Timeless wisdom of “Memoirs of Hadrian” by Marguerite Yourcenar
Week #2: reading a book by a female author every week of 2024
“Like a traveler sailing the Archipelago who sees the luminous mists lift toward evening, and little by little makes out the shore, I begin to discern the profile of my death.”
Marguerite Yourcenar’s “Mémoires d’Hadrien” is a fictional memoir of one of the greatest Roman Emperors, Hadrian, meant to serve as a guide for Marcus Aurelius, Hadrian’s grandson, on how to successfully rule the Roman Empire. In this retelling of Emperor Hadrian’s life, Yourcenar touches on the concepts of memory, legacy, and the relentless pursuit of meaning in the face of mortality. Through Hadrian’s perspective, Yourcenar encourages readers to live a life that is both authentic and rich in experiences, as well as to contemplate their place in the vastness of human existence.
Why would you write a retelling of your life for future generations? Are you doing this for them or just for the sake of memory itself? Maybe you’re trying to come to terms with the fact that your life is about to end, and you’re trying to pick up the pieces—glass shards that don’t seem to fit together at times. Are you trying to prove your life’s worth to yourself? Just by looking at the grandeur of your tomb, sheltered by a conspicuous mausoleum and adorned with loving yet laconic inscriptions in Latin, one can tell that your life matters to others, so why is this decoration for an already grand tomb? Marguerite Yourcenar tells us...
“Life is atrocious, we know. But precisely because I expect little of the human condition, man’s periods of felicity, his partial progress, his efforts to begin over again and to continue, all seem to me like so many prodigies which nearly compensate for monstrous mass of ills and defeats, of indifference and error. Catastrophe and ruin will come; disorder will triumph, but order will too, from time to time. Peace will again establish itself between two periods and there regain the meaning which we have tried to give them. Not all our books will perish, nor our statues, if broken, lie unrepaired; other domes and pediments will rise from our domes and pediments; some few men will think and work and feel as we have done, and I venture to count upon such continuators, placed irregularly throughout the centuries, and upon this kind of intermittent immortality.”
The reason becomes a little clearer. The goal is to tell a story that gives future emperors a glimpse into the perspective of an old world that is so alien to them. It is not to teach them how to live or to debate about which epoch is better, but rather to inform them honestly, hoping that they might continue carrying your legacy for ages to come. So all that’s left for you to do is tell the story of your life earnestly and with as much detail as your heart permits you to disclose. You don’t boast about what you’ve done, but you don’t dwell on your losses either. Instead, you write about what no one else could write about— your authentic view of the brief moment you spent in this world. The people you meet, the things you feel, and the thoughts you have—those are the things that are uniquely yours and can only be told authentically by you. So you tell your story—the only way you know how. And that is precisely what Hadrian does as he lies on his deathbed.
“The truth which I intend to set forth here is not particularly scandalous, or is so only to the degree that any truth creates a scandal. I do not expect your seventeen years to understand anything of it. I desire, all the same, to instruct you and to shock you, as well.”
During Emperor Hadrian’s rule from 117 AD to 138 AD, the Roman Empire enjoyed a time of relative peace and order. Unlike some previous rulers, who focused on expanding the empire’s borders, Hadrian was more interested in keeping things stable. He traveled a lot, making sure the provinces were running smoothly. He believed that all people, regardless of their background or nationality, had the potential to become productive and valuable members of Roman society.
”I was determined that even the most wretched, from the slaves who clean the city sewers to the famished barbarians who hover along the frontiers, should have an interest in seeing Rome endure.”
Hadrian was also interested in philosophy, which influenced his approach to governance. He believed in principles such as fairness, wisdom, and restraint in the exercise of power. He is renowned for constructing impressive structures like the Pantheon in Rome and Hadrian’s Wall in Britain.
Hadrian’s love life was as fascinating as the grand structures he built. In his memoirs, he bares his heart and reveals the depth of his affections. From his passionate love for Antinous, a young Bithynian youth whose tragic death left an indelible mark on Hadrian’s soul, to his political marriages aimed at securing alliances and stability within the empire, Hadrian tells a beautiful story about passion and longing confroted with the duty he had for the Roman Empire. Despite the constraints of his position as emperor, Hadrian pursued love with fervor and sincerity and saught companionship amidst the weight of his responsibilities.
Hadrian doesn’t appear to be a divine being devoid of human emotion nor is he characterized only by the greatness of his achievements. Hadrian shares with Marcus Aurelius details about his love life, hopes, dreams, and both the happiest and most disappointing moments of his life. The memoirs cease to be merely a guidebook for ruling the Roman Empire; instead, they become a puzzle of someone’s life assembling itself on paper as Hadrian grapples with the fast-approaching end of his life and reflects on it from a mature perspective.
Memoirs of Hadrian is a book that reads as if it were a genuine memoir rather than a piece of historical fiction. Marguerite Yourcenar tells the story of Hadrian—not just a historical figure in a school textbook, but a real human being with his own ambitions, desires, and regrets. This book is truly one that we are fortunate to come across even once in our lifetime. We are fortunate that, even for a brief moment, the history of humanity acquired a man like Hadrian or a woman like Yourcenar.
This was another great read, and one that will stick with me for a while. It took me a while to write this piece since I read the book in French, which surprisingly made it harder to form an opinion on it in English. I still stand by reading books in their original languages, but if you’re considering reading Memoirs of Hadrian in the English translation, this book might be an exception to the rule. Yourcenar was fluent in English and contributed greatly to the creation of the English translation, which turned out to be just as enthralling as the original text in French. Anyway, next week I’ll dive into another fiction book, which is The Giver by Lois Lowry, and I am very excited about it. So, make sure to check back next week to see me discuss it as well.
