Historians have traditionally formed a guarded view of Hadrian, acknowledged as one of Rome’s “good” emperors—he of caustic personality and obsession with Greece. The Victorians cast a disapproving eye on his passionate love life, and his legions devastated Judea. In Hadrian And The Triumph Of Rome (Random House, $30), Anthony Everitt, author of Cicero and Augustus, sets about restoring Hadrian’s status as one of the ancient world’s most significant figures. Rising from provincial origins, he became a prolific builder, and made the historychanging decision to limit the empire to natural frontiers.