After Domitian, the Romans appointed Nerva Cocceius emperor.
Because of the hatred felt for Domitian, his images, many of which were
of silver and many of gold, were melted down; and from this source
large amounts of money were obtained. The arches, too, of which a very
great number were being erected to this one man, were torn down. Nerva
also released all who were on trial for maiestas and restored the
exiles; moreover, he put to death all the slaves and the freedmen who
had conspired against their masters and allowed that class of persons
to lodge no complaint anybody of maiestas or of adopting the Jewish
mode of life. Many of those who had been informed were condemned to
death, among others Seras, the philosopher. When, now, no little
commotion was occasioned by the fact that everybody was accusing
everybody else, Fronto, the consul, is said to have remarked that it
was bad to have an emperor under whom nobody was permitted to do
anything, but worse to have one under whom everybody was permitted to
do everything; and Nerva, on hearing this, ordered that this condition
of affairs should cease for the future. Now Nerva was so old and so
feeble in health (he always, for instance, had to vomit up his food)
that he was rather weak. He also forbade the making of gold or silver
statues in his honour. To those who had been deprived of their property
without cause under Domitian he gave back all that was still to be
found in the imperial treasury. To the very poor Romans he granted
allotments of land worth 60,000,000 sesterces, putting some senators in
charge of their purchase and distribution. When he ran short of funds,
he sold much wearing apparel and many vessels of silver and gold,
besides furniture, both his own and that which belonged to the imperial
residence, and many estates and houses — in fact, everything except
what was indispensable. He did not, however, haggle over the price, but
in this very matter benefitted many persons. He abolished many
sacrifices, many horse-races, and some other spectacles, in an attempt
to reduce expenditures as far as possible. In the senate he took oath
that he would not slay any of the senators, and he kept his pledge in
spite of plots against himself. Moreover, he did nothing without the
advice of the foremost men. Among his various laws were those
prohibiting the castration of any man, and the marriage by any man of
his own niece. When consul he did not hesitate to take as his colleague
Virginius Rufus, though this man had often been saluted as emperor.
After Rufus' death an inscription was placed on his tomb to the effect
that, after conquering Vindex, he had claimed the power, not for
himself, but for his country.
Nerva ruled so well that he once remarked: "I have done nothing that
would prevent my laying down the imperial office and returning to
private life in safety." When Calpurnius Crassus, a descendant of the
famous Crassi, had formed a plot with some others against him, he
caused them to sit besides him at a spectacle (they were still ignorant
of the fact that they had been informed upon) and gave them swords,
ostensibly to inspect and see if they were sharp (as was often done),
but really in order to show that he did not care even if he died then
and there.
Casperius Aelianus, who had become commander of the Praetorians under
him as he had been under Domitian, incited the soldiers to mutiny
against him, after having induced them to demand certain persons for
execution. Nerva resisted them stoutly, even to the point of baring his
collar-bone and presenting to them his throat; but he accomplished
nothing, and those whom Aelianus wished were put out of the way. Nerva,
therefore, finding himself held in such contempt by reason of his old
age, ascended the Capitol and said in a loud voice: "May good success
attend the Roman senate and people and myself. I hereby adopt Marcus
Ulpius Nerva Trajan."
Afterwards in the senate he appointed him Caesar and sent a message to
him written with his own hand (Trajan was governor of Germany):
"May the Danaans by thy shafts requite my tears."
Thus Trajan became Caesar and later emperor, although there were
relatives of Nerva living. But Nerva did not esteem family relationship
above the safety of the State, nor was he less inclined to adopt Trajan
because the latter was a Spaniard instead of an Italian or Italot,
inasmuch as no foreigner had previously held the Roman sovereignty; for
he believed in looking at a man's ability rather than at his
nationality. Soon after this act he passed away, having ruled one year,
four months and nine days; his life prior to that time had comprised
sixty-five years, ten months and ten days.
Trajan, before he became emperor, had had a dream of the following
nature. He thought that an old man in a purple-bordered toga and
vesture and with a crown upon his head, as the senate is represented in
pictures, impressed a seal upon him with a finger ring, first on the
left side of his neck and then on the right. When he became emperor, he
sent a letter to the senate, written with his own hand, in which he
declared, among other things, that he would not slay nor disfranchise
any good man; and he confirmed this by oaths not only at the time but
also later.
He sent for Aelianus and the Praetorians who had mutinied against
Nerva, pretending that he was going to employ them for some purpose,
and then put them out of the way. When he came to Rome, he did much to
reform the administration of affairs and much to please the better
element; to the public business he gave unusual attention, making many
grants, for example, to the cities in Italy for the support of their
children, and upon the good citizens he conferred many favours. When
Plotina, his wife, first entered the palace, she turned around so as to
face the stairway and the populace and said: "I enter here such a woman
as I would fain be when I depart." And she conducted herself during the
entire reign in such a manner as to incur no censure.
