The resignation of all the eastern conquests of Trajan was the first measure of his reign. He restored to the Parthians the election of an independent sovereign; withdrew the Roman garrisons from the provinces of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria; and, in compliance with the precept of Augustus, once more established the Euphrates as the frontier of he empire.~· Censure, which arraigns the public actions and the private motives of princes, has ascribed to envy, a conduct which might be attributed to the prudence and moderation of Had:-ian. The various character of that emperor, capable, by turns, of the meanest and the most generous sentiments, ma~ afford some color to the suspicion. It was, however, scarcely in his power to place the priority of his predecessor in a more conspicuous light, than by thus confessing himself unequal to the task of defending the conquests of Trajan.
哈德良繼位後的第一件事是放棄圖拉真在東部佔領的一切土地。他
讓帕提亞人重新選舉了自己的獨立自主的君王,從亞美尼亞、美索不達米亞和亞述諸省撤回了羅馬派去的駐軍;同時,按照奧古斯都的設想,再次定以幼發拉底河作為帝國的邊界。對親王們的公開行動和私下動機進行指責的評論,一直把可能是出之于哈德良的謹慎和溫和性情的行為,歸之于他的嫉妒心理。那位皇帝的時而猥瑣不堪,時而寬宏大量的多變的性格,的確可能使人難免產生那種懷疑。但是,無論如何,除了這樣承認自己無能保衛圖拉真已擴張的土地之外,他也再沒有別的辦法更能使得他的前任格外顯得功績輝煌
the retirement of his Lanuvian villa.26
Notwithstanding this difference in their personal conduct, the general system of Augustus was equally adopt~d and uniformly pursued by Hadrian and by the t'Yo Antonines. They persisted in the design of maintaining the dignity of the empire, without attempting to enlarge it~ limits. By every honorable expedient they invited the friendship of the barbarians; and endeavored to convince mankind that the Roman power, raised above the temptation of conquest, was actuated only by the love of order and justice. During a long period of forty-three years, their virtuous labors were crowned with success; and if we except a few slight hostilities, that served to exercise the legions of the frontier, the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius offer' the fair prospect of universal peace.21 The Roman name was re;ered among the most remote nations of the earth. The fiercest barbarians frequently submitted their differenCEs to the arbitration of the emperor, and we are informed by a contemporary historian, that he had seen ambassadors who were refused the honor which they came to solicit, of being admitted into the rank of subjects.
儘管他們在性格上十分不同,對於奧古斯都的總的設計,哈德良和兩個安東尼卻都是同樣接受和遵照執行的。他們全都堅持盡力維護帝國榮譽,但無意再進一步擴大帝國領土。通過每一次善意的遠征,他們力求獲得野蠻人的友情;並試圖使所有的人相信,羅馬帝國的建立,並非出於領土野心,而完全是出於熱愛秩序和公正和平的結果。在長達四十三年的時間中,他們的完全出于善意的努力終於取得了成功;而如果我們把幾次曾使邊疆地區的軍團採取行動的小衝突除外,哈德良和安東尼•庇烏斯的統治的確提供了一個普遍和平的前景。羅馬的名字在地球最邊遠地區的民族中也受到了極大的尊敬。最兇悍的野蠻人也
常把他們自己之間的爭端提請羅馬皇帝裁決;據當時的歷史學家記載,他們還看到,有一些外國使臣以作為羅馬子民為榮,曾自己提出願意歸順,卻遭到了拒絕。
公元125年,哈德良統治下的羅馬疆土,可以看到圖拉真征服得來既美索不達米亞,亞述和帕提亞行省已經被徹底放棄,以阿拉伯沙漠和幼發拉底河為疆界的羅馬與帕提亞國王締結和約,停止了東方的戰爭。哈德良幾乎連達西亞都想放棄,都考慮到當地出產的黃金對羅馬經濟至關重要,哈德良將達西亞并入默西亞。
身穿戎裝的哈德良