivae
sacra farens ? Nosco crines incanaque menta
regis Romani, primam qui legibus urbem
fundabit, Curibus parvis et paupere terra
missus in imperium magnum, cui deinde subibit,

But who, afar, is that, distinguished by olive-branches,
offering sacred rites? I recognize the locks and hoary chin
of a Roman king, who will found the city first with laws,
sent from little Cures and from a poor land
into a great empire, to whom thereafter it will submit,

sors excidit, quam alii ex Sibyllinis versibus ei provenisse dixerunt. 9 habuit autem praesumptionem imperii mox futuri ex fano quoque Niceforii Iovis manante responso, quod Apollonius Syrus Platonicus libris suis indidit. 10 denique satatim suffragante Sura ad amicitiam Traiani pleniorem redit, nepte per sororem Traiani uxore accepta favente Plotina, Traiano leviter, ut Marius Maximus dicit, volente.

the lot fell out, which others said had come to him from Sibylline verses. 9 he had moreover a presumption of an empire soon to be from the fane as well of Nicephorian Jove, with an answer issuing, which Apollonius the Syrian Platonist inserted into his books. 10 finally, forthwith, Sura supporting, he returned to a fuller friendship of Trajan, a niece through Trajan’s sister taken as wife, Plotina favoring, with Trajan, as Marius Maximus says, but slightly willing.

III. 1 Quaesturam gessit Traiano quater et Articuleio consulibus,in qua cum orationem imperatoris in senatu agrestius pronuntians risus esset, usque ad summam peritiam et facundiam Latinis operam dedit. 2 Post quaesturam acta senatus curavit atque ad bellum Dacicum Traianum familiarius prosecutus est; 3 quando quidem et indulsisse vino se dicit Traiani moribus obsequentem atque ob hoc se a Traiano locupletissime muneratum.

3. 1 He held the quaestorship when Trajan for the fourth time and Articuleius were consuls,in which, since in pronouncing the emperor’s oration in the senate rather rustically he was laughed at, he devoted himself to Latin up to the highest expertise and eloquence. 2 After the quaestorship he took care of the acts of the senate and accompanied Trajan more intimately to the Dacian war; 3 at which time indeed he even says that he indulged in wine, complying with Trajan’s habits, and on this account he was most richly rewarded by Trajan.

4 Tribunus plebis factus est Candido et Quadrato iterum conss., 5 in quo magistratu ad perpetuam tribuniciam potestatem omen sibi factum adserit, quod paenulas amiserit, quibus uti tribuni plebis pluviae tempore solebant, imperatores autem numquam. Unde hodieque imperatores sine paenulis a togatis videntur. 6 Secunda expeditione Dacica Traianus eum primae legioni Minerviae praeposuit secumque duxit; quando quidem multa egregia eius facta claruerunt.

4 He was made tribune of the plebs when Candidus and Quadratus were consuls for the second time, 5 in which magistracy he asserts that an omen was made for himself toward a perpetual tribunician power, namely that he lost his paenulae, which the tribunes of the plebs were accustomed to use in rainy weather, but emperors never. Whence even today emperors are seen without paenulae by the toga-clad. 6 On the second Dacian expedition Trajan put him in command of the First Legion Minervia and took him along with him; on which occasion indeed many distinguished deeds of his became renowned.

7 Quare adamante gemma, quam Traianus a Nerva acceperat, donatus ad spem successionis erectus est. 8 Praetor factus est Subsurano bis et Servianoiterum conss., cum sestertium iterum vicies ad ludos edendos a Traiano accepit. 9 Legatus postea praetorius in Pannoniam inferiorem missus Sarmatas compressit, disciplinam militarem tenuit, procuratores latius evagantes coercuit.

7 Wherefore, having been presented with an adamant gem, which Trajan had received from Nerva, he was raised to the hope of succession. 8 He was made praetor in the consulship of Suburanus for the second time and Servianus for the second time, when he received 2,000,000 sesterces from Trajan for putting on games. 9 Afterwards, sent as a praetorian legate into Lower Pannonia, he suppressed the Sarmatians, maintained military discipline, and restrained procurators roaming more widely.

10 Ob hoc consul est factus. in quo magistratu ut a Sura conperit adoptandum se a Traiano esse, ab amicis Traiani contempni desiit ac neglegi. 11 Et defuncto quidem Sura Traiani ei familiaritas creavit, causa praecipue orationum quas pro imperatore dictaverat.

10 On account of this he was made consul. in which magistracy, when he learned from Sura that he was to be adopted by Trajan, he ceased to be contemned and neglected by Trajan’s friends. 11 And with Sura indeed deceased, Trajan’s familiarity toward him was created, chiefly on account of the orations which he had dictated for the emperor.

IV. 1 Usus Plotinae quoque favore, cuius studio etiam legatus expeditionis Parthicae tempore destinatus est. 2 Qua quidem tempestate utebatur Hadrianus amicitia Sosi Papi et Platori Nepotis ex senatorio ordine, ex sequestri autem Attiani, tutoris quondam sui, et Liviani et Turbonis. 3 In adoptionis sponsionem venit Palma et Celso, inimicis semper suis et quos postea ipse insecutus est, insuspicionem adfectatae tyrannidis lapsis.

4. 1 He also made use of Plotina’s favor, by whose zeal he was even designated legate at the time of the Parthian expedition. 2 At that very season Hadrian availed himself of the friendship of Sosius Papus and Platorius Nepos from the senatorial order, and from the equestrian order, Attianus—once his tutor—together with Livianus and Turbo. 3 Palma and Celsus entered into the sponsorship of the adoption—men always his enemies, and whom he later himself pursued—after they had fallen under suspicion of an attempted tyranny.

4 Secundo consul favore Plotinae factus totam praesumptionem adoptionis emeruit. 5 Corrupisse eum Traiani libertos, curasse delicatos eosdemque saepe inisse per ea tempora, quibus in aula familiarior fuit, opinio multa firmavit. 6 Quintum iduum August.

4 As consul for the second time, made through Plotina’s favor, he earned the full presumption of adoption. 5 Much opinion confirmed that he had corrupted Trajan’s freedmen, had cared for the delicati (delicate favorites), and had often had relations with those same, during the times when he was more familiar at court. 6 The fifth day before the Ides of August.

diem legatus Suriae litteras adoptionis accepit, quando et natalem adoptionis celebrari iussit. 7 Tertium iduum earundem, quando et natalem imperii statuit celebrandum, excessus ei Traiani nuntiatus est. 8 Frequens sane opinio fuit Traiano id animi fuisse, ut Neratium Priscum, non Hadrianum successorem relinqueret, multis amicis in hoc consentientibus, usque eo ut Prisco aliquando dixerit: "commendo tibi provincias, si quid mihi fatale contigerit". 9 Et multi quidem dicunt Traianum in animo id habuisse, ut exemplo Alexandri Macedonis sine certo successo remoreretur, multi ad senatum eum orationem voluisse mittere petiturum, ut, si quid ei evenisset, principem Romanae rei publicae senatus daret, additis dum taxat nominibus ex quibus optimum idem senatus eligeret.

on the day, as legate of Syria, he received the letters of adoption, when also he ordered the natal day of the adoption to be celebrated. 7 On the third day before the Ides of the same month, when he also appointed the natal day of his rule to be celebrated, the death of Trajan was announced to him. 8 There was indeed a frequent opinion that Trajan had this in mind: to leave Nerat(i)us Priscus, not Hadrian, as successor, many friends consenting to this, to the point that he once said to Priscus: "I commend to you the provinces, if something fated should befall me." 9 And many indeed say that Trajan had it in mind, after the example of Alexander the Macedonian, to die without a sure successor; many that he wished to send an oration to the senate, asking that, if anything should happen to him, the senate should give a prince to the Roman republic, with names added at least from which that same senate might choose the best.

10 Nec desunt qui factione Plotinae mortuo iam Traiano Hadrianum in adoptionem adscitum esse prodiderint, supposito qui pro Traiano fessa voce loquebatur.

Nor are there lacking those who have reported that, by the faction of Plotina, with Trajan already dead, Hadrian was taken up into adoption, a stand-in having been put in place who spoke in Trajan’s stead with a weary voice.

V. 1 Adeptus imperium ad priscum se statim morem instituitet tenendae per orbem terrarum paci operam intendit. 2 Nam deficientibus his nationibus, quas Traianus subegerat, Mauri lacessebant, Sarmatae bellum inferebant, Brittani teneri sub Romana dicione non poterant, Aegyptus seditionibus urgebatur, Libya deniqueac Palaestina rebelles animos efferebant. 3 Quare omnia trans Eufraten ac Tigrim reliquit exemplo, ut dicebat Catonis, qui Macedonas liberos pronuntiavit, quia tueri non poterant.

5. 1 Having obtained the imperium, he immediately set himself to the ancient custom and directed his efforts to the peace to be maintained throughout the whole world. 2 For as those nations which Trajan had subdued were falling away, the Moors were provoking, the Sarmatians were bringing war, the Britons could not be held under Roman dominion, Egypt was pressed by seditions, and Libya, finally, and Palestine were displaying rebellious spirits. 3 Wherefore he left all things beyond the Euphrates and the Tigris, following the example, as he used to say, of Cato, who pronounced the Macedonians free, because they could not be defended.

4 Parthamasirin, quem Traianus Parthis regem fecerat, quod eum non magni ponderis apud Parthos videret, proximis gentibus dedit regem. 5 Tantum autem statim clementiae studium habuit, ut, cum sub primis imperii diebus ab Attiano per epistolas esset admonitus, ut et Baebius Macer praefectus urbis, si reniteretur eius imperio, necaretur et Laberius Maximus, qui suspectus imperio in insula exulabat, et Frugi Crassus, neminem laederet; 6 quamvis Crassum postea procurator egressum insula, quasi res novas moliretur, iniusso eius occiderit. 7 Militibus ob auspicia imperii duplicem largitionem dedit.

