The Satires of Juvenal, Persius, Sulpicia, and Lucilius. Sulpicia

219 97 850 Nerva adopts Trajan. [Tacitus "Consul Suffectus."] 98 851 Death of Nerva, Jan. 25th, in his 63d year. Trajan (then at Cologne) succeeds. [Plutarch flourishes. Pliny, Præf. Ærarii Saturni.] 99 852 Trajan enters Rome. [Martial, 10th book, 2d edition. Silius Italicus still living.] 100 853 Consulship of M. Cornelius Fronto with Trajan. Sat. i. 12, "Frontonis platani, convulsaque marmora clamant Semper et assiduo ruptæ lectore columnæ." Pliny and Tacitus impeach Marius Priscus, proconsul of Africa. Fronto Catius defends him. Cf. Plin. ii. Epist. xi. The case was tried before Trajan in person. Cf. Sat. i. 47, "Et hic damnatus inani Judicio; quid enim salvis infamia nummis? Exul ab octavâ Marius bibit, et fruitur Diis iratis." And viii. 120, "Quum tenues nuper Marius discinxerit Afros." Pliny's Panegyric, in his consulship. Death of S. John. [Martial returns to Bilbilis. Twelfth book of Epigrams.] 220 101 854 First Dacian war. "Trajanus primus aut solus etiam vires Romanas trans Istrum propagavit," Victor, p. 319; perhaps alluded to, Sat. viii. 169, "Syriæque tuendis Amnibus et Rheno atque Istro." Isæus flourishes. "Magna Isæum fama præcesserat: major inventus est. Summa est facultas, copia, ubertas." Plin. ii. Epist. 3. Cf. Sat. iii. 73 (with the Scholiasts), "Sermo promptus et Isæo torrentior." 103 856 Victories in Dacia. Peace granted to Decebalus. Trajan triumphs, and takes the name of "Dacicus." (Cf. 110.) [Pliny arrives at Bithynia.] 104 857 Second Dacian war. Trajan takes the command. Hadrian serves. "Primæ legioni Minerviæ præpositus." Spartian. Hadr. 3. [Martial sends his 12th book to Rome. Vid. Ep. 18. Pliny's letter about the Christians.] 221 105 858 Stone bridge over the Danube, by which Trajan conquers the Dacians. 106 859 Death of Decebalus. Dacia becomes a Roman province. Conquest of Arabia Petræa. 2d triumph of Trajan. 107 860 Trajan's public works. Vid. Dio, lxviii. 15, τά τε ἕλη τὰ Πόντινα ὡδοποίησε λίθῳ. κ. τ. λ. Cf. iii. 307, "Armato quoties tutæ custode tenentur Et Pomptina palus et Gallinaria pinus." 110 863 This road is finished. [Plutarch's Lives.] The coins of Trajan of this year bear the words, "Germanicus, Dacicus." vi. 205, "Dacicus, et scripto radiat Germanicus auro." 112 865 Hadrian Archon at Athens. 223 113 866 The column of Trajan erected (cf. Dio, lxviii. 16), to which some think there is an allusion in the line, x. 136, "Summo tristis captivus in arcu." 114 867 Trajan's expedition to the East, against the Armenians and Parthians. He proceeds in the autumn through Athens and Seleucia to Antioch. 115 868 Earthquake at Antioch, in January or February, in which the consul, M. Vergilianus Pedo, perished. Dio, lxviii. 24, 25. In the spring Trajan marches to Armenia. Sat. vi. 411, "Nutare urbes, subsidere terram." [Martyrdom of S. Ignatius.] 116 869 Trajan enters Ctesiphon, and takes the title of "Parthicus." Sat. vi. 407, "Instantem regi Armenio Parthoque." 224 117 870 Trajan reaches Selinus in Cilicia, and dies in August, in his 63d year. Hadrian, at Antioch, succeeds, in consequence of a fictitious adoption managed by Plotina. Cf. Gibbon, vol. i. p. 130. To this there is supposed to be an allusion in Sat. i. 40, "Optima summi Nunc via processus vetulæ vesica beatæ." 118 871 Hadrian comes to Rome. This is sixty years after the consulship of Fonteius. Cf. A.D. 59. The thirteenth Satire was therefore probably written this year. l. 17, "Stupet hæc qui jam post terga reliquit Sexaginta annos, Fonteio consule natus." The common story is, that Calvinus, to whom this Satire is addressed, was three years Juvenal's senior. Probably the lines in Satire iii., from 60–113, are an interpolation at a period subsequent to the first composition of the Satire, and refer to this period. Hadrian brought with him from Antioch to Rome many foreigners of all professions. Cf. iii. 62, "Jampridem Syrus in Tiberim defluxit Orontes." Among these he particularly favored Epictetus of Hierapolis in Phrygia, Favorinus of Arelate in Gaul, and Dionysius of Miletus. To one of these Juvenal may refer in Sat. iii. 75, "Quemvis hominem se[Pg xlviii]cum attulit ad nos Grammaticus, Rhetor, Geometres, Pictor, Aliptes, Augur, Schœnobates, Medicus, Magus, omnia novit, Ad summum non Maurus erat nec Sarmata nec Thrax," et seq. Cf. Spartian. Hadrian, c. 5, and especially c. 16, where he says, "In summâ familiaritate Epictetum et Heliodorum, philosophos, et grammaticos, Rhetores, musicos, Geometras, pictores, astrologos habuit: præ cæteris eminente Favorino," where the order is rather remarkable. Dionysius of Miletus, moreover, was a disciple of Isæus (cf. A.D. 101), l. 73, "Ingenium velox audacia perdita, sermo Promptus et Isæo torrentior." Hadrian, after a four months' consulship, proceeded to Campania, and thence to Gaul, Germany, and Britain: Juvenal therefore might safely publish this in the emperor's absence. 119 872 Hadrian consul with Junius Rusticus. This is most probably the Junius mentioned Sat. xv. 27, "Nuper Consule Junio gesta." Cf. Salmas., Plin. Exercit. p. 320. 120 873 Hadrian's progress through the provinces. He builds the wall in Britain: "Compositis in Britanniâ rebus, transgressus in Galliam." Spartian. c. 10. This may be alluded to, Sat. ii. 160, 161. Cf. Sat. xv. 111. [Plutarch, æt. 74.] 225 121 874 Birth of M. Aurelius. 122 875 Hadrian at Athens. Artemidorus Capito, the physician, in great repute with Hadrian. It is not impossible that he may be alluded to under the name of "Heliodorus." Cf. Sat. vi. 373. 124 877 The eleventh Satire may perhaps be assigned to about this date. It was written when Juvenal was advanced in years. l. 203, "Nostra bibat vernum contracta cuticula solem." The excitement about the games in the circus (cf. Gibbon, chap. xl.) was as great as in the days of Domitian; and the "green" appears at this time to have been a victorious color.