Editing Hadrian (section)

==Appraisals==
[[File:Busts of Hadrianus in Venice cropped.jpg|thumb|left|Bust of Emperor Hadrian]]

Hadrian has been described as the most versatile of all Roman emperors, who "adroitly concealed a mind envious, melancholy, hedonistic, and excessive with respect to his own ostentation; he simulated restraint, affability, clemency, and conversely disguised the ardor for fame with which he burned."<ref>''Varius multiplex multiformis'' in the anonymous, ancient ''[[Epitome de Caesaribus]]'', 14.6: [http://www.roman-emperors.org/epitome.htm trans. Thomas M. Banchich, Canisius College, Buffalo, New York, 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108100827/http://www.roman-emperors.org/epitome.htm |date=8 November 2020 }} Retrieved 24 March 2018</ref><ref>cf Ronald Syme, among others; see Ando, footnote 172</ref> His successor [[Marcus Aurelius]], in his ''[[Meditations]]'', lists those to whom he owes a debt of gratitude; Hadrian is conspicuously absent.<ref>McLynn, 42</ref> Hadrian's tense, authoritarian relationship with his Senate was acknowledged a generation after his death by Fronto, himself a senator, who wrote in one of his letters to Marcus Aurelius that "I praised the deified Hadrian, your grandfather, in the senate on a number of occasions with great enthusiasm, and I did this willingly, too [...] But, if it can be said&nbsp;– respectfully acknowledging your devotion towards your grandfather&nbsp;– I wanted to appease and assuage Hadrian as I would [[Mars Gradivus]] or [[Dis Pater]], rather than to love him."<ref>"Wytse Keulen, Eloquence rules: the ambiguous image of Hadrian in Fronto's correspondence". [http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/literaryinteractions/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Eloquence-rules-working-paper1.pdf] Retrieved 20 February 2015</ref> Fronto adds, in another letter, that he kept some friendships, during Hadrian's reign, "under the risk of my life" (''cum periculo capitis'').<ref>James Uden (2010). "The Contest of Homer and Hesiod and the ambitions of Hadrian". ''[[Journal of Hellenic Studies]]'', 130 (2010), pp. 121–135. [https://open.bu.edu/bitstream/handle/2144/5437/uden_jhs_2010.pdf?sequence=1]. Accessed 16 October 2017</ref> Hadrian underscored the autocratic character of his reign by counting his ''dies imperii'' from the day of his acclamation by the armies rather than the senate and legislating by frequent use of [[Constitution (Roman law)|imperial decrees]] to bypass the need for the Senate's approval.<ref>Edward Togo Salmon,''A History of the Roman World from 30 B.C. to A.D. 138''. London: Routledge, 2004, {{ISBN|0-415-04504-5}}, pp. 314f</ref> The veiled antagonism between Hadrian and the Senate never grew to overt confrontation as had happened during the reigns of overtly "bad" emperors because Hadrian knew how to remain aloof and avoid an open clash.<ref>Paul Veyne, ''L'Empire Gréco-Romain'', p. 40</ref> That Hadrian spent half of his reign away from Rome in constant travel probably helped to mitigate the worst of this permanently strained relationship.<ref>Birley, ''Restless Emperor'', p. 1</ref>

[[File:The emperor Hadrian, Archaeological Museum of Astros.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|Bust of Hadrian with an Antinous-shaped gorgoneion, 2nd century AD, Museum of Astros, [[Greece]].]]

In 1503, [[Niccolò Machiavelli]], though an avowed [[republicanism|republican]], esteemed Hadrian as an ideal ''princeps'', one of Rome's [[Five Good Emperors]]. [[Friedrich Schiller]] called Hadrian "the Empire's first servant". [[Edward Gibbon]] admired his "vast and active genius" and his "equity and moderation", and considered Hadrian's era as part of the "happiest era of human history". In [[Ronald Syme|Ronald Syme's]] view, Hadrian "was a [[Führer]], a [[Duce]], a [[Caudillo]]".<ref>See also Paul Veyne, ''L'Empire Gréco-Romain'', p. 65</ref> According to Syme, [[Tacitus]]' description of the rise and accession of [[Tiberius]] is a disguised account of Hadrian's authoritarian Principate.<ref>Victoria Emma Pagán, ''A Companion to Tacitus''. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, 2012, {{ISBN|978-1-4051-9032-9}}, p. 1</ref> According, again, to Syme, Tacitus' [[Tacitus Annals|Annals]] would be a work of contemporary history, written "during Hadrian's reign and hating it".<ref>Marache, R.: R. Syme, Tacitus, 1958. In: ''Revue des Études Anciennes''. Tome 61, 1959, n°1–2. pp. 202–206. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1959_num_61_1_3617_t1_0202_0000_2]. Accessed 30 April 2017</ref>

While the balance of ancient literary opinion almost invariably compares Hadrian unfavourably to his predecessor, modern historians have sought to examine his motives, purposes and the consequences of his actions and policies.<ref>Susanne Mortensen: ''Hadrian. Eine Deutungsgeschichte''. Habelt, Bonn 2004, {{ISBN|3-7749-3229-8}}</ref> For M.A. Levi, a summing-up of Hadrian's policies should stress the [[Ecumene|ecumenical]] character of the Empire, his development of an alternate bureaucracy disconnected from the Senate and adapted to the needs of an "enlightened" [[autocracy]], and his overall defensive strategy; this would qualify him as a grand Roman political reformer, creator of an openly [[absolute monarchy]] to replace a sham senatorial republic.<ref>Franco Sartori, "L'oecuménisme d'un empereur souvent méconnu : [review of] M.A. Levi, ''Adriano, un ventennio di cambiamento''". In: ''Dialogues d'histoire ancienne'', vol. 21, no. 1, 1995. pp. 290–297. Available at [http://www.persee.fr/doc/dha_0755-7256_1995_num_21_1_2249]. Retrieved 19 January 2017</ref> [[Robin Lane Fox]] credits Hadrian as creator of a unified Greco-Roman cultural tradition, and as the end of this same tradition; Hadrian's attempted "restoration" of Classical culture within a non-democratic Empire drained it of substantive meaning, or, in Fox's words, "kill[ed] it with kindness".<ref>''The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian''. New York: Basic Books, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-465-02497-1}}, p. 4</ref>