60 ADVANCEMENT OP LEARNING. [bOOK 1 



times under learned princes appears eminent in the age be- 

 tween the death of Domitian and the reign of Commodus, 

 comprehending a succession of six princes, all of them 

 learned, or singular favourers and promoters of learning. 

 And this age, for temporal respects, was the happiest and 

 most flourishing that ever the Roman state enjoyed ; as was 

 revealed to Domitian in a dream the night before he waa 

 slain,*' when he beheld a neck and head of gold growing 

 upon his shoulders ; a vision which was, in the golden times 

 succeeding this divination, fully accomplished. For his 

 successor Nerva was a learned prince, a familiar friend and 

 acquaintance of ApoUonius, who expired reciting that line 

 of Homer, — "Phoebus, with thy darts revenge our tears."'' 

 Trajan, though not learned himself, was an admirer of learn- 

 ing, a munificent patron of letters, and a founder of libraries. 

 Though the taste of his court was warlike, professors and 

 preceptors were found there in great credit and admiration. 

 Adrian was the greatest inquirer that ever lived, and an in- 

 satiable explorer into everything curious and profound. Anto- 

 ninus, possessing the patient and subtile mind of a scholastic, 

 obtained the soubriquet of Cymini Sector, or splitter of cu- 

 min-seed.^ Of the two brothers who were raised to the rank 

 of gods, Lucius Commodus was versed in a more elegant kind 

 of learning, and Marcus was surnamed the philosopher. 

 These princes excelled the rest in virtue and goodness as 

 much as they surpassed them in learning. Nerva was a mild 

 philosopher, and who, if he had done nothing else than give 

 Trajan to the world, would have sufficiently distinguished 

 himself. Trajan was most famous and renowned above 

 all the emperors for the arts both of peace and war. He 

 enlarged the bounds of empire, marked out its limits and its 

 power. He was, in addition, so great a builder, that Con- 

 stantino used to call him Parietaria, or Wallflower,^ his name 

 ])eing carved upon so many walls. Adrian strove with time 

 for the palm of duration, and repaired its decays and ruins 

 wherever the touch of its scythe had appeared. Antoninus 

 was pious in name and nature. His nature and innate good* 

 a ess gained him the reverence and affection of all classes, 



« Suetonius, Life of Domitian, c. 2S. ^ Iliad, i. 42. 



• "Unum de istia puto qui cuminum aecant." — Julian. Caea. 

 ' jSoravjf Toixov.] He called Adrian ipyaXelov ^wypa^ucojv. 



