PROSPERITY OF THE EMPIRE, A.D. 96.--COMMODUS, A.D. 180.--REIGN OF M.
COCCEIUS NERVA, A.D. 96-98.
This venerable man was sixty-four years old when he was proclaimed
emperor upon the death of Domitian. He was a native of the town of
Narnia, in Umbria, and his virtues had won him a general esteem. The
Prætorians, who had not been consulted in his election, never looked
upon him with favor, and Nerva was obliged to act with great caution. He
stopped trials for high treason, pardoned political offenders,
diminished taxes, recalled exiles, and strove by every honest art to
attain popularity. But the Prætorians, becoming mutinous, not only put
the murderers of Domitian to death, but forced the emperor to approve of
their act publicly. This insult was deeply felt by Nerva, who now
resolved to adopt a colleague, in order to increase his own authority.
He therefore selected M. Ulpius Trajan, a distinguished general, who was
in command of the army of Lower Germany.
We now enter upon the most pleasing period in the history of the Roman
Empire. During the next eighty years a general prosperity prevailed. The
emperors were all men worthy to command, and capable of giving
tranquillity to their vast dominions. Several of them were of the purest
morals, of high mental cultivation, and are still looked upon as
ornaments of the human race; and while they could not check the decline
of their people, these virtuous emperors prevented, for a time, the fall
of the Roman Empire.
Nerva, in order to elevate the condition of his people, purchased lands,
which he distributed among them, and he sought to make them feel the
necessity of labor and of self-dependence. But it was too late to reform
the manners of the indolent, licentious plebs, corrupted by the
indulgence of their tyrants. Nerva died of a fever, January 27, A.D.
98.
M. ULPIUS TRAJANUS, A.D. 98-117
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 traveled 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 Prætorians 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.
[Illustration]
Arabia Petræa 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 skillful 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.
REIGN OF HADRIAN, A.D. 117-138.
Hadrian, descended from a family of Hadria, in Picenum, was a military
commander, distinguished for his courage and activity. His father had
married an aunt of the late emperor, who, upon the father's death, was
appointed one of Hadrian's guardians. Yet it is supposed Trajan made no
nomination of a successor to the throne, and that his wife Plotina
forged the will by which the world was made to believe that he had
adopted Hadrian. This will was, however, published, and Hadrian entered
upon his government at Antioch, August 11th, A.D. 117, and was there
proclaimed emperor. The Senate, to whom he wrote a letter announcing his
appointment, at once confirmed him in his power. He now made peace with
the Parthians, and restored to Chosroes, their king, Assyria and
Mesopotamia. He adopted the policy of Augustus, refusing to extend the
limits of the empire. In A.D. 118 he returned to Rome, but was soon
forced to march to the defense of the province of Moesia, which had
been invaded by the Sarmatæ and Roxolani. His object being merely to
preserve the boundaries of the empire, he concluded a peace with the
Roxolani, and probably purchased their submission. He was about to march
against the Sarmatæ, when the news of a conspiracy at Rome was brought
to him. He seems to have ordered the leaders to be put to death,
although he afterward denied that he had done so. Having returned to
Rome, he endeavored to win the affections of the people by donations,
games, and gladiatorial shows. He also canceled a large amount of unpaid
taxes, now due for fifteen years, and promised the Senators never to
punish one of their body without their approval. He divided Italy into
four regions, a Consular Magistrate being placed over each; and he
introduced a new system of administration into the palace, the army, and
the state, which lasted until the reign of Constantine the Great.
