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NERVA, MARCUS COCCEIUS
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See also:NERVA, See also:MARCUS See also:COCCEIUS , See also:Roman See also:emperor from the 18th of See also:September 96 to the 25th of See also:January 98, was See also:born at Narnia in See also:Umbria on the 8th of See also:November, probably in the See also:year 35. He belonged to a senatorial See also:family, which had attained considerable distinction under the emperors, his See also:father and grandfather having been well-known jurists. A single inscription (C.I.L. vi. 31,297) gives the name of his See also:mother as Sergia Plautilla, daughter of See also:Laenas. In his See also:early manhood he had been on friendly terms with See also:Nero, by whom he was decorated in 65 (See also:Tacitus,See also:Annals, xv. 72) with the triumphal insignia after the suppression of the Pisonian See also:conspiracy (further valuable See also:information as to his career is given in an inscription from Sassoferrato, (C.I.L. xi. 5743). He was See also:praetor (66) and twice See also:consul, in 71 with the emperor See also:Vespasian for colleague, and again in 90 with See also:Domitian. Towards the See also:close of the latter's reign (93) he is said to have excited suspicion and to have been banished to See also:Tarentum on a See also:charge of conspiracy (Dio See also:Cass. lxvii. 15; Philostr. Apoll. Tyan. vii. 8). On the See also:murder of Domitian in September 96 Nerva was declared emperor by the See also:people and the soldiers. He is described as a quiet, kindly, dignified See also:man, honest of purpose, but unfitted by his advanced See also:age and temperament, as well as by feeble See also:health, to See also:bear the See also:weight of See also:empire. Nevertheless, his selection, in spite of occasional exhibitions of weakness, justified the choice. His See also:accession brought a welcome See also:relief from the terrible See also:strain of the last few years. The new emperor recalled those who had been exiled by Domitian; what remained of their confiscated See also:property was restored to them, and a stop was put to the vexatious prosecutions which Domitian had encouraged. But the popular feeling demanded more than this. The countless informers of all classes who had thriven under the previous regime now found themselves swept away, to See also:borrow See also:Pliny's See also:metaphor (Pliny, Paneg. 35), by a See also:hurricane of revengeful fury, which threatened to become as dangerous in its indiscriminate ravages as the See also:system it attacked. It was finally checked by Nerva; who was stung into See also:action by the sarcastic remark of the consul See also:Titus Catius Caesius See also:Fronto that, " See also:bad as it was to have an emperor who allowed no one to do anything, it was worse to have one who allowed every one to. do everything (Dio Cass. lxviii, 1). Nerva seems to have followed the See also:custom of announcing the See also:general lines of his future policy. Domitian had been arbitrary and high-handed, and had heaped favours on the soldiery while humiliating the See also:senate; Nerva showed himself anxious to respect the traditional privileges of the senate, and such See also:maxims of constitutional See also:government as still survived. He pledged himself to put no senator to See also:death. His chosen councillors in all affairs of See also:state were senators, and the See also:hearing of claims against the fiscus was taken from the imperial procuratores and entrusted to the more impartial See also:jurisdiction of a praetor and a See also:court of judices (Dio Cass. lxviii. z; See also:Digest, i. 2, 2; Pliny, Paneg. 36). No one probably expected from Nerva a vigorous See also:administration either at See also:home or abroad, although during his reign a successful See also:campaign was carried on in See also:Pannonia against the Germans (See also:Suebi), for which he assumed the name Germanicus. He appears, however, to have set himself honestly to carry out reforms. The economical See also:condition of See also:Italy evidently excited his alarm and sympathy. The last mention of a lex agraria in Roman See also:history is connected with his name, though how far the measure was strictly speaking a See also:law is uncertain. Under the provisions of this lex, large tracts of See also:land were bought up and allotted to poor citizens. The cost was defrayed partly from the imperial See also:treasury, but partly also from Nerva's private resources, and the See also:execution of the See also:scheme was entrusted to commissioners (Dig. xlvii. 