Chapter CCCLXXXI: Section 7 (9)

On the overthrow and death of Nero, June, A. D. 68, the
veteran soldier Galba, proclaimed imperator by his legions in
Spain, and accepted by the Roman senate, mounted the imperial
throne. His brief reign was terminated in January of the
following year by a sudden revolt of the prætorian guard,
instigated by Salvius Otho, one of the profligate favorites of
Nero, who had betrayed his former patron and was disappointed
in the results. Galba was slain and Otho made emperor, to
reign, in his turn, for a brief term of three months. Revolt
against Otho was quick to show itself in the provinces, east
and west. The legions on the Rhine set up a rival emperor, in
the person of their commander, Aulus Vitellius, whose single
talent was in gluttony, and who had earned by his vices the
favor of four beastly rulers, from Tiberius to Nero, in
succession. Gaul having declared in his favor, Vitellius sent
forward two armies by different routes into Italy. Otho met
them, with such forces as he could gather, at Bedriacum,
between Verona and Cremona, and suffered there a defeat which
he accepted as decisive. He slew himself, and Vitellius made
his way to Rome without further opposition, permitting his
soldiers to plunder the country as they advanced. But the
armies of the east were not disposed to accept an emperor by
the election of the armies of the west, and they, too, put
forward a candidate for the purple. Their choice was better
guided, for it fell on the sturdy soldier, Titus Flavius
Vespasianus, then commanding in Judea. The advance corps of
the forces supporting Vespasian (called "Flavians," or
"Flavianites") entered Cisalpine Gaul from Illyricum in the
autumn of 69, and encountered the Vitellians at Bedriacum, on
the same field where the latter had defeated the Othonians a
few weeks before. The Vitellians were defeated. Cremona, a
flourishing Roman colony, which capitulated to the conquerors,
was perfidiously given up to a merciless soldiery and totally
destroyed,—one temple, alone, escaping. Vitellius, in despair,
showed an eagerness to resign the throne, and negotiated his
resignation with a brother of Vespasian, residing in Rome. But
the mob of fugitive Vitellian soldiers which had collected in
the capital interposed violently to prevent this abdication.
Flavius Sabinus—the brother of Vespasian—took refuge, with his
supporters, in the Capitolium, or temple of Jupiter, on the
Capitoline Hill. But the sacred precincts were stormed by the
Vitellian mob, the Capitol—the august sanctuary of Rome—was
burned and Sabinus was slain. The army which had won the
victory for Vespasian at Bedriacum, commanded by Antonius
Primus, soon appeared at the gates of the city, to avenge this
outrage. The unorganized force which attempted opposition was
driven before it in worse disorder. Victors and vanquished
poured into Rome together, slaughtering and being slaughtered
in the streets. The rabble of the city joined in the bloody
hunt, and in the plundering that went with it. "Rome had seen
the conflicts of armed men in the streets under Sulla and
Cinna, but never before such a hideous mixture of levity and
ferocity." Vitellius was among the slain, his brief reign
ending on the 21st of December, A. D. 69. Vespasian was still
in the east, and did not enter Rome until the summer of the
following year.

_Tacitus,
History,
book 1-3._

ALSO IN:
_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapters 56-57._

ROME: A. D. 70.
Siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.

See JEWS: A. D. 66-70.

ROME: A. D. 70-96.
The Flavian family.
Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian.

