stated, among
other things, that he would not slay nor dishonor any man of worth. This
he confirmed by oaths not merely at that time but also later.

He sent for Aelianus and the Pretorians who had mutinied against Nerva,
pretending that he was going to employ them in some way, and relieved the
world of their presence. [Sidenote: A.D. 99 (a.u. 852)] When he had
entered Rome he did much toward the administration of state affairs and to
please the excellent. To the former business he gave unusual attention,
making many grants even to Italian cities for the support of their
children, and to good citizens he did continual favors. Plotina, his wife,
on first going into the palace turned around so as to face the Scalae and
the populace, and said: "My wish is to issue hence the same sort of person
as I am now when I enter." And she so conducted herself during the entire
sovereignty as to incur no censure.

[Sidenote: A.D. 100 (a.u. 853)] [Sidenote:--6--] After spending some time
in Rome he instituted a campaign against the Dacians; for he made their
deeds the object of thought and was irritated at the amount of money they
were annually getting. He likewise saw that their power and their pride
were increasing. Decebalus, learning of his advance, was frightened, since
he well knew that formerly he had conquered not the Romans but Domitian,
whereas now he would be fighting against both Romans and Trajan as emperor.

And Trajan had a great reputation for justice, for bravery, and for simple
living. He was strong in body (being in his forty-second year when he
began to rule) [so that in every enterprise he toiled almost as much as
the rest;] and his intellectual powers were at their highest, so that he
had neither the recklessness of youth nor the sluggishness of old age. He
did not envy nor kill any one, but honored and exalted all without
exception that were men of worth, and hence he neither feared nor hated
one of them. To slanders he paid very little heed and was no slave of
anger. He refrained equally from the money of others and from unjust
murders. [Sidenote:--7--] He expended vast sums on wars and vast sums on
works of peace; and while making very many most necessary repairs on roads
and harbors and public buildings, he drained no one's blood for these
undertakings. His nature was so noble and magnanimous that even upon the
hippodrome he merely inscribed the statement that he had made it suitable
for the Roman people when