parius Olianus, insisted upon revenging the late emperor's death. Nerva, whose kindness to good men rendered him still more obnoxious to the vicious, did all in his power to stop the progress of this insurrection; he presented himself to the mutinous soldiers, and, opening his bosom, desired them to strike there, rather than be guilty of so much injustice. The soldiers, however, paid no regard to his remonstrances; but, seizing upon Petronius and Parthenius, slew them in the most ignominious manner; and even compelled the emperor to approve of their sedition, and to make a speech to the people, in which he thanked the cohorts for their fidelity. So disagreeable a constraint upon the emperor's inclinations was, in the end, attended with one good effect, as it caused the adoption of Trajan. Nerva perceived that, in the turbulent disposition of the times, he stood in need of an assistant in the empire, who might contribute to keep the licentious in awe. For this purpose, setting aside all his own relations, he fixed upon Ulpius Trajan, an utter stranger, who was then governor in Upper Germany, to succeed him. He then sent off ambassadors to Cologne, where Trajan resided, intreating his assistance in punishing those from whom he had received such an insult. The adoption of this admirable man, proved so great a curb to the licentiousness of the soldiery that they continued in perfect obedience during the rest of this reign; and Casparius, being sent to him, was either banished or put to death. The adoption of Trajan was the last public act of Nerva. In about three months after, having put himself in a violent passion with one Regulus a senator, he was seized with a fever, of which he soon after died, after a short reign of one year four months and nine days. He was the first foreign emperor who reigned in Rome, and was justly reputed a prince of great generosity and moderation. He is also celebrated for his wisdom, one great instance of which he gave in the choice of his successor.

TRAJAN.-Trajan's family was originally from Italy, but he himself was born in Seville in Spain. He very early accompanied his father, who was a general of the Romans, in his expeditions along the Euphrates and the Rhine; and, while yet very young, acquired considerable reputation for military accomplishments. He inured his body to fatigue; he made long marches on foot; and labored to acquire all that skill in war which was necessary for a commander. When he was made general of the army in Lower Germany, which was one of the most considerable employments in the empire, it made no alteration in his way of living; and the commander no way differed from the private tribune, except in his superior wisdom and virtues. The great qualities of his mind were accompanied with all.the advantages of person. His appearance was majestic; he was at the middle period of life, being forty-two years old; and possessed a modesty that seemed peculiar to him. Upon the whole, Trajan is distinguished as the greatest and best emperor of Rome. Others may have equalled him in war, and some have been his rivals in clemency and goodness; but he seems the only prince who united these talents, and VOL. XVIII.

who appears equally to engage our admiration and regard. Upon being informed of the death of Nerva, he prepared to return to Rome, whither he was invited by the united entreaties of the state. He began his march with a discipline that was long unknown in the armies of the empire. The countries through which he passed were neither ravaged nor taxed; and he entered the city, not in a triumphant manner, though he had deserved it often, but on foot, attended by the civil officers of the state, and followed in silence by the soldiers. It is almost unnecessary to enter into a detail of this prince's merits. His application to business, his moderation to his enemies, his modesty in exaltation, his liberality to the deserving, and his frugality in his own expenses, have all been the subject of panegyric among his contemporaries, and the admiration of succeeding ages. Upon giving the prefect of the prætorian band the sword, according to custom, he made use of this remarkable expression, Take this sword, and use it, if I have merit, for me; if otherwise, against me.' After which he added, 'That he who gave laws was the first who was bound to observe them.' His failings were his love of women, which, however, never hurried him beyond the bounds of decency; and his passion for war, to which he had been bred up from childhood. The first war he was engaged in after his coming to the throne was with the Dacians, who, during the reign of Domitian, had committed numberless ravages upon the provinces. He raised a powerful army and marched rapidly into those barbarous countries, where he was vigorously opposed by Decebalus, the Dacian king, who long withstood his boldest efforts; but was at last entirely reduced, and his kingdom made a Roman province. On his return to Rome, he entered the city in triumph; and the rejoicings for his victories lasted 120 days. Having thus given peace and prosperity to the empire, Trajan continued his reign, loved, honored, and almost adored by his subjects. He adorned the city with public buildings; freed it from such men as lived by their vices; entertained persons of merit with the utmost familiarity; and so little feared his enemies that he could scarcely believe he had any. It had been happy for this great prince's memory if he had shown equal clemency to all his subjects; but, about the ninth year of his reign, he was persuaded to look upon the Christians with a suspicious eye. The veneration which he professed for the Pagan religion led him to oppose every innovation, and the progress of Christianity alarmed him. A law had been passed in which all Heteriæ, or societies dissenting from the established religion, were considered as illegal, and as nurseries of sedition. Under this law, the Christians were persecuted in all parts of the empire. Great numbers of them were put to death, as well by popular tumults as by edicts and judicial proceedings. At length Trajan receiving from Pliny, the proconsul in Bithynia, his celebrated accounts of the innocence and simplicity of the Christians, he suspended their punishments. But a total stop was put to them upon Tiberianus the governor of Palestine's sending him word that he was wearied out with executing

