Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1178

Rh 1166 TRAJANUS. TOXEUS (To^eu's), a son of Oenens and Althaea, was killed by Meleager. (Apollod. i. 8. § 1 ; Anton. Lib. 2 ; comp. Oeneus.) [L. S.] TOXO'TIUS, a senator, married Junia Fadilla, the proneptis of Antoninus, who had been previously betrothed to the younger Maximinus. Toxotius died after his praetorship, leaving some poems be- hind him. (Capitol. Maximin. Jun. 1.) Q. TRA'BEA, a Roman comic dramatist who occupies the eighth place in the canon of Volcatius Sedigitus [Sedigitus]. Varro, while he assigns the palm to Titinius and Terence in the delineation of character (^07j), classes together Trabea, Atti- lius, and Caecilius as masters in the art of touching the feelings (iraflTj). The period when he flourished is uncertain, but he has been placed by Gronovius about B. c. 1 30. No portion of his works has been preserved with the exception of half a dozen lines quoted by Cicero. (Cic. Tuscul. Quaest. iv. 31, de Fin. ii. 4, comp. ad Fam. ix. 21, where, however, the interpretation is doubtful ; Varr. L. L. lib. v. ap. Charis. p. 215, ed. Putsch. ; Bothe, Poeiarum Lata Scenxcorum Fragmenta^ vol. ii. p. 58, 8vo. Lips. 1834.) [W. R.] TRA'CHALUS, GALE'RIUS, was consul A. D. 68 with Silius Italicus, and a relation of Ga- leria Fundana, the wife of Vitellius, who protected him on the accession of her husband to the throne. Ti-achalus is frequently mentioned by his contem- porary Quintilian, as one of the most distinguished orators of his age. Tacitus takes notice of a report that Trachalus wrote the orations which the em- peror Otho delivered, but the speeches of Otho in the Histories of Tacitus (i. 37, 83) were composed by the historian and not by Trachalus. (Tac. Hist. i. 90, ii. 60 ; Quintil. vi. 3. § 78, viii. 5. § 19, x. 1. § 119, xii. 5 § 5, xii. 10. § 11 ; Spalding, ad Quintil. vi. 3. § 78 ; Bernardi, Reclierches sur Gale- rius Trachalus, in the Memoires de VTnstitut Royal de France^ vol. vii. p. 119, foil., Paris, 1824 ; Meyer, Oratorum Romanoru7n Fragmenta^ p. 592, foil., 2d ed.) TRAGISCUS {TpayiaKos), a Tarentine, as- sisted Philemenus and Nicon in betraying his na- tive city to Hannibal in B. c. 212. (Polyb. viii. 29, foil.) For details, see Nicon, No. 2. TRAJA'NUS, M. U'LPIUS, Roman em- peror A. D. 98 — 117, was born at Italica (Al- cala del Rio), near Seville, the 18th of September, A. D. 52, according to some authorities. His father, al«o named Trajanus, had attained, it is said, the dignity of consul, and been elevated to the rank of patrician ; but his name does not occur in the Fasti. The son was trained to arms, and served as tribunus militura. It appears that he was em- ployed near the Euphrates, probably about A. d. 80, when he checked the progress of the Par- thians ; and it is not unlikely that he was at this time serving under his father. He was raised to the praetorship some time before a. d. 86, and was consul in a. D. 91 with M' Acilius Glabrio. He afterwards returned to Spain, whence he was sum- moned by Domitian to command the troops in Lower Germany, and he had his head-quarters at Cologne. At the close of a. d. 97, he was adopted by the emperor Nerva, who gave him the rank of Caesar, and the names of Nerva and Germanicus, and shortly after the title of imperator, and the tribunitia potestas. His style and title after his elevation to the imperial dignity were Imperator TRAJANUS. Caesar Nerva Trajanus Augustus. He was the first emperor who was born out of Italy. Trajan was a man adapted to command. He was strong and healthy, of a majestic appearance, laborious, and inured to fatigue. Though not a man of letters, he had good sense, a knowledge of the world, and a soimd judgment. His mode of living was very simple, and in his campaigns he shared all the sufferings and privations of the sol- diers, by whom he was both loved and feared. He was a friend to justice, and he had a sincere desire for the happiness of the people. Yet it is said that he sometimes indulged in wine to excess, and during intoxication was subject to fits of passion. A strong nature, like that of Trajan, may some- times have required excitement, notwithstanding his habitual temperance. It is difficult to decide between the testimony of his panegyrist Plinius, who commends the chastity of Trajan, and the testimony of Dion Cassius, the universal calum- niator, who says that he was addicted to shameful vices. Julian, a severe judge, has not spared him on this point. Nerva died in January A. D. 98, and was suc- ceeded by Trajan, who was then at Cologne. He did not come to Rome for some months, being employed in settling the frontiers on the Rhine and the Danube. It was apparently about this time that the Chamavi and Angrivarii drove the Bructeri from their lands on the Rhine, and de- stroyed the greater part of them, the Romans being witnesses of the bloody combat, and seeing with indifference, or even pleasure, the niutmil slaughter of their enemies. In A. D. 99 Trajan did not take the consulship, though it was usual for an emperor to hold this office in the year which followed his elevation. One of the consuls of this year was C. Sosius Senecio, whom Plutarch addresses in the beginning of his life of Romulus, and in several of his moral essays. Trajan entered Rome on foot, amidst the rejoicings of the Romans, accompanied by his wife Pompeia Plotina. This lady is highly commended by Plinius the younger for her modest virtues, and her affection to Marciana, the sister of Trajan. The title of Pater Patriae was accepted by the em- peror after his arrival at Rome, and the new desig- nation of Optimus. It seems probable that his wife and sister also had the title of Augustae. It was usual for a new emperor to bestow a gift of money on each of his soldiers, and it appears from the medals that Trajan made his congiarium in this year. He also showed the same liberality to the Roman citizens, and extended it to children under eleven years of age, who had not been allowed to share in former donations of this kind. The emperor made allowances for the bringing up of the children of poor free persons at Rome, the direct object being to encourage the procreation, or rather the preservation of children, who otherwise would have been allowed to perish. " It is," says Plinius {Panegyr. c. 27), "a great inducement to bring up children, to raise them with the hope of receiving sustenance (alimenta), of receiving donations (con- giaria)." Plinius commends the emperor for being liberal out of his own means, that is, out of the imperial revenue ; but this money came either from taxes, or from the produce of lands which be- longed to the fiscus. So long as a bounty is paid for the procreation of children, the state may rest secure that it will not want citizens. This system