![The Historians' History of the World 06 [The Early Roman Empire] - Читать Любимую Русскую Полную Книгу 👉 Read-E-Book.com](/uploads/posts/books/4/4/1/0/the-historians-history-of-the-world-06-the-early-roman-empire-download.jpg)
The Historians' History of the World 06 [The Early Roman Empire]
- Автор: Gutenberg
- Год: 1905
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: История
Электронная книга - «The Historians' History of the World 06 [The Early Roman Empire]». Краткое содержание книги:
And, indeed, it must in fairness be admitted that the shield has another side. However unstable the form of government, there is something in material prosperity which up to a certain stage, makes for intellectual eminence as well. And so in this first century of the Roman Empire there was no dearth of great men. The golden age of literature was the time of Augustus; the silver age was the time of his immediate successors. The poets and philosophers have left us such names as Valerius Maximus, Asinius Pollio, Seneca, Lucan, Valerius Flaccus, Martial, Quintilian, and Statius. History and science were never more fully represented than in the day of Paterculus, Mela, Quintus Curtius, Florus, Pliny, Josephus, Suetonius, and Tacitus. A time which produced such men as these was not wholly bad. Unfortunately no future century of Roman history will be able to show us such another list.a
FOOTNOTES
[19] Dion relates this incident with a little variation. According to him, the German soldier said, “I will give you the best assistance in my power;” and thereupon he stabbed Vitellius, and despatched himself. Dio, lib. LXV.
[20] [See Volume II, Ch. 14.]
[21] Vespasian and his two sons, Titus and Domitian.
[22] [All the gossip about the avarice of Vespasian seems to have resulted (1) from his increased taxation, and (2) from his economy. Such examples of humour as those here given were distorted into proofs of avarice.]
[23] [Domitian is called “bad” partly because he opposed the senate.]
[24] [Or rather the improvement, though actual, was not at once manifest.]
[25] [The real reasons were probably (1) that he was a senator, and (2) that his advanced age gave the ambitious an opportunity to intrigue for the throne.]
[26] [Importance attached primarily to the suffrage of the prætorian guards, who were stationed at or near Rome. The Roman populace itself had also to be considered. The legions stationed at a distance might support the prætorians, or might, on the other hand, bring forward their own candidates, as we have seen.]
[27] [A most efficient protector, securing peace and good government. But the submissive peoples lost all national and military spirit, so that they were indisposed to protect themselves after the protection of the empire was withdrawn.]
CHAPTER XXXVI. THE FIVE GOOD EMPERORS: NERVA TO MARCUS AURELIUS (96-180 A.D.)
Until philosophers are kings, and the princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, cities will never cease from ill—no, nor the human race, as I believe—and then only will our state have a possibility of life, and see the light of day. The truth is, that the state in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern is best and most quietly governed, and the state in which they are most willing is the worst.—Plato.
Nerva (M. Cocceius Nerva), 96-98 A.D.
[96-98 A.D.]
The new emperor, who reigned less than two years (96-98), distinguished himself as much by his mild and clement spirit, as his predecessor had done by the opposite temper. He made it his principal task to concentrate the whole government in the hands of the senate. He could not accomplish this because it was necessary that the ruler should combine the qualities of a capable and dreaded general, and Nerva’s reign shows how imperative it was for the ruler of the empire to be a soldier and leader. Nerva himself was only too soon convinced of the fact. The prætorians and the Roman populace, dissatisfied with the government of an old and serious-minded man, provoked disturbances throughout the whole of the first year; they were specially irritated because Nerva, in order to recoup the revenue, restricted the public games and sold the costly vessels and collections which Domitian’s love of splendour had induced him to make.