The ambassadors who came from the various kings were given seats by Trajan in the senatorial section at spectacles.
After spending some time in Rome he made a campaign against the
Dacians; for he took into account their past deeds and was grieved at
the amount of money they were receiving annually, and he also observed
that their power and their pride were increasing. Decebalus, learning
of his advance, became frightened, since he well knew that on the
former occasion it was not the Romans that he had conquered, but
Domitian, whereas now he would be fighting against both Romans and
Trajan, the emperor.
Trajan was most conspicuous for his justice, for his bravery, and for
the simplicity of his habits. He was strong in body, being in his
forty-second year when he began to rule, so that in every enterprise he
toiled almost as much as the others; and his mental powers were at
their highest, so that he had neither the recklessness of youth nor the
sluggishness of old age. He didn't envy nor slay any one, but honoured
and exalted all good men without exception, and hence he neither feared
nor hated any one of them. To slanders he paid very little heed and he
was no slave of anger. He refrained equally from the money of others
and from unjust murders. He expended vast sums on wars and vast sums on
works of peace; and while making very many urgently needed repairs to
roads and harbours and public buildings, he drained no one's blood for
any of these undertakings. He was so high-minded and generous that,
after enlarging and embellishing the Circus, which had crumbled away in
places, he merely inscribed on it a statement that he had made it
adequate for the Roman people. For these deeds, now, he took more
pleasure in being loved than in being honoured. His association with
the people was marked by affability and his intercourse with the senate
by dignity, so that he was loved by all and dreaded by none save the
enemy. He joined others in the chase and in banquets, as well as in
their labours and plans and jests. Often he would take three others
into his carriage, and he would enter the houses of citizens, sometimes
even without a guard, and enjoy himself there. Education in the strict
sense he lacked, when it came to speaking, but its substance he both
knew and applied; and there was no quality which he did not possess in
a high degree. I know, of course, that he was devoted to boys and to
wine, but if he had ever committed or endured any base or wicked deed
as the result of this, he would have incurred censure; as it was,
however, he drank all the wine he wanted, yet remained sober, and in
his relation with boys he harmed no one. And even if he did delight in
war, nevertheless he was satisfied when success had been achieved, a
most bitter foe overthrown and his countrymen exalted. Nor did the
result which usually occurs in such circumstances — conceit and
arrogance on the part of the soldiers — ever manifest itself during his
reign; with such a firm hand did he rule them.
For these reasons, then, Decebalus had good cause to fear him. When
Trajan in his campaign against the Dacians had drawn near Tapae, where
the barbarians were encamped, a large mushroom was brought to him on
which was written in Latin characters a message to the effect that the
Buri and other allies advised Trajan to turn back and keep the peace.
Nevertheless he engaged the foe, and saw many wounded on his own side
and killed many of the enemy. And when the bandages gave out, he is
said not to have spared even his own clothing, but to have cut it up
into strips. In honour of the soldiers who had died in the battle he
ordered an altar to be erected and funeral rites to be performed
annually.
Decebalus had sent envoys even before his defeat, not the long-haired
men this time, as before, but the noblest among the cap-wearers. These
threw down their arms, and casting themselves upon the ground, begged
Trajan that, if possible, Decebalus himself should be permitted to meet
and confer with him, promising that he would do everything that was
commanded; or, if not, that someone at least should be sent to agree
upon terms with him. Those sent were Sura and Claudius Livianus, the
prefect; but nothing was accomplished, since Decebalus did not dare to
meet them either, but sent envoys also on this occasion. Trajan seized
some fortified mountains and on them found the arms and the capture
engines, as well as the standard which had been taken in the time of
Fuscus. Decebalus, because of this, coupled with the fact that Maximus
had at this same time captured his sister and also a strong position,
was ready to agree without exception to every demand that had been made
— not that he intended to abide by his agreement, but in order that he
might secure a respite from his temporary reverses. So he reluctantly
engaged to surrender his arms, engines and engine-makers, to give back
the deserters, to demolish the forts, to withdraw from captured
territory, and furthermore to consider the same persons enemies and
friends as the Romans did, and neither to give shelter to any of the
deserters nor to employ any soldier from the are empire; for he had
been acquiring the largest and best part of his force by persuading men
to come to him from Roman territory. This was after he had come to
Trajan, fallen upon the ground and done obeisance and thrown away his
arms. He also sent envoys in the matter to the senate, in order that he
might secure the ratification of the peace by that body. After
concluding this compact the emperor left the camp at Zermizegethusa,
and having stationed garrisons here and there throughout the remainder
of the territory, returned to Italy.