"Unfortunately Tacitus fails us … at this point, and this time
completely. Nothing has been saved of his 'Histories' from the
middle of the year 70, and we find ourselves reduced to the
mere biographies of Suetonius, to the fragments of Dion, to
the abridgments of Aurelius Victor and Eutropius. The majestic
stream from which we have drawn and which flowed with brimming
banks is now only a meagre thread of water. Of all the
emperors Vespasian is the one who loses the most by this, for
he was, says S. Augustine, a very good prince and very worthy
of being beloved. He came into power at an age when one is no
longer given to change, at 60 years. He had never been fond of
gaming or debauchery, and he maintained his health by a frugal
diet, even passing one day every month without eating. His
life was simple and laborious. … He had no higher aim than to
establish order in the state and in the finances; but he
accomplished this, and if his principate, like all the others,
made no preparations for the future, it did much for the
present. It was a restorative reign, the effects of which were
felt for several generations; this service is as valuable as
the most brilliant victories. Following the example of the
second Julius, the first of the Flavians resolved to seek in
the senate the support of his government. This assembly,
debased by so many years of tyranny, needed as much as it did
a century before to be submitted to a severe revision. …
Vespasian acted with resolution. Invested with the title of
censor in 73, with his son Titus for colleague, he struck from
the rolls of the two orders the members deemed unworthy,
replaced them by the most distinguished persons of the Empire,
and, by virtue of his powers as sovereign pontiff, raised
several of them to the patriciate. A thousand Italian or
provincial families came to be added to the 200 aristocratic
families which had survived, and constituted with these the
higher Roman society, from which the candidates for all civil,
military, and religious functions were taken. … This
aristocracy, borrowed by Vespasian from the provincial cities,
where it had been trained to public affairs, where it had
acquired a taste for economy, simplicity, and order, brought
into Rome pure morals. … It will furnish the great emperors of
the second century, the skilled lieutenants who will second
them, and senators who will hereafter conspire only at long
intervals. … To the senate, thus renewed and become the true
representation of the Empire, Vespasian submitted all
important matters. … Suetonius renders him this testimony,
that it would be difficult to cite a single individual
unjustly punished in his reign, at least unless it were in his
absence or without his knowledge. He loved to dispense justice
himself in the Forum. … The legions, who had made and unmade
five emperors in two years, were no longer attentive to the
ancient discipline. He brought them back to it. … The morals
of the times were bad; he did more than the laws to reform
them—he set good examples. …
{2710}
Augustus had raised two altars to Peace; Vespasian built a
temple to her, in which he deposited the most precious spoils
of Jerusalem; and … the old general closed, for the sixth
time, the doors of the temple of Janus. He built a forum
surrounded by colonnades, in addition to those already
existing, and commenced, in the midst of the city, the vast
amphitheatre, a mountain of stone, of which three-fourths
remain standing to-day. … A colossal statue raised near by for
Nero, but which Vespasian consecrated to the Sun, gave it its
name, the Coliseum. … We have no knowledge of the wars of
Vespasian, except that three times in the year 71 he assumed
the title of 'imperator,' and three times again the following
year. But when we see him making Cappadocia an imperial
proconsular province with numerous garrisons to check the
incursions which desolated it; and, towards the Danube,
extending his influence over the barbarians even beyond the
Borysthenes; when we read in Tacitus that Velleda, the
prophetess of the Bructeri, was at that time brought a captive
to Rome; that Cerialis vanquished the Brigantes and Frontinus
the Silures, we must believe that Vespasian made a vigorous
effort along the whole line of his outposts to impress upon
foreign nations respect for the Roman name. … Here is the
secret of that severe economy which appeared to the prodigal
and light-minded a shameful stinginess. … Vespasian … was 69
years old, and was at his little house in the territory of
Reate when he felt the approach of death. 'I feel that I am
becoming a god,' he said to those around him, laughing in
advance at his apotheosis. … 'An emperor,' he said, 'ought to
die standing.' He attempted to rise and expired in this
effort, on the 23rd of June, 79. The first plebeian emperor
has had no historian, but a few words of his biographer
suffice for his renown: 'rem publicam stabilivit et ornavit,'
'by him the State was strengthened and glorified.' … Vespasian
being dead, Titus assumed the title of Augustus. … His father
had prepared him for this by taking him as associate in the
Empire; he had given to him the title of Cæsar, the
censorship, the tribunitian power, the prefecture of the
prætorium, and seven consulates. Coming into power at the age
of maturity, rich in experience and satiated with pleasures by
his very excesses, he had henceforth but one passion, that of
the public welfare. At the outset he dismissed his boon
companions; in his father's lifetime he had already sacrificed
to Roman prejudices his tender sentiments for the Jewish queen
Berenice, whom he had sent back to the East. In taking
possession of the supreme pontificate he declared that he
would keep his hands pure from blood, and he kept his word: no
one under his reign perished by his orders." It was during the
short reign of Titus that Herculaneum and Pompeii were
overwhelmed by an eruption of Vesuvius (August 23, A. D. 79),
while other calamities afflicted Italy. "Pestilence carried
off thousands of people even in Rome [see PLAGUE: A. D.
78-266]; and at last a conflagration, which raged three days,
consumed once more the Capitol, the library of Augustus, and
Pompey's theatre. To Campania Titus sent men of consular rank
with large sums of money, and he devoted to the relief of the
survivors the property that had fallen to the treasury through
the death of those who had perished in the disaster without
leaving heirs. At Rome he took upon himself the work of
repairing everything, and to provide the requisite funds he
sold the furniture of the imperial palace. … This reign lasted
only 26 months, from the 23rd of June, A. D. 79, to the 13th
of September, A. D. 81. As Titus was about to visit his
paternal estate in the Sabine territory he was seized by a
violent fever, which soon left no hope of his recovery. There
is a report that he partly opened the curtains of his litter
and gazed at the sky with eyes full of tears and reproaches.
'Why,' he exclaimed, 'must I die so soon? In all my life I
have, however, but one thing to repent.' What was this? No one
knows." Titus was succeeded by his brother Domitian, then
thirty years old. "The youth of Domitian had been worthy of
the times of Nero, and he had wearied his father and brother
by his intrigues. Nevertheless he was sober, to the extent of
taking but one meal a day, and he had a taste for military
exercises, for study and poetry, especially since the
elevation of his family. Vespasian had granted him honours,
but no power, and, at the death of Titus, he had only the
titles of Cæsar and Prince of the Youth. In his hurry to seize
at last that Empire so long coveted, he abandoned his dying
brother to rush to Rome, to the camp of the prætorians. … On
the day of their coronation there are few bad princes. Almost
all begin well, but, in despotic monarchies, the majority end
badly, particularly when the reigns are of long duration. …
Domitian reigned 15 years, one year longer than Nero, and his
reign reproduced the same story: at first it wise government,
then every excess. Happily the excesses did not come till
late. … Fully as vain as the son of Agrippina, Domitian heaped
every title upon his own head and decreed deification to
himself. His edicts stated: 'Our lord and our god ordains … '
The new god did not scorn vulgar honours. … He was consul 17
times, and 22 times did he have himself proclaimed 'imperator'
for victories that had not always been gained. He recalled
Nero too by his fondness for shows and for building. … There
were several wars under Domitian, all defensive excepting the
expedition against the Catti [see CHATTI], which was only a
great civil measure to drive away the hostile marauders from
the frontier. If Pliny the Younger and Tacitus are to be
believed, these wars were like those which Caligula waged:
Domitian's victories were defeats; his captives, purchased
slaves; his triumphs, audacious falsehoods. Suetonius is not
so severe. … Domitian's cruelty appeared especially, and
perhaps we should say only, after the revolt of a person of
high rank, Antonius Saturninus, who pretended to be a
descendant of the triumvir. … He was in command of two legions
in Germany whom he incited to revolt, and he called the
Germans to his aid. An unexpected thaw stopped this tribe on
the right bank of the Rhine, while Appius Norbanus Maximus,
governor of Aquitania, crushed Antonius on the opposite shore.
… This revolt must belong to the year 93, which, as Pliny
says, is that in which Domitian's great cruelties began. …
Domitian lived in a state of constant alarm; every sound
terrified him, every man seemed to him an assassin, every
occurrence was an omen of evil." He endured this life of
gloomy terror for three years, when his dread forebodings were
realized, and he was murdered by his own attendants, September
18, A. D. 96.

