Sabina’s urgency would not alone have sufficed to put a term to his hesitancy, especially as it had lately been farther increased by a wish that was all his own.  His wife’s heart had pined for a child, but he too had longed for a son, and he had found one in Antinous.  His favorite was a boy he had picked up by chance, the son of humble though free parents, but it lay in the Emperor’s power to make him great, to confer on him the highest posts of honor in the Empire, and at last to recognize him publicly as his heir.  Antinous, if any one, had deserved this at his hands, and on no other man could he so ungrudgingly bestow everything that he possessed.

These ideas and hopes had now filled his mind for many months, but the nature and the mood of the young Bithyman had been more and more adverse to them.

Hadrian had striven more earnestly than his predecessors to raise the fallen dignity of the Senate, and still he could count securely on its consent to any measure.  The leading official authorities of the Republic had been recognized and allowed the full exercise of their powers.  To be sure, be they whom they might, they all had to obey the Emperor, still they were always there; and even with a weak ruler at its head the Empire might continue to subsist within the limits established by Hadrian, and restricted with wise moderation.  Nevertheless, only a few months previously he would not have ventured to think of the adoption of his favorite.  Now he hoped to find himself somewhat nearer to the fulfilment of his wishes.  It is true Antinous was still a dreamer; but in their wanderings and hunting excursions through Egypt he had proved himself gallant and prompt, intelligent, and, after their departure from Thebes, even bold and lively at times.  Antinous, under this aspect, he himself might take in hand, and even name him as his successor in due time, when he had risen from one post of honor to another.  For the present this plan must remain unrevealed.

When he publicly adopted Verus any idea of a possible new selection of a son was excluded, and he might unhesitatingly venture to appoint Sabina’s darling his successor, for the most famous of the Roman physicians had written to Hadrian, by his desire, saying that the praetor’s undermined strength could not be restored, and that, at the best, he could only have a limited number of years to live.  Well, then, Verus might die slowly and contentedly in the midst of the most splendid anticipations, and when he should have closed his eyes it would be time enough to set the dreamer—­by that time matured to vigorous manhood—­in the vacant place.

On the return journey from Thebes to Alexandria Hadrian met his wife at Abydos, and revealed to her his intention of proclaiming the son of her choice as his successor.  Sabina thanked him with an exclamation of “At last!” which expressed partly her satisfaction, but partly too her annoyance at her husband’s long delay.  Hadrian gave her his permission to return to Rome from Alexandria, and on the very same day messages were despatched with letters both to the Senate and to the prefects of Egypt.