A Smaller History of Rome Part 23

NERO, A.D. 54-68.--The first five years of the reign of Nero were marked by the mildness and equity of his government. He discouraged luxury, reduced the taxes, and increased the authority of the Senate. His two preceptors, Seneca and Burrus, controlled his mind, and restrained for a time the const.i.tutional insanity of the Claudian race. At length, however, he sank into licentiousness, and from licentiousness to its necessary attendants, cruelty and crime. From a modest and philosophic youth, Nero became the most cruel and dissolute of tyrants. He quarreled with his mother Agrippina, who for his sake had murdered the feeble Claudius; and when she threatened to restore Britannicus to the throne, he ordered that young prince to be poisoned at an entertainment. In order to marry Poppaea Sabina, a beautiful and dissolute woman, wife of Salvius Otho, he resolved to divorce his wife Octavia, and also to murder his mother Agrippina. Under the pretense of a reconciliation, he invited Agrippina to meet him at Baiae, where she was placed in a boat, which fell to pieces as she entered it. Agrippina swam to the sh.o.r.e, but was there a.s.sa.s.sinated by the orders of her son. The Roman Senate congratulated Nero upon this fearful deed, while the philosopher Seneca wrote a defense of the matricide. The philosopher, the Senate, and the emperor seem worthy of each other.

It would be impossible to enumerate all the crimes of Nero. In A.D. 64 a fire broke out in Rome, which lasted for six days, consuming the greater part of the city. Nero was supposed to have ordered the city to be fired, to obtain a clear representation of the burning of Troy, and, while Rome was in flames, amused himself by playing upon musical instruments. He sought to throw the odium of this event upon the Christians, and inflicted upon them fearful cruelties. The city was rebuilt upon an improved plan, and Nero's palace, called the Golden House, occupied a large part of the ruined capital with groves, gardens, and buildings of unequaled magnificence.

In A.D. 65 a plot was discovered in which many eminent Romans were engaged. The poet Lucan, Seneca, the philosopher and defender of matricide, together with many others, were put to death. In A.D. 67 Nero traveled to Greece, and performed on the cithara at the Olympian and Isthmian games. He also contended for the prize in singing, and put to death a singer whose voice was louder than his own. Stained with every crime of which human nature is capable, haunted by the shade of the mother he had murdered, and filled with remorse, Nero was finally dethroned by the Praetorian Guards, and died by his own hand, June 9, A.D. 68. He was the last of the Claudian family. No one remained who had an hereditary claim to the empire of Augustus, and the future emperors were selected by the Praetorian Guards or the provincial legions.

During this reign, Boadicea, the British queen, A.D. 61, revolted against the Romans and defeated several armies; but the governor, Suetonius Paulinus, conquered the insurgents in a battle in which eighty thousand Britons are said to have fallen. Boadicea, unwilling to survive her liberty, put an end to her life.

On the death of Nero, Servius Sulpicius Galba, already chosen emperor by the Praetorians and the Senate, was murdered in the Forum, January, A.D.

69. He was succeeded by Salvius Otho, the infamous friend of Nero, and the husband of Poppaea Sabina. The legions on the Rhine, however, proclaimed their own commander, A. Vitellius, emperor, and Otho's forces being defeated in a battle near Bedriac.u.m, between Verona and Cremona, he destroyed himself.

Vitellius, the new emperor, was remarkable for his gluttony and his coa.r.s.e vices. He neglected every duty of his office, and soon became universally contemptible. Vespasian, the distinguished general, who had been fighting successfully against the Jews in Palestine, was proclaimed emperor by the governor of Egypt. Leaving his son t.i.tus to continue the war, Vespasian prepared to advance upon Rome. His brave adherent, Antonius Primus, at the head of the legions of the Danube, without any orders from Vespasian, marched into Italy and defeated the army of Vitellius. The Praetorians and the Roman populace still supported Vitellius; a fearful ma.s.sacre took place in the city, and the Capitoline Temple was burned; but Antonius Primus took the Praetorian camp, and Vitellius was dragged from his palace and put to death, December 20, A.D. 69.