3 C

the laws against the Galileans, who crowded to execution in such multitudes that he was at a loss how to proceed. Upon this information, the emperor gave orders that the Christians should not be sought after; but if any offered themselves, they should suffer. Thus the rage of persecution ceased, and the emperor turned the force of his arms against the Armenians and Parthians, who began to throw off all submission to Rome. While he was employed in these wars, there was a dreadful insurrection of the Jews, in all parts of the empire. This wretched people ever expecting some signal deliverer, took the advantage of Trajan's absence to massacre numbers of the Greeks and Romans. This began in Cyrene, a Roman province in Africa; thence extended to Egypt, and next to the island of Cyprus. These places they in a manner dispeopled. Their barbarities were such, it is said, that they ate the flesh of their enemies, wore their skins, sawed them asunder, cast them to wild beasts, made them kill each other, and studied new torments to destroy them. But these cruelties were soon reversed: the governors of the respective provinces, making head against their tumultuous fury, treated them with a retaliation of cruelty, and put them to death, not as human beings, but as wild beasts. As the Jews had practised their cruelties in Cyprus particularly, a law was enacted, by which it was made criminal for any Jew to set foot on the island. During these bloody transactions, Trajan was prosecuting his successes in the east. His first march was into Armenia, the king of which country had disclaimed all alliance with Rome, and received the ensigns of royalty and dominion from the monarch of Parthia. However, upon the news of Trajan's expedition, he abandoned his country to the invaders; while most of his governors and nobility came submissively to the emperor, acknowledging themselves his subjects and making him the most costly presents. Having thus taken possession of the country, and gotten the king into his power, he marched into Parthia; and, first entering the opulent province of Mesopotamia, reduced it to a Roman province. Thence he went against the Parthians, marching on foot at the head of his army; crossing the rivers, and conforming to all the severities of discipline imposed on the meanest soldier. He now conquered Syria, Chaldea, and the famous city of Babylon. Here, attempting to cross the Euphrates, he was opposed by the enemy, who were resolved to stop his passage: but he secretly caused boats to be made upon the adjoining mountains; and, bringing them to the water side, passed his army with great expedition, but not without great slaughter on both sides. Thence he traversed tracts of country which had never before been invaded by a Roman army, and pursued the march of Alexander the Great in this direction. Having passed the Tigris, he advanced to the city Ctesiphon, which he took, and opened a passage into Persia. After subduing all the country on the Tigris, he marched south to the Persian Gulf, where he subdued a monarch possessed of a considerable island made by the divided streams of that river. Here, winter coming on, he was in danger of losing the

