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the attempted treachery of Decebalus,' and by the capture and voluntary death of Cassius Longinus. Baffled and defeated, Decebalus put an end to his own life, and Trajan, now saluted IMP. VI., determined to complete his work by the annexation of Dacia.2 The Dacian population was almost completely exterminated, and colonists were introduced into the new province from every part of the Roman world, but especially from the denationalised population of Asia Minor.* Roman civilisation and language were introduced, and a considerable commercial and mining activity was developed.5 Sarmizegethusa was made a Roman colony; other towns received the 'ius Italicum,' while the province was garrisoned by a legion, the XIIIth Gemina, stationed at Apulum. At the same time, to strengthen the frontier arrangements, an important military camp was formed at Troesmis, while Paetovio, Ratiaria, Oescus, and Marcianopolis' were either founded or refounded. Pannonia was divided into an Upper and Lower province, and military roads were made or repaired throughout the Haemus region. By the end of 106 A.D. Trajan was again in Rome.9 A third congiarium' was given to the people, and for 123 days gladiatorial games and 'venationes' were exhibited in the Colosseum.

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A year previously the extinction of the Idumaean line of kings reigning in Trachonitis brought the empire into immediate relations with the turbulent Nabataean tribes of Arabia Petraea. Considering that their plundering raids would be a continual annoyance to Syria, and that the important caravan routes from Mesopotamia passed through this region, Trajan gave orders to Cornelius Palma, the legate of Syria, to annex the country. Its acquisition as a province in 105, and the posting of a legion, the IIIrd Cyrenaica, at Bostra was followed by the establishment of order, and by all the material signs of civilisation in the shape of aqueducts, roads, and

1 Dio Cassius, 68, II.

2 Probably only Transylvania, little Wallachia, and part of the Banat were included in the province. Eutropius gives the circuit as 'decies centena millia passuum.' The boundaries given by Ptolemy, iii. 8, are probably geographical, not political. 3 Eutrop. viii 6.

4 C. I. L. iii, p. 160.

5 C. I. L. iii, pp. 921-966.
6 Henzen, 5280.

7 Ammian. xxvii 4.

8 Aur. Vict. Caes. 13.

9 Licinius Sura, the chief of his staff in both wars, was 'consul ordinarius' for 107.

temples, the vestiges of which form a striking contrast to the desolation of the region at the present time.

After his return from the Dacian wars Trajan remained at Rome engaged with the general cares of the empire for the next six years. Anything like a detailed history of the period is impossible. Dio Cassius passes it over almost in silence, the allusions of Pliny are often obscure, and our chief source of information consists in medals and inscriptions. To this period we must assign the various steps which Trajan took to restore to Italy something of its former prosperity.1 Of these the first place in importance is held by the system of 'alimentationes,' commenced indeed by Nerva,2 but worked out by Trajan.3 A sum of money assigned from the 'fiscus' was lent to a number of landowners in a particular district, or to the community itself, the security being a mortgage on the estate, which was however never allowed to exceed about one-tenth of its total value. The interest to be paid for this loan varied according to local circumstances from two and a half to five per cent, although the general rate of interest was as much as ten per cent, and was paid by the mortgagees as a monthly support for a number of poor boys and girls of the district. How far this custom extended throughout Italy we do not know, but the words of Dion and the medals seem to imply that it was a general one, and we may therefore take the two inscriptions which give us most of our information as particular examples of a general system. At Veleia a sum of 1,044,000 HS. was assigned on mortgage to 46 estates, the collective value of which was 13,077,536 HS. The interest at five percent (52,200 HS.) was employed in 245 grants of 16 HS. a month for boys, in 34 grants of 12 HS. a month for girls, while 12 and 10 HS. a month were set apart respectively for one illegitimate boy and girl. The object of the institution was a double one. While it helped poor parents to bring up their children, and so provided citizens and soldiers, it also assisted Italian husbandry by providing capital at low rates of interest. Another though more questionable means towards this end was the provision that provincial candidates for office at Rome should invest one-third of their property in Italian land. A third institution intended to improve the condition of Italy was that of appointing 'curatores civitatum,' extraordinary magistrates nominated by the emperor to regulate the often disorganised finances of the Italian cities. In certain cases interference of this sort may have been an advantage, especially as Italy was not under the eye of a provincial

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1 Cohen gives numerous medals with the legend Italia Restituta.'

2 Aur. Vict. Epit. c. 12.

3 Cohen gives a number of medals with the legend Alimenta Italiae,' dating between 104 and 110 (Cos v); Dio Cassius,

68, 5.

4 The tabula of Veleia, dating between 103 and 114, and that of the Ligures Baebiani (Henzen, 6664), dating from ΙΟΙ. See also Cohen, 13, 14, 300-304, and 373.

5 Plin. Ep. vi. 19.

governor, but as the custom became the rule rather than the exception, the advantages of self-government were lost, and the feeling of municipal responsibility lessened. In other respects Trajan's care for Italy showed itself in more unimpeachable ways. The roads were everywhere restored,1 bridges built,2 the Pontine marshes made passable,3 while a new road was constructed at Trajan's own expense from Beneventum to Brundisium. While internal communications in Italy were thus facilitated, its foreign trade was assisted by the enlargement of the harbour at Ostia, where a new and larger basin was added to that of Claudius and connected with the Tiber by a new canal.5 Another harbour was made at Centum Cellae (Civita Vecchia), begun shortly after the second Dacian war, while a third was constructed on the east coast at Ancona, as the inscription on Trajan's triumphal arch there records.7 Instances of a similar care for the provinces are the bridge at Alcantara over the Tagus, and the restoration of the canal between Bubastis and Arsinoe by means of which the products of the porphyry quarries could be conveyed to the Mediterranean.9 Of Trajan's splendid forum in Rome, probably finished in 112, with its basilica and libraries, and above all the noble column which still stands erect, nothing need here be said, but the restoration of the Aqua Marcia, and the construction of the new Aqua Traiana proves that in his building as in his other public acts, he sought the well-being of his people.

