What are bad things Trajan did

Trajan was a highly phrased emperor and all ancient sources had a positive view of him. He was described as just and wise and as a moral man who was always dignified. The famous theologian Thomas Aquinas discussed Trajan as an example of a virtuous pagan. Machiavelli listed Trajan as one of the five good emperors. He called them good emperors because they were benign rulers, pursued moderate policies, ruled wisely, allowed a lot of freedom and were popular. This contrasted with the more tyrannical rule of other emperors.

The famous historian Edward Gibbon wrote: ‘If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus [the emperors before and after the five good ones]. The vast extent of the Roman Empire was governed by absolute power, under the guidance of virtue and wisdom. The armies were restrained by the firm but gentle hand of five successive emperors, whose characters and authority commanded respect. The forms of the civil administration were carefully preserved by [emperors], who delighted in the image of liberty, and were pleased with considering themselves as the accountable ministers of the laws. Such princes deserved the honour of restoring the republic had the Romans of their days been capable of enjoying a rational freedom.’

A legendary episode in the life of Trajan in Cassius Dio’s biography of the emperor had been called “The Justice of Trajan.” The emperor was petitioned for justice by the mother of a murdered man. He asked her to wait until he returned from a war, but she pointed out that he might not return at all. He made time to settle her case despite all the other calls on his time. According to Cassius Dio “He did not, however, as might have been expected of a warlike man, pay any less attention to the civil administration nor did he dispense justice any the less; on the contrary, he conducted trials…” In the Divine Comedy, Dante sees the spirit of Trajan in the Heaven of Jupiter with other historical and mythological persons noted for their justice. A mural of the justice of Trajan is in the first terrace of Purgatory as a lesson to those who are purged for being proud. This popularised the legend which appears in poems and painting.

Trajan was a prolific builder. He built monuments and roads in Italy and his native Hispania. The rebuilt roads which were renamed via Traiana and via Traiana Nova. In Rome he built Trajan’s Forum and Trajan’s Column. He built the Alcantara Bridge in Spain. At the Iron gates (a gorge on the river Danube) he built a road and canal around it and Trajan’s Bridge. This bridge was one of the marvels of Roman engineering. It was 1,135 m (3,724 ft.) long, 15 m (49 ft.) wide, and 19 m (62 ft.) above the water level. It had twenty masonry pillars and arches with a span of 38 m (125 ft.). Although it was functional for only a few decades, for more than 1,000 years it was the longest arch bridge in both total and span length.