HADRIAN (PUBLIUS AELIUS HADRIANUS), Roman emperor A.D. 117-138, was born
on the 24th of January A.D. 76, at Italica in Hispania Baetica
(according to others, at Rome), where his ancestors, originally from
Hadria in Picenum, had been settled since the time of the Scipios. On
his father's death in 85 or 86 he was placed under the guardianship of
two fellow-countrymen, his kinsman Ulpius Trajanus (afterwards the
emperor Trajan), and Caelius Attianus (afterwards prefect of the
praetorian guard). He spent the next five years at Rome, but at the age
of fifteen he returned to his native place and entered upon a military
career. He was soon, however, recalled to Rome by Trajan, and appointed
to the offices of _decemvir stlitibus judicandis_, _praefectus feriarum
Latinarum_, and _sevir turmae equitum Romanorum_. About 95 he was
military tribune in lower Moesia. In 97 he was sent to upper Germany to
convey the congratulations of the army to Trajan on his adoption by
Nerva; and, in January of the following year, he hastened to announce
the death of Nerva to Trajan at Cologne. Trajan, who had been set
against Hadrian by reports of his extravagance, soon took him into
favour again, chiefly owing to the goodwill of the empress Plotina, who
brought about the marriage of Hadrian with (Vibia) Sabina, Trajan's
great-niece. In 101 Hadrian was quaestor, in 105 tribune of the people,
in 106 praetor. He served with distinction in both Dacian campaigns: in
the second Trajan presented him with a valuable ring which he himself
had received from Nerva, a token of regard which seemed to designate
Hadrian as his successor. In 107 Hadrian was _legatus praetorius_ of
lower Pannonia, in 108 _consul suffectus_, in 112 _archon_ at Athens,
_legatus_ in the Parthian campaign (113-117), in 117 _consul designatus_
for the following year, in 119 consul for the third and last time only
for four months. When Trajan, owing to a severe illness, decided to
return home from the East, he left Hadrian in command of the army and
governor of Syria. On the 9th of August 117, Hadrian, at Antioch, was
informed of his adoption by Trajan, and, on the 11th, of the death of
the latter at Selinus in Cilicia. According to Dio Cassius (lxix. 1) the
adoption was entirely fictitious, the work of Plotina and Attianus, by
whom Trajan's death was concealed for a few days in order to facilitate
the elevation of Hadrian. Whichever may have been the truth, his
succession was confirmed by the army and the senate. He hastened to
propitiate the former by a donative of twice the usual amount, and
excused his hasty acceptance of the throne to the senate by alleging the
impatient zeal of the soldiers and the necessity of an imperator for the
welfare of the state.
Hadrian's first important act was to abandon as untenable the conquests
of Trajan beyond the Euphrates (Assyria, Mesopotamia and Armenia), a
recurrence to the traditional policy of Augustus. The provinces were
unsettled, the barbarians on the borders restless and menacing, and
Hadrian wisely judged that the old limits of Augustus afforded the most
defensible frontier. Mesopotamia and Assyria were given back to the
Parthians, and the Armenians were allowed a king of their own. From
Antioch Hadrian set out for Dacia to punish the Roxolani, who, incensed
by a reduction of the tribute hitherto paid them, had invaded the
Danubian provinces. An arrangement was patched up, and while Hadrian was
still in Dacia he received news of a conspiracy against his life. Four
citizens of consular rank were accused of being concerned in it, and
were put to death by order of the senate before he could interfere.
Hurrying back to Rome, Hadrian endeavoured to remove the unfavourable
impression produced by the whole affair and to gain the goodwill of
senate and people. He threw the responsibility for the executions upon
the prefect of the praetorian guard, and swore that he would never
punish a senator without the assent of the entire body, to which he
expressed the utmost deference and consideration. Large sums of money
and games and shows were provided for the people, and, in addition, all
the arrears of taxation for the last fifteen years (about L10,000,000)
were cancelled and the bonds burnt in the Forum of Trajan. Trajan's
scheme for the "alimentation" of poor children was carried out upon a
larger scale under the superintendence of a special official called
_praefectus alimentorum_.
