1171.) Aurel.

Victor.] The caprice of Hadrian influenced his choice of a successor.
After revolving in his mind several men of distinguished merit, whom he esteemed and hated, he adopted Aelius Verus a gay and voluptuous nobleman, recommended by uncommon beauty to the lover of Antinous.

[40] But whilst Hadrian was delighting himself with his own applause, and the acclamations of the soldiers, whose consent had been secured by an immense donative, the new Caesar [41] was ravished from his embraces by an untimely death.

He left only one son.

Hadrian commended the boy to the gratitude of the Antonines.