The envoys from Decebalus, upon being brought into the senate, laid
down their arms, clasped their hands in the attitude of captives, and
spoke some words of supplication; thus they obtained peace and received
back their arms. Trajan celebrated a triumph and was given the title of
Dacicus; in the theatre he held contests of gladiators, in whom he
delighted, and he brought the dancers of pantomimes back into the
theatre, being enamoured of Pylades, one of their number. He did not,
however, as might have been expected of a warlike man, pay any less
attention to the civil administration nor did he dispense justice any
the less; on the contrary, he conducted trials, now in the Forum of
Augustus, now in the Portico of Livia, as it was called, and often
elsewhere on a tribunal.
Inasmuch as Decebalus was reported to him to be acting contrary to the
treaty in many ways, was collecting arms, receiving those who deserted,
repairing the forts, sending envoys to his neighbours and injuring
those who had previously differed with him, even going so far as to
annex a portion of the territory of the Iazyges (which Trajan later
would not give back to them when they asked for it), therefore the
senate again declared him an enemy, and Trajan once more conducted the
war against him in person instead of entrusting it of the others.
As numerous Dacians kept transferring their allegiance to Trajan, and
also for certain other reasons, Decebalus again sued for peace. But
since he could not be persuaded to surrender both his arms and himself,
he proceeded openly to collect troops and summon the surrounding
nations to his aid, declaring that if they deserted him they themselves
would be imperilled, and that if was safer and easier for them, by
fighting on his side before suffering any harm, to preserve their
freedom, than if they should allow his people to be destroyed and then
later be subjugated themselves when bereft of allies.
Though Decebalus was faring badly in open conflict, nevertheless by
craft and deceit he almost compassed Trajan's death. He sent into
Moesia some deserters to see if they could make away with him, inasmuch
as the emperor was generally accessible and now, on account of the
exigencies of warfare, admitted to a conference absolutely everyone who
desired it. But they were not able to carry out this plan, since one of
them was arrested on suspicion and under torture reveled the entire
plot. Decebalus then sent an invitation to Longinus, a leader of the
Roman army who had made himself a terror to the king in the wars, and
persuaded him to meet him, on the pretext that he would do whatever
should be demanded. He then arrested him and questioned him publicly
about Trajan's plans, and when Longinus refused to admit anything, he
took him about with him under guard, though not in bonds. And sending
an envoy to Trajan, he asked that he might receive back his territory
as far as the Ister and be indemnified for all the money he had spent
on the war, in return for restoring Longinus to him. An ambiguous
answer was returned, of such a nature as not to cause Decebalus to
believe that Trajan regarded Longinus as either of great importance or
yet of slight importance, the object being to prevent his being
destroyed, on the one hand, or being preserved to them on excessive
terms, on the other. So Decebalus delayed, still considering what he
should do. In the meantime Longinus, having secured poison with the aid
of the freedman, promised Decebalus to win Trajan over, hoping the king
would thus have no suspicion of what he was going to do and so would
not keep a very strict watch over him; also, in order to enable the
freedman to gain safety, he wrote a letter containing a petition in his
behalf and gave it to him to carry to Trajan. Then, when the other had
gone, he drank the poison at night and died. Thereupon Decebalus
demanded the freedman from Trajan, promising to give him in return the
body of Longinus and ten captives. He at once sent the centurion who
had been captured with Longinus, in order that he might arrange the
matter; and it was from the centurion that the whole story of Longinus
was learned. However, Trajan neither sent him back nor surrendered the
freedman, deeming his safety more important for the dignity of the
empire than the burial of Longinus.
Trajan constructed over the Ister a stone bridge for which I cannot
sufficiently admire him. Brilliant, indeed, as are his other
achievements, yet this surpasses them. For it has twenty piers of
squared stone one hundred and fifty feet in height above the
foundations and sixty in width, and these, standing at a distance of
one hundred and seventy feet from one another, are connected by arches.