The record of Hadrian's journeys[1] through all parts of the empire
forms the chief authority for the events of his life down to his final
settlement in the capital during his last years. They can only be
briefly touched upon here. His first great journey probably lasted from
121 to 126. After traversing Gaul he visited the Germanic provinces on
the Rhine, and crossed over to Britain (spring, 122), where he built the
great rampart from the Tyne to the Solway, which bears his name (see
BRITAIN: _Roman_). He returned through Gaul into Spain, and then
proceeded to Mauretania, where he suppressed an insurrection. A war with
the Parthians was averted by a personal interview with their king (123).
From the Parthian frontier he travelled through Asia Minor and the
islands of the Aegean to Athens (autumn, 125), where he introduced
various political and commercial changes, was initiated at the
Eleusinia, and presided at the celebration of the greater Dionysia.
After visiting Central Greece and Peloponnesus, he returned by way of
Sicily to Rome (end of 126). The next year was spent at Rome, and, after
a visit to Africa, he set out on his second great journey (September
128). He travelled by way of Athens, where he completed and dedicated
the buildings (see ATHENS) begun during his first visit, chief of which
was the Olympieum or temple of Olympian Zeus, on which occasion Hadrian
himself assumed the name of Olympius. In the spring of 129 he visited
Asia Minor and Syria, where he invited the kings and princes of the East
to a meeting (probably at Samosata). Having passed the winter at
Antioch, he set out for the south (spring, 130). He ordered Jerusalem to
be rebuilt (see JERUSALEM) under the name of Aelia Capitolina, and made
his way through Arabia to Egypt, where he restored the tomb of Pompey
at Pelusium with great magnificence. After a short stay at Alexandria he
took an excursion up the Nile, during which he lost his favourite
Antinous. On the 21st of November 130, Hadrian (or at any rate his wife
Sabina) heard the music which issued at sunrise from the statue of
Memnon at Thebes (see MEMNON). From Egypt Hadrian returned through Syria
to Europe (his movements are obscure), but was obliged to hurry back to
Palestine (spring, 133) to give his personal attention (this is denied
by some historians) to the revolt of the Jews, which had broken out
(autumn, 131, or spring, 132) after he had left Syria. The founding of a
Roman colony on the site of Jerusalem (Dio Cass. lxix. 12) and the
prohibition of circumcision (Spartianus, _Hadrianus_, 14) are said to
have been the causes of the war, but authorities differ considerably as
to this and as to the measures which followed the revolt (see art. JEWS;
also E. Schurer, _Hist. of the Jewish People_, Eng. tr., div. 1, vol.
ii. p. 288; and S. Krauss in _Jewish Encyc. s.v._ "Hadrian"), which
lasted till 135. Leaving the conduct of affairs in the hands of his most
capable general, Julius Severus, in the spring of 134 Hadrian returned
to Rome. The remaining years of his life were spent partly in the
capital, partly in his villa at Tibur. His health now began to fail, and
it became necessary for him to choose a successor, as he had no children
of his own. Against the advice of his relatives and friends he adopted
L. Ceionius Commodus under the name of L. Aelius Caesar, who was in a
feeble state of health and died on the 1st of January 138, before he had
an opportunity of proving his capabilities. Hadrian then adopted Arrius
Antoninus (see ANTONINUS PIUS) on condition that he should adopt M.
Annius Verus (afterwards the emperor Marcus Aurelius) and the son of L.
Aelius Caesar, L. Ceionius Commodus (afterwards the emperor Commodus).
Hadrian died at Baiae on the 10th of July 138.
