Antinous: A Romance of Ancient Rome
Adolf Hausrath
Paperback
(Forgotten Books, June 24, 2012)
In walking through the Roman Museums, we see no head so frequently as that of theE mperor Hadrian. Usually the bust of his favorite, A ntinous, stands near, and a greater contrast than the one presented by these two faces could scarcely be found on earth. The emperors countenance is a veiled secret the brow deeply shaded by the hair hanging over it; the neglected beard seems to proclaim indifference to the opinion of the world, and yet is said to be intended merely to hide an ugly mark; the glance is restless, at once complacent and distrustful; a stem expression, blended with one of merry sarcasm, hovers around the pinched lips; the wrinkled face reveals a shade of kindness, yet flashes with a look that reminds us of the storm of passions which furrowed the countenance. It is only an illustration of this portrait, when Hadrian sbiographer says that he was both sensual and temperate, a hardy soldier and effeminate courtier, at once grave and merry, condescending and dignified, hasty and irresolute, artful and frank, cruel and gentle, always inconsistent. Poet and scientist, artist and sculptor, architect and astronomer, he understood just enough of all these things to be thoroughly dissatisfied with the imperfection of his own performances. Tortured by ambitious jealousy of his predecessor Trajan, he had yet been unable to letam vfot ve: smost bnlljant coiiquests, and wM eY vs 3i Cc NaX(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text.