A History of Rome to 565 A. D Part 20

*The power of the army.* The year 6869 witnessed the accession of four emperors, each the nominee of the soldiery. And, while up to this time the praetorians had exercised the right of acclamation in the name of the army as a whole, now the legions stationed on the various frontiers a.s.serted for themselves the same privilege. As Tacitus expresses it, the fatal secret of the empire was discovered, namely, that the princeps could be nominated elsewhere than in Rome. Although the princ.i.p.ate may be said to have been founded by the universal consent of the Roman world, nevertheless, from its inception the power of the princeps had rested directly upon his military command, and the civil war of 6869 showed how completely the professional army was master of the situation.

*Galba, 68 A. D.* Galba, who succeeded Nero, was a man of good family but moderate attainments and soon showed himself unable to maintain his authority. That he would have been held "fit to rule, had he not ruled,"

is the judgment of Tacitus. He had never been enthusiastically supported by the Rhine legions nor the praetorians, and his severity in maintaining discipline, added to his failure to pay the promised donative, completely alienated the loyalty of the guards. At the news that the troops in Upper and Lower Germany had declared for Aulus Vitellius, legate of the latter province (1 Jan., 69), Galba sought to strengthen his position by adopting as his son and destined successor, Lucius Calpurnius Piso, a young man of high birth but no experience. By this step he offended Marcus Salvius Otho, the onetime husband of Nero's wife Poppaea Sabina, who had been one of Galba's staunch adherents and hoped to succeed him. Otho now won over the disgruntled praetorian guards who slew Galba and Piso, and proclaimed Otho Imperator.

*Otho, Jan.April, 69.* The Senate acquiesced in their decision but not so the legions of Vitellius which were already on the march to Italy. They crossed the Alps without opposition but were checked by the forces of Otho at Bedriac.u.m, north of the Po. Without waiting for the arrival of reinforcements from the Danubian army, Otho ordered an attack upon the Vitellians at Cremona. His army was defeated and he took his own life.

*Vitellius, AprilDecember, 69 A. D.* Thereupon Vitellius was recognized as princeps by the Senate and his forces occupied Rome. Vitellius owed his nomination to the energy of the legates Valens and Caecina, and, although well-meaning and by no means tyrannical, showed himself lacking in energy and force of character. He was unable to control the license of his soldiery who plundered the Italian towns or his officers who enriched themselves at the public expense, while he devoted himself to the pleasures of the table.

Meanwhile the army of the East, which had recognized Galba, Otho and, at first, Vitellius also, set up its own Imperator, t.i.tus Flavius Vespasia.n.u.s, who as legate of Judaea was conducting a war against the Jews. Vespasian himself proceeded to occupy Egypt and thus cut off the grain supply of Rome while his ablest lieutenant, Mucia.n.u.s, set out for Italy. The Danubian legions, who had supported Otho, now declared themselves for Vespasian and, led by Antonius Primus, marched at once upon Italy. The fleet at Ravenna espoused Vespasian's cause, and Caecina, who led the Vitellians against Primus, contemplated treachery. His troops, however, were loyal, but were defeated in a b.l.o.o.d.y night battle at Cremona and the way lay open to Rome. Vitellius then opened negotiations and offered to abdicate, but his soldiers would not let him and suppressed a rising in Rome led by the brother of Vespasian. Thereupon the city was stormed and sacked by the army of Primus. Vitellius himself was slain.

*Vespasian, December, 69 A. D.* Vespasian obtained his recognition as princeps from the Senate and the troops in the West. He entered Rome early in 70 A. D.

VI. VESPASIAN AND t.i.tUS, 6981 A. D.

*Caesar an imperial t.i.tle.* Following the example of Galba, Vespasian on his accession took the name of Caesar, which became from this time a prerogative of the family of the princeps. The new princeps inherited from his predecessors two serious wars, both national revolts against Roman rule, the one in Gaul and Lower Germany, the other in Judaea.

*The revolt of the Batavi, 69 A. D.* The movement in Lower Germany was headed by Julius Civilis, a Batavian chieftain, formerly an officer in the Roman service, who won over the eight Batavian cohorts attached to the Rhine army. At first he posed as a supporter of Vespasian against Vitellius, but at the news of the former's victory he renounced his allegiance to Rome and called to his aid Germanic tribes from across the Rhine. At the same time the Gallic Treveri and Lingones, the former led by Julius Cla.s.sicus and Julius Tutor, the latter by Julius Sabinus, rose in rebellion and sought to establish an empire of the Gauls with its capital at Treves (Augusta Treverorum). They were joined by the Roman legions stationed on the Rhine. However, the remaining peoples of Gaul refused to join the revolt, preferring the Roman peace to a renewal of the old intertribal struggles.

