severe earthquake, which shook that city as well
as all Syria. He himself escaped with difficulty from a falling house.
In the spring, at the head of his legions, he overran Armenia and formed
it into a province. He next built a bridge across the Tigris, resembling
that upon the Danube, and led his army into Assyria, a country never yet
visited by a Roman general. He took Babylon and Ctesiphon, the capital
of the Parthian kingdom, and, sailing down the Tigris, passed through
the Persian Gulf, and annexed a large portion of Arabia Felix to his
empire. The Jews, too, about this time revolted, but were subdued,
after a brave resistance, and treated with great severity. His Eastern
conquests, however, proved by no means secure, and his new subjects
revolted as soon as his armies were gone. In A.D. 117 Trajan entered
Southern Arabia to complete the subjection of that country, when he was
seized with a dropsy and forced to return to Rome. He did not reach that
city, but died, August 9th, A.D. 117, at Selinus, in Cilicia. His ashes
were carried to Rome, and placed under the magnificent column which
recorded his Dacian victories.

During Trajan's reign, the empire, already too extensive, was made more
unwieldy by his various conquests. He was evidently ambitious of the
fame of a conqueror, and possessed many of the qualities of an able
general. He was also a skillful ruler of his immense dominions, leaving
no portion unprotected by his vigilance. The only stain upon his fame is
his persecution of the Christians, whom he continued to treat with
severity even when convinced of their perfect innocence.

After the conclusion of the Dacian war he celebrated games and
spectacles, which are said to have lasted through four months, and in
which ten thousand gladiators fought and suffered for the entertainment
of the people--a proof that the Romans were yet, in some respects,
barbarians. Trajan, however, forbade the performance of indecent
pantomimes. Trajan's bridge across the Danube is described by Dion
Cassius as of greater importance than any of his other works. He
designed it to form an easy access to his Dacian province. It was formed
of twenty stone piers, distant about 170 feet from each other, and sixty
feet wide: they were probably connected by arches of wood. Trajan also
began to make roads across the Pontine Marshes, and founded several
public libraries. Pliny the younger, who lived during this reign, was
the most eminent l