REIGN OF T. FLAVIUS VESPASIa.n.u.s, A.D. 69-79.--Vespasian, the founder of the first Flavian family of emperors, was a soldier of fortune, who had risen from a low station to high command in the army. He was brave, active, free from vice, and, although fond of money, was never charged with extortion or rapacity. Toward the close of the summer, A.D. 70, he arrived in Rome, and received the imperium from the Senate. He began at once to restore discipline in the army, and raised to the rank of Senators and Equites ill.u.s.trious men from the provinces, as well as from Italy and Rome, thus giving to the provincials a certain share in the government. The courts of justice were purified, the _Delatores_, or spies, were discountenanced, and trials for treason ceased. To increase his revenues, Vespasian renewed the taxes in several provinces which had been exempted by Nero, and he introduced economy and good order into the administration of the finances. Yet he expended large sums in rebuilding the Capitoline Temple, and also in completing the Colosseum, whose immense ruins form one of the most remarkable features in the modern scenery of Rome. He built, too, the Temple of Peace and a public library. He appointed lecturers upon rhetoric, with a salary of 100 sesterces, but was possessed himself of little mental cultivation. He is even said to have disliked literary men, and, in the year A.D. 74, expelled the Stoic and Cynic philosophers from Rome.

In A.D. 70, September 2, his son t.i.tus took the city of Jerusalem, after a brave defense by the Jews, who were finally betrayed by their own factions. The city was totally destroyed, and nearly half a million of the Jews perished in the siege. Those who survived, being forbidden to rebuild their city, were scattered over the empire, and each Jew was compelled to pay a yearly tax of two drachmae, which was appropriated to rebuilding the Capitoline Temple. The Arch of t.i.tus, which still exists at Rome, was erected in commemoration of the fall of Jerusalem.

Vespasian's generals repressed an insurrection of the Germans, and in A.D. 71 C. Julius Agricola, father-in-law of the historian Tacitus, entered Britain as legate to Petilius Cerialis. He was made governor of the province in A.D. 77, and led his victorious armies as far north as the Highlands of Scotland. This excellent character, by his justice and moderation, reconciled the Britons to the Roman yoke.

By his first wife, Flavia Domatilla, Vespasian had three children--t.i.tus, Domitian, and Domatilla. When she died he formed an inferior kind of marriage with Coenis, a woman of low station, who, however, seems to have deserved his esteem. He died 23d of June, A.D.

79, at the age of seventy. Although never a refined or cultivated man, Vespasian, by his hardy virtues, restored the vigor of the Roman government, and gave peace and prosperity to his subjects; while he who founded a library and established schools of rhetoric can not have been so wholly illiterate as some writers have imagined.

REIGN OF t.i.tUS, A.D. 79-81.

t.i.tus was one of the most accomplished and benevolent of men. Eloquent, warlike, moderate in his desires, he was called _Amor et deliciae humani generis_, "The love and the delight of the human race." In early life he had been thought inclined to severity, and his treatment of the Jews, at the fall of their city, does not seem in accordance with his character for humanity. But no sooner had he ascended the throne than he won a general affection. Such was the mildness of his government that no one was punished at Rome for political offenses. Those who conspired against him he not only pardoned, but took into his familiarity. He was so generous that he could refuse no request for aid. He was resolved, he said, that no one should leave his presence sorrowful; and he thought that day lost in which he had done no good deed. t.i.tus wrote poems and tragedies in Greek, and was familiar with his native literature. During his reign, A.D. 79, occurred a violent eruption of Vesuvius, together with an earthquake, by which Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Pompeii, three towns on the Bay of Naples, were destroyed. The emperor was so touched by the sufferings of the inhabitants that he expended nearly his whole private fortune in relieving their wants. Pompeii and Herculaneum, which were covered by lava or ashes, were thus preserved from farther decay, and, having been partially excavated and restored, enable us to form a truthful conception of the domestic life of the Roman cities in the age of t.i.tus. We here enter the villas of the rich or the humble homes of the poor, and find every where traces of comfort, elegance, and taste.