He was without doubt one of the most capable emperors who ever occupied
the throne, and devoted his great and varied talents to the interests of
the state. One of his chief objects was the abolition of distinctions
between the provinces and the mother country, finally carried out by
Caracalla, while at the same time he did not neglect reforms that were
urgently called for in Italy. Provincial governors were kept under
strict supervision; extortion was practically unheard of; the _jus
Latii_ was bestowed upon several communities; special officials were
instituted for the control of the finances; and the emperor's interest
in provincial affairs was shown by bis personal assumption of various
municipal offices. New towns were founded and old ones restored; new
streets were laid out, and aqueducts, temples and magnificent buildings
constructed. In Italy itself the administration of justice and the
finances required special attention. Four _legati juridici_ (or simply
_juridici_) of consular rank were appointed for Italy, who took over
certain important judicial functions formerly exercised by local
magistrates (cases of _fideicommissa_, the nomination of guardians). The
judicial council (_consiliarii Augusti_, later called _consistorium_),
composed of persons of the highest rank (especially jurists), became a
permanent body of advisers, although merely consultative. Roman law owes
much to Hadrian, who instructed Salvius Julianus to draw up an _edictum
perpetuum_, to a great extent the basis of Justinian's _Corpus juris_
(see M. Schanz, _Geschichte der romischen Literatur_, iii. p. 167). In
the administration of finance, in addition to the remission of arrears
already mentioned, a revision of claims was ordered to be made every
fifteen years, thereby anticipating the "indictions" (see CALENDAR;
CHRONOLOGY). Direct collection of taxes by imperial procurators was
substituted for the system of farming, and a special official
(_advocatus fisci_) was instituted to look after the interests of the
imperial treasury. The gift of "coronary gold" (_aurum coronarium_),
presented to the emperor on certain occasions, was entirely remitted in
the case of Italy, and partly in the case of the provinces. The
administration of the postal service throughout the empire was taken
over by the state, and municipal officials were relieved from the burden
of maintaining the imperial posts. Humane regulations as to the
treatment of slaves were strictly enforced; the master was forbidden to
put his slave to death, but was obliged to bring him before a court of
justice; if he ill-treated him it was a penal offence. The sale of
slaves (male and female) for immoral and gladiatorial purposes was
forbidden; the custom of putting all the household to death when their
master was murdered was modified. The public baths were kept under
strict supervision; the toga was ordered to be worn in public by
senators and equites on solemn occasions; extravagant banquets were
prohibited; rules were made to prevent the congestion of traffic in the
streets. In military matters Hadrian was a strict disciplinarian, but
his generosity and readiness to share their hardships endeared him to
the soldiers. He effected a material and moral improvement in the
conditions of service and mode of life, but in other respects he does
not appear to have introduced any important military reforms. During his
reign an advance was made in the direction of creating an organized body
of servants at the disposal of the emperor by the appointment of equites
to important administrative posts, without their having performed the
_militiae equestres_ (see EQUITES). Among these posts were various
procuratorships (chief of which was that of the imperial fisc), and the
offices _ab epistulis_, _a rationibus_ and _a libellis_ (secretary,
accountant, receiver of petitions). The prefect of the praetorian guard
was now the most important person in the state next to the emperor, and
subsequently became a supreme judge of appeal. Among the magnificent
buildings erected by Hadrian mention may be made of the following: In
the capital, the temple of Venus and Roma; his splendid mausoleum, which
formed the groundwork of the castle of St Angelo; the pantheon of
Agrippa; the Basilica Neptuni; at Tibur the great villa 8 m. in extent,
a kind of epitome of the world, with miniatures of the most celebrated
places in the provinces. Athens, however, was the favourite site of his
architectural labours; here he built the temple of Olympian Zeus, the
Panhellenion, the Pantheon, the library, a gymnasium and a temple of
Hera.
Hadrian was fond of the society of learned men--poets, scholars,
rhetoricians and philosophers--whom he alternately humoured and
ridiculed. In painting, sculpture and music he considered himself the
equal of specialists. The architect Apollodorus of Damascus owed his
banishment and death to his outspoken criticism of the emperor's plans.
