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.