Dio Laer Epicurus Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers: Epicurus
Eck Werner Eck, “The Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Roman Point of View”
Ennius Ennius, Annales (Annals)
Ep de Caes Epitome de Caesaribus (Summary of the Caesars)
Epict Epictetus, Discourses
Epiph Epiphanius, Weights and Measures
Eur Alc Euripides, Alcestis
Euseb Ch Hist Eusebius, Church History
Eutropius Eutropius, Historiae romanae breviarium
FIRA Fontes Iuris Romani Antejustiniani
Florus Ep Florus, Epitome
Fronto Ad L Ver Fronto, Ad Lucium Verum (to Lucius Verus)
Fronto Ad M Caes Fronto, Ad Marcum Caesarem (To Marcus Caesar)
Fronto de bell Parth Fronto, De bello Parthico (On War with Parthia)
Fronto de fer Als Fronto, De feriis Alsiensibus
Fronto Princ Hist Fronto, Principia Historiae
Galimberti Alessandro Galimberti, Adriano e l’ideologia del principato
Gibbon Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Goldsworthy Adrian Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome
Gray William D. Gray, “New Light from Egypt on the Early Reign of Hadrian”
Greek Horo Hephaestio of Thebes
Green Peter Green, Juvenal: The Sixteen Satires
Gyn Soranus, Gynaecologia
HA Ant Historia Augusta, Antoninus Pius
HA Ael Historia Augustus, Aelius Caesar
HA Hadr Historia Augusta, Hadrian
HA Marc Historia Augusta, Marcus Aurelius
HA Ver Historia Augusta, Aelius Verus
Herodian Herodian, History of the Empire After Marcus
Homer II Homer, Iliad
Hor Ep Horace, Epistulae (Letters)
Hor Epo Horace, Epodes
Hor Ser Horace, Sermones (Satires)
IG Inscriptiones Graecae
ILS Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae
Jer Chron Jerome, Chronicle
Jer Contra Ruf Jerome, Contra Rufinum (Against Rufinus)
Jer de vir ill Jerome, De viris illustribus (Of Famous Men)
Jer In Esaiam Jerome, In Esaiam (Commentary on Isaiah)
Johnson Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews
Jones Brian W. Jones, The Emperor Domitian
Jos AJ Josephus, Jewish Antiquities
Jos BJ Josephus, Jewish War
JRS Journal of Roman Studies
Julian Caes Julian, The Caesars
Justin Apol App Justin, Apologia Appendix
Justin First Apol Justin, First Apologia
Juv Juvenal, Saturae (Satires)
Lambert Royston Lambert, Beloved and God
Levine Lee I. Levine, Jerusalem: Portrait of the City in the Second Temple Period
Livy Livy, Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome)
Lucian Philospeud Lucian, Lover of Lies
Lucr de Rerum Nat Lucretius, De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things)
MacDonald William L. MacDonald and John A. Pinto, Hadrian’s Villa and Its Legacy
Macr Macrobius, Saturnalia
Malalas John Malalas, Chronographia
Marc Aur Marcus Aurelius, To Himself (Meditations)
Mart Martial, Epigrammata (Epigrams)
Mart Lib de Spect Martial, Liber de Spectaculis (Show Book)
MLP Minor Latin Poets, Loeb Classical Library
Mommsen Theodor Mommsen, A History of Rome Under the Emperors
Naor Mordecai Naor, City of Hope
Oliver J. H. Oliver, Greek Constitutions of Early Roman Emperors from Inscriptions and Papyri
Opper Thorsten Opper, Hadrian—Empire and Conflict
Paus Pausanias, Description of Greece
Petr Petronius, Satyricon
Phil Saint Paul, Letter to the Philippians
Philo Apoll Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana
Philo Her Philostratus, Heroicus
Philo v. Soph Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists
Pindar Dith Pindar, Dithyrambs
Plato Symp Plato, Symposium
Plaut Curc Plautus, Curculio
Pliny Ep Pliny the Younger, Epistulae (Correspondence)
