Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/126

 ii 4 THE ROMAN DOMINION never again possessed a National habitation. Vespasian was followed by his two sons Titus and Domitian in succession. Titus in his brief reign of two years won popularity by his lavish gener- osity, but Domitian developed into a cruel tyrant. With his murder ended the Flavian dynasty. The empire had now been in existence for about a century and a quarter. Now for nearly a century ruled the five good The good emperors. They were not the choice of the legions, Emperors, but of the Senate ; nor were they Italians. The 96-180 ad. £ rstj N ervaj was f a Cretan family. He was already an old man, and in himself he had neither the vigour nor the reputation needed to make his position a strong one. But he at once took the shrewd step of adopting as his heir the great general Trajan, who held the command in the provinces on the Rhine. Trajan's great abilities and high character were well known. In view of his inevitable succession, the strength of Nerva was the strength of Trajan. But little more than a year elapsed before Nerva died, and Trajan reigned in his stead. Trajan was of Spanish origin, but he was a representative of the best type of Roman. With high abilities and reputation as . a soldier, with great ambition to extend the empire of which he was the head, he was also a man of unusual personal virtue, with a resolute determination to do justice and maintain law. Trajan extended the empire across the Danube where he created the new frontier province of Dacia. His last years were spent in an unfortunate attempt to carry the arms of Rome beyond the Euphrates into the Parthian dominion. He did indeed set up a new province, but he died without making his conquest effective. He was succeeded without demur by his kinsman and lieutenant Hadrian, who wisely declined to retain this latest addition to an empire already sufficiently large, and also again withdrew the Roman legions behind the Danube; though not until he had demon- strated to the insurgent tribes of the Dacians that Rome had the power to smite them though she had not the inclination to expend her energies in governing them. Hadrian was especially distinguished by the fact that during his reign he succeeded in