5
These acts were charged against him as offences, and so were also his great exactness, his superfluous labors, and his divided interests. But he healed the wounds made and recovered favor by his general care, his foresight, his grandeur and his skill. Again, he did not stir up any war and ended those already in progress. He deprived no one of money unjustly, and upon many peoples and private citizens and senators and knights he bestowed large sums. He did not wait to be asked, but was certain to act each time according to each man's needs. The military he trained with great precision, so that its strength rendered it neither disobedient nor insolent. Allied and subject cities he aided most munificently. He had seen many that no other emperor had even set eyes upon, and he assisted practically all of them, giving to some water, to others harbors, or food, or public works, or money, and to still others various honors.
6
As a leader of the Roman people he was distinguished for force rather than for flattery. Once, at a gladiatorial contest, when the crowd was urging its petition strongly, he not only would not grant its wish, but further ordered this command of Domitian's to be proclaimed: "Be silent." The words were not uttered, though. The herald raised his hand and by that very gesture quieted the people as he had been accustomed to do. (They are never silenced by proclamation). Then, when they had become quiet, he said: "This is what he wishes." Hadrian was not in the least angry with the herald; on the contrary, he honored him for not publishing the rudeness of the order. He could endure such things and was not displeased if he was aided in any unexpected way and by chance comers. It must be admitted that once, when a woman passed him on some road and preferred a request, he at first said to her: "I haven't time." Afterwards, when she cried out loudly, saying: "Don't be emperor, then", he turned about and granted her a hearing.
7
He transacted through the senate all serious and most urgent business and he held court with the assistance of prominent men now in the palace or again in the Forum, the Pantheon, and in many other places, always on a platform, so that what was done was open to public inspection. Sometimes he would join the consuls when
they
were trying cases, and he showed them honor at the horse-races. When he returned home he was accustomed to be carried in a litter, in order not to trouble any one to accompany him. On days neither sacred nor public he remained at home, and admitted no one even long enough to greet him, unless it were some urgent matter; this was to relieve the courtiers of needless annoyance. Both in Rome and abroad he always kept the noblest men about him; and he used to join them at banquets, which led to his being often carried in their litters as one of a party of four. As frequently as possible he went hunting, and he breakfasted without wine; in fact, most of his food was served without any accompanying beverage; and often in the midst of a meal he would turn his attention to a case at law: later he would drive in the company of all the foremost and best men, and their eating together was the occasion for all kind of discussions. When his friends were very ill, he would go to see them, and he used to attend their festivals, besides evincing pleasure at visiting their country seats and houses. As might have been expected, then, he set up in his forum images for many who were dead and many still alive. No one of his associates, moreover, displayed insolence nor sold aught that he should pronounce or perform, as the Caesarians and other attendants in the suite of emperors have made it their custom to do.
8
This is a kind of preface, of a summary nature, I have been giving in regard to his character. I shall also touch upon all the details that require mention.
The Alexandrians had been rioting and nothing would make them stop until they received a letter from Hadrian rebuking them. So true it is that an emperor's word has more power than force of arms.
A.D. 118 (a.u. 871)
On coming to Rome he canceled debts owing to the imperial treasury and to the public treasury of the Romans, setting a limit of sixteen years, from which and as far back as which this provision was to be observed. On his own birthday he gave a spectacle to the people free of charge, and slaughtered numbers of wild beasts,--one hundred lions and a like number of lionesses biting the dust on this one occasion. Gifts, likewise, he brought about by means of balls both in the theatres and in the hippodrome, one lot for the men and one lot for the women. Indeed, he had also commanded them to battle separately.
9
This, then, was what happened that year. Euphrates the philosopher also died a death of his own choosing; and Hadrian assented to his drinking hemlock in consideration of his extreme age and sickliness. Hadrian went from one province to another, visiting the districts and cities and observing all the garrisons and fortifications. Some of these he removed to more desirable locations, some he abolished, and he founded some new ones. He personally oversaw and investigated absolutely everything, not merely the usual appurtenances of camps,--I mean weapons and engines and ditches and enclosures and palisades,--but also the private affairs of each one, and the lives, the dwellings and the characters both of the men serving in the organization, and of the commanders themselves. Many cases of too delicate living and equipment he harmonized with military needs and reformed in various ways. He exercised the men in every variety of battle, honoring some and reproving others. He taught all of them what they ought to do. And to make sure that they should obtain benefit from observing
him
, he led everywhere a severe existence and walked or rode horseback on all occasions. Never at this period did he enter either a chariot or a four-wheeled vehicle. He covered his head neither in heat nor in cold, but alike in Celtic snows and under scorching Egyptian suns he went about with it bare.
