text: I read this book several months ago, and I still can't shake the feeling of having read a very, very good book. The effect of Yourcenar's words still lingers.
  
  The text is an imagined valedictory letter or speech from emperor Hadrian to his successor. The emperor himself is dying, and faces a world that he is about to leave behind. He recalls his life, from being a young boy in his native Spain, to his ascension to the highest public post imaginable, that of emperor of Rome. Just as his professional career was incredible, so is the generosity and candidness of his "confession". There is seemingly no secret nook left untouched from his personal life. 
  
  In the end, having cast that final weight, his conscience, from off his shoulders, the emperor is at last able to turn away from one world and face another - that of the gods.   
  
  