Trajan, the first emperor who was not a native of Italy, was born at Italica, in Spain, and was about forty years of age at the death of Nerva. His memory was so much revered among the Romans, that, two hundred and fifty years later, the Senate hailed the accession of the new emperor with the prayer that he might be happier than Augustus, better than Trajan. He was free from every vice except an occasional indulgence in wine. His mind was naturally strong, his manners pleasing, his appearance noble and imposing. He desired only to restore the simple manners and virtuous habits of an earlier
Age.
Trajan, after his adoption by Nerva, entered upon his high office at Cologne, and then travelled toward Rome. In A. D. 99 he entered that city on foot, followed by a small retinue, and was received with general good will. He abolished the trials for high treason, judicia majestatis, which had made Rome so often a scene of terror, restored freedom of speech to the Senate, revived the Comitia for the election of magistrates, and bound himself by oath to observe the laws. He punished the principal informers, banishing many of them to the barren islands around Italy, while he at once, by severe measures, reduced the turbulent Praetorians to obedience. His wife Plotina, who
Was a woman of excellent character, with her sister Marcina, revived by their virtues the dignity of the Roman matron. The society of the city was purified, and the family of the emperor offered an example of propriety that produced an excellent effect upon the manners of the higher ranks.
Among the first acts of Trajan was the foundation of public schools for the education and maintenance of poor children in various parts of Italy. He founded, too, the Ulpian Library at Rome, and adorned every part of his empire with magnificent buildings, roads, bridges, and various useful improvements. He seemed to live, in fact, wholly for his people, and passed his life in devising and executing plans for their advantage.
When Decebalus, king of the Dacians, sent to demand the tribute which had been promised him by Domitian, Trajan refused to be bound by the disgraceful treaty, and, having levied an army of 60,000 men, marched against the Dacians, who had boldly advanced across the Danube. A terrible battle took place, in which the Romans were victorious; but so great was the slaughter that sufficient linen could not be obtained to dress the wounds of the soldiers, and Trajan tore up his imperial robes to supply their wants. He took the capital of the Dacian king, defeated him in various encounters, and compelled him (A. D. 102) to make peace, giving up a part of his territory. Having returned to Rome, Trajan received from the Senate the surname of Dacicus. But in A. D. 104 the Dacians again rose in arms, and the Senate declared Decebalus a public enemy. Trajan led an army in person against the barbarians, and, to provide for an easy access to their territory, built a stone bridge across the Danube of immense size and strength, fortified at each end with towers. He next advanced into the midst of the hostile country, took the capital of the Dacians, and reduced them to subjection. Decebalus, in despair, fell by his own hand. All Dacia, comprising the modern countries of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania, was made a Roman province; and several Roman colonies were planted among the barbarians, thus for the first time preparing for the spread of civilization in that savage country. Trajan now returned to Rome, to triumph a second time for his Dacian successes. He also began that famous Column in commemoration of his victories which still stands at Rome, and which shows in its rich sculpture the various captives and spoils of the Dacian war.
Arabia Petraea was also at this time added to the Roman Empire,
After which a peace of several years succeeded. In A. D. 114, a Parthian war breaking out, Trajan hastened to the East, and, having passed the winter at Antioch, witnessed a severe earthquake, which shook that city as well as all Syria. He himself escaped with difficulty from a falling house. In the spring, at the head of his legions, he overran Armenia and formed it into a province. He next built a bridge across the Tigris, resembling that upon the Danube, and led his army into Assyria, a country never yet visited by a Roman general. He took Babylon and Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian kingdom, and, sailing down the Tigris, passed through the Persian Gulf, and annexed a large portion of Arabia Felix to his empire. The Jews, too, about this time revolted, but were subdued, after a brave resistance, and treated with great severity. His Eastern conquests, however, proved by no means secure, and his new subjects revolted as soon as his armies were gone. In A. D. 117 Trajan entered Southern Arabia to complete the subjection of that country, when he was seized with a dropsy and forced to return to Rome. He did not reach that city, but died, August 9th, A. D. 117, at Selinus, in Cilicia. His ashes were carried to Rome, and placed under the magnificent column which recorded his Dacian victories.
During Trajan’s reign, the empire, already too extensive, was made more unwieldy by his various conquests. He was evidently ambitious of the fame of a conqueror, and possessed many of the qualities of an able general. He was also a skilful ruler of his immense dominions, leaving no portion unprotected by his vigilance. The only stain upon his fame is his persecution of the Christians, whom he continued to treat with severity even when convinced of their perfect innocence.
After the conclusion of the Dacian war he celebrated games
And spectacles, which are said to have lasted through four months, and in which ten thousand gladiators fought and suffered for the entertainment of the people - a proof that the Romans were yet, in some respects, barbarians. Trajan, however, forbade the performance of indecent pantomimes. Trajan’s bridge across the Danube is described by Dion Cassius as of greater importance than any of his other works. He designed it to form an easy access to his Dacian province. It was formed of twenty stone piers, distant about 170 feet from each other, and sixty feet wide: they were probably connected by arches of wood. Trajan also began to make roads across the Pontine Marshes, and founded several public libraries. Pliny the younger, who lived during this reign, was the most eminent literary man of the time, and wrote a fine panegyric upon his friend the emperor. Pliny saw the first eruption of Vesuvius, in which his uncle and adopted father, the elder Pliny, perished. He was a person of great wealth and uncommon generosity, having given 300,000 sesterces yearly to maintain the children of the poor in his native town of Comum. His letters to Trajan show that he was an excellent master, husband, and friend, and we may well believe that in this happy period many Romans resembled Trajan and his learned correspondent.
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