Pliny NH Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia (Natural History)
Pliny Pan Pliny the Younger, Panegyricus
Plut Crass Plutarch, Life of Crassus
Plut Mor Plutarch, Moralia (Essays)
Plut Per Plutarch, Life of Pericles
Plut Pomp Plutarch, Life of Pompey the Great
Pol Physio Polemon, De Physiognomia
POxy Oxyrhyncus Papyri
Quint Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria
RIC H. Mattingly and E. A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage
Rossi Lino Rossi, Trajan’s Column and the Dacian Wars
Script Phys Vet Scriptores Physiognomoniae Veteres
Sen Contr Seneca, Controversiae
Sen Ep Seneca, Epistulae (Correspondence)
Shakespeare, A & C Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra
Sherk Robert K. Sherk, ed., The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian
Smallwood E. Mary Smallwood, Documents Illustrating the Principates of Nerva, Trajan and Hadrian
Speidel M. P. Speidel, Riding for Caesar
Stat Silv Statius, Silvae
Strabo Strabo, Geographica
Suet Aug Suetonius, Augustus
Suet Cal Suetonius, Caligula
Suet Dom Suetonius, Domitian
Suet Nero Suetonius, Nero
Suet Vesp Suetonius, Vespasian
Syb Sybilline Oracles
Syme Tac Ronald Syme, Tacitus
Syncellus Chron Syncellus, Chronographia
Tac Agric Tacitus, Agricola
Tac Ann Tacitus, Annals
Tac His Tacitus, Historiae (Histories)
Tert Apol Tertullian, Apologeticum (Apology)
Thuc Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
Veg Vegetius, De re militari (On Military Affairs)
Virg Aen Virgil, Aeneid
Xen Anab Xenophon, Anabasis (The Persian Expedition)
Xen Hunt Xenophon, Hunting with Dogs
Yadin Bar-K Yigael Yadin, Bar-Kokhba
Yoma Babylonian Talmud Yoma
PREFACE
“the fair prospect of universal peace” Gibbon, p. 36.
“persisted in the design” Ibid., p. 37.
“repellent” and “venemous” Mommsen, p. 340.
INTRODUCTION
Full information on Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli can be found in the site guidebook and MacDonald.
“And in order not to omit anything” HA Hadr 26 5.
I. INVADERS FROM THE WEST
Main literary source—Historia Augusta
born on the ninth day HA Hadr 13.
“exceedingly miserable place to live” Strabo 312.
“Turdetania … is marvelously blessed” Ibid., 324.
The Aelii were friendly with the Ulpii For this paragraph and the next, see Syme Tac, p. 603.
four hundred active senatorial families CAH, p. 222.
“should be not younger than twenty” Gyn 2 19.
Paulina appointed a woman called Germana See CIL 14 3721 for an inscription about her.
“Should I express wonder at gilded beams” Stat Silv 13 35–37.
“they grow up lying around in litters” and “broad daylight of a respectable school” Quint 127–9.
Now thirty-two Eutropius 852 reports that Trajan died in his sixty-third year. It follows that he was born in A.D. 53. Other literary sources suggest different years of death, but most modern scholars follow Eutropius.
Tall and well made For Trajan’s appearance, see statues and Pliny Pan 47.
“setting foot on rocky crags” Pliny Pan 81 1.
liked having sex with young men Although biographers such as Bennett write of Trajan’s bisexuality, the emperor may have been exclusively homosexual, although most Ro
mans appear not to have specialized.
II. A DANGEROUS WORLD
Main literary sources—Historia Augusta; Xenophon and Arrian on hunting
the celebrated Quintus Terentius Scaurus HA Ver 25 identifies Scaurus as “Hadrian’s grammaticus.” It has been argued that this simply means a “grammaticus of the age of Hadrian,” but the context implies that a personal teacher is meant.
obiter Char 13 271.
