A.D.)
Until philosophers are kings, and the princes of this world
have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political
greatness and wisdom meet in one, cities will never cease from
ill--no, nor the human race, as I believe--and then only will
our state have a possibility of life, and see the light of
day. The truth is, that the state in which the rulers are most
reluctant to govern is best and most quietly governed, and the
state in which they are most willing is the worst.--PLATO.
NERVA (M. COCCEIUS NERVA), 96-98 A.D.
[Sidenote: [96-98 A.D.]]
The new emperor, who reigned less than two years (96-98), distinguished
himself as much by his mild and clement spirit, as his predecessor had
done by the opposite temper. He made it his principal task to concentrate
the whole government in the hands of the senate. He could not accomplish
this because it was necessary that the ruler should combine the qualities
of a capable and dreaded general, and Nerva’s reign shows how imperative
it was for the ruler of the empire to be a soldier and leader. Nerva
himself was only too soon convinced of the fact. The prætorians and
the Roman populace, dissatisfied with the government of an old and
serious-minded man, provoked disturbances throughout the whole of the
first year; they were specially irritated because Nerva, in order to
recoup the revenue, restricted the public games and sold the costly
vessels and collections which Domitian’s love of splendour had induced
him to make.
Nerva soon saw that he was menaced with Galba’s fate, that he was defied
and his office held in contempt. He therefore determined, like Galba,
to adopt an energetic man who stood high in public esteem as co-regent,
and was far happier in his choice than Galba had been. When anarchy had
reached its zenith in the capital, the emperor surprised the Roman people
by naming a successor, chosen not from the senate, but from the army, and
one who possessed the love of the soldiers in the highest degree. Ulpius
Trajan, on whom his choice fell, was then at the head of the legions of
the lower Rhine, and had not only distinguished himself by glorious deeds
in war, but in Rome had once been greeted by the people almost as a god
on account of his kingly form and heroic appearance. With the nomination
of Trajan the disturbances promptly ceased, and the proud prætorians
submitted without a murmur when the new co-regent ordered them to join
him in Germany and attached them to other legions there.[f]
Dion Cassius tells the story of Trajan’s accession as follows:
“Nerva, seeing that he was despised on account of his advanced age,
ascended to the Capitol and said in a loud voice: ‘May the thing be
fortunate and well-pleasing to the senate, and the Roman people as
well as to myself! I adopt M. Ulpius Trajan.’ After which he declared
him Cæsar in the senate and wrote to him with his own hand (Trajan was
commanding in Germany):
“‘May the Danubians expiate my tears under the stroke of thy darts.’
“Thus Trajan became Cæsar, and afterwards emperor, though Nerva had
relatives. But Nerva did not place his kindred before the good of the
state; although Trajan was a Spaniard and not an Italian or even the son
of an Italian, he was nevertheless adopted in spite of this, for to that
day no foreigner had been emperor of the Romans; Nerva thought that it
was a man’s merit, and not his country which was the important question.
He died after this adoption, having reigned one year, four months, and
nine days; he had lived sixty-five years, ten months, and ten days.
“Trajan before attaining to the empire had had the following dream: It
seemed to him that an old man clothed in the pretexta and adorned with
a crown, in the fashion in which the senate is represented, marked his
seal on him with a ring on the left side of the neck and then on the
right. When he had become emperor he wrote to the senate with his own
hand, saying amongst other things that he would not put to death nor
brand as infamous any worthy man; and these promises he confirmed with an
oath both at the time and subsequently. Having sent for Ælianus and the
prætorian guards who had risen against Nerva, as if with the intention of
making use of them, he rid himself of them. He had no sooner reached Rome
than he made several regulations for the reformation of the state and in
favour of worthy men, whom he treated with so much consideration that he
granted funds to the cities of Italy for the education of the children
whose benefactor he became. The first time that his wife Plotina entered
the palace, having reached the top of the steps and turning towards the
temple, she said, ‘Such as I enter, so I would depart.’ Throughout his
reign she conducted herself in such a manner that no reproach could be
made against her.”[g]
TRAJAN (M. ULPIUS TRAJANUS CRINITUS), 98-117 A.D.
[Sidenote: [98-101 A.D.]]
By birth, as just noted, Trajan was a Spaniard, although his father had
filled the office of consul in Rome. Not more than fifty years earlier
it would have been intolerable to the Romans to obey a foreigner; but in
Trajan’s time a man’s birthplace was no longer taken into consideration.
So greatly had opinions and circumstances altered in consequence of the
growing amalgamation of the empire into a single state.
Nerva died in the year after the appointment of his co-regent (Jan.,
98). The latter, who at the time of his accession was in the prime of
life, and reigned from 98-117, possessed all the qualities which the
spirit of the times, the existing state of things, and the welfare of
the empire required of a ruler. As a ruler he only committed a single
error, he tried to extend the borders of the empire by conquest, and thus
led the Romans once more along a path which they had abandoned since the
time of Augustus, to the great benefit of the state. Trajan combined a
lofty spirit with all the best qualities of a soldier. He had received a
military training, and had spent the greater part of his previous life
in camp; he was therefore lacking in conventional culture, the hardships
of military service had given him health and strength, while a simple
and hardy life had preserved the firmness and uprightness of his mind. By
his unvarying regard for law and justice, for equality and civil virtue,
for ancient custom, and for the reputation of the highest office in the
state, no less than by his choice of subordinates and friends (amongst
whom were two of the best writers of those days, Pliny the Younger and
Tacitus) Trajan showed how little culture and learning was necessary,
where such qualities existed, to enable a man worthily to take his place
at the head of the empire.
His administration was exemplary, he scorned the arbitrary exercise
of power, he let the law take its course, kept the departments of
legislation and administration apart, and protected the provinces with
a powerful hand against the oppression of officials. At his court
he organised all things as they had been under Vespasian and Titus.
Inspired by a ridiculous pride, Domitian had re-introduced the rigid
court ceremonial of the time of Claudius and Nero; Trajan banished all
ostentation and constraint from his environment and mode of life. He
treated the nobles, his daily companions, as friends, returned their
visits, expected them to come uninvited to his table, and granted free
access to his person to every citizen who wished to present a petition.
In his interest in science and education, and in architecture, military
roads, harbours, and other works of public utility, Trajan not only
followed in the footsteps of Vespasian, but he did a great deal more than
the latter. For instance, he opened a public library, which was called
the Ulpian, after his own name, and remained the most important in the
city of Rome during the whole of ancient times.
THE FIRST DACIAN WAR
[Sidenote: [101-103 A.D.]]
Nothing in the course of Trajan’s reign was of such great and
far-reaching consequence as his unfortunate and erroneous idea of
defending the empire by fresh conquests, and purifying morals by the
revival of military ambition. From early youth he had been trained as a
soldier and general; in his campaigns he had become acquainted with many
lands and nations; he was equal to all the hardships of military service,
and as emperor liked to share them with his soldiers; seldom mounting his
horse on the march, but going on foot like his men.
