MEMOIRS OF HADRIAN - Penguin Modern Classics

Hadrian, approaching death, writes a long valedictory letter to the young Marcus Aurelius, next but one in the line of succession. In 'the written meditations of a sick man who holds audience with his memories', Hadrian describes his accession and explains the philosophy that informed his rule over the powerful and far-flung Empire. An astonishing work; I have read nothing that surpasses it as a sustained and convincing exercise of the historical imagination...As a picture of the whole various Empire with its manners and beliefs, no less that as an imaginary portrait of its ruler, this can hardly be too vehemently commended'