A.D. 119 (a.u. 872)
In fine, so thoroughly by action and exhortations did he train and discipline the whole military force throughout the whole empire that even now the methods then introduced by him are the soldiers' law of campaigning. This best explains why he lived for the most part at peace with foreign nations. As they saw what support he had and were victims of no injustice, but instead received money, they made no uprising. So excellently had his soldiery been trained, that the cavalry of the so-called Batavians swam the Ister with their heavy armor on. Seeing this the barbarians stood in terror of the Romans, and turning their attention to their own affairs [
78
] they employed Hadrian as an arbitrator of their differences.
10
He also constructed theatres and held games as he traveled about from city to city, dispensing, however, with the imperial paraphernalia. This he never used outside of Rome. His own country, though he did her great honor and bestowed many proud possessions on her, he nevertheless did not set eyes upon.
He is said to have been enthusiastic over hunting. Indeed, he broke his collar-bone in this pursuit and came near losing a leg. And to a city that he founded in Mysia he gave the name of Adrianotherae.
A.D. 121 (a.u. 874)
However, he did not, while so occupied, leave undone any of the duties pertaining to his office. Of his enthusiasm for hunting his horse Borysthenes, which was his favorite steed for the chase, gives us an indication. When the animal died, he prepared a tomb for him, set up a slab, and placed an inscription upon it. Hence it is scarcely surprising that when Plotina died, the woman through whom he had secured the imperial office, and who was passionately in love with him, he honored her to the extent of wearing mourning garments for nine days, building a temple to her, and composing several hymns to her memory.
When Plotina was dead, Hadrian praised her and said: "Though she asked much of me, she was never refused aught." By this he surely meant to say: "Her requests were of such a character that they neither burdened me nor afforded me any justification for saying no."
He was so skillful in hunting that once he brought down a huge boar with a single blow.
11
On reaching Greece he became a spectator at the Mysteries.
A.D. 122 (a.u. 875)
After this he passed through Judaea into Egypt and offered sacrifice to Pompey, about whom, he is said to have uttered this verse:
Strange lack of tomb for one with shrines o'erwhelmed! [79]
And he restored his monument, which had fallen to ruin. In Egypt also he restored the so-called City of Antinous. Antinous was from Bithynium, a city of Bithynia which we also call Claudioupolis; he had been a favorite of the emperor and had died in Egypt, either by falling into the Nile, as Hadrian writes, or, as is more probably the truth, by being offered in sacrifice. For Hadrian, as I have stated, was in general a great dabbler in superstitions and employed divinations and incantations of all kinds. Accordingly, he honored Antinous either because of his love for him or because he had voluntarily submitted to death (it being necessary that a life be surrendered voluntarily for the accomplishment of the ends he had in view), by building a city on the spot where he had suffered this fate and naming it after him: and he further set up likenesses, or rather sacred statues of him, practically all over the world. Finally, he declared that he had seen a star which he assumed to belong to Antinous, and gladly lent an ear to the fictitious tales woven by his associates to the effect that the star had really come into being from the spirit of Antinous and had then appeared for the first time.
A.D. 133 (a.u. 886)
On this account he became the object of some ridicule [as also because the death of his sister Paulina he had not immediately paid her any honor[Lacuna]]
A.D. 133 (a.u. 886)
12
In Jerusalem he founded a city in place of the one razed to the ground, naming it Aelia Capitolina, and on the site of the temple of the god he raised a new temple to Jupiter. This brought on a war that was not slight nor of brief duration, for the Jews deemed it intolerable that foreign races should be settled in their city and foreign religious rites be planted there. While Hadrian was close by in Egypt and again in Syria, they remained quiet, save in so far as they purposely made the weapons they were called upon to furnish of poorer quality, to the end that the Romans might reject them and they have the use of them. But when he went farther away, they openly revolted. To be sure, they did not dare try conclusions with the Romans in the open field, but they occupied advantageous positions in the country and strengthened them with mines and walls, in order that they might have places of refuge whenever they should be hard pressed, and meet together unobserved under ground; and in these subterranean passages they sunk shafts from above to let in air and light.
