by Eutropius
I
In the eight hundred and fiftieth year from the foundation of the city, in the consulship of Vetus and Valens, the empire was restored to a most prosperous condition, being committed, with great good fortune, to the rule of meritorious princes. To Domitian, a most murderous tyrant, succeeded NERVA, a man of moderation and activity in private life, and of noble descent, though not of the very highest rank. He was made emperor at an advanced age, Petronius Secundus, the praefect of the praetorian guards, and Parthenius, one of the assassins of Domitian, giving him their support, and conducted himself with great justice and public spirit. He provided for the good of the state by a divine foresight, in his adoption of Trajan. He died at Rome, after a reign of one year, four months, and eight days, in the seventy-second year of his age, and was enrolled among the gods.
2
Successit ei Ulpius Crinitus Traianus, natus Italicae in Hispania, familia antiqua magis quam clara. Nam pater eius primum consul fuit. Imperator autem apud Agrippinam in Galliis factus est. Rem publicam ita administravit, ut omnibus principibus merito praeferatur, inusitatae civilitatis et fortitudinis. Romani imperii, quod post Augustum defensum magis fuerat quam nobiliter ampliatum, fines longe lateque diffudit. Urbes trans Rhenum in Germania reparavit. Daciam Decibalo victo subegit, provincia trans Danubium facta in his agris, quos nunc Taifali, Victoali et Tervingi habent. Ea provincia decies centena milia passuum in circuitu tenuit.
II
To him succeeded ULPIUS CRINITUS TRAJANUS, born at Italica in Spain, of a family rather ancient than eminent for his father was the first consul in it. He was chosen emperor at Agrippina, a city of Gaul. He exercised the government in such a manner, that he is deservedly preferred to all the other emperors. He was a man of extraordinary skill in managing affairs of state, and of remarkable courage. The limits of the Roman empire, which, since the reign of Augustus, had been rather defended than honourably enlarged, he extended far and wide. He rebuilt some cities in Germany; he subdued Dacia by the overthrow of Decebalus, and formed a province beyond the Danube, in that territory which the Thaiphali, Victoali, and Theruingi now occupy. This province was a thousand miles in circumference.
3
Armeniam, quam occupaverant Parthi recepit, Parthomasiri occiso, qui eam tenebat. Albanis regem dedit. Hiberorum regem et Sauromatarum et Bosphoranorum et Arabum et Osdroenorum et Colchorum in fidem accepit. Carduenos, Marcomedos occupavit et Anthemusium, magnam Persidis regionem, Seleuciam, Ctesiphontem, Babylonem; Messenios vicit ac tenuit. Usque ad Indiae fines et mare Rubrum accessit atque ibi tres provincias fecit, Armeniam, Assyriam, Mesopotamiam, cum his gentibus, quae Madenam attingunt. Arabiam postea in provinciae formam redegit. In mari Rubro classem instituit, ut per eam Indiae fines vastaret.
III
He recovered Armenia, which the Parthians had seized, putting to death Parthamasires who held the government of it. He gave a king to the Albani. He received into alliance the king of the Iberians, Sarmatians, Bosporani, Arabians, Osdroeni, and Colchians. He obtained the mastery over the Cordueni and Marcomedi, as well as over Anthemusia, an extensive region of Persia. He conquered and kept possession of Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Babylon, and the country of the Messenii. He advanced as far as the boundaries of India, and the Red Sea, where he formed three provinces, Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, including the tribes which border on Madena. He afterwards, too, reduced Arabia into the form of a province. He also fitted out a fleet for the Red Sea, that he might use it to lay waste the coasts of India.
4
Gloriam tamen militarem civilitate et moderatione superavit, Romae et per provincias aequalem se omnibus exhibens, amicos salutandi causa frequentans vel aegrotantes vel cum festos dies habuissent, convivia cum isdem indiscreta vicissim habens, saepe in vehiculis eorum sedens, nullum senatorum laedens, nihil iniustum ad augendum fiscum agens, liberalis in cunctos, publice privatimque ditans omnes et honoribus augens, quos vel mediocri familiaritate cognovisset, per orbem terrarum aedificans multa, inmunitates civitatibus tribuens, nihil non tranquillum et placidum agens, adeo ut omni eius aetate unus senator damnatus sit atque is tamen per senatum ignorante Traiano. Ob haec per orbem terrarum deo proximus nihil non venerationis meruit et vivus et mortuus.
