*An era of internal peace.* With Nerva begins a period in the history of the principate that is characterized by amicable relations between the princeps and the Senate. The basis of this concord was the agreement by the successive emperors to acknowledge the freedom of senators from the imperial jurisdiction. There was no longer any question of an active participation by the Senate as a whole in the administration, nevertheless it continued to exercise its influence through the official posts reserved for senators. In addition to the establishment of these harmonious relations, the peaceful succession of a number of able rulers who were designated by adoption and association in the powers of the principate has caused this epoch to be regarded as one of the happiest periods of Roman history. Nerva died in January, 98 A. D., after a rule of less than two years, and was succeeded by Trajan, who assumed office at Cologne. *Trajan’s character and policy.* Trajan was a native of the Roman colony of Italica in Spain, and the first provincial to attain the principate. His accession is evidence not only for the degree of romanization in the Spanish provinces but also for the decline of the dominance of the strictly Italian element within the empire and the transformation of the Italian into an imperial nobility of wealth and office. The new princeps was above all things a soldier, and the desire for military glory was his chief weakness. At the same time he was an energetic and conscientious administrator, and showed a personal interest in the welfare of Italy and the provinces, as we see from his correspondence with the younger Pliny, governor of Bithynia in 111–113 A. D. He respected the rights of the Senate and repeated Nerva’s oath not to condemn one of that body to death.