4 Parthamasiris, whom Trajan had made king for the Parthians, because he saw him to be of no great weight among the Parthians, he assigned as king to the neighboring peoples. 5 But he had at once such zeal for clemency that, when in the first days of his rule he had been admonished by letters from Attianus that Baebius Macer, the prefect of the city, if he resisted his imperium, should be killed, and that Laberius Maximus, who, suspected by the regime, was in exile on an island, and Frugi Crassus, should likewise be killed, he harmed no one; 6 although later a procurator, when Crassus had left the island, as if he were contriving new affairs, killed him without his order. 7 To the soldiers, on account of the auspices of his rule, he gave a double largition.

8 Lusium Quietum sublatis gentibus Mauris, quos regebat, quia suspectus imperio fuerat, exarmavit Marcio Turbone Iudaeis conpressis ad deprimendum tumultum Mauretaniae destinato. 9 Post haec Antiochia(m) digressus est ad inspiciendas reliquias Traiani, quas Attianus, Plotina et Matidia deferebant. 10 Quibus exceptis et navi Romam dimissis ipse Antiochiam regressus praepositoque Syriae Catilio Severo per Illyricum Romam venit.

8 He disarmed Lusius Quietus, the Moorish tribes whom he ruled having been withdrawn, because he had been suspect in respect to the imperial power, with Marcius Turbo—after the Jews had been suppressed—appointed to press down the tumult of Mauretania. 9 After these things he went away to Antioch to inspect the relics of Trajan, which Attianus, Plotina, and Matidia were carrying. 10 Having received them and sent them off by ship to Rome, he himself returned to Antioch; and with Catilius Severus put in charge of Syria, he came to Rome through Illyricum.

VI. 1 Traiano divinos honores datis ad senatum et quidem accuratissimis litteris postulavit et cunctis volentibus meruit, ita ut senatus multa, quae Hadrianus non postulaverat, in honorem Traiani sponte decerneret. 2 Cum ad senatum scriberet, veniam petit, quod de imperio suo iudicium senatui non dedisset, salutatus scilicet prae properea militibus imperator, quod esse res publica sine imperatore non posset. 3 Cum triumphum ei senatus, qui Traiano debitus erat, detulisset, recusavit ipse atque imaginem Traiani curru triumphali vexit, ut optimus imperator ne post mortem quidem triumphi amitteret dignitatem.

6. 1 Having given to the senate letters indeed most scrupulous, he requested divine honors for Trajan and, with all willing, he deserved and obtained them, such that the senate of its own accord decreed many things in honor of Trajan which Hadrian had not requested. 2 When he wrote to the senate, he asked pardon because he had not given to the senate a judgment concerning his imperium, having been saluted, namely, emperor prematurely by the soldiers, since the commonwealth could not be without an emperor. 3 When the senate had conferred upon him the triumph which was owed to Trajan, he refused it himself and conveyed the image of Trajan in a triumphal chariot, so that the best emperor might not lose the dignity of a triumph even after death.

4 Patris patriae nomen delatum sibi statim et iterum postea distulit, quod hoc nomen Augustus sero meruisset. 5 Aurum coronarium Italiae remisit, in provinciis minuit, et quidem difficultatibus aerarii ambitiose ac diligente rex positis. 6 Audito dein tumultu Sarmatarum et Roxalanorum praemissis exercitibus Moesiam petit.

4 He deferred the name Father of the Fatherland, which had been offered to him immediately and again later, because Augustus had earned this name late. 5 He remitted the crown-gold in Italy, and in the provinces he reduced it, and indeed with the difficulties of the treasury ambitiously and diligently set forth. 6 Then, on hearing of the tumult of the Sarmatians and the Roxolani, after sending forces ahead he made for Moesia.

7 Marcium Turbonem post Mauretaniam praefecturae infulis ornatum Pannoniae Daciaeque ad tempus praefecit. 8 Cum rege Roxalanorum, qui de imminutis stipendiis querebatur, cognito negotio pacem conposuit.

7 He appointed Marcius Turbo, after Mauretania, adorned with the insignia of the prefecture, as prefect for a time over Pannonia and Dacia. 8 With the king of the Roxolani, who was complaining about diminished stipends, the matter having been examined, he composed peace.

VII. 1 Nigrini insidias, quas ille sacrificanti Hadriano conscio sibi Lusio et multis aliis paraverat, cum etiam successorem Hadrianus sibimet destinasset, evasit. 2 Quare Palma Tarracenis, Celsus Bais, Nigrinus Faventiae, Lusius in itinere senatus iubente, invito Hadriano, ut ipse in vita sua dicit, occisi sunt.

7. 1 He escaped the plots of Nigrinus, which that man had prepared against him while he was sacrificing, Hadrian being conscious, with Lusius and many others privy; when Hadrian had even designated a successor for himself. 2 Wherefore Palma at Tarraco, Celsus at Baiae, Nigrinus at Faventia, and Lusius on the journey, by the senate’s order, Hadrian being unwilling, as he himself says in his life, were killed.

3 Unde statim Hadrianus ad refellendam tristissimam de se opinionem, quod occidi passus esset uno tempore quattuor consulares, Romam venit Dacia Turboni credita, titulo Aegyptiacae praefecturae, quo plus auctoritatis haberet, ornato(s), et ad conprimendam de se famam congiarium duplex praesens populo dedit ternis iam per singulos aureis se absente divisis. 4 In senatu quoque excusatis, quae facta erant, iuravit senum quam senatorem nisi ex senatus sententia puniturum. 5 Statim cursum fiscalem instituit, ne magistratus hoc onere gravarentur.

3 Whence immediately Hadrian, to refute the most gloomy opinion about himself—that he had allowed four consulars to be killed at one time—came to Rome, Dacia having been entrusted to Turbo, adorned with the title of the Egyptian prefecture, that he might have more authority; and, to suppress the talk about himself, being present he gave the people a double congiarium, three aurei already having been distributed to each while he was absent. 4 In the senate, too, with the things that had been done excused, he swore that he would punish no senator except by the judgment of the senate. 5 Immediately he established a fiscal post, lest the magistrates be burdened with this load.

6 Ad colligendam autem gratiam nihil praetermittens infinitam pecuniam, quae fisco debebatur, privatis debitoribus in urbe atque Italia, in provinciis vero etiam ex reliquis ingentes summas remisit syngrafis in foro divi Traiani, quo magis securitas omnibus roboraretur, incensis. 7 Damnatorum bona in fiscum privatum redigi vetuit omni summa in aerario publico recepta. 8 Pueris ac puellis, quibus etiam Traianus alimenta detulerat, incrementum liberalitatis adiecit.

6 To gather goodwill, however, omitting nothing, he remitted to private debtors in the city and in Italy an immense sum of money which was owed to the fisc; and in the provinces, indeed, he remitted huge sums even from arrears, with the syngraphs burned in the Forum of the deified Trajan, in order that security might be the more strengthened for all. 7 He forbade the goods of the condemned to be brought into the private fisc, with every amount received into the public aerarium. 8 To boys and girls, to whom even Trajan had bestowed alimenta, he added an increase of liberality.

9 Senatoribus, qui non vitio suo decoxerant, patrimonium pro liberorum modo senatoriae professionis explevit, ita ut plerisque in diem vitae suae dimensum sine dilatione praestiterit. 10 Ad honores explendos non solum amicis, sed etiam passim aliquantis multa largitus est. 11 Feminas nonnullas ad sustentandam vitam sumptibus iuvit.

9 He made up to the senatorial qualification the patrimony, according to the number of their children, for senators who had become insolvent not through their own fault, such that for many he provided, without delay, an allowance measured out for the day of their life. 10 To fulfill the honors (public offices), he lavished many gifts not only upon friends, but also, here and there, upon quite a number. 11 He helped certain women with expenses for the sustaining of life.

12 Gladiatorium munus per sex dies continuos exhibuit et mille feras natali suo edidit.

12 He exhibited a gladiatorial show for six continuous days, and on his natal day he produced a thousand wild beasts.

VIII. 1 Optumos quosque de senatu in contubernium imperatoriae maiestatis adscivit. 2 Ludos circenses praeter natalicios decretos sibi sprevit.

VIII. 1 He admitted the best men of the Senate into the companionship (contubernium) of imperatorial majesty. 2 He spurned the Circensian games decreed for himself, except the birthday ones.

3 Et in contione et in senatu saepe dixit ita se rem publicam gesturum, ut sciret populi rem esse, non propriam. 4 Tertio consules, cum ipse ter fuisset, plurimos fecit, infinitos autem secundi consulatus honore cumulavit. 5 Ipsum autem tertium consulatum et quattuor mensibus tantum egit et in eo saepe ius dixit.

3 Both in the assembly and in the senate he often said that he would conduct the Republic so as to know it to be the people’s affair, not a private one. 4 He made very many men consuls for a third time—though he himself had been consul three times—and he heaped countless others with the honor of a second consulship. 5 But his own third consulship he held for only four months, and in it he often pronounced judgment.

6 Senatui legitimo, cum in urbe vel iuxta urbem esset, semper interfuit. 7 Senatus fastigium in tantum extulit difficile faciens senatores, ut, cum Attianum ex praefecto praetorii ornamentis consularibus praeditum faceret senatorem, nihil se amplius habere, quod in eum conferri posset, ostenderit. 8 Equites Romanos nec sine se de senatoribus nec secum iudicare permisit.