_V. Duruy,
History of Rome,
chapters 77-78 (volume 4)._

ALSO IN:
_Suetonius,
Lives of the Twelve Cæsars: Vespasian, Titus, Domitian._

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans under the Empire,
chapters 57-60 (volumes 6-7)._

{2711}

ROME: A. D. 78-84.
Campaigns of Agricola in Britain.

See BRITAIN: A. D. 78-84.

ROME: A. D. 96-138.
Brief reign of Nerva.-
Adoption and succession of Trajan.
His persecution of Christians.
His conquests beyond the Danube and in the east.
Hadrian's relinquishment of them.

"On the same day on which Domitian was assassinated, M.
Cocceius Nerva was proclaimed Emperor by the Prætorians, and
confirmed by the people. He owed his elevation principally to
Petronius, Prefect of the Prætorians, and Parthenius,
chamberlain to the late Emperor. He was of Cretan origin, and
a native of Narni in Umbria, and consequently the first
Emperor who was not of Italian descent. … He was prudent,
upright, generous, and of a gentle temper; but a feeble frame
and weak constitution, added to the burden of 64 years,
rendered him too reserved, timid, and irresolute for the
arduous duties of a sovereign prince. … The tolerant and
reforming administration of the new Emperor soon became
popular. Rome breathed again after the bloody tyranny under
which she had been trampled to the dust. The perjured
'delator' was threatened with the severest penalties. The
treacherous slave who had denounced his master was put to
death. Exiles returned to their native cities, and again
enjoyed their confiscated possessions. … Determined to
administer the government for the benefit of the Roman people,
he (Nerva) turned his attention to the question of finance,
and to the burdensome taxation which was the fruit of the
extravagance of his predecessors. … He diminished the enormous
sums which were lavished upon shows and spectacles, and
reduced, as far as was possible, his personal and household
expenses. … It was not probable that an Emperor of so weak and
yielding a character, notwithstanding his good qualities as a
prince and a statesman, would be acceptable to a licentious
and dominant soldiery. But a few months had elapsed when a
conspiracy was organized against him by Calpurnius Crassus. It
was, however, discovered; and the ringleader, having confessed
his crime, experienced the Emperor's usual generosity, being
only punished by banishment to Tarentum. … Meanwhile the
Prætorians, led on by Ælianus Carperius, who had been their
Prefect under Domitian, besieged Nerva in his palace, with
cries of vengeance upon the assassins of his predecessor,
murdered Petronius and Parthenius, and compelled the timid
Emperor publicly to express his approbation of the deed, and
to testify his obligation to them for wreaking vengeance on
the guilty. … Nerva was in declining years, and, taught by
circumstances that he was unequal to curb or cope with the
insolence of the soldiery, adopted Trojan as his son and
successor [A. D. 97]. Soon after, he conferred upon him in the
Senate the rank of Cæsar, and the name of Germanicus, and
added the tribuneship and the title of Emperor. This act
calmed the tumult, and was welcomed with the unanimous consent
of the Senate and the people. … Soon after the adoption of
Trajan he died of a fit of ague which brought on fever, at the
gardens of Sallust, after a reign of sixteen months, in the
sixty-sixth year of his age [A. D. 98]. … The choice which
Nerva had made proved a fortunate one. M. Ulpius Nerva
Trajanus was a Spaniard, a native of Italica, near Seville. …
He was of an ancient and distinguished family, and his father
had filled the office of consul. Although a foreigner, he was
a Roman in habits, sympathies, and language; for the south of
Spain had become so completely Roman that the inhabitants
generally spoke Latin. When a young man he had distinguished
himself in a war against the Parthians. … At the time of his
adoption by Nerva he was in command of a powerful army in
Lower Germany, his head-quarters being at Cologne. He was in
the prime of life, possessed of a robust constitution, a
commanding figure, and a majestic countenance. He was a
perfect soldier, by taste and education, and was endowed with
all the qualities of a general. … He was a strict
disciplinarian, but he knew all his veterans, spoke to them by
their names, and never let a gallant action pass unrewarded. …
The news of Nerva's death was conveyed to him at Cologne by
his cousin Hadrian, where he immediately received the imperial
power. During the first year of his reign he remained with the
army in Germany, engaged in establishing the discipline of the
troops and in inspiring them with a love of their duty. … The
ensuing year he made his entry into Rome on foot, together
with his empress, Pompeia Plotina, whose amiability and
estimable character contributed much to the popularity of her
husband. Her conduct, together with that of his sister,
Marciana, exercised a most beneficial influence upon Roman
society. They were the first ladies of the imperial court who
by their example checked the shameless licentiousness which
had long prevailed amongst women of the higher classes. … The
tastes and habits of his former life led to a change in the
peaceful policy which had so long prevailed. The first war in
which he was engaged was with the Dacians, who inhabited the
country beyond the Danube. …

See DACIA: A. D. 102-106.

