5
These acts were charged against him as offences,
and so were also his great exactness, his superfluous
labors, and his divided interests. But he healed the
wounds made and recovered favor by his general care,
his foresight, his grandeur and his skill. Again, he
did not stir up any war and ended those already in
progress. He deprived no one of money unjustly, and
upon many peoples and private citizens and senators
and knights he bestowed large sums. He did not wait
to be asked, but was certain to act each time according
to each man's needs. The military he trained with
great precision, so that its strength rendered it neither
disobedient nor insolent. Allied and subject cities he
aided most munificently. He had seen many that no
other emperor had even set eyes upon, and he assisted
practically all of them, giving to some water, to others
harbors, or food, or public works, or money, and to
still others various honors.
6
As a leader of the Roman people he was distinguished
for force rather than for flattery. Once, at a
gladiatorial contest, when the crowd was urging its
petition strongly, he not only would not grant
its wish, but further ordered this command of Domitian's
to be proclaimed: "Be silent." The words
were not uttered, though. The herald raised his hand
and by that very gesture quieted the people as he had
been accustomed to do. (They are never silenced by
proclamation). Then, when they had become quiet, he
said: "This is what he wishes." Hadrian was not
in the least angry with the herald; on the contrary, he
honored him for not publishing the rudeness of the
order. He could endure such things and was not displeased
if he was aided in any unexpected way and by
chance comers. It must be admitted that once, when a
woman passed him on some road and preferred a request,
he at first said to her: "I haven't time."
Afterwards, when she cried out loudly, saying:
"Don't be emperor, then", he turned about and
granted her a hearing.
7
He transacted through the senate all serious and
most urgent business and he held court with the assistance
of prominent men now in the palace or again in
the Forum, the Pantheon, and in many other places,
always on a platform, so that what was done was open
to public inspection. Sometimes he would join the consuls
when
they
were trying cases, and he showed them
honor at the horse-races. When he returned home he
was accustomed to be carried in a litter, in order not
to trouble any one to accompany him. On days
neither sacred nor public he remained at home, and admitted
no one even long enough to greet him, unless
it were some urgent matter; this was to relieve the
courtiers of needless annoyance. Both in Rome and
abroad he always kept the noblest men about him;
and he used to join them at banquets, which led to his
being often carried in their litters as one of a party of
four. As frequently as possible he went hunting, and
he breakfasted without wine; in fact, most of his food was
served without any accompanying beverage; and often in the midst
of a meal he would turn his attention to a case at law: later he
would drive in the company of all the foremost and
best men, and their eating together was the occasion
for all kind of discussions. When his friends were
very ill, he would go to see them, and he used to attend
their festivals, besides evincing pleasure at visiting
their country seats and houses. As might have been
expected, then, he set up in his forum images for
many who were dead and many still alive. No one of
his associates, moreover, displayed insolence nor sold
aught that he should pronounce or perform, as the
Caesarians and other attendants in the suite of emperors
have made it their custom to do.
8
This is a kind of preface, of a summary nature,
I have been giving in regard to his character.
I shall also touch upon all the details that require
mention.
The Alexandrians had been rioting and nothing would make them
stop until they received a letter from Hadrian rebuking them. So true
it is that an emperor's word has more power than force of arms.
A.D. 118 (a.u. 871)
On coming to Rome he canceled debts owing to the
imperial treasury and to the public treasury of the
Romans, setting a limit of sixteen years, from which
and as far back as which this provision was to be observed.
On his own birthday he gave a spectacle to
the people free of charge, and slaughtered numbers
of wild beasts,--one hundred lions and a like number
of lionesses biting the dust on this one occasion. Gifts,
likewise, he brought about by means of balls both in
the theatres and in the hippodrome, one lot for the men
and one lot for the women. Indeed, he had also commanded
them to battle separately.
9
This, then, was what happened that year. Euphrates
the philosopher also died a death of his own choosing;
and Hadrian assented to his drinking hemlock
in consideration of his extreme age and sickliness.
Hadrian went from one province to another, visiting
the districts and cities and observing all the garrisons
and fortifications. Some of these he removed to more
desirable locations, some he abolished, and he founded
some new ones. He personally oversaw and investigated
absolutely everything, not merely the usual appurtenances
of camps,--I mean weapons and engines
and ditches and enclosures and palisades,--but also
the private affairs of each one, and the lives, the dwellings
and the characters both of the men serving in the
organization, and of the commanders themselves.