13
At first the Romans made no account of them. Soon, however, all Judaea had been up-heaved, and the Jews all over the world were showing signs of disturbance, were gathering together, and giving evidence of great hostility to the Romans, partly by secret and partly by open acts; many other outside nations, too, were joining them through eagerness for gain, and the whole earth, almost, was becoming convulsed over the matter. Then, indeed, did Hadrian send against them his best generals, of who Julius Severus was the first to be despatched, from Britain, of which he was governor, against the Jews. He did not venture to attack his opponents at any one point, seeing their numbers and their desperation, but by taking them in separate groups by means of the number of his soldiers and his under-officers and by depriving them of food and shutting them up he was able, rather slowly, to be sure, but with comparatively little danger, to crush and exhaust and exterminate them. Very few of them survived.
14
Fifty of their most important garrisons and nine hundred and eighty-five of their most renowned towns were blotted out. Fifty-eight myriads of men were slaughtered in the course of the invasions and battles, and the number of those that perished by famine and disease and fire was past all investigating. Thus nearly the whole of Judaea was made desolate, an event of which the people had had indications even before the war. The tomb of Solomon, which these men regarded as one of their sacred objects, fell to pieces of itself and collapsed and many wolves and hyenas rushed howling into their cities.
Many Romans, moreover, perished in the war. Wherefore Hadrian in writing to the senate did not employ the opening phrase commonly affected by the emperors: "If you and your children are in health, it shall be well: I and the armies are in health."
A.D. 134(?)
Severus [
80
] he sent into Bithynia, which needed no force of arms but a governor and presiding officer who was just and prudent and had a reputation. All these qualifications Severus possessed. And he managed and administered both their private and their public affairs in such a way that we [
81
] are still, even to-day wont to remember him. [Pamphylia in place of Bithynia was given into the jurisdiction of the senate and the lot.]
15
This, then, was the ending that the war with the Jews took. A second war was started among the Alani (they are Massagetae) by Pharasmanes. On Albanis and Media he inflicted severe injury and then laid hold on Armenia and Cappadocia, after which, as the Alani were on the one hand persuaded by gifts from Vologaesus and on the other stood in dread of Flavius Arrianus, the governor of Cappadocia, he stopped. [Envoys were sent from Vologaesus and from the Iazygae; the former made some charges against Pharasmanes and the latter wanted to confirm the peace. [?] [
82
] introduced them to the senate and was empowered by that body to return appropriate answers; and accordingly he prepared and read to them his responses.]
16
Hadrian completed the Olympieum in Athens, in which his own statue also stands, and consecrated there a serpent, which was brought from India. He also presided at the Dionysia, the greatest office within the gift of the people, and arrayed in the local costume carried it through brilliantly. He allowed the Greeks, too, to build his sepulchre (called the Panellenium), and instituted a series of games to be connected with it; and he granted to the Athenians large sums of money, annual corn distribution, and the whole of Cephallenia.--Among various laws that he enacted was one to the effect that no senator, either personally or through the medium of another, should have any tax farmed out to him.
A.D. 135 (a.u. 888)
After he had come to Rome, the crowd at a spectacle shouted their request for the emancipation of a certain charioteer: but he replied by means of a writing on a board: "It is not right for you either to ask me to free another's slave or to force his master to do so."
17
He now began to be sick, having suffered even before this from blood gushing from his nostrils: this flow now grew very much more copious, so that he despaired of his life. Consequently, he appointed as Caesar for the Romans Lucius Commodus, although this man frequently vomited blood.
A.D. 136 (a.u. 889)
Servianus and his grandson Fuscus, the former a nonagenarian and the latter eighteen years of age, were put to death on the ground that they were displeased at this action. Servianus before being executed asked for fire, and as he offered incense he exclaimed: "That I am guilty of no wrong, ye; O Gods, are well aware: and as for Hadrian I pray only this, that he may desire to die and not be able." And, indeed, Hadrian did come to his end only after often praying that he might expire and often feeling a desire to kill himself. There is in existence also a letter of his which lays stress on this very matter, showing what a dreadful thing it is for a man to desire to die and not be able. This Servianus had been by Hadrian deemed capable of filling the imperial office. He had once at a banquet told his friends to name for him ten men who were competent to be sole rulers, and then after a moment's pause, had added: "I want to know
nine
: I have one already, Servianus."
