The Death of Lucius Caesar

After the deaths of Fuscus, Serviana and whoever else, Hadrian thought his house of cards was well in order. Just a month after the executions, his heir Lucius Caesar returned from Pannonia where he had been sent by the Emperor to oversee the defense of the Danube frontier for the year. The climate had taken its toll on the perpetually bedridden new Caesar. On January 1, 138, Lucius Caesar died, sending Hadrian's perhaps too clever by half, succession plans into disarray. Titus Aurelius Follvis, Boyonius Arius Antoninus was just about the last man anyone would have guessed Hadrian would adopt as his heir.