Many cases of too delicate living and equipment he
harmonized with military needs and reformed in various
ways. He exercised the men in every variety of
battle, honoring some and reproving others. He
taught all of them what they ought to do. And to
make sure that they should obtain benefit from observing
him
, he led everywhere a severe existence and
walked or rode horseback on all occasions. Never at
this period did he enter either a chariot or a four-wheeled
vehicle. He covered his head neither in heat
nor in cold, but alike in Celtic snows and under scorching
Egyptian suns he went about with it bare.
A.D. 119 (a.u. 872)
In
fine, so thoroughly by action and exhortations did he
train and discipline the whole military force throughout
the whole empire that even now the methods then
introduced by him are the soldiers' law of campaigning.
This best explains why he lived for the most
part at peace with foreign nations. As they saw what
support he had and were victims of no injustice, but
instead received money, they made no uprising. So
excellently had his soldiery been trained, that the cavalry
of the so-called Batavians swam the Ister with
their heavy armor on. Seeing this the barbarians
stood in terror of the Romans, and turning their attention
to their own affairs
[
]
they employed Hadrian
as an arbitrator of their differences.
10
He also constructed theatres and held games as he
traveled about from city to city, dispensing, however,
with the imperial paraphernalia. This he never used
outside of Rome. His own country, though he did her
great honor and bestowed many proud possessions on
her, he nevertheless did not set eyes upon.
He is said to have been enthusiastic over hunting.
Indeed, he broke his collar-bone in this pursuit and
came near losing a leg. And to a city that he founded
in Mysia he gave the name of Adrianotherae.
A.D. 121 (a.u. 874)
However,
he did not, while so occupied, leave undone any of
the duties pertaining to his office. Of his enthusiasm
for hunting his horse Borysthenes, which was his favorite
steed for the chase, gives us an indication.
When the animal died, he prepared a tomb for him,
set up a slab, and placed an inscription upon it. Hence
it is scarcely surprising that when Plotina died, the
woman through whom he had secured the imperial
office, and who was passionately in love with him, he
honored her to the extent of wearing mourning garments
for nine days, building a temple to her, and composing
several hymns to her memory.
When Plotina was dead, Hadrian praised her and said: "Though
she asked much of me, she was never refused aught." By this he surely
meant to say: "Her requests were of such a character that they neither
burdened me nor afforded me any justification for saying no."
He was so skillful in hunting that once he brought
down a huge boar with a single blow.
11
On reaching Greece he became a spectator at the
Mysteries.
A.D. 122 (a.u. 875)
After this he passed through Judaea into Egypt and
offered sacrifice to Pompey, about whom, he is said to
have uttered this verse:
Strange lack of tomb for one with shrines o'erwhelmed!
[79]
And he restored his monument, which had fallen to
ruin. In Egypt also he restored the so-called City of
Antinous. Antinous was from Bithynium, a city of
Bithynia which we also call Claudioupolis; he had been
a favorite of the emperor and had died in Egypt,
either by falling into the Nile, as Hadrian writes, or,
as is more probably the truth, by being offered in sacrifice.
For Hadrian, as I have stated, was in general
a great dabbler in superstitions and employed divinations
and incantations of all kinds. Accordingly, he
honored Antinous either because of his love for him
or because he had voluntarily submitted to death (it
being necessary that a life be surrendered voluntarily
for the accomplishment of the ends he had in view),
by building a city on the spot where he had suffered
this fate and naming it after him: and he further set
up likenesses, or rather sacred statues of him, practically
all over the world. Finally, he declared that he
had seen a star which he assumed to belong to Antinous,
and gladly lent an ear to the fictitious tales
woven by his associates to the effect that the star had
really come into being from the spirit of Antinous and
had then appeared for the first time.
