Do not mistake me; I am not yet weak enough to yield to fearful imaginings, which are almost as absurd as illusions of hope, and are certainly harder to bear. If I must deceive myself, I should prefer to stay on the side of confidence, for I shall lose no more there and shall suffer less. This approaching end is not necessarily immediate; I still retire each night with hope to see the morning. Within those absolute limits of which I was just now speaking I can defend my position step by step, and even regain a few inches of lost ground. I have nevertheless reached the age where life, for every man, is accepted defeat. To say that my days are numbered signifies nothing; they always were, and are so for us all. But uncertainty as the place, the time, and the manner, which keeps us from distinguishing the goal toward which we continually advance, diminishes for me with the progress of my fatal malady....Already portions of my life are like dismantled rooms of a palace too vast for an impoverished owner to occupy in its entirety.
This book amazed me. Wonderful, imaginative writing that caused me to pause and think on almost every page. This is a book to put on my "read again" list. Written as a letter from a dying Hadrian to his successor, it is filled both with history, sage wisdom, and deep reflections on life. Yourcenar recreates ancient Rome in a novel that accurately recreates a most interesting time in ancient Rome. Beautifully written, almost like an epic poem.
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