IV
Yet he went beyond his glory in war, in ability and judgment as a ruler, conducting himself as an equal towards all, going often to his friends as a visitor, either when they were ill, or when they were celebrating feast days, and entertaining them in his turn at banquets where there was no distinction of rank, and sitting frequently with them in their chariots; doing nothing unjust towards any of the senators, nor being guilty of any dishonesty to fill his treasury; exercising liberality to all, enriching with offices of trust, publicly and privately, every body whom he had known even with the least familiarity; building towns throughout the world, granting many immunities to states, and doing every thing with gentleness and kindness; so that during his whole reign, there was but one senator condemned, and he was sentenced by the senate without Trajan’s knowledge. Hence, being regarded throughout the world as next to a god, he deservedly obtained the highest veneration both living and dead.
5
Inter alia dicta hoc ipsius fertur egregium. Amicis enim culpantibus, quod nimium circa omnes communis esset, respondit talem se imperatorem esse privatis, quales esse sibi imperatores privatus optasset. Post ingentem igitur gloriam belli domique quaesitam e Perside rediens apud Seleuciam Isauriae profluvio ventris extinctus est. Obiit autem aetatis anno sexagesimo tertio, mense nono, die quarto, imperii nono decimo, mense sexto, die quinto decimo. Inter Divos relatus est solusque omnium intra urbem sepultus est. Ossa conlata in urnam auream in foro, quod aedificavit, sub columna posita sunt, cuius altitudo CXLIV pedes habet. Huius tantum memoriae delatum est, ut usque ad nostram aetatem non aliter in senatu principibus adclametur, nisi “Felicior Augusto, melior Traiano”. Adeo in eo gloria bonitatis obtinuit, ut vel adsentantibus vel vere laudantibus occasionem magnificentissimi praestet exempli.
V
Among other sayings of his, the following remarkable one is mentioned. When his friends found fault with him, for being too courteous to every body, he replied, that “he was such an emperor to his subjects, as he had wished, when a subject, that emperors should be to him.”
After having gained the greatest glory both in the field and at home, he was cut off, as he was returning from Persia, by a diarrhoea, at Seleucia in Isauria. He died in the sixty-third year, ninth month, and fourth day of his age, and in the nineteenth year, sixth month, and fifteenth day of his reign. He was enrolled among the gods, and was the only one of all the emperors that was buried within the city. His bones, contained in a golden urn, lie in the forum which he himself built, under a pillar whose height is a hundred and forty-four feet. So much respect has been paid to his memory, that, even to our own times, they shout in acclamations to the emperors, “More fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan!” So much has the fame of his goodness prevailed, that it affords ground for most noble illustration in the hands either of such as flatter, or of such as praise with sincerity.
6
Defuncto Traiano Aelius Hadrianus creatus est princeps, sine aliqua quidem voluntate Traiani, sed operam dante Plotina, Traiani uxore; nam eum Traianus, quamquam consobrinae suae filium, vivus noluerat adoptare. Natus et ipse Italicae in Hispania. Qui Traiani gloriae invidens statim provincias tres reliquit, quas Traianus addiderat, et de Assyria, Mesopotamia, Armenia revocavit exercitus ac finem imperii esse voluit Euphraten. Idem de Dacia facere conatum amici deterruerunt, ne multi cives Romani barbaris traderentur, propterea quia Traianus victa Dacia ex toto orbe Romano infinitas eo copias hominum transtulerat ad agros et urbes colendas. Dacia enim diuturno bello Decibali viris fuerat exhausta.
VI
After the death of Trajan, Aelius HADRIAN was made emperor, not from any wish to that effect having been expressed by Trajan himself, but through the influence of Plotina, Trajan’s wife; for Trajan in his life-t
ime had refused to adopt him, though he was the son of his cousin. He also was born at Italica in Spain. Envying Trajan’s glory, he immediately gave up three of the provinces which Trajan had added to the empire, withdrawing the armies from Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, and deciding that the Euphrates should be the boundary of the empire. When he was proceeding, to act similarly with regard to Dacia, his friends dissuaded him, lest many Roman citizens should be left in the hands of the barbarians, because Trajan, after he had subdued Dacia, had transplanted thither an infinite number of men from the whole Roman world, to people the country and the cities; as the land had been exhausted of inhabitants in the long war maintained by Decebalus.