Of Trajan's provincial administration we seem at first sight to have a peculiar means of judging from the correspondence with Pliny. This, on examination, however, turns out to be at least partially delusive. Bithynia under senatorial government had been allowed to fall into a state of great disorganisation,10 the finances were in disorder,11 public buildings dilapidated,12 and at least two of the governors had recently been accused of 'repetundae.' 13 It was thus to meet a specific and temporary need that Pliny, who had gained some knowledge of Bithynian affairs by his part in the actions against Bassus and Varenus, was in III A.D.1 sent out on a special mission 15 by Trajan to restore order. The correspondence therefore

1 Galen, De Method. Medendi, ix 8. 2 C. I. L. ii 2478. Mommsen, Insc. Neap. 6241.

3 Dio Cassius, 68, 15.

4 Henzen, 5169; Cohen, 289-290, 546-548; Mommsen, Inscrip. Neap. 6289 and 6290.

5 Cohen, 365 and 366; Juv. xii 75. 6 Plin. Ep. vi 31.

7 Orelli, 792.

8 C. I. L. ii pp. 759 and 760.

9 Ptolemy iv 5.

10 Plin. Ep. ad Trai. 32.
11 Ib. 52, 109.

12 lb. 46, 48, 99.
13 lb. v 20; iv 9.

14 The date is fixed by C. I. L. iii 77, which mentions Calpurnius Macer as proprietor of Lower Moesia in 112, taken in connection with the mention of him in

Ep. ad Trai. 41, 61, and 62.

15 See the Pliny Inscription, p. 16.

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between Pliny and the emperor, though highly instructive, cannot be taken as an example of Trajan's general habit, though we may be sure that the care, solicitude, and fairness displayed in his replies were characteristic of his administration throughout the empire. The points which come out most clearly in the correspondence are, besides the careful attention paid to details which was probably exceptional, the consistent desire shown by Trajan to respect local customs and usages,1 the avoidance of general rules and principles,2 and the equitable spirit 3 which insists on the execution of the laws, but observes vested interests, and avoids the appearance of anything arbitrary. Perhaps the most important answer of Trajan is that concerning the proceedings against the Christians. "They should not be sought out, but if brought before you, and convicted, they must be punished. If the accused denies his religion, and proves his denial by supplication to our gods, in spite of previous suspicion, he should be pardoned." This reply made Christianity a definite political offence, and laid down the precedent which in fact characterised the subsequent persecutions. If Bithynia demanded a special share of Trajan's attention, the other non-military provinces were not neglected. Marius Priscus was convicted of mal-administration in Africa,5 Classicus was called to account for his conduct in Baetica,6 while Marius Maximus was sent on a special mission to regulate the affairs of Achaia." The establishment of ' praefecti vehiculorum,' to prevent abuses and extortion in connection with the public post-system must have been a common boon to all the provinces.

The last years of Trajan's reign were occupied by a Parthian war. Possibly the interval of peace had become irksome to his warlike temperament, possibly he deemed it necessary to pursue the same forward policy on the eastern frontier which had apparently met with success on the Danube. In any case, the affairs of Armenia, as usual, offered the pretext for war. The Parthian king Chosroes had set up his brother Parthamasiris on the throne, and though he sought investiture from Trajan, the emperor finally put aside the policy which Nero's

1 Plin. Ep. ad Trai. 66, 68, 48, 109, 115.

2 lb. 113.

3 Ib. 55, 68, 84, 109, III.

Ib. 29, 30, 108, 109.

5 Plin. Ep. ii 11; Juv. i.

6 Plin. Ep. ii 11.

7 Ib. viii 24.

8 Ib. 44 and 45.

government had pursued, and set out for the east at the end of 113 A.D.1 There were at this time seven legions along the eastern frontier between Cappadocia and Arabia. These, however, as was usually the case with the oriental legions, were demoralised and undisciplined, and Trajan led over troops from Pannonia, as well as strong bodies from the praetorian cohorts. Starting from Antioch, and avoiding the route through the desert by marching along the Upper Euphrates into Little Armenia, Trajan received at Satala the submission of the petty kings of the Caspian tribes, whom he secured in their kingdoms,2 and made clients of the empire. To Parthamasiris, who came to pay his homage to Trajan at Elegeia, a different reception was given. His homage was refused,3 and his kingdom made into a Roman province, while he himself, either with or without Trajan's connivance, met with a violent death. The campaign of the next year (115) was marked by an advance into Osrhoene and the submission of its king, Abgarus, while Lusius Quietus, advancing farther into the east, occupied the district surrounding Singara and Nisibis. These successes were marked by the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth salutations as imperator, and by the end of the year another new province with Nisibis as its capital was formed under the name of Mesopotamia," while Trajan now assumed the title of Parthicus. The winter of this year was spent at Antioch, where during Trajan's stay a terrific earthquake took place, while the martyrdom of Ignatius is most probably to be assigned to the same time. The next year (116) the Tigris was crossed and Adiabene conquered, after which Trajan marched down the right bank of the Tigris to Babylon. Meanwhile ships had been built in the neighbourhood of Nisibis, and conveyed across country to the Tigris, which was crossed for the second time in the late summer, and Ctesiphon the Parthian capital was taken the same year. A third province was added under the name of Assyria, and the formidable Parthian empire seemed to be crushed.

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