The next year after the destruction of these cities, a fire broke out in Rome, which raged for three days, desolating the finest regions of the city. The Capitoline Temple was again destroyed, together with many buildings in the Campus Martius. A pestilence followed soon after, which ravaged Rome and all Italy.

In A.D. 81 t.i.tus dedicated the Colosseum, which was now completed, and also his famous baths, the ruins of which may still be visited at Rome.

Splendid games and spectacles were exhibited in honor of these events.

Few military events occurred during this reign, the empire being perfectly quiet, except where the active Agricola was subduing the wandering tribes of Scotland.

At length t.i.tus, having gone to the Sabine villa where his father Vespasian died, was himself suddenly arrested by death. It was believed that his brother Domitian was the cause of this unhappy event, and all the people lamented their emperor as if they had lost a father or a friend. t.i.tus died September 13, A.D. 81.

REIGN OF DOMITIAN, A.D. 81-96

Domitian, who was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers upon his brother's death, possessed the mental ability of the Flavian family, joined to the vices and cruelty of the Claudian. In him Nero or Caligula seemed revived. His first political acts, however, were often useful, and for several years he concealed his true disposition. But he soon surrounded himself with spies and informers, and put to death the n.o.blest men of his time. To preserve the fidelity of the soldiers he doubled their pay, while he won the populace by games and donations. But, to maintain his expenditure, he confiscated the property of the richer citizens, and no man of wealth was safe from an accusation of treason.

Agricola, who had gained a great victory over the Caledonians at the foot of the Grampion Hills, and who was about to subdue all Scotland, Domitian recalled, being jealous of his military fame; and that brave leader pa.s.sed the last eight years of his life in retirement at Rome, in order to avoid the suspicions of the tyrant. Meanwhile, the Dacians, led by their king Decebalus, having crossed the Danube, Domitian took the field against them, and, in A.D. 90, was defeated, and forced to conclude a humiliating peace. Yet, on his return to Rome, he celebrated a triumph, a.s.suming the name of Dacicus. The next year an insurrection broke out among the German legions, which was, however, suppressed.

Domitian now ordered himself to be styled the "Lord and G.o.d," and was worshiped with divine honors. A ferocious jealousy of all excellence in others seemed to possess him with rage against the wise and good. The most eminent of the n.o.bility were put to death. All philosophers, and among them the virtuous Epictetus, were banished from Rome. The Christians, which name now included many persons of high station, were murdered in great numbers. At last the tyrant resolved to put to death his wife Domitia, but she discovered his design, and had him a.s.sa.s.sinated, 18th September, A.D. 96. The Senate pa.s.sed a decree that his name should be erased from all public monuments, and refused to yield to the wishes of the soldiers, who would have proclaimed him a G.o.d.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Copper Coin of Antoninus Pius, about A.D. 138, showing figure of Britannia.]

CHAPTER XLI.

PROSPERITY OF THE EMPIRE, A.D. 96.--COMMODUS, A.D. 180.--REIGN OF M.

COCCEIUS NERVA, A.D. 96-98.

This venerable man was sixty-four years old when he was proclaimed emperor upon the death of Domitian. He was a native of the town of Narnia, in Umbria, and his virtues had won him a general esteem. The Praetorians, who had not been consulted in his election, never looked upon him with favor, and Nerva was obliged to act with great caution. He stopped trials for high treason, pardoned political offenders, diminished taxes, recalled exiles, and strove by every honest art to attain popularity. But the Praetorians, becoming mutinous, not only put the murderers of Domitian to death, but forced the emperor to approve of their act publicly. This insult was deeply felt by Nerva, who now resolved to adopt a colleague, in order to increase his own authority.

He therefore selected M. Ulpius Trajan, a distinguished general, who was in command of the army of Lower Germany.

We now enter upon the most pleasing period in the history of the Roman Empire. During the next eighty years a general prosperity prevailed. The emperors were all men worthy to command, and capable of giving tranquillity to their vast dominions. Several of them were of the purest morals, of high mental cultivation, and are still looked upon as ornaments of the human race; and while they could not check the decline of their people, these virtuous emperors prevented, for a time, the fall of the Roman Empire.

