Ha'diri an or A'drl-an, [Lat. Haokia'nus; Fr.
Adrien, S (lRe-aN' ; It. Adriano, a-dRe-a'no,] or, more
fully, Hadria'nus Fub'lius JE'liuB, a Roman emperor,
born at Rome in January, 76 A.D., was a son of *E!ius
Hadrianus
Afer, and a cousin of Trajan. His favourite study
was the Greek language and literature. He won the
favour of Trajan, and accompanied him in his campaign
against the Dacians. He was chosen tribune of the people
in 105 A.D., and praetor in 107. When Trajan was forced by
illness to retire from the army which he had conducted
against the Parthians, he gave the chief command to Hadrian.
On the death of Trajan, Hadrian was proclaimed
emperor (at Antioch) by the army in August, 117 a.d. ;
and their choice was confirmed by the senate. The
question whether Trajan had adopted Hadrian as his heir
appears to remain undetermined. The new emperor
hastened to make peace with the Parthians by abandoning
all the provinces which Trajan had conquered beyond
the Euphrates, and rendered himself popular by the remission
of taxes and other acts of liberality. The greater
portion of his reign was spent in journeys through the
provinces of his vast empire, in which he displayed durable
evidences of his liberality, political wisdom, and love
of the fine arts. He commenced these journeys in 119
A.p. He built a famous wall across the island of Britain
from Solway Frith to the German Ocean, to protect the
Roman province from the incursions of the Picts and
Scots. He founded cities in other provinces, completed
the temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens, and erected
many great architectural works, among which were a
magnificent villa at Tibur, and his mausoleum at Rome,
now called the Castle of Saint Angelo. In 131 A.D. he
promulgated the " Edictum Perpetuum," a fixed code of
laws drawn up by Sal vi us Julianus. This event forms
an important epoch in the history of Roman law. His
reign was peaceful, and tended to consolidate the empire
as well as to civilize the people. He patronized literary
men, artists, and philosophers, and composed a number
of works, in prose and verse, which are not extant. He
aspired to distinction as an architect and painter, and
indulged a petty vanity and jealousy towards artists,
which sometimes prompted him to acts of cruelty. A
short time before his death, he adopted as his successor
Arrius Antoninus, surnamed "the Pious," and composed
the following verses addressed to his own soul :
"Animula, vagula, blandula,
H ospes comesque corporis,
Quae nunc abibis in loca,
Pallidula, rigida, nudula,
Nee, ut soles, dabis jocos?"*
Died in July, 138 A.D. Many statues and medals of
Hadrian are extant.
See Spartianus, "Vita Hadriani ;" Niepuhr, "Lectures on
Roman History ;"Tili.emont, "Histoiredes Empereurs ;"
Gibbon,
"
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."
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A Roman emperor, born at Rome A.D. 76. He lost his father when ten years of age, and had for his guardians Trajan, who was his
relation, and Cornelius Tatianus, a Roman knight. His father's name was Aelius Hadrianus Afer. It is conjectured that the surname of
Afer was given the latter because he had been governor of Africa, and that he is the same Hadrianus who put the martyr Leontius to
death at Tripolis in the reign of Vespasian. Hadrian's father was Trajan's first cousin; for he was the son of Ulpia, the sister of
Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, the emperor Trajan's father. Hadrian began very early to serve in the army, and was tribune of a legion
before Domitian's death. The forces in Lower Moesia chose him to congratulate Trajan upon his being adopted by Nerva , and it was he
that acquainted Trajan with the first news of Nerva 's death. He regained the emperor's favour, which he had almost entirely lost by
his extravagant expenses and the debts which he had in consequence incurred, and finally married Trajan's grandniece, Sabina,
chiefly through the aid of Plotina the empress. His subsequent rise was rapid, and he was the companion of Trajan in most of his
expeditions. He particularly distinguished himself in the war against the Dacians, and was successively appointed praetor, governor
of Pannonia, and consul. The orations he composed for Trajan increased his fame ( Spart. Hadr.). After the siege of Atra, in Arabia,
Trajan left him in command of his army, and when he found his death approaching, adopted him, although the reality of this adoption
is disputed by some authorities, who attribute his elevation to the intrigues of Plotina.
On the death of Trajan he assumed the reins of government (A.D. 117), with the concurrence of the Syrian army. The Senate readily
ratified the act. The first care of Hadrian was to make a peace with the Persians, and to restore all the provinces just taken from
them, making the Euphrates the boundary of the Roman Empire. He had then to turn his attention to certain revolts and insurrections
in Egypt, Libya, and Palestine; and, after quickly concluding a peace with the Parthians, returned to Rome, A.D. 118. The Senate
decreed him a triumph, and honoured him with the title of Pater Patriae; but he refused both, and required that Trajan's image
should triumph. He sought popularity by a repeal of fifteen years accumulation of arrears of public debt, by a vast reduction of
taxation generally and by immense largesses to the people. He was less generous to certain senators accused of a plot against him,
four of whom, although of consular rank and intimates of Trajan, he caused to be put to death.
