Trajan’s war on the Dacians ... One contemporary chronicler boasted that the conquest yielded a half million pounds of gold and a million pounds of silver, not to mention a fertile new province.

Nerva and Trajan (ruled 96 – 98 AD, 98 – 117 AD) were not born to rule, but were chosen for the job. The results were remarkably successful. Nerva became emperor immediately after Domitian’s ...