6 He always attended the lawful Senate whenever he was in the city or near the city. 7 He raised the Senate’s eminence to such a degree, making it difficult to become a senator, that when he made Attianus—a praetorian prefect, endowed with consular ornaments—a senator, he showed that he had nothing further that could be conferred upon him. 8 He did not permit Roman knights to judge concerning senators either without him or in his presence.

9 Erat enim tunc mos, ut, cum principes causas agnosceret, et senatores et equites Romanos in consilium vocaret et sententiam ex omnium deliberatione proferret. 10 Exsecratus est denique principes, qui minus senatoribus detulissent. 11 Serviano sororis viro, cui tantum detulit, ut ei venienti de cubiculo semper occurrerit, tertium consulatum, nec secum tamen, cum ille bis <ante> Hadrianum fuisset, ne esset secundae sententiae, non petenti ac sine precatione concessit.

9 For at that time it was the custom that, when the prince was hearing causes, he would call both senators and Roman equestrians into council and would bring forth a judgment from the deliberation of all. 10 Finally, he execrated princes who had shown less deference to the senators. 11 To Servianus, his sister’s husband, to whom he deferred so much that he would always go to meet him when he was coming from the bedchamber, he granted a third consulship—not, however, with himself, since that man had been twice <before> Hadrian, lest he be a seconding opinion—to one not requesting it and without petition.

IX. 1 Inter haec tamen et multas provincias a Traiano adquisitas reliquit et theatrum, quod ille in campo Martio posuerat, contra omnium vota destruxit. 2 Et haec quidem eo tristiora videbantur, quod omnia, quae displicere vidisset, Hadrianus mandata sibi ut faceret secreto a Traiano esse simulabat. 3 Cum Attiani, praefecti sui et quondam tutoris, potentiam ferre non posset, nisus est eum obtruncare, sed revocatus est, quia iam quattuor consularium occisorum, quorum quidem necem in Attiani consilia refundebat, premebatur invidia.

9. 1 Among these things, however, he also relinquished many provinces acquired by Trajan, and he destroyed the theater which that man had set up in the Campus Martius, against everyone’s vows. 2 And these matters indeed seemed the sadder for this reason: that Hadrian was pretending that all the things which he had seen to be displeasing were secret mandates from Trajan to him to carry out. 3 When he could not bear the power of Attianus, his prefect and once his tutor, he endeavored to cut him down, but he was called back, because he was already pressed by ill-will on account of the four consulars who had been slain, the murder of whom indeed he was attributing to the counsels of Attianus.

4 Cui cum successorem dare non posset, quia non petebat, id egit, ut peteret, atque, ubi primum petit, in Turbonem transtulit potestatem; 5 cum quidem etiam Simili alteri praefecto Septicium Clarum successorem dedit. 6 Summotis his a praefectura, quibus debebat imperium, Campaniam petit eiusque omnia oppida beneficiis et largitionibus sublevavit optimum quemque amicitiis suis iungens. 7 Romae vero praetorum et consulum officia frequentavit, conviviis amicorum interfuit, aegros bis ac ter die, et nonnullos equites Romanos ac libertinos, visitavit, solaciis refovit, consiliis sublevavit, conviviis suis semper adhibuit.

4 Since he could not give him a successor, because he was not petitioning, he brought it about that he should petition; and, as soon as he petitioned, he transferred the power to Turbo. 5 And indeed he also gave Septicius Clarus as successor to Similis, the other prefect. 6 With these removed from the prefecture—men to whom he owed the imperium—he made for Campania and relieved all its towns with benefactions and largesses, uniting every best man to his friendships. 7 In Rome, moreover, he frequented the officia of praetors and consuls, took part in the banquets of friends, visited the sick twice and even three times a day, including some Roman equestrians and freedmen, warmed them with solaces, supported them with counsels, and always invited them to his own banquets.

8 Omnia denique ad privati hominis modum fecit. 9 Socrui suae honores praecipuos inpendit ludis gladiatoriis ceterisque officiis.

8 Finally he did everything after the manner of a private man. 9 To his mother-in-law he bestowed preeminent honors in gladiatorial games and the other offices.

X. 1 Post haec profectus in Gallias omnes cas variis liberalitatibus sublevavit. 2 Inde in Germaniam transiit pacisque magis quam belli cupidus militem, quasi bellum inmineret, exercuit tolerantiae documentis eum imbuens, ipse quoque inter manipula vitam militarem magistrans, cibis etiam castrensibus in propatulo libenter utens, hoc est larido, caseo et posca, exemplo Scipionis Aemiliani et Metelli et auctoris sui Traiani, multos praemiis, nonnullos honoribus donans, ut ferre possent ea, quae asperius iubebat; 3 si quidem ipse post Caesarem Octavianum labantem disciplinam incuria superiorum principum retinuit ordinatis et officiis et inpendiis, numquam passus aliquem a castris iniuste abesse, cum tribunos non favor militum, sed iustitia commendaret, 4 exemplo etiam virtutis suae ceteros adhortatus, cum etiam vicena milia pedibus armatus ambularet, triclinia de castris et porticus et cryptas et topia dirueret, 5 vestem humillimam frequenter acciperet, sine auro balteum sumeret, sine gemmis fibula stringeretur, capulo vix eburneo spatham clauderet, 6 aegros milites in hospitiis suis videret, locum castris caperet, nulli vitem nisi robusto et bonae famae daret, nec tribunum nisiplena barba faceret aut eius aetatis, quae prudentia et annis tribunatus robor inpleret, 7 nec pateretur quicquam tribunum a milite accipere, delicata omnia undique summoveret, arma postremo eorum supellectilemque corrigeret. 8 De militum etiam aetatibus iudicabat, ne quis aut minor quam virtus posceret, aut maior quam pateretur humanitas, in castris contra morem veterem versaretur, agebatque, ut sibi semper noti essent, et eorum numerus sciretur.

10. 1 After these things he set out into Gaul and relieved all the cities with various generosities. 2 Thence he crossed into Germany, and, more desirous of peace than of war, he drilled the soldiery as if war were impending, imbuing them with proofs of endurance, he himself also, among the maniples, practicing the military life, gladly using in public even camp fare—namely bacon, cheese, and posca—after the example of Scipio Aemilianus and Metellus and his patron Trajan, granting many men rewards, some honors, so that they might be able to bear the things which he ordered more sternly; 3 since indeed he himself, after Caesar Octavian, held fast the wavering discipline—through the negligence of prior emperors—by setting in order both duties and expenditures, never allowing anyone to be unjustly absent from the camp, while he recommended tribunes not by the soldiers’ favor but by justice, 4 and by the example of his own virtue exhorted the rest, as he even would walk twenty miles on foot in arms, and he tore down from the camp tricliniums and porticoes and crypts and topiary; 5 he would often accept the very humblest clothing, would take up a belt without gold, let his cloak be fastened by a brooch without gems, and would sheathe his sword with a hilt scarcely of ivory; 6 he would see sick soldiers in their lodgings, would choose the place for the camp, would give the vine-staff to none but a robust man of good repute, nor make anyone a tribune unless with a full beard, or of that age which by prudence and by years would fill out the strength befitting a tribunate; 7 nor would he allow a tribune to receive anything from a soldier, he removed all luxuries on every side, and finally he corrected their arms and equipment. 8 He also gave judgment concerning the ages of the soldiers, lest anyone either younger than valor would require, or older than humanity would allow, should be active in the camp contrary to ancient custom, and he managed matters so that they should always be known to himself, and their number be known.

XI. 1 Laborabat praeterea, ut condita militaria diligenter agnosceret, reditus quoque provinciales solerter explorans, ut alicubi quippiam deesset, expleret. Ante omnes tamen enitebatur, ne quid otiosum vel emeret aliquando vel pasceret. 2 Ergo conversis regio more militibus Brittaniam petit, in qua multa correxit murumque per octoginta milia passuum primus duxit, qui barbaros Romanosque divideret.

11. 1 Moreover, he toiled that he might diligently recognize the military funds that had been laid away, and he cleverly explored the provincial revenues as well, so that if anywhere something were lacking, he might make it up. Before all things, however, he strove that he should neither ever buy nor maintain anything idle. 2 Therefore, with the troops turned about, in regal fashion, he sought Britain, in which he corrected many things, and he was the first to draw a wall for eighty miles, which would divide the barbarians and the Romans.

3 Septicio Claro praefecto praetorii et Suetonio Tranquillo epistularum magistro multisque aliis, quod apud Sabinam uxorem iniussu eius familiarius se tunc egerant, quam reverentia domus aulicae postulabat, successores dedit, uxorem etiam ut morosam et asperam dimissurus, ut ipse dicebat, si privatus fuisset. 4 Et erat curiosus non solum domus suae sed etiam amicorum, ita ut per frumentarios occulta omnia exploraret, nec adverterent amici sciri ab imperatore suam vitam, priusquam ipse hoc imperator ostenderet. 5 Unde non iniocundum est rem inserere, ex quo constet eum de amicis multa didicisse.

3 To Septicius Clarus, prefect of the praetorium, and to Suetonius Tranquillus, master of letters, and to many others he gave successors, because in the presence of Sabina his wife, without his order, they had then behaved more familiarly than the reverence due to the aulic household demanded; his wife too, as peevish and harsh, he would have dismissed, as he himself said, if he had been a private person. 4 And he was curious not only about his own household but also about his friends, such that through the frumentarii he would ferret out all hidden things; nor did his friends notice that their life was known by the emperor before the emperor himself showed this. 5 Whence it is not unamusing to insert an episode, from which it may be evident that he learned many things about his friends.