Three years after his accession he began his wars of conquest, the scene
of the first being Dacia on the lower Danube. As emperor he never thought
of attempts on Lower Germany, although he had acted there as governor and
general for ten years. The countries of the lower Danube, and after them
the East, seemed to him better suited to prove to the world his capacity
as a general. In Moldavia and Wallachia some immigrants of Thracian
descent, amongst whom the Dacians were the most important, had leagued
themselves together, some decades before, and with their combined forces
had attacked Roman Thrace. At the time when Vitellius and Vespasian
were disputing the throne, they had been repulsed by the troops of the
latter, on their way into upper Italy, by Thrace and Mœsia, and Fonteius
Agrippa, Vespasian’s general and vice-gerent, had established a number of
fortified camps on the Danube as a bulwark against them.
Under Domitian the tribes belonging to the Dacian league, with Decebalus
at their head, again invaded the Roman Empire. They destroyed some
fortresses, repulsed the Roman troops on several occasions, and wrought
fearful havoc. Domitian himself twice marched to the Danube, but his
troops were defeated in most engagements. Suspicious as he was, he dared
not entrust a capable man with the command of a considerable army,
although immediately after the recall of Agricola from Britain he had
a general who was in every respect qualified for such a struggle. The
Dacians therefore not only remained unpunished, but continued their
devastations, and Decebalus actually offered the Roman emperor terms
of peace on condition that he should be paid a sum of money annually.
Domitian agreed to these shameful terms, and the degenerate senate of
Rome granted him the honours of a triumph as conqueror of the Dacians.
Trajan pretermitted the payment of tribute, and the Dacians again invaded
Roman territory. He therefore betook himself to the Danube in person,
in order to undertake the conduct of the war against them (101). He
crossed the river, avenged the havoc wrought by the Dacians by far worse
devastations in their own land, and defeated the troops of the enemy
wherever they opposed him. In the third year of the war (103) the king
of the barbarians was compelled to submit and accept the terms of peace
dictated by Trajan.[f]
Xiphilinus[h] has preserved for us, from the works of Dion Cassius, some
interesting details of this campaign, with incidental sidelights on
Trajan’s character. Trajan was led to undertake the campaign, he tells
us, because he “bore in mind the conduct of the Dacians, was distressed
at the tribute which they received every year, and perceived that their
pride increased with their numbers. Decebalus was seized with terror at
the news of his march; and indeed he knew well enough that it was not
the Romans but Domitian whom he had previously conquered and that now he
would have to fight against the Romans, and against the emperor, Trajan.
For Trajan was distinguished in the highest degree by his justice, his
courage, and the simplicity of his manners. He had a strong body, (he was
forty-two years old when he succeeded to the empire; so that he supported
all fatigues as well as anyone,) and he had a vigorous mind, so that he
was exempt both from the impetuosity of youth and from the slowness of
age. Far from envying or belittling anyone he honoured all worthy men and
raised them to high positions; for he neither dreaded nor hated any one
of them. He gave no credit to calumnies and was in no way the slave of
anger. He abstained alike from laying his hands on the property of others
and from unjust murders.
“He spent much on war, much also on the works of peace; but the most
numerous and necessary items of expenditure had for their object the
repair of roads, harbours, and public buildings, while for none of
these works did he ever shed blood. There was naturally such vastness
in his conceptions and in his thoughts that having caused the Circus to
be raised from its ruins and rendered finer and more magnificent than
before, he set up an inscription stating that he had rebuilt it so that
it might contain the Roman people.
“He desired to make himself beloved by his conduct rather than to receive
honours. He brought mildness into his relations with the people and
dignity into his bearing towards the senate; he was beloved by all and
dreaded only by enemies. He took part in the hunts of the citizens, in
their festivals, their labours and their schemes, as well as in their
amusements; often he would even take the fourth seat in their litters,
and he did not fear to enter their houses without a guard. Without being
perfect in the science of eloquence he knew its methods and put them in
practice. There was nothing in which he did not excel. If he loved war
he contented himself with winning successes, crushing an implacable foe
and increasing his own states. For under him it never happened, as it so
often does in similar circumstances, that the soldiers gave rein to pride
and insolence, so great was his firmness in command. Thus it was without
reason that Decebalus feared him.
_Trajan Dictates Terms to Decebalus_
[Illustration: TRAJAN
(From a bust in the Capitol)]
[Sidenote: [103 A.D.]]
“During Trajan’s expedition against the Dacians, when he was near Tapes
where the barbarians were encamped, a large mushroom was brought to him,
on which it was written in Latin characters that the other allies and the
Burii conjured Trajan to turn back and conclude a peace. Nevertheless he
delivered a battle, in which he had a great number of his men wounded and
made great carnage amongst the enemy; when the bandages gave out, he did
not spare, it is said, his own clothing, but tore it in pieces; moreover
he caused an altar to be raised in honour of his soldiers who had been
slain in the battle, and had funeral sacrifices offered to them every
year. As he was endeavouring to reach the heights, carrying one hill
after another and in face of a thousand perils, he came to the residence
of the Dacian kings, whilst Lucius, who had attacked from another side,
made a great slaughter and took a great number of prisoners. Whereupon
Decebalus sent the emperor an embassy composed of the chiefs of the
Dacians and making petition to him through them, showed himself disposed
to treat with them under no matter what conditions.
“He was required to deliver up the machines, and the engines, to
surrender the deserters, to demolish his fortifications, to evacuate
the territories he had conquered and besides this to regard all those
who were enemies or friends to the Romans as his own; in spite of
himself he consented to these conditions, after having gone himself to
Trajan, falling on the ground before him and worshipping him. Decebalus’
ambassadors were introduced to the senate, where, having laid down their
arms they clasped their hands in the fashion of captives, pronounced
certain words and certain prayers and thus agreed to the peace and
resumed their arms. Trajan celebrated his triumph and was surnamed
Dacicus; he gave combats of gladiators in the theatre (for he took
pleasure in these combats), and caused the actors to reappear at the
theatre (for he loved one of them, Pylades), while none the less in his
character of a soldier he continued to watch over other business and
to administer justice; sometimes in the Forum of Augustus, sometimes
under the Porticus Livia, and often in other places as well, he gave
judgment from his tribunal. But when he was informed that Decebalus was
contravening several articles of the treaty, that he was laying up stores
of arms, receiving deserters and raising fortresses, that he was sending
embassies to his neighbours, and ravaging the countries of those who had
previously taken part against him and had seized on lands belonging to
the Iazyges, lands which Trajan afterwards refused to restore to them
when they demanded them of him again; then the senate for the second time
declared Decebalus to be the enemy of Rome and Trajan; also the second
time, undertook to make war against them in person and not through other
generals.