Upon the arrival of an adequate Roman force despatched by Vespasian the mutinous legions returned to their duty, the Treveri and Lingones were subdued, and Civilis forced to flee into Germany. The Batavi returned to their former status of Roman allies under the obligation of furnishing troops to the Roman armies (70 A. D.). But Rome had seen the danger of stationing national corps under their native officers in their home countries. Henceforth the auxiliaries were no longer organized on a national basis and served in provinces other than those in which they were recruited.

*The Jewish War, 6670 A. D.* From the year 6 A. D. Judaea had formed a Roman procuratorial province except for its brief incorporation in the princ.i.p.ality of Agrippa I (4144 A. D.). During this time the Jews had occupied a privileged position among the Roman subjects, being exempted from military service and the obligation of the imperial cult, notwithstanding the design of Caligula to set up his image in the temple at Jerusalem. These privileges were the source of constant friction between the Jews and the Greco-Syrian inhabitants of the cities of Palestine, which frequently necessitated the interference of Roman officials. Another cause of unrest was the pressure of the Roman taxation, which rendered agriculture unprofitable and drove many persons from the plains to the mountains to find a livelihood through brigandage. But a more deeply-seated cause of animosity to Roman rule lay in the fact that the Jewish people were a religious community and that for them national loyalty was identical with religious fanaticism. The chief Jewish sects were those of the Sadducees and the Pharisees, of whom the former composed the aristocracy and the latter the democracy. The Sadducees were supported by the Romans and monopolized the offices of the religious community, whereas the Pharisees courted the support of the ma.s.ses by a policy of hostility to Rome and religious intolerance. It is improbable that the Pharisees actually sought to bring about a revolt but they kindled a fire which they could not control and strengthened the development of a party of direct action, the Zealots, who aimed to liberate Judaea from the Roman force, trusting in the support of Jehovah. By 66 A. D. all Judaea was in a ferment and it required but little incitement to produce a national revolt.

*Ma.s.sacres in Caesarea and Jerusalem, 66 A. D.* Such a provocation was afforded by the decision of the Roman government that Jews were not ent.i.tled to citizenship in Caesarea, the Roman capital of Judaea, and by a ma.s.sacre of the Jews by the Greeks in a riot which followed. However, at the same time in Jerusalem the Zealots had overpowered the Roman garrison of one cohort, and ma.s.sacred both the Romans and their Jewish supporters.

At the news, further ma.s.sacres took place in the towns of Syria and Egypt, the Jews suffering wherever they were in a minority but avenging their countrymen where they got the upper hand. The Romans awoke to the seriousness of the situation when the legate of Syria, Cestius Gallus, who had marched on Jerusalem, was forced to beat an ignominious retreat.

*Vespasian in command, 67 A. D.* In 67 A. D. Vespasian was appointed to the command of an army of 50,000 a.s.sembled for the reconquest of Judaea.

In this and the following year he reduced the open country and isolated fortresses, and was ready to begin the blockade of Jerusalem, where the majority of the Jews had fled for refuge. However, Vespasian's elevation to the princ.i.p.ate caused a suspension of hostilities for ten months, during which factional strife raged fiercely within the city.

*Siege of Jerusalem, 70 A. D.* The conclusion of the war Vespasian entrusted to his eldest son t.i.tus, who at once began the siege of Jerusalem (70 A. D.). The city had a double line of fortifications, and within the inner wall were two natural citadels, the temple and the old city of Mount Zion. The population, augmented by great numbers of refugees, suffered terribly from hunger but resisted with the fury of despair. The outer and inner walls were stormed, and then the Romans forced their way into the temple which was destroyed by fire. Mount Zion defied a.s.sault but was starved into submission. Jerusalem was destroyed, and Judaea became a province under an imperial legate. The political community of the Jews was dissolved and they were subjugated to a yearly head-tax of two denarii (40 cents) each, payable to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, in consideration of which they enjoyed their previous immunities. The victory of t.i.tus was commemorated by the arch which still stands near the Roman forum.