“he preserved my chastity” Hor Ser 16 82–84. Although Horace wrote in the first century B.C., there is no reason at all to believe that children’s safety improved under the empire.
“require that he take” Juv 7 237–41.
manum subducere ferulae Op. cit. 1 15.
“that genius” Sen Contr 1 Praef 11.
“An orator, son Marcus” Sen Contr 1 Praef 9.
“happiest days of my life” Pliny Ep 2 18 1. This citation from Pliny and the one that follows date from the early second century, but there need be little doubt that they are equally relevant to educational attitudes in Hadrian’s youth.
the slightest hint In HA Hadr after the sentence recording Hadrian’s father’s death, we read “imbutusque impensius Graecis studiis”—“and he steeped himself rather enthusiastically in …” The que, or “and,” could imply a connection.
his guardian’s new wife, Plotina, encouraged him A persuasive speculation in Galimberti, pp. 21–22.
“When Greece was taken” Hor Ep 21 156–57.
“Like Indians under the British Raj” Green, p. 316.
“from this day, from this moment” Sherk 168, p. 217.
casting an emperor’s horoscope was high treason Ulpian, De Officio Proconsulis 7.
“moribus antiquis” Ennius 467.
singling out for bravery Pliny NH 8 11.
celebrated his fifteenth birthday Hadrian’s coming of age is an assumption that convincingly explains his visit later in the year to the family estates in Spain, a natural step for their new owner to take.
Hadrian had visited Baetica once before It is argued in Birley 19 that “returned,” rediit, HA Hadr 21, is probably a way of saying “went back to the old plantation” without meaning that Hadrian had been there before. Possibly so; but there is no reason not to take the word literally.
a collegium in the province of Africa See inscription in L’année epigraphique, Paris 1888ff., 1958.
We can safely assume The following section on hunting makes use of Xenophon’s and Arrian’s monographs, Hunting with Dogs.
“Surely everyone is liable to make mistakes” Pliny Ep 9 12 1.
“these Graeculi” Ibid., 10 40 2.
III. YOUNG HOPEFUL GENTLEMAN
Main literary source—Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria
“The man who can really play his part” Quint 1 p. 10.
one likely candidate is Lucius Licinius Sura A helpful speculation in Birley, p. 27.
“The (person) who has the stars” Greek Horo pp. 79–80.
“your antiquated vocabulary” Martial 7 47 2.
“gave orders respectfully” Sherk 173 A.
Tombstones from the early empire Sherk 173 B to Z.
“has a lovely family” Sen Ep 41 7.
“all the flower of the colonies” FIRA I 43 Col II lines 2–4.
perhaps 17 percent of its six hundred members Lambert, p. 26.
“Robbers of the world” Tac Agric 30 4–5.
IV. CRISIS OF EMPIRE
Chief literary sources—Suetonius on Nero, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian; Josephus and the Talmud
“There were people” Suet Nero 57 1.
“Even now everyone wishes [Nero] to be alive” Dio Chrys 21 On Beauty 10.
“The Greeks alone are worthy” Ibid., 22 3.
“Other leaders,” he said Sherk 71.
the decree earned Nero reincarnation Plut Mor Delays of God’s Vengeance 567F.
of an empire of about 60 million souls For population estimates see CAH, pp. 813—14.
Tacitus exemplifies the general opinion The account that follows draws on Tac His 52–8.
“hid the circumcision” Jos AJ 12 5 1.
“Cursed be the man” Mishnah Sota 49B.
“The great Jewish revolts” Johnson, pp. 112, 133.
a population perhaps of 100,000 Levine, p. 342.
a snowcapped mountain peak Jos BJ 56 223. The description of the city and Temple draws on Jos BJ 5 136–8 247.
“In this stood nothing at all” Jos BJ 6 282.
A military incident Jos BJ 3 31 289–306.