A year after his return to Rome, Hadrian marched against the Alani, the Sarmatians, and the Dacians, but showed a greater desire to
make peace with the barbarians than to extend the prowess of the Roman arms. This policy has been attributed to envy of the fame of
his warlike predecessor; but a due consideration of the subsequent history of the Empire will amply justify him against the
imputation; for it had reached an extent which rendered all increase to its limits a source of weakness rather than of strength.
Hadrian was an active and incessant traveller, visiting every province in the Empire, not simply to indulge his curiosity, but to
inspect the administration of government, repress abuses, erect and repair public edifices, and exercise all the vigilance of
personal examination. (See Dürr, Die Reisen des Kaisers Hadrian [Vienna, 1881]). In A.D. 120, he passed over from Gaul to Britain,
where he caused a wall to be built from the mouth of the Tyne to Solway Frith, in order to secure the Roman provinces from the
incursions of the Caledonians.
Like Trajan, he lived familiarly with his friends, but was much more suspicious, and would not repose in them the same confidence.
When at Rome he cultivated all kinds of literature, conversing with learned men, and giving and receiving information in their
society. Hadrian had once again to visit the East to repress the Parthians, who paid little regard to treaties. On his return he
passed the winter at Athens, and was initiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries. He published no edict against the Christians, yet they
nevertheless suffered considerable persecution, until, upon the remonstrance of Quadratus, bishop of Athens, and Aristides, an
eminent Christian, he ordered the persecution to cease; but no credit is due to the unauthorized assertion of Lampridius that he
thought of building a temple to the Saviour. His treatment of the Jews, on the other hand, was extremely severe, though ample
provocation had been given by that turbulent people, for they had raised disturbances towards the end of Trajan's reign, which were
not completely quelled until the second year of Hadrian. But now a more formidable insurrection broke out under Barcochebas ("Son of
a Star"), who, though a robber by profession, had given himself out as the Messiah. It required a war of three years to reduce the
revolted Jews to complete subjection, and after this was accomplished, there was scarcely any indignity that was not inflicted on
the conquered nation. Jerusalem was rebuilt under the new title of Aelia Capitolina, uniting the family name of the emperor with
the Roman surname of Iupiter; and in the execution of his plan Hadrian studiously profaned all the places which had been most
revered by both Jews and Christians, whom he seems to have confounded together. He built a temple in honour of Iupiter Capitolinus
upon the mountain where had stood that of the true God; placed a marble hog upon that gate of the city which looked towards
Bethlehem; erected in the place where Jesus was crucified a statue of Venus; and in that where he rose from the dead, an image of
Iupiter. In the grotto of Bethlehem, where the Saviour was born, he established the worship of Adonis. The Jews were also forbidden
the very sight of Jerusalem, which they were not permitted to enter save on one day in the year-the anniversary of the destruction
of the city. After the conclusion of the Jewish War Hadrian returned to Italy, where a lingering illness put a stop to his unsettled
mode of life, and eventually terminated his existence. Having no children of his own, Hadrian first adopted for his successor L.
Ceionius Commodus, more generally known by the name of Verus, to which last he prefixed that of Aelius after his adoption by the
emperor. Verus, however, who was remarkable for nothing but his excessive effeminacy and debauched mode of life, died soon after,
and Hadrian made a very excellent selection in the person of Antoninus. (See Antoninus Pius.) Hadrian died not long after at Baiae,
A.D. 138, in the sixtythird year of his age and the twenty-second of his reign. His disorder was the dropsy, from which disease his
sufferings were so great as apparently to affect his reason.
Hadrian was, in general, a just and able ruler, yet there were times when he showed himself revengeful, suspicious, and cruel. His
treatment of his wife Sabina does no honour to his memory, his passion for Antinoüs (q.v.) taints it; while his excessive
superstition, to which even that favourite fell a victim, entitles him to a large measure of contempt. He was, in fact, a peculiar
character, full of paradoxes-witty, pedantic, droll, dull, impulsive, sociable, suspicious, morbidly self-conscious, and persevering
in nothing. The greater portion of the Romans appear to have formed a just estimate of his character long before his death, and it
was with difficulty that Antoninus could obtain from the Senate the usual compliment of having him ranked among the gods. Their
dread of the soldiery, by whom Hadrian was greatly beloved, appears to have conquered their reluctance.
Hadrian did much towards restoring and improving the city of Rome. He also erected a splendid temple to Trajan, a temple to Venus
and Roma, and the great Mausoleum in the district beyond the Tiber, now known as the Castle of St. Angelo. In this, he and a number
of his successors were buried. For an illustration of it see the article Mausoleum.
Hadrian wrote several works. He was fond of entering the lists against the poets, philosophers, and orators of the day, and Photius
mentions several declamations of the emperor's, written for such occasions, as still existing in his time, and not devoid of
elegance. Hadrian composed a history of his own times, which he published under the name of his freedman Phlegon; and Doritheus the
grammarian made at a subsequent period a collection of his decisions and rescripts. All that we have of his productions at the
present day are some speeches, decrees, and (Greek) epigrams, and an epigrammatic address to his soul, written a short time before
his death, and remarkable for its beauty. It suggested to Pope his "Vital spark of heavenly flame," and runs as follows:
"Animula, vagula, blandula,
Hospes comesque corporis,
Quae nunc abibis in loca.
Pallidula, rigida, nudula,
Nec, ut soles, dabis jocos?"
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