The sophist Favorinus was more politic; when reproached for yielding too
readily to the emperor in some grammatical discussion, he replied that
it was unwise to contradict the master of thirty legions. The Athenaeum
(q.v.) owed its foundation to Hadrian. He was a man of considerable
intellectual attainments, of prodigious memory, master of both Latin and
Greek, and wrote prose and verse with equal facility. His taste,
however, was curious; he preferred Cato the elder, Ennius and Caelius
Antipater to Cicero, Virgil and Sallust, the obscure poet Antimachus to
Homer and Plato. As a writer he displayed great versatility. He composed
an autobiography, published under the name of his freedman Phlegon;
wrote speeches, fragments of two of which are preserved in inscriptions
(a panegyric on his mother-in-law Matidia, and an address to the
soldiers at Lambaesis in Africa). In imitation of Antimachus he wrote a
work called _Catachannae_, probably a kind of miscellanea. The Latin and
Greek anthologies contain about a dozen epigrams under his name. The
letter of Hadrian to the consul Servianus (in Vopiscus, _Vita
Saturnini_, 8) is no longer considered genuine. Hadrian's celebrated
dying address to his soul may here be quoted:--
"Animula vagula, blandula,
Hospes comesque corporis,
Quae nunc abibis in loca
Pallidula, rigida, nudula;
Nec, ut soles, dabis iocos?"
The character of Hadrian exhibits a mass of contradictions, well summed
up by Spartianus (14, 11). He was grave and gay, affable and dignified,
cruel and gentle, mean and generous, eager for fame yet not vain,
impulsive and cautious, secretive and open. He hated eminent qualities
in others, but gathered round him the most distinguished men of the
state; at one time affectionate towards his friends, at another he
mistrusted and put them to death. In fact, he was only consistent in his
inconsistency (_semper in omnibus varius_). Although he endeavoured to
win the popular favour, he was more feared than loved. A man of
unnatural passions and grossly superstitious, he was an ardent lover of
nature. But, with all his faults, he devoted himself so indefatigably to
the service of the state, that the period of his reign could be
characterized as a "golden age."
The chief ancient authorities for the reign of Hadrian are: the life
by Aelius Spartianus in the _Scriptores historiae Augustae_ (see
AUGUSTAN HISTORY and bibliography); the epitome of Dio Cassius (lxix.)
by Xiphilinus; Aurelius Victor, Epit. 14, probably based on Marius
Maximus; Eutropius viii. 6; Zonaras xi. 23; Suidas, _s.v._ [Greek:
Adrianos]: and numerous inscriptions and coins. The autobiography was
used by both Dio Cassius and Marius Maximus. Modern authorities: C.
Merivale, _Hist. of the Romans under the Empire_, ch. lxvi.; H.
Schiller, _Geschichte der romischen Kaiserzeit_, i. 2, p. 602 (1883);
J. B. Bury, _The Student's Roman Empire_ (1893), where a concise table
of the journeys is given; P. von Rohden, _s.v._ "Aelius" (No. 64) in
Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopadie_, i. 1 (1894); J. Durr, _Die Reisen
des Kaisers Hadrian_ (1881); F. Gregorovius, _The Emperor Hadrian_
(Eng. tr. by Mary E. Robinson, 1898); A. Hausrath, _Neutestamentliche
Zeitgeschichte_, iii. (1874); W. Schurz, _De mutationibus in imperio
ordinando ab imp. Hadr. factis_, i. (Bonn, 1883); J. Plew,
_Quellenuntersuchungen zur Geschichte des Kaisers Hadrian_
(Strassburg, 1890); O. T. Schulz, "Leben des Kaisers Hadrian,"
_Quellenanalysen_ [of Spartianus' _Vita_] (1904); E. Kornemann,
_Kaiser Hadrian und der letzte grosse Historiker von Rom_ (1905); W.
Weber, _Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Kaisers Hadrianus_ (1908);
H. F. Hitzig, _Die Stellung Kaiser Hadrians in der romischen
Rechtsgeschichte_ (1892); C. Schultess, _Bauten des Kaisers Hadrian_
(1898); G. Doublet, _Notes sur les oeuvres litteraires de l'empereur
Hadrien_ (Toulouse, 1893); J. B. Lightfoot, _Apostolic Fathers_, ii.
1, 476 seq.; Sir W. M. Ramsay, _Church in the Roman Empire_, pp. 320
seq.; V. Schultze, in Herzog-Hauck's _Realencyklopadie_, vii. 315;
histories of Roman literature by Teuffel-Schwabe and Schanz. On Aelius
Caesar, see _Class. Quart._, 1908, i. (T. K.; J. H. F.)