Although this was not necessarily seen as a "good" move in Ancient times, we can clearly see today, that Trajan aimed for too much in expanding the empire to as far East as he did. Hadrian quickly fixed the problem, which would later increase his popularity and keep his empire safe. As a history student, it is clear that his motives here, made him a "good" emperor, by regarding the security of his kingdom, not considered by many emperors before him. .
Whilst, Hadrian was in the East, he left his affairs in Rome in the hands of Acilius Attianus. Many of Trajan's generals became jealous and there was talk of rebellion. Acting in Hadrian's interest (but whether Hadrian knew of this is unknown) Attianus collected the four senators and had them executed. After a year, Hadrian returned, to find that the senate was strongly against him for ordering the deaths of four of their most powerful deaths-Although there was no proof directly connecting him to the action. With any threat of rebellion totally gone, Hadrian forced Attianus to retire and left him with loads of honor. Although this was an obvious flaw in Hadrian's ascend to a "good" emperor, he quickly regained public favor by making liberal gifts to the people and staging many gladiatorial contests. .
Hadrian now held a strong political post and popularity with no threats of competition to his position. A highly cultivated man, Hadrian surrounded himself with poets, philosopher and scholars and openly explored the different cultures he was interested in. Naming him one of the most cultured of Rome's emperors, ever since a young age, Hadrian developed a fondness for Hellenic, Greek culture. He then embarked on a four-year tour of the empire, where he visited Greece, Asia Minor, Gaul, Germany, Britain and Spain. The official reason was to inspect the troops and check on the frontier defenses. He returned with a passion for Greek architecture, literature and art.
