Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome
Page 41
CAH, vol. XI, p. 115, argues against poverty as a criterion. While Roman citizenship in the provinces was selective and indicative of membership in an affluent local elite, in Italy it was universal; so many citizens there must have been poor. What would the point have been of an
alimenta
system that did not target their offspring?
Epitome de Caesaribus
12 4 claims the chosen children were those in greatest need.
cost the state annually 311 million sesterces
Bennett, p. 83.
“As a result, most of [them] have lost interest”
Pliny Ep 937.
one with the proud slogan
Italia restituta
RIC II 278 no. 470.
writing the emperor’s speeches
HA Hadr 3 11.
“My own view is that we should compromise”
Pliny Ep 10 115.
“I think then that the safest course”
Ibid., 10 113.
So he wrote to Rome for guidance
Ibid., 10 96.
It was impossible, he wrote
Ibid., 10 97.
XII. CALL OF THE EAST
Chief literary sources—Dio Cassius,
Historia Augusta
, and Epictetus. Also Camp for background on Roman Athens.
“to the pure and genuine Greece”
Pliny Ep 8 24 2.
“O glittering, violet-crowned”
Pindar Dith 76 (46).
In 112 Hadrian made his way to Athens
The dating is supported by Hadrian’s year as archon, known to be 112. Because the Athenian official year ran from summer to summer, this could mean either 111–112 or 112– 113. That Panathenaic Games were held in 112 makes it very likely that Hadrian chose 112–113 for his stay in Athens.
became a friend and admirer
HA Hadr 16 10.
a number of remarks in his lectures
I am indebted to Birley, pp. 60– 61, for this happy speculation.
“If the emperor adopts you”
Epict 132.
“Shall kinship with the emperor”
Ibid., 197.
“Some men … have excessively sharp tongues”
Ibid., 125 15–16.
“Maximus: I sit as a judge over Greeks”
Ibid., 37 30–33.
They then awarded him their highest honor
The
Constitution of Athens
55 makes clear that archons entered office immediately after election. I assume that the antiquarian Athens of the first century
A
.
D
. maintained the old tradition.
“He devoured the pursuits and customs”
Ep de Caes 14 2.
“Euphranor”
The Latin has “Euphranoras,” but Euphranor must be meant.
He was tall and … elegant in appearance
For Hadrian’s appearance see HA Hadr 26 1–2. I have also used the evidence of statues.
“a pleasant man to meet”
Dio 69 2 6
2
.
“languishing, bright, piercing”
Script Phys Vet 2 51f (Adamantius).
Augustus prided himself
Suet Aug 79 2.
“bristly farmer with a kiss like a billy-goat’s”
Martial 12 59 4–5. 146
Cicero called them
barbatuli
Cic Att 1 16 11.
cover some natural blemishes
HA Hadr 26 1.
“Can anything be more useless than hairs”
Epict 1 16 9.
“So we ought to preserve the signs”
Ibid., 1 16 14.
very plausible that he did so now
See Birley, p. 61, for this notion.
“Friend of the Greeks”
Smallwood 44a.
Plutarch recalls how Roman soldiers
Plut Crass 24 2.
Trajan, while mindful of the dignity
See Arrian Parth frag. 33.
“was a desire to win glory”
Dio 68 17 1.
Coins were issued
BMC III p. 108 531; p. 106 525; p. 101 500; p. 112 569ff.
legatus
to the emperor
HA Hadr 41.
“assigned to Syria for the Parthian war”
Dio 69 1.
“large force of soldiers and senators”
Malalas 11 3–4.
“satisfactory neither to the Romans”
Dio 68 17 2–3.
“Friendship is decided by actions”
Ibid.
Hadrian waited in Antioch
Hadrian’s movements and whereabouts during this period are uncertain. Malalas (11 3–4) says that he accompanied the emperor on his journey east, presumably after Athens. But Dio (69 1) and HA (Hadr 4 1) seem to indicate a preparatory role; it follows that he preceded Trajan to Syria.
the legions he had assembled
Little detail has come down to us of Hadrian’s responsibilities, but it can be inferred that preparing an army for the Parthian campaign was one of them.
the superstitious Hadrian
Amm Marc 22 12 8. The reference is undated, and could have taken place during Hadrian’s brief governorship of Syria in 117.
The imperial pair presented
Arrian Parth frag. 36.
“To Zeus Kasios has Trajan”
Anth Pal 6 332.
XIII. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Chief literary sources—Dio Cassius,
Historia Augusta
, and Arrian’s
Parthica
“At this same time [Hadrian] enjoyed”
HA Hadr 42.
cocommander of the Guard
Attianus’ partner was Servius Sulpicius Similis. He stayed in Rome while Attianus accompanied Trajan on his
profectio
.
owner of twin boys
Martial 9 103.
“He displayed neither effeminacy”
Dio 69 18 1.
“always his enemies”
HA Hadr 43.
distinction of public statues
Dio 68 16 2.
arrived toward the end of May
Bennett, p. 192.
