ABSTRACT
The well-known little poem by Hadrian, transmitted to us in the Vita Hadriani of the Historia Augusta and allegedly written or dictated by the emperor on his deathbed (et moriens quidem hos versus fecisse dicitur), is even today a matter of dispute as regards both text and interpretation. In the first line, the sheer repetition of diminutives has an almost seductive impact on our feelings and tends to push aside important semantic issues and their implications for the whole poem. The German notion ‘wandern’ may at first glance seem very apt as a self-characterization by an emperor who spent more time away from Rome on long travels than had any of his predecessors. According to Eitrem vagari is a proper word for describing souls that have left their bodies.