A few years of peace ensued, which Trajan endured with patient
reluctance; and many great public works undertaken during the
interval show his genius for civil as well as for military
administration. … But his presence was soon required in the
East, and he joyfully hailed the opportunity thus offered him
for gaining fresh laurels. The real object of this expedition
was ambition—the pretext, that Exedarius, or Exodares, king of
Armenia, had received the crown from the king of Parthia,
instead of from the Emperor of Rome, as Tiridates had from the
hands of Nero. For this insult he demanded satisfaction.
Chosroes, the king of Parthia, at first treated his message
with contempt; but afterwards, seeing that war was imminent,
he sent ambassadors with presents to meet Trajan at Athens,
and to announce to him the deposition of Exedarius, and to
entreat him to confer the crown of Armenia upon Parthamasiris,
or Parthamaspes. Trajan received the ambassadors coldly, told
them that he was on his march to Syria, and would there act as
he thought fit. Accordingly he crossed into Asia, and marched
by way of Cilicia, Syria, and Seleucia to Antioch.
{2712}
The condemnation of the martyr bishop St. Ignatius marked his
stay in that city [A. D. 115]. It seems strange that the
persecution of the Christians should have met with countenance
and support from an emperor like Trajan; but the fact is, the
Roman mind could not separate the Christian from the Jew. The
religious distinction was beneath their notice; they
contemplated the former merely as a sect of the latter. The
Roman party in Asia were persuaded that the Jews were
meditating and preparing for insurrection; and the rebellions
of this and the ensuing reign proved that their apprehensions
were not unreasonable. Hence, at Antioch, the imperial
influence was on the side of persecution; and hence when
Pliny, the gentle governor of Pontus and Bithynia, wrote to
Trajan for instructions respecting the Christians in his
province, his 'rescript' spoke of Christianity as a dangerous
superstition, and enjoined the punishment of its professors if
discovered, although he would not have them sought for. Having
received the voluntary sub·mission of Abgarns, prince of
Osrhoene in Mesopotamia, he marched against Armenia.
Parthamasiris, who had assumed the royal state, laid his
diadem at his feet, in the hopes that he would return it to
him as Nero had to Tiridates. Trajan claimed his kingdom as a
province of the Roman people, and the unfortunate monarch lost
his life in a useless struggle for his crown. This was the
commencement of his triumphs: he received the voluntary
submission of the kings of Iberia, Sarmatia, the Bosphorus,
Colchis, Albania; and he assigned kings to most of the
barbarous tribes that inhabited the coast of the Euxine. Still
he proceeded on his career of conquest. He chastised the king
of Adiabene, who had behaved to him with treachery, and took
possession of his dominions, subjugated the rest of
Mesopotamia, constructed a bridge of boats over the Tigris,
and commenced a canal to unite the two great rivers of
Assyria. His course of conquest was resistless; he captured
Seleucia, earned the title of Parthicus by taking Ctesiphon,
the capital of Parthia [A. D. 116], imposed a tribute on
Mesopotamia, and reduced Assyria to the condition of a Roman
province. He returned to winter at Antioch, which was in the
same winter almost destroyed by an earthquake. Trajan escaped
through a window, not without personal injury. … The river
Tigris bore the victorious Emperor from the scene of his
conquest down to the Persian Gulf; he subjugated Arabia Felix,
and, like a second Alexander, was meditating and even making
preparations for an invasion of India by sea; but his
ambitious designs were frustrated by troubles nearer at hand.
Some of the conquered nations revolted, and his garrisons were
either expelled or put to the sword. He sent his generals to
crush the rebels; one of them, Maximus, was conquered and
slain; the other, Lusius Quietus, gained considerable
advantages and was made governor of Palestine, which had begun
to be in a state of insurrection.

See JEWS: A. D. 116.

He himself marched to punish the revolted Hagareni (Saracens),
whose city was called Atra, in Mesopotamia. … Trajan laid
siege to it, but was obliged to raise the siege with great
loss. Soon after this he was seized with illness. … Leaving
his army therefore to the care of Hadrian, whom he had made
governor of Syria, he embarked for Rome at the earnest
solicitation of the Senate. On arriving at Selinus in Cilicia
(afterwards named Trajanopolis), he was seized with diarrhœa,
and expired in the twentieth year of his reign [August, A. D.
117]. … He died childless, and it is said had not intended to
nominate a successor, following in this the example of
Alexander. Hadrian owed his adoption to Plotina. … Dio
positively asserts that she concealed her husband's death for
some days, and that the letter informing the Senate of his
last intentions was signed by her, and not by Trajan. Hadrian
received the despatches declaring his adoption on the 9th of
August, and those announcing Trajan's death two days
afterwards. … As soon as he was proclaimed Emperor at Antioch,
he sent an apologetic despatch to the Senate requesting their
assent to his election; the army, he said, had chosen him
without waiting for their sanction, lest the Republic should
remain without a prince. The confirmation which he asked for
was immediately granted. … The state of Roman affairs was at
this moment a very critical one, and did not permit the new
Emperor to leave the East. Emboldened by the news of Trajan's
illness, the conquered Parthians had revolted and achieved
some great successes; Sarmatia on the north, Mauritania,
Egypt, and Syria on the south, were already in a state of
insurrection. The far-sighted prudence of Hadrian led him to
fear that the empire was not unlikely to fall to pieces by its
own weight, and that the Euphrates was its best boundary. It
was doubtless a great sacrifice to surrender all the rich and
populous provinces beyond that river which had been gained by
the arms of his predecessor. It was no coward fear or mean
envy of Trajan which prompted Hadrian, but he wisely felt that
it was worth any price to purchase peace and security.
Accordingly he withdrew the Roman armies from Armenia, Assyria
and Mesopotamia, constituted the former of these an
independent kingdom, surrendered the two latter to the
Parthians, and restored their deposed king Chosroes to his
throne. … After taking these measures for establishing peace
in the East, he left Catilius Severus governor of Syria, and
returned by way of Illyria to Rome, where he arrived the
following year. … A restless curiosity, which was one of the
principal features in his character, would not permit him to
remain inactive at Rome; he determined to make a personal
survey of every province throughout his vast dominions, and
for this reason he is so frequently represented on medals as
the Roman Hercules. He commenced his travels with Gaul, thence
he proceeded to Germany, where he established order and
discipline amongst the Roman forces, and then crossed over to
Britain. … It would be uninteresting to give a mere catalogue
of the countries which he visited during the ensuing ten years
of his reign. In the fifteenth winter of it he arrived in
Egypt, and rebuilt the tomb of Pompey the Great at Pelusium.
Thence he proceeded to Alexandria which was at that period the
university of the world. … He had scarcely passed through
Syria when the Jews revolted, and continued in arms for three
years. …

See JEWS: A. D. 130-134.