A.D. 133 (a.u. 886)
On this account
he became the object of some ridicule
[as also because
the death of his sister Paulina he had not immediately
paid her any honor[Lacuna]]
A.D. 133 (a.u. 886)
12
In Jerusalem he founded a city in place of the one
razed to the ground, naming it Aelia Capitolina, and on
the site of the temple of the god he raised a new temple
to Jupiter. This brought on a war that was not slight
nor of brief duration, for the Jews deemed it intolerable
that foreign races should be settled in their city
and foreign religious rites be planted there. While
Hadrian was close by in Egypt and again in Syria, they
remained quiet, save in so far as they purposely made
the weapons they were called upon to furnish of poorer
quality, to the end that the Romans might reject them
and they have the use of them. But when he went
farther away, they openly revolted. To be sure, they
did not dare try conclusions with the Romans in the
open field, but they occupied advantageous positions
in the country and strengthened them with mines and
walls, in order that they might have places of refuge
whenever they should be hard pressed, and meet together
unobserved under ground; and in these subterranean
passages they sunk shafts from above to let in
air and light.
13
At first the Romans made no account
of them. Soon, however, all Judaea had been up-heaved,
and the Jews all over the world were showing
signs of disturbance, were gathering together, and
giving evidence of great hostility to the Romans,
partly by secret and partly by open acts; many other
outside nations, too, were joining them through eagerness
for gain, and the whole earth, almost, was becoming
convulsed over the matter. Then, indeed, did
Hadrian send against them his best generals, of who
Julius Severus was the first to be despatched, from
Britain, of which he was governor, against the Jews.
He did not venture to attack his opponents at any one
point, seeing their numbers and their desperation, but
by taking them in separate groups by means of the
number of his soldiers and his under-officers and by
depriving them of food and shutting them up he was
able, rather slowly, to be sure, but with comparatively
little danger, to crush and exhaust and exterminate
them. Very few of them survived.
14
Fifty of their
most important garrisons and nine hundred and eighty-five
of their most renowned towns were blotted out.
Fifty-eight myriads of men were slaughtered in the
course of the invasions and battles, and the number of
those that perished by famine and disease and fire
was past all investigating. Thus nearly the whole of
Judaea was made desolate, an event of which the people
had had indications even before the war. The tomb
of Solomon, which these men regarded as one of their
sacred objects, fell to pieces of itself and collapsed
and many wolves and hyenas rushed howling into their
cities.
Many Romans, moreover, perished in the war.
Wherefore Hadrian in writing to the senate did not
employ the opening phrase commonly affected by the
emperors: "If you and your children are in health,
it shall be well: I and the armies are in health."
A.D. 134(?)
Severus
[
]
he sent into Bithynia, which needed no force
of arms but a governor and presiding officer who was
just and prudent and had a reputation. All these
qualifications Severus possessed. And he managed
and administered both their private and their public
affairs in such a way that we
[
]
are still, even to-day
wont to remember him.
[Pamphylia in place of
Bithynia was given into the jurisdiction of the senate
and the lot.]
15
This, then, was the ending that the war with the Jews
took. A second war was started among the Alani
(they are Massagetae) by Pharasmanes. On Albanis
and Media he inflicted severe injury and then laid hold
on Armenia and Cappadocia, after which, as the Alani
were on the one hand persuaded by gifts from Vologaesus
and on the other stood in dread of Flavius Arrianus,
the governor of Cappadocia, he stopped.
[Envoys were sent from Vologaesus and from the
Iazygae; the former made some charges against
Pharasmanes and the latter wanted to confirm the
peace.
[?]
[
]
introduced them to the senate and was
empowered by that body to return appropriate
answers; and accordingly he prepared and read to
them his responses.]
16
Hadrian completed the Olympieum in Athens, in
which his own statue also stands, and consecrated
there a serpent, which was brought from India. He
also presided at the Dionysia, the greatest office within
the gift of the people, and arrayed in the local costume
carried it through brilliantly. He allowed the Greeks,
too, to build his sepulchre (called the Panellenium),
and instituted a series of games to be connected with
it; and he granted to the Athenians large sums of
money, annual corn distribution, and the whole of
Cephallenia.--Among various laws that he enacted
was one to the effect that no senator, either personally
or through the medium of another, should have any tax
farmed out to him.
A.D. 135 (a.u. 888)
After he had come to Rome, the
crowd at a spectacle shouted their request for the
emancipation of a certain charioteer: but he replied
by means of a writing on a board: "It is not right for
you either to ask me to free another's slave or to force
his master to do so."
17
He now began to be sick, having suffered even before
this from blood gushing from his nostrils: this flow
now grew very much more copious, so that he despaired
of his life. Consequently, he appointed as Caesar for
the Romans Lucius Commodus, although this man frequently
vomited blood.
