Five good emperors

The term was introduced by Edward Gibbon , who wrote:

If someone had been asked during what period of world history the situation of the human race was the happiest and most flourishing, he would have had no hesitation in calling the period that elapsed from the death of Domitian until the accession to the throne of Commodus .

- “ The History of the Decline and Destruction of the Roman Empire ”

Similar thoughts can be found in Nicolo Machiavelli :

In addition, having read the history of the Roman emperors, the emperor will see how a good monarchy can be formed, for all emperors who inherited power , with the exception of Titus , were bad; those of them who gained power by adoption proved to be good; an example of this is the five emperors from Nerva to Mark; when imperial power became hereditary, it fell into decay.

- "Discussions on the first decade of Titus Libya "

In domestic politics, a reconciliation of emperors with the senate was achieved. Senators were not subjected to repression and land confiscation. The Senate was actively replenished with provincial nobility and to a large extent lost its old aristocratic traditions. The final recognition was gained by the autocratic view of imperial power.

In foreign policy, the empire has reached its maximum expansion. Under Trajan, as a result of victorious wars with the Dacians and Parthia , Dacia , Arabia , Armenia and Mesopotamia were annexed. However, Adrian already had to abandon the last two provinces and switch from offensive to defense at the borders.

The inheritance of power was provided by a bloodless path. Each emperor adopted a successor during his lifetime, who was chosen by him with the approval of the Senate and the army from among authoritative military leaders or administrators. This tradition was laid by Nerva, who faced the discontent of the army and, in order to avoid a new civil war, adopted the commander Trayan. The historian Dion Cassius wrote:

So, Trajan became Caesar, and later emperor, despite the fact that Nerva had blood relatives. However, he put the security of the state far above family ties. His decision also could not be shaken by the fact that Trajan was a native Spaniard, not a Roman or even an Italian, and that until that time no foreigner had ever dominated Rome; for he was firmly convinced that a person should be evaluated by his abilities, and not by origin ^[1] .

Marcus Aurelius violated this principle by proclaiming his co-ruler his own son, Commodus, who was unable to rule the country. With his tyrannical actions, he provoked widespread hatred and was killed in 192 . After that, Rome was plunged into a long series of wars between various claimants to the throne (see the crisis of the III century and the Soldier emperors ).

Roman historians, who clearly divided all emperors into “good” and “bad”, classified Antoninov among the good and compiled their biographies exclusively in laudatory tones. Nerve, according to Tacitus , managed to combine the unconnected - principle and freedom ^[2] . Trajan became a measure of success for the Romans, the subsequent emperors wanted to be like him. Antonin was nicknamed Pius - the Pious. And Marcus Aurelius embodied the ideal of the ruler, becoming a philosopher on the throne.

Modern scholars, agreeing with many facts, nevertheless tend to be more cautious in extolling this era, since all the information that has been preserved about it reflects the point of view of only the highest layer of Roman society.

• Dion Cassius. Epitome of the book LXVIII // Roman History : [ eng. ] .
• Pasquali, Johannes. Die Adoptivkaiser. Das römische Weltreich am Höhepunkt seiner Macht (98-180 n. Chr.). - Bochum: Projektverlag, 2011 .-- ISBN 978-3-89733-229-4 .
• Schipp, Oliver. Die Adoptivkaiser - Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pius, Mark Aurel und Lucius Verus. - Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2011 .-- ISBN 978-3-534-21724-3 .

• Five Good Emperors . - article from Encyclopædia Britannica Online . Date of treatment March 10, 2019.
• The Antonine Dynasty