or, calling down destruction upon himself, if he shall
transgress these principles in any way. But] Still he was spoken against
on account of some murders of excellent men that he had sanctioned in the
beginning of his reign and near the end of his life. And for this reason
he came near not being enrolled among the heroes. Those murdered at the
beginning were Palma and Celsus, Nigrinus and Lusius, the first two for
the alleged reason that they had conspired against him during a hunt, and
the others on certain other complaints, because they had great influence,
or were in a strong position as regards wealth and fame. Hadrian felt so
keenly the talk that was made about them that he defended himself and
declared upon oath that he had not ordered their deaths. Those that
perished at the end of the reign were Servianus and his grandson Fuscus.

Hadrian was a pleasant man to meet and his presence shed a kind of grace.

[Sidenote:--3--] As for Hadrian's family, he was a son of [a man of
senatorial rank, an ex-praetor] Hadrianus, [for thus he was named]. In
regard to his disposition, he was fond of literature in both languages and
has left behind all kinds of prose pieces as well as compositions in
verse. His ambition was insatiable, and as a result he practiced all
conceivable pursuits, even the most trivial. He modeled and painted and
declared that there was nothing in peace or in war, in imperial or in
private life, of which he was not cognizant. [And this, of course, did
people no harm; but his jealousy of those who excelled in any branch was
terrible and] ruined many besides utterly destroying quite a few. [For,]
since he desired to surpass everybody in everything, [he hated those who
attained eminence in any direction.] This feeling it was which led him to
undertake the overthrow of two sophists, Favorinus the Gaul and Dionysius
the Milesian, [by various methods, chiefly] by stirring up their
antagonists [who were of little or no worth at all]. Dionysius is said to
have remarked at this time to Avidius [Footnote: Boissevain's reading.]
Heliodorus, who managed his correspondence: "Caesar can give you money and
honor, but he can't make you an orator." Favorinus was about to bring a
case before the emperor in regard to exemption from taxes, a privilege
which he desired to secure in his native city. Suspecting, however, that
he should be unsuccessful and be insulted in addition he entered the
courtroom, to be sure, but made no