How, then, could one fail to be astonished at the expenditure made upon
them, or at the way in which each of them was placed in a river so
deep, in water so full of eddies, and on a bottom so muddy? For it was
impossible, of course, to divert the stream anywhere. I have spoken of
the width of the river; but the stream is not uniformly so narrow,
since it covers in some places twice, and in others thrice as much
ground, but the narrowest point and the one in that region best suited
to building a bridge has the width named. Yet the very fact that river
in its descent is here contracted from a great flood to such a narrow
channel, after which it again expands into a greater flood, makes it
all the more violent and deep, and this feature must be considered in
estimating the difficulty of constructing the bridge. This, too, then,
is one of the achievements that show the magnitude of Trajan's designs,
though the bridge is of no use to us; for merely the piers are
standing, affording no means of crossing, as if they had been erected
for the sole purpose of demonstrating that there is nothing which human
ingenuity cannot accomplish. Trajan built the bridge because he feared
that some time when the Ister was frozen over war might be made upon
the Romans on the further side, and he wished to facilitate access to
them by this means. Hadrian, on the contrary, was afraid that it might
also make it easy for the barbarians, once they had overpowered the
guard at the bridge, to cross into Moesia, and so he removed the
superstructure.
Trajan, having crossed the Ister by means of the bridge, conducted the
war with safe prudence rather than with haste, and eventually, after a
hard struggle, vanquished the Dacians. In the course of the campaign he
himself performed many deeds of good generalship and bravery, and his
troops ran many risks and displayed great prowess on his behalf. It was
here that a certain horseman, after being carried, badly wounded, from
the battle in the hope that he could be healed, when he found that he
could not recover, rushed from his tent (for his injury had not yet
reached his heart) and, taking his place once more in the line,
perished after displaying great feats of valour. Decebalus, when his
capital and all his territory had been occupied and he was himself in
danger of being captured, committed suicide; and his head was brought
to Rome. In this way Dacia became subject to the Romans, and Trajan
founded cities there. The treasures of Decebalus were also discovered,
though hidden beneath the river Sargetia, which ran past his palace.
With the help of some captives Decebalus had diverted the course of the
river, made an excavation in its bed, and into the cavity had thrown a
large amount of silver and gold and other objects of great value that
could stand a certain amount of moisture; then he had heaped stones
over them and piled on earth, afterwards bringing the river back into
his course. He also had caused the same captives to deposit his robes
and other articles of a like nature in caves, and after accomplishing
this had made away with them to prevent them from disclosing anything.
But Bicilis, a companion of his who knew what had been done, was seized
and gave information about these things.
About this time, Palma, the governor of Syria, subdued the part of Arabia around Petra and made it subject to the Romans.
Upon Trajan's return to Rome ever so many embassies came to him from
various barbarians, including the Indi. And he gave spectacles on one
hundred and twenty-three days, in the course of which some eleven
thousand animals, both wild and tame, were slain, and ten thousand
gladiators fought.
At this same period he built a road of stone through the Pontine
marshes and provided the roads with most magnificent buildings and
bridges. He also caused all the money that was badly worn to be melted
down.
He had taken an oath the he would not shed blood and he made good his
promise by his deeds in spite of plots formed against him. For by
nature he was not at all inclined to duplicity or guile or harshness,
but he loved, greeted and honoured the good, and the others he ignored;
moreover, he had become milder as the result of age.
When Licinius Sura died, Trajan bestowed upon him a public funeral and
a statue. This man had attained to such a degree of wealth and pride
that he had built a gymnasium for the Romans; yet so great was the
friendship and confidence which he showed toward Trajan and Trajan
toward him, that, although he was often slandered,— as naturally
happens in the case of all those who possess any influence with the
emperors,— Trajan never felt any suspicion or hatred toward him. On the
contrary, when those who envied Sura became very insistent, the emperor
went uninvited to his house to dinner, and having dismissed his whole
body-guard, he first called Sura's physician and caused him to anoint
his eyes, and then his barber, whom he caused to shave his chin (for
the emperors themselves as well as all the rest used to follow this
ancient practice; it was Hadrian who first set the fashion of wearing a
beard); and after doing all this, he next took a bath and had dinner.
Then on the following day he said to his friends who were constantly in
the habit of making disparaging remarks about Sura: "If Sura had
desired to kill me, he would have killed me yesterday." Now he did a
fine thing in running the risk in the case of a man who had been
calumniated, but a much finer thing still in believing that he never
should be harmed by him. Thus it was that the confidence of his
conviction was strengthened by his personal knowledge of Sura's conduct
rather than by the conjectures of others.
Indeed, when he first handed to the man who was to be prefect of the
Praetorians the sword which this official was required to wear at his
side, he bared the blade and holding it up said: "Take this sword, in
order that, if I rule well, you may use it for me, but if ill, against
me."
He also set up images of Sosius, Palma and Celsus, so greatly did he
esteem them above the rest. Those, however, who conspired against him,
among them Crassus, he brought before the senate and caused them to be
punished.
He also built libraries. And he set up in the Forum an enormous column,
to serve at once as a monument to himself and as a memorial of the work
in the Forum. For that entire section had been hilly and he had cut it
down for a distance equal to the height of the column, thus making the
Forum level.
