and thrifty, and was notable as an era of great public works and magnificent buildings (§ 521). He and his two successors are known as the

Flavian emperors.

The anarchy of the year 69 had led to revolts in Gaul and in Judea. These were both put down promptly. Rebellious Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed by Titus, son of the emperor. The Jews made a frenzied resistance, and when the walls were finally stormed, many of them slew their women and children and died in the flames. More than a million Jews are said to have perished in the siege and the massacre that followed.1 The miserable remnant for the most part were sold into slavery (§ 56). 484. Titus, 79-81.- Titus had been associated in the government with his father. His kindness and indulgence toward all classes made him the most popular of all the emperors. Once at supper, not able to remember that he had made any one happy during the day, he is said to have exclaimed, "I have lost a day !"

Puteoli

Naples

Herculaneum

BAY O F

NAPLES

Mt.Vesuvius

Pompeii

Surrentum

The most famous event of this brief reign is the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum.2 The volcano Vesuvius was believed extinct, and its slopes were covered with villas and vineyards. With little warning it belched forth in terrible eruption, burying two cities and many villages in ashes and volcanic mud. In the eighteenth century, by the chance digging of a well, the site of Pompeii, the largest of the two cities, was discovered, and in recent years it has been excavated, disclosing the streets, houses, shops, temples, baths, theaters, the dress, the ornaments, and the utensils of daily life, of the men of eighteen hundred years ago, - all preserved by their volcanic covering.

CAPRI

VICINITY OF THE BAY OF NAPLES.

485. Domitian, 81-96 A.D.

Titus was followed by his brother Domitian, a strong, stern ruler. His general Agricola completed the conquest of

1 These figures of the Jewish historian Josephus are probably a great exaggeration. No such number of people could have dwelt within the walls of the city.

2 Special report: the destruction of Pompeii. Read Bulwer's novel, The Last Days of Pompeii. Material may be found in Boissier's Rome and Pompeii, Mau's Pompeii, or Dyer's Pompeii.

Britain to the highlands of Caledonia (Scotland). The southern part of the island was now to enjoy a long peace. Roman roads were built; camps grew into rich cities; merchants thronged to them; the country was dotted with beautiful villas. Britain became a Roman province with Roman civilization. To protect the southern districts against the inroads of the unconquered highlanders, Agricola built a line of fortresses from the Forth to the Clyde.

On the continent, a similar, more important wall was begun, to defend the open frontier between the Rhine and the Danube. At home Domitian tried to reduce the power of the Senate. In consequence the nobles conspired against him. He put down their plots with cruelty, earning from their sympathizers the name of tyrant. Finally he was assassinated by members of his household. In this reign took place the second persecution of the Christians.

C. THE ANTONINE CAESARS.

486. Nerva (96-98), the First of the "Five Good Emperors.” The Senate had lost power since the time of Augustus. The death of Domitian marks something of a revolution in its favor. It chose the next ruler from its own number; and that emperor with his four successors governed in harmony with it. These princes are known as the five good emperors. The first of the five was Nerca, an aged senator of Spanish descent, who died after a kindly rule of sixteen months.

487. Trajan, the next emperor (98-117 A.D.), was the adopted son of Nerva. He was a Spaniard by birth and a great general. Once more the boundaries of the empire were advanced, though with doubtful wisdom ($ 509). Trajan conquered Dacia, a vast district north of the Danube, and then attacked the Parthians in Asia. That power was humbled, and new provinces were added beyond the Euphrates. These victories mark the greatest extent of the Roman empire.

Trajan's reign was the most famous in Roman history for the construction of roads and other useful public works throughout the provinces. Despite his wars, his rule was humane as well as

1 Special report.

just. By loans from the treasury, he encouraged the cities of Italy to care for and educate many thousands of poor children.1 A slight persecution of Christians took place under this emperor.

488. Hadrian, a Spanish kinsman of Trajan, followed him upon the throne (117-138 A.D.). He was a wise and prudent man, and his rule was one of general reorganization. He reformed the army and strengthened its discipline, and at the same time he looked to the fortification of the exposed frontiers.