{2713}

Hadrian spent the winter at Athens, where he gratified his
architectural taste by completing the temple of Jupiter
Olympius. … Conscious … of the infirmities of disease and of
advancing years, he adopted L. Aurelius Verus, a man of
pleasure and of weak and delicate health, totally unfit for
his new position. … Age and disease had now so altered his
[Hadrian's] character that he became luxurious,
self-indulgent, suspicious, and even cruel: Verus did not live
two years, and the Emperor then adopted Titus Antoninus, on
condition that he should in his turn adopt M. Annius Verus,
afterwards called M. Aurelius, and the son of Aurelius Verus."
Hadrian's malady "now became insupportably painful, his temper
savage even to madness, and many lives of senators and others
were sacrificed to his fury. His sufferings were so
excruciating that he was always begging his attendants to put
him to death. At last he went to Baiæ, where, setting at
defiance the prescriptions of his physicians, he ate and drank
what he pleased. Death, therefore, soon put a period to his
sufferings, in the sixty-third year of his age and the
twenty-first of his restless reign [A. D. 138]. Antoninus was
present at his death, his corpse was burnt at Puteoli
(Pozzuoli), and his ashes deposited in the mausoleum (moles
Hadriani) which he had himself built, and which is now the
Castle of St. Angelo."

_R. W. Browne,
History of Rome from A. D. 96,
chapters 1-2._

ALSO IN:
_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans under the Empire,
chapters 63-66 (volume 7)._

_T. Arnold and others,
History of the Roman Empire
(Encyclopædia Metropolitana).
chapters 4-6._

[IMAGE: THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT ITS GREATEST EXTENT UNDER TRAJAN (116) SHOWING ACQUISITIONS OF TERRITORY FROM THE ACCESSION OR AUGUSTUS. ROMAN TERRITORY AT THE ACCESSION OF AUGUSTUS. TERRITORY ACQUIRED TO THE ACCESSION or TRAJAN.

THE TEMPORARY CONQUESTS OF TRAJAN ARE SHOWN BY THE BORDER COLOR.

THE ACQUISITIONS OF THE DIFFERENT EMPERORS ARE INDICATED BY THE LETTERING.]

ROME: A. D. 138-180.
The Antonines.
Antoninus Pius.
Marcus Aurelius.

"On the death of Hadrian in A. D. 138, Antoninus Pius
succeeded to the throne, and, in accordance with the late
Emperor's conditions, adopted Marcus Aurelius and Lucius
Commodus. Marcus had been betrothed at the age of 15 to the
sister of Lucius Commodus, but the new Emperor broke off the
engagement, and betrothed him instead to his daughter
Faustina. The marriage, however, was not celebrated till seven
years afterwards, A. D. 146. The long reign of Antoninus Pius
is one of those happy periods that have no history. An almost
unbroken peace reigned at home and abroad. Taxes were
lightened, calamities relieved, informers discouraged;
confiscations were rare, plots and executions were almost
unknown. Throughout the whole extent of his vast domain the
people loved and valued their Emperor, and the Emperor's one
aim was to further the happiness of his people. He, too, like
Aurelius, had learnt that what was good for the bee was good
for the hive. … He disliked war, did not value the military
title of Imperator, and never deigned to accept a triumph.
With this wise and eminent prince, who was as amiable in his
private relations as he was admirable in the discharge of his
public duties, Marcus Aurelius spent the next 23 years of his
life. … There was not a shade of jealousy between them; each
was the friend and adviser of the other, and, so far from
regarding his destined heir with suspicion, the Emperor gave
him the designation 'Cæsar,' and heaped upon him all the
honours of the Roman commonwealth. It was in vain that the
whisper of malignant tongues attempted to shake this mutual
confidence. … In the year 161, when Marcus was now 40 years
old. Antoninus Pius, who had reached the age of 75, caught a
fever at Lorium. Feeling that his end was near, he summoned
his friends and the chief men of Rome to his bedside, and
there (without saying a word about his other adopted son, who
is generally known by the name of Lucius Verus) solemnly
recommended Marcus to them as his successor; and then, giving
to the captain of the guard the watchword of 'Equanimity,' as
though his earthly task was over he ordered to be transferred
to the bedroom of Marcus the little golden statue of Fortune,
which was kept in the private chamber of the Emperors as an
omen of public prosperity. The very first act of the new
Emperor was one of splendid generosity, namely, the admission
of his adoptive brother Lucius Verus into the fullest
participation of imperial honours. … The admission of Lucius
Verus to a share of the Empire was due to the innate modesty
of Marcus. As he was a devoted student, and cared less for
manly exercises, in which Verus excelled, he thought that his
adoptive brother would be a better and more useful general
than himself, and that he could best serve the State by
retaining the civil administration, and entrusting to his
brother the management of war. Verus, however, as soon as he
got away from the immediate influence and ennobling society of
Marcus, broke loose from all decency, and showed himself to be
a weak and worthless personage. … Two things only can be said
in his favour; the one, that, though depraved, he was wholly
free from cruelty; and the other, that he had the good sense
to submit himself entirely to his brother. … Marcus had a
large family by Faustina, and in the first year of his reign
his wife bore twins, of whom the one who survived became the
wicked and detested Emperor Commodus. As though the birth of
such a child were in itself an omen of ruin, a storm of
calamity began at once to burst over the long tranquil State.
An inundation of the Tiber … caused a distress which ended in
wide-spread famine. Men's minds were terrified by earthquakes,
by the burning of cities, and by plagues of noxious insects.
To these miseries, which the Emperors did their best to
alleviate, was added the horror of wars and rumours of wars.
The Parthians, under their king Vologeses, defeated and all
but destroyed a Roman army, and devastated with impunity the
Roman province of Syria. The wild tribes of the Catti burst
over Germany with fire and sword; and the news from Britain
was full of insurrection and tumult. Such were the elements of
trouble and discord which overshadowed the reign of Marcus
Aurelius from its very beginning down to its weary close. As
the Parthian war was the most important of the three, Verus
was sent to quell it, and but for the ability of his
generals—the greatest of whom was Avidius Cassius—would have
ruined irretrievably the fortunes of the Empire. These
generals, however, vindicated the majesty of the Roman name
[A. D. 165-166 —see PARTHIA], and Verus returned in triumph,
bringing back with him from the East the seeds, of a terrible
pestilence which devastated the whole Empire [see PLAGUE: A.
D. 78-266] and by which, on the outbreak of fresh wars, Verus
himself was carried off at Aquileia. … Marcus was now the
undisputed lord of the Roman world. … But this imperial
elevation kindled no glow of pride or self-satisfaction in his
meek and chastened nature. He regarded himself as being in
fact the servant of all. … He was one of those who held that
nothing should be done hastily, and that few crimes were worse
than the waste of time.
{2714}
It is to such views and such habits that we owe the
composition of his works. His 'Meditations' were written amid
the painful self-denial and distracting anxieties of his wars
with the Quadi and the Marcomanni [A. D. 168-180,—see
SARMATIAN AND MARCOMANNIAN WARS OF MARCUS AURELIUS], and he
was the author of other works which unhappily have perished.
Perhaps of all the lost treasures of antiquity there are few
which we should feel a greater wish to recover than the lost
autobiography of this wisest of Emperors and holiest of Pagan
men. … The Court was to Marcus a burden; he tells us himself
that Philosophy was his mother, Empire only his stepmother; it
was only his repose in the one that rendered even tolerable to
him the burdens of the other. … The most celebrated event of
the war [with the Quadi] took place in a great victory … which
he won in A. D. 174, and which was attributed by the
Christians to what is known as the 'Miracle of the Thundering
Legion.' …