Nerva soon saw that he was menaced with Galba’s fate, that he was defied and his office held in contempt. He therefore determined, like Galba, to adopt an energetic man who stood high in public esteem as co-regent, and was far happier in his choice than Galba had been. When anarchy had reached its zenith in the capital, the emperor surprised the Roman people by naming a successor, chosen not from the senate, but from the army, and one who possessed the love of the soldiers in the highest degree. Ulpius Trajan, on whom his choice fell, was then at the head of the legions of the lower Rhine, and had not only distinguished himself by glorious deeds in war, but in Rome had once been greeted by the people almost as a god on account of his kingly form and heroic appearance. With the nomination of Trajan the disturbances promptly ceased, and the proud prætorians submitted without a murmur when the new co-regent ordered them to join him in Germany and attached them to other legions there.f
Dion Cassius tells the story of Trajan’s accession as follows:
“Nerva, seeing that he was despised on account of his advanced age, ascended to the Capitol and said in a loud voice: ‘May the thing be fortunate and well-pleasing to the senate, and the Roman people as well as to myself! I adopt M. Ulpius Trajan.’ After which he declared him Cæsar in the senate and wrote to him with his own hand (Trajan was commanding in Germany):
“‘May the Danubians expiate my tears under the stroke of thy darts.’
“Thus Trajan became Cæsar, and afterwards emperor, though Nerva had relatives. But Nerva did not place his kindred before the good of the state; although Trajan was a Spaniard and not an Italian or even the son of an Italian, he was nevertheless adopted in spite of this, for to that day no foreigner had been emperor of the Romans; Nerva thought that it was a man’s merit, and not his country which was the important question. He died after this adoption, having reigned one year, four months, and nine days; he had lived sixty-five years, ten months, and ten days.
“Trajan before attaining to the empire had had the following dream: It seemed to him that an old man clothed in the pretexta and adorned with a crown, in the fashion in which the senate is represented, marked his seal on him with a ring on the left side of the neck and then on the right. When he had become emperor he wrote to the senate with his own hand, saying amongst other things that he would not put to death nor brand as infamous any worthy man; and these promises he confirmed with an oath both at the time and subsequently. Having sent for Ælianus and the prætorian guards who had risen against Nerva, as if with the intention of making use of them, he rid himself of them. He had no sooner reached Rome than he made several regulations for the reformation of the state and in favour of worthy men, whom he treated with so much consideration that he granted funds to the cities of Italy for the education of the children whose benefactor he became. The first time that his wife Plotina entered the palace, having reached the top of the steps and turning towards the temple, she said, ‘Such as I enter, so I would depart.’ Throughout his reign she conducted herself in such a manner that no reproach could be made against her.”g
Trajan (M. Ulpius Trajanus Crinitus), 98-117 A.D.
[98-101 A.D.]
By birth, as just noted, Trajan was a Spaniard, although his father had filled the office of consul in Rome. Not more than fifty years earlier it would have been intolerable to the Romans to obey a foreigner; but in Trajan’s time a man’s birthplace was no longer taken into consideration. So greatly had opinions and circumstances altered in consequence of the growing amalgamation of the empire into a single state.
Nerva died in the year after the appointment of his co-regent (Jan., 98). The latter, who at the time of his accession was in the prime of life, and reigned from 98-117, possessed all the qualities which the spirit of the times, the existing state of things, and the welfare of the empire required of a ruler. As a ruler he only committed a single error, he tried to extend the borders of the empire by conquest, and thus led the Romans once more along a path which they had abandoned since the time of Augustus, to the great benefit of the state. Trajan combined a lofty spirit with all the best qualities of a soldier. He had received a military training, and had spent the greater part of his previous life in camp; he was therefore lacking in conventional culture, the hardships of military service had given him health and strength, while a simple and hardy life had preserved the firmness and uprightness of his mind. By his unvarying regard for law and justice, for equality and civil virtue, for ancient custom, and for the reputation of the highest office in the state, no less than by his choice of subordinates and friends (amongst whom were two of the best writers of those days, Pliny the Younger and Tacitus) Trajan showed how little culture and learning was necessary, where such qualities existed, to enable a man worthily to take his place at the head of the empire.