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ADRIAN.

PUBLICS ELIUS ADRIANUS, Emperor of Rome, was born, A. D. 76. The Emperor Trajan, who had been his tutor, induced him to marry his niece, Sabina, and adopted him, after having put his talents and his valour to repeated trials. He became, successively, Prætor, Governor of Pannonia, and Consul. Adrian was, in some measure, indebted for his elevation, to the Empress Plotina, to whom he always evinced the greatest gratitude; and whom, after her death, he caused to be placed among the gods.

Adrian ascended the throne in the year 117, at the age of forty-one; and more desirous of securing peace to the empire, than of acquiring glory, the first use he made of his power was to abandon all the conquests that had been achieved by Trajan, and his predecessors, beyond the Euphrates; and to make that river the boundary of the Roman empire. He demolished the magnificent bridge, built by Trajan, across the Danube; and would even have made that river also a limit, and abandoned Dacia; but was restrained by the consideration of the vast number of Romans who were established in that province.

On his arrival at Rome, Adrian relinquished what was due to the imperial treasury during a period of sixteen years, and publicly destroyed all the records and obligations. He was accustomed to say, that an emperor

should imitate the sun, that illumined, without exception, every climate in the universe; and, in the third year of his elevation, began his travels into the several provinces of his empire, not thinking it his duty to rely, implicitly, upon those who governed them. Almost the whole of his reign was employed in these useful journies, which greatly contributed to the re-establishment of military discipline; marching always barefoot, and uncovered, at the head of his troops, in the most inclement seasons, and in the roughest roads-partaking the same food-and displaying, only in Rome, the magnificence of an emperor.

Perhaps no prince constructed so many private and public edifices. In almost every city he visited, he erected some memorial of his fame. He travelled into Gaul; from thence he went to Britain, where he built the famous wall, extending from the mouth of the Tyne to Solway Frith, to secure the Roman province from the incursions of the Caledonians. At Rome, he rebuilt the Pantheon, and many other monuments; threw a new bridge across the Tyber; and not far from thence constructed a magnificent tomb. This immence edifice was converted into a fortress when Rome was besieged by the Goths, upon whose ruins the castle of St. Angelo is placed. He founded several cities, and rebuilt many others; particularly Jerusalem; and honoured Adrianople with his name. To the former place, Adrian sent a Roman colony, and gave it the name of Elia Capitolina, having erected there a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, upon the scite where the temple, dedicated to the Supreme Being, formerly stood. This circumstance induced the Jews to revolt, and caused the massacre and almost the total ruin of that nation. He restored to the inha

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bitants of Alexandria, the privileges of which they had been plundered. But Athens was his favourite city; which he very frequently visited-adorned it with splendid edifices, and enriched the inhabitants by his liberality.

He returned to Rome about the twentieth year of his reign, and his health being on the decline, led him to turn his thoughts on a successor. He at first fixed upon Lucius Commodus Verus, who died before him ;—afterwards, he made choice of Titus Antoninus, the pious, enjoining Him to adopt Marcus Aurelius.

Adrian manifested great clemency upon his ascent to the throne. It was then that he said to one of his enemies, whom he embraced, You are now safe. But he was naturally cruel, and displayed his disposition on various occasions. In his latter years, when suffering under acute affliction, he entreated those who surrounded him to take away his life; exercising, at the same time, his savage propensity, and directing the execution of several of the most distinguished persons in the empire. Many senators were destined to share the same fate, but Antoninus apprising them of their danger, they kept themselves concealed until the death of Adrian, which happened at Baiæ, in Campania, in the year 138, at the age of sixty-two, after a reign of twenty-one years.

The Emperor was gifted with a prodigious memory, and was instructed in almost all the sciences; being at once distinguished as a philosopher-an orator-poetand grammarian. He was no less skilful in the fine arts, and extended his protection to literature; although he had the weakness to be envious of those who surpassed, or even equalled, him, in point of talent.

Adrian united all the laws that were in force in a single code, which he called the Perpetual Edict. He abolished the sacrifice of human victims. He published no particular decree against the Christians, but ordered the laws to be carried into effect that had been made to

their prejudice, which gave rise to a dreadful persecution. Convinced, however, in a little time, of their innocence, by the remonstrances that were presented to him, he put an end to the fury of their enemies, and conceived even the project of erecting a temple to Jesus Christ.

If Adrian may be reasonably reproached for his cruelty towards the first characters of the empire—his excessive superstition-his passion for Antinous, to whom he consecrated a temple-his severity towards his wife, Sabina and the readiness with which he, at all times, lent an ear to the accusations of informers:-it must be acknowledged, that he merited the gratitude of his people, by the continual anxiety he displayed to promote their peace and happiness; and, in a particular manner, for his judicious choice of Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius, as his successors.

On his death bed, he composed the following Latin verses, addressed to his soul, (translated by Pope,) which betray his uncertainty in regard to a future state :

Animula vagula, blandula
Hospes, comesque Corporis
Quæ nunc abibis in loca
Palledula, rigida, nudula
Nec, ut soles, dabis Jocos.

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