24. M. Ulpius Trajan (after his adoption, Nerva Trajan), a Spaniard by birth, governed the empire from his forty-second to his sixty-second year. He was the first foreigner who ascended the Roman throne, and at the same time the first of their monarchs who was equally great as a ruler, a general, and a man. After completely abolishing the judicia majestatis, he made the restoration of the free Roman constitution, so far as it was compatible with a monarchical form, his peculiar care. He restored the elective power to the comitia, complete liberty of speech to the senate, and to the magistrates their former authority; and yet he exercised the art of ruling to a degree and in a detail which few princes have equalled. Frugal in his expenses, he was nevertheless splendidly liberal to every useful institution, whether in Rome or the provinces, as well as in the foundation of military roads, public monuments, and schools for the instruction of poor children. By his wars he extended the dominion of Rome beyond its former boundaries; subduing, in his contests with the Daci, their country, and reducing it to a Roman province; as he likewise did, in his wars against the Armenians and Parthians, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and part of Arabia. Why was so great a character disfigured by an ambition of conquest?
The first war against the Daci, in which the shameful tribute was withdrawn and Dercebal reduced to subjection, lasted from 101—103. But as Dercebal again rebelled, the war was renewed in 105, and brought to a close in 106, when Dacia was reduced to a Roman province, and many Roman colonies established therein. The war with the Parthians arose from a dispute respecting the possession of the throne of Armenia (see above, p. 304), 114—116: but although Rome was victorious she gained no permanent advantage thereby.
The especial source for the history of Trajan is the Panegyricus of Pliny the Younger; the correspondence, however, of the same writer, while governor of Bithynia, with the emperor, affords us a much deeper insight into the spirit of his government: Plinii Epist. lib. x. Who can read it without admiring the royal statesman?
Rittershusii Trajanus in lucem reproductus. Ambegæ, 1608. A mere collection of passages occurring in ancient authors respecting Trajan.
Res Trajani Imperatoris ad Danubium Gestæ, auctore Conrad Mannert. Norimb. 1793: and
Joh. Christ. Engel, Commentatio de Expeditionibus Trajani ad Danubium, et origine Valachorum. Vindob. 1794.—Both learned dissertations, written for the prize offered by the Royal Society of Gottingen; the first of which obtained the prize, and the other the accessit, i. e. was declared second best.
Adrian.
25. By the contrivances of Plotina, his wife, Trajan was succeeded by his cousin and pupil, whom he is said also to have adopted, P. Ælius Adrian, who reigned from his forty-second to his sixty-third year. He was acknowledged at once by the army of Asia, with which he then was, and the sanction of the senate followed immediately after. He differed from his predecessor in that his chief aim was the preservation of peace; on which account he gave up (rare moderation!), directly after his accession, the newly conquered provinces of Asia, Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, and so put an end to the Parthian war (see above, p. 304.) He retained, though with some unwillingness, that of Dacia, because otherwise the Roman colonies would have become exposed. He well made up for his pacific disposition, however, in seeking, by a general and vigorous reform in the internal administration, and by restoring the discipline of the army, to give greater solidity to the empire. For that purpose he visited successively all the provinces of the Roman empire; first the eastern, and afterwards the western; making useful regulations and establishing order wherever he came. He improved the Roman jurisprudence by the introduction of the edictum perpetuum. Passionately fond of and well instructed in literature and the fine arts, he gave them his liberal protection, and thus called forth another Augustan age. Upon the whole, his reign was certainly a salutary one for the empire; and for any single acts of injustice of which he may be accused, he fully compensated by his choice of a successor. After having first adopted L. Aurelius Verus (afterwards Ælius Verus), who fell a sacrifice to his debaucheries, he next adopted T. Aurelius Antoninus (afterwards T. Ælius Adrianus Antoninus Pius), upon condition that he should again adopt M. Aurelius Verus (afterwards M. Aurelius Antoninus), and L. Cesonius Commodus (afterwards L. Verus), the son of Ælius Verus.
During his reign a great revolt broke out in Judæa, under Barcochab, 132—135, occasioned by the introduction of pagan worship into the Roman colony of Ælia Capitolina (the ancient Jerusalem).
The especial source for the history of Adrian, is his Life and that of Ælius Verus by Ælius Spartianus in Script. Hist. Aug. Minores, already quoted.