“Decebalus failed to win the victory by force, but he almost succeeded
in killing Trajan by craft and treason; he sent deserters to him in
Mœsia, who were charged to assassinate him, knowing that at that time, in
consideration of the necessities of the war, he received all who wished
to speak to him without distinction. But they could not accomplish this,
as one of them was arrested on suspicion and under the torture confessed
the whole plot.
“Longinus, who commanded a detachment of the Roman army, and whose
valour had been proved during the war, having suffered himself, at the
invitation of Decebalus, to be drawn into an interview with him, under
pretext that the latter would make his submission, Decebalus seized the
Roman and publicly interrogated him on the plans of Trajan; and when
Longinus refused to reveal anything, he retained him under a guard.
Decebalus then (sent an embassy to Trajan to demand that he should
abandon the country as far as the Ister, and that he should be reimbursed
for all the expenses of the war) on condition of restoring Longinus.
Trajan having given an undecided answer, the terms of which were intended
to show that his esteem for Longinus was neither small nor great, so that
he might neither lose him nor pay too dearly for his ransom, Decebalus
hesitated considering what he should do; and Longinus, for whom (his
freedman) had meantime procured poison, (promised the king to reconcile
him with Trajan, for he feared that if he suspected his intention he
would have him more closely guarded; then he wrote a petition to Trajan,
and charged the freedman to carry it in order to secure its safety. The
freedman, having therefore departed, Longinus) took (the poison during
the night) and died. (This being done), Decebalus demanded the freedman
of Trajan, promising to give in exchange the body of Longinus and ten
captives, and he also sent him the centurion taken with Longinus in the
hope that he would succeed in his design; from this centurion Trajan
learned all that had happened to Longinus. Nevertheless he did not send
him back nor did he restore the freedman, judging this man’s life of more
importance to the dignity of the empire than the burial of Longinus.”[g]
It is the modern verdict that in the conclusion of peace as well as
after it, the Roman emperor abused the right of conquest. He retained
possession of a part of the land of Dacia, established a Roman garrison
on the rapids of the Danube, between Orsowa and Gladowitza, which at a
later day bore the name of the “Iron Gates,” and threatened to seize the
mountain country of southwestern Transylvania. This naturally enraged the
Dacians and their king. Decebalus was by no means a mere barbarian; he
had allied himself with the Parthian king, the principal enemy of the
Romans in the far East, and had enlisted in his service many men who had
served in the Roman army and who organised his troops after the Roman
fashion. He had also brought a number of skilled workmen, partly by force
and partly by money payments, from the neighbouring Roman province to his
own country, to use their services in making instruments of peace and war.
THE SECOND DACIAN WAR
[Sidenote: [103-113 A.D.]]
According to his treaty with Trajan, he should have sent all such persons
back; and Trajan was all the more ready to make this circumstance the
pretext for another war, since Decebalus had attempted to ally himself
with some of the neighbouring tribes. The emperor began the second Dacian
war by building a stone bridge over the Danube, and thus manifested his
intention of extending the dominion of Rome beyond the river. This bridge
was erected three hours’ journey below the aforementioned gates, close to
the town of Czernetz at the present day. It was thirty-five hundred paces
long and provided with entrenchments at either end. The ruins of it are
still to be seen at low water.
The war in what is now Wallachia, the country to which Trajan gained
access by this bridge, offered many difficulties to the Roman army on
account of its many morasses, its heavy clay soil, and the large and
rapid rivers which traverse it. He therefore led his troops with great
caution; he made roads, diverted the course of rivers, and hunted the
Dacian king from forest to forest, and from swamp to swamp. At length
Decebalus felt himself unable to hold his own against the Romans, and
slew himself in order not to fall into the hands of the enemy. Trajan
made a Roman province of the conquered land, and determined to establish
as many colonies as possible in it, and to tame his barbarian subjects by
culture. (106 A.D.)
In the uncultivated but fertile plains of Wallachia, he settled a large
number of colonists from all parts of the Roman Empire, founded many
towns and villages, and made Roman culture so acceptable that Latin
became the dominant language of the country. By these means, however,
he provoked the barbarous tribes who then occupied Poland and Russia to
continual predatory attacks. Thrace and Mœsia, now Rumelia, Bulgaria,
and Servia, which lay to the south of the Danube, gained most; they were
protected from the barbarians by the new province beyond the Danube. A
number of new towns were founded there, and from that time they continued
to flourish.
The conquest of the Dacians and the attention it attracted throughout
the Roman Empire seemed to have affected the emperor’s hitherto modest
disposition, which had led him to devote himself to affairs of law and
government; for the manner in which he celebrated his victory in Rome,
as well as the oriental campaign which he subsequently undertook, were
not in keeping with the character of wise moderation and the absence of
excessive prodigality, which might have been expected of him, under the
circumstances. When he returned to Rome, he celebrated his victory by
magnificent architectural works and brilliant festivities. He erected a
monument commemorative of his victory, which still exists, the celebrated
Trajan column, 110 feet in height [to which we shall refer more at length
presently]. (113 A.D.)
Besides several buildings in Rome, he built triumphal arches at
Beneventum and other places, and made a road through the Pontine marshes
which combined the excellence and strength of the old military roads with
the conveniences of his own time. These undertakings were made in the old
Roman spirit, and did him as much honour as the many bridges and canals
which he built in different parts of the empire or the great military
road which extended from the Black Sea to the west coast. On the other
hand the feasts which he arranged in celebration of his victory recalled
the foolish prodigality of Caligula and Domitian, and added not a little
to the deterioration of morals. For 123 consecutive days he gave the
people public games and other revels, in which no less than ten thousand
gladiators took part, and eleven thousand wild animals were killed; so
that one of the best emperors did most to promote the unnatural and
inhuman pleasures of the degenerate inhabitants of Rome.
The Dacian conquest was not the sole triumph of Roman arms at this
period. In 106 Cornelius Palma, governor of Syria, attacked the
troublesome tribes inhabiting the ill-defined region between Damascus
and the Red Sea. There was one short but severe campaign, and Arabia
Petræa was added to the Roman province. The great caravan routes from the
Euphrates to the Red Sea were now safe.
ORIENTAL CAMPAIGNS AND DEATH OF TRAJAN
[Sidenote: [106-117 A.D.]]
Trajan’s oriental campaign was directed against the Parthians. Since the
time of Augustus, this people had suffered perpetually from quarrels over
the succession to the throne, and had often come into hostile contact
with the Romans, because both nations looked upon the kingdom of Armenia
as a dependency of theirs. The turbulent character of the Armenians and
the continual dissensions among the members of their ruling family made
the intervention of the two neighbouring states to some extent necessary.