Next he made a campaign against the Armenians and Parthians on the
pretext that the Armenian king had obtained his diadem, not at his
hands, but from the Parthian king, though his real reason was a desire
to win renown.
When Trajan had set out against the Parthians and got as far as Athens,
an embassy from Osroes met him, asking for peace and proffering gifts.
For upon learning of his advance the king had become terrified, because
Trajan was wont to make good his threats by his deeds. Accordingly, he
humbled his pride and sent to implore have not to make war upon him,
and at the same time he asked that Armenia be given to Parthamasiris,
who was likewise a son of Pacorus, and requested that the diadem be
sent to him; for he had deposed Exedares, he said, inasmuch as he had
been satisfactory neither to the Romans nor to the Parthians. The
emperor neither accepted the gifts nor returned any answer, either oral
or written, save the statement that friendship is determined by deeds
and not by words, and that accordingly when he should reach Syria he
would do all that was proper. And being of this mind, he proceeded
through Asia, Lycia and the adjoining provinces to Seleucia. Upon his
arrival in Antioch, Abgarus of Osroene sent gifts and a message of
friendship, though have did not appear in person; for, as he dreaded
both Trajan and the Parthians alike, he was trying to be neutral and
for that reason would not come to confer with him.
Lucius Quietus was a Moor and likewise ranked as a leader of the Moors
and as commander of a troop in the cavalry; but, having been condemned
for base conduct, he had been dismissed from the service at the time
and disgraced. Later, however, when the Dacian war came on and Trajan
needed the assistance of the Moors, he came to him of his own accord
and displayed great deeds of prowess. Being honoured for this, he
performed far greater and more numerous exploits in the second war, and
finally advanced so far in bravery and good fortune during this present
war that he was enrolled among the ex-praetors, became consul, and then
governor of Palestine. To this chiefly were due the jealousy and hatred
felt for him and his destruction.
When Trajan had invaded the enemy's territory, the satraps and princes
of that region came to meet him with gifts. One of these gifts was a
horse that had been taught to do obeisance; it would kneel on its fore
legs and placed its head beneath of whoever stood near.
Parthamasiris behaved in a rather violent fashion. In his first letter
he had signed himself "king," but when no answer came, he wrote again,
omitting this title, and asked that Marcus Junius, the governor of
Cappadocia, be sent to him, implying that he wished to prefer some
request through him. Trajan accordingly sent to him the son of Junius,
while he himself proceeded to Arsamosata, of which he took possession
without a struggle. Then he came to Satala and rewarded with gifts
Anchialus, the king of the Heniochi and Machelones. At Elegeia in
Armenia he received Parthamasiris, seated upon a tribunal in the camp.
The prince saluted him, took his diadem off his head and laid it at his
feet, then stood there in silence, expecting to receive it back. At
this the soldiers shouted aloud and hailed Trajan imperator, as if
because of some victory. (They termed it a crownless and bloodless
victory, to see the king, a descendant of Arsaces, a son of Pacorus,
and a nephew of Osroes, standing before Trajan without a diadem, like a
captive.) The shout terrified the prince, who thought that it was
intended as an insult and meant his destruction; and he turned about as
if to flee, but seeing that he was hemmed in on all sides, he begged
that he might not be forced to speak before the crowd. Accordingly he
was conducted into the tent, where he obtained none of the things he
wished. So out he rushed in a age, and thence out of the camp; but
Trajan sent for him, and again ascending the tribunal, bade him say in
the hearing of all everything that he desired. This was in order to
prevent anybody, ignorant of what had been said in private conference,
from making up a different report. On hearing this command
Parthamasiris no longer kept silence, but spoke with great frankness,
declaring among other things that he had not been defeated or captured,
but had come there voluntarily, believing that he should not be wronged
and should receive back the kingdom, as Tiridates had received it from
Nero. Trajan made fitting replies to all his remarks, and in particular
declared that he would surrender Armenia to no one; for it belonged to
the Romans and was to have a Roman governor. He would, however, allow
Parthamasiris to depart to any place he pleased. So he sent the prince
away together with his Parthian companions and gave them an escort of
cavalry to make sure that they should associate with no one and should
begin no rebellion; but he commanded all the Armenians who had come
with the prince to remain where they were, on the ground that they were
already his subjects.
When he had captured the whole country of the Armenians and had won
over many of the kings also, some of whom, since they voluntarily
submitted, he treated as friends, while others, though disobedient, he
subdued without a battle, the senate voted to him all the usual honours
in great plenty and furthermore bestowed upon him the title of Optimus,
or Most Excellent. He always marched on foot with the rank and file of
his army, and he attended to the ordering and disposition of the troops
throughout the entire campaign, leading them sometimes in one order and
sometimes in another; and he forded all the rivers that they did.