greatest part of his army. He therefore, with indefatigable pains, fitted out a fleet, and, sailing down the gulph, entered the Indian Ocean, conquering, even to the Indies, and subduing a part of them to the Roman empire. Prevented from pursuing further conquests by the revolt of many of the provinces he had already subdued, and by the scarcity of provisions, increasing age also contributing to damp the ardor of his enterprize, he now returned along the Persian Gulf, and sending the senate an account of the nations he had conquered, the names of which alone composed a long catalogue, he prepared to punish those which had revolted. He began by laying the famous city of Edessa, in Mesopotamia, in ashes; and soon not only retook such places as had thrown off the Roman yoke, but made himself master of the most fertile kingdoms of all Asia. In this train of successes he scarcely met with a repulse, except before the city Atra, in the deserts of Arabia. He finally resolved to give a master to the countries he had subdued. With this resolution he once more repaired to Ctesiphon, in Persia; and there, with great ceremony, crowned Parthanaspates king of Parthia, to the great joy of all, his subjects. He established another king also over Albania, near the Caspian. Then, placing governors and lieutenants in other provinces, he resolved to return to Rome in a more magnificent manner than any of his predecessors. He accordingly left Adrian general in the cast; and continued his journey towards the capital, where the most magnificent preparations were made for his arrival. He had not got, however, farther than the province of Cilicia, when he found himself too weak to proceed. He therefore caused himself to be carried on ship-board to the city of Seleucia, where he died of apoplexy. During his indisposition, his wife Plotina constantly attended him, and, knowing his dislike to Adrian, forged the will by which he succeeded. Trajan died in the sixtythird year of his age, after a reign of nineteen years, six months, and fifteen days. How highly he was esteemed by his subjects appears by their manner of blessing his successors, wishing them the fortune of Augustus and the goodness of Trajan. His military virtues, however, produced no real advantages to his country; and all his conquests disappeared, when the power was withdrawn that enforced them.

ADRIAN.-Adrian was by descent a Spaniard, and his ancestors were 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, Adrian was a tribune of the army in Moesia, and was sent by the troops to congratulate the emperor on his advancement. His brother-in-law, who desired to congratulate Trajan himself, supplied Adrian with a carriage that broke down on the way: but Adrian was resolved to lose no time, and performed the rest of the journey on foot. This assiduity was very pleasing to the emperor; but he disliked Adrian for other reasons. He was expensive, involved in debt, inconstant, capricious and envious. These faults, in Trajan's opinion, could not be compensated either by his learning or his talents. His great skill in the

Greek and Latin languages, his intimate acquaintance with the laws of his country and the philo sophy of the times, were no inducements to Trajan who, being bred a soldier, wished a military man to succeed him, and therefore would not appoint a successor. His death, therefore, was concealed for some time by Plotina his widow, till Adrian had sounded the inclinations of the army, and found them firm in his interests. They then produced a forged instrument, importing that Adrian was adopted to succeed in the empire. By this artifice he was elected by all orders of the state, though then general at Antioch. Adrian's 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. He then began to pursue a course quite opposite to that of Trajan, declining war, and promoting the arts of peace. He was satisfied with preserving the limits of the empire, and no way ambitious of extensive conquest. He therefore abandoned all the conquests which Trajan had made, judging them to be of no advantage to the empire; and made the Euphrates its boundary, placing the legions along its banks to prevent the incursions of the enemy. 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 of a magnificent triumph that was preparing for him; but this he modestly declined, desiring that these honors might be paid to Trajan's memory. In consequence a most superb triumph was decreed, in which Trajan's statue was carried as a principal figure in the procession, who is thus said to have been the only man that ever triumphed after he was dead! His ashes were placed in a golden urn, upon the top of a column 140 feet high. On this were engraven the particulars of all his exploits in basso-relievo, a work of immense labor, still remaining. These testimonies of respect to the memory of his predecessor did great honor to the heart of Adrian. His virtues, however, were contrasted by a strange mixture of vices. He wanted strength of mind to preserve his general rectitude of character. As an emperor, however, his conduct was most admirable, as all his public transactions appear dictated by the soundest poliey, and the most disinterested wisdom. See ADRIAN.