Nerva, in order to elevate the condition of his people, purchased lands, which he distributed among them, and he sought to make them feel the necessity of labor and of self-dependence. But it was too late to reform the manners of the indolent, licentious plebs, corrupted by the indulgence of their tyrants. Nerva died of a fever, January 27, A.D.

98.

M. ULPIUS TRAJa.n.u.s, A.D. 98-117

Trajan, the first emperor who was not a native of Italy, was born at Italica, in Spain, and was about forty years of age at the death of Nerva. His memory was so much revered among the Romans, that, two hundred and fifty years later, the Senate hailed the accession of the new emperor with the prayer that he might be happier than Augustus, better than Trajan. He was free from every vice except an occasional indulgence in wine. His mind was naturally strong, his manners pleasing, his appearance n.o.ble and imposing. He desired only to restore the simple manners and virtuous habits of an earlier age.

Trajan, after his adoption by Nerva, entered upon his high office at Cologne, and then traveled toward Rome. In A.D. 99 he entered that city on foot, followed by a small retinue, and was received with general good will. He abolished the trials for high treason, _judicia majestatis_, which had made Rome so often a scene of terror, restored freedom of speech to the Senate, revived the _Comitia_ for the election of magistrates, and bound himself by oath to observe the laws. He punished the princ.i.p.al informers, banishing many of them to the barren islands around Italy, while he at once, by severe measures, reduced the turbulent Praetorians to obedience. His wife Plotina, who was a woman of excellent character, with her sister Marcina, revived by their virtues the dignity of the Roman matron. The society of the city was purified, and the family of the emperor offered an example of propriety that produced an excellent effect upon the manners of the higher ranks.

Among the first acts of Trajan was the foundation of public schools for the education and maintenance of poor children in various parts of Italy. He founded, too, the Ulpian Library at Rome, and adorned every part of his empire with magnificent buildings, roads, bridges, and various useful improvements. He seemed to live, in fact, wholly for his people, and pa.s.sed his life in devising and executing plans for their advantage.

When Decebalus, king of the Dacians, sent to demand the tribute which had been promised him by Domitian, Trajan refused to be bound by the disgraceful treaty, and, having levied an army of 60,000 men, marched against the Dacians, who had boldly advanced across the Danube. A terrible battle took place, in which the Romans were victorious; but so great was the slaughter that sufficient linen could not be obtained to dress the wounds of the soldiers, and Trajan tore up his imperial robes to supply their wants. He took the capital of the Dacian king, defeated him in various encounters, and compelled him (A.D. 102) to make peace, giving up a part of his territory. Having returned to Rome, Trajan received from the Senate the surname of Dacicus. But in A.D. 104 the Dacians again rose in arms, and the Senate declared Decebalus a public enemy. Trajan led an army in person against the barbarians, and, to provide for an easy access to their territory, built a stone bridge across the Danube of immense size and strength, fortified at each end with towers. He next advanced into the midst of the hostile country, took the capital of the Dacians, and reduced them to subjection.

Decebalus, in despair, fell by his own hand. All Dacia, comprising the modern countries of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania, was made a Roman province; and several Roman colonies were planted among the barbarians, thus for the first time preparing for the spread of civilization in that savage country. Trajan now returned to Rome, to triumph a second time for his Dacian successes. He also began that famous Column in commemoration of his victories which still stands at Rome, and which shows in its rich sculpture the various captives and spoils of the Dacian war.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Arabia Petraea was also at this time added to the Roman Empire, after which a peace of several years succeeded. In A.D. 114, a Parthian war breaking out, Trajan hastened to the East, and, having pa.s.sed the winter at Antioch, witnessed a severe earthquake, which shook that city as well as all Syria. He himself escaped with difficulty from a falling house.

