of Trajan were against the Dacians the most warlike of men, who dwelt beyond the Danube, and who, during the reign of Domitian, had infulted with impunity the Majefty of Rome". To the ftrength and fierceness of barbarians, they added a contempt for life, which was derived from a warm perfuafion of the immortality and transmigration of the foul ". Decebalus, the Dacian King, approved himself a rival not unworthy of Trajan ; nor did he despair of his own and the public fortune, till, by the confeffion of his enemies, he had exhausted every refource both of valour and policy". This memorable war, with a very short fufpenfion of hoftilities, lafted five years; and as the emperor could exert, without controul, the whole force of the state, it was terminated by an abfolute fubmiffion of the barbarians ". The new province of Dacia, which formed a fecond exception to the precept of Auguftus, was about thirteen hundred miles in circumference. Its natural boun. daries were the Niefter, the Teyfs, or Tibifcus, the Lower Danube, and the Euxine Sea. The veftiges of a military road may ftill be traced from the banks of the Danube to the neighbourhood of Bender, a place famous in modern history, and the actual frontier of the Turkish and Ruffian empires 1. СНАР. 1. of Trajan in the east. Trajan was ambitious of fame; and as long as Conquefts mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirft of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters. The praises of СНАР. I. Alexander, tranfmitted by a fucceffion of poets and hiftorians, had kindled a dangerous emulation in the mind of Trajan. Like him the Roman emperor undertook an expedition against the nations of the east, but he lamented with a figh, that his advanced age scarcely left him any hopes of equalling the renown of the son of Philip ". Yet the fuccefs of Trajan, however tranfient, was rapid and fpecious. The degenerate Parthians, broken by inteftine difcord, fled before his arms. He defcended the river Tigris in triumph, from the mountains of Armenia to the Perfian gulph. He enjoyed the honour of being the firft, as he was the laft, of the Roman generals, who ever navigated that remote fea. His fleets ravaged the coafts of Arabia; and Trajan vainly flattered himself that he was approaching towards the confines of India". Every day the aftonished fenate received the intelligence of new names and new nations, that acknowledged his fway. They were informed that the kings of Bofphorus, Colchos, Iberia, Albania, Ofrhoene, and even the Parthian monarch himself, had accepted their diadems from the hands of the emperor; that the independent tribes of the Median and Carduchian hills had implored his protection; and that the rich countries of Armenia, Mefopotamia, and Affyria, were reduced into the ftate of provinces. But the death of Trajan foon clouded the fplendid profpect; and it was justly to be dreaded, that fo many diftant nations would throw off the unaccustomed yoke, when they were no longer reftrained by the powerful hand which had impofed it. 22 I. It was an ancient tradition, that when the Ca- CHAP. pitol was founded by one of the Roman kings, Refigned by the god Terminus (who prefided over boundaries, his fucceffor and was represented according to the fashion of Hadrian. that age by a large ftone) alone, among all the inferior deities, refused to yield his place to Jupiter himfelf. A favourable inference was drawn from his obftinacy, which was interpreted by the augurs, as a fure prefage that the boundaries of the Roman power would never recede ". During many ages, the prediction, as it is ufual, contributed to its own accomplishment. But though Terminus had refifted the majesty of Jupiter, he fubmitted to the authority of the emperor Hadrian ". The refignation of all the eastern conquefts of Trajan was the first measure of his reign. He reftored to the Parthians the election of an independent Sovereign, withdrew the Roman garrifons from the provinces of Armenia, Mefopotamia, and Affyria, and, in compliance with the precept of Auguftus, once more eftablished the Euphrates as the frontier of the empire **. Cenfure, which arraigns the public actions and the private motives of princes, has ascribed to envy, a conduct, which might be attributed to the prudence and moderation of Hadrian. The various character of that emperor, capable, by turns, of the meanest and the most generous fentiments, may afford fome colour to the fufpicion. It was, however, fcarcely in his power to place the fuperiority of his predeceffor in a more confpicuous light, than by thus confeffing himself unequal to the task of defending the conquests of Trajan. 24 CHAP. The martial and ambitious fpirit of Trajan, forI. med a very fingular contraft with the moderation The restless activity of Hadrian Contraft of Hadrian and of his fucceffor. Antoninus drian and the nes. was not lefs remarkable, when compared with the gentle repofe of Antoninus Pius. The life of the former was almoft a perpetual journey; and as he poffeffed the various talents of the foldier, the statesman, and the scholar, he gratified his curiosity in the discharge of his duty. Careless of the difference of feafons and of climates, he marched on foot, and bare-headed, over the fnows of Caledonia, and the fultry plains of the Upper Egypt; nor was there a province of the empire, which, in the course of his reign, was not honoured with the presence of the monarch ". But the tranquil life of Antoninus Pius was spent in the bofom of Italy; and, during the twenty-three years that he directed the public administration, the longest -journies of that amiable prince extended no farther than from his palace in Rome, to the retirement of his Lanuvian Villa ". 25 Pacific fys. Notwithstanding this difference in their personal tem of Ha- conduct, the general fyftem of Augustus was equally two Antoni-adopted and uniformly pursued by Hadrian and by the two Antonines. They perfifted in the defign of maintaining the dignity of the empire, without attempting to enlarge its limits. By every honourable expedient they invited the friendship of the barbarians; and endeavoured to convince mankind, that the Roman power, raised above the temptation of conqueft, was actuated only by the love of order and justice. During a long period of forty three years their virtuous labours were crowned with fuccefs; and if we except a few slight hoftilities that served to exercise the legions of the frontier, the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius offer the fair prospect of universal peace ". The Roman name was revered among the most remote nations of the earth. The fierceft barbarians frequently fubmitted their differences to the arbitration of the emperor; and we are informed by a cotemporary hiftorian, that he had feen ambaffadors who were refused the honour which they came to folicit, of being admitted into the rank of fubjects 28 СНАР. I. wars of Marcus The terror of the Roman arms added weight and Defenfive dignity to the moderation of the emperors. They preserved peace by a constant preparation for war; Antoninus. and while juftice regulated their conduct, they announced to the nations on their confines, that they were as little difpofed to endure, as to offer an injury. The military ftrength, which it had been fufficient for Hadrian and the elder Antoninus to difplay, was exerted against the Parthians and the Germans by the emperor Marcus. The hoftilities of the barbarians provoked the refentment of that philofophic monarch, and, in the profecution of a just defence, Marcus and his generals obtained many fignal victories, both on the Euphrates, and on the Danube ". The military establishment of the Roman empire, which thus affured either its tranquillity or fuccefs, will now become the proper and important object of our attention. Military efta In the purer ages of the commonwealth, the ufe blishment of of arms was referved for thofe ranks of citizens the Roman emperors. |