In the frequent wars of the Romans and Parthians, no general had ever
distinguished himself as much as Domitius Corbulo, who had been sent by
Nero to Armenia so as to protect the inhabitants of this land against the
tyranny of their own king, no less than against the superior power of
the Parthians. He banished the Parthian prince Tiridates I, who had set
himself up as ruler of Armenia, and occupied the whole of the country.
Nero bestowed the government of Armenia on a descendant of the Herod
family, who then lived in Rome and had adopted the pagan religion. For
a whole year the latter was unable to maintain his ground against the
turbulent Armenians and Parthians, and Corbulo himself advised the
emperor to restore the banished Parthian prince on condition that he
should go to Rome, and do homage as a Roman vassal. To this Tiridates
consented; he received the kingdom of Armenia as a Roman fief, and
peace was restored for a time. After his death, the former scenes were
repeated; the throne of Armenia again became the subject of quarrels
between various princes, and the Parthians again intervened in the
affairs of the country.
In Trajan’s time a protégé of Parthia, Exedares by name, was seated on
the throne of Armenia, and the Parthian king, Chosroes, supported him
with an army quartered in the country. Trajan would not acknowledge
this king of Armenia; but as a matter of fact he cared far less for
the restoration of Roman ascendency in Armenia than for the chance of
winning glory as conqueror of the Parthians. In 106 he went to Asia with
a large army. On the way he received an embassy from the Parthian king,
who had disturbances in his own country to contend with, and who, for
this reason, made friendly advances to the Roman emperor. Trajan would
have nothing to say to his proposals, by reason of his greed of fame,
although Chosroes had removed Exedares from the throne of Armenia and
placed in his stead a Parthian prince, Parthamasiris, who was willing
to do homage to the Romans. Trajan banished the new ruler of Armenia
without much trouble, for the Parthians, engaged in internecine quarrels,
could not support him. The emperor therefore turned Armenia into a Roman
province, and subjected the petty dynasties between the Black Sea and the
Caspian. Their loyalty lasted no longer than the time the Roman army was
at hand. The subsequent enterprises of Trajan on his first expedition to
the East are not known to us in detail; we only know for certain that
he marched from Armenia to Mesopotamia, took some cities on the middle
Euphrates and Tigris and supported the king of Parthia against his
rebellious subjects.
Some time after, most probably in the year 114, Trajan undertook his
second Parthian campaign, on which he spent about three years, till
117. He conquered the famous Greek city of Seleucia, on the Tigris, and
Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital, made Assyria into a Roman province,
and advanced as far as Arabia, where some years before the empty desire
of fame had induced him to make conquests, through one of his generals,
which were as quickly lost as won. He then pushed on to the coasts of
the Persian Gulf. If we may believe the coins and fabulous histories
of that time, he even projected an Indian campaign, and caused a fleet
to be built for the purpose. This statement, like other ridiculous
exaggerations, is based on flattery and the circumstance that the Persian
Gulf was confounded with the Indian Ocean.
[Illustration: A ROMAN EMPEROR]
According to one of the coins, Trajan gave the Parthians a new king, but
this bestowal of the royal office meant no more than that he proclaimed
one of the many pretenders in Ctesiphon king; a sufficient reason for the
Parthians not to acknowledge the latter as their ruler. Trajan himself
reaped the fruits of an inconsiderate desire of conquest, which was most
prejudicial to the Roman Empire. Whilst he was at Shatt-el-Arab, all the
tribes and cities in his rear revolted, and he perceived too late that
the oriental nations were not so easy to subdue or to hold in allegiance
as the Dacians.
The Jews also rebelled, both in Palestine and in the cities of Syria,
Egypt, and other countries, because like the Christians they were
incessantly harassed and persecuted. Trajan was forced to send troops
against them, and at the same time renew the war against Assyria,
Seleucia, Edessa and other rebellious countries and cities. He fell sick
in consequence of the hardships of an unsuccessful campaign, which he
had undertaken in Arabia. In order to abandon the fruitless undertaking
without detriment to his reputation, he made the senate recall him to
Rome under a fictitious pretext. He handed over the army to his general
Hadrian, whom he had appointed governor of Syria, and went to Cilicia
intending to sail thence to Italy. Before he could embark, death overtook
him.[f]
In estimating the character of Trajan, we no longer have the guidance
of Suetonius. The only important classical writings recording the deeds
of this emperor are the somewhat fragmentary excerpts from Dion Cassius
as preserved by Xiphilinus, and the panegyric of the younger Pliny. The
latter, written and delivered in the year in which Pliny was consul, has
been pronounced, “a piece of courtly flattery for which the only excuse
which can be made is the cringing and fawning manner of the times.”
Pliny’s letters and despatches to Trajan on the other hand are full of
interest as valuable material for the historian.[a]
THE CORRESPONDENCE OF PLINY AND TRAJAN
[Sidenote: [104-117 A.D.]]
The despatch respecting the Christians, written from Bithynia, A.D.
104, and the emperor’s answer, are well worthy of transcription; both
because reference is so often made to them, and because they throw light
upon the marvellous and rapid propagation of the Gospel; the manners of
the early Christians; the treatment of which their constancy exposed
them, even under favourable circumstances; and the severe jealousy
with which even a governor of mild and gentle temper thought it his
duty to regard them. Pliny’s[j] letter to Trajan ran thus: “It is my
constant practice to refer to you all subjects on which I entertain
doubt. For who is better able to direct my hesitation or to instruct
my ignorance? I have never been present at the trials of Christians,
and therefore I do not know in what way, or to what extent, it is usual
to question or to punish them. I have also felt no small difficulty in
deciding whether age should make any difference, or whether those of the
tenderest and those of mature years should be treated alike; whether
pardon should be accorded to repentance, or whether, where a man has once
been a Christian, recantation should profit him; whether, if the name
of Christian does not imply criminality, still the crimes peculiarly
belonging to the name should be punished. Meanwhile, in the case of those
against whom informations have been laid before me, I have pursued the
following line of conduct. I have put to them, personally, the question
whether they were Christians. If they confessed, I interrogated them a
second and third time, and threatened them with punishment. If they still
persevered, I ordered their commitment; for I had no doubt whatever, that
whatever they confessed, at any rate dogged and inflexible obstinacy
deserved to be punished. There were others who displayed similar madness;
but, as they were Roman citizens, I ordered them to be sent back to the
city. Soon persecution itself, as is generally the case, caused the crime
to spread, and it appeared in new forms.
“An anonymous information was laid against a large number of persons, but
they deny that they are, or ever have been, Christians. As they invoked
the gods, repeating the form after me, and offered prayers, together
with incense and wine, to your image, which I had ordered to be brought,
together with those of the deities, and besides cursed Christ, whilst
those who are true Christians, it is said, cannot be compelled to do any
one of these things, I thought it right to set them at liberty. Others,
when accused by an informer, confessed that they were Christians, and
soon after denied the fact; they said they had been, but had ceased to
be, some three, some more, not a few even twenty years previously. All
these worshipped your image and those of the gods, and cursed Christ.
