t his life in the camp. He
had a tall and commanding form, was social and genial in his habits, and
inspired universal respect. No better choice could have been made. He
entered his capital without pomp, unattended by guards, distinguished only
for the dignity of his bearing, allowing free access to his person, and
paying vows to the gods of his country. His wife, Plotina, bore herself as
the spouse of a simple senator, and his sister, Marciana, exhibited a
demeanor equally commendable.

(M1092) The great external event of his reign was the war against the
Dacians, and their country was the last which the Romans subdued in
Europe. They belonged to the Thracian group of nations, and were identical
with the Getae. They inhabited the country which was bordered on the south
by the Danube and Moesia. They were engaged in frequent wars with the
Romans, and obtained a decided advantage, in the reign of Domitian, under
their king Decebalus. The honor of the empire was so far tarnished as to
pay a tribute to Dacia, but Trajan resolved to wipe away the disgrace, and
headed himself an expedition into this distant country, A.D. 101, with
eighty thousand veterans, subdued Decebalus, and added Dacia to the
provinces of the empire. He built a bridge over the Danube, on solid stone
piers, about two hundred and twenty miles below the modern Belgrade, which
was a remarkable architectural work, four thousand five hundred and
seventy feet in length. Enough treasures were secured by the conquest of
Dacia to defray the expenses of the war, and of the celebrated triumph
which commemorated his victories. At the games instituted in honor of this
conquest, eleven thousand beasts were slain, and ten thousand gladiators
fought in the Flavian Amphitheatre. The column on which his victories were
represented still remains to perpetuate his magnificence, with its two
thousand five hundred figures in bas-relief, winding in a spiral band
around it from the base to the summit--one of the most interesting relics
of antiquity. Near this column were erected the Forum Trajanum, and the
Basilica Ulpia, the former one thousand one hundred feet long, and the
basilica connected with it, surrounded with colonnades, and filled with
colossal statues. This enormous structure covered more ground than the
Flavian Amphitheatre, and was built by the celebrated Apollodorus, of
Damascus. It filled the whole space between the Capitoline and the
Quirinal. The double colonnad