ANTONINUS PIUS AND ANTONINUS PHILOSOPHUS.-Adrian was succeeded by Marcus Antoninus, afterwards surnamed the Pious, whom he had adopted some time before his death. See ANTONINUS PIUS. From the beginning of his reign we may date the decline of the Roman empire. From the time of Cæsar to that of Trajan scarcely any of the emperors had either abilities or inclination to extend the limits of the empire, or even to defend it against the barbarous nations who surrounded it. During all this space only some inconsiderable provinces of the north of Italy, and part of the island of Britain, had been subjugated. However, as yet, nothing was lost; but the degeneracy and corruption of the people had sown those seeds of dissolution which the empire quickly began to feel. The disorders

were grown to such a height that even Trajan himself could not cure them. Indeed his eastern conquests could scarcely have been preserved though the republic had been existing in all its glory. Dacia, being nearer to the centre of government, was more easily preserved; and remained long subject to Rome. During the twenty-three years of the reign of Antoninus few remarkable events happened. Historians are excessive in their praises of his justice, generosity, and other virtues, both public and private. He put a stop to the persecution of the Christians, and reduced the Brigantes, a tribe of Britons, who had revolted. However, during his reign, several calamities befel the empire. The Tiber, overflowing its banks, laid the lower part of Rome under water. The inundation was followed by a fire, and this by a famine, which swept off great numbers, though the emperor took the utmost care to supply the city from the most distant provinces. At the same time the cities of Narbonne in Gaul, and Antioch in Syria, with the great square in Carthage, were destroyed by fire; however the emperor soon restored them. He died in the year 163, much lamented by his subjects, and was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius, surnamed the Philosopher, whom he had adopted towards the latter end of his reign. For the transactions of this emperor see ANTONINUS PHILOSOPHUS. Nerva, Trajan, Adrian, and the Antonines, are stiled by historians the five good emperors.

COMMODUS.-After the death of Marcus Aurelius his son Commodus succeeded to the imperial throne without opposition. He was in every respect unworthy of his father, and was generally believed to have been the son, not of Marcus Aurelius, but of a celebrated gladiator, with whom the empress Faustina was said to be intimate. According to Mr. Gibbon, however, 'Commodus was not, as 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.' But it is certain that the actions of this emperor were flagitious almost beyond a parallel. Many strange instances of his cruelty are related by the ancients. He is said to have cut asunder a corpulent man whom he saw walking along the street; partly to try his own strength, in which he excelled; and partly out of curiosity, to see his entrails drop out at once. He took pleasure in cutting off one of the feet, and putting out one of the eyes, of such as he met in his rambles through the city; telling the former, after he had thus maimed them, that now they belonged to the nation Monopodii one-footed; and the latter, that they were now become Luscinii, one-eyed. Some he murdered because they were negligently dressed; others because they seemed to be trimmed with too much nicety. He pretended to great skill in surgery, especially at letting blood: but sometimes, instead of curing those

