236
HADRIAN.
the period from Aristarchus to Dion is one which has no
distinct character of its own. The Greek literature which
prevailed at Rome in the time of Augustus was bad. Greek
rhetoricians then flocked to Rome, just as in the last century
French abbés flocked to Germany to teach their language;
and they corrupted the Romans and spoiled their taste.
Livy stands forth as one great man during that period. This
state of things, namely a prevalence of Greek, though there
was no longer any literature in it, remained to the detriment
of Rome till the time of Seneca, sophistry alone keeping pace
with the fashionable language. After Seneca, there were two
schools in Roman literature, which existed contemporaneously
—the school of Scneca and that of the Greek rhetoricians—
until the appearance of Quinctilian, the restorer of a good and
pure taste in Romanliterature. From his age till the time of
Tacitus, there was a new classical aera, which, however, did not
last. Greek literature again revived, and made the same
fascinating impression upon the Romans as it had on its first
introduction at Rome. In the time of Hadrian it was so gene-
rally cultivated, that all persons of education wrote Greek.
Under the Antonines every thing became IIellenised ; taste
underwent a change; and an arehælogieal pleasure in what was
antiquated and in imitating the Greeks, became quite
prevalent.
LECTURE CXX.
Hadrian was married to a daughter of Marciana, the sister of
Trajan ; and this was the cause of his elevation. Even IfPlotina
prepared for Trajan the form of Pladrian’s adoption, she did no
evil, for it had undoubtedly been Trajan’s intention to make
him his successor. The Romans of a later generation said that
it was doubtful whether Hadrian should be reckoned among the
good or the bad princes; and strong arguments may be urged
on either side, for he committed acts of cruelty, which are a
sad stain on his memory: but he also did much good, and if
we excuse his cruelties by tracing them to the state of his mind
during his last illness, it must be owned that his government
INSURRECTION OF THE JEWS.
237
was more beneficial to the Roman world than that of any other
ruler; and I therefore reckon him among the good sovereigns.
No Roman emperor before him had looked upon himself as the
real master of the world, but merely as the SoveieignofRome,
or at most, of Italy. Trajan’s cares too had been mainly de-
voted to Italy, and what was done in the provinces was, for
the most part, of a military nature. Hadrian was the first who
understood his real position.
His reign passed almost without any wars ; and, if we except
the insurrection of the Jews, we hear only of trifling military
operations, that, for example, against the revolted Mauretanians,
whom he reduced very speedily. He was the first emperor
who adopted the system of giving subsidies to the nations on
the frontiers, in order to induce them to remain quiet. Of
Trajan’s conquests he maintained Dacia only; his claims to
Armenia were left undecided, and the possessions beyond the
Tigris were given up. The insurrection of the Jews in Cyprus
and Cyrene, where they were very numerous, was accompanied
with very great violence. They had attempted it before, but
the war was now carried on by Barcochba with furious rage
and fanaticism, prompted by the Consciousnessness that he
would be subdued. The consequence was the total extermina-
tion of the unfortunate Jews in Palestine, with the exception
of the Sainaiitans. The city of Jeiusalem was restored as a
military colony under the name of AeliaCapitolinal, whichname
continued to be used even in the Christian centuries, and the
Arabic writers still call it Ilia, or the Holy City, and not Jeru-
salem. No Jew was allowed to live in it, or even to approach
it so near as to be able to see the summit of Mount Moriah.
This war was the only shock which the Roman empire expe-
rienced in the reign of Hadrian; but it was, after all, of no
great importance. '
His reign, which lasted nearly twenty-two years, was thus
free from any remarkable calamity; and, as it passed away in
almost uninterrupted peace, it may be regarded as one of the
happiest periods of the empire. His first noble act after his
accession was the remission, to the amount of 900 millions ses-
terces of the arrears of taxes, which the subjects of Rome owed
to the state.2 But whether these arrears were remitted in
1 Spartian. Hadrian, 13; Dion Cass. Ixix. 2, foil. ; EnsJnus, Hist. Eccles, iv. 6.
2 Dion Cass. Ixix 8; Spartian. Hadrian, 7; Orelli, Inscript. Lat. n. 805.