In the spring, at the head of his legions, he overran Armenia and formed it into a province. He next built a bridge across the Tigris, resembling that upon the Danube, and led his army into a.s.syria, a country never yet visited by a Roman general. He took Babylon and Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian kingdom, and, sailing down the Tigris, pa.s.sed through the Persian Gulf, and annexed a large portion of Arabia Felix to his empire. The Jews, too, about this time revolted, but were subdued, after a brave resistance, and treated with great severity. His Eastern conquests, however, proved by no means secure, and his new subjects revolted as soon as his armies were gone. In A.D. 117 Trajan entered Southern Arabia to complete the subjection of that country, when he was seized with a dropsy and forced to return to Rome. He did not reach that city, but died, August 9th, A.D. 117, at Selinus, in Cilicia. His ashes were carried to Rome, and placed under the magnificent column which recorded his Dacian victories.

During Trajan's reign, the empire, already too extensive, was made more unwieldy by his various conquests. He was evidently ambitious of the fame of a conqueror, and possessed many of the qualities of an able general. He was also a skillful ruler of his immense dominions, leaving no portion unprotected by his vigilance. The only stain upon his fame is his persecution of the Christians, whom he continued to treat with severity even when convinced of their perfect innocence.

After the conclusion of the Dacian war he celebrated games and spectacles, which are said to have lasted through four months, and in which ten thousand gladiators fought and suffered for the entertainment of the people--a proof that the Romans were yet, in some respects, barbarians. Trajan, however, forbade the performance of indecent pantomimes. Trajan's bridge across the Danube is described by Dion Ca.s.sius as of greater importance than any of his other works. He designed it to form an easy access to his Dacian province. It was formed of twenty stone piers, distant about 170 feet from each other, and sixty feet wide: they were probably connected by arches of wood. Trajan also began to make roads across the Pontine Marshes, and founded several public libraries. Pliny the younger, who lived during this reign, was the most eminent literary man of the time, and wrote a fine panegyric upon his friend the emperor. Pliny saw the first eruption of Vesuvius, in which his uncle and adopted father, the elder Pliny, perished. He was a person of great wealth and uncommon generosity, having given 300,000 sesterces yearly to maintain the children of the poor in his native town of Comum. His letters to Trajan show that he was an excellent master, husband, and friend, and we may well believe that in this happy period many Romans resembled Trajan and his learned correspondent.

REIGN OF HADRIAN, A.D. 117-138.

Hadrian, descended from a family of Hadria, in Picenum, was a military commander, distinguished for his courage and activity. His father had married an aunt of the late emperor, who, upon the father's death, was appointed one of Hadrian's guardians. Yet it is supposed Trajan made no nomination of a successor to the throne, and that his wife Plotina forged the will by which the world was made to believe that he had adopted Hadrian. This will was, however, published, and Hadrian entered upon his government at Antioch, August 11th, A.D. 117, and was there proclaimed emperor. The Senate, to whom he wrote a letter announcing his appointment, at once confirmed him in his power. He now made peace with the Parthians, and restored to Chosroes, their king, a.s.syria and Mesopotamia. He adopted the policy of Augustus, refusing to extend the limits of the empire. In A.D. 118 he returned to Rome, but was soon forced to march to the defense of the province of Moesia, which had been invaded by the Sarmatae and Roxolani. His object being merely to preserve the boundaries of the empire, he concluded a peace with the Roxolani, and probably purchased their submission. He was about to march against the Sarmatae, when the news of a conspiracy at Rome was brought to him. He seems to have ordered the leaders to be put to death, although he afterward denied that he had done so. Having returned to Rome, he endeavored to win the affections of the people by donations, games, and gladiatorial shows. He also canceled a large amount of unpaid taxes, now due for fifteen years, and promised the Senators never to punish one of their body without their approval. He divided Italy into four regions, a Consular Magistrate being placed over each; and he introduced a new system of administration into the palace, the army, and the state, which lasted until the reign of Constantine the Great.