7
Pacem tamen omni imperii sui tempore habuit, semel tantum per praesidem dimicavit. Orbem Romanum circumiit; multa aedificavit. Facundissimus Latino sermone, Graeco eruditissimus fuit. Non magnam clementiae gloriam habuit, diligentissimus tamen circa aerarium et militum disciplinam. Obiit in Campania maior sexagenario, imperii anno vicesimo primo, mense decimo, die vicesimo nono. Senatus ei tribuere noluit divinos honores, tamen cum successor ipsius T. Aurelius Antoninus Fulvius hoc vehementer exigeret, etsi universi senatores palam resisterent, tandem obtinuit.
VII
He enjoyed peace, however, through the whole course of his reign; the only war that he had, he committed to the conduct of a governor of a province. He went about through the Roman empire, and founded many edifices. He spoke with great eloquence in the Latin language, and was very learned in the Greek. He had no great reputation for clemency, but was very attentive to the state of the treasury and the discipline of the soldiers. He died in Compania, more than sixty years old, in the twenty-first year, tenth month, and twenty-ninth day of his reign. The senate was unwilling to allow him divine honours; but his successor Titus Aurelius Fulvius Antonius, earnestly insisting on it, carried his point, though all the senators were openly opposed to him.
8
Ergo Hadriano successit T. Antoninus Fulvius Boionius, idem etiam Pius nominatus, genere claro, sed non admodum vetere, vir insignis et qui merito Numae Pompilio conferatur, ita ut Romulo Traianus aequetur. Vixit ingenti honestate privatus, maiore in imperio, nulli acerbus, cunctis benignus, in re militari moderata gloria, defendere magis provincias quam amplificare studens, viros aequissimos ad administrandam rem publicam quaerens, bonis honorem habens, inprobos sine aliqua acerbitate detestans, regibus amicis venerabilis non minus quam terribilis, adeo ut barbarorum plurimae nationes depositis armis ad eum controversias suas litesque deferrent sententiaeque parerent. Hic ante imperium ditissimus opes quidem omnes suas stipendiis militum et circa amicos liberalitatibus minuit, verum aerarium opulentum reliquit. Pius propter clementiam dictus est. Obiit apud Lorium, villam suam, miliario ab urbe duodecimo, vitae anno septuagesimo tertio, imperii vicesimo tertio, atque inter Divos relatus est et merito consecratus.
VIII
To Hadrian, then, succeeded TITUS ANTONINUS FULVIUS BOIONIUS, who was also named Pius, sprung from an eminent, though not very ancient, family: a man of high character, who may justly be compared to Numa Pompilius, as Trajan may be paralleled with Romulus. He lived, before he came to the throne, in great honour, but in greater still during his reign. He was cruel to none, but indulgent to all. His reputation in military affairs was but moderate; he studied rather to defend the provinces than to enlarge them. He sought out the most just men to fill political offices. He paid respect to the good; for the bad he showed dislike without treating them with harshness. By kings in alliance with Rome he was not less venerated than feared, so that many nations among the barbarians, laying aside their arms, referred their controversies and disputes to him, and submitted to his decision. He was very rich before he began to reign, but diminished his wealth by pay to the soldiers and bounties to his friends; he left the treasury, however, well stored. It was for his clemency that he was surnamed Pius. He died at his country seat called Lorium, twelve miles from the city, in the seventy-third year of his age, and the twenty-third of his reign. He was enrolled among the gods, and was deservedly an object of veneration.
9
Post hunc imperavit M. Antoninus Verus, haud dubie nobilissimus, quippe cum eius origo paterna a Numa Pompilio, materna a Solentino rege penderet, et cum eo L. Annius Antoninus Verus. Tumque primum Romana res publica duobus aequo iure imperium administrantibus paruit, cum usque ad eum singulos semper habuisset Augustos.
IX
After him reigned MARCUS ANTONINUS VERUS, a man indisputably of noble birth; for his descent, on the father’s side, was from Numa Pompilius, and on the mother’s from a king of the Sallentines, and jointly with him reigned Lucius ANTONINUS VERUS. Then it was that the commonwealth of Rome was first subject to two sovereigns, ruling with equal power, when, till their days, it had always had but one emperor at a time.