A.D. 136 (a.u. 889)
Servianus and his grandson
Fuscus, the former a nonagenarian and the latter
eighteen years of age, were put to death on the ground
that they were displeased at this action. Servianus
before being executed asked for fire, and as he offered
incense he exclaimed: "That I am guilty of no wrong,
ye; O Gods, are well aware: and as for Hadrian I
pray only this, that he may desire to die and not be
able." And, indeed, Hadrian did come to his end only
after often praying that he might expire and often feeling
a desire to kill himself. There is in existence also
a letter of his which lays stress on this very matter,
showing what a dreadful thing it is for a man to desire
to die and not be able. This Servianus had been by
Hadrian deemed capable of filling the imperial office.
He had once at a banquet told his friends to name for
him ten men who were competent to be sole rulers, and
then after a moment's pause, had added: "I want to
know
nine
: I have one already, Servianus."
18
Other excellent men, also, had come to light during
that period, of whom the most distinguished were
Turbo and Similis, who, indeed, were honored with
statues.
Turbo was a man of great qualities as a general,
who had become prefect (or commander of the Pretorians).
He committed no act of luxury or haughtiness,
but lived like one of the multitude: the entire day
he spent in proximity to the palace and often he would
go there even shortly before midnight, when some of
the others were beginning to sleep. A characteristic
anecdote is that which brings in the name of Cornelius
Fronto, at this time reputed to be the foremost Roman
advocate in lawsuits. One evening very late he was
returning home from dinner and ascertained from a
man whose counsel he had promised to be that Turbo
was holding court. Accordingly, just as he was, in his
dress for dinner, he went into his courtroom and
greeted him not with the morning salutation,
I wish
you joy
, but with that belonging to the evening,
I trust
your health continues good
.
Turbo was never seen at home in the daytime even
when he was sick; and to Hadrian, who advised him to
remain quiet, he replied: "The prefect ought to die
on his feet."
19
Similis, who was of greater age and more advanced
rank, in character was second to none of the great men,
I think. Very slight things may serve us as evidence.
When he was centurion, Trajan had summoned him to
enter his presence before the prefects, whereupon he
said: "It is a shame for you, Caesar, to be talking with
a centurion, while the prefects stand outside." And
he took unwillingly at that time the command of the
Pretorians, and after taking it resigned it. Having
with difficulty secured his release he spent the rest of
his life, seven years, quietly in the country, and upon
his tomb he had this inscription placed: "Similis lies
here, who existed so-and-so many years, but lived for
seven."
Julius (?) Fabius (?), not being able to endure his
son's effeminacy, desired to throw himself into the
river.
A.D. 138 (a.u. 891)
20
Hadrian became consumptive as a result of the
great loss of blood, and that led to dropsy. And as it
happened that Lucius Commodus was suddenly removed
from the scene by the outgushing of a large
quantity of blood all at once, he convened at his house
the foremost and most renowned of the senators; and
lying on a couch he spoke to them as follows: "I, my
friends, was not permitted by nature to secure offspring,
but you have made it possible by legal enactment.
There is this difference between the two ways,--that
a begotten son turns out to be whatever sort of
person Heaven pleases, whereas one that is adopted a
man takes to himself because he chooses just that sort
of being. Thus in process of nature a maimed and
A.D. 138 (a.u. 891)
senseless creature is often given to a parent, but by
process of voluntary decision one of sound body and
sound mind is certain to be selected. For this cause
I formerly chose out Lucius from among all, a person
of such attainments as I could never have prayed to
find in a child. But since the Heavenly Power has
taken him from among us, I have found an emperor in
his place whom I now give you, one who is noble, mild,
tractable, prudent, neither young enough to do anything
reckless nor old enough to neglect aught,--one
brought up according to the laws, who has held possession
of authority according to his country's traditions,
so that he is not ignorant of any matters pertaining to
his office, but can handle them all effectively. I refer
to Aurelius Antoninus here. Although I know him to
be the most retiring of men and to be far from desiring
any such thing, still I do not think that he will deliberately
disregard either me or you but will accept
the office even against his will."
