Trajan
in full, MARCUS ULPIUS Spain, A. D. 52; the son of Trajanus, a distinguished Roman commander under Vespasian. He served against the Pardistinguished Roman commander under thians and on the Rhine, where he acadopted him and created him Cæsar in thians and on the Rhine, where he acceeded to the throne. One of his greatest was then in Germany, peaceably sucmilitary achievements was his defeat of the Dacians, and the reduction of Dacia TRAJAN to a Roman province. It is supposed that it was in commemoration of this war that he erected at Rome the column which still remains under his name. In 103 he wrote the famous epistle to Pliny, governor of Pontus and Bithynia, directing him not to search for Christians, but TRAJAN to punish them if brought before him.
For some years Trajan occupied himself with the work of administration, but in 114 he set out on an expedition against the Parthians which resulted in the reduction of Armenia to a Roman province. He is said to have been sensual in his private life, but his good qualities as a ruler were such that even 250 years after his death senators greeted a new emperor with the wish that he might be more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan. He died in Cilicia in A. D. 117, after having nominated Hadrian as his successor.