CHAPTER XXXVI

THE FIVE GOOD EMPERORS: NERVA TO MARCUS AURELIUS (96-180 A.D.) 267

Nerva (M. Cocceius Nerva), 267. Trajan (M. Ulpius Trajanus Crinitus), 268. The first Dacian war, 269. Trajan dictates terms to Decebalus, 271. The second Dacian war, 273. Oriental campaigns and death of Trajan, 274. The correspondence of Pliny and Trajan, 276. Trajan’s column, 277. Hadrian (P. Ælius Hadrianus), 280. The varied endowments of Hadrian, 281. Hadrian’s tours, 282. Hadrian as builder and administrative reformer, 284. Personal traits and last days of Hadrian, 286. Renan’s estimate of Hadrian, 288. Hadrian as patron of the arts, 289. Antoninus (Titus Aurelius Antoninus Pius), 290. Renan’s characterisation of Antoninus, 292. Marcus Aurelius (M. Ælius Aurelius Antoninus), 294. The plague and the death of Verus, 296. Border wars, 296. The revolt of Avidius, 299. An imperial tour and a triumph, 300. Last campaigns and death of Aurelius, 303. Merivale compares Aurelius and Alfred the Great, 305. Gibbon’s estimate of Marcus Aurelius and of the age of the Antonines, 305.