Dio's Rome Volume V Part 11

When he had captured the whole country of Armenia and had won over also many of the kings, some of whom, since they submitted, he treated as his friends, and others, though disobedient, he subdued without resort to arms, [Sidenote:--23--] the senate voted to him many honors of various descriptions, and they bestowed upon him the t.i.tle of Optimus, i.e., Excellent.--He was always accustomed to trudge on foot with his entire army and he had the ordering and arrangement of the troops throughout the entire expedition, leading them sometimes in one order and sometimes in another; and he forded as many rivers as they did. Sometimes he even had his scouts circulate false reports, in order that the soldiers might at the same time practice military manoeuvres and be so impervious to alarm as to be ready for anything. After he had captured Nisibis and Batnae he was given the t.i.tle of Parthicus. But he took greater pride in the name of Optimus than in all the rest, inasmuch as it belonged rather to his character than to his arms.

[Sidenote: A.D. 115 (a.u. 868)] [Sidenote:--24--] While he was staying in Antioch, a dreadful earthquake occurred. Many cities were damaged, but Antioch was most of all unfortunate. Since Trajan was wintering there and many soldiers and many private persons had flocked thither from all directions for lawsuits, emba.s.sies, business, or sightseeing, there was no nation nor people that went unscathed. Thus in Antioch the whole world under Roman sway suffered disaster.

There were many thunderstorms to start with and portentous winds, but no one could have expected that so many evils would result from them. First came, on a sudden, a great bellowing roar, and there followed it a tremendous shock. The whole earth was up-heaved and buildings leaped into the air. Those that were lifted up collapsed and were smashed to pieces, [Sidenote: A.D. 115 (a.u. 868)] while others were beaten this way and that as if by the surges and were turned about. The wrecks were strewn a long distance over the countryside. The crash of grinding and breaking timbers, tiles, and stones together became most frightful, and an inconceivable ma.s.s of dust arose, so that no one could see any person nor say or hear anything. Many persons were hurt even outside the houses, being picked up and tossed violently about, and then with a momentum as in a fall from a cliff dashed to the earth. Some were maimed, others killed. Not a few trees leaped into the air, roots and all.

The number of those found in the houses who perished was beyond discovery.

Mult.i.tudes were destroyed by the very force of the collapse and crowds were suffocated in the debris. Those who lay with a part of their bodies buried under the stones or timbers suffered fearful agony, being able neither to live nor to find an immediate death.

[Sidenote:--25--] Nevertheless many even of these were saved, as was natural in such overwhelming numbers of people. And those outside did not all get off safe and sound. Numbers lost their legs or their shoulders and some [Lacuna] their [Lacuna] heads. Others vomited blood. One of these was Pedo the consul, and he died at once. In brief, there was no form of violent experience that those people did not undergo at that time. And as Heaven continued the earthquake for several days and nights, the people were dismayed and helpless, some crushed and peris.h.i.+ng under the weight of the buildings pressing upon them, and others dying of hunger in case it chanced that by the inclination of the timbers they were left alive in a clear s.p.a.ce, it might be in a kind of arch-shaped colonnade. When at last the trouble had subsided, some one who ventured to mount the ruins caught sight of a live woman. She was not alone but had also an infant, and had endured by feeding both herself and her child with her milk. They dug her out and resuscitated her together with her offspring, and after that they searched the other heaps but were no longer able to find in them any living creature save a child sucking at the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of its mother, who was dead. As they drew out the corpses they no longer felt any pleasure at their own escape.

So great were the disasters that had overwhelmed Antioch at this time.

Trajan made his way out through a window of the room where he was. Some being of more than human stature had approached him and led him forth, so that he survived with only a few small bruises. As the shocks extended over a number of days, he lived out of doors in the hippodrome. Casium itself, too, was so shaken that its peaks seemed to bend and break and to be falling upon the city. Other hills settled, and quant.i.ties of water not previously in existence came to light, while quant.i.ties more escaped by flowing away.