21
So it was that Antoninus became emperor. Since he
was destitute of male children, Hadrian adopted for
him Commodus's son Commodus and, moreover, besides
the latter, Marcus Annius Verus; for he wished to
appoint those who were afterwards to be emperors for
as long a time ahead as possible. (This Marcus Annius,
earlier named Catilius, was a grandson of Annius
Verus who had thrice been consul and prefect of the
city). And though Hadrian urged Antoninus to adopt
them both, he preferred Verus on account of his kinship
and his age and because he already exhibited an
extremely strong cast of mind. This led him to apply
to the young man the name Verissimus, with a play
upon the meaning of the Latin word.
22
By certain charms and species of magic Hadrian was
relieved of the water, but shortly was full of it again.
Since, therefore, he was constantly growing worse and
might be said to be slowly perishing day by day, he
began to long for death. Often he would ask for poison
and a sword, but no one would give them to him. As
no one would obey him, although he promised money
and immunity, he sent for Mastor, an Iazygian barbarian
that had become a captive, whom he had employed
in hunts on account of his strength and daring.
Then, partly by threatening him and partly by making
promises, he compelled the man to undertake the duty
of killing him. He drew a colored line around a spot
beneath the nipple that had been shown him by Hermogenes
the physician, in order that he might there be
struck a finishing blow and perish painlessly. But
even this plan did not succeed, for Mastor became
afraid of the project and in terror withdrew. The emperor
lamented bitterly the plight in which the disease
had placed him and bitterly his powerlessness, in that
he was not able to make away with himself, though he
might still, even when so near death, destroy anybody
else. Finally he abandoned his careful regimen and
through using unsuitable foods and drinks met his
death, saying and shouting aloud the popular saying:
"Many physicians have ruined a king."
23
He had lived sixty-two years, five months and nineteen
[
]
days, and had been emperor twenty years and
eleven months. He was buried near the river itself,
close to the Aelian bridge; that was where he had prepared
his tomb, for the one belonging to Augustus was
full and no other body was deposited there.
This emperor was hated
[by the people, in spite of
his excellent reign]
on account of the early and the late
murders, since they had been unjustly and impiously
brought about. Yet he had so little of a bloodthirsty
disposition that even in the case of some who took
pains to thwart him he deemed it sufficient to write to
their native lands the bare statement that they did not
please him. And if any man who had children was absolutely
obliged to receive punishment, still, in proportion
to the number of his children he would also lighten
the penalty imposed.
[Notwithstanding, the senate
persisted for a long time in its refusal to vote him divine
honors, and in its strictures upon some of those
who had committed excesses during his reign and had
been honored therefor, when they ought to have been
chastised.]
After Hadrian's death there was erected to him a huge equestrian
statue representing him with a four-horse team. It was so large that
the bulkiest man could walk through the eye of each horse, yet because
of the extreme height of the monument persons passing along on the
ground below are wont to think that the horses themselves as well as
Hadrian are very small.
DURATION OF TIME
Camerinus, Niger.
(A.D. 138 = a.u. 891 = First of Antoninus, from July 10th).
Antoninus Pius Aug. (II), Bruttius Praesens.
(A.D. 139 = a.u. 892 = Second of Antoninus).
Antoninus Pius Aug. (III), Aurelius Caesar (II).
(A.D. 140 = a.u. 893 = Third of Antoninus).
M. Peducaeus Sylloga Priscinus, T. Hoenius Severus.
(A.D. 141 = a.u. 894 = Fourth of Antoninus).
L. Cuspius Rufinus, L. Statius Quadratus.
(A.D. 142 = a.u. 895 = Fifth of Antoninus).
C. Bellicius Torquatus, Tib. Claudius Atticus Herodes.
(A.D. 143 = a.u. 896 = Sixth of Antoninus).
Avitus, Maximus.
(A.D. 144 = a.u. 897 = Seventh of Antoninus).
Antoninus Pius Aug. (IV), M. Aurelius Caesar (II).
(A.D. 145 = a.u. 898 = Eighth of Antoninus).
Sex. Erucius Clarus (II), Cn. Claudius Severus.
(A.D. 146 = a.u. 899 = Ninth of Antoninus).
Largus, Messalinus.
(A.D. 147 = a.u. 900 = Tenth of Antoninus).
L. Torquatus (III), C. Iulianus Vetus.
(A.D. 148 = a.u. 901 = Eleventh of Antoninus).
Sergius Scipio Orfitus, Q. Nonius Priscus.
(A.D. 149 = a.u. 902 = Twelfth of Antoninus).
Gallicanus, Vetus.
(A.D. 150 = a.u. 903 = Thirteenth of Antoninus).
