<論説>憎まれた賢帝ハドリアヌス : 政治史からみた五賢帝時代の実相

Abstract

今日ローマ五賢帝の中でも特に「賢帝」の美名をほしいままにしているハドリアヌスは、実は当時の政治支配層たる元老院議員たちからひどく憎まれており、死後あやうく「暴君」のレッテルを貼られるところであった。何故彼は憎まれたのか。それは単に彼の複雑な性格、強い個性に帰されるべきものなのだろうか。本稿はこうした素朴な疑問から出発する。そして、彼の即位をめぐる問題、四元老院議員処刑事件、帝位継承者選定問題の考察を通じてその政権の本質を解明することを試みた。その際、これらの重要事件を個々別々に、あるいは事件史的方法で検討するのではなく、プロソポグラフィー的研究の与えるデータを政治史研究の中へ取り込みながら、当時の政界、とりわけ元老院議員階層の実体に即して検討し、治世全体を通じて一貫した説明を与えようと努めた。その結果、ハドリアヌスの登位が政治支配層内部での重大な勢力交替を意味したこと、後継者選定問題が政権を支える政治支配層の動向と密接な関わりをもっていたこと、そしてハドリアヌス憎悪の背景もそのあたりに求められることなどが明らかになった。そうした考察の成果に基づき、筆者は五賢婦時代の政治史に関する通説的説明を批判するとともに、元首政という政治体制の重要な性格についても言及している。

When Hadrian, the third of the Five Good Emperors. died in 138 A. D., the Senate wished to annul his acta. Had his successor Antoninus not expended himself in urgent pleading and threats, Hadrian would have been branded as a tyrant. Why was he hated by the Senate? Because of his complicated character and very forcefull personality? In this article, beginning with this simple question, we have tried to clarify the character of Hadrian's politics. Our arguments are as follows. On 9 August 117 it was announced at Antioch that Trajan had adopted Hadrian as his successor. When, on the 11th, the news of his death reached Antioch, the Syrian army proclaimed Hadrian the emperor. Because the circumstances were ambiguous, however, his adoption has been suspected of being fictitious. Despite a great deal of effort to get at the truth about this affair, modern scholars cannot reach a final and trustworthy solution. So we have tried to consider the significance of his accession from a different point of view ; the significance for the senatorial aristocracy. Our detailed prosopographical data can show us that the establishment of Hadrian's government caused a change in the leading part of the senatorial aristocracy. New elite, whose leaders were Spanish senators, arose, and the influential men of Trajan's age declined. The execution of the four consulars in 118 was the most horrible incident in the process of this change. So Hadrian was hated by the senators who had been powerful during the reign of Trajan, especially the senators of Italian stock. But Hadrian before long became independent of his Spanish party. At the end of his reign he adopted L. Ceionius Commodus, an Italian aristocrat as his successor, and oppressed his own Spanish relatives. So he was hated again, this time by some senators of Spanish stock. After the death of Commodus, Hadrian adopted Antoninus. By this adoption Hadrian intended to unite two powerful groups, Italian and Spanish. His plan resulted in great success. But his reputation with many senators was very poor because of the memory of the senators executed in 118 and 136.