18
Other excellent men, also, had come to light during that period, of whom the most distinguished were Turbo and Similis, who, indeed, were honored with statues.
Turbo was a man of great qualities as a general, who had become prefect (or commander of the Pretorians). He committed no act of luxury or haughtiness, but lived like one of the multitude: the entire day he spent in proximity to the palace and often he would go there even shortly before midnight, when some of the others were beginning to sleep. A characteristic anecdote is that which brings in the name of Cornelius Fronto, at this time reputed to be the foremost Roman advocate in lawsuits. One evening very late he was returning home from dinner and ascertained from a man whose counsel he had promised to be that Turbo was holding court. Accordingly, just as he was, in his dress for dinner, he went into his courtroom and greeted him not with the morning salutation,
I wish you joy
, but with that belonging to the evening,
I trust your health continues good
.
Turbo was never seen at home in the daytime even when he was sick; and to Hadrian, who advised him to remain quiet, he replied: "The prefect ought to die on his feet."
19
Similis, who was of greater age and more advanced rank, in character was second to none of the great men, I think. Very slight things may serve us as evidence. When he was centurion, Trajan had summoned him to enter his presence before the prefects, whereupon he said: "It is a shame for you, Caesar, to be talking with a centurion, while the prefects stand outside." And he took unwillingly at that time the command of the Pretorians, and after taking it resigned it. Having with difficulty secured his release he spent the rest of his life, seven years, quietly in the country, and upon his tomb he had this inscription placed: "Similis lies here, who existed so-and-so many years, but lived for seven."
Julius (?) Fabius (?), not being able to endure his son's effeminacy, desired to throw himself into the river.
A.D. 138 (a.u. 891)
20
Hadrian became consumptive as a result of the great loss of blood, and that led to dropsy. And as it happened that Lucius Commodus was suddenly removed from the scene by the outgushing of a large quantity of blood all at once, he convened at his house the foremost and most renowned of the senators; and lying on a couch he spoke to them as follows: "I, my friends, was not permitted by nature to secure offspring, but you have made it possible by legal enactment. There is this difference between the two ways,--that a begotten son turns out to be whatever sort of person Heaven pleases, whereas one that is adopted a man takes to himself because he chooses just that sort of being. Thus in process of nature a maimed and
A.D. 138 (a.u. 891)
senseless creature is often given to a parent, but by process of voluntary decision one of sound body and sound mind is certain to be selected. For this cause I formerly chose out Lucius from among all, a person of such attainments as I could never have prayed to find in a child. But since the Heavenly Power has taken him from among us, I have found an emperor in his place whom I now give you, one who is noble, mild, tractable, prudent, neither young enough to do anything reckless nor old enough to neglect aught,--one brought up according to the laws, who has held possession of authority according to his country's traditions, so that he is not ignorant of any matters pertaining to his office, but can handle them all effectively. I refer to Aurelius Antoninus here. Although I know him to be the most retiring of men and to be far from desiring any such thing, still I do not think that he will deliberately disregard either me or you but will accept the office even against his will."
21
So it was that Antoninus became emperor. Since he was destitute of male children, Hadrian adopted for him Commodus's son Commodus and, moreover, besides the latter, Marcus Annius Verus; for he wished to appoint those who were afterwards to be emperors for as long a time ahead as possible. (This Marcus Annius, earlier named Catilius, was a grandson of Annius Verus who had thrice been consul and prefect of the city). And though Hadrian urged Antoninus to adopt them both, he preferred Verus on account of his kinship and his age and because he already exhibited an extremely strong cast of mind. This led him to apply to the young man the name Verissimus, with a play upon the meaning of the Latin word.
22
By certain charms and species of magic Hadrian was relieved of the water, but shortly was full of it again. Since, therefore, he was constantly growing worse and might be said to be slowly perishing day by day, he began to long for death. Often he would ask for poison and a sword, but no one would give them to him. As no one would obey him, although he promised money and immunity, he sent for Mastor, an Iazygian barbarian that had become a captive, whom he had employed in hunts on account of his strength and daring. Then, partly by threatening him and partly by making promises, he compelled the man to undertake the duty of killing him. He drew a colored line around a spot beneath the nipple that had been shown him by Hermogenes the physician, in order that he might there be struck a finishing blow and perish painlessly. But even this plan did not succeed, for Mastor became afraid of the project and in terror withdrew. The emperor lamented bitterly the plight in which the disease had placed him and bitterly his powerlessness, in that he was not able to make away with himself, though he might still, even when so near death, destroy anybody else. Finally he abandoned his careful regimen and through using unsuitable foods and drinks met his death, saying and shouting aloud the popular saying: "Many physicians have ruined a king."