Quintilius Condianus, Quintilius Maximus.
(A.D. 151 = a.u. 904 = Fourteenth of Antoninus).
M. Acilius Glabrio, M. Valerius Homullus.
(A.D. 152 = a.u. 905 = Fifteenth of Antoninus).
C. Bruttius Praesens, A. Iunius Rufinus.
(A.D. 153 = a.u. 906 = Sixteenth of Antoninus).
L. Ael. Aurelius Commodus, T. Sextius Lateranus.
(A.D. 154 = a.u. 907 = Seventeenth of Antoninus).
C. Iulius Severus, M. Rufinius Sabinianus.
(A.D. 155 = a.u. 908 = Eighteenth of Antoninus).
M. Ceionius Silvanus, C. Serius Augurinus.
(A.D. 158 = a.u. 909 = Nineteenth of Antoninus).
Barbaras, Regulus.
(A.D. 157 = a.u. 910 = Twentieth of Antoninus).
Tertullus, Sacerdos.
(A.D. 158 = a.u. 911 = Twenty-first of Antoninus).
Plautius Quintilius, Statius Priscus.
(A.D. 159 = a.u. 912 = Twenty-second of Antoninus).
T. Clodius Vibius Varus, App. Annius Atilius Bradua.
(A.D. 160 = a.u. 913 = Twenty-third of Antoninus).
M. Ael. Aurelius Verus Caesar (III), I. Ael. Aurelius Commodus (II).
(A.D. 161 = a.u. 914 = Twenty-fourth of Antoninus, to March 7th).
(A.D. 138 = a.u. 891 = First of Antoninus, from July 10th).
Antoninus Pius Aug. (II), Bruttius Praesens.
(A.D. 139 = a.u. 892 = Second of Antoninus).
Antoninus Pius Aug. (III), Aurelius Caesar (II).
(A.D. 140 = a.u. 893 = Third of Antoninus).
M. Peducaeus Sylloga Priscinus, T. Hoenius Severus.
(A.D. 141 = a.u. 894 = Fourth of Antoninus).
L. Cuspius Rufinus, L. Statius Quadratus.
(A.D. 142 = a.u. 895 = Fifth of Antoninus).
C. Bellicius Torquatus, Tib. Claudius Atticus Herodes.
(A.D. 143 = a.u. 896 = Sixth of Antoninus).
Avitus, Maximus.
(A.D. 144 = a.u. 897 = Seventh of Antoninus).
Antoninus Pius Aug. (IV), M. Aurelius Caesar (II).
(A.D. 145 = a.u. 898 = Eighth of Antoninus).
Sex. Erucius Clarus (II), Cn. Claudius Severus.
(A.D. 146 = a.u. 899 = Ninth of Antoninus).
Largus, Messalinus.
(A.D. 147 = a.u. 900 = Tenth of Antoninus).
L. Torquatus (III), C. Iulianus Vetus.
(A.D. 148 = a.u. 901 = Eleventh of Antoninus).
Sergius Scipio Orfitus, Q. Nonius Priscus.
(A.D. 149 = a.u. 902 = Twelfth of Antoninus).
Gallicanus, Vetus.
(A.D. 150 = a.u. 903 = Thirteenth of Antoninus).
Quintilius Condianus, Quintilius Maximus.
(A.D. 151 = a.u. 904 = Fourteenth of Antoninus).
M. Acilius Glabrio, M. Valerius Homullus.
(A.D. 152 = a.u. 905 = Fifteenth of Antoninus).
C. Bruttius Praesens, A. Iunius Rufinus.
(A.D. 153 = a.u. 906 = Sixteenth of Antoninus).
L. Ael. Aurelius Commodus, T. Sextius Lateranus.
(A.D. 154 = a.u. 907 = Seventeenth of Antoninus).
C. Iulius Severus, M. Rufinius Sabinianus.
(A.D. 155 = a.u. 908 = Eighteenth of Antoninus).
M. Ceionius Silvanus, C. Serius Augurinus.
(A.D. 158 = a.u. 909 = Nineteenth of Antoninus).
Barbaras, Regulus.
(A.D. 157 = a.u. 910 = Twentieth of Antoninus).
Tertullus, Sacerdos.
(A.D. 158 = a.u. 911 = Twenty-first of Antoninus).
Plautius Quintilius, Statius Priscus.