See THUNDERING LEGION.

To the gentle heart of Marcus all war, even when accompanied
with victories, was eminently distasteful; and in such painful
and ungenial occupations no small part of his life was passed.
… It was his unhappy destiny not to have trodden out the
embers of this [the Sarmatian] war before he was burdened with
another far more painful and formidable. This was the revolt
of Avidius Cassius, a general of the old blunt Roman type,
whom, in spite of some ominous warnings, Marcus both loved and
trusted. The ingratitude displayed by such a man caused Marcus
the deepest anguish; but he was saved from all dangerous
consequences by the wide-spread affection which he had
inspired by his virtuous reign. The very soldiers of the
rebellious general fell away from him, and, after he had been
a nominal Emperor for only three months and six days, he was
assassinated by some of his own officers. … Marcus travelled
through the provinces which had favoured the cause of Avidius
Cassius, and treated them all with the most complete and
indulgent forbearance. … During this journey of pacification,
he lost his wife Faustina, who died suddenly in one of the
valleys of Mount Taurus. History … has assigned to Faustina a
character of the darkest infamy, and it has even been made a
charge against Aurelius that he overlooked or condoned her
offences. … No doubt Faustina was unworthy of her husband; but
surely it is the glory and not the shame of a noble nature to
be averse from jealousy and suspicion. … 'Marcus Aurelius
cruelly persecuted the Christians.' Let us briefly consider
this charge. … Marcus in his 'Meditations' alludes to the
Christians once only, and then it is to make a passing
complaint of the indifference to death, which appeared to him,
as it appeared to Epictetus, to arise, not from any noble
principles, but from mere obstinacy and perversity. That he
shared the profound dislike with which Christians were
regarded is very probable. That he was a cold-blooded and
virulent persecutor is utterly unlike his whole character. …
The true state of the case seems to have been this: The deep
calamities in which during the whole reign of Marcus the
Empire was involved, caused wide-spread distress, and roused
into peculiar fury the feelings of the provincials against men
whose atheism (for such they considered it to be) had kindled
the anger of the gods. … Marcus, when appealed to, simply let
the existing law take its course. … The martyrdoms took place
in Gaul and Asia Minor, not in Rome. … The persecution of the
churches in Lyons and Vienne happened in A. D. 177. Shortly
after this period fresh wars recalled the Emperor to the
North. … He was worn out with the toils, trials and travels of
his long and weary life. He sunk under mental anxieties and
bodily fatigues, and after a brief illness died in Pannonia,
either at Vienna or at Sirmium, on March 17, A. D. 180, in the
59th year of his age and the 20th of his reign."

_F. W. Farrar,
Seekers after God: Marcus Aurelius._

"One moment, thanks to him, the world was governed by the best
and greatest man of his age. Frightful decadences followed;
but the little casket which contained the 'Thoughts' on the
banks of the Granicus was saved. From it came forth that
incomparable book in which Epictetus was surpassed, that
Evangel of those who believe not in the supernatural, which
has not been comprehended until our day. Veritable, eternal
Evangel, the book of 'Thoughts,' which will never grow old,
because it asserts no dogma."

_E. Renan,
English Conferences: Marcus Aurelius._

ALSO IN:
_W. W. Capes,
The Age of the Antonines._

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans under the Empire,
chapters 67-68 (volume 7)._

_P. B. Watson,
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus._

_G. Long,
Thoughts of the Emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus,
introduction._

ROME: A. D. 180-192.
The reign of Commodus.

