Hadrian
Aelii Spartiani
De Vita
Hadriani
I. Origo imperatoris Hadriani vetustior a Picentibus, posterior ab Hispaniensibus manat; si quidem Hadria ortos maiores suos apud Italicam Scipionum temporibus resedisse in libris vitae suae Hadrianus ipse 2commemorat.1 Hadriano pater Aelius Hadrianus cognomento Afer fuit, consobrinus Traiani imperatoris; mater Domitia Paulina Gadibus orta, soror Paulina nupta Serviano, uxor Sabina, atavus Marullinus, qui primus in sua familia senator populi Romani fuit.
3Natus est Romae VIIII kal. Feb. Vespasiano septies
Hadrian
Hadrian
by
Aelius Apartianus
I. The original home of the family of the Emperor Hadrian was Picenum, the later, Spain; for Hadrian himself relates in his autobiography1 that his forefathers came from Hadria,2 but settled at Italica3 in the time of the Scipios. The father of Hadrian was Aelius Hadrianus, surnamed Afer, a cousin of the Emperor Trajan; his mother was Domitia Paulina, a native of Cadiz; his sister was Paulina, the wife of Servianus,4 his wife was Sabina,5 and his great-grandfather’s grandfather was Marullinus, the first of his family to be a Roman senator.
Hadrian was born in Rome6 on the ninth day before24 Jan., 76. the Kalends of February in the seventh consulship
- 1For the Autobiography of Hadrian, now lost, cf. c. xvi. It seems to have been written toward the close of his life, and, to judge from scanty citations from it, its purpose was to contradict current statements about himself which he considered derogatory to his reputation and to present him in a favourable light to posterity.
- 2An ancient town of Picenum, which became a Roman colony, probably about the time of Sulla.
- 3In Hispania Baetica, on the Baetis (Guadalquiver), founded by Scipio Africanus about 205 b.c., received the rights of a municipality under Julius or Augustus, and was made a colony by Hadrian.
- 4L. Julius Ursus Servianus frequently mentioned in this biography. He governed several provinces under Trajan, and was made consul for a third time by Hadrian in 134. On his death in 136, see c. xxiii. 2, 8; xxv. 8; Dio, lxix. 17.
- 5See c. ii. 10 and note.
- 6This is, of course, a fiction, and the biography contradicts itself, for Italica is clearly the patria referred to in c. ii. 1 and 2, and c. xix. 1.