The title of this section is “Patience,” which is the attitude the ill narrator adopts at the end of his life while Confronting Mortality and Human Nature. In Rome, death by suicide was not considered a moral wrong or a social ill but an act in keeping with a code of honor. While considering whether to take this action, Hadrian does not dwell on Antinous’s death. Instead, he compares two other men: The death by suicide of the Stoic philosopher Euphrates in 118 seemingly points to a dignified ending. On the other hand, the death by suicide of the physician Iollas, who chooses it to avoid assisting Hadrian’s death, reminds Hadrian of the impact his death will have on the empire. He justifies his continued life as an act of service to Rome and a kindness to his friends, in keeping with his previous depictions of himself as a servitor rather than ruler. Hadrian also takes consolation in comparing himself to various figures: Arrian, remembered as an accomplished statesman, historian, and philosopher; the mythical Jason, hero of the epic poem Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes (known to modern audiences as Jason and the Golden Fleece); and Achilles, the legendary Greek hero of Homer’s Iliad who famously was driven to despair by the death of his young lover, Patroclus. These comparisons reflect what Hadrian prides himself on: statecraft, philosophy, his adventures, and his experience of love.

Drawing on the historical reality of the real Hadrian’s reign, Yourcenar characterizes her Hadrian’s thoughts about Rome as a reflection on Constructing Memory and Legacy, especially as it concerns culture and empire. Earlier, Hadrian despairingly foresees the end of the Pax Romana and the eventual disintegration of the Western Roman Empire into separate tribes and nations. Here, he modifies that fear into a vision of Rome surviving in new ways. He predicts non-Roman rulers adopting some Roman ways and imagines that some aspects of Roman art and culture will endure. He even anticipates the emergence of the Papal States, guessing that Vatican City would become the seat of power for the Catholic faith. For the first time, Hadrian acknowledges that things may not endure as he intended but accepts that his accomplishments will take on new meaning. Rome will indeed be eternal, which he takes as consolation.

The same idea of continuity through change is demonstrated by the growth of the cult of Antinous, which thrives in Antinoöpolis and throughout the empire. Hadrian sees this adulation of Antinous in part as a model of his love for his people, and in part as an illustration of how cultures adapt symbols to new meanings. This ability to reconcile different ideas has been a guiding principle of Hadrian’s character throughout the novel, so it fits that he takes pleasure in an instance of it here. Hadrian sees the cult of Antinous fondly as one of the highlights of his reign; he again compares himself to a gardener, associating his reign with nurture and harmonious arrangement. However, in keeping with the darker and wearier tone of this section, he also compares himself with Mars, the god of war, and Pluto, the god of the underworld—analogies reinforcing his mortal end.

The last passage of the novel is Yourcenar’s translation of a poem attributed to the historical Hadrian in the Latin collection of imperial biographies known as the Historia Augusta, which begins with the rule of Hadrian (this is possibly what Hadrian’s secretary Phlegon is working on, continuing Suetonius’ The Twelve Ceasars, [121 CE]). Though much of the authorship of the Historia is contested, this poem’s attribution to Hadrian is widely accepted. Its melancholy tone and its lack of concrete imagery about the nature of death or the afterlife align with Yourcenar’s choice to show Hadrian as both a rational man and a sensualist, curious about the otherworldly but not prone to superstition.

Yourcenar’s closing reflections on the composition of the novel provide insight into her approach to the novel, including the challenge of developing her approach to this fictional character based on a historical person.