But they affirmed that the sum-total of their fault or their error was,
that they were accustomed to assemble on a fixed day before dawn, and
sing an antiphonal hymn to Christ as God; that they bound themselves by
an oath, not to the commission of any wickedness, but to abstain from
theft, robbery, and adultery; never to break a promise, or to deny a
deposit when it was demanded back. When these ceremonies were concluded,
it was their custom to depart, and again assemble together to take
food harmlessly and in common. That after my proclamation, in which,
in obedience to your command, I had forbidden associations, they had
desisted from this practice. For these reasons, I the more thought it
necessary to investigate the real truth, by putting to the torture two
maidens, who were called deaconesses; but I discovered nothing but a
perverse and excessive superstition.
“I have therefore deferred taking cognizance of the matter until I had
consulted you. For it seemed to me a case requiring advice, especially
on account of the number of those in peril. For many of every age,
sex, and rank, are and will continue to be called in question. The
infection in fact has spread not only through the cities, but also
through the villages and open country; but it seems that its progress
can be arrested. At any rate, it is clear that the temples which were
almost deserted begin to be frequented; and solemn sacrifices, which had
been long intermitted, are again performed, and victims are being sold
everywhere, for which up to this time a purchaser could rarely be found.
It is therefore easy to conceive that crowds might be reclaimed if an
opportunity for repentance were given.”
To this letter Trajan replied:
“In sifting the cases of those who have been indicted on the charge of
Christianity, you have adopted, my dear Secundus, the right course of
proceeding; for no certain rule can be laid down which will meet all
cases. They must not be sought after, but if they are informed against
and convicted, they must be punished; with this proviso, however, that if
anyone denies that he is a Christian, and proves the point by offering
prayers to our deities, notwithstanding the suspicions under which he has
laboured, he shall be pardoned on his repentance. On no account should
any anonymous charge be attended to, for it would be the worst possible
precedent, and is inconsistent with the habits of our times.”[i]
Nothing perhaps could better illustrate the judicial and tolerant temper
of Trajan’s mind than this letter in reference to a class of people whom
the emperor could not possibly have contemplated without prejudice.
TRAJAN’S COLUMN
If literary remains dealing with history of the time of Trajan are
meagre, amends are made for the deficit by the sculptures and bas-reliefs
that ornament the Column of Trajan previously mentioned, which still
stands in an excellent state of preservation amidst the ruins of a forum.
This column of marble, now weathered to a bronze-like hue, is covered
throughout its entire height by a spiral column of figures representing
all manner of military operations. More than twenty-five hundred human
figures are said to be depicted, and all of these are executed with
lifelike fidelity. The bas-reliefs represent the expeditions of Trajan
against the Dacians.[a] The column is thus described by Burn:
[Sidenote: [103 A.D.]]
“The bas-relief” representing the first campaign against the Dacians
begins at the base by a representation of the banks of the Save, down
which the Roman army passed, and shows military storehouses, piles of
wood, stacks of hay, and wooden huts. Then follow forts with soldiers on
guard, and boats carrying barrels of provisions. The river god Danube
then appears and looks on with astonishment at the bridge of boats over
which the Roman army is passing. The baggage of the soldiers on the
march, tied to the top of the vallum or palisade which they carry, and
the different military standards, are very distinctly shown. Many of the
men are without covering on their heads, but some wear lions’ skins. The
emperor and his staff are then introduced. He is sitting upon a suggestus
or platform, and Lucius, the prætorian prefect, sits beside him. The
suovetaurilia, a grand sacrificial celebration, is the next scene, with
priests in the cinctus gabinus and trumpeters. After this the emperor is
seen making a speech to the army, and a little farther on the building of
a stone encampment enclosing huts is being carried on with great vigour,
and bridges are being thrown across a river, over which cavalry are
passing.
“A battle seems then to take place, and the heads of two enemies are
being brought to the emperor. The Dacian army with the dragon ensign
and the Dacian cap, the symbol of superior rank, seen upon the statues
of the Dacian prisoners on the Arch of Constantine, appears. Jupiter
gives the victory to the Romans, the Dacian camp is burned, and the
Dacians fly. Numerous representations of forts, boats, different kinds
of troops, skirmishes, and sieges follow, ending with the surrender of
Decebalus and the return of Trajan to Rome, where a great festival is
celebrated. The arrival at Rome, and the crowd of Romans going to meet
the great conqueror, are very vividly drawn. An immense number of bulls
for sacrifice, altars, camilli, and half-naked popæ are introduced into
the triumphal rejoicings, and the first campaign ends with the figure of
Trajan offering incense on the altar of Jupiter Capitolinus.
[Sidenote: [113 A.D.]]
“A somewhat similar series of scenes are represented in the sculptures
which depict the second campaign. Perhaps the most interesting is that of
the great bridge over the Danube, made of wood supported on stone piers,
the foundations of which may still be seen in the bed of the river.
Apollodorus, the architect of the Forum, designed this immense work,
which crossed the Danube at a spot where it is not less than 1300 yards
wide, near the village of Gieli. A permanent road into Dacia and secure
communications with his basis of operations having thus been secured,
Trajan gradually advanced from post to post, driving the Dacians into
the mountainous parts of the country. The sculptures represent a number
of skirmishes and assaults upon fortified places, but no regular pitched
battle. At last the ghastly spectacle of the head and hands of Decebalus
is exhibited on a board by two soldiers in front of the Prætorium. This
disgusting scene is followed by a representation of the storming of the
last strongholds of the enemy in the mountains, and a mournful procession
of fugitives carrying away their goods and driving their cattle into
exile forms the close of the sculptured history of the Dacian campaigns
of Trajan.
“In these curious bas-reliefs,” Burn continues, “we have a treasury of
information on the religion, the military science, the habits and dress
of the Romans of the empire far more valuable than ten thousand pages
of descriptive writing. The lover of Roman antiquities will learn more
by studying Fabretti’s engravings of these reliefs, or the casts at
the French Academy at Rome, and at the Kensington Museum, than by much
book-labour. The descriptions of Livy and Polybius, Cæsar and Tacitus,
receive life and movement and interest as we look at the actual figures
(oculis subjecta fidelibus) of the general and his staff; the Prætorian
guards marked by their belts over the left shoulder; the fierce-looking
standard-bearers and centurions with their heads covered by lions’ skins,
the shaggy manes of which stream down their backs; the rank and file
carrying enormous stakes; the master masons, sappers, and pioneers, with
their axes and crowbars; the lancers, heavy and light cavalry, and royal
chargers; the Sarmatian horsemen clothed, both riders and steeds, in
complete scale armour, and the Moorish cavalry, riding without reins.