DETAIL FROM TRAJAN'S COLUMN: Trajan sacrificing a bull at the
bridge over the Danube just built by his soldiers. Cf. § 521.

His most famous work of this kind was the wall (Hadrian's Wall) in Britain, from the Solway to the Tyne, to replace the less satisfactory wall of Agricola, farther to the north. He wisely abandoned most of Trajan's conquests in Asia, and withdrew the frontier there to its old line of the Euphrates.

Hadrian spent most of his twenty years' rule in inspecting the provinces; and everywhere memorials of his stay sprang up in splendid buildings and useful public works. He gave a more definite form to the civil service (the great body of officers who carried on the business of the government), and

in particular he organized a Privy Council, a body of great ministers to assist and advise the emperor (§ 497, note).

489. Antoninus Pius, 138-161 A.D., who had been adopted by Hadrian, was his successor. His reign was singularly peaceful and uneventful, and might well have given rise to the saying, "Happy the people whose annals are meager." Antoninus himself was a pure and gentle spirit. The chief feature of his rule was the legislation to prevent cruelty to slaves and to lessen suffering.

On the evening of his death, when asked by the officer of the guard for the watch word for the night, he gave the word Equanimity, which might have served as the motto of his life. His son wrote of him: "He was ever prudent and temperate. He looked to his duty, and not to the opinion. There was in his life nothing harsh, nothing

of men.

...

excessive, nothing overdone."

490. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, 161-180 A.D. Antoninus, Pius was followed by his nephew, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, whom he had adopted as a son. Marcus Aurelius was a philosopher and student. He belonged to the Stoic school (§ 238), but in him that stern philosophy, without losing its lofty tone, was softened by a gracious gentleness. His Thoughts (§ 536) is one of the world's noblest books, deeply religious, and closer to the spirit of Christ than any other writing of the pagan world.

The tastes of Aurelius made him wish to continue in his father's footsteps, but he had fallen upon harsher times. Moved by some great impulse, the barbarians renewed their attacks upon the Danube, the Rhine, and Euphrates. Marcus and his lieutenants beat them back successfully, but at the cost of almost incessant war; and the gentle philosopher lived and wrote and died in camp, on the frontiers. A great Asiatic plague, too, swept over the empire, with terrible loss of life, demoralizing society. This plague, regarded as a visitation. from offended gods, roused the populace in many parts of the empire against the unpopular sect of Christians, who refused

to worship the gods of Rome; and the reign of the kindly Aurelius was marked by a cruel persecution.

Bury writes: "To come to the aid of the weak, to mitigate the lot of slaves, to facilitate manumission, to protect wards, were the objects of Marcus as of his predecessor." Says Merivale, "The blameless career of these illustrious princes has furnished the best excuse for Caesarism in all after ages."

491. Commodus, 180-192 A.D. - The "five good emperors" end with Marcus Aurelius. His son, Commodus, was an infamous wretch who repeated the crimes and follies of the worst of his predecessors. He was finally murdered by his officers.

D. SUMMARY, 31 B.C.-192 A.D.

492. General Character of the Government. Thus this first long period of two hundred and twenty-four years was an age of settled government and regular succession, except for two or three slight disturbances and for the disorders of the one terrible year 69, at the close of Nero's reign. That brief anarchy subdivides the period into nearly equal parts. The Julian emperors (Romans and related to the great Julius) covered just a century. After the three Flavians (Italians) came the six Antonines, who also covered nearly a hundred years. They were provincials. The majority of the fourteen rulers were good men. Nearly all were good rulers. The few tyrants had short reigns after their evil qualities began to show.

II. A CENTURY OF DISPUTED SUCCESSION BETWEEN

MILITARY ADVENTURERS.

493. The Period of "Barrack Emperors," 193–284 A.D. - The misrule of Commodus had again left the throne the sport of the soldiery. There followed ninety years of twenty-seven "barrack emperors," set up by the praetorians or the legions, and engaged in frequent civil war. All but four of the twentyseven emperors were slain in some revolt; and, of these four, two fell in battle against barbarian invaders.