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CHAPTER VII

From the Beginning of the Christian Era, to the Appearance of Mahomet. In the year 67 A. D. the memorable war with the Jews commenced, which, though it lasted but three years, ended in the total destruction of their city and nation, after enduring all the horrors of war carried on by each party with sanguinary fury. About ten years after this event the real conquest of Britain was effected by Agricola. The empire had now reached its utmost limits; and, under the just and upright Trajan, Rome had reason to rejoice, not merely in her extent of territory, but in the equitable administration of her laws, and in the virtue and wisdom of her senators. Adrian succeeded Trajan, and followed in his footsteps. The decline of imperial Rome was, however, fast approaching; for although Antoninus, surnamed the Pious, obtained the regard of his subjects and the respect of foreigners, living in peace during the whole of his reign; yet scarcely had Marcus Aurelius Antoninus succeeded to the throne, before the Germanic tribes united, as in the time of Marius, and poured in their warlike hordes upon Italy; and, while they grew more and more formidable, famine and pestilence ravaged many of the Roman provinces: A. D. 180.