While I am very happy with my previous post, I’d also like to share the following with you in honor of Divus Hadrianus. I try not to let any “major” holy-days pass by without writing at least a bit of poetry for the occasion, and this is my offering in that regard for this year’s observance.
The epigraph of the poem is from the Historia Augusta, on the “signs” before Hadrian’s death that his death was approaching. Of course, as you can guess by the content of that line, it was highly suggestive for me in the context of Antinous’ wider cultus.
Somnium Hadriani Leonis
“Besides this, he dreamed that he was overcome by a lion.”
–Historia Augusta Hadriani 26.10
“Father Trajan, bring me to that land
where Odysseus’ men at the lotus flower.”
Trajan, at the helm of a great barque,
steered to the port of Alexandria on Egypt’s shores.
He shook hands with Isis and Serapis in their temples,
then the god pointed to something over his shoulder.
A titanic lion lumbered up to Hadrian,
a red Nile lotus flower in its mouth.
“I have come to slay you,” the lion said,
the lotus’ stem becoming mangled amidst its jaws.
“No, for I have slain lions greater than you,”
but the Emperor’s nerve was shaken at its words.
“It is not with claws or teeth that I harm–
it is with this,” and the lion trampled the lotus.
The Emperor’s eyes filled with tears;
“If you had not come, he would not be dead…
“You killed Antinous, your beloved, as if Herakles
and not the nymphs drowned his Hylas.”
The Emperor cried out, startled awake, gasping, inconsolable,
begging his servants to bring a knife for his end.
Antinous saw this, and knew it for a lie,
for the soporific drugs did not speak truth.
May we never forget the Greekling Emperor, the lover of Antinous, and may we never fail to praise him!
Ave Dive Hadriane Auguste!
Ave Dive Hadriane Auguste!
Ave Dive Hadriane Auguste!
In profundis tristitiae, nunquam oblivisci ut aliquando non solum leones venatus sumus sed etiam illos letavimus.
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