In A.D. 119 he began a journey through all the provinces of his empire,
in order to examine into their condition, and to discover and amend any
faults in the system of government. Hadrian, too, was fond of travel,
and was never content to remain long in repose. A large part of his
reign was occupied with this important journey. He first visited Gaul
and Germany, and thence, in A.D. 121, passed over into Britain. Here he
found the Britons already partially civilized, but unable to defend
themselves from the incursions of their neighbors the Caledonians. To
protect them from these forays, he built a wall across the island from
the mouth of the Tyne to Solway, remains of which are still shown to the
traveler. On his return he adorned the town of Nemausus (Nismes) with
fine buildings, and then went into Spain, where he passed the winter. He
returned to Rome A.D. 122, but soon after went to Athens, where he spent
three years. During his residence in that city he began many magnificent
buildings, and he seems to have looked upon Athens with singular
affection and reverence. He visited Sicily, returned to Rome, set out
for Africa, whence, after a brief visit, he once more visited Athens, to
view the completion of his architectural designs. He finished the Temple
of the Olympian Jupiter, the largest and most magnificent in the world,
which had been commenced by Pisistratus, and left many other fine works
behind him. Then he passed through Asia, inspecting the conduct of the
provincial officers, and next traveled through Syria into Egypt, where
his favorite Antinous, a beautiful youth, was drowned. This event seems
to have filled him with a lasting grief. At length, in A.D. 131, he
returned to Rome.
[Illustration: Mole of Hadrian restored.[78]]
Here he published the _Edictum Perpetuum_, a codification of the edicts
of the Roman Prætors, which was composed by Salvius Julianus, an eminent
lawyer. The design of this work was to condense the vast body of the law
into a convenient form.
A revolt broke out among the Jews, Hadrian having established a colony
called Ælia Capitolina on the site of Jerusalem, and, not content with
introducing pagan worship into the holy city, had even issued an edict
forbidding the practice of circumcision. These imprudent measures
produced a revolt among the Jews, who, under their leader Barcochab,
fought with their usual courage and desperation. The war continued for
several years, during which more than half a million of Jews are said to
have perished. At length Julius Severus came from Britain to lead the
Roman armies, and the rebellion was suppressed. The Jews were now
forbidden to live in Jerusalem or its neighborhood, and the nation was
scattered over the habitable world.
A war which seemed about to break out with the Albanians and Iberians in
the East was prevented by Hadrian, who, with his usual policy, sent
large presents to his enemies, and thus converted them into friends. He
now returned from his travels to Rome, where he built his magnificent
villa at Tibur, the extensive ruins of which may still be seen; and he
passed the remainder of his life either at Tibur or in Rome. His health
had been affected by his incessant labors, and in A.D. 135 he was seized
with dropsy. Having no children, he adopted L. Ceionius, under the name
of L. Ælius Verus, a young noble, who, however, died on the first day of
the year A.D. 138. Hadrian then adopted Arrius Antoninus (afterward the
Emperor Antoninus Pius), and presented him as his successor to the
Senators assembled around his bed. At the same time he obliged him to
adopt L. Commodus Verus, the son of the former Verus, and also M. Annius
Verus, the future Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Ill health seems now to have
fatally affected the mind and disposition of Hadrian. He became morose
and cruel. He put many eminent nobles to death, and is said to have sunk
into debauchery at his Tiburtine villa. His disease proving incurable,
he several times attempted suicide; but having removed to Baiæ, hoping
for some relief in that fine climate, he died there July 10th, A.D. 138,
aged sixty-three. He was buried in the villa of Cicero, near Puteoli.
When the Senate, enraged at his cruelties in the latter part of his
life, wished to annul his acts, and would have refused him divine
honors, Antoninus interposed, and excused his adopted father on the plea
that ill health had disordered his mind. For this filial conduct he
received the name of Pius. The Senate not only numbered Hadrian among
the deities, but ordered temples to be erected in his honor. He left the
empire prosperous and at peace. During his reign the Senate lost its
importance in the administration of affairs, since Hadrian supplied its
place by a _Consistorium Principis_, or council, composed of eminent
men, presided over by a distinguished lawyer. Hadrian was fond of
letters and the arts, and adorned every part of his empire with fine
buildings or useful works. Wherever he traveled he did something for the
benefit of his subjects.
[Footnote 78: This mausoleum, begun by Hadrian, is now the Castle of St.
Angelo.]
[Illustration: Reverse of a brass Coin of Antoninus Pius.]
REIGN OF ANTONINUS PIUS, A.D. 138-161.
This excellent man was born at Lanuvium, September 19th, A.D. 86, but
his family came from the town of Nemausis (Nismes), in Gaul. Soon after
his accession to the empire he married his daughter Faustina to Marcus
Aurelius, procured for him the tribunitian and proconsular power from
the Senate, and made him his associate in the labors of the government.
