Aurelius Victor in Epitome.] [Footnote 18: See a Memoir of M.d'Anville, on the Province of Dacia, in the Academie des Inscriptions, tom.xxviii.p.

444--468.] Trajan was ambitious of fame; and as long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters.

The praises of Alexander, transmitted by a succession of poets and historians, had kindled a dangerous emulation in the mind of Trajan.

Like him, the Roman emperor undertook an expedition against the nations of the East; but he lamented with a sigh, that his advanced age scarcely left him any hopes of equalling the renown of the son of Philip.

[19] Yet the success of Trajan, however transient, was rapid and specious.