Sometimes he even caused his scouts to circulate false reports, in
order that the soldiers might at one and the same time practise
military manoeuvres and become fearless and ready for any dangers.
After he had captured Nisibis and Batnae he was given the name of
Parthicus; but he took much greater pride in the title of Optimus than
in all the rest, inasmuch as it referred rather to his character than
to his arms.
Leaving garrisons at opportune points, Trajan came to Edessa, and there
saw Abgarus for the first time. For, although Abgarus had previously
sent envoys and gifts to the emperor on numerous occasions, he himself,
first on one excuse and then another, had failed to put in an
appearance, as was also the case with Mannus, the ruler of the
neighbouring portion of Arabia, and Sporaces, the ruler of Anthemusia.
On this occasion, however, induced partly by the persuasions of his son
Arbandes, who was handsome and in the pride of youth and therefore in
favour with Trajan, and partly by his fear of the latter's presence, he
met him on the road, made his apologies and obtained pardon, for he had
a powerful intercessor in the boy. Accordingly he became Trajan's
friend and entertained him at a banquet; and during the dinner he
brought in his boy to perform some barbaric dance or other.
When Trajan had come into Mesopotamia, Mannus sent a herald to him, and
Manisarus also dispatched envoys to seek peace, because Osroes was
making a campaign against him, and he was ready to withdraw from the
parts of Armenia and Mesopotamia that he had captured. Trajan replied
that he would not believe him until he should come to him as he kept
promising to do, and confirm his offers by his deeds. He was also
suspicious of Mannus, the more so as ts king had sent an auxiliary
force to Mebarsapes, king of Adiabene, on which occasion he had lost it
all at the hands of the Romans. Therefore Trajan at this time also did
not wait for them to draw near, but made his way to them at Adiabene.
Thus it came about that Singara and some other places were occupied by
Lusius without a battle.
While the emperor was tarrying in Antioch a terrible earthquake
occurred; many cities suffered injury, but Antioch was the most
unfortunate of all. Since Trajan was passing the winter there and many
soldiers and many civilians had flocked thither from all sides in
connexion with law-suits, embassies, business or sightseeing, there was
no nation of people that went unscathed; and thus in Antioch the while
world under Roman sway suffered disaster. There had been many
thunderstorms and portentous winds, but no one would ever have expected
so many evils to result from them. First there came, on a sudden, a
great bellowing roar, and this was followed by a tremendous quaking.
The whole earth was upheaved, and buildings leaped into the air; some
were carried aloft only to collapse and be broken in pieces, while
others were tossed this way and that as if by the surge of the sea, and
overturned, and the wreckage spread out over a great extent even of the
open country. The crash of grinding and breaking timbers together with
tiles and stones was most frightful; and an inconceivable amount of
dust arose, so that it was impossible for one to see anything or to
speak or hear a word. As for the people, many even who were outside the
houses were hurt, being snatched up and tossed violently about and then
dashed to the earth as if falling from a cliff; some were maimed and
others were killed. Even trees in some cases leaped into the air, roots
and all. The number of those who were trapped in the houses and
perished was past finding out; for multitudes were killed by the very
force of the falling débris, and great numbers were suffocated
in the ruins. Those who lay with a part of their body buried under the
stones or timbers suffered terribly, being able neither to live any
longer nor to find an immediate death.
Nevertheless, many even of these were saved, as was to be expected in
such a countless multitude; yet not all such escaped unscathed. Many
lost legs or arms, some had their heads broken, and still others
vomited blood; Pedo the consul was one of these, and he died at once.
In a word, there was no kind of violent experience that those people
did not undergo at that time. And as Heaven continued the earthquake
for several days and nights, the people were in dire straits and
helpless, some of them crushed and perishing under the weight of the
buildings pressing upon them, and others dying of hunger, whenever it
so chanced that they were left alive either in a clear space, the
timbers being so inclined as to leave such a space, or in a vaulted
colonnade. When at last the evil had subsided, someone who ventured to
mount the ruins caught sight of a woman still alive. She was not alone,
but had also an infant; and she had survived by feeding both himself
and her child with her milk. They dug her out and resuscitated her
together with her babe, and after that they searched the other heaps,
but were not able to find in them anyone still living save a child
sucking at the breast of its mother, who was dead. As they drew forth
the corpses they could no longer feel any pleasure even at their own
escape.
So great were the calamities that had overwhelmed Antioch at this time.
