Part 31 (1/2)

REIGN OF HADRIAN (A.D. 117-138).--Hadrian, a kinsman of Trajan, succeeded him in the imperial office. He possessed great ability, and displayed admirable moderation and prudence in the administration of the government.

He gave up the territory conquered by Trajan in the East, and made the Euphrates once more the boundary of the empire in that quarter. He also broke down the bridge that Trajan had built over the Danube, and made that stream the real frontier line, notwithstanding the Roman garrisons were still maintained in Dacia. Hadrian saw plainly that Rome could not safely extend any more widely the frontiers of the empire. Indeed, so active and threatening were the enemies of the empire in the East, and so daring and numerous had now become its barbarian a.s.sailants of the North, that there was reason for the greatest anxiety lest they should break through even the old and strong lines of the Danube and the Euphrates, and pour their devastating hordes over the provinces.

More than fifteen years of his reign were spent by Hadrian in making tours of inspection through all the different provinces of the empire. He visited Britain, and secured the Roman possessions there against the Picts and Scots by erecting a continuous wall across the island. Next he journeyed through Gaul and Spain, and then visited in different tours all the remaining countries bordering upon the Mediterranean. He ascended the Nile, and, traveller-like, carved his name upon the vocal Memnon. The cities which he visited he decorated with temples, theatres, and other monuments.

In the year 131, the Jews in Palestine, who had in a measure recovered from the blow t.i.tus had given their nation, broke out in desperate revolt, because of the planting of a Roman colony upon the almost desolate site of Jerusalem, and the placing of the statue of Jupiter in the Holy Temple.

More than half a million of Jews perished in the useless struggle, and the survivors were driven into exile--the last dispersion of the race.

The latter years of his reign Hadrian pa.s.sed at Rome. It was here that this princely builder erected his most splendid structures. Among these was the Mole, or Mausoleum, of Hadrian, an immense structure surmounted by a gilded dome, erected on the banks of the Tiber, and designed as a tomb for himself.

THE ANTONINES (A.D. 138-180).--Aurelius Antoninus, surnamed Pius, the adopted son of Hadrian, and his successor, gave the Roman empire an administration singularly pure and parental. Of him it has been said that ”he was the first, and, saving his colleague and successor Aurelius, the only one of the emperors who devoted himself to the task of government with a single view to the happiness of his people.” Throughout his long reign of twenty-three years, the empire was in a state of profound peace.

The attention of the historian is attracted by no striking events, which, as many have not failed to observe, ill.u.s.trates admirably the oft-repeated maxim, ”Happy is that people whose annals are brief.”

Antoninus, early in his reign, united with himself in the government his adopted son Marcus Aurelius, and upon the death of the former (A.D. 161) the latter succeeded quietly to his place and work. His studious habits won for him the t.i.tle of ”Philosopher.” He belonged to the school of the Stoics, and was a most thoughtful writer. His _Meditations_ breathe the tenderest sentiments of devotion and benevolence, and make the nearest approach to the spirit of Christianity of all the writings of Pagan antiquity. He established an Inst.i.tution, or Home, for orphan girls; and, finding the poorer cla.s.ses throughout Italy burdened by their taxes and greatly in arrears in paying them, he caused all the tax-claims to be heaped in the Forum and burned.

The tastes and sympathies of Aurelius would have led him to choose a life pa.s.sed in retirement and study at the capital; but hostile movements of the Parthians, and especially invasions of the barbarians along the Rhenish and Danubian frontiers, called him from his books, and forced him to spend most of the latter years of his reign in the camp. The Parthians, who had violated their treaty with Rome, were chastised by the lieutenants of the emperor, and Mesopotamia again fell under Roman authority.

This war drew after it a series of terrible calamities. The returning soldiers brought with them the Asiatic plague, which swept off vast numbers, especially in Italy, where entire cities and districts were depopulated. In the general distress and panic, the superst.i.tious people were led to believe that it was the new sect of Christians that had called down upon the nation the anger of the G.o.ds. Aurelius permitted a fearful persecution to be inst.i.tuted against them, during which the famous Christian fathers and bishops, Justin Martyr and Polycarp, suffered death.

