Character

I. Life

Publius AElius Hadrianus, Roman emperor 117-138, was born at Italics, in the Spanish province of Boetica, Jan. 24, A.D.; d. at Baiae July 10, 138. After the early death of his father, he was educated under the care of his kinsman, the subsequent emperor Trajan, and early entered the service of the State. Upon the death of Trajan, in Aug., 117, he obtained the imperial dignity, probably on the ground of a simulated adoption by the empress and her party. He strove effectually to raise the standard of offi cial life, to procure well-regulated financial conditions and to shape the laws by his own humane spirit. One dominant object of his government was the welfare of the provinces. In 120 or 121 he began a series of extensive journeys, which led him into all the domains of his empire, and were prompted alike by the deeply felt need of seeing the situation with his own eyes, and by a very marked interest on his part in behalf of science, archeology in particular. From 138, a grave dropsical affection seriously in terrupted his activity, and led him, unsuccessfully, to attempt to put a violent end to his life. The present Castle of St. Angelo or the Mole of Hadrian (moles Hadriani) in Rome became his imposing mausoleum. The effectiveness of Hadrian's excellent natural

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2. Character

increasingly come to the surface. Re ligiously he lived in the faith and forms of antique piety. He directed many temples to be built, or restored, in the course of his journeys, and not a few of them were dedicated to him. He had himself solemnly initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries; he accepted, with faith in its operation, the voluntary sacrificial death of Antinous, instituting an elaborate worship for his dead favorite; and he firmly believed in magic. In his ethics, the influences of Stoic philosophy, and of the contemporary philanthropy, are distinctly apparent. He carried forward, on a larger plan, the benevolent foundation begun by Trajan for dependent boys and girls; he gladly sought out the sick, both high and low, and strengthened them with comforting words and good advice. Legislation affecting slavery underwent at his hands momentous reforms in a more humane direction. He kept sharp watch on the administration of justice, and its instrumentalities.