Trajan made his way out through a window of the room in which he was
staying. Some being, of greater than human stature, had come to him and
led him forth, so that he escaped with only a few slight injuries; and
as the shocks extended over several days, he lived out of doors in the
hippodrome. Even Mt. Casius itself was so shaken that its peaks seemed
to lean over and break off and to be falling upon the very city. Other
hills also settled, and much water not previously in existence came to
light, while many streams disappeared.
Trajan at the beginning of spring hastened into the enemy's country.
And since the region near the Tigris is bare of timber suitable for
building ships, he brought his boats, which had been constructed in the
forests around Nisibis, to the river on waggons; for they had been
built in such a way that they could be taken apart and put together
again. He had great difficulty in bridging the stream opposite the
Gordyaean mountains, as the barbarians had taken their stand on the
opposite bank and tried to hinder him. But Trajan had a great abundance
of both ships and soldiers, and so some vessels were fastened together
with great speed while others lay moored in front of them having heavy
infantry and archers board, and still others kept making dashes this
way and that, as if they intended to cross. In consequence of these
tactics and because of their very consternation at seeing so many ships
appear all at once out of a land destitute of trees, the barbarians
gave way. And the Romans crossed over and gained possession of the
whole of Adiabene. This is a district of Assyria in the vicinity of
Ninus; and Arbela and Gaugamela, near which places Alexander conquered
Darius, are also in this same country. Adiabene, accordingly, has also
been called Atyria in the language of the barbarians, the double †S†
being changed to †T†.
Adenystrae was a strong post to which Sentius, a centurion, had been
sent as an envoy to Mebarsapes. He was imprisoned by the latter there,
but later, at the approach of the Romans, he arranged with some of his
fellow-prisoners, and with their aid escaped from his bonds, killed the
commander of the garrison and opened the gates to his countrymen.
After this they advanced as far as Babylon itself, being quite free
from molestation, since the Parthian power had been destroyed by civil
conflicts and was still at this time a subject of strife.
Cassius Dio Cocceianus in writings concerning the Latins has written
that this city [Babylon] had a circuit of four hundred stades.
(Semiramis . . . built . . . a city) having a perimeter of four hundred stades, according to Cassius Dio Cocceianus.
Here, moreover, Trajan saw the asphalt out of which the walls of
Babylon had been built. When used in connexion with baked bricks or
small stones this material affords so great security as to render them
stronger than any rock or iron. He also looked at the opening from
which issues a deadly vapour that destroys any terrestrial animal and
any winged creature that so much as inhales a breath of it. Indeed, if
it extended far above ground or spread out far round about, the place
would not be habitable; but, as it is, the vapour circles about within
itself and remains stationary. Hence creatures that fly high enough
above it and those that graze at one side are safe. I saw another
opening like it at Hierapolis in Asia, and tested it by means of birds;
I also bent over it myself and saw the vapour myself. It is enclosed in
a sort of cistern and a theatre had been built over it. It destroys all
living things save human beings that have been emasculated. The reason
for this I cannot understand; I merely relate what I saw as I saw it
and what I heard as I heard it.
Trajan had planned to conduct the Euphrates through a canal into the
Tigris, in order that he might take his boats down by this route and
use them to make a bridge. But learning that this river has a much
higher elevation than the Tigris, he did not do so, fearing that the
water might rush down in a flood and render the Euphrates unnavigable.
So he used hauling-engines to drag the boats across the very narrow
space that separates the two rivers (the whole stream of the Euphrates
empties into a marsh and from there somehow joins the Tigris); then he
crossed the Tigris and entered Ctesiphon. When he had taken possession
of this place he was saluted imperator and established his right to the
title of Parthicus. In addition to other honours voted to him by the
senate, he was granted the privilege of celebrating as many triumphs as
he should desire.
After capturing Ctesiphon he conceived a desire to sail down to the
Erythraean Sea. This is a part of the ocean, and has been so named from
a person who formerly ruled its shores. He easily won over Mesene, the
island in the Tigris of which Athambelus was king; but as the result of
a storm, combined with the strong current of the Tigris and the tide
coming in from the ocean, he found himself in serious danger.
Athambelus, the ruler of the island in the Tigris, remained loyal to
Trajan, even though ordered to pay tribute, and the inhabitants of the
Palisade of Spasinus, as it is called, received him kindly; they were
subject to the dominion of Athambelus.
