the wife of the emperor Hadrian was the grand-niece of Trajan, being the daughter of
Matidia, who was the daughter of Marciana, the sister of Trajan. Sabina was married to Hadrian
about A. D. 100 through the influence of Plotina, the wife of Trajan,
but not with the full approbation of the latter. The marriage did not prove a happy one.
Hadrian complained of his wife's temper, and said that he would have divorced her if he had
been in a private station; while she used to boast that she had taken care not to propagate
the race of such a tyrant. But, although Hadrian treated her almost like a slave, he would not
allow others to fail in their respect towards the empress; aud, accordingly, when Septicius
Clarus, the praefect of the praetorian cohorts, Suetonius Tranquillus, and many other high
officers at the court behaved rudely to her during the expedition into Britain, Hadrian
dismissed them all from their employments. Worn out by his ill-treatment Sabina at length put
an end to her life. There was a report that she had even been poisoned by her husband.
Spartianus speaks as if she had died about two years before Hadrian, and it appears from a
coin of Amisus, that she was alive in A. D. 136. Tillemont supposes that she did not die till
after the adoption of Antoninus, since the latter calls her his mother in an inscription.
This, however, is scarcely sufficient evidence. Antoninus was adopted in February, A. D. 138, and Hadrian died in July in the same year. (Spartian, Hadr. 1, 2, 11, 23; Aurel. Vict. Epit. 14.) Sabina was
honoured with the title of
Augusta, as appears from her medals.
She received her title at the same time as Hadrian was called Pater
Patriae. (Oros. 7.13.) Orosius supposes that this took place
at the beginning of the reign of Hadrian, but Eckhel has shown that it must be referred to
A. D. 128. Sabina was enrolled among the gods after her death, as we
see from medals which bear Divae Sabinae. She is frequently called Julia Sabina by modern writers lint the name of Julia is found only on the
forged coins of Goltzius. (Eckhel, vol. vi. pp. 519-523.)