arms. He descended the River Tigris in triumph,
from the mountains of Armenia to the Persian Gulf. He enjoyed the honor
of being the first, as he was the last, of the Roman generals, who ever
navigated that remote sea. His fleets ravaged the coast of Arabia; and
Trajan vainly flattered himself that he was approaching towards the
confines of India. [20] Every day the astonished senate received the
intelligence of new names and new nations, that acknowledged his
sway. They were informed that the kings of Bosphorus, Colchos, Iberia,
Albania, Osrhoene, and even the Parthian monarch himself, had accepted
their diadems from the hands of the emperor; that the independent tribes
of the Median and Carduchian hills had implored his protection; and that
the rich countries of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, were reduced
into the state of provinces. [21] But the death of Trajan soon clouded
the splendid prospect; and it was justly to be dreaded, that so many
distant nations would throw off the unaccustomed yoke, when they were no
longer restrained by the powerful hand which had imposed it.

[Footnote 19: Trajan's sentiments are represented in a very just and
lively manner in the Caesars of Julian.]

[Footnote 20: Eutropius and Sextus Rufus have endeavored to perpetuate
the illusion. See a very sensible dissertation of M. Freret in the
Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxi. p. 55.]

[Footnote 21: Dion Cassius, l. lxviii.; and the Abbreviators.]

Chapter I: The Extent Of The Empire In The Age Of The Antonines.--Part II.

It was an ancient tradition, that when the Capitol was founded by one of
the Roman kings, the god Terminus (who presided over boundaries, and
was represented, according to the fashion of that age, by a large stone)
alone, among all the inferior deities, refused to yield his place to
Jupiter himself. A favorable inference was drawn from his obstinacy,
which was interpreted by the augurs as a sure presage that the
boundaries of the Roman power would never recede. [22] During many ages,
the prediction, as it is usual, contributed to its own accomplishment.
But though Terminus had resisted the Majesty of Jupiter, he submitted
to the authority of the emperor Hadrian. [23] The resignation of all
the eastern conquests of Trajan was the first measure of his reign.
He restored to the Parthians the election of an independent sovereign;
withdrew the Roman garrisons from the provinces of Armenia, Mesopotamia,
and Assyr