6 Nam cum ad quendam scripsisset uxor sua, quod voluptatibus detentus et lavacris ad se redire nollet, atque hoc hadrianus per frumentarios cognovisset, petente illo commeatum Hadrianus ei lavacra et voluptates exprobravit. cui ille : "Num et tibi uxor mea, quod et mihi, scripsit ?" 7 Et hoc quidem vitiosissimum putant atque huic adiungunt, quae de adultorum amore ac nuptarum adulteriis, quibus Hadrianus laborasse dicitur, adserunt, iungentes quod ne amicis quidem servaverit fidem.

6 For when his wife had written to a certain man that, detained by pleasures and baths, he was unwilling to return to her, and Hadrian had learned this through the frumentarii, while that man was requesting leave, Hadrian reproached him with his baths and pleasures. To which he: "Did my wife also write to you what she wrote to me as well ?" 7 And this indeed they consider most vicious, and to this they add the things they assert about the love of adult men and the adulteries of married women, with which Hadrian is said to have struggled, joining the charge that he did not keep faith even with his friends.

XII. 1 Conpositis in Brittania rebus transgressus in Galliam Alexandrina seditione turbatus, quae nata est ob Apidem, qui, cum repertus esset post multos annos, turbas interpopulos creavit, apud quem deberet locari, omnibus studiose certantibus. 2 Per idem tempus in honorem Plotinae basilicam apud Nemausum opere mirabili extruxit.

12. 1 With matters composed in Britain, he crossed over into Gaul, disturbed by the Alexandrian sedition, which arose on account of Apis, who, when he had been found after many years, created tumults among the peoples, as to with whom he ought to be located, all zealously contending. 2 About the same time he erected, in honor of Plotina, a basilica at Nemausus, with marvelous workmanship.

3 Post haec Hispania petit et Tarracone hiemavit, ubi sumptu suo aedem Augusti restituit. 4 Omnibus Hispanis Tarraconem in conventum vocatis dilectumque ioculariter, ut verba ipsa ponit Marius Maximus, retractantibus Italicis, vehementissime ceteris prudenter et caute consuluit. 5 Quo quidem tempore non sine gloria gravissimum periculum adiit apud Tarraconem spatians per virdaria servo in se hospitis cum gladio furiosius inruente, quem retentum ille ministris adcurrentibus tradidit et, ubi furiosum esse constitit, medicis curandum dedit in nullo omnino commotus.

3 After these things he made for Hispania and wintered at Tarraco, where at his own expense he restored the temple of Augustus. 4 With all the Spaniards summoned to Tarraco into an assembly, and, jestingly about the levy—as Marius Maximus sets down the very words—while the Italians were drawing back, he consulted the rest most vehemently, yet prudently and cautiously. 5 At that time, indeed, not without glory he met a most grievous danger at Tarraco, as he was walking through the gardens, when the slave of his host rushed upon him more frenziedly with a sword; him, once restrained, he handed over to the attendants who ran up, and, when it was established that he was insane, he gave him to the physicians to be treated, being in no way at all disturbed.

6 Per ea tempora et alias frequenter in plurimis locis, in quibus barbari non fluminibus sed limitibus dividuntur, stipitibus magnis in modum muralis saepis funditus iactis atque conexis barbaros separavit. 7 Germanis regem constituit, motus Maurorum compressit et a senatu supplicationes emeruit. 8 Bellum Parthorum per idem tempus in motu tantum fuit, idque Hadriani conloquio repressum est.

6 At those times, and also frequently at other times, in very many places where the barbarians are divided not by rivers but by limits, with great stakes, sunk deep and bound together in the manner of a mural palisade, he separated the barbarians. 7 He established a king over the Germans, compressed the movements of the Moors, and earned supplications from the Senate. 8 The Parthian war at the same time was only in motion, and it was repressed by Hadrian’s colloquy.

XIII. 1 Post haec per Asiam et insulas ad Achaiam navigavit et Eleusinia sacra exemplo Herculis Philippique suscepit, multa in Athenienses contulit et pro agonotheta resedit. 2 Et in Achaia quidem etiam illud observatum ferunt, quod, cum in sacris multi cultros haberent, cum Hadriano nullus armatus ingressus est.

13. 1 After these things he sailed through Asia and the islands to Achaia and undertook the Eleusinian sacred rites after the example of Hercules and Philip; he bestowed many benefits upon the Athenians and sat as agonothete. 2 And in Achaia indeed they report that this too was observed: although in the rites many had knives, yet when Hadrian was present no one entered armed.

3 Post in Siciliam navigavit, in qua Aetnam montem conscendit, ut solis ortum videret arcus specie, ut dicitur, varium. 4 Inde Romam venit atque ex ea in Africam transiit ac multum beneficiorum provinciis Africanis adtribuit. 5 Nec quisquam fere principum tantum terrarum tantum celeriter peragravit.

3 Afterward he sailed to Sicily, in which he ascended Mount Aetna, to see the rising of the sun, variegated in the appearance of an arc, as it is said. 4 Thence he came to Rome and from there crossed into Africa and conferred many benefactions upon the African provinces. 5 Nor did almost any of the princes traverse so much land so swiftly.

6 Denique cum post Africam Romam redisset, statim ad orientem profectus per Athenas iter fecit atque opera, quae apud Athenienses coeperat, dedicavit, ut Iovis Olympii aedem et aram sibi, eodemque modo per Asiam iter faciens templa sui nominis consecravit. 7 Deinde a Cappadocibus servitia castris profutura suscepit. 8 Toparchas et reges ad amicitiam invitavit, invitato etiam Osdroe rege Parthorum remissaque illi filia, quam Traianus ceperat, ac promissa sella, quae itidem capta fuerat.

6 Finally, when after Africa he had returned to Rome, at once setting out toward the East he made his journey through Athens and dedicated the works which he had begun among the Athenians, namely the temple of Jupiter Olympius and an altar to himself; and in the same manner, making his way through Asia, he consecrated temples of his own name. 7 Then from the Cappadocians he took on servant-bands for the camps, to be of use. 8 He invited toparchs and kings to friendship, inviting also Osdroes, king of the Parthians, and he sent back to him the daughter whom Trajan had taken, and promised the sella (throne-seat), which likewise had been captured.

9 Cumque ad eum quidam reges venissent, ita cum his egit, ut eos paeniteret, qui venire noluerunt, causa speciatim Farasmanis, qui eius invitationem superbe neglexerit. 10 Et circumiens quidem provincias procuratores et praesides pro factis supplicio adfecit, ita severe ut accusatores per se crederetur inmittere.

9 And when certain kings had come to him, he dealt with them in such a way that those who were unwilling to come repented of it, especially in the case of Pharasmanes, who had arrogantly neglected his invitation. 10 And as he was making a circuit of the provinces, he subjected the procurators and the governors to punishment for their deeds, so severely that he was believed to be sending in accusers on his own behalf.

XIV. 1 Antiochenses inter haec ita odio habuit, ut Syriam a Phoenice separare voluerit, ne tot civitatum metropolis Antiochia diceretur. 2 Moverunt ea tempestate et Iudaei bellum, quod vetabantur mutilare genitalia.

14. 1 He held the Antiochenes in such hatred amid these things that he wished to separate Syria from Phoenice, lest Antioch be called the metropolis of so many cities. 2 And in that season the Jews too stirred up war, because they were forbidden to mutilate the genitals.

3 Sed in monte Casio, cum videndi solis ortus gratia nocte ascendisset, imbre orto fulmen decidens hostiam et victimarium sacrificanti adflavit. 4 Peregrata Arabia Pelusium venit et Pompei tumulum magnificentius extruxit. 5 Antinoum suum, dum per Nilum navigat, perdidit, quem muliebriter flevit.

3 But on Mount Casius, when, for the sake of seeing the sunrise, he had ascended by night, as rain arose a falling lightning-bolt blasted the victim and the victimarius while he was sacrificing. 4 Having traversed Arabia, he came to Pelusium and erected Pompey’s tomb more magnificently. 5 He lost his Antinous while sailing along the Nile, whom he wept for in a womanly way.

6 De quo varia fama est aliis eum devotum pro Hadriano adserentibus, aliis, quod et forma eius ostentat et nimia voluptas Hadriani. 7 Et Graeci quidem volente Hadriano eum consecraverunt oracula per eum dari adserentes, quae Hadrianus ipse conposuisse iactatur. 8 Fuit enim poematum et litterarum nimium studiosissimus.

6 About him there is varied rumor, some asserting that he devoted himself as a sacrifice for Hadrian, others, for the reason which both his beauty indicates and Hadrian’s excessive voluptuousness. 7 And the Greeks indeed, with Hadrian consenting, consecrated him, claiming that oracles were given through him, which Hadrian himself is boasted to have composed. 8 For he was exceedingly devoted to poems and letters.

9 Arithmeticae, geometriae, picturae peritissimus. Iam psallendi et cantandi scientiam prae se ferebat. In voluptatibus nimius.

9 Most expert in arithmetic, geometry, and painting. He already displayed knowledge of psalmody and singing. Excessive in pleasures.

Nam et de suis dilectis multa versibus composuit. (amatoria carmina scripsit.) 10 Idem armorum peritissimus et rei militaris scientissimus, gladiatoria quoque arma tractavit. 11 Idem severus laetus, comis gravis, lascivus cunctator, tenax liberalis, <simplex> simulator, saevus clemens et semper in omnibus varius.

For he also composed many about his favorites in verses. (he wrote amatory songs.) 10 The same man most expert in arms and most knowing in military science; he also handled gladiatorial arms. 11 The same man severe yet cheerful, affable yet grave, wanton yet a delayer, tightfisted yet liberal, <simplex> yet a simulator, savage yet clement, and always in all things various.