“What an artist” Suet Nero 49 1.
between thirty thousand and forty thousand men Goldsworthy, p. 337.
a silver shekel Naor, p. 55.
“Following the directions and plans” Sherk 83 (ILS 264).
“Why was the First Temple destroyed?” Yoma 9b.
V. A NEW DYNASTY
Chief literary sources—Suetonius, Dio Cassius, and Pliny the Younger
pecunia non olet See Dio 65 14 5.
“This is what it means” Epict 1 1 31–32.
verbatim notes These are The Discourses of Epictetus, written by Arrian.
in the expected high Roman fashion See Shakespeare, A & C 4 15 92. 49 Paete, non dolet Pliny Ep 3 166.
“It is in your power” Epict 12 19–21.
“Dear me, I seem to be becoming a god!” Suet Vesp 23 4.
“An emperor ought to die on his feet.” For the two versions of the story, see Suet Vesp 24 and Dio 66 17 1–3.
Vespasian had in fact been poisoned Dio 66 17 1.
“people did not know” Dio 66 23 5.
“the whole world was dying with me” Pliny Ep 6 20 17.
“At the beginning of his reign” Suet Dom 31.
“shaking the thunderbolt of purity” Stat Silv 52 102.
the senior Vestal, Cornelia For Cornelia’s trial and execution see Pliny Ep 4 11 passim.
unfazed by the contrast There is no good reason to resist the unanimity of the sources on this topic.
“he was not only physically lazy” Dio 67 6 3.
“bed-wrestling” Ep de Caes 11 7.
“shrewd in his understanding of warfare” Dio 67 61.
“dreaming of battle” Juv 4 111–12.
subsidy of about 8 million sesterces See Jones, p. 74.
the emperor agreed to provide military engineers Dio 67 4.
exhibits displayed as campaign spoils Dio 67 72.
“Rulers find themselves” Suet Dom 21.
Trajan received the culminating reward In the ensuing brief discussion about Trajan’s career, I follow Bennett, pp. 43–45.
VI. ON THE TOWN
Chief literary sources—Suetonius, Dio Cassius, Pliny, and Epictetus
“young patrician who had had his tunic torn off” Pliny Ep 4 16.
behest of one of the consuls for 94 A plausible speculation in Birley, p. 30, regarding the consul C. Antius A. Julius Quadratus.
“We want bears!” Hor Ep 21 182–213.
The emperor Caligula Suet Cal 36, 55, 57.
Nero acted as one himself Suet Nero 16, 26.
an eccentric old noblewoman Pliny Ep 7 24.
Apuleius, in his picaresque novel Apul Met 10 29–35, for the following paragraphs.
a similar spectacle actually occurred Mart Lib de Spect 6 (5).
Appuleius Diocles For Diocles’ detailed and boastful funerary inscription, see Sherk 167 (CIL 6 1000 48; ILS 5287).
Eutyches Sherk 168 (CIL II 4314; ILS 5299).
“standing down there below them” Dio 62 17 4.
Cicero found the whole business vulgar Cic Fam 713.
An ingenious recent calculation Col pp. 91–94.
one dud arm Juv 6 106–10.
one beast, beaten for failing to learn a trick Pliny NH 86.
death of a pregnant wild sow Mart Lib de Spect 14.
“Time was when their plebiscite” Juv 10 78–81.
the complete gallery of horrors According to the HA H
adr 19 8, Hadrian was a frequent spectator at gladiatorial shows when emperor. He presumably acquired the taste when young.
Massa … served as governor of Baetica For Massa’s trial and its consequences, Pliny Ep 7 33.
“A soldier marched in” Plut Mor Curiosity 522d.
“I stood among the flames” Pliny Ep 3 11 3.
“In Rome reckless persons” Epict 4 13 5.
VII. FALL OF THE FLAVIANS
Chief literary sources—Historia Augusta, Dio Cassius, and Pliny
Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome Page 39
