CHAPTER XVI
REFORMS OF HADRIAN—PUNISHMENT OF FATHERS—VALERIUS MAXIMUS—FAVOURITE STREETS IN ROME FOR LEAVING ABANDONED CHILDREN—MUTILATING CHILDREN FOR PROFIT.
NEVER, it has been said, had the human race enjoyed a state of prosperity equal to that under the reign of Hadrian, the successor to Trajan, and like him a philosopher among emperors. From Nerva to Marcus Aurelius—the five emperors, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius—there was a reign of philosophy. Indeed they may also be called the emperors of the children for the reforms they accomplished and initiated—working as they did, contrary to the entire law and tradition of their country, and without the inspiration of complete knowledge of the intellectual and spiritual conditions that were governing them.
ANTONINUS PIUS, CONSECRATOR OF THE WORLD’S FIRST PROTECTIVE FOUNDATION BENEFIT FOR GIRLS
CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, EMPEROR-PROTECTOR OF THE ROMAN CHILD
To appreciate all that Hadrian did, one must remember that he had Plutarch for a master, Suetonius for his secretary, and Phlegon, his freedman, as amanuensis to write the history of his reign. As a youth he had studied all the philosophic systems including that of Epictetus, and showed an acquisitive spirit. Had he lived in our age of private railway cars probably he would have spent little time at the Capitol: in a time when travel was both disagreeable and dangerous he journeyed back and forth over his great domain, to the dissatisfaction of the Romans, but to his own greater knowledge of his people and consequent greater humanitarianism.