Then he came to the ocean itself, and when he had learned its nature
and had seen a ship sailing to India, he said: "I should certainly have
crossed over to the Indi, too, if I were still young." For he began to
think about the Indi and was curious about their affairs, and he
counted Alexander a lucky man. Yet he would declared that he himself
had advanced farther than Alexander, and would so write to the senate,
although he was unable to preserve even the territory that he had
subdued. For this achievement he obtained among other honours the
privilege of celebrating a triumph for as many nations as he pleased;
for by reason of the large number of the peoples of whom he was
constantly writing to them they were unable in some cases to follow him
intelligently or even to use the names correctly. So the people in Rome
were preparing for him a triumphal arch besides many other tributes in
his own forum and were getting ready to go forth an unusual distance to
meet him on his return. But he was destined never to reach Rome again
nor to accomplish anything comparable to his previous exploits, and
furthermore to lose even those earlier acquisitions. For during the
time that he was sailing down to the ocean and returning from there
again all the conquered districts were thrown into turmoil and
revolted, and the garrisons placed among the various peoples were
either expelled or slain.
Trajan learned of this at Babylon; for he had gone there both because
of its fame — though he saw nothing but mounds and stones and ruins to
justify this — and because of Alexander, to whose spirit he offered
sacrifice in the room where he had died. When he learned of the revolt,
he sent Lusius and Maximus against the rebels. The latter was defeated
in battle and perished; but Lusius, in addition to many other
successes, recovered Nisibis, and besieged and captured Edessa, which
he sacked and burned. Seleucia was also captured by Erucius Clarus and
Julius Alexander, lieutenants, and was burned. Trajan, fearing that the
Parthians, too, might begin a revolt, desired to give them a king of
their own. Accordingly, when he came to Ctesiphon, he called together
in a great plain all the Romans and likewise all the Parthians that
were there at the time; then he mounted a lofty platform, and after
describing in grandiloquent language what he had accomplished, he
appointed Parthamaspates king over the Parthians and set the diadem
upon his head.
LXXV
When Vologaesus, the son of Sanatruces, had arrayed himself against
Severus and his army and before joining battle asked and secured an
armistice, Trajan sent envoys to him and granted him a portion of
Armenia in return for peace.
Next he came into Arabia and began operations against the people of
Hatra, since they, too, had revolted. This city is neither large nor
prosperous, and the surrounding country is mostly desert and has
neither water (save a small amount and that poor in quality) nor timber
nor fodder. These very disadvantages, however, afford it protection,
making impossible a siege by a large multitude, as does also the
Sun-god, to whom it is consecrated; for it was taken neither at this
time by Trajan nor later by Severus, although they both overthrew parts
of its wall. Trajan sent the cavalry forward against the wall, but
failed in his attempt, and the attackers were hurled back into the
camp. Indeed, the emperor himself barely missed being wounded as he was
riding past, in spite of the fact that he had laid aside his imperial
attire to avoid being recognized; but the enemy, seeing his majestic
gray head and his august countenance, suspected his identity, shot at
him and killed a cavalryman in his escort. There were peals of thunder,
rainbow tints showed, and lightnings, rain-storms, hail and
thunderbolts descended upon the Romans as often as they made assaults.
And whenever they ate, flies settled on their food and drink, causing
discomfort everywhere. Trajan therefore departed thence, and a little
later began to fail in health.
Meanwhile the Jews in the region of Cyrene had put a certain Andreas at
their head, and were destroying both the Romans and the Greeks. They
would eat the flesh of their victims, make belts for themselves of
their entrails, anoint themselves with their blood and wear their skins
for clothing; many they sawed in two, from the head downwards; others
they gave to wild beasts, and still others they forced to fight as
gladiators. In all two hundred and twenty thousand persons perished. In
Egypt, too, they perpetrated many similar outrages, and in Cyprus,
under the leadership of a certain Artemion. There, also, two hundred
and forty thousand perished, and for this reason no Jew may set foot on
that island, but even if one of them is driven upon its shores by a
storm he is put to death. Among others who subdued the Jews was Lusius,
who was sent by Trajan.
Trajan was preparing to make a fresh expedition into Mesopotamia, but,
as his malady began to afflict him sorely, he set out, intending to
sail to Italy, leaving Publius Aelius Hadrian with the army in Syria.
Thus it came about that the Romans in conquering Armenia, most of
Mesopotamia, and the Parthians had undergone their hardships and
dangers all for naught, for even the Parthians rejected Pathamaspates
and began to be ruled once more in their own fashion. Trajan himself
suspected that his sickness was due to poison that had been
administered to him; but some state that it was because the blood,
which descends every year into the lower parts of the body, was in his
case checked in its flow. He had also suffered a stroke, so that a
portion of his body was paralyzed, and he was dropsical all over. On
coming to Selinus in Cilicia, which we also call Traianopolis, he
suddenly expired, after reigning nineteen years, six months and fifteen
days.
End of Etext Cassius Dio Roman History Epitome of Book LXVIII
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