Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome (58 page)

“held back the Sarmatians”
HA Hadr 39.

“restrained the procurators”
Ibid., 39.

“One was said to ask a wealthy man”
Ep de Caes 42 21.

“maintained military discipline”
HA Hadr 39.

in recognition of his successful record
HA Hadr 3 10.

“So great was the friendship”
Dio 68 15 4–6.

One of these concerned a spring
Pliny Ep 4 30.

“He was no longer despised”
HA Hadr 3 10.

“zeal that he had secured
imperium”
Epit de Caes 13 6.

with its thirty legions
This was the legionary strength after Trajan raised two additional legions, probably during the Dacian wars.

He treated them as personal friends
Eutropius 84.

“He joined others in animal hunts”
Dio 68 73; and the next quotation, “took more pleasure …”

“what the emperor decides”
Digest 14 1Pr.

“Appello Caesarem”
Acts 25 11.

defendants condemned in absentia
Digest 48 19 5.

a remote bridge in Numidia
Smallwood 98.

he was nicknamed “the Wallflower”
Amm Marc 27 3 7.

Even the decisions of a “bad” emperor
For example, see Pliny Ep 10
66
.

the celebrated
tabula alimentaria
Now in the National Archaeological Museum of Parma.

The tablets give detailed information
CIL 1455 and 11.1147.

identify needy children
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.

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.

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 Parthia’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.