Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (52 page)

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Chapter 26
The Culmination of the Pax Romana

Nerva (A.D. 96-98)

Nerva was chosen emperor by the Senate after the assassination of Domitian. The armies, especially those along the Rhine, had not shared the senators' hatred of Domitian and felt insulted by being excluded from the decision of who would be the next emperor. Clearly, the new emperor could not count on their support. Nor could he count on the Praetorian Guard, for its soldiers demanded the execution of Domitian's assassins. Nerva's power was eroding rapidly; at one point he was even besieged in the palace until the Praetorian Guard killed Domitian's assassins, even though he probably had not taken part in the plot.

Sixty years old and in poor health, Nerva took an unusual step in order to survive as emperor. He named his successor and chose one whom the armies would like: Trajan, the general of the armies on the Rhine (who, people said, was going to be the next emperor anyway, whether named or not). With Trajan adopted as Nerva's son and appointed as his successor, the unrest settled down, and Nerva reigned in peace until his natural death.

Unwittingly, Nerva had started a precedent that would prove beneficial for the empire; his decision to name as his successor a tried and proven man of excellent character inaugurated a century of good role by four Spanish emperors. In fact, the eighteenth-century historian Edward Gibbon, looking back over the history of the world, described the period from Nerva to Marcus Aurelius as one in which "the condition of the human race was most happy

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and prosperous'' owing to the firmness, wisdom, and virtue of the emperors.

Trajan (A.D. 98-117), "Optimus Princeps"

When Trajan became emperor, he is said to have handed the ceremonial sword to his commander of the Praetorian Guard, saying, "Take this sword to use for me, if I rule well, or against me, if I rule badly" (Dio,
Epitome
LXVIII.2). Trajan then swore an oath that he would not shed any citizen's blood, and during Trajan's rule the commander found no reason to turn the sword against the emperor. Once, when many who were jealous of Trajan's wealthy and proud friend Licinius Sura told the emperor that Sura was plotting against him, Trajan, after dismissing his personal bodyguard, went to Sura's house for dinner, called Sura's doctor and had him anoint his eyes, called Sura's barber to shave him, took a bath there, and then had dinner with his friend. The next day he told those who always spoke badly of Sura that if Sura had been plotting to kill him, he would surely have done so the day before.

Trajan's public works enlarged upon those begun by his predecessors. He instituted a building program for Rome, Italy, and the provinces. The projects included baths; the Forum Traiani, which included two libraries (one for Latin books, the other for Greek); and a monument called the Column of Trajan. He repaired the harbor at Ostia, and also the ports of Centumcellae and Ancona, on the Adriatic shore. Trajan built roads extensively throughout the empire, mostly to improve communication of the military.

Trajan, although a native of Spain, believed in the primacy of Italy and Rome, and sought to restore prosperity there. He or Nervawe do not know for sure which onestarted the alimenta system, by which poor children were given an allowance for food and sustenance, paid for by the
riscus
, the empire's treasury. The purpose of the
alimenta
was more than just philanthropy, for Trajan also wanted to increase the populations of Romans and Italians. To improve agriculture in Italy, he gave cheap loans to farmers and required that senators invest at least one-third of their capital in Italian land.

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Trajan is most famous for his military exploits. The first of his two wars resulted in another Roman province and eventually in another Romance language, Romanian. Called Dacia by the Romans, the country had been united by its king, Decebalus, who then attacked his neighbors to the south, the Roman province of Moesia. He also incited Parthia to break its uneasy peace with Rome. Since Decebalus had previously defeated the Romans under Domitian, Trajan wanted to avenge that loss (and to recover the standards that had been lost) as well as to curb the growing strength of Decebalus. Trajan set out in
A.D
. 101 to invade Dacia.

In the first year of the war, Trajan fought an indecisive battle against the Dacians. When there were not enough bandages for the many wounded, he ripped up his own clothes to make more. The next year the Romans and allies captured the Dacian fortresses and ultimately their king. The Romans reached a treaty with Decebalus that left him his kingdom, but with Roman garrisons, and they recovered the standards that Domitian had lost. Trajanhaving now earned the honorary nickname Dacicusreturned to Rome. But Decebalus was not so easily daunted.

Not long afterward Decebalus resumed hostilities. His troops overran the Roman garrisons and attacked Rome's allies. Trajan built a bridge across the Danube in 105 and crossed with a hundred thousand soldiers. The next year, the Romans won a decisive victory over the Dacians. Decebalus committed suicide. Trajan made Dacia a Roman province, settled it with peoples from all over the empire, and took to Rome a large amount of loot, enough for 123 days of games in Rome, with a gladiatorial combat-fought by ten thousand Dacian gladiators.

To commemorate the victory over Dacia, there was built in the Forum of Trajan a large column with sculptures in relief that recount the wars with Dacia. The images illustrate the war and its progress, from beginning to end, with scenes of battles, the suicide of Decebalus, and the exile of many Dacians. The reliefs run from the bottom of the Column in a spiral up to the top, which shows the end of the war. The Column of Trajan is not reliable for historical accuracy, but its illustrations do give some information about the war, and it is a marvel of ancient art.

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Trajan's Column. (Author photograph)

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Trajan's other military exploit was not so successful. Parthia had long been a thorn in Rome's side, and when the Parthians deposed Rome's puppet king in Armenia without seeking Rome's approval, Trajan decided to end the problems with Parthia once and for all.