Abgarus, king of Osrhoene
Dio 68 21 1.
“Afraid of Trajan and the Parthians alike”
Ibid., 68 18 1.
Parthamasiris turned up late
Arrian Parth frags. 38–40.
laid his diadem
Dio 68 19 2–20 3.
coin issues that depict the
rex Parthus
BMC III 103, 106.
Armenia was soon reduced
The timing and order of events in the Armenian and Parthian campaigns are hard to determine from our sketchy sources. Dio seems to conflate the fighting in 114 and 115, and I follow Bennett in placing the Mesopotamian campaign in 115; the earthquake at Antioch in late 115 or early 116; and the capture of Ctesiphon in 116. Certainty cannot be had.
“became Trajan’s friend”
Dio 68 21 3.
“Sometimes he even made his scouts”
Ibid., 68 23 1–2.
“laureled letter”
See fasti Ostienses
, Smallwood 23.
Early one morning in January
Malalas 11 275 3–8. Malalas can be unreliable. Birley, p. 71, believes that because the
ordinarius
consul Pedo had given way to a suffect long before December, the earthquake must have taken place in January 115. But there is no need to disturb Malalas’ precision; he very probably called Pedo consul because as
ordinarius
he gave his name to the year.
“able neither to live any longer”
Dio 68 24 6.
the emperor “hurried” back
Ibid., 68 26 1.
civil strife had removed Pa
rthia’s capacity
Ibid., 68 26 4
2
.
a military trophy … with two captives
For example, BMC III 606.
raising the ferry charges
Fronto Princ Hist 16.
a third new province, Assyria
The location of the Roman
provincia
Assyria is disputed. It may be that historic Assyria was mislabeled Mesopotamia, the year before the capture of Ctesiphon in the south, and that Mesopotamia was called Assyria later, when the name Mesopotamia had already been used for the northern reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris. Strabo seems to have thought that Assyria was located in the lands we take to be Mesopotamia. Other scholars now argue that the new province lay along the eastern bank of the Tigris.
down the Tigris
Arrian Parth frag. 67.
“four of them carried the royal flags”
Ibid.
“I would certainly have crossed over”
Dio 68 29 1.
“Because of the large number of peoples”
Ibid., 68 29 2.
“would eat the flesh”
Ibid., 68 32 1–2.
“The one hope”
Sherk 129 E.
“Not only because of my long absence”
Ibid., F.
“clean them out”
Euseb Ch Hist 425.
“in grandiloquent language”
Dio 68 303.
emperor crowning Parthemaspates
BMC III p. 223 no. 1045.
“So great and so boundless”
Malalas 11 274 11–13.
XIV. THE AFFAIR OF THE FOUR EX-CONSULS
Chief literary sources—Dio Cassius and
Historia Augusta
“sharing his daily life”
Dio 69 11. Although the phrase is undated, it is placed in a passage referring to this time.
related to one of those onetime royal families
Sherk 128.
Well known for his promiscuity
Aur Vic 14 9, 10.
“Widespread rumor asserted”
HA Hadr 45.
“The blood, which descends”
Dio 68 33 2.
In modern terms
I owe this analysis to Bennett, p. 201.
sure … he had been poisoned
. Dio 68 33 2.
Apparently Trajan at dinner
Ibid., 69 17 3. One epitome mistakenly attributes the incident to Hadrian.
“My father, Apronianus”
Ibid., 69 13.
A gold piece showed Trajan
BMC III, p. 124. Galimberti, p. 19, sees this coin as evidence that the story of a deathbed and/or fake adoption is false, and that in fact Trajan adopted Hadrian earlier in the year 117, before he was approaching death. But while the literary sources may have been hostile to Hadrian they would hardly have made up a story that many eyewitnesses would have known to be false. Also, Dio’s citation of his father’s account has the ring of truth. However, the coin is awkward and calls for a convincing explanation, which I seek to provide.
the
cognomina
“Augustus” and “Caesar”
Aur Vic 13 21.
He climbed Mount Casius
Dio 69 21; and HA Hadr 14 3. Dio refers to a dream, but HA more convincingly writes of an actual event. This is one incident in different versions, not two.
“To [the memory of] Marcus Ulpius Phaedimus”
Smallwood 176.
Hadrian drafted a polite, carefully worded letter
HA Hadr 61–2.
Trajan handing a globe to Hadrian
BMC III, p. 236 1.
image of the phoenix
Ibid., p. 245, 48 and 49.
the “Golden Age”
Ibid., p. 278 312.
The dowager empress
Ibid., p. 246.
a coin with two obverses
Ibid., p. 124.
“advised him by letter”
HA Hadr 55.
“he swore that he would do nothing”
Dio 69 24.
boarded ship
An assumption on my part. A cortege could have made its way to Antioch by land, but it would have been a journey through uncomfortable terrain and taken a week or more.
“Noting from your letter”
Oliver, pp. 154–56.
blocked up with a huge mass of stone
Amm Marc 22 12 8.
“The nations that Trajan had conquered”
HA Hadr 52.
