ABSTRACT
Hadrian's departure for the provinces probably followed shortly after the new Festival of the Parilia. The exact date is a matter of guesswork. Even the coins do not announce a Profectio Augusti. That Hadrian was outside Italy during the year 121 is at any rate indicated by inscriptions of this year which give him the title proconsul - Trajan, as a show of republicanism or traditionalism of some sort, had started this practice. But there is no doubt about his destination: 'after this he set out for the Gallic provinces', the HA biographer states emphatically. There he continued the drive to gain popularity that he had displayed at Rome the past three years: 'He supported all of them [either all the provinces of Gaul or all the communities in Gaul] with largesses.'1