In A.D. 119 he began a journey through all the provinces of his empire, in order to examine into their condition, and to discover and amend any faults in the system of government. Hadrian, too, was fond of travel, and was never content to remain long in repose. A large part of his reign was occupied with this important journey. He first visited Gaul and Germany, and thence, in A.D. 121, pa.s.sed over into Britain. Here he found the Britons already partially civilized, but unable to defend themselves from the incursions of their neighbors the Caledonians. To protect them from these forays, he built a wall across the island from the mouth of the Tyne to Solway, remains of which are still shown to the traveler. On his return he adorned the town of Nemausus (Nismes) with fine buildings, and then went into Spain, where he pa.s.sed the winter. He returned to Rome A.D. 122, but soon after went to Athens, where he spent three years. During his residence in that city he began many magnificent buildings, and he seems to have looked upon Athens with singular affection and reverence. He visited Sicily, returned to Rome, set out for Africa, whence, after a brief visit, he once more visited Athens, to view the completion of his architectural designs. He finished the Temple of the Olympian Jupiter, the largest and most magnificent in the world, which had been commenced by Pisistratus, and left many other fine works behind him. Then he pa.s.sed through Asia, inspecting the conduct of the provincial officers, and next traveled through Syria into Egypt, where his favorite Antinous, a beautiful youth, was drowned. This event seems to have filled him with a lasting grief. At length, in A.D. 131, he returned to Rome.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mole of Hadrian restored.[78]]

Here he published the _Edictum Perpetuum_, a codification of the edicts of the Roman Praetors, which was composed by Salvius Julia.n.u.s, an eminent lawyer. The design of this work was to condense the vast body of the law into a convenient form.

A revolt broke out among the Jews, Hadrian having established a colony called aelia Capitolina on the site of Jerusalem, and, not content with introducing pagan worship into the holy city, had even issued an edict forbidding the practice of circ.u.mcision. These imprudent measures produced a revolt among the Jews, who, under their leader Barcochab, fought with their usual courage and desperation. The war continued for several years, during which more than half a million of Jews are said to have perished. At length Julius Severus came from Britain to lead the Roman armies, and the rebellion was suppressed. The Jews were now forbidden to live in Jerusalem or its neighborhood, and the nation was scattered over the habitable world.

A war which seemed about to break out with the Albanians and Iberians in the East was prevented by Hadrian, who, with his usual policy, sent large presents to his enemies, and thus converted them into friends. He now returned from his travels to Rome, where he built his magnificent villa at Tibur, the extensive ruins of which may still be seen; and he pa.s.sed the remainder of his life either at Tibur or in Rome. His health had been affected by his incessant labors, and in A.D. 135 he was seized with dropsy. Having no children, he adopted L. Ceionius, under the name of L. aelius Verus, a young n.o.ble, who, however, died on the first day of the year A.D. 138. Hadrian then adopted Arrius Antoninus (afterward the Emperor Antoninus Pius), and presented him as his successor to the Senators a.s.sembled around his bed. At the same time he obliged him to adopt L. Commodus Verus, the son of the former Verus, and also M. Annius Verus, the future Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Ill health seems now to have fatally affected the mind and disposition of Hadrian. He became morose and cruel. He put many eminent n.o.bles to death, and is said to have sunk into debauchery at his Tiburtine villa. His disease proving incurable, he several times attempted suicide; but having removed to Baiae, hoping for some relief in that fine climate, he died there July 10th, A.D. 138, aged sixty-three. He was buried in the villa of Cicero, near Puteoli.

When the Senate, enraged at his cruelties in the latter part of his life, wished to annul his acts, and would have refused him divine honors, Antoninus interposed, and excused his adopted father on the plea that ill health had disordered his mind. For this filial conduct he received the name of Pius. The Senate not only numbered Hadrian among the deities, but ordered temples to be erected in his honor. He left the empire prosperous and at peace. During his reign the Senate lost its importance in the administration of affairs, since Hadrian supplied its place by a _Consistorium Principis_, or council, composed of eminent men, presided over by a distinguished lawyer. Hadrian was fond of letters and the arts, and adorned every part of his empire with fine buildings or useful works. Wherever he traveled he did something for the benefit of his subjects.