His tranquil and prosperous reign is the most pleasing period in the
history of the Roman Empire. The world enjoyed a general peace, and the
emperor endeavored, by every wise measure, to secure the prosperity of
his subjects. Like Numa, to whom he has often been compared, Antoninus
was the peacemaker between distant nations, who were accustomed to
submit their differences to him, and to abide implicitly by his award.
He checked the persecutions to which the Christians had been exposed in
former reigns, and to him Justin Martyr addressed his apology for
Christianity. He watched carefully the conduct of the provincial
governors, and applied the public revenues to founding schools,
repairing roads and harbors, and encouraging every where industry and
trade. When Asia and Rhodes were devastated by an earthquake, Antoninus
expended large sums in relieving the sufferers by that calamity, as well
as those who were reduced to indigence by the great fires which nearly
destroyed Carthage, Narbonne, and Antioch, in A.D. 153. He appointed
teachers of rhetoric in various cities of the empire, conferred honors
and emoluments upon men of letters, and in A.D. 141 founded a
charity-school for orphan girls, whom he styled _Puellæ Alimentariæ
Faustinianæ_, in memory of his wife Faustina, who had died the year
before. Faustina, however, does not seem to have merited his esteem, and
the emperor was well acquainted with her faults; yet he generously
overlooked them while she lived, and upon her death paid unusual honors
to her memory. His piety, his devotion to the national religion, and his
various virtues, seem to have won for him universal love and veneration,
and his successors during the next century assumed the name of Antoninus
as their worthiest title.
Antoninus made no attempt to extend the boundaries of the empire. The
barbarous races who were now beginning to swarm upon the frontiers, the
Germans and the Dacians, were held in check; and although the Brigantes
made several inroads into Britain, they were defeated by A. Lollius, the
Legate, in A.D. 141; and a wall of turf was raised beyond the former
wall built by Agricola to check the incursions of the Caledonians. This
peaceful reign, however, seems to have increased the general indolence
of the people, and the martial spirit of the Roman soldiers declined in
the idleness of their stationary camps. After a reign of twenty-three
years, Antoninus died, March 7th, A.D. 161, in his villa at Lorium, aged
seventy-five years.
REIGN OF MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS, A.D. 161-180.
He was succeeded by Aurelius, who was born at Rome A.D. 121. This prince
is known as the Philosopher; and the wish of Plato that philosophers
might be kings, or kings philosophers, seems to have been fulfilled at
his accession. Aurelius had been from his youth a lover of truth. His
morals and his intellect were trained by the purest and wisest men of
his age. He had studied under Herodes Atticus and Cornelius Fronto, two
famous rhetoricians, and also under the Stoic philosophers Junius
Rusticus and Apollonius; and he had been constantly employed by his
adopted father Antoninus as an associate in all his useful and
benevolent designs. His health was, however, delicate, and he now
admitted to a share in the empire his adopted brother, L. Verus, who
possessed a vigorous constitution, but was addicted to licentious
pleasures.
The general peace which had prevailed during the reign of Marcus
Antoninus was forever passed away, and the world was in future to be
desolated by almost perpetual hostilities. The Parthian king Vologeses
III. having invaded the eastern provinces, and cut to pieces a Roman
legion, L. Verus was sent to oppose his advance; but upon arriving at
Antioch, Verus remained there, plunged in dissipation, while his brave
lieutenant Avidius Cassius drove back the Parthians, invaded
Mesopotamia, destroyed Seleucia, and penetrated to Babylon. Another
Roman general conquered Armenia, and restored the legitimate king Soæmus
to his throne. At the close of the war, Verus, A.D. 166, returned to
Rome, and triumphed. His army brought the plague with it from the East,
which now desolated Italy and Rome. Many illustrious men died; but the
famous physician Galen (Claudius Galenus), who had come from Pergamus to
Rome, was now enabled to exhibit his uncommon professional skill. This
pestilence lasted for several years.