10
Hi et genere inter se coniuncti fuerunt et adfinitate. Nam Verus Annius Antoninus M. Antonini filiam in matrimonium habuit, M. autem Antoninus gener Antonini Pii fuit per uxorem Galeriam Faustinam iuniorem, consobrinam suam. Hi bellum contra Parthos gesserunt, qui post victoriam Traiani tum primum rebellaverant. Verus Antoninus ad id profectus est. Qui Antiochiae et circa Armeniam agens multa per duces suos et ingentia patravit. Seleuciam, Assyriae urbem nobilissimam, cum quadringentis milibus hominum cepit; Parthicum triumphum revexit. Cum fratre eodemque socero triumphavit. Obiit tamen in Venetia, cum a Concordia civitate Altinum proficisceretur et cum fratre in vehiculo sederet, subito sanguine ictus, casu morbi, quem Graeci apoplexin vocant. Vir ingenii parum civilis, reverentia tamen fratris nihil umquam atrox ausus. Cum obisset undecimo imperii anno, inter deos relatus est.
X
These two were connected both by relationship and affinity; for Verus Antoninus had married the daughter of Marcus Antoninus; and Marcus Antoninus was the son-in-law of Antoninus Pius, having married Galeria Faustina the younger, his own cousin. They carried on a war against the Parthians, who then rebelled for the first time since their subjugation by Trajan. Verus Antoninus went out to conduct that war, and, remaining at Antioch and about Armenia, effected many important achievements by the agency of his generals; he took Seleucia, the most eminent city of Assyria, with forty thousand prisoners; he brought off materials for a triumph over the Parthians, and celebrated it in conjunction with his brother, who was also his father-in-law. He died in Venetia, as he was going from the city of Concordia to Altinum. While he was sitting in his chariot with his brother, he was suddenly struck with a rush of blood, a disease which the Greeks call apoplexis. He was a man who had little control over his passions, but who never ventured to do anything outrageous, from respect for his brother. After his death, which took place in the eleventh year of his reign, he was enrolled among the gods.
11
Post eum M. Antoninus solus rem publicam tenuit, vir quem mirari facilius quis quam laudare possit. A principio vitae tranquillissimus, adeo ut ex infantia quoque vultum nec ex gaudio nec ex maerore mutaverit. Philosophiae deditus Stoicae, ipse etiam non solum vitae moribus, sed etiam eruditione philosophus. Tantae admirationis adhuc iuvenis, ut eum successorem paraverit Hadrianus relinquere, adoptato tamen Antonino Pio generum ei idcirco esse voluerit, ut hoc ordine ad imperium perveniret.
XI
After him MARCUS ANTONINUS held the government alone, a man whom any one may more easily admire than sufficiently commend. He was, from his earliest years, of a most tranquil disposition; so that even in his infancy he changed countenance neither for joy nor for sorrow. He was devoted to the Stoic philosophy, and was himself a philosopher, not only in his way of life, but in learning. He was the object of so much admiration, while yet a youth, that Hadrian intended to make him his successor; but having adopted Titus Antoninus Pius, he wished Marcus to become Titus’s son-in-law, that he might by that means come to the throne.
12
Institutus est ad philosophiam per Apollonium Chalcedonium, ad scientiam litterarum Graecarum per Sextus Chaeronensem, Plutarchi nepotem, Latin
as autem eum litteras Fronto, orator nobilissimus, docuit. Hic cum omnibus Romae aequo iure egit, ad nullam insolentiam elatus est imperii fastigio; liberalitatis promptissimae. Provincias ingenti benignitate et moderatione tractavit. Contra Germanos eo principe res feliciter gestae sunt. Bellum ipse unum gessit Marcomannicum, sed quantum nulla memoria fuit, adeo ut Punicis conferatur. Nam eo gravius est factum, quod universi exercitus Romani perierant. Sub hoc enim tantus casus pestilentiae fuit, ut post victoriam Persicam Romae ac per Italiam provinciasque maxima hominum pars, militum omnes fere copiae languore defecerint.
XII
He was trained in philosophy by Apollonius of Chalcedon; in the study of the Greek language by Sextus of Chseronea, the grandson of Plutarch; while the eminent orator Fronto instructed him in Latin literature. He conducted himself towards all men at Rome as if he had been their equal, being moved to no arrogance by his elevation to empire. He exercised the most prompt liberality, and managed the provinces with the utmost kindness and indulgence. Under his rule affairs were successfully conducted against the Germans. He himself carried on one war with the Marcomanni, but this was greater than any in the memory of man, so that it is compared to the Punic wars; for it became so much the more formidable, as whole armies had been lost; since, under the emperor, after the victory over the Parthians, there occurred so destructive a pestilence, that at Rome, and throughout Italy and the provinces, the greater part of the inhabitants, and almost all the troops, sunk under the disease.
