Trachălus Marcus Galerius, a consul in the reign of Nero, celebrated for his eloquence as an orator, and for a majestic and commanding aspect. Quintilian.—Tacitus.——One of the friends and ministers of Otho.
Trachas, a town of Latium. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 15, li. 717.
Trāchīnia, a small country of Phthiotis, on the bay of Malea, near mount Œta. The capital was called Trachis, or Trachina, where Hercules went after he had killed Eunomus. Strabo, bk. 9.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11, li. 269.
Trachonītis, a part of Judæa, on the other side of the Jordan. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 14.
Tragurium, a town of Dalmatia on the sea.
Tragus, a river of Arcadia, falling into the Alpheus. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 33.
Trajanopŏlis, a town of Thrace.——A name given to Selinus of Cilicia, where Trajan died.
Trajānus Marcus Ulpius Crinītus, a Roman emperor, born at Italica in Spain. His great virtues, and his private as well as public character, and his services to the empire, both as an officer, a governor, and a consul, recommended him to the notice of Nerva, who solemnly adopted him as his son; invested him during his lifetime with the imperial purple, and gave him the name of Cæsar and of Germanicus. A little time after Nerva died, and the election of Trajan to the vacant throne was confirmed by the unanimous rejoicings of the people, and the free concurrence of the armies on the confines of Germany and the banks of the Danube. The noble and independent behaviour of Trajan evinced the propriety and goodness of Nerva’s choice, and the attachment of the legions; and the new emperor seemed calculated to ensure peace and domestic tranquillity to the extensive empire of Rome. All the actions of Trajan showed a good and benevolent prince, whose virtues truly merited the encomiums which the pen of an elegant and courteous panegyrist has paid. The barbarians continued quiet, and the hostilities which they generally displayed at the election of a new emperor whose military abilities they distrusted, were now few. Trajan, however, could not behold with satisfaction and unconcern the insolence of the Dacians, who claimed from the Roman people a tribute which the cowardice of Domitian had offered. The sudden appearance of the emperor on the frontiers awed the barbarians to peace; but Decebalus, their warlike monarch, soon began hostilities by violating the treaty. The emperor entered the enemy’s country, by throwing a bridge across the rapid stream of the Danube, and a battle was fought in which the slaughter was so great, that in the Roman camp linen was wanted to dress the wounds of the soldiers. Trajan obtained the victory, and Decebalus, despairing of success, destroyed himself, and Dacia became a province of Rome. That the ardour of the Roman soldiers in defeating their enemies might not cool, an expedition was undertaken into the east, and Parthia threatened with immediate war. Trajan passed through the submissive kingdom of Armenia, and, by his well-directed operations, made himself master of the provinces of Assyria and Mesopotamia. He extended his conquests in the east, he obtained victories over unknown nations; and when on the extremities of India, he lamented that he possessed not the vigour and youth of an Alexander, that he might add unexplored provinces and kingdoms to the Roman empire. These successes in different parts of the world gained applause, and the senators were profuse in the honours they decreed to the conqueror. This, however, was but the blaze of transient glory. Trajan had no sooner signified his intentions of returning to Italy, than the conquered barbarians appeared again in arms, and the Roman empire did not acquire one single acre of territory from the conquests of her sovereign in the east. The return of the emperor towards Rome was hastened by indisposition; he stopped in Cilicia, and in the town of Selinus, which afterwards was called Trajanopolis, he was seized with a flux, and a few days after expired, in the beginning of August, A.D. 117, after a reign of 19 years, six months, and 15 days, in the 64th year of his age. He was succeeded on the throne by Adrian, whom the empress Plotina introduced to the Roman armies, as the adopted son of her husband. The ashes of Trajan were carried to Rome, and deposited under the stately column which he had erected a few years before. Under this emperor the Romans enjoyed tranquillity, and for a moment supposed that their prosperity was complete under a good and virtuous sovereign. Trajan was fond of popularity, and he merited it. The sounding titles of Optimus, and the father of his country, were not unworthily bestowed upon a prince who was equal to the greatest generals of antiquity, and who, to indicate his affability, and his wish to listen to the just complaints of his subjects, distinguished his palace by the inscription of the public palace. Like other emperors, he did not receive with an air of unconcern the homage of his friends, but rose from his seat and went cordially to salute them. He refused the statues which the flattery of favourites wished to erect to him, and he ridiculed the follies of an enlightened nation, that could pay adoration to cold, inanimate pieces of marble. His public entry into Rome gained him the hearts of the people; he appeared on foot, and showed himself an enemy to parade and an ostentatious equipage. When in his camp, he exposed himself to the fatigues of war, like the meanest soldier, and crossed the most barren deserts and extensive plains on foot, and in his dress and food displayed all the simplicity which once gained the approbation of the Romans in their countryman Fabricius. All the oldest soldiers he knew by their own name; he conversed with them with great familiarity, and never retired to his tent before he had visited the camp, and by a personal attendance convinced himself of the vigilance and the security of his army. As a friend he was not less distinguished than as a general. He had a select number of intimates, whom he visited with freedom and openness, and at whose tables he partook many a moderate repast without form or ceremony. His confidence, however, in the good intentions of others, was, perhaps, carried to excess. His favourite Sura had once been accused of attempts upon his life, but Trajan disregarded the informer, and as he was that same day invited to the house of the supposed conspirator, he went thither early. To try further the sincerity of Sura, he ordered himself to be shaved by his barber, to have a medicinal application made to his eyes by the hand of his surgeon, and to bathe together with him. The public works of Trajan are also celebrated; he opened free and easy communications between the cities of his provinces, he planted many colonies, and furnished Rome with all the corn and provisions which could prevent a famine in the time of calamity. It was by his directions that the architect Apollodorus built that celebrated column which is still to be seen at Rome, under the name of Trajan’s column. The area on which it stands was made by the labours of men, and the height of the pillar proves that a large hill, 144 feet high, was removed at a great expense, A.D. 114, to commemorate the victories of the reigning prince. His persecutions of the christians were stopped by the interference of the humane Pliny, but he was unusually severe upon the Jews, who had barbarously murdered 200,000 of his subjects, and even fed upon the flesh of the dead. His vices have been obscurely seen through a reign of continued splendour and popularity, yet he is accused of incontinence and many unnatural indulgencies. He was too much addicted to drinking, and his wish to be styled lord has been censured by those who admired the dissimulated moderation and the modest claims of an Augustus. Pliny, Panegyrics, &c.—Dio Cassius.—Eutropius.—Ammianus.—Spartian.—Josephus, Jewish Wars.—Aurelius Victor.——The father of the emperor, who likewise bore the name of Trajan, was honoured with the consulship and a triumph, and the rank of a patrician by the emperor Vespasian.——A general of the emperor Valens.——A son of the emperor Decius.
Trajectus Rheni, now Utrecht, the capital of one of the provinces of Holland.
Tralles, a town of Lydia, now Sultanhisar. Juvenal, satire 3, li. 70.—Livy, bk. 37, ch. 45.——A people of Illyricum.