Caesar Trajanus Hadrianus (24 January 76 A.D.– 10 July 138 A/D.).

According to the Historia Augusta, the Emperor Hadrian composed the following poem, speaking for all of us, in his last days, while dying of heart failure.

Animula vagula blandula
Hospes comesque corporis
Quae nunc abibis in loca?
Pallidula rigida nudula
Nec ut soles dabis iocos

Poor little, wandering, charming soul
Guest and companion of my body,
To what place will you go now?
Pale, stiff, naked little thing,
Nor then will you make jokes as usual.

“The oldest doors still in use in Rome. Cast in bronze for emperor Hadrian’s rebuilding, they date from about 115 AD.

Each door is solid bronze seven and a half feet wide & twenty-five feet high, yet so well balanced they can be pushed or pulled open easily by one person.

Becky for scale.”

HT: Kimball Corson.

Wikipedia Pantheon article.

Bronze head from a statue of the Emperor Hadrian, found in the River Thames in London. British Museum.