A final thought on "Memoirs of Hadrian" (echoing Anthony Birley in the Epilogue of his biography)
His nature as described in the Historia Augusta, 14.11:
He was, in the same person, austere and genial, dignified and playful, dilatory and quick to act, niggardly and generous, deceitful and straightforward, cruel and merciful, and always in all things changeable.
and in the Epitome de Caesaribus, 14.6 (Aurelius Victor):
He was diverse, manifold, and multiform; as if a born arbiter with respect to vices and virtues, by some artifice he controlled intellectual impulse. He adroitly concealed a mind envious, melancholy, hedonistic, and excessive with respect to his own ostentation; he simulated restraint, affability, clemency, and conversely disguised the ardor for fame with which he burned.
I think Yourcenar does show us this Hadrian, even though in many ways her "Hadrian" is not the historic Hadrian.
A Note: Birley promotes the theory that the HA was written by Marius Maximus, and also that Aurelius Victor drew on Maximus as source.
