criptions should be erased, his name struck out of the registers of
fame, and his funeral obsequies omitted. 2. The people, who now
took but little part in the affairs of government, looked on his death
with indifference; the soldiers alone, whom he had loaded with
favours, and enriched by largesses, sincerely regretted their
benefactor.

3. The senate, therefore, resolved to provide a successor before the
army could have an opportunity of taking the appointment upon itself,
and Cocce'ius Ner'va was chosen to the empire the same day on which
the tyrant was slain. 4. He is said to have been of an illustrious
family in Spain, and above sixty-five years old when he was called to
the throne, an elevation which he owed solely to his virtues,
moderation, respect to the laws, and the blameless tenor of his life.

5. The people, long accustomed to tyranny, regarded Nerva's gentle
reign with rapture, and even gave to his imbecility (for his humanity
was carried too far for justice) the name of benevolence. 6. Upon
coming to the throne he solemnly swore, that no senator of Rome should
be put to death by his command during his reign, though guilty of the
most heinous crimes. 7. This oath he so religiously observed, that
when two senators had conspired his death, he used no kind of severity
against them; but, sending for them to let them see he was not
ignorant of their designs, he carried them with him to the public
theatre; there presenting each a dagger, he desired them to strike,
assuring them that he should make no resistance. 8. He had so little
regard for money, that when one of his subjects found a large
treasure, and wrote to the emperor for instructions how to dispose of
it, he received for answer, that he might use it; the finder however
replying, that it was a fortune too large for a private person to use,
Nerva, admiring his honesty, wrote him word that then he might abuse
it.[2]

9. A sovereign of such generosity and mildness was not, however,
without his enemies. Vigil'ius Ru'fus, who had opposed his accession,
was not only pardoned, but made his colleague in the consulship.
Calpur'nius Cras'sus also, with some others, formed a conspiracy to
destroy him; but Nerva was satisfied with banishing those who were
culpable, though the senate were for inflicting more rigorous
punishments. 10. But the most dangerous insurrection was that of
the praetorian bands, who, headed by Caspa'rius Olia'nus, insisted upon
revenging