*The frontiers.* The disorders of the recent wars rendered it necessary for Vespasian to reorganize many branches of the administration, a task which won for him the name of the second founder of the princ.i.p.ate. The security of the frontiers received his particular attention. In Germany he annexed the territory between the Rhine above its junction with the Main and the upper Danube, henceforth known as the Agri Dec.u.mates from the t.i.the (_dec.u.ma_) paid as rental by colonists who settled there. Further east on the Danube two strong legionary camps were constructed at Carnuntum and Vindobona (Vienna). The Euphrates frontier was strengthened by the establishment of Roman garrisons at Melitene and Satala on the Upper Euphrates, and by annexing to the Syrian province the kingdom of Commagene, which Gaius had restored to its native dynasty. Other client princ.i.p.alities met a like fate. Among the soldiery discipline was restored by disbanding four of the mutinous Rhine legions and replacing them with new units. The praetorian guard, dissolved by Vitellius, was reconst.i.tuted out of Italian cohorts following the precedent set by Augustus.

*The finances.* The most serious problem was that of the finances, for the extravagance of the preceding emperors had left the government in a state of bankruptcy and the provinces financially exhausted. Vespasian estimated that the sum of $2,000,000,000 was required to make the necessary outlays.

To obtain this amount it was necessary to impose new taxes and avoid all needless expenditures. Yet he not only succeeded in making the state solvent but was able to carry out extensive building operations in Italy and in the provinces. In Rome the Capitoline Temple which had been burned in the fighting with the Vitellians was rebuilt, a temple of Peace was erected on the forum, and the huge Colosseum arose on the site of one of the lakes of Nero's Golden House. Vespasian also granted state support to the teachers of Greek and Roman oratory in Rome.

In 74 A. D. Vespasian a.s.sumed the censorship and took a census of the empire in addition to filling the ranks of the Senate which had been depleted by the late civil wars. He was generous in his grants of citizenship to provincials, and bestowed the Latin right on all the non-Roman communities of Spain, as a preliminary step to their complete romanization.

*Vespasian and the senate.* Vespasian was the first princeps who was not of the Roman n.o.bility. He was a native of the Italian munic.i.p.ality of Reate and his family was only of equestrian rank. He was furthermore an eminently practical man who made no attempt to disguise the fact that he was the real master in the state. Significant in this respect was his revival of the _praenomen_ imperator, which had been neglected by the successors of Augustus. He treated the Senate with respect, and recognized its judicial authority, but excluded it from all effective share in the government. A senatorial decree and a law of the _comitia_ conferred upon Vespasian the powers of the princ.i.p.ate, yet he dated the beginning of his reign from the day of his salutation as Imperator by his army. All these things, combined with his refusal to punish the informers of Nero's reign, earned him the ill-will of the senators. Some of them proceeded to open criticism of the princeps and a futile advocacy of republicanism in the form of a cult of Brutus and Cato the Younger. The leader of this group was Helvidius Priscus, son-in-law of Paetus Thrasea, whom Nero had put to death, and like him a Stoic. Although not very dangerous, such opposition could not be ignored and Priscus was banished. He was later executed, probably for conspiracy. In all probability it was the antimonarchical tendency of contemporary Stoic teachings that induced Vespasian to banish philosophers from Rome.

*The praetorian prefecture.* To forestall any disloyalty in the praetorian guard, Vespasian made his son t.i.tus praetorian prefect. t.i.tus also received the _imperium_ and _tribunicia potestas_, and when Vespasian died in 79 A. D. succeeded to the princ.i.p.ate.

*t.i.tus, 7981 A. D.* His rule lasted little over two years, and is chiefly remarkable for two great disasters. In 79 A. D. an eruption of the volcano of Vesuvius buried the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabii in Campania. Beneath the heavy deposit of volcanic ashes the buildings of these towns have been preserved from disintegration, and the excavation of the site of Pompeii has revealed with wonderful freshness the life of an Italian munic.i.p.ality under the princ.i.p.ate. The following year Rome was devastated by a fire which raged for three days and destroyed Vespasian's new temple of Capitoline Jupiter. In September, 81 A. D., t.i.tus died, deeply mourned by the whole Roman world.

VII. DOMITIAN, 8196 A. D.

*Character and policy.* t.i.tus was followed by his younger brother Domitian, whom, on account of his ambition, neither Vespasian nor t.i.tus had permitted to share in the government. Domitian was a thorough autocrat and his administration was characterized by great vigor and capacity. Far from being a mere tyrant, he paid great attention to the welfare of the provinces and exercised a strict supervision over his officers. He also displayed a real interest in literature and replaced the libraries destroyed in the fire of 80 A. D.

