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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.