(A.D. 159 = a.u. 912 = Twenty-second of Antoninus).
T. Clodius Vibius Varus, App. Annius Atilius Bradua.
(A.D. 160 = a.u. 913 = Twenty-third of Antoninus).
M. Ael. Aurelius Verus Caesar (III), I. Ael. Aurelius Commodus (II).
(A.D. 161 = a.u. 914 = Twenty-fourth of Antoninus, to March 7th).
I. From Dio:
A.D. 138 (a.u. 891)
1
It should be noted that information about Antoninus
Pius is not found in the copies of Dio, probably because
the books have met with some accident, so that the history
of his reign is almost wholly unknown, save that
when Lucius Commodus, whom Hadrian had adopted,
died before Hadrian, Antoninus was also adopted by
him and became emperor, and that when the senate demurred
to giving heroic honors to Hadrian after his
demise on account of certain murders of eminent men,
Antoninus addressed many words to them with tears
and laments, and finally said: "I will not govern you
either, if he has become base and inimical and a national
foe in your eyes. For you will of course be
annulling all his acts, of which my adoption was one."
On hearing this the senate both through respect for the
man and through a certain fear of the soldiers bestowed
the honors upon Hadrian.
2
Only this in regard to Antoninus is preserved in Dio.
Yes, one thing more--that the senate gave him the
titles both of Augustus and of Pius for some such reason
as the following. When in the beginning of his imperial
reign many men were accused and some of them
had been interceded for by name, he nevertheless
punished no one, saying: "I must not begin my career
of supervision with such deeds."
LXIX, 15, 3
[When Pharasmanes the Iberian came to Rome with
his wife, he increased his domain, allowed him to offer
sacrifice on the Capitoline, set up a statue of him on
horseback in the temple of Bellona, and viewed an exercise
in arms of the chieftain, his son, and the other
prominent Iberians.]
A.D. 139 (a.u. 892)
We do not find preserved, either, the first part of the
account of Marcus Verus, who ruled after Antoninus
and all that the latter himself did in the case of Lucius,
son of Commodus, whom Marcus made his son-in-law,
and all that Lucius accomplished when sent by his
father to the war against Vologaesus. I shall speak
briefly about these matters, gathering my material
from other books, and then I shall go back to the continuation
of Dio's narrative.
II. From Xiphilinus:
3
A.D. 153 (a.u. 906)
Antoninus is admitted by all to have been noble and
good, not oppressive to the Christians nor severe to
any of his other subjects; instead, he showed the
Christians great respect and added to the honor in
which Hadrian had been wont to hold them. For
Eusebius, son of Pamphilus, cites in his Church History
[
]
some letters of Hadrian in which the latter is
shown to threaten terrible vengeance upon those who
harm in any way or accuse the Christians, and to swear
by Hercules that they shall receive punishment.
Antoninus is said also to have been of an enquiring
turn of mind and not to have held aloof from careful
investigation of even small and commonplace matters;
for this those disposed to scoff called him Cumminsplitter.
A.D. 161 (a.u. 914)
Quadratus states that he died at an advanced
age, and that the happiest death befell him, like
unto gentlest slumber.
A.D. 177(?)
4
In the days of Antoninus also a most frightful earthquake
is said to have occurred in the region of Bithynia
and the Hellespont. Various cities were severely
damaged or fell without a building left standing, and
in particular Cyzicus; and the temple there that was
the greatest and most beautiful of all temples was
thrown down. Its columns were four cubits in thickness
and fifty cubits in height, each of a single block of
stone; and each of the other features of the edifice was
more to be wondered at than to be praised. Somewhere
in the interior of the country the peak of a
mountain rose upwards and surges of the sea are said
to have gushed out, while the spray from pure, transparent
sea-water was driven to a great distance over
the land.
[
]
--So much is the account of Antoninus at
present extant. He reigned twenty-four years.
III. Of Dio
[or rather of Eutropius, or John of
Antioch]
. Taken from the Writings of Suidas.
5
This prince Antoninus was an excellent man and deserves
to be compared especially with Numa on account
of the similarity of his reign to that king's, just as
Trajan was seen to resemble Romulus. The private
life that Antoninus lived was thoroughly excellent and
honorable,
and in his position as ruler he seemed to be
even more excellent and more prudent. To no one was
he harsh or oppressive, but he was gracious and gentle
toward all.
6