His autocratic policy is clearly seen in his a.s.sumption of the censorship as perpetual censor in 84 A. D., whereby he acquired complete control over the composition of the Senate, a power which, without the t.i.tle, was henceforth one of the prerogatives of the princeps. Even more emphatically does his absolutism come to light in the t.i.tle _dominus__ et deus_ (Lord and G.o.d), which he required from the officers of his household, and by which he was generally designated, although he did not employ it himself in official doc.u.ments. For the cult of the deified emperors Domitian erected a special temple in Rome, and he also established a priestly college of Flaviales, modelled on the Augustales of Rome, to perpetuate the worship of his deified father and brother.

*Frontier policy: Britain.* The desire for military successes as a support for his absolutism led Domitian to adopt an aggressive frontier policy. In Britain, Julius Agricola, legate from 77 to 84 A. D., led the Roman legions north of the Clyde and Firth of Forth and defeated the united Caledonians under their chief Galgacus (84 A. D.). He also sent his fleet around the north of Scotland and proved that Great Britain was an island.

But his projects, which included an invasion of Ireland, seemed too costly to Domitian who recalled him, possibly in view of the military situation on the continent. The conquest of Scotland was not completed and the Roman authority was confined to the territory south of the Tyne.

*Germany.* In 83 A. D. Domitian led an army across the Rhine from Mainz and annexed the district of Wetterau, where the lowlands were already in Roman hands although the hills were still occupied by the hostile Chatti.

A chain of forts was built to protect the conquered region. In the winter of 8889 A. D. the legate of Upper Germany, Antonius Saturninus, was hailed as Imperator by the two legions stationed at Mainz. Aid was expected by the mutineers from the German tribes, but this failed to materialize and the movement was suppressed by loyal troops, possibly from the lower province. In consequence of this mutiny Domitian adopted the policy of not quartering more than one legion in any permanent camp. At the same time he separated the financial administration of the German provinces from that of Gallia Belgica.

*The lower Danube.* More powerful neighbors faced the Romans along the middle and lower Danube, and in dealing with these the policy of Domitian was less successful. These people were the Germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi in Bohemia, the Sarmatian Iazyges between the Danube and the Theiss, and the Dacians, who occupied the greater portion of modern Hungary and Roumania. The most powerful of all were the Dacians, among whom a king named Decebalus had built up a strong state. In 85 A. D.

they crossed the Danube into Moesia, where they defeated and killed the Roman governor. Thereupon Domitian himself took command and drove the Dacians back across the river. But the pretorian prefect Cornelius Fuscus in attempting to invade Dacia suffered a disastrous defeat in which he and most of his army perished. His successor Tettius Julia.n.u.s was more successful. However, a complete victory was prevented by Domitian, who rashly invaded the territory of the Marcomanni and Iazyges, and was defeated by them. He thereupon made peace with Decebalus, who gave up his prisoners of war and acknowledged the formal overlordship of Rome, but received an annual subsidy from Domitian in addition to the services of Roman military engineers (89 A. D.). Although Domitian celebrated a triumph for his exploits, his victory was by no means certain and his settlement was only temporary. In the course of the Dacian war Moesia was divided into two provinces.

*Conflict with the Senate.* Feeling that the army was the surest support of his power, Domitian sought to secure its fidelity by increasing the pay of the soldiers by one third. This new expense, added to the outlays necessitated by his wars, the construction of public works, like the restoration of the Capitoline Temple, and the celebration of public festivals, forced him to augment the taxes and this produced discontent in the provinces. In Rome, particularly after the revolt of Saturninus, his relations with the Senate became more and more strained. Many prominent senators were executed on charges of treason; the teachers of philosophy were again banished from Italy; and notable converts to Judaism or Christianity were prosecuted, the latter on the ground of atheism. The general feeling of insecurity produced the inevitable result; a plot in which the praetorian prefects and his wife Domitia were concerned was formed against his life; he was a.s.sa.s.sinated, 18 September, 96 A. D. His memory was cursed by the Senate and his name erased from public monuments.

It was the oppression of the last years of Domitian's rule that so strongly biased the att.i.tude of Tacitus towards the princ.i.p.ate and its founder.

CHAPTER XVIII

FROM NERVA TO DIOCLETIAN: 96285 A. D.

