Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-02-13
TRAJANs FAME LIVES.
Holds Highest Place Above All the
Rulers of the Roman Empire.


ards of the present age, Trajan, who
lived about 100 years after Christ
is the most satisfactory of all the
Roman emperors. He seemed to
have been always sure of himself
and to have known what he was do
ing. He did not shrink from respon.
sibilty or dread the consequences of
liberty among his subjects. He ex-
ercised authority without cruelty or
harshness. He was good soldier
as well great statesman, and show
ed an earnest desire for the welfare
of his people. Trajan in one respect
was a Populist He invented the
plan, recently so popular in that
party in Kansas and Nebraska, Of
loaning money from the public treas
ury to assist farmers In the improve
ment of their lands. They paid in
terest at the rate of per cent year
and the proceeds were devoted to
- special fund to assist orphans and
other poor children in making a start
in life.
We went over to the Diocletian
museum the other morning and heard
q group of the students of the Ameri-
can School o Archaeology, under
Chicago decipher the hieroglyphics
upon tablet erected in the honor of
Trajon, on which account of his bene-
flcence in that direction is recorded
The inscription gives the amounts of
money loaned. the rate of interest
charged and other details, and in
that way we found out about his pop
uism.
'Thnra ic Of rrra TOW ,re,
preserved in monuments and inscip-
tions than Of any other emperor ex-
cept Augustus. Time has dealt
gently with him, as he deserved. On
sNme of the coins that were issued
during his reign you can see repre-
sentations of boys and girls appeal
Wing to him for protection and assist
ance. He seems to have been the
friend OF the 'friendless. He origi-
mated the idea of educating boys for
the military service and giving them
special training in the arts and
sciences of war. He started the
first military academy, and many of
his graduates served him well, be-
coming soldiers of skill and distinc-
ton. They assisted Trajan to re-
store the glory of the Roman arms
followed the most depraved. the most
cruel and murderous, the most ex-
travagant and corrupt of the emper-
ors, and in the nineteen years that
he remained upon the throne did
much to relieve the oppression they |
had imposed upon the people, to cor
rect the evils they had wrought ana
to restore the rights and privileges
IN urhi inh pnp .
is therefore only just and right that
his monuments should continue to
stand and be admired by the genera
tions that have answered to the roll
call of time century after century
since his reign, while the monuments
which other emperors erected in |
their own honor have crumbled or
have been carried away for building |
material.
A lofty marble column erected In |
honor of Trajan and carved with a |
series of pictures running around it |
from the bottom to the top gives us
a better idea of Roman life and civil |
ization in his day than any descrip-
tons we can find in books. A high |
authority on art speaks of "the de-
,~tailed, absolutely correct and author
iZtu oSChCS Oh WHltn
celebrate the excellence and bravery |
of the Roman army in all it's marches. |
labors, battles, maneuvers and sue |
cesses.'' This column stands in the
center of the business section OF |
Rome, in rectangular basin 22O |
yards in width and about 400 in |
length, which is known as the Forum |
of Trajan, and which, at one time. |
consisted of a roof supported by a
forest of marble columns. Many OF |
them. although broken, still stand in
their proper place; others lie where
they fell, and prove what the arch
aeologists have often told us. that
this forum was the finest of the many
magnificent architectural triumphs in
Rome. 1t was used as market, for
public meetings and for other pur
poses, and beneath the roof several
thousand people could assemble.
On the north side Trajan's column
5rises a shaft 147 feet high, II feet In
diameter at the bottom and 10 feet
at the top. 1t is made of eighteen
sections. and is hollow, with spiral
staircase of 1S4 steps, which enables
people to go to the top. Beneath |
this monument Trajan was buried in |
the year III, and his statue origin
ally stood upon the crest, but in 1887 |
Pope Sixtus V. took 1t down and re-
placed it by one of st. Peter. The |
spiral band of bas relief which runs ,
runs around the column is $50 feet |
long and comprises, besides animals |
machines, etc, $500 human figures. |
1t represents the triumphs of Trajan |
in war, and has always been consid-
cred one of the masterpieces of Ro-
nSn architecture and one of the mar
vels of the golden age of the world |
The forum, which is in a hollow be-
&Ween two of the hills was allowed |