"If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the
world during which the condition of the human race was most
happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that
which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of
Commodus. The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by
absolute power, under the guidance of virtue and wisdom. The
armies were restrained by the firm but gentle hand of four
successive emperors whose characters and authority commanded
involuntary respect. … It has been objected to Marcus, that he
sacrificed the happiness of millions to a fond partiality for
a worthless boy; and that he chose a successor in his own
family rather than in the republic. Nothing, however, was
neglected by the anxious father, and by the men of virtue and
learning whom he summoned to his assistance, to expand the
narrow mind of young Commodus, to correct his growing vices,
and to render him worthy of the throne for which he was
designed. … The beloved son of Marcus succeeded to his father,
amidst the acclamations of the senate and armies; and when he
ascended the throne, the happy youth saw round him neither
competitor to remove, nor enemies to punish. In this calm
elevated station it was surely natural that he should prefer
the love of mankind to their detestation, the mild glories of
his five predecessors to the ignominious fate of Nero and
Domitian. Yet Commodus was not, as he has been represented, a
tiger born with an insatiate thirst of human blood, and
capable, from his infancy, of the most inhuman actions. Nature
had formed him of a weak, rather than a wicked disposition.
His simplicity and timidity rendered him the slave of his
attendants, who gradually corrupted his mind. His cruelty,
which at first obeyed the dictates of others, degenerated into
habit, and at length became the ruling passion of his soul. …
{2715}
During the three first years of his reign, the forms, and even
the spirit, of the old administration were maintained by those
faithful counsellors to whom Marcus had recommended his son,
and for whose wisdom and integrity Commodus still entertained
a reluctant esteem. The young prince and his profligate
favorites revelled in all the license of sovereign power; but
his hands were yet unstained with blood; and he had even
displayed a generosity of sentiment, which might perhaps have
ripened into solid virtue. A fatal incident decided his
fluctuating character. One evening, as the emperor was
returning to the palace through a dark and narrow portico in
the amphitheatre, an assassin, who waited his passage, rushed
upon him with a drawn sword, loudly exclaiming, 'The senate
sends you this.' The menace prevented the deed; the assassin
was seized by the guards, and immediately revealed the authors
of the conspiracy. It had been formed, not in the State, but
within the walls of the palace. … But the words of the
assassin sunk deep into the mind of Commodus, and left an
indelible impression of fear and hatred against the whole body
of the senate. Those whom he had dreaded as importunate
ministers he now suspected as secret enemies. The Delators, a
race of men discouraged, and almost extinguished, under the
former reigns, again became formidable as soon as they
discovered that the emperor was desirous of finding
disaffection and treason in the senate. … Suspicion was
equivalent to proof; trial to condemnation. The execution of a
considerable senator was attended with the death of all who
might lament or revenge his fate; and when Commodus had once
tasted human blood, he became incapable of pity or remorse. …
Pestilence and famine contributed to fill up the measure of
the calamities of Rome. … His cruelty proved at last fatal to
himself. He had shed with impunity the noblest blood of Rome:
he perished as soon as he was dreaded by his own domestics.
Marcia, his favorite concubine, Eclectus, his chamberlain, and
Lætus, his Prætorian præfect, alarmed by the fate of their
companions and predecessors, resolved to prevent the
destruction which every hour hung over their heads, either
from the mad caprice of the tyrant, or the sudden indignation
of the people. Marcia seized the occasion of presenting a
draught of wine to her lover, after he had fatigued himself
with hunting some wild beasts. Commodus retired to sleep; but
whilst he was laboring with the effects of poison and
drunkenness, a robust youth, by profession a wrestler, entered
his chamber, and strangled him without resistance"
(December 31, A. D. 192).

_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapters 3-4._

ALSO IN:
_J. B. L. Crevier,
History of the Roman Emperors,
book 21 (volume 7)._

ROME: A. D. 192-284.
From Commodus to Diocletian.
Twenty-three Emperors in the Century.
Thirteen murdered by their own soldiers or servants.
Successful wars of Severus, Aurelian, and Probus.

On the murder of Commodus, "Helvius Pertinax, the prefect of
the city, a man of virtue, was placed on the throne by the
conspirators, who would fain justify their deed in the eyes of
the world, and their choice was confirmed by the senate. But
the Prætorians had not forgotten their own power on a similar
occasion; and they liked not the virtue and regularity of the
new monarch. Pertinax was, therefore, speedily deprived of
throne and life. Prætorian insolence now attained its height.
Regardless of the dignity and honour of the empire, they set
it up to auction. The highest bidder was a senator, named
Didius Julianus [March, 193]. … The legions disdained to
receive an emperor from the life-guards. Those of Britain
proclaimed their general Clodius Albinus; those of Asia,
Pescennius Niger: the Pannonian legions, Septimius Severus.
This last was a man of bravery and conduct: by valour and
stratagem he successively vanquished his rivals [defeating
Albinus in an obstinate battle at Lyons, A. D: 197, and
finishing the subjugation of his rivals in the east by
reducing Byzantium after a siege of three years]. He
maintained the superiority of the Roman arms against the
Parthians and Caledonians.

See Britain; A. D. 208-211].