I. NERVA AND TRAJAN, 96117 A. D.

*Nerva and the Senate.* Before a.s.sa.s.sinating Domitian, the conspirators had secured a successor who would be supported by the Senate and not prove inacceptable to the pretorians. Their choice was the elderly senator Marcus Cocceius Nerva, one of a family distinguished for its juristic attainments. He took an oath never to put a senator to death, recalled the philosophers and political exiles, and permitted the prosecution of informers. But he was lacking in force and did not feel his position sufficiently secure to refuse the demands of the praetorian guard for vengeance upon the murderers of Domitian. Therefore to strengthen his authority he adopted a tried soldier, Marcus Ulpius Traia.n.u.s, the legate of Upper Germany. Trajan received the tribunician authority and proconsular _imperium_ (97 A. D.).

*The alimenta.* Nerva's administration benefitted Italy in particular. Not only were the taxes and other obligations of the Italians lessened, but the so-called alimentary system was devised in the interests of poor farmers and the children of poor parents. Under this system of state charity, sums of money were lent to poor landholders at low rates of interest on the security of their land. The interest from these loans was paid over to their respective munic.i.p.alities and expended by them in supporting the pauper children. The scheme was perfected and extended by the succeeding princes.

*An era of internal peace.* With Nerva begins a period in the history of the princ.i.p.ate that is characterized by amicable relations between the princeps and the Senate. The basis of this concord was the agreement by the successive emperors to acknowledge the freedom of senators from the imperial jurisdiction. There was no longer any question of an active partic.i.p.ation by the Senate as a whole in the administration, nevertheless it continued to exercise its influence through the official posts reserved for senators. In addition to the establishment of these harmonious relations, the peaceful succession of a number of able rulers who were designated by adoption and a.s.sociation in the powers of the princ.i.p.ate has caused this epoch to be regarded as one of the happiest periods of Roman history.

Nerva died in January, 98 A. D., after a rule of less than two years, and was succeeded by Trajan, who a.s.sumed office at Cologne.

*Trajan's character and policy.* Trajan was a native of the Roman colony of Italica in Spain, and the first provincial to attain the princ.i.p.ate.

His accession is evidence not only for the degree of romanization in the Spanish provinces but also for the decline of the dominance of the strictly Italian element within the empire and the transformation of the Italian into an imperial n.o.bility of wealth and office. The new princeps was above all things a soldier, and the desire for military glory was his chief weakness. At the same time he was an energetic and conscientious administrator, and showed a personal interest in the welfare of Italy and the provinces, as we see from his correspondence with the younger Pliny, governor of Bithynia in 111113 A. D. He respected the rights of the Senate and repeated Nerva's oath not to condemn one of that body to death.

*The **conquest** of Dacia, 101106 A. D.* In the third year of his rule Trajan undertook the conquest of Dacia, for Domitian's agreement with Decebalus was regarded as a disgrace and the existence of a strong Dacian kingdom was a perpetual menace to the Danubian frontier. Decebalus was still king of the Dacians and proved himself a valiant opponent, but in two well-conducted campaigns (101102 A. D.) Trajan forced him to sue for peace. He was obliged to give up his engines of war with the Roman engineers whom he had received from Domitian, to acknowledge Roman overlordship and render military service to Rome. Trajan built a permanent stone bridge across the Danube below the Iron Gates to secure communication with the northern bank, and returned to Rome to celebrate his victory with a triumph. But Decebalus was not content to remain as a Roman va.s.sal and made preparations to recover his people's independence.

In 105 A. D. he opened hostilities by an invasion of Moesia. However, Trajan hurried to the scene, secured the support of the neighboring tribes, and in the following year entered Dacia. His victory was complete, the capital of Decebalus was captured, the king took his own life, and such of the Dacians as did not abandon their country were hunted down and exterminated. Dacia was made a Roman province, and was peopled with settlers from various parts of the empire, particularly from Asia Minor.

The new province was of importance both on account of its gold mines and its position as a bulwark defending the provinces to the south of the Danube. To commemorate his Dacian wars, Trajan erected a stone column, one hundred feet high, in the new forum which bore his name. The column, which is still in place, is adorned with a spiral band of sculptured reliefs that vividly trace the course of the military operations.

On other frontiers also Trajan strengthened or extended the boundaries of the empire. In 106 he annexed the kingdom of the Nabataean Arabs to the east of Palestine and Syria. From this was formed the province of Arabia.

In Africa also the Romans occupied new territory, and secured it against Berber raids by creating new fortresses at Lambaesis and Timgad.

*The Parthian war, 114116 A. D.* The peaceful relations which had existed between Rome and Parthia since the time of Nero were broken in 114 A. D.