23
He had lived sixty-two years, five months and nineteen [
83
] days, and had been emperor twenty years and eleven months. He was buried near the river itself, close to the Aelian bridge; that was where he had prepared his tomb, for the one belonging to Augustus was full and no other body was deposited there.
This emperor was hated [by the people, in spite of his excellent reign] on account of the early and the late murders, since they had been unjustly and impiously brought about. Yet he had so little of a bloodthirsty disposition that even in the case of some who took pains to thwart him he deemed it sufficient to write to their native lands the bare statement that they did not please him. And if any man who had children was absolutely obliged to receive punishment, still, in proportion to the number of his children he would also lighten the penalty imposed. [Notwithstanding, the senate persisted for a long time in its refusal to vote him divine honors, and in its strictures upon some of those who had committed excesses during his reign and had been honored therefor, when they ought to have been chastised.]
After Hadrian's death there was erected to him a huge equestrian statue representing him with a four-horse team. It was so large that the bulkiest man could walk through the eye of each horse, yet because of the extreme height of the monument persons passing along on the ground below are wont to think that the horses themselves as well as Hadrian are very small.
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY70
70
Antoninus Pius, succeeding by adoption, effects the deification of Hadrian (chapter1).The cognomen Pius is bestowed upon Antoninus by the senate (chapter2).He showed little hostility toward the Christians: was careful in trifles: met a quiet death in old age (chapter3).Earthquake that damaged Bithynia, the Hellespontine region, and especially Cyzicus (chapter4).He is compared with Numa: his gentleness and kindliness (chapter5).He was intent upon justice, not upon enlarging the empire: hence the barbarians brought their quarrels to him to settle (chapters6,7).
Camerinus, Niger.(A.D. 138 = a.u. 891 = First of Antoninus, from July 10th).Antoninus Pius Aug. (II), Bruttius Praesens.(A.D. 139 = a.u. 892 = Second of Antoninus).Antoninus Pius Aug. (III), Aurelius Caesar (II).(A.D. 140 = a.u. 893 = Third of Antoninus).M. Peducaeus Sylloga Priscinus, T. Hoenius Severus.(A.D. 141 = a.u. 894 = Fourth of Antoninus).L. Cuspius Rufinus, L. Statius Quadratus.(A.D. 142 = a.u. 895 = Fifth of Antoninus).C. Bellicius Torquatus, Tib. Claudius Atticus Herodes.(A.D. 143 = a.u. 896 = Sixth of Antoninus).Avitus, Maximus.(A.D. 144 = a.u. 897 = Seventh of Antoninus).Antoninus Pius Aug. (IV), M. Aurelius Caesar (II).(A.D. 145 = a.u. 898 = Eighth of Antoninus).Sex. Erucius Clarus (II), Cn. Claudius Severus.(A.D. 146 = a.u. 899 = Ninth of Antoninus).Largus, Messalinus.(A.D. 147 = a.u. 900 = Tenth of Antoninus).L. Torquatus (III), C. Iulianus Vetus.(A.D. 148 = a.u. 901 = Eleventh of Antoninus).Sergius Scipio Orfitus, Q. Nonius Priscus.(A.D. 149 = a.u. 902 = Twelfth of Antoninus).Gallicanus, Vetus.(A.D. 150 = a.u. 903 = Thirteenth of Antoninus).Quintilius Condianus, Quintilius Maximus.(A.D. 151 = a.u. 904 = Fourteenth of Antoninus).M. Acilius Glabrio, M. Valerius Homullus.(A.D. 152 = a.u. 905 = Fifteenth of Antoninus).C. Bruttius Praesens, A. Iunius Rufinus.(A.D. 153 = a.u. 906 = Sixteenth of Antoninus).L. Ael. Aurelius Commodus, T. Sextius Lateranus.(A.D. 154 = a.u. 907 = Seventeenth of Antoninus).C. Iulius Severus, M. Rufinius Sabinianus.(A.D. 155 = a.u. 908 = Eighteenth of Antoninus).M. Ceionius Silvanus, C. Serius Augurinus.(A.D. 158 = a.u. 909 = Nineteenth of Antoninus).Barbaras, Regulus.(A.D. 157 = a.u. 910 = Twentieth of Antoninus).Tertullus, Sacerdos.(A.D. 158 = a.u. 911 = Twenty-first of Antoninus).Plautius Quintilius, Statius Priscus.(A.D. 159 = a.u. 912 = Twenty-second of Antoninus).T. Clodius Vibius Varus, App. Annius Atilius Bradua.(A.D. 160 = a.u. 913 = Twenty-third of Antoninus).M. Ael. Aurelius Verus Caesar (III), I. Ael. Aurelius Commodus (II).(A.D. 161 = a.u. 914 = Twenty-fourth of Antoninus, to March 7th).
