The existence of a bronze statue much larger than life-size in London is therefore easily accounted for; but how this portion came to be in the Thames, close to where the old Roman timber bridge crossed it, and at what period it was thrown there, history does not tell. Pliny, speaking of statues, says "There is not a good town within our province in which they have not begun already to adorn their marketplaces with many such ornaments of brazen statues and images."
He also mentions one Zenodorus, an artist in Gaul, who fabricated many works of great skill. Hadrian, in his visits to the remote parts of the Empire, erected temples and other structures in the chief cities, and gave bountifully to the poor of all the places he visited, so that he gained the honourable title of "Locupletator orbis terrarum"; and perhaps this very statue may have decorated some building erected by him in London, for he was here for some time.
Next page: A city prospers