Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

INTRODUCTIONTO HADRIANP. Aelius Hadriaxus, who was born in a.d. 76,reigned as Trajan's successor from 117 till his deathin A.D. 138. His contradictory traits of character,summarised by Spartianus ^ in his Vita, indicated arestlessness of temperament which was reflected inthe physical restlessness of the perpetually travellingEmperor. He took genuine interest in army organisation,in agricultural prospects, in building schemes,and (as sho\\Ti during his visit to Britain, where Po?isAelii ^ commemorated his name) in the establishmentof frontier-lines. Prose and verse attractedhis dilettante tastes : in Latin he felt a preferencefor archaic writers—for Ennius rather than Virgil,for Cato rather than Cicero, and for Coelius Antipaterrather than Sallust : towards Hellenic thoughtand literature he was so much drawn that his courtierssecretly nicknamed him " Graeculus." Inscriptionshave preserved fragments of his military addi-esses,and at one time collections of his speeches were inexistence. His autobiographic books, which whetherfrom modesty or another motive he caused to bepublished under the names of his literary freedmen,became the direct or indirect ^ source of much in"^Hadr. xiv. ^ at Xewcastle-upon-Tyne.« J, Durr, Die Reisen d. Kaisers Hadrian, 1881 ; and J.Plew, Quellenuntersuchungen zur Gesch. d. Kaisers H., 890.439