whom he visited, or who were prevailed upon to recur to him, he cut off, by way of diversion, their ears and noses. His lewdness and debaucheries were equally remarkable. He is said to have been exceedingly well skilled in archery, and to have performed incredible feats in that art; to have run an elephant through with his spear, and to have killed in the amphitheatre 100 lions, one after another, each at one blow. He entered the lists with the common gladiators, and came off conqueror 735 times; whence he subscribed himself the conqueror of 1000 gladdiators. The public transactions of this reign were few. This emperor concluded a peace with the Marcomanni, Quadi, &c., and promised to abandon all the castles and fortresses held by the Romans in their country, excepting such as were within five miles of the Danube. With the other German nations whom his father had reduced, he concluded a very dishonorable peace; nay, of some he purchased it with money. Soon after his return to Rome his sister Lucilla, perceiving that he was universally abhorred for his cruelty, formed a conspiracy against his life. Among the conspirators were many senators. It was agreed that they should fall upon the emperor while he was going to the amphitheatre through a narrow and dark passage; and that Claudius Pompeianus, to whom Lucilla had betrothed her daughter, should give the first blow. But he, instead of striking at once, showed him the naked dagger, and cried out, This present the senate sends you' so that the guards had time to rescue the emperor, and to seize the conspirators, who were put to death. Commodus now banished his sister to the island of Capreæ, where he soon after caused her to be murdered. His favorite minister was one Perennis; who in cruelty seems to have been nothing inferior to those of the most tyrannical emperors. During the first part of the reign of Commodus he ruled with an absolute sway; but at last was torn in pieces by the enraged soldiery. He was succeeded by a freed man named Cleander; and the new minister abused his power more flagrantly than even his predecessor. All things were openly set to sale: offices, provinces, public revenues, justice, and the lives of men both innocent and guilty. The minister, who ruled the emperor without control, infused such terrors into his mind that he changed the captains of his guards almost continually. One Niger enjoyed the dignity only six hours; another only five days; and others a still shorter space. Most of those officers lost their lives with their employments; being accused of treason by Cleander, who continually solicited, and at last obtained, that important post. A. D. 187 happened a remarkable revolt. One Maternus, a common soldier, having fled from his colors, and, being joined by many other deserters, grew in a short time so powerful that he over-ran and plundered great part of Gaul and Spain; stormed the strongest cities; and struck the emperor and people of Rome with such terror that troops were raised, and armies despatched against them. Pescennius Niger was sent against him in Gaul, where he became very intimate with Severus, then governor of Lyons, who wrote a letter to the emperor, commending the prudent

and gallant behaviour of Niger in pursuing the rebels. Maternus, being reduced to great straits, divided his men into several small bands, and marched them by different roads into Italy, with intent to murder the emperor during the festival of Cybele, and to seize upon the empire. They all arrived at Rome undiscovered; and several of his men had already mixed with the emperor's guards, when others of his own party betrayed him. He was immediately seized and executed ; and his death put an end to the disturbances which some of his followers had begun to raise in other provinces. In the same year broke out the most dreadful plague, says Dio Cassius, that had been known. It lasted two or three years; and raged with the greatest violence at Rome, where it often carried off 2000 persons a day. The following year a dreadful fire, which consumed a great part of the city, was kindled by lightning; and a dreadful famine followed, occasioned, it is said, by Cleander, who, having in view nothing less than the sovereignty itself, bought up underhand all the corn, to raise the price of it, and gain the affections of the soldiers and people by distributing it among them. Others say that Papirius Dionysius, whose duty it was to supply the city with provisions, contributed towards the famine, to make the people rise against Cleander. The populace ascribed all their calamities to this hated minister; and one day, while they were celebrating the Circensian games, a troop of children, having at their head a young woman of an extraordinary stature and fierce aspect, entering the circus, began to utter many bitter invectives and dreadful curses against Cleander; which being answered by the people in the same style, the mob rose, and flew to the place where Cleander resided with the emperor, demanding his head. Hereupon Cleander ordered the prætorian cavalry to charge the multitude; which they did, driving them with great slaughter into the city. But the populace, discharging showers of stones, bricks, &c., from the tops of houses and windows, and the city guards at the same time taking part with the people, the prætorian horse were put to flight; nor was the slaughter ended till the emperor caused the head of Cleander to be struck off and thrown out to the enraged populace. The emperor himself did not long survive Cleander; being cut off by a conspiracy of Marcia his favorite concubine, Lætus captain of the guards, and Eclectus his chamberlain,

HELVIUS PERTINAX.-No sooner was the death of Commodus known than the senate assembled, and, declaring him a public enemy, ordered his statues to be broken to pieces, his name to be rased out of all public inscriptions, and his body to be dragged through the streets and thrown into the Tiber.

But Helvius Pertinax, whom the conspirators had previously designed for the empire, and who had already assumed it, prevented this last outrage by telling the senators that Commodus was already buried. This extraordinary personage had already passed through many changes of fortune. He was the son of an enfranchised slave called Elius, who gave him as much learning as to qualify him for a shopkeeper. He then became a schoolmaster,