XV. 1 Amicos ditavit et quidem non petentes, cum petentibus nil negaret. 2 Idem tamen facile de amicis, quidquid insusurrabatur, audivit atque ideo prope cunctos vel amicissimos vel eos, quos summis honoribus evexit, postea ut hostium loco habuit, ut Attianum et Nepotem et Septicium Clarum. 3 Nam Eudaemonem prius conscium imperii ad egestatem perduxit, 4 Polyaenum et Marcellum ad mortem voluntariam coegit, 5 Heliodorum famosissimis litteris lacessivit, 6 Titianum ut conscium tyrannidis et argui passus est et proscribi.

15. 1 He enriched his friends, indeed even those not requesting, while he denied nothing to those requesting. 2 Yet the same man readily gave ear about his friends to whatever was whispered, and therefore afterward he held almost all, whether the dearest of friends or those whom he had raised to the highest honors, as in the place of enemies, such as Attianus and Nepos and Septicius Clarus. 3 For he brought Eudaemon, formerly privy to the rule, down to destitution, 4 he compelled Polyaenus and Marcellus to voluntary death, 5 he provoked Heliodorus with most scandalous letters, 6 he allowed Titianus, as privy to tyranny, both to be accused and to be proscribed.

7 Umidium Quadratum et Catilium Severum et Turbonem graviter insecutus est, 8 Servianum sororis virum nonagesimum iam annum agentem, ne sibi superviveret, mori coegit; 9 libertos denique et nonnullos milites insecutus est. 10 Et quamvis esset oratione et versu promtissimus et in omnibus artibus peritissimus, tamen professores omnium artium semperut doctior risit, contempsit, obtrivit. 11 Cum his ipsis professoribus et philosophis libris vel carminibus invisem editis saepe certavit.

7 He harshly persecuted Umidius Quadratus and Catilius Severus and Turbo, 8 and Servianus, his sister’s husband, already passing his ninetieth year, he forced to die, lest he outlive him; 9 finally he pursued freedmen and several soldiers. 10 And although he was most prompt in oration and in verse and most expert in all arts, nevertheless, as the more learned, he always laughed at, despised, and crushed the professors of all the arts. 11 With these very professors and philosophers he often contended, by publishing hostile books or poems.

12 Et Favorinus quidem, cum verbum eius quondam ab Hadriano reprehensum esset atque ille cessisset, arguentibus amicis, quod male cederet, Hadriano de verbo, quod idonei auctores usurpassent, risum iocundissimum movit; 13 ait enim : "non recte suadetis, familiares, qui non patiminime illum doctiorem omnibus credere, qui habet triginta legiones."

12 And Favorinus indeed, when a word of his had once been criticized by Hadrian and he had yielded, while his friends were reproaching him for yielding badly, raised a most delightful laugh for Hadrian about the word, which suitable authors had employed; 13 for he said: "you do not advise rightly, intimates, you who do not allow me to believe him more learned than everyone, who has thirty legions."

XVI. 1 Famae celebris Hadrianus tam cupidus fuit, ut libros vitae suae scriptos a se libertis suis litteratis dederit iubens, ut eos suis nominibus publicarent; nam et Phlegontis libri Hadriani esse dicuntur. 2 Catacannas libros obscurissimos Antimachum imitando scripsit. 3 Floro poetae scribenti ad se :

16. 1 Hadrian was so desirous of celebrated fame that he gave books of his life, written by himself, to his literate freedmen, ordering that they publish them under their own names; for even Phlegon’s books are said to be Hadrian’s. 2 He wrote Catacannas, very obscure books, imitating Antimachus. 3 To the poet Florus, who was writing to him:

ego nolo Caesar esse,
ambulare per Brittanos,
<latitare per Germanos,>
Scythicas pati pruinas

I do not wish to be Caesar,
to walk among the Britons,
<to skulk among the Germans,>
to endure Scythian hoarfrosts

4 rescripsit :

4 he wrote back :

ego nolo Florus esse,
ambulare per tabernas,
latitare per popinas,
culices pati rutundos.

I do not want to be Florus,
to walk through taverns,
to skulk through cookshops,
to endure rotund gnats.

5 Amavit praeterea genus vetustum dicendi, controversias declamavit. 6 Ciceroni Catonem, Vergilio Ennium, Salustio Coelium praetulit eademque iactatione de Homero ac Platone iudicavit. 7 Mathesin sic scire sibi visus est, ut sero kalendis Ianuariis scripserit, quid ei toto anno posset evenire, ita ut eo anno, quo perit, usque ad illam horam, qua est mortuus, scripserit, quid acturus esset.

5 He moreover loved a vetust genus of speaking; he declaimed controversies. 6 He preferred Cato to Cicero, Ennius to Vergil, Coelius to Sallust, and with the same vaunting he judged about Homer and Plato. 7 He seemed to himself to know mathesis (astrology) to such a degree that, late on the Kalends of January, he would write what could befall him in the whole year, such that in that year in which he perished he wrote, right up to that very hour in which he died, what he was going to do.

8 Sed quamvis esset in reprehendendis musicis, tragicis, comicis, grammaticis, rhetoribus, oratoribus facilis, tamen omnes professores et honoravit et divites fecit, licet eos quaestionibus semper agitaverit. 9 Et cum ipse auctor esset, ut multi ab eo tristes recederent, dicebat se graviter ferre, si quem tristem videret. 10 In summa familiaritate Epictetum et Heliodorum philosophos et, ne nominatim de omnibus dicam, grammaticos, rhetores, musicos, geometras, pictores, astrologos habuit, prae ceteris, ut multi adserunt, eminente Favorino.

8 But although he was facile in criticizing musicians, tragedians, comedians, grammarians, rhetors, and orators, nevertheless he both honored all the professors and made them wealthy, albeit he always agitated them with questionings. 9 And although he himself was the author that many departed from him sad, he used to say that he took it grievously if he saw anyone sad. 10 In the closest familiarity he had the philosophers Epictetus and Heliodorus and—so as not to speak by name of all—grammarians, rhetors, musicians, geometers, painters, astrologers, with Favorinus, as many assert, standing out before the rest.

11 Doctores, qui professioni suae inhabiles videbantur, dilatos honoratosque a professione dimisit.

He dismissed from the profession the teachers who seemed unfit for their profession, having deferred them and honored them.

XVII. 1 Quos in privata vita inimicos habuit, imperator tantum neglexit, ita ut uni, quem capitalem habuerat, factus imperator diceret "evasisti". 2 His, quos ad militiam ipse per se vocavit, equos, mulos, vestes, sumptus et omnem ornatum semper exhibuit. 3 Saturnalicia et sigillaricia frequenter amicis inopinantibus misit et ipse ab his libenter accepit et alia invicem dedit.

17. 1 Those whom he had as enemies in private life, as emperor he so neglected that to one whom he had regarded as a capital enemy he, once made emperor, said, "you have escaped." 2 To those whom he himself personally summoned to military service, he always provided horses, mules, garments, expenses, and every accoutrement. 3 Saturnalia-gifts and Sigillaria he frequently sent to friends when they were not expecting it, and he himself gladly received from them and in turn gave other gifts.

4 Ad deprehendendas obsonatorum fraudes, cum plurimis simmatibus pasceret, fercula de aliis mensis etiam ultimis quibusque iussit sibi adponi. 5 Omnes reges muneribus suis vicit. Publice frequenter et cum omnibus lavit.

4 To detect the frauds of the purveyors, since he fed with very many sauces, he ordered dishes from other tables, even from the very last ones, to be set before himself. 5 He outdid all kings with his gifts. He bathed publicly frequently and with everyone.

6 Ex quo ille iocus balnearis innotuit : nam cum quodam tempore veteranum quendam notum sibi in militia dorsum et ceteram partem corporis vidisset adterere <parieti>, percontatus, cur se marmoribus destringendum daret, ubi audivit hoc idcirco fieri, quod servum non haberet, et servis eum donavit et sumptibus. 7 Verum alia die cum plures senes ad provocandam liberalitatem principis parieti se adtererent, evocari eos iussit et alium ab alio invicem defricari. 8 Fuit et plebis iactantissimus amator.

6 Whence that bathhouse jest became well-known: for when at a certain time he had seen a certain veteran, known to him from military service, rubbing his back and the rest of his body against the wall, he asked why he was giving himself to be scraped by the marbles; when he heard that this was being done because he did not have a slave, he endowed him with slaves and with expenses. 7 But on another day, when several old men, to provoke the liberality of the princeps, were rubbing themselves against the wall, he ordered them to be called in, and that each be rubbed down by the other in turn. 8 He was also the most ostentatious lover of the plebs.

Peregrinationis ita cupidus, ut omnia, quae legerat de locis orbis terrarum, praesens vellet addiscere. 9 Frigora et tempestates ita patienter tulit, ut numquam caput texerit. 10 Regibus multis plurimum detulit, a plerisque vero etiam pacem redemit, a nonnullis contemptus est, 11 multis ingentia dedit munera, sed nulli maiora quam Hiberorum, cui et elephantum et quinquagenariam cohortem post magnifica dedit dona.

So desirous of peregrination that he wished, in person, to learn in addition all the things which he had read about the places of the world. 9 He bore colds and storms so patiently that he never covered his head. 10 He deferred very much to many kings, and from quite a number he even redeemed peace; by some he was despised. 11 To many he gave huge gifts, but to none greater than to the king of the Iberians, to whom, besides magnificent gifts, he gave both an elephant and a fifty-man cohort.

12 Cum a Farasmane ipse quoque ingentia mune<r>a don<o> accepisset atque inter haec auratas quoque clamydes, trecentos noxios cum auratis clamydibus in harenam misit ad eius munera deridenda.

12 When he too had received immense gifts as a gift from Pharasmanes, and among these also gilded chlamydes, he sent 300 condemned men with gilded chlamydes into the arena to deride his gifts.

