The Memoirs of Hadrian is a fictional autobiography first published in French by Marguerite Yourcenar in 1951. Composed as the reflections of the real Roman Emperor Hadrian, who ruled in 117-138 CE, the book was well-received by critics and readers and is considered Yourcenar’s best work as well as one of the best 20th century French novels. The English version of the Memoirs was translated by Grace Frick, in collaboration with the author, and published in the US by Farrar Straus Giroux in 1954. In presenting an aging emperor looking back on the 20 years of his rule, reflecting on his political achievements as well as his personal losses, Yourcenar blends philosophy and narrative into a meditation on memory and human experience, and explores a historical age long past.

This guide relies on the FSG Classics paperback edition reprinted in 2005.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature references to enslavement, animal sacrifice, suicidal ideation, illness, and death by suicide.

Plot Summary

The Memoirs of Hadrian are divided into six parts, each given a title in Latin. After the opening section, which introduces a ill and aging narrator nearing the end of his life, the next five sections proceed in chronological order to reflect on the major events of that life. The memoirs are written in the first-person and begin with an address to “My dear Mark” (3), identified later as the young Marcus Aurelius, the real Hadrian’s adopted grandson. However, after this, direct addresses to this internal audience are rare, and the narrative is made up entirely of flashback and exposition. There is no dialogue in the text, and little in the way of dramatic scenes. Instead, the movement of the work depends on the flow of the narrator’s internal monologue and his engagement with the themes of legacy, empire, mortality, justice, rule, and the pleasures and tragedies of human life.

In the first section, the aging emperor reflects on the physical pleasures that he has been obliged to give up. These include hunting, riding, the ability to enjoy food, restful sleep, and sex. He wonders how to make sense of his life and concludes that, even if he is not able to give his life a clear summary or heroic arc, he will nonetheless hold court with his memories, in hopes that they might in time be of educational value for Mark.

In his early years in the region of Italica (in present-day Spain), Hadrian recalls being impressed by his hard-working grandfather. When his father dies, Hadrian has guardians who oversee his education and his entrance into the army. Time spent in Athens inspires Hadrian’s lifelong admiration for Greek art and culture. He is successful in the army and admired for his own merits, but he is also the cousin to the popular hero, Trajan, who eventually becomes emperor. Though Hadrian does not personally approve of Trajan’s ambitions for conquest and his military efforts to expand the northern and eastern reaches of the Roman Empire, Hadrian continues serving in the army and in various government positions, gathering influence and experience. When Trajan dies, his wife and empress, Plotina, produces documents naming Hadrian as Trajan’s heir. Hadrian always wonders to what extent Plotina interceded for him on the matter of succession, but as he greatly admires her, he never asks.

As emperor, Hadrian sets to putting in place the policies and practices he thinks are best. He is guided by the principles of justice, stability, and harmony, and he believes that true prosperity is achieved, not by war, but by fruitful commerce, wise administration, and laws that prohibit cruelty. He has no great love for the city of Rome and spends little time there, or with his wife, Sabina. He proposes greater discipline for the army, reforms laws, and commissions building or rebuilding projects wherever he sees the need. Some of his favorite projects are temples in Athens and Hadrian’s Wall in England. He professes a love of travel and enjoys learning about the various cultures within his Empire, which he wants to see coexist in peace. While Hadrian expresses curiosity about magic and the divine, and is initiated into various cults, including that of Mithras and the Eleusinian Mysteries, he primarily approaches governance pragmatically.

Hadrian experiences attraction to both men and women. He becomes deeply attached to Antinous, a young man he meets in Asia Minor. Antinous becomes his companion and lover, and the narrator describes time with him as the “fabulous years” (154), his own Golden Age. Everything Hadrian touches during that time turns out well. He designs the Parthenon in Rome as well as his own eventual tomb; he watches the sun rise from the top of Mount Aetna; rainfall on the day of his arrival in Carthage marks the end of a drought. Antinous adores him as if he were a god, and Hadrian feels like one. He wonders, in hindsight, if his infatuation for Antinous would have eventually waned, but he never finds out, because Antinous, not yet 20 years old, drowns while they are traveling on the Nile River in Egypt. Hadrian is convinced the boy died by suicide out of superstition that his death could add years to Hadrian’s life, and the grief and guilt the emperor feels is immense. He founds the city of Antinoöpolis, has Antinous deified, and establishes a cult to worship him. He also commissions images of Antinous that he has placed across the empire, including at his villa in Rome. Hadrian notes that others think his grief is immoderate, but after the death of Antinous, his Golden Age is over.

Hadrian spends the latter years of his reign reforming property, law, and culture; he wants to see Rome endure as the inheritor of Greek civilization. He institutes the Perpetual Edict in Rome and the Panhellenic Assemblies in Greece. One defeat of his reign is the rebellion of the Jewish people led by Simon bar-Kochba. The Roman legions eventually win, but at the cost of great destruction. Hadrian is unhappy that Jewish communities in Judea refuse to assimilate to Roman ways. During the war, he falls seriously ill and realizes it is time to choose his successor.

After his first choice dies, Hadrian selects Antoninus, an upstanding senator, and asks Antoninus to adopt Marcus Aurelius as his own successor. Hadrian imagines that Antoninus will back Hadrian’s changes and hopes that Rome will endure, even if the vagaries of history mean there will be challenges and changes. As his illness worsens, Hadrian contemplates death and his legacy, including how the cult of Antinous has taken on a life of its own. The text concludes with a translation of a poem the real Hadrian composed on the subject of death, which he says he wants to meet it with open eyes.