I. From Dio:
A.D. 138 (a.u. 891)
1
It should be noted that information about Antoninus Pius is not found in the copies of Dio, probably because the books have met with some accident, so that the history of his reign is almost wholly unknown, save that when Lucius Commodus, whom Hadrian had adopted, died before Hadrian, Antoninus was also adopted by him and became emperor, and that when the senate demurred to giving heroic honors to Hadrian after his demise on account of certain murders of eminent men, Antoninus addressed many words to them with tears and laments, and finally said: "I will not govern you either, if he has become base and inimical and a national foe in your eyes. For you will of course be annulling all his acts, of which my adoption was one." On hearing this the senate both through respect for the man and through a certain fear of the soldiers bestowed the honors upon Hadrian.
2
Only this in regard to Antoninus is preserved in Dio. Yes, one thing more--that the senate gave him the titles both of Augustus and of Pius for some such reason as the following. When in the beginning of his imperial reign many men were accused and some of them had been interceded for by name, he nevertheless punished no one, saying: "I must not begin my career of supervision with such deeds."
LXIX, 15, 3
[When Pharasmanes the Iberian came to Rome with his wife, he increased his domain, allowed him to offer sacrifice on the Capitoline, set up a statue of him on horseback in the temple of Bellona, and viewed an exercise in arms of the chieftain, his son, and the other prominent Iberians.]
A.D. 139 (a.u. 892)
We do not find preserved, either, the first part of the account of Marcus Verus, who ruled after Antoninus and all that the latter himself did in the case of Lucius, son of Commodus, whom Marcus made his son-in-law, and all that Lucius accomplished when sent by his father to the war against Vologaesus. I shall speak briefly about these matters, gathering my material from other books, and then I shall go back to the continuation of Dio's narrative.
II. From Xiphilinus:
3
A.D. 153 (a.u. 906)
Antoninus is admitted by all to have been noble and good, not oppressive to the Christians nor severe to any of his other subjects; instead, he showed the Christians great respect and added to the honor in which Hadrian had been wont to hold them. For Eusebius, son of Pamphilus, cites in his Church History [
84
] some letters of Hadrian in which the latter is shown to threaten terrible vengeance upon those who harm in any way or accuse the Christians, and to swear by Hercules that they shall receive punishment.
Antoninus is said also to have been of an enquiring turn of mind and not to have held aloof from careful investigation of even small and commonplace matters; for this those disposed to scoff called him Cumminsplitter.
A.D. 161 (a.u. 914)
Quadratus states that he died at an advanced age, and that the happiest death befell him, like unto gentlest slumber.
A.D. 177(?)
4
In the days of Antoninus also a most frightful earthquake is said to have occurred in the region of Bithynia and the Hellespont. Various cities were severely damaged or fell without a building left standing, and in particular Cyzicus; and the temple there that was the greatest and most beautiful of all temples was thrown down. Its columns were four cubits in thickness and fifty cubits in height, each of a single block of stone; and each of the other features of the edifice was more to be wondered at than to be praised. Somewhere in the interior of the country the peak of a mountain rose upwards and surges of the sea are said to have gushed out, while the spray from pure, transparent sea-water was driven to a great distance over the land. [
85
] --So much is the account of Antoninus at present extant. He reigned twenty-four years.
III. Of Dio [or rather of Eutropius, or John of Antioch] . Taken from the Writings of Suidas.
5
This prince Antoninus was an excellent man and deserves to be compared especially with Numa on account of the similarity of his reign to that king's, just as Trajan was seen to resemble Romulus. The private life that Antoninus lived was thoroughly excellent and honorable, and in his position as ruler he seemed to be even more excellent and more prudent. To no one was he harsh or oppressive, but he was gracious and gentle toward all.
6