His reign was vigorous and advantageous to the state; but he
wanted either the courage or the power to fully repress the
license and insubordination of the soldiery. Severus left the
empire [A. D. 211] to his two sons. Caracalla, the elder, a
prince of violent and untamable passions, disdained to share
empire with any. He murdered his brother and colleague, the
more gentle Geta, and put to death all who ventured to
disapprove of the deed. A restless ferocity distinguished the
character of Caracalla; he was ever at war, now on the banks
of the Rhine, now on those of the Euphrates. His martial
impetuosity daunted his enemies; his reckless cruelty
terrified his subjects. … During a Parthian war Caracalla gave
offence to Macrinus, the commander of his body-guard, who
murdered him [A. D. 217). Macrinus seized the empire, but had
not power to hold it. He and his son Diadumenianus [after
defeat in battle at Immæ, near Antioch] … were put to death by
the army, who proclaimed a supposed son [and actually a second
cousin] of their beloved Caracalla. This youth was named
Elagabalus, and was priest of the Sun in the temple of Emesa,
in Syria. Every vice stained the character of this licentious
effeminate youth, whose name is become proverbial for sensual
indulgence: he possessed no redeeming quality, had no friend,
and was put to death by his own guards, who, vicious as they
were themselves, detested vice in him. Alexander Severus,
cousin to Elagabalus, but of a totally opposite character,
succeeded that vicious prince [A. D. 222]. All estimable
qualities were united in the noble and accomplished Alexander.
… The love of learning and virtue did not in him smother
military skill and valour; he checked the martial hordes of
Germany, and led the Roman eagles to victory against the
Sassanides, who had displaced the Arsacides in the dominion
over Persia, and revived the claims of the house of Cyrus over
Anterior Asia. Alexander, victorious in war, beloved by his
subjects, deemed he might venture on introducing more regular
discipline into the army. The attempt was fatal, and the
amiable monarch lost his life in the mutiny that resulted [A.
D. 235]. Maximin, a soldier, originally a Thracian shepherd,
distinguished by his prodigious size, strength and appetite, a
stranger to all civic virtues and all civic rules, rude,
brutal, cruel, and ferocious, seated himself on the throne of
the noble and virtuous prince, in whose murder he had been the
chief agent. At Rome, the senate conferred the vacant dignity
on Gordian, a noble, wealthy and virtuous senator, and on his
son of the same name, a valiant and spirited youth.
{2716}
But scarcely were they recognized when the son fell in an
engagement, and the father slew himself [A. D. 237]. Maximin
was now rapidly marching towards Rome, full of rage and fury.
Despair gave courage to the senate; they nominated Balbinus
and Pupienus [Maximus Pupienus], one to direct the internal,
the other the external affairs. Maximin had advanced as far as
Aquileia [which he besieged without success], when his
horrible cruelties caused an insurrection against him, and he
and his son, an amiable youth, were murdered [A. D. 238]. The
army was not, however, willing to acquiesce in the claim of
the senate to appoint an emperor. Civil war was on the point
of breaking out [and Balbinus and Pupienus were massacred by
the Prætorians], when the conflicting parties agreed in the
person of the third Gordian, a boy of but thirteen years of
age [A. D. 238]. Gordian III. was … chiefly guided by his
father-in-law, Misitheus, who induced him to engage in war
against the Persians. In the war, Gordian displayed a courage
worthy of any of his predecessors; but he shared what was now
become the usual fate of a Roman emperor. He was murdered by
Philip, the captain of his guard [A. D. 244]. Philip, an
Arabian by birth, originally a captain of freebooters, seized
on the purple of his murdered sovereign. Two rivals arose and
contended with him for the prize, but accomplished nothing. A
third competitor, Decius, the commander of the army of the
Danube, defeated and slew him near Verona [A. D. 249]. During
the reign of Philip, Rome attained her thousandth year."

_T. Keightley,
Outlines of History
(Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopœdia),
part 1, chapter 9._

"Decius is memorable as the first emperor who attempted to
extirpate the Christian religion by a general persecution of
its professors. His edicts are lost; but the records of the
time exhibit a departure from the system which had been
usually observed by enemies of the church since the days of
Trajan. The authorities now sought out Christians; the legal
order as to accusations was neglected; accusers ran no risk;
and popular clamour was admitted instead of formal
information. The long enjoyment of peace had told unfavourably
on the church. … When, as Origen had foretold, a new season of
trial came, the effects of the general relaxation were sadly
displayed. On being summoned, in obedience to the emperor's
edict, to appear and offer sacrifice, multitudes of Christians
in every city rushed to the forum. … It seemed, says St.
Cyprian, as if they had long been eager to find an opportunity
for disowning their faith. The persecution was especially
directed against the bishops and clergy. Among its victims
were Fabian of Rome, Babylas of Antioch, and Alexander of
Jerusalem; while in the lines of other eminent men (as
Cyprian, Origen, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and Dionysius of
Alexandria) the period is marked by exile or other sufferings.
The chief object, however, was not to inflict death on the
Christians, but to force them to recantation. With this view
they were subjected to tortures, imprisonment and want of
food; and under such trials the constancy of many gave way.
Many withdrew into voluntary banishment; among these was Paul,
a young man of Alexandria, who took up his abode in the desert
of the Thebaid, and is celebrated as the first Christian
hermit."

_J. C. Robertson,
History of the Christian Church,
book 1, chapter 6 (volume 1)._

"This persecution [of Decius] was interrupted by an invasion
of the Goths, who, for the first time, crossed the Danube in
considerable numbers, and devastated Mœsia.

See GOTHS: A. D. 244-251.

Decius marched against them, and gained some important
advantages; but in his last battle, charging into the midst of
the enemy to avenge the death of his son, he was overpowered
and slain (A. D. 251). A great number of the Romans, thus
deprived of their leader, fell victims to the barbarians; the
survivors, grateful for the protection afforded them by the
legions of Gallus, who commanded in the neighbourhood,
proclaimed that general emperor. Gallus concluded a
dishonourable peace with the Goths, and renewed the
persecutions of the Christians. His dastardly conduct provoked
general resentment; the provincial armies revolted, but the
most dangerous insurrection was that headed by Æmilianus, who
was proclaimed emperor in Mœsia. He led his forces into Italy,
and the hostile armies met at Interamna (Terni); but just as
an engagement was about to commence, Gallus was murdered by
his own soldiers (A. D. 253), and Æmilianus proclaimed
emperor. In three months Æmilianus himself met a similar fate,
the army having chosen Valerian, the governor of Gaul, to the
sovereignty. Valerian, though now sixty years of age,
possessed powers that might have revived the sinking fortunes
of the empire, which was now invaded on all sides. The Goths,
who had formed a powerful monarchy on the lower Danube and the
northern coasts of the Black Sea, extended their territories
to the Borysthenes (Dneiper) and Tanais (Don): they ravaged
Mœsia, Thrace and Macedon; while their fleets … devastated the
coasts both of the European and Asiatic provinces.

See GOTHS: A. D. 258-267.