“The Romans have aimed to preserve their empire”
App Civ War pref. 7.
“all catalogued by Augustus”
Tac Ann 1 11.
he must have known of the policy
HA Hadr 51.
“Because it is impossible to keep them under our care”
Ibid., 53. This translation paraphrases the compressed Latin.
Rome was to abjure military expansion
Some contemporary scholars wonder whether Hadrian really did abandon the principle of
imperium sine fine
. Hadrian’s actions and those of his successor, together with what we know or can infer about the practicalities of administering a large empire, persuade me that Hadrian did indeed introduce a strategic change. For less firm opinions, see Opper, chapter 2, and the brilliant chapter 8 in CAH.
“From the time of Caesar Augustus”
Florus Ep 18.
in his post on or before August 25
POxy 3781.
Hadrian himself probably paid a quick visit
I follow Gray, pp. 25–28.
the
tributum soli
For more information see Brunt, p. 335.
known for his shrewdness and sharpness of wit
Marc Aur 8 25.
Hadrian presided over the trial
This account derives from fragmentary papyri, the so-called Acts of Paulus and Antoninus; these nationalistic texts are semifictional, but it is possible to interpret the bedrock of actuality on which they rest. The events described seem most likely to have taken place now and in Egypt, although it is possible that they occurred later and elsewhere. Delay in dealing with the aftermath of the Jewish revolt was not in Rome’s interest.
“he had fallen under suspicion”
HA Hadr 58.
“And after him shall rule”
Or Syb 5 65–69. The quotation comes from the Sibylline Oracles, a collection of Greek hexameters, much amended and added to over the centuries, probably composed between the second century
B.C
. and the sixth century
A.D
. The original Sibylline Oracles were in the possession of the Roman Republic and were destroyed by fire in 83
B.C
. These surviving texts reflect Jewish and Christian hostility to the Roman empire.
appoint the reliable Gaius Avidius Nigrinus
This is plausible speculation; we know that Nigrinus was governor of Dacia from an inscription found in Sarmizegetusa (Smallwood 192), but not exactly when. See Birley, p. 86, for a discussion.
the emperor’s favorite horse, Borysthenes
A speculation by Birley, p. 86. There are, of course, other possible donors among Rome’s client kingdoms that lined the Black Sea.
“energetic enough in mobilizing his friends”
Fronto Princ Hist 10. Also the following quotation “with amusing games.”
the supposed talents of a later emperor
Lucius Verus, co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius. See Galimberti, p. 99.
“a well-phrased statement”
Pliny Ep 5 13 6.
“in reality because they had great influence”
Dio 69 25.
while he was conducting a sacrifice
HA Hadr 71.
the occasion was a hunt
Dio 69 25.
Trajan had accessed the public courier
or postal service
Aur Vic 13 5–6.
a German-born centurion, Marcus Calventius Viator
Speidel pp. 47—48. (“German-born” because the Dacian altar was dedicated to Celtic deities; bodyguards usually consisted of Germanic recruits.)
His name appears on two altars
Smallwood 192 and 332.
“This slavish passivity”
Tac Ann 16 16.
XV. THE ROAD TO ROME
Chief literary sources—Dio Cassius,
Historia Augusta
, and Juvenal on Rome
“They are made exclusively for war”
Tac Germ 29 2.
“I was once the most famous of men”
Smallwood 336 1–5 (my translation).
“No Roman or barbarian”
Ibid., 7, 11.
a certain Mastor
Dio 69 22 2.
declared on oath
Ibid., 69 26.
he would never put a senator to death
HA Hadr 74.
it showed Clemency
BMC III p. 271 no. 252.
Hadrian wanted to do away with his former guardian
HA Hadr 93.
“burned the records of old debts”
Suet Aug 32 2.
“who remitted 900 million sesterces”
Smallwood 64a.
A carved relief shows the scene
Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, inv. no. A 59.
a
lictor
setting fire to a pile of bonds
Smallwood 64b.
maintaining the government courier service
HA Hadr 75.
“crown gold”
Ibid., 65.
supplementary distribution
BMC III p. 402 nos. 1125, 1126, and 1127.
“bread and circuses”
Juv 10 78–81.
“the waxed tablets”
Smallwood II 6, February 26 p. 20.
permission to hang an ornamental shield
The date of this request is unknown. I refer to it here for convenience.
a high-value silver coin, a tetradrachm
BMC III p. 395 no. 1094.
“That he was surnamed Thurinus”
Suet Aug 71.
“On the day of a meeting of the Senate”
Ibid., 53 3.
“he frequently attended the official functions”
HA Hadr 97–8.
a dangerous faux pas
Dio 69 6 1–2.
He had not forgotten those lines from Virgil
See page 93 above.
“In a word, he induced a fierce people”
Florus Ep 12.
“in the fashion of the Greeks or Numa”
Aur Vic 14 2–3; “fine arts” is my paraphrase of
ingenuarum artium
.
the emperor’s interest in supporting culture
Green, p. 164.
denarius struck at Rome shows a bust of Matidia