Hadrian’s particular penchant was architecture, and his predominant vices were vanity and jealousy, both of which were manifested in his practice of that art. The magnificent villa which he erected at Tiber, where he spent his declining years, and the ruins of which even now cover a space equal to a large town, would indicate this, as well as the grandiose mausoleum which towered high above the banks of the Tiber at Rome, and which is now depleted of much of its statuary and ornamentation, the Christian church of Saint Angelo. The treatment which he accorded Trajan’s great architect, the accomplished Apollodorus, is still another evidence of his vanity. Hadrian, like Louis I. of Bavaria, found delight in practising personally the profession of architecture, and drew plans of buildings, which the people thought was unbecoming a prince. Possibly this objection was raised to discourage their ruler rather than the more truthful one that his plans were not up to the high standard of his time. However that may be, he insisted upon their being executed, and it is said was rather pleased if the architects found fault with them. But this was not the case with Apollodorus, whether because of what he had accomplished for his predecessor Trajan, or because of professional jealousy. Apollodorus was the architect of the Trajan column, composed of only twenty-four stones, although one hundred and twenty-eight Roman feet in height, and the square which surrounded it, considered the most beautiful assemblage of buildings then known. The relief carvings which were wound spirally around the Trajan column like a ribbon, represented the incidents of the expedition against the Darians. The column supported a statue of Trajan, which Pope Sextus V. substituted for one of Saint Peter. A greater absurdity can hardly be conceived than that of placing a peaceful apostle over the warlike representations of the Dacian war. Apollodorus was also the architect and engineer of the great bridge which stretched across the Danube in lower Hungary, which was formed of twelve piers and twenty-two arches, said to have been the grandest use of the arch in such works. Each arch was sixty feet wide and one hundred and fifty feet high. The total height of the bridge was three hundred feet and its length a mile and a half. Hadrian destroyed this magnificent work, some say through fear of its use by barbarians, others through jealousy. Perhaps the circumstances attending the death of Apollodorus would point to the second reason as the true one.