[Sidenote:--26--] Trajan about spring time proceeded into the enemy's country. Now since the region near the Tigris is barren of timbers fit for s.h.i.+pbuilding, he brought the boats which had been constructed in the forests surrounding Nisibis on wagons to the river. The vessels had been arranged in such a way that they could be taken apart and put together. He had very hard work in bridging the stream opposite Mount Carduenum, for the opposing barbarians tried to hinder him. Trajan, however, had a great abundance of both s.h.i.+ps and soldiers, and so some boats were fastened together with great speed while others lay motionless in front of them, carrying heavy infantry and archers. Still others kept making dashes this way and that, as if they intended to cross. As a result of these tactics and from their very astonishment at seeing so many s.h.i.+ps at once appear _en ma.s.se_ from a land devoid of trees the barbarians gave way and the Romans crossed over. They won possession of the whole of Adiabene.

(This is a portion of a.s.syria in the vicinity of Ninus; and Arbela and Gaugamela, close to which Alexander conquered Darius, are also in this same territory. The country has also been called Atyria in the language of the barbarians, the double S being changed to T).

[Adenystrae was a strong post to which one Sentius, a centurion, had been sent as an envoy to Mebarsapes. He was imprisoned by the latter in that place, and later, at the approach of the Romans, he made an arrangement with some of his fellow-prisoners, and with their aid escaped from his shackles, killed the commander of the garrison, and opened the gates to his countrymen.] [Sidenote:--26--] Hereupon they advanced as far as Babylon itself, being quite free from molestation, since the Parthian power had been ruined by civil conflicts and was still at this time involved in dissensions.

[Sidenote:--27--] Ca.s.sius Dio Cocceia.n.u.s in writings concerning the Latins has written that this city [i.e. Babylon] comprised a circuit of four hundred stades. (Compare also Tzetzes, Exegesis of Homer's Iliad, p. 141, 15 ff).

Here, moreover, Trajan saw the asphalt out of which the walls of Babylon had been built. When mixed with baked bricks or smooth stones this material affords so great strength as to render them stronger than rock or any kind of iron. He also looked at the opening from which issues a deadly vapor that destroys any creature living upon the earth and any winged thing that so much as inhales a breath of it. If it extended far above ground or had several vents, the place would not be inhabitable; but, as it is, this gas circles round within itself and remains stationary. Hence creatures that fly high enough above it and such as remain to one side are safe. I saw another opening like it at Hierapolis in Asia, and tested it by means of birds; I bent over it myself and myself gazed down upon the vapor. It is enclosed in a sort of a cistern and a theatre had been built over it. It destroys all living things save human beings that have been emasculated. The reason for that I can not comprehend. I relate what I have seen as I have seen it and what I have heard as I have heard it.

[Sidenote: A.D. 116 (a.u. 869)] Trajan had planned to conduct the Euphrates through a channel into the Tigris, in order that boats might be floated down by this route, affording him an opportunity to make a bridge.

But on learning that it had a much higher elevation than the Tigris, he did not do it, fearing that the water might rush pell-mell down hill and render the Euphrates unnavigable. So he conveyed the boats across by means of hauling engines at the point where the s.p.a.ce between the rivers is the least--the whole stream of the Euphrates empties into a swamp and from there somehow joins the Tigris--then crossed the Tigris and entered Ctesiphon. Having taken possession of this town he was saluted as imperator and established his right to the t.i.tle of Parthicus. Various honors were voted him by the senate, among others the privilege of celebrating as many triumphs as he might desire.

After his capture of Ctesiphon he felt a wish to sail down into the Red Sea. This is a part of the ocean and has been so named [Footnote: [Greek: erythra] from Erythras, who was said to have been drowned in it (as if in English we should invent a King Redd).] from some person formerly ruler there. Mesene, the island in the Tigris of which Athambelus was king, he acquired without difficulty. [And it remained loyal to Trajan, although ordered to pay tribute.] But through a storm, and the violence of the Tigris, and the backward flow from the ocean, he fell into danger. The inhabitants of the so-called palisade of Spasinus [they were subject to the dominion of Athambelus] received him kindly.