“Bridges are constructed, Roman causeways laid, forts attacked with all
kinds of military engines; the charge of cavalry, the rout and confusion
of a defeated army, are all most vividly depicted. Trajan in person
traverses the ranks on foot, or mounts the suggestus and harangues his
men, or receives with simple dignity the submission of the enemy, or
marches with all the pomp of a Roman procession under the triumphal arch.
The soldier-like simplicity of the great military emperor is strikingly
portrayed. There is no silken tent, or richly decorated chariot, or
throne, or canopy of state to be seen. His colonel of the guards sits
beside him, as an equal, on the suggestus. In the midst of a battle the
emperor tears up his robe to bind the wounds of his soldiers; he is
present everywhere, wearing a sword and fighting in person. Nothing could
be more illustrative of the state of Roman affairs in that iron age, when
again, as in the olden times, a rough and unlettered warrior, fresh from
the camp, swayed the destinies of the empire.”[k]
[Illustration: A SOLDIER
(From Trajan’s Column)]
This Column of Trajan originally stood surrounded by buildings forming
a court only about forty feet square, the intention being apparently
that the figures should be viewed from the surrounding structures.
Notwithstanding this the sculptures are progressively larger toward the
top, the perspective effect when looking from below being obvious in the
artist’s mind. To-day the column stands in lonely grandeur in Trajan’s
Forum; discoloured and weather-worn, but otherwise little altered from
the original state except at the very top, where, incongruously enough, a
statue of St. Peter now takes the place of the colossal figure of Trajan
himself which once occupied the pedestal. Sixtus V placed the effigy of
the Christian there, the pagan image having been taken away some time
in the early Middle Ages. The substitution was a characteristic act of
piety, which could have been permitted only by an equally characteristic
lack of humour. But quite regardless of its incongruous apex, the column
remains as the most important historical document relating to military
customs of classical antiquity that has come down to us.[a]
HADRIAN (P. ÆLIUS HADRIANUS), 117-138 A.D.
[Sidenote: [117-118 A.D.]]
Hadrian was by descent a Spaniard, and of the same city where Trajan was
born. He was nephew to Trajan, and married to Sabina, his grand-niece.
When Trajan was adopted by Nerva, Hadrian was a tribune of the army
in Mœsia, and sent by the troops to congratulate the emperor on his
advancement. But his brother-in-law, who desired to have an opportunity
of congratulating Trajan himself, supplied Hadrian with a carriage that
broke down on the way. Hadrian, however, was resolved to lose no time,
so the story goes, and performed the rest of the journey on foot. This
assiduity was very pleasing. But the emperor was believed to dislike
Hadrian for several reasons. He was expensive, and involved in debt.
He was, besides, inconstant, capricious, and apt to envy another’s
reputation. These faults, in Trajan’s opinion, could not be compensated
either by Hadrian’s learning or his talents. His great skill in the
Greek and Latin languages, his intimate acquaintance with the laws of
his country and the philosophy of the times, were no inducements to
Trajan, who, being bred himself a soldier, desired to have a military
man to succeed him. For this reason it was that the dying emperor would
by no means appoint a successor; fearful, perhaps, of injuring his
great reputation, by adopting a person that was unworthy. His death,
therefore, was concealed for some time by Plotina, his wife, till Hadrian
had sounded the inclinations of the army, and found them firm in his
interests. They then produced a forged instrument, importing that Hadrian
was adopted to succeed in the empire. By this artifice he was elected by
all orders of the state, though absent from Rome, being then at Antioch,
as general of the forces in the East.[28]
Upon Hadrian’s election, his first care was to write to the senate,
excusing himself for assuming the empire without their previous
approbation; imputing it to the hasty zeal of the army, who rightly
judged that the senate ought not long to remain without a head. He then
began to pursue a course quite opposite to that of his predecessor,
taking every method of declining war, and promoting the arts of peace.
He was quite satisfied with preserving the ancient limits of the empire,
with the Euphrates as the boundary.
Having thus settled the affairs of the East, and leaving Severus governor
of Syria, he took his journey by land to Rome, sending the ashes of
Trajan thither by sea. Upon his approach to the city, he was informed
that a magnificent triumph was preparing for him; but this he modestly
declined, desiring that those honours might be paid to Trajan’s memory
which they had designed for him. In consequence of this command, a most
superb triumph was decreed, in which Trajan’s statue was carried as the
principal figure in the procession, it being remarked that he was the
only man that ever triumphed after he was dead.
THE VARIED ENDOWMENTS OF HADRIAN
It was not an easy task to appear with any lustre after an emperor
so loved and admired as Trajan; and yet the merits of his successor
seemed, in some measure, to console the people for their loss. Hadrian
was one of the most remarkable of the Roman emperors for the variety
of his endowments. He was highly skilful in all the exercises both of
body and mind. He composed with great beauty, both in prose and verse;
he pleaded at the bar, and was one of the best orators of his time. He
was deeply versed in the mathematics, and no less skilful in physic. In
drawing and painting, he was equal to the greatest masters; an excellent
musician, and sang to admiration. Besides these qualifications, he had
an astonishing memory; he knew the names of all his soldiers, though
ever so long absent. He could dictate to one, confer with another, and
write himself, all at the same time. He was remarkably expert in military
discipline; he was strong and very skilful in arms, both on horseback and
on foot, and frequently with his own hand killed wild boars, and even
lions, in hunting.
His moral virtues were not less than his accomplishments. Upon his first
exaltation, he forgave an infinite number of debts due to the exchequer,
remitting the large arrears to which the provinces were liable, and
burning the bonds and registers of them in the public Forum. He refused
to take the confiscated estates of condemned persons into his private
coffers, but ordered them to be placed in the public treasury. His
moderation and clemency appeared by pardoning the injuries which he had
received when he was yet but a private man. One day meeting a person who
had formerly been his most inveterate enemy, “My good friend,” cried he,
“you have escaped, for I am made emperor.” He had so great a veneration
for the senate, and was so careful of not introducing unworthy persons
into it, that he told the captain of his guard, when he made him senator,
that he had no honours in his gift equal to what he then bestowed. He
was affable to his friends, and gentle to persons of meaner stations; he
relieved their wants, and visited them in sickness; it being his constant
maxim, that he was an emperor, not for his own good, but for the benefit
of mankind.
These were his virtues, which were contrasted by a strange mixture of
vices; or, to say the truth, the wanted strength of mind to preserve his
general rectitude of character without deviation. Thus he is represented
as proud and vainglorious, envious and detractive, hasty and revengeful,
inquisitive into other men’s affairs, and often induced by sycophants
to acts of cruelty and injustice. He permitted the revival of the
persecution against the Christians, and showed many instances of a bad
disposition, which it was the whole study of his life to correct or to
conceal.
