army was divided into two
parts, and the river was crossed by bridges of boats at two points, one
near Viminacium and the other opposite Orsova. The first section then
skirted the western slopes of the Carpathians through the valley of the
Theiss, and so entered the Dacian highlands; the other marched up the
valley of the Tierna (Czerna), past the baths of Mehadia, which already
existed in the Roman period, and the two divisions of the army formed a
junction at Karansebes,[88] or at Tibiscum close by, where two Roman
roads met; Trajan is known to have accompanied and led the eastern
division until the junction was completed. It is probable that in that
year (101 A.D.) no serious encounter took place between Trajan
and Decebalus, who had been occupied for some time in preparing for his
defence, and had now received reinforcements from many of the
neighbouring tribes. One of these in the name of the allied tribes sent
a threatening message to Trajan, written or scratched upon a fungus,
warning him to withdraw his troops, but he heeded neither this
admonition nor overtures of peace proceeding from Decebalus himself. His
army went into winter quarters, and early in 102 A.D. he
commenced operations by forcing the Iron Gate pass in the
Carpathians,[89] and encountered the enemy, it is said, at the same
place where Julianus had previously defeated Decebalus, namely,
Tapae.[90] Here the Dacians again met with a sanguinary defeat, but the
Romans also sustained severe losses, and Trajan secured himself in the
affections of his soldiers by tearing up his garments to make bandages
for the wounded.[91] After this reverse Decebalus sought to reopen
negotiations with Trajan, but on his refusal to receive the emissaries
of the emperor, who declined to meet him in person, hostilities were
renewed, and the war was prosecuted by the Dacians with great fierceness
and barbarity. The discipline and warlike resources of Rome, however,
maintained the ascendency for her arms. Decebalus was pressed from
stronghold to stronghold, and defeated in one encounter after another,
until at length his capital Sarmizegethusa was threatened by his
triumphant enemy. Then it was that he sued earnestly for peace, and
accepted the unfavourable conditions offered him by Trajan. He was
compelled to give up all his war material and artificers, to raze his
fortresses, to deliver up all Roman prisoners and deserters, to conclude
a treaty defensive and offensive wit