[Sidenote:--29--] Thence he came to the ocean itself, and when he had learned its nature and seen a boat sailing to India, he said: "I should certainly have crossed over to the Indi, if I were still young." He gave much thought to the Indi, and was curious about their affairs. Alexander he counted a happy man and at the same time declared that he himself had advanced farther. This was the tenor of the despatch that he forwarded to the senate, although he was unable to preserve even what territory had been subdued. On its receipt he obtained among other honors the privilege of celebrating a triumph for as many nations as he pleased. For, on account of the number of those peoples regarding which communications in writing were being constantly forwarded to them, they were unable to understand them or even to name some of them correctly. So the citizens of the capital prepared a trophy-bearing arch, besides many other decorations in his own forum, and were getting themselves in readiness to meet him some distance out when he should return. But he was destined never to reach Rome again nor to accomplish anything deserving comparison with his previous exploits, and furthermore to lose even those earlier acquisitions. For, during the time that he was sailing down the ocean and returning from there again, all his conquests were thrown into tumult and revolted. And the garrisons placed among the various peoples were in some cases driven out and in others killed.

[Sidenote:--30--] Trajan ascertained this in Babylon. [Footnote: The Tauchnitz reading, [Greek: en ploio] will not fit the context. Just below [Greek: ithous] (Bekker) has to be read for [Greek: mythous].] He had taken the side-trip there on the basis of reports, unmerited by aught that he saw (which were merely mounds and stones and ruins), and for the sake of Alexander, to whose spirit he offered sacrifice in the room where he had died. When, therefore, he ascertained it, he sent Lusius and Maximus against the rebels. The latter perished after a defeat in the field; but Lusius was generally successful, recovering Nisibis, besieging Edessa, plundering and burning. Seleucia was also captured by Erucius Clarus and Julius Alexander, lieutenants, and was burned. Trajan, in fear that the Parthians, too, might begin some revolt, decided to give them a king of their own. And when he came to Ctesiphon he called together in a great plain all the Romans and likewise all the Parthians that were there at the time. He mounted a lofty platform, and, after describing in lofty language what he had accomplished, he appointed Parthamaspates king of the Parthians and set the diadem upon his head.

[Sidenote: LXXV, 9, 6] When Volgaesus, the son of Sanatruces, confronted in battle array the followers of Severus and before coming to an actual test of strength asked and secured an armistice, Trajan sent envoys to him and granted him a portion of Armenia in return for peace.

[Sidenote:--31--] Next he came into Arabia and commenced operations against the people of Hatra, since they, too, had revolted. This city is neither large nor prosperous. The surrounding country is mostly desert and holds no water (save a small amount, poor in quality), nor timber, nor herb. It is protected by these very features, which make a siege in any form impossible, and by the Sun, to whom it is, in a way, consecrated. It was neither at this time taken by Trajan nor later by Severus, although they knocked down some parts of its wall. Trajan sent the cavalry ahead against the wall but failed in his attempt, and the attacking force was hurled back into the camp. As he was riding by, he barely missed being wounded himself, in spite of the fact that he had laid aside his imperial attire to avoid being recognized. Seeing the majestic gray head and his august countenance they suspected him to be the man he was, shot at him, and killed a cavalryman in his escort. There were peals of thunder and rainbow tints glimmered indistinctly. Flashes of lightning and spray-like storms, hail and thunderbolts fell upon the Romans as often as they made a.s.saults. And whenever they ate a meal, flies settled on the food and drink causing universal discomfort. Thus Trajan left the place and not long after began to fail in health.

[Sidenote:--32--] Meanwhile the Jews in the region of Cyrene had put one Andreas at their head and were destroying both the Romans and the Greeks.

They would cook their flesh, make belts for themselves of their entrails, anoint themselves with their blood, and wear their skins for clothing.

Many they sawed in two, from the head downwards. Others they would give to wild beasts and force still others to fight as gladiators. In all, consequently, two hundred and twenty thousand perished. In Egypt, also, they performed many similar deeds, and in Cyprus under the leaders.h.i.+p of Artemio. There, likewise, two hundred and forty thousand perished. For this reason no Jew may set foot in that land, but even if one of them is driven upon the island by force of the wind, he is put to death. Various persons took part in subduing these Jews, one being Lusius, who was sent by Trajan.