XVIII. 1 Cum iudicaret, in consilio habuit non amicos suos aut comites solum sed iuris consultos et praecipue Iuventium Celsum, Salvium Iulianum, Neratium Priscum aliosque, quos tamen senatus omnis probasset. 2 Constituit inter cetera, ut in nulla civitate domus aliqua transferendae ad aliam urbem vilis materiae causa dirueretur.

18. 1 When he was judging, he had in his council not his friends or companions only but jurisconsults, and especially Juventius Celsus, Salvius Julianus, Neratius Priscus, and others, whom, however, the whole senate had approved. 2 He established, among other things, that in no city any house should be torn down for the sake of cheap material to be transferred to another city.

3 Liberis proscriptorum duodecimas bonorum concessit. 4 Maiestatis crimina non admisit. 5 Ignotorum heredidates repudiavit nec notorum accepit, si filios haberent.

3 He granted to the children of the proscribed a twelfth part of the goods. 4 He did not admit charges of maiestas (treason). 5 He repudiated the inheritances of the unknown, nor did he accept those of the known if they had sons.

6 De thesauris ita cavit, ut, <si> quis in suo repperisset, ipse potiretur, si quis in alieno, dimidium domino daret, si quis in publico, cum fisco aequabiliter partiretur. 7 Servos a dominis occidi vetuit eosque iussit damnari per iudices, si digni essent. 8 Lenoni et lanistae servum vel ancillam vendi vetuit causa non praestita.

6 He made provision about treasures thus: if anyone had found one on his own property, he himself should obtain it; if anyone on another’s, he should give half to the owner; if anyone in a public place, he should divide it equally with the fisc. 7 He forbade slaves to be killed by their masters and ordered them to be condemned by judges, if they were worthy of it. 8 He forbade a slave or a handmaid to be sold to a pander or a lanista, unless a cause had been presented.

9 Decoctores bonorum suorum, si suae auctoritatis essent, catomidiari in amphitheatro et dimitti iussit. 10 Ergastula servorum et liberorum tulit. Lavacra pro sexibus separavit.

9 He ordered bankrupts of their own goods, if they were of their own authority, to be cudgelled in the amphitheater and dismissed. 10 He abolished ergastula for both slaves and free persons. He separated the baths by sexes.

11 Si dominus in domo interemptus esset, non de omnibus servis quaestionem haberi sed de his, qui per vicinitatem poterant sentire, praecepit.

11 If the master were slain in the house, he prescribed that a questioning be held not of all the slaves, but of those who through proximity could perceive it.

XIX. 1 In Etruria praeturam imperator egit. Per Latina opida dictator et aedilis et duumvir fuit, apud Neapolim demarchus, in patria sua quinquennalis et item Hadriae quinquennalis, quasi in alia patria, et Athenis archon fuit.

19. 1 In Etruria he exercised the praetorship as emperor. Through the Latin towns he was dictator and aedile and duumvir, at Naples a demarch, in his own fatherland a quinquennalis, and likewise at Hadria a quinquennalis, as if in another fatherland, and at Athens he was archon.

2 In omnibus paene urbibus et aliquid aedificavit et ludos edidit. 3 Athenis mille ferarum venationem in statio exhibuit. 4 Ab urbe Roma numquam ullum venatorem aut scaenicum avocavit.

2 In almost all cities he both built something and put on games. 3 At Athens he presented a hunt of a thousand wild beasts in the stadium. 4 From the city of Rome he never called away any huntsman or scenic performer.

5 Romae post ceteras inmensissimas voluptates in honorem socrus suae aromatica populo donavit, in honorem Traiani balsama et crocum per gradus theatri fluere iussit. 6 Fabulas omnis generis more antiquo in theatro dedit, histriones aulicos publicavit. 7 In circo multas feras et saepe centum leones interfecit.

5 At Rome, after all the other most immense pleasures, in honor of his mother-in-law he gifted aromatics to the people; in honor of Trajan he ordered balsams and saffron to flow down the steps of the theater. 6 He gave plays of every kind in the theater in the ancient manner, and he put court-actors on the public stage. 7 In the circus he killed many wild beasts and often a hundred lions.

8 Militares pyrrichas populo frequenter exhibuit. Gladiatores frequenter spectavit. 9 Cum opera ubique infinita fecisset, numquam ipse nisi in Traiani patris templo nomen suum scripsit.

8 He frequently exhibited military Pyrrhic dances to the people. He frequently watched gladiators. 9 Although he had made works everywhere without number, he himself never inscribed his name except in the temple of his father Trajan.

10 Romae instauravit Pantheum, saepta, basilicam Neptuni, sacras aedes plurimas, forum Augusti, lavacrum Agrippae, eaque omnia propriis auctorum nominibus consecravit. 11 Fecit et sui nominis pontem et sepulchrum iuxta Tiberim et aedem Bonae Deae. 12 Transtulit et colossum stantem atque suspensum per Decrianum architectum de eo loco, in quo nunc templum Urbis est, ingenti molimine, ita ut operi etiam elephantos viginti quattuor exhiberet.

10 At Rome he restored the Pantheon, the Saepta, the Basilica of Neptune, very many sacred temples, the Forum of Augustus, and the Bath of Agrippa, and he consecrated all these with the proper names of their authors. 11 He also made a bridge and a sepulcher of his own name beside the Tiber, and a temple of Bona Dea. 12 He also transferred the Colossus, standing and suspended, through the architect Decrianus from that place in which now is the Temple of the City, with enormous exertion, such that he even provided twenty-four elephants for the work.

13 Et cum hoc simulacrum post Neronis vultum, cui antea dicatum fuerat, Soli consecrasset, aliud tale Apollodoro architecto auctore facere Lunae molitus est.

13 And, after Nero’s visage— to whom it had previously been dedicated—he had consecrated this simulacrum to Sol, he strove, with Apollodorus the architect as author, to make another such for Luna.

XX. 1 In conloquiis etiam humillimorum civilissimus fuit, detestans eos, qui sibi hanc voluptatem humanitatisquasi servantes fastigium principis inviderent. 2 Apud Alexandriam in musio multas quaestiones professoribus proposuit et propositas ipse dissolvit. 3 Marius Maximus dicit eum natura crudelem fuisse et idcirco multa pie fecisse, quod timeret, ne sibi idem, quod Domitiano accidit, eveniret.

20. 1 Even in conversations with the very lowly he was most civil, detesting those who, as if preserving the pinnacle of the princeps, begrudged him this pleasure of humanity. 2 At Alexandria in the Museum he proposed many questions to the professors and himself unraveled those proposed. 3 Marius Maximus says that by nature he was cruel, and for that reason he did many pious deeds, because he feared lest the same thing that befell Domitian should happen to himself.

4 Et cum titulos in operibus non amaret, multas civitates Hadrianopolis appellavit, ut ipsam Karthaginem et Athenarum partem. 5 Aquarum ductus etiam infinitos hoc nomine nuncupavit. 6 Fisci advocatum primus instituit.

4 And since he did not love titles on works, he called many cities Hadrianopolis, such as Carthage itself and a part of Athens. 5 He also named countless aqueducts by this name. 6 He was the first to institute an Advocate of the Fisc.

7 Fuit memoriae ingentis, facultatis inmensae ; nam ipse orationes et dictavit et ad omnia respondit. 8 Ioca eius plurima exstant ; nam fuit etiam dicaculus. Unde illud quoque innotuit, quod, cum cuidam canescenti quiddam negasset, eidem iterum petenti sed infecto capite respondit "iam hoc patri tuo negavi". 9 Nomina plurimis sine nomenclatore reddidit, quae semel et congesta simul audiverat, ut nomenclatores saepius errantes emendarit.

7 He was of enormous memory, of immense capacity ; for he himself both dictated orations and replied to everything. 8 Many jests of his are extant; for he was even a bit dicacious. Whence that story too became known, that, when he had denied something to a certain man going gray, to the same man asking again but with his head dyed he replied, "I have already denied this to your father." 9 He returned names to very many without a nomenclator, which he had heard once and all heaped together at the same time, so that he corrected nomenclators when they, more often, erred.

10 Dixit et veteranorum nomina, quos aliquando dimiserat. Libros statim lectos et ignotos quidem plurimis memoriter reddidit. 11 Uno tempore scripsit, dictavit, audivit et cum amicis fabulatus est (si potest credi). Omnes publicas rationes ita complexus est, ut domum privatam quivis paterfamilias diligens non satis novit.

10 He also spoke the names of the veterans whom he had once discharged. Books that he had read immediately, and indeed unknown to very many, he reproduced by heart. 11 At one and the same time he wrote, dictated, listened, and chatted with friends (if it can be believed). He encompassed all public accounts to such an extent that any diligent paterfamilias does not know a private household well enough.

12 Equos et canes sic amavit, ut eis sepulchra constitueret. 13 Oppidum Hadrianotheras in quodam loco, quod illic et feliciter esset venatus et ursam occidisset aliquando, constituit.

12 He loved horses and dogs so much that he established tombs for them. 13 He founded a town, Hadrianotherae, in a certain place, because there he had hunted successfully and had on one occasion killed a bear.

XXI. 1 De iudicis omnibus semper cuncta scrutando tamdiu requisivit, quamdiu verum inveniret. 2 Libertos suos nec sciri voluit in publico nec aliquid apud se posse, dicto suo omnibus superioribus principibus vitia imputans libertorum, damnatis omnibus libertis suis, quicumque se de eo iactaverant.

21. 1 Regarding all judicial matters, by always scrutinizing everything, he kept inquiring for so long until he found the truth. 2 He wished neither that his freedmen be known in public nor that they be able to accomplish anything with him, by his saying imputing to all former emperors the vices of their freedmen, with all his own freedmen condemned—whoever had boasted of him.

