nt of security upon the dangerous north-eastern frontier.
Before visiting the capital he determined to put affairs in train for
the attainment of this great object. He made a thorough inspection of
the great lines of defence between the Danube and the Rhine, and
framed, and partly carried out, a vast scheme for strengthening and
securing them. The policy of opposing uncivilized tribes by the
construction of the _limes_, a raised embankment of earth or other
material, intersected here and there by fortifications, was not his
invention, but it owed in great measure its development to him. This
grand work, which would have excited the envy of Augustus, is
traceable in its main extent at the present day. Among a people of
roadmakers, Trajan was one of the greatest, and we have definite
evidence from inscriptions that some of the military roads in this
region were constructed by him. The more secure control which the
Romans now maintained over the territory within the _limes_, tended to
its rapid civilization, and the Roman influence, if not the Roman
arms, soon began to affect powerfully the regions beyond.

After his careful survey of the Rhine end of the great defensive
barrier, Trajan proceeded to consider it and plan it from the Danube.
From the age of Tiberius onward, the Romans possessed the whole
southern bank of the river from its source to the Euxine. But the
precarious tenure of their possession, had been deeply impressed on
them by the disasters and humiliations they had undergone in these
districts during the reign of Domitian. A prince had arisen among the
Dacians, Decebalus by name, worthy to be placed at the head of all the
great barbarian antagonists of Rome. Like Maroboduus, he was able to
combine the forces of tribes commonly hostile to each other, and his
military ability almost went the length of genius. After he had swept
the province of Moesia bare, he was defeated by one of Domitian's
lieutenants, but the position of affairs on the Danubio-Rhenish border
was still so threatening, that the emperor was glad to conclude a
treaty which conferred extraordinary advantages on his foe. Not only
did the Romans stipulate to pay to Decebalus an annual subsidy, which
he must have regarded as a tribute, but they agreed to supply him with
engineers and craftsmen skilled in all kinds of construction, but
particularly in the erection of fortifications and defensive works.
During the nine or ten years which had elapse