[Lusius Quietus was a Moor, himself a leader of the Moors, and had belonged to [Footnote: Some puzzling corruption in the MS.]

a troop in the cavalry. Condemned for base conduct he was temporarily relieved of his command and dishonored. [Footnote: Probably in the days of Domitian.] But later, when the Dacian war came on and the army stood in need of the Moorish alliance, he came to it of his own accord and gave great exhibitions of prowess. For this he was honored, and in the second war performed far greater and more numerous exploits. Finally, he advanced so far in bravery and good fortune during this war which we are considering that he was enrolled among the ex-praetors, became consul, and governed Palestine. To this chiefly was due the jealousy and hatred felt for him, and his destruction.] Now when Trajan had invaded the hostile territory, the satraps and kings of that region approached him with gifts.

One of these gifts was a horse taught to do obeisance. It would kneel with its front legs and place its head beneath the feet of whoever stood near.

[Sidenote: A.D. 117 (a.u. 870)] [Sidenote:--33--] Now Trajan was preparing to make a new expedition into Mesopotamia. Finding himself, however, held fast by the clutches of the disease, he started to sail to Italy himself and left behind Publius Aelius Hadrian with the army in Syria. So the Romans, who had conquered Armenia, most of Mesopotamia, and the Parthians, had labored in vain and had vainly undergone danger. The Parthians disdained Parthamaspates and began to have kings according to their original custom. Trajan suspected that his falling sick was due to the administration of poison. Some declare it was because his blood, which annually descended into the lower part of his body, was kept from flowing.

He had also become paralyzed, so that part of his body was disabled, and his general diathesis was dropsical. And on coming to Selinus in Cilicia, which we also call Traianoupolis, he suddenly expired after a reign of nineteen years, six months, and fifteen days.

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY 69

Hadrian without being adopted succeeds, through the favor of Plotina (chapters 1, 2).

About the a.s.sa.s.sinations authorized by Hadrian: about his varied learning and jealousies (chapters 3, 4).

His virtues, particularly affability and generosity: old arrears of debt forgiven (chapters 5, 8).

Travels: discipline of the army reformed: interest in hunting (chapters 9, 10).

How he honored Antinous with various marks of remembrance (chapter 11).

Uprising of Jews on account of the founding of Capitolina: Bithynia recovered (chapters 12-14).

The Albanians are held in check: Pharasmanes the Iberian is honored (chapter 15).

The Temple of Jupiter Olympius and the Panellenium are consecrated (chapter 16).

Growing ill, he adopts Commodus, slays Servia.n.u.s: the distinguished services of Turbo, Fronto, Similis (chapters 17-19).

On the death of Commodus he adopts Antoninus, the latter adopting at the same time Marcus and Verus (chapters 20, 21).

How Hadrian departed this life (chapters 22, 23).

DURATION OF TIME.

Quinctius Niger, Vipsanius Ap.r.o.nia.n.u.s. (A.D. 117 = a.u. 870 = First of Hadrian, from Aug. 11th).

Hadria.n.u.s Aug. (II), Claudius Fuseus Salinator. (A.D. 118 = a.u. 871 = Second of Hadrian).

Hadria.n.u.s Aug. (III), Q. Iunius Rusticus. (A.D. 119 = a.u. 872 = Third of Hadrian).

L. Catilius Severus, T. Aurelius Fulvus. (A.D. 120 = a.u. 873 = Fourth of Hadrian).

L. Annius Verus, Aur. Augurinus. (A.D. 121 = a.u. 874 = Fifth of Hadrian).

Acilius Aviola, Corellius Pansa. (A.D. 122 = a.u. 875 = Sixth of Hadrian).

Q. Arrius Paetinus, C. Ventidius Ap.r.o.nia.n.u.s. (A.D. 123 = a.u. 876 = Seventh of Hadrian).

Manius Acilius Glabrio, C. Bellicius Torquatus. (A.D. 124 = a.u. 877 = Eighth of Hadrian).

P. Corn. Scipio Asiaticus (II), Q. Vettius Aquilinus. (A.D. 125 = a.u. 878 = Ninth of Hadrian).

Annius Verus (III), L. Varius Ambibulus. (A.D. 126 = a.u. 879 = Tenth of Hadrian).

Gallicia.n.u.s, Caelius t.i.tia.n.u.s. (A.D. 127 = a.u. 880 = Eleventh of Hadrian).

L. Nonius Asprenas Torquatus (II), M. Annius Libo. (A.D. 128 = a.u. 881 = Twelfth of Hadrian).