27. Having given peace and prosperity to the empire, he was loved, honoured, and almost adored. He adorned the city with public buildings; he freed it from such men as lived by their vices; he entertained persons of merit with familiarity; and so little did he fear his enemies, that he could scarcely be induced to suppose that he had any. Questions for Examination. 1. How was the account of Domitian's death received? 2. Was he regretted by any description of his subjects? 3. What consequences ensued from this regret? 4. Who was Cocceius Nerva? 5. Was his government acceptable to the people? 6. What afforded a presage of his future mild administration? 7. Did he keep this oath inviolate? 8. Was Nerva avaricious? 9. Was his reign free from disturbances? 10. Were all conspiracies repressed from this time? 11. Did Nerva exert himself to quell it? 12. Were his endeavours successful? 13. What important consequences ensued from these commotions? 14. What occasioned his death? 15. What was his character? 16. How did Trajan act on his accession, and what advice did he receive? 17. What sentiments did his subjects entertain of their new emperor? 18. With whom did he commence hostilities? 19. What was the event of the campaign? 20. What was the consequence of this victory? 21. Did peace continue long? 22. What great undertaking did he accomplish in this expedition? 23. Was it a difficult work? 24. What followed the building of the bridge? 25. What was the event of this second campaign? 26. What advantages arose from this conquest? 27. Did Trajan suffer prosperity to make him neglectful of his dutics? Rome. R SECTION II. O war, what art thou? At once the proof and scourge of man's fall'n state. Of all thy glories? for the vanquish'd, chains! H. MORE. Devia'tion, s. a departure from. 19. Molesta'tion, s. disturbance, interruption. Ini'tiated, part. instructed. 24. Ag'gravate, v. to heighten, to make worse. 25. Insurgents, s. rebels, seditious per sons. Demoli'tion, s. destruction. 1. Ir had been happy for Trajan's memory had he shown equal clemency to all his subjects; but about the ninth U.C. year of his reign, he was persuaded to look upon 167. the Christians with a suspicious eye, and great A.D. numbers of them were put to death, by popular 107. tumults and judicial proceedings. 2. However, the persecution ceased after some time; for the emperor, finding that the Christians were an innocent and inoffensive people, suspended their punishments. 3. During this emperor's reign there was a dreadful insurrection of the Jews in all parts of the empire. This wretched people, still infatuated, and ever expecting some signal deliverance, took the advantage of Trajan's expedition to the east, to massacre all the Greeks and Romans whom they could get into their power. 4. This rebellion first began in Cyre'ne', a Roman province in Africa; from thence the flame extended to Egypt, and next to the 1 Cyre'ne, a city of great note in Libya, in the north of Africa, and one of those called Pentap'olis; distant eleven miles from the Mediterranean Sea. (Pliny.) It was once so powerful as to contend with Carthage for pre-eminence. It was situated in the western part of Libya, properly so called; and as it was the chief city, it sometimes gave the name of Cyrena'ica to the whole country; which, by the sacred writer, is called Libya about Cyre'ne. (Acts ii. 10.) The city itself is famous in profane history for being the birth-place of Eratosthe ́nes, the mathematician; of Callimachus, the poet; and (in sacred history) of Simon, who was compelled to bear our Saviour's cross, after himself had fainted under it. This country has been in the possession of the Persians, Egyptians, Grecians, Romans, Saracens, and lastly Turks, under whom it has become almost a desert. The greater part of the country is now called Barca; Cyre'ne, the city, now Carin, island of Cyprus. Dreadful were the devastations committed by these infatuated people, and shocking the barbarities exercised on the unoffending inhabitants. 5. Some were sawn asunder, others cast to wild beasts, or made to kill each other, while the most unheard-of torments were invented and exercised on the unhappy victims of their fury. Nay, to such a pitch was their animosity carried, that they actually ate the flesh of their enemies, and even wore their skins. 6. However, these cruelties were of no long duration: the governors of the respective provinces, making head against their tumultuous fury, caused them to experience the horrors of retaliation, and put them to death, not as human beings, but as outrageous pests of society. In Cy'prus it was made capital for any Jew to set foot on the island. 7. During these bloody transactions, Trajan was prosecuting his successes in the east, where he carried the Roman arms farther than they had ever before penetrated; but resolving to visit Rome once more, he found himself too weak to proceed in his usual manner. He, therefore, determined to return by sea; but on reaching the city of Seleu'cia, he died of an apoplexy, in the sixty-third A.D. year of his age, after a reign of nineteen years, six 117. months, and fifteen days 1. 8. A'drian, the nephew of Trajan, was chosen to succeed him. He began his reign by pursuing a course opposite to that of his predecessor, taking every method of declining war, and promoting the arts of peace. His first care was to make peace with the Par'thians, and to restore Chos'roes, for he was satisfied with preserving the ancient limits of the empire, and seemed no way ambitious of extensive conquest. 