onate,
and extravagant. He was murdered after a reign of fifteen years, during
which he earned the hatred and contempt of his subjects by his crimes
and inconsistencies.

In his foreign policy Domitian showed considerable ability. He added to
the Empire that part of Germany which corresponds to modern Baden and
Wirtemberg, and built a line of fortifications from Mentz on the Rhine
to Ratisbon on the Danube.

With him ended the line of the FLAVIAN EMPERORS, and he was also the
last of the so called TWELVE CAESARS, a name given them by the historian
Suetonius.

CHAPTER XL. THE FIVE GOOD EMPERORS.

NERVA (96-98).

NERVA was appointed by the Senate to succeed Domitian, and was the first
Emperor who did not owe his advancement to military force or influence.
He associated with himself MARCUS ULPIUS TRAJANUS, then in command of
the army on the Rhine. Nerva ruled only sixteen months; but during that
time he restored tranquillity among the people, conferring happiness and
prosperity upon every class.

TRAJAN (98-117).

Nerva was succeeded by TRAJAN, whose character has its surest guaranty
in the love and veneration of his subjects; and it is said that, long
afterwards, the highest praise that could be bestowed on a ruler was
that he was "more fortunate than Augustus, and better than Trajan."
Trajan was a soldier, and, if he lacked the refinements of a peaceful
life, he was nevertheless a wise and firm master.

He added to the Empire Dacia, the country included between the Danube
and the Theiss, the Carpathians and the Pruth. This territory became
so thoroughly Romanized that the language of its inhabitants to-day is
founded on that of their conquerors nearly eighteen centuries ago.
It was in honor of this campaign into Dacia that the famous COLUMN OF
TRAJAN, which still remains, was erected.

Trajan also annexed to the Empire Arabia Petraea, which afforded an
important route between Egypt and Syria. His invasion of Parthia,
however, resulted in no permanent advantage.

During the reign of Trajan the Roman Empire REACHED THE SUMMIT OF ITS
POWER; but the first signs of decay were beginning to be seen in the
financial distress of all Italy, and the decline of the free peasantry,
until in the next century they were reduced to a condition of practical
serfdom.

The literature of Trajan's reign was second only to that of the Augustan
age. His time has often been called the SILVER AGE. Its prose writers
were,