3 Unde extat etiam illud seuerum quidem sed prope ioculare de servis. nam cum quodam tempore servum suum inter duos senatores e conspectu ambulare vidisset, misit, qui ei collafum daret <diceret>que : "Noli inter eos ambulare, quorum esse adhuc potes servus". 4 Inter cibos unice amavit tetrafarmacum, quod erat de fasiano, sumine, perna et crustulo. 5 Fuerunt eius temporibus fames, pestilentia, terrae motus, quae omnia, quantum potuit, procuravit multisque civitatibus vastatis per ista subvenit.

3 Whence there also survives that remark about slaves—severe indeed but almost jocular. For when at a certain time he had seen his slave walking out of sight between two senators, he sent someone to give him a cuff on the neck and say: "Do not walk among those of whom you can still be a slave." 4 Among foods he uniquely loved the tetrapharmacon, which was made of pheasant, sow’s udder, ham, and a little pastry. 5 In his times there were famine, pestilence, and earthquakes; all of which, as far as he was able, he managed, and he came to the aid of many cities devastated by these.

6 Fuit etiam Tiberis inundatio. 7 Latium multis civitatibus dedit, tributa multis remisit. 8 Expeditiones sub eo graves nullae fuerunt; bella etiamsilentio paene transacta.

6 There was also an inundation of the Tiber. 7 He granted Latin rights to many communities, remitted taxes to many. 8 Under him there were no heavy campaigns; the wars were almost conducted in silence as well.

9 A militibus propter curam exercitus nimiam multum amatus est, simul quod in eos liberalissimus fuit. 10 Parthos in amicitia semper habuit, quod inde regem retraxit, quem Traianus inposuerat. 11 Armeniis regem habere permisit, cum sub Traiano legatum habuissent.

9 He was much loved by the soldiers on account of his excessive care for the army, and likewise because he was most liberal toward them. 10 He always held the Parthians in friendship, because he withdrew the king whom Trajan had imposed. 11 He permitted the Armenians to have a king, whereas under Trajan they had had a legate.

12 Mesopotamenos non exegit tributum, quod Traianus inposuit. 13 Albanos et Hiberos amicissimos habuit, quod reges eorum largitionibus prosecutus est, cum ad illum venire contempsissent. 14 Reges Bactrianorum legatos ad eum amicitiae petendae causa supplices miserunt.

12 He did not exact the tribute from the Mesopotamians, which Trajan had imposed. 13 He had the Albani and the Hiberi as most friendly, because he pursued their kings with largesses, although they had disdained to come to him. 14 The kings of the Bactrians sent envoys to him as suppliants for the sake of seeking friendship.

XXII. 1 Tutores saepissime dedit. Disciplinam civilem non aliter tenuit quam militarem.

22. 1 He very often appointed tutors. He upheld civil discipline no differently than the military.

2 Senatores et equites Romanos semper in publico togatos esse iussit, nisi si a cena reverterentur. 3 Ipse, cum in Italiam esset, semper togatus processit. 4 Ad convivium venientes senatores stans excepit semperque aut pallio tectus discubuit aut toga summissa.

2 He ordered senators and Roman equestrians always to be togate in public, unless they were returning from dinner. 3 He himself, when he was in Italy, always went forth togate. 4 He received, standing, the senators coming to a banquet, and he always reclined either covered with a pallium or with the toga let down.

5 Diligentia iudicis sumptus convivii constituit et ad anti cummodum redegit. 6 Vehicula cum ingentibus sarcinis urbem ingredi prohibuit. Sederi equos in civitatibus non sivit.

5 By the diligence of a judge he fixed the expense of the convivium and reduced it to the ancient standard. 6 He prohibited vehicles with enormous burdens from entering the city. He did not allow horses to be ridden in the cities.

7 Ante octavam horam in publico neminem nisi aegrum lavari passus est. 8 Ab epistolis et a libellis primus equites Romanos habuit. 9 Eos, quos pauperes et innocentes vidit, sponte ditavit, quos vero calliditate ditatos, etiam odio habuit.

7 Before the eighth hour he allowed no one to bathe in public unless sick. 8 In the offices for correspondence and for petitions he was the first to employ Roman equestrians. 9 Those whom he saw to be poor and blameless he enriched of his own accord, but those who had been enriched by cunning he even regarded with hatred.

10 Sacra Romana diligentissime curavit, peregrina contempsit. pontificis maximi officium peregit. 11 Causas Romae atque provinciis frequenter audivit adhibitis in consilio suo consulibus atque praetoribus et optimis senatoribus.

10 He most diligently cared for the Roman sacred rites, he contemned foreign ones. He performed the office of Pontifex Maximus. 11 He frequently heard cases at Rome and in the provinces, with consuls and praetors and the best senators summoned into his council.

12 Fucinum lacum emisit. 13 Quattuor consulares per omnem Italiam iudices constituit. 14 Quando in Africam venit, ad adventum eius post quinquennium pluit, atque ideo ab Africanis dilectus est.

12 He drained Lake Fucinus. 13 He constituted four consulars as judges throughout all Italy. 14 When he came into Africa, upon his arrival it rained after five years, and therefore he was beloved by the Africans.

XXIII. 1 Peragratis sane omnibus orbis partibus capite nudo et in summis plerumque imbribus atque frigoribus in morbum incidit lectualem. 2 Factusque de successore sollicitus primum de Serviano cogitavit, quem postea, ut diximus, mori coegit.

23. 1 With, indeed, all the parts of the world traversed, bare-headed and for the most part amid the utmost rains and colds, he fell into a bedridden illness. 2 And becoming anxious about a successor, he first thought of Servianus, whom afterwards, as we have said, he compelled to die.

3 Fuscum, quod imperium praesagiis et ostentis agitatus speraret, in summa destestatione habuit. 4 Platorium Nepotem, quem tantopere ante dilexit, ut veniens ad eum aegrotantem Hadrianus inpune non admitteretur, suspicionibus adductus, est -, 5 eodem modo et Terentium Gentianum, et hunc vehementius, quod a senatu diligi tunc videbat, 6 omnes postremo, de quorum imperio cogitavit, quasi futuros imperatores detestatus est. 7 Et omnem quidem vim crudelitatis ingenitae usque eo repressit, donec in villa Tiburtina pro fluvio sanguinis paene ad exitum venit.

3 Fuscus, because, agitated by presages and ostents, he hoped for the imperium, he held in the highest detestation. 4 Platorius Nepos, whom previously he loved so greatly that Hadrian, coming to him when he was ill, was not admitted with impunity, led by suspicions, was —, 5 in the same way also Terentius Gentianus, and this one more vehemently, because he saw that he was then being loved by the Senate, 6 finally all, about whose imperium he had thought, he detested as if they were going to be future emperors. 7 And indeed he repressed every force of his inborn cruelty up to that point, until, at the Tiburtine villa, by a very river of blood he came almost to his end.

8 Tunc libere Servianum quasi affectatorem imperii, quod servis regis cenam misisset, quod in sedili regio iuxta lectum posito sedisset, quod erectus ad stationes militum senex nonagenarius processisset, mori coegit multis aliis interfectis vel aperte vel per insidias. 9 Quando quidem etiam Sabina uxor non sine fabula veneni dati ab Hadriano defuncta est. 10 Tunc Ceionium Commodum, Nigrini generum insidiatoris quondam, sibi forma commendatum adoptare constituit.

8 Then he freely forced Servianus to die, as if an affecter/aspirer of the imperium, because he had sent a dinner to the king’s slaves, because he had sat on the royal seat placed next to the couch, because, erect, he had advanced to the soldiers’ stations, a nonagenarian old man; with many others also slain either openly or by ambush. 9 Since indeed even his wife Sabina died, not without the tale of poison having been given by Hadrian. 10 Then he decided to adopt Ceionius Commodus, once the son-in-law of Nigrinus the plotter, commended to him by his form (beauty).

11 Adoptavit ergo Ceionium Commodum Verum invitis omnibus eumque Aelium Verum Caesarem appellavit. 12 Ob cuius adoptationem ludos circenses dedit et donativum populo ac militibus expendit. 13 Quem praetura honoravit ac statim Pannoniis inposuit decreto consulatu cum sumptibus.

11 Therefore he adopted Ceionius Commodus Verus, with everyone unwilling, and he named him Aelius Verus Caesar. 12 On account of whose adoption he gave circus games and dispensed a donative to the people and the soldiers. 13 He honored him with the praetorship and immediately set him over the Pannonias, with a consulship decreed and with expenses.

Eundem Commodum secundo consulem designavit. 14 Quem cum minus sanum videret, saepissime dictitavit : "in caducum parietem nos inclinavimus et perdidimusque ter milies sestertium, quod populo et militibus pro adoptione Commodi dedimus". 15 Commodus autem prae valetudine nec gratias quidem in senatuagere potuit Hadriano de adoptione. Denique accepto largius antidoto ingravescente valetudine per somnum perit ipsis kalendis Ianuariis.

He designated that same Commodus as consul for the second time. 14 Seeing that he was rather unsound, he very often kept saying : "we have leaned upon a falling wall, and we have lost three hundred million sesterces, which we gave to the people and to the soldiers for the adoption of Commodus". 15 Commodus, however, on account of his health, was not even able to give thanks in the senate to Hadrian for the adoption. Finally, after taking too liberal an antidote, as his illness grew worse, he perished in his sleep on the very first of January.

Quare ab Hadriano Votorum causa lugeri est vetitus.

Therefore he was forbidden by Hadrian to be mourned, for the sake of the Vows.