It should be noted that the persecution of the Christians under the Pagan emperors, sprung from political rather than religious motives, and that this is why we find the names of the best emperors, as well as those of the worst, in the list of persecutors. It was believed that the welfare of the state was bound up with the careful performance of the rites of the national wors.h.i.+p; and hence, while the Roman rulers were usually very tolerant, allowing all forms of wors.h.i.+p among their subjects, still they required that men of every faith should at least recognize the Roman G.o.ds, and burn incense before their statues. This the Christians steadily refused to do. Their neglect of the service of the temple, it was believed, angered the G.o.ds, and endangered the safety of the state, bringing upon it drought, pestilence, and every disaster. This was the main reason of their persecution by the Pagan emperors.

But pestilence and persecution were both forgotten amidst the imperative calls for immediate help that now came from the North. The barbarians were pus.h.i.+ng in the Roman outposts, and pouring impetuously over the frontiers.

To the panic of the plague was added this new terror. Aurelius placed himself at the head of his legions, and hurried beyond the Alps. For many years, amidst the snows of winter and the heats of summer, he strove to beat back the a.s.sailants of the empire.

The efforts of the devoted Aurelius checked the inroads of the barbarians; but he could not subdue them, so weakened was the empire by the ravages of the pestilence, and so exhausted was the treasury from the heavy and constant drains upon it. At last his weak body gave way beneath the hards.h.i.+ps of his numerous campaigns, and he died in his camp at Vindobona (now Vienna), in the nineteenth year of his reign (A.D. 180).

The united voice of the Senate and people p.r.o.nounced him a G.o.d, and divine wors.h.i.+p was accorded to his statue. Never was Monarchy so justified of her children as in the lives and works of the Antonines. As Merivale, in dwelling upon their virtues, very justly remarks, ”the blameless career of these ill.u.s.trious princes has furnished the best excuse for Caesarism in all after-ages.”

ROMAN EMPERORS FROM AUGUSTUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS.

(From 31 B.C. to A.D. 180.)

Augustus reigns . 31 B.C. to A.D. 14 Tiberius . . . . . . A.D. 14-37 Caligula . . . . . . . . 37-41 Claudius . . . . . . . . 41-54 Nero . . . . . . . . . 54-68 Galba . . . . . . . . 68-69 Otho . . . . . . . . . 69 Vitellius . . . . . . . 69 Vespasian . . . . . . . 69-79 t.i.tus . . . . . . . . 79-81 Domitian . . . . . . . 81-96 Nerva . . . . . . . . 96-98 Trajan . . . . . . . . 98-117 Hadrian . . . . . . . 117-138 Antoninus Pius . . . . . 138-161 Marcus Aurelius . . . . 161-180 Verus a.s.sociated with Aurelius 161-169

The first eleven, in connection with Julius Caesar, are called the Twelve Caesars. The last five (excluding Verus) are known as the Five Good Emperors.

CHAPTER x.x.x.

DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST; BEGINNING OF THE GREAT GERMAN MIGRATION.

(A.D. 180-476.)

REIGN OF COMMODUS (A.D. 180-192).--Under the wise and able administration of ”the five good emperors”--Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines--the Roman empire reached its culmination in power and prosperity; and now, under the enfeebling influences of vice and corruption within, and the heavy blows of the barbarians without, it begins to decline rapidly to its fall.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COMMODUS (as Hercules).]

Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius, and the last of the Antonines, was a most unworthy successor of his ill.u.s.trious father. For three years, however, surrounded by the able generals and wise counsellors that the prudent administration of the preceding emperors had drawn to the head of affairs, Commodus ruled with fairness and lenity, when an unsuccessful conspiracy against his life seemed suddenly to kindle all the slumbering pa.s.sions of a Nero. He secured the favor of the rabble with the shows of the amphitheatre, and purchased the support of the praetorians with bribes and flatteries. Thus he was enabled for ten years to retain the throne, while perpetrating all manner of cruelties, and staining the imperial purple with the most detestable debaucheries and crimes.

Commodus had a pa.s.sion for gladiatorial combats, and attired in a lion's skin, and armed with the club of Hercules, he valiantly set upon and slew antagonists arrayed to represent mythological monsters, and armed with great sponges for rocks. The Senate, so obsequiously servile had that body become, conferred upon him the t.i.tle of the Roman Hercules, and also voted him the additional surnames of Pius and Felix, and even proposed to change the name of Rome and call it Colonia Commodiana.