21, 3; Dio Cass. lxviii. 2; Pliny, Ep. vii. 31; Corp. Inscr. See also:Lat. vi. 1548).. He also founded or restored colonies at Verulae, Scyllacium and Sitifis in See also:Mauretania. The agrarian law was probably as See also:short-lived in its effects as preceding ones had been, but a more lasting reform was the See also:maintenance at the public cost of the See also:children of poor parents in the towns of Italy (Aur. Vict. Ep. 24), the See also:provision being presumably secured by a yearly charge on state and municipal lands. Private individuals were also encouraged to follow the imperial example. In the hands of See also:Trajan, See also:Hadrian and the Antonines, Nerva's example See also:bore See also:fruit in the institution of the alimentationes, the most genuinely charitable institution of the See also:pagan See also:world. These See also:measures Nerva supplemented by others which aimed at lightening the See also:financial burdens on the declining See also:industry of Italy. The cost of maintaining the imperial postal system (vehiculatio) was transferred to the fiscus; from the same source apparently See also:money was found for repairing the public roads and aqueducts; and lastly, the lucrative but unpopular tax of 5 % on all legacies or inheritances (vicesima hereditatum), was so readjusted as to remove the grosser abuses connected with it (Pliny, Paneg. 37). At the same See also:time Nerva did his best to reduce the overgrown See also:expenditure of the state (Pliny, Ep. ii. 1). A See also:commission was appointed to consider the best modes of See also:retrenchment, and the outlay on shows and See also:games was cut down to the lowest possible point. Nerva seems nevertheless to have soon wearied of the uncongenial task of governing, and his anxiety to be rid of it was quickened by the See also:discovery that not even his blameless See also:life and mild See also:rule protected him against intrigue and disaffection. Early, apparently, in 97 he detected a conspiracy against his life headed by L. (or C.) See also:Calpurnius See also:Crassus, but he contented himself with a hint to the conspirators that their designs were known, and with banishing Crassus to Tarentum. This See also:ill-judged lenity provoked a few months later an intolerable insult to his dignity. The praetorian See also:guards had keenly resented the murder of their See also:patron Domitian, and now, at the instigation of one of their two prefects, Casperius Aelianus, whom Nerva had retained in See also:office, they imperiously demanded the execution of Domitian's murderers, the chamber-lain See also:Parthenius and See also:Petronius See also:Secundus, Aelianus's colleague. Nerva vainly strove to See also:save, even at the See also:risk of his own life, the men who had raised him to See also:power, but the soldiers brutally murdered the unfortunate men, and forced him to propose a See also:vote of thanks for the See also:deed (Dio Cass. Epit. lxviii. 4; Aur. Vict. Ep. 24). This humiliation convinced Nerva of the See also:necessity of placing the government in stronger hands than his own. Following the precedent set by See also:Augustus, See also:Galba and Vespasian, he resolved to adopt as his colleague and destined successor, M. Ulpius Trajanus, a distinguished soldier, at the time in command of the legions on the See also:Rhine. In See also:October 97, in the See also:temple of See also:Jupiter on the Capitol, Trajan was formally adopted as his son and declared his colleague in the government of the empire (Pliny, Paneg. 8). For three months Nerva ruled jointly with Trajan (Aur. Vict. Ep. 24); but on the 25th (according to others, the 27th) of January 98 he died somewhat suddenly. He was buried in the See also:sepulchre of Augustus, and divine honours were paid him by his successor. The See also:verdict of history upon his reign is best expressed in his own words— " I have done nothing which should prevent me from laying down my power, and living in safety as a private man." The memory of Nerva is still pre-served by the ruined temple in the Via Alessandrina (il Colonacce) which marks the site of the See also:Forum begun by Domitian, but which Nerva completed and dedicated (See also:Suet. Dom. 5; Aur. Vict. 12). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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