Verus died of intemperance A.D. 171, and Aurelius prevailed upon the
Senate to rank him among the gods. He now marched against the
Marcomanni, but was defeated in a great battle, and, in order to provide
a new army, sold the imperial plate and jewels. He now took up a
position at Sirmium (Sirmich), and endeavored to wear out the barbarians
by skirmishes and sudden attacks, without venturing far from his
strong-hold. At length, however, upon one occasion, having been drawn
into a defile, the Roman army was relieved by a fierce storm of thunder
and rain, which terrified the barbarians. Tradition attributes this
sudden storm to the prayers of a Christian legion. The barbarians now
submitted, and withdrew beyond the Danube.
Soon after, an insurrection broke out in Syria, where Avidius Cassius,
at the instigation, it is said, of the emperor's wife Faustina, had
proclaimed himself emperor. But Cassius, by his severity, disgusted his
own soldiers, and was assassinated by a centurion. Aurelius lamented
this event, since it deprived him of an opportunity of showing clemency
to an erring friend. He at once set out for the East, and there freely
forgave all those who had conspired against him. He took the young
family of Cassius under his protection, and ordered the papers of that
officer to be destroyed, lest they might disclose the names of the
conspirators. Faustina, who had accompanied her husband to Cilicia, died
soon after, it is said, by her own hand.
It is remarkable that this philosophic emperor should have permitted a
cruel persecution of the Christians in A.D. 177, perhaps at the
instigation of the Stoic philosophers--the only blot upon his general
humanity and benevolence. Among the victims of this persecution was
Justin Martyr, the author of the Apologies for Christianity, addressed
to Antoninus, as well as to Aurelius himself. Toward the close of his
reign, having become convinced of the falseness of the charges made
against the Christians, Aurelius became once more tolerant and
philosophic.
In A.D. 176 the emperor triumphed at Rome for his various successes. He
gave a donation of eight pieces of gold to every citizen, and made his
son Commodus his colleague. In the mean time the barbarians in the
interior of Europe, moved by a general impulse, began to press upon the
frontiers of the empire, and from this time seem never to have ceased
their inroads until the final destruction of the Roman power. Aurelius
marched, A.D. 177, to the frontier, defeated the barbarians in various
engagements, and had perhaps proved the savior and second founder of
Rome, when he was seized with a fever at Vindobona (Vienna), A.D. 180,
and died after a few days' illness. He was the last of the Roman
emperors who labored for the welfare of his people. He was, no doubt,
the greatest and wisest of them all, and he united the different talents
of a man of learning, a fine writer, a skillful soldier, and a
benevolent, judicious ruler. His "Meditations," which have made him
known to posterity, are among the most delightful productions of the
human intellect, while his private character seems to have been no less
attractive than his writings.
REIGN OF M. COMMODUS ANTONINUS, A.D. 180-192.
The depraved Commodus succeeded his virtuous father at the age of
twenty. He had been educated with singular care, but was wholly given up
to coarse sensuality. The people, however, still hoped that he might be
worthy of his father, and received him, upon his accession, with loud
expressions of joy. For a short time he concealed his true disposition;
but his sister Lucilla, jealous of her brother's wife Crispina, formed a
conspiracy against him in A.D. 182, and he escaped with difficulty from
the hand of the assassin. From this moment he threw off all disguise,
and indulged his natural vices without restraint. He put to death the
most illustrious men of the time, encouraged informers and false
accusations, and filled Rome with terror. In the midst of these
cruelties he often sang, danced, or played the buffoon in public, fought
as a gladiator in the circus, and ordered the people to worship him as a
second Hercules. His lieutenant Marcellus, in A.D. 184, defeated the
Caledonians, after they had passed the long wall of Hadrian, and had
ravaged the northern part of Britain; and in A.D. 191 an invasion of the
Frisians was repelled. Commodus, however, paid no attention to the
affairs of the empire. In A.D. 189 Italy suffered from a pestilence and
famine, when the people of Rome rose against the emperor's præfect,
Cleander, and tore him to pieces. Commodus still continued his murders,
and was at last assassinated by the directions of his mistress, Marcia,
whose death he had resolved upon. He died December 31st, A.D. 192. The
Senate ordered his memory to be held infamous, and his body to be
dragged by iron hooks through the streets, and then to be thrown into
the Tiber; but his successor Pertinax prevailed that it should be placed
in the mausoleum of Hadrian. Such was the son of Marcus Aurelius.
[Illustration: Commodus.]
[Illustration: Pertinax.]