9. A'drian was one of the most remarkable of the Roman emperors for the variety of his endowments. He was highly skilled in all the accomplishments both of body and mind. He composed with great beauty, both in prose and verse he pleaded at the bar, and was one of the best ora 1 Trajan was not only a just, wise, and warlike prince, but a great benefactor to the empire, by the useful and magnificent works which he undertook and completed; the limits of a note will not admit of an enumeration and description of them. Suffice it to mention, that he levelled a hill in Rome, 144 feet high, and erected the famous pillar, already noticed, which is exactly the height of the hill. It is generally supposed that Trajan's ashes were deposited at its base. tors of his time. 10. Nor were his virtues fewer than his accomplishments. His moderation and clemency appeared by pardoning the injuries which he had received when he was yet but a private man'. One day, meeting a person who had formerly been his most inveterate enemy: "My good friend," said he, "you have escaped; for I am made emperor." He was affable to his friends, and gentle to persons of meaner stations: he relieved their wants, and visited them in sickness; it being his constant maxim, that he had been elected emperor, not for his own good, but for the benefit of mankind at large. 11. These virtues were, however, contrasted by vices of considerable magnitude2; or rather, he wanted strength of mind to preserve his rectitude of character without deviation. 12. He was scarcely settled on the throne, when several of the northern barbarians began to devastate the frontier provinces of the empire. These hardy nations, who now found the way to conquer, by issuing from their forests, and then retiring on the approach of a superior force, began to be truly formidable to Rome. 13. A'drian had thoughts of contracting the limits of the empire, by giving up some of the most remote and least defensible provinces; in this, however, he was overruled by friends, who wrongly ima gined that an extensive frontier would intimidate an invading enemy. 14. But though he complied with their remonstrances, he broke down the bridge over the Danube, which his predecessor had built, sensible that the same passage which was open to him, was equally convenient to the incursions of his barbarous neighbours. 15. Having stayed a long time at Rome, to see that all things were regulated and established for the safety of the public, he prepared to make a progress through his whole empire. 16. It was one of his maxims, that an emperor ought to imitate the sun, which diffuses warmth and vigour over a parts of the earth. He, therefore, took with him a splendid court and a considerable force, and entered the province of Gaul, where he caused the inhabitants to be numbered. 17. From Gaul he went into Germany, thence 1 This moderation and clemency were not lasting. 2 Among these cruelty was not the least conspicuous, particularly in the latter part of his reign; when a painful distemper rendered him furious, he not only put to death many illustrious persons, but even attempted to lay violent hands on himself. to Holland', and afterwards passed over into Britain; where, reforming many abuses, and reconciling the natives to the Romans, he, for the better security of the southern parts of the kingdom, built a wall of wood and earth, extending from the river E'den, in Cumberland, to the Tyne, in Northumberland, to prevent the incursions of the Picts, and other barbarous nations of the north. 18. From Britain, returning through Gaul, he directed his journey to Spain, his native country, where he was received with great joy. 19. Returning to Rome, he continued there for some time, in order to prepare for his journey into the east, which was hastened by a new invasion of the Parthians. His approach compelling the enemy to peace, he pursued his travels without molestation. He visited the famous city of Athens; there making a considerable stay, he was initiated into the Eleusin'ian mysteries 3, which were accounted the most sacred in the Pagan mythology; and took upon him the office of archon, or chief magistrate. 20. In this place also, he remitted the severity of the Christian persecution. He was even so far reconciled to this sect, as to think of introducing Christ among the number of the gods. 21. From thence he crossed over into Africa, and spent much time in reforming abuses, regulating the government, deciding controversies, and erecting magnificent buildings. Among the rest, he ordered Carthage to be rebuilt, calling it after his own name, Adrian ́ople'. 22. Again he returned to Rome; travelled a 4 1 The seven united provinces, which are so called from the chief province. 2 Athens, the celebrated capital of Attica in Greece. It was generally called by the Grecians, As'tu, The City, by way of eminence, as Rome was called Urbs; and as Urbanus, or urbanity, denoted politeness of manners, expressed either in behaviour or language, among the Romans, so As'teum did among the Greeks. 3 These were mysteries instituted in honour of Ceres. The initiated, after performing many previous ceremonies, were first terrified with the most appalling scenes, and afterwards gratified with the most delightful visions which it was possible for the ingenuity of men to present to the eyes of the deluded votaries. * Carthage, the celebrated capital of Africa Pro'pria, was built by the Tyr'ians, under Dido. This city, the mistress of Spain, Si'cily, and Sardin'ia, was long the rival of Rome, till it was totally destroyed by Scip'io the Second, surnamed Africa'nus, B.C. 147. In its height of prosperity it contained upwards of 700,000 inhabitants. 5 This must be distinguished from Adrian'ople, the second city of European Turkey, which was founded about A.M. 2782, and repaired by the emperor Adrian, A.D. 122. Hence its name. |