But whatever Hadrian might have been as to his private character,
his conduct as an emperor appears most admirable, as all his public
transactions seem dictated by the soundest policy and the most
disinterested wisdom. He was scarce settled on the throne, when several
of the northern barbarians, the Alans, the Sarmatians, and the Dacians,
began to make devastations on the empire. These hardy nations, who
now found the way to conquer, by issuing from their forests, and then
retiring upon the approach of a superior force opposing them, began to
be truly formidable to Rome. Hadrian had thoughts of contracting the
limits of the empire, by giving up some of the most remote and the least
defensible provinces; but in this he was overruled by his friends, who
wrongly imagined that an extensive frontier would tend to intimidate
an invading enemy. But though he complied with their remonstrances,
he broke down the bridge over the Danube, which his predecessor had
built, sensible that the same passage which was open to him, was equally
convenient to the incursions of his barbarous neighbours.
While he was employed in compelling these nations to submission, a
conspiracy was discovered, carried on among four persons of consular
dignity at home. These had agreed to kill him, either while he was
offering sacrifice, or while he was hunting. Their designs, however,
were timely discovered, and the conspirators put to death by order
of the senate. Hadrian took great pains to clear himself from the
imputation of having had any hand in their execution; he had sworn upon
his advancement, to put no senator to death, and he now declared that
the delinquents died without his permission. But in order entirely to
suppress the murmurs of the people upon this head, he distributed large
sums of money among them, and called off their attention from this act
of severity to magnificent shows, and the various diversions of the
amphitheatre.
HADRIAN’S TOURS
[Sidenote: [118-129 A.D.]]
Having stayed a short time at Rome, so as to see that all things were
regulated and established for the safety of the public, he prepared to
visit and take a view of his whole empire. It was one of his maxims,
that an emperor ought to imitate the sun, which diffuses warmth and
vigour over all parts of the earth. He therefore took with him a splendid
court and a considerable force, and entered the province of Gaul, where
he numbered all the inhabitants. From Gaul he went into Germany, from
thence to Holland, and then passed over into Britain. There, reforming
many abuses, and reconciling the natives to the Romans, for the better
security of the southern parts of the kingdom he built a wall of wood
and earth, extending from the river Eden in Cumberland to the Tyne in
Northumberland, to prevent the incursions of the Picts, and the other
barbarous nations to the north. From Britain, returning through Gaul,
he directed his journey to Spain, where he was received with great joy,
as being a native of that country. There, wintering in the city of
Tarraco, he called a meeting of the deputies from all the provinces, and
ordained many things for the benefit of the nation. Happening, while he
was in Spain, to walk in his garden, one of the servants of the house
ran furiously at him, with a drawn sword, to kill him; but the emperor
warding off the blow, and closing with him, quickly disarmed him; then
delivering him to his guards, he ordered that he might have a physician
to bleed him, considering the poor creature (which in fact he was) as a
madman. From Spain he returned to Rome.[b]
In April of 129 Hadrian undertook another long journey to the eastern
provinces of the empire, from which he did not return to take up his
residence on the Tiber until the year 134. In 129 he again made a long
stay in Athens, where he celebrated the consummation of a great work
which had been awaiting completion from times out of mind, and was now
intended to minister to the worship of Zeus, the glory of Athens, and the
vanity of the great Philhellenic emperor.
Of the many magnificent buildings which he erected for the adornment
of his favourite city, hardly anything is left except the ruins of the
most splendid of them all. Southeast of the acropolis there still stand
some huge columns of the Olympieum, begun long since by the Pisistratidæ
and now finished by Hadrian. It was a gigantic temple of Olympian Zeus,
occupying an area of fifty-nine thousand square feet. It was consecrated
in the autumn of 129, and one and the same priest presided there over
the worship of the Olympian Zeus and of the Philhellene emperor.
[Sidenote: [129-130 A.D.]]
Hadrian also laid out a fashionable residential quarter for Roman villas
on the southeast of the city, towards the Ilissus, which was adorned
with a stately gateway on the original boundary of ancient Athens, not
far from the peribolus of the Olympieum. His new Panhellenium, a temple
to the Panhellenic Zeus, was intended to serve as a centre for the new
national festival of the Panhellenia, instituted by him, and celebrated
for the first time in the autumn of the year 129; a festival in which
the Greeks of the mother-country and the colonies were equally entitled
to take part. Thus he hoped to substitute for the Delphic amphictyony,
which had passed into the limbo of shades, a fresh incentive to Greek
patriotism and religious sentiment, and to restore to Athens something of
the lustre of her old commanding position.
[Illustration: RUINS OF THE FORUM]
The emperor left Athens in March or April, 130, and proceeded to
Alexandria, a city which combined all the elements which charmed him as
a sovereign and an accomplished man of the world--the restless activity
of a vast commercial centre, the motley mixture of the most varied and
sharply defined national types in the empire, and lastly, the abundance
of scientific material and the high standard of learning, both in studies
purely Greek and in the applied and exact sciences. The only drawback
was the Alexandrine propensity to ill-natured witticisms, which were apt
to verge upon shameless insolence and to which even the person of the
emperor was by no means sacred.
When Hadrian’s favourite, Antinous, was drowned in the Nile at Besa
(probably on October 30, 130), having sought death of his own free will,
according to the story then generally received, in order to save the
emperor, whose life (so it was said) could only be preserved by the
voluntary sacrifice of another--Hadrian endeavoured to find comfort by
instituting a new form of worship, that of his lost minion. The art
and feeling of the antique world proved willing instruments of the
emperor’s will, and Antinous was immortalised in numerous statues,
more particularly in Greece. On the other hand, two of Hadrian’s
administrative measures provoked another fearful outbreak of Jewish fury
in Palestine.
[Sidenote: [131-138 A.D.]]
The founding of the new colony of Ælia Capitolina on the ruins
of Jerusalem and an imperial edict, really directed against the
objectionable custom of mutilation, and only construed by a mistake as
referring to the Jewish rite of circumcision, brought about a terrible
Jewish revolt (at the end of 131), which was vigorously seconded by the
Jews of the Dispersion. The rising, disregarded at first by the Romans,
and directed with the utmost energy by a priest, Eleazer of Modin, and
a warlike freebooter, Simon Bar Cocheba[29] (_i.e._, son of a star) by
name, resulted in a troublesome war, waged with horrible cruelty on both
sides, in which victory only fell to the Roman arms after the experienced
legate Sextus Julius Severus, came from Britain to take over the command.
It was not decided by a pitched battle; as before, one stronghold after
another had to be reduced, the last being Baeth-ter, not far from
Jerusalem (135 A.D.). Thenceforth and for long after the silence of the
grave settled upon Judea, or Syria Palestina, as it was now called. No
Jews might tread the holy places of Jerusalem on pain of death, and the
little country was garrisoned by two legions.