XXIV. 1 Et mortuo Aelio Vero Caesare Hadrianus ingruente tristissima valetudine adoptavit Arrium Antoninum, qui postea Pius dictus est, et ea quidem lege, ut ille sibi duos adoptaret, Annium Verum et Marcum Antoninum. 2 Hi sunt qui postea duo pariter Augusti primi rem publicam gubernaverunt.

24. 1 And, when Aelius Verus Caesar had died, Hadrian, with a most grievous illness pressing upon him, adopted Arrius Antoninus, who afterwards was called Pius, and indeed on this condition, that he should adopt two for himself, Annius Verus and Marcus Antoninus. 2 These are they who afterwards, two together as the first Augusti, governed the commonwealth.

3 Et Antoninus quidem Pius idcirco appellatus dicitur, quod socerum fessum aetate manu sublevaret. 4 Quamvis alii cognomentum hoc ei dicant inditum, quod multos senatores Hadriano iam saevienti abripuisset, 5 alii, quod ipsi Hadriano magnos honores post mortem detulisset. 6 Antonini adoptionem plurimi tunc factam esse doluerunt, speciatim Catilius Severus, praefectus urbi, qui sibi praeparabat imperium.

3 And Antoninus indeed is said to have been called Pius for this reason, that he would support with his hand his father-in-law, weary with age. 4 Although others say this cognomen was imposed on him because he had snatched away many senators from Hadrian, already raging; 5 others, because he had conferred great honors upon Hadrian himself after death. 6 Very many then lamented that the adoption of Antoninus had been made, especially Catilius Severus, prefect of the city, who was preparing the imperium for himself.

7 Qua re prodita successore accepto dignitate privatus est. 8 Hadrianus autem ultimo vitae taedio iam adfectus gladiose transfigi a servo iussit. 9 Quod cum esset proditum et in Antonini usque notitiam venisset, ingressis ad se praefectis et filio rogantibusque, ut aequo animo necessitatem morbi ferret, irratus illis auctorem proditionis iussit occidi, qui tamen ab Antonino servatus est.

7 With this matter betrayed, after a successor had been accepted, he was deprived of his dignity. 8 Hadrian, however, now affected by the ultimate tedium of life, ordered himself to be transfixed by a sword by a slave. 9 And when this had been betrayed and had come even into the knowledge of Antoninus, the prefects and his son having come in to him and begging that he bear with an equal spirit the necessity of the illness, angered at them he ordered the author of the betrayal to be killed, who, however, was saved by Antoninus.

10 Statimque testamentum scripsit nec tamen actus rei publicae praetermisit, dicente Antonino parricidam se futurum, si Hadrianum adoptatus ipse pateretur occidi. 11 Et post testamentum quidem iterum se est conatus occidere; subtracto pugione saevior factus est. 12 Petit et venenum a medico, qui se ipse, ne daret, occidit.

10 And immediately he wrote a testament, and yet he did not pass over the acts of the republic, Antoninus saying that he would be a parricide if, he himself adopted, he should allow Hadrian to be killed. 11 And indeed after the testament he tried again to kill himself; the dagger having been removed, he became more savage. 12 He also sought poison from a physician, who killed himself so as not to give it.

XXV. 1 Ea tempestate supervenit quaedam mulier, quae diceret somnio se monitam, ut insinuaret Hadriano, ne se occideret, quod esset bene valiturus. Quod cum non fecisset, esset caecatam.

25. 1 At that time there supervened a certain woman, who said that in a dream she had been admonished to insinuate to Hadrian not to kill himself, because he would be going to be well. Since she had not done this, she had been blinded.

iussam tamen iterum Hadriano eadem dicere atque genua eius osculare <oculos> recepturam, si id fecisset. 2 Quod cum ex somnio implesset, oculos recepit, cum a<qua>, quae in fano erat, ex quo venerat, oculos abluisset. 3 Venit et de Pannonia quidam vetus caecus ad febrientem Hadrianum eumque contigit.

she was nevertheless ordered again to say the same things to Hadrian and to kiss his knees, that she would recover <oculos>, if she did it. 2 When she had fulfilled this from the dream, she recovered her eyes, when she had washed her eyes with the a<qua> which was in the shrine from which she had come. 3 And there also came from Pannonia a certain aged blind man to Hadrian, who was feverish, and he touched him.

4 Quo facto et ipse oculos recepit, et Hadrianum febris reliquit. Quamvis Marius Maximus haec per simulationem facta commemoret. 5 Post haec Hadrianus Baias petit Antonino Romae ad imperandum relicto.

4 With this done, he himself recovered his eyes, and the fever left Hadrian; although Marius Maximus commemorates that these things were done through simulation. 5 After these things Hadrian makes for Baiae, Antoninus having been left at Rome to command.

6 Ubi cum nihil proficeret, arcessito Antonino in conspectu eius apud ipsas Baias perit die VI. iduum Iuliarum. 7 Invisusque omnibus sepultus est in villa Ciceroniana Puteolis. 8 Sub ipso mortis tempore et Servianum nonaginta annos agentem, ut supra dictum est, ne sibi superviveret atque, ut putabat, imperaret, mori coegit et ob leves offensas plurimos iussit occidi, quos Antoninus reservavit.

6 When he was accomplishing nothing there, with Antoninus summoned, in his presence at Baiae itself he perished on the 6th day before the Ides of July (July 10). 7 And, odious to all, he was buried in the Ciceronian villa at Puteoli. 8 At the very moment of death he even compelled Servianus, being ninety years of age, as was said above, lest he survive him and, as he supposed, wield the imperium, to die; and on account of light offenses he ordered very many to be killed, whom Antoninus spared.

9 Et moriens quidem hos versus fecisse dicitur :

9 And, as he was dying, he is said to have made these verses :

animula vagula blandula,
hospes comesque corporis,
quae nunc abibis in loca
pallidula rigida nudula
nec, ut soles, dabis iocos!

little soul, little vagrant, charming one,
guest and companion of the body,
you who now will depart to places
pallid, rigid, nude,
nor, as you are wont, will you give jests!

10 Tales autem nec multos meliores fecit et Graecos. Vixit annis LXII, mensibus V, diebus XVII. Imperavit annis XXI, mensibus XI.

10 Moreover, he also made such ones, and not many better, in Greek as well. He lived for 62 years, 5 months, 17 days. He ruled for 21 years, 11 months.

XXVI. 1 Statura fuit procerus, forma comptus, flexo ad pectinem capillo, promissa barba, ut vulnera, quae in facie naturalia erant, tegeret, habitudine robusta. 2 Equitavit ambulavitque plurimum armisque et pilo se semper exercuit.

26. 1 He was tall in stature, well-groomed in form, with hair waved by the comb, and a beard let down, so as to cover the natural scars that were in his face, of a robust habit. 2 He rode and walked very much, and always exercised himself with arms and the pilum.

3 Venatus frequentissime leonem manu sua occidit. Venando autem iugulum et costam fregit. Venationem semper cum amicis participavit.

3 In hunting he most frequently killed a lion with his own hand. While hunting, moreover, he broke his collarbone and a rib. He always participated in the hunt with friends.

4 In convivio tragoedias, comoedias, Attellanas, sambucas, lectores, poetas pro re semper exhibuit. 5 Tiburtinam villam mire exaedificavit, ita ut in ea et provinciarum et locorum celeberrima nomina inscriberet, velut Lycium, Academian, Prytanium, Canopum, Poecilen, Tempe vocaret. et, ut nihil praetermitteret, etiam inferos finxit.

4 At a banquet he always presented, as suited the matter, tragedies, comedies, Atellans, sambucas, readers, poets. 5 He wondrously built out the Tiburtine villa, such that in it he inscribed the most celebrated names of provinces and places, and would call them, as it were, Lycium, Academian, Prytanium, Canopus, Poecile, Tempe. And, so that he might omit nothing, he even fashioned the underworld.

6 Signa mortis haec habuit : natali suo ultimo, cum Antoninum commendaret, praetexta sponte delapsa caput ei aperuit. 7 Anulus, in quo imago ipsius sculpta erat, sponte de digito delapsus est. 8 Ante diem natalis eius nescio qui ad senatum ululans venit ; contra quem Hadrianus ita motus est, quasi de sua mortelo queretur, cum eius verba nullus agnosceret.

6 The signs of death he had were these : on his last birthday, when he was commending Antoninus, the toga praetexta, having slipped of its own accord, uncovered his head. 7 The ring, in which his own image was sculpted, slipped of its own accord from his finger. 8 Before the day of his birthday, some unknown fellow came to the senate howling ; against whom Hadrian was moved in such a way, as if he were complaining about his own death, since no one recognized his words.

10 Idem cum vellet in senatu dicere "post filii mei mortem", "post meam" dixit. somniavit praeterea se a patre potionem soporiferam impetrasse. Item somniavit a leone se oppressum esse.

10 The same, when he wished to say in the senate "after my son's death," said "after my own." he furthermore dreamed that he had obtained from his father a soporiferous potion. Likewise he dreamed that he was oppressed by a lion.

XXVII. 1 In mortuum eum a multis multa sunt dicta. acta eius inrita fieri senatus volebat.

27. 1 Against him, once dead, many things were said by many. The senate wanted his acts to be rendered invalid.

2 Nec appellatus esset divus, nisi Antoninus rogasset. 3 Templum denique ei pro sepulchro apud Puteolos constituit et quinquennale certamen et flamines et sodales et multa alia, quae ad honorem quasi numinis pertinerent. 4 Qua re, ut supra dictum est, multi putant Antoninum Pium dictum.

2 Nor would he have been called a divus, unless Antoninus had requested it. 3 Finally, he established for him, at Puteoli, a temple in place of a sepulcher, and a quinquennial contest, and flamines and sodales, and many other things which pertained to honor as if of a numen. 4 For which reason, as was said above, many think that Antoninus was called Pius.