] bareheaded, and never
assumed a hat or a cap, a _petasus_ or a _galerus_, a Macedonian _causia_,
or a _pileus_, whether Thessalian, Arcadian, or Laconic, unless when they
entered upon a journey. Nay, some there were, as Masinissa and Julius
Caesar, who declined even on such an occasion to cover their heads. Perhaps
in imitation of these celebrated leaders, Hadrian adopted the same
practice, but not with the same result; for to him, either from age or
constitution, this very custom proved the original occasion of his last
illness.
Imitation, indeed, was a general principle of action with Hadrian, and the
key to much of his public conduct; and allowably enough, considering the
exemplary lives (in a public sense) of some who had preceded him, and the
singular anxiety with which he distinguished between the lights and
shadows of their examples. He imitated the great Dictator, Julius, in his
vigilance of inspection into the civil, not less than the martial police
of his times, shaping his new regulations to meet abuses as they arose,
and strenuously maintaining the old ones in vigorous operation.
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