HADRIAN AS BUILDER AND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMER
Hadrian came back to take up his residence at Rome in 134, and there
zealously took up the architectural labours of which imposing remains
are left to the present day. He had already adorned the heart of the
old city with the temple of Venus and Rome, which was dedicated on the
twenty-first of April, 128, and some vast undertakings were brought to
a conclusion in 135, 136, and the following years. We have a memorial
of him to this day in the huge mausoleum, which was diverted from
its purpose as a quiet sepulchre to become the citadel of the City
of the Seven Hills during the stormy times of the Middle Ages and
later centuries. On the right bank of the Tiber Hadrian built a new
mausoleum, where not only he and the members of his family but many of
his successors were buried. In order to connect this edifice (now known
as the Castle of St. Angelo) with the left bank of the river, he built
the splendid Ælian bridge (now Ponte St. Angelo) of blocks of travertin
stone. Lastly, the ruins of his Tiburtine villa, covering a circuit of
about eight miles, can still be traced.
Hadrian’s successors had every reason to regard with the utmost reverence
the many administrative reforms made by him in the course of his long
and prosperous reign. Though he did not pursue his predecessor’s policy
of conquest, he used every means to maintain the strength and efficiency
of the army; above all, he did not govern it by decrees issued from the
palace, but constantly appeared in the camps in person, and examined
all things with the eye of an expert. Military appointments were made
solely on consideration of personal capacity and genuine merit, and
various arrangements were made to augment the fighting power of the
army, all of which stood the test of practice. Hadrian’s army system,
and more particularly the drill introduced by him, proved so excellent
that Hadrian’s regulations formed the basis of military organisation as
late as the time of Constantine. The change which took place in strategy,
for instance, after the introduction of his reforms is of the highest
importance. Trajan had resorted to the ancient Roman practice with
telling effect.
But the scientific study of military tactics which had come into
existence in connection with Greek studies after the middle of the first
century B.C. and much costly experience won in conflict with barbarian
frontier tribes in Europe and with the horsemen of Asia had led to
changes in the old battle array. The cavalry were taught to practise all
the strategic movements of the Parthian, Armenian, Sarmatian, and Celtic
hordes. In order to spare the valuable infantry of the legions as much as
possible, auxiliary troops were more and more largely used in the first
line, and an order of battle was introduced which combined the advantages
of retaining the system of reserve divisions, promising speedier victory
over hordes of gallant barbarians, and making the struggle less deadly to
the Romans. The practice of early antique times--that of drawing up the
men in serried ranks, or “phalanxes,” was again systematically resorted
to. The van of the legion was no longer divided by vacant intervals. The
“phalanx” of the legion was eight men deep. By a skilful combination of
the various weapons in use, the soldiers of the first four files were
armed with the _pilum_, the four behind them with spears. A ninth file
consisted of auxiliaries aimed with arrows. The place of the cavalry and
artillery was on the wings and rear of the phalanx. Further still to the
rear was a reserve of picked troops, ready to help at every point where
help was needed.
Hadrian’s labours in the field of civil administration were even more
considerable. As a financier he was the best economist since Tiberius,
and once more showed what results a sound financial policy and wise
economy could create from the vast resources of the empire, both in the
sphere of production and in that of artistic and monumental creation.
At the same time he displayed great skill in introducing reforms into
every department of finance, removing numerous harsh regulations, and
in organising the affairs of the free peasants and tenant farmers on
the imperial and fiscal domains in Africa on more humane and economical
principles. He increased the revenue of the public treasury by
undertaking the direct management of many imperial estates, instead of
farming out the returns.
Nor was he less active in the sphere of jurisprudence. By his command all
the prætorian edicts, which till then had been arranged in chronological
order only, were collected into a systematic compilation in 131-132 B.C.
by the eminent jurist Salvius Julianus. In connection with this work
Hadrian caused the senate to issue a decree [Edictum Perpetuum] ordaining
that no magistrate in office should henceforth add fresh clauses to the
edict, but that necessary additions should be deduced by analogy from
the materials already existing or made by imperial “constitutions.”
Hadrian’s decisions in points concerning slavery are of interest, as
showing his humane disposition. Prominent among these was the abolition
of the cruel and cowardly system which enacted that where the master of a
house was found murdered all the slaves of the household should be put to
death. After Hadrian’s time only those slaves were examined who might be
supposed to have had a hand in the murder.
The monarchical tendency of the Roman diarchy and the levelling effect
of the empire became more and more distinctly marked under Hadrian. He
did more than any emperor before him to place the provincials on an equal
footing with the Roman citizens of Italy. Moreover, by conferring the
_jus Latinum_ on many cities, he paved the way for the extension of the
rights of Roman citizenship to the whole empire.
In Italy he appointed a number of _juridici_, with powers to deal
with bequests in trust, with the appointment of guardians, and with
disputes concerning the eligibility of candidates for the _decurionate_.
The power to deal with these questions was withdrawn, not from the
municipal authorities, but (except in specially important cases) from
the law-courts of the capital, before which suits of this sort had
hitherto been carried. Rome and its environs--comprising an area of 100
Roman miles, or 150 kilometres, within the competency of the chief of
police--of course remained under the jurisdiction of the tribunals of
the capital. But, on the other hand, the growing power of the imperial
officials in matters of criminal law becomes steadily more apparent,
and the competency of the chief of police and the prefect of the guard
is extended at the expense of the old courts of law. These two officers
represent the emperor more and more in the administration of criminal law
in Italy. Their departments were subsequently made separate, possibly
after the reign of Marcus Aurelius, certainly after that of Severus. Rome
and a space of 150 kilometres round it were under the jurisdiction of the
chief of police, Italy beyond these limits under that of the prefects of
the guard. The latter officers took on more and more of the character of
representative organs of the personal intervention of the emperor and
thus were bound to be eminent jurisconsults.
Another significant change introduced by Hadrian was to give stability
and definite form to the old institution of the _consilium_, which
consisted of friends and advisers convened by the emperors to assist
in their decisions at law. From this time forward the members of the
imperial _consilium_ appear as councillors duly appointed, with official
titles and salaries, who were probably appointed by the emperor after
consultation with the senate.
The business of the new council was jurisprudence in the widest sense
of the word, and it was therefore intended to consist in the main of
professional jurists and the prefects of the guard, together with the
chief officers of the court. Another reform introduced by Hadrian into
the administration at the same time was the rule that all the three great
offices at court should be occupied by members of the equestrian order.
The procurator _a rationibus_, or controller of the public treasury,
who was really financial minister, now took the first place among the
procurators both in rank and salary, and by degrees the inferior posts in
the financial department were converted into regular offices and filled
by knights. The imperial council was divided into a Greek and a Latin
department under separate chiefs. Finally, the department of petitions
and grievances was put into the hands of officials of knightly birth.[m]
PERSONAL TRAITS AND LAST DAYS OF HADRIAN