In 113 Trajan left Rome for Parthia. He immediately deposed Parthia's king of Armenia and annexed Armenia. In honor of his victory, the Younger Pliny delivered to the Senate a panegyric in honor of the emperor, declaring him
optimus princeps
(the best emperor). In 115 Trajan crossed the Tigris and captured Ctesiphon, the capital of Parthia, but Osroes, the king, eluded capture. Trajan then became the first Roman emperor ever to see the Persian Gulf, and he commented that if he were still young, he would have crossed over to India, too. He then retired to Babylon. At this point the Roman Empire covered its largest extent, including Armenia and the newly gained provinces of Mesopotamia and Assyria (modem Syria, Iraq, northern Iran, Azerbaijan, and Armenia).

The Parthians quickly revolted and even invaded Armenia. After the ensuing battles, the Romans kept Mesopotamia and Armenia, but did not try to keep Parthia. Trajan had other troubles on his mind: The Jews had revolted again, and he was ill.

In 117, while returning to Syria, Trajan had a stroke. He set out for Italy, but falling into worse condition along the way, named Hadrian as his successor and then died. He was deified by the Senate.

Hadrian (A.D. 117-138)

If Trajan can be compared to Romulus for his martial character, Hadrian was like Ancus for his peaceful nature. Hadrian concentrated on securing the territory that Rome already held and on improving conditions in the empire. For example, one time as he was traveling, an old lady ran up to him and demanded that he hear her problem. "I don't have time," Hadrian said to the lady. "Then don't be emperor!" she snapped (Dio,
Epitome
LXIX.6.3). Stung by her words, Hadrian stopped his journey and heard her problem.

Hadrian quickly renounced Trajan's gains in Parthia, let Armenia be ruled by its own king, and stopped the Romans' advances in England, for he did not want to overextend the empire's resources

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and to risk the empire's present security, prosperity, and stability. To improve the defenses of the frontiers, Hadrian toured the empire ceaselessly, himself inspecting the fortifications and improving them. In 120 or 121 he toured Gaul and Germany, and perhaps Raetia and Noricum; the following year he crossed over to England and later to Spain, all the time conducting inspections, sharing in the soldiers' lives, and trying to improve their lot. He boosted the morale of the soldiers by marching alongside them, wearing ordinary soldier's clothing, and visiting sick soldiers in their quarters. In 123-125 he toured Syria, Bithynia, the Aegean Islands, the Bosporus, Pannonia, Macedonia, and Greece. In 127 he toured Italy. In 128 he toured Africa, and also spent six months in Athens. In 129 he traveled to southern Asia Minor and Syria. In 130 and 131 he toured Egypt.

During his stay in Britain he started construction of a massive wall (now called Hadrian's Wall) to keep marauding Scots out of England. The wall was 128 kilometers long, more than 2 meters thick, and more than 4 meters high as it ran from the mouth of the Solway river on the western side of the island to the mouth of the Tyne on the eastern side. Construction of the wall involved moving enormous amounts of rock and soil; eventually a huge ditch was dug on the northern side of the wall. Remains of the wall can still be seen in Britain today.

Hadrian did not neglect the conditions of life in Italy and Rome. He continued to supply free grain for children. "He prohibited masters from killing their slaves, and ordered that they should be condemned by judges if they were deserving. He forbade the sale of a servant or maid to a pimp or gladiator-trainer without a reason offered. . . . He also ruled that not all slaves should be interrogated [that is, under torture] in the house where the master had been killed, but only those who were close enough to have known" (
Scriptores Augustae Historiae
XVIII.7-11). Previously, all slaves in a household would have been executed if their master were murdered. Hadrian did not take any charges for
maiestas
. He also gave the Christians a measure of protection by threatening revenge on whoever hurt them.

Once, while Hadrian was walking along a mountain path, a crazed slave armed with a sword ran to attack the unarmed

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emperor. Hadrian, himself an excellent swordsman and athlete, managed to subdue the slave and disarm him, and handed him over to his master; he did not order the death of the slave or blame his master for the slave's actions. Another day, while relaxing in the public baths, Hadrian saw an old soldier rubbing his back against a stone wall; learning that the old soldier could not afford a slave to scratch his back, Hadrian presented him with two slaves and their upkeep. Later, two old senators started rubbing their backs against the wall, hoping to get some free slaves; Hadrian told them to scratch each other's back instead. Once when he was giving a banquet, he feared that the caterers were setting excellent dishes before him, but serving everybody else bad food, so he had the caterers bring him dishes from all the tables.

Hadrian also restored many buildings, including Pompey's monument in Egypt, the Forum of Augustus, the Baths of Agrippa, and the Pantheon, and he completed the Olympieum in Athens. Like many other wealthy people of the time, Hadrian built a villa in Tibur (modem Tivoli, outside Rome); it is a popular tourist destination today. His massive mausoleum, now called Castel San Angelo (for it was used as a fortress during the Middle Ages) is still an imposing sight in Rome.

Yet Hadrian was disliked by many people. The persistent rumor circulated that Trajan had never adopted him and that Plotina, Trajan's wife (who was supposedly in love with Hadrian), faked his adoption. Hadrian's boundless energy, unbridled curiosity, and competitive nature also created problems for him. He regarded himself as an expert in astrology and freely criticized poets, orators, and musicians. Since he himself wrote poetry and speeches, and boasted of his ability to play the lyre and sing, no doubt he felt that his performances set the standard, and he resented competition and not being the best. He was skilled in the use of weapons and was an avid hunterhe is said to have killed a monstrous boar with just one blow. It appears that he was an expert at everything he did and that he shared his superior knowledge with all, whether or not they wanted it. Of course, one could hardly argue freely with the man who could just as easily kill as give annoying advice. Without a doubt, that caused some resentment among those who surrounded him.

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