But here Palaemon interfered with all the authority of his office. He almost pushed Claudia and the Batavian from the bedside. “Pardon me!” he said, “but this will not do. He must have perfect rest. I only wanted him to see Quintus, that will conduce to his recovery. He will shake hands with his worthy son-in-law quite soon enough.” The whole party left the room. “And we?” asked Lucilia, as Afranius came close by her side. “Patience, my queen,” said the lawyer; “the fruit that has set is sure to ripen. Leave him to get well and think quietly over the past; our hour will strike in good time.” Lucilia nodded assent, and Claudia threw her arms round her, and kissed her ardently. Quintus was the last to quit the room; his father gazed after him with a look of rapture. Then, with an upward glance, he sighed deeply, and once more closed his eyes. He was quite exhausted, and presently again dropped asleep. His excited brain still worked in fresh and vivid dreams, but now they were not demons that hovered round him, but kindly ghosts, and his fancy bore him through rose-tinted clouds to the sunny regions of freedom and peace. Kindly genii, proclaiming freedom and peace, hovered over Rome, the long-suffering city. The next day, two hours after sunrise, Marcus Cocceius Nerva made his solemn entrance, amid the enthusiastic shouts of the multitude; and before the sun had sunk on the second day, he had accomplished that grand change, which altered the course of the world’s history, and secured to the Roman Empire for many years the benefits of justice and liberty. The venerable Emperor, in order not to leave his dominions a prey to fresh political convulsions in the event of his death, solemnly adopted the Hispanian, Ulpius Trajanus, as his son, before the assembled Senate,[180] and with the consent of that illustrious body, appointed him his successor on the throne of Rome. “I know, my beloved son,” so the old Emperor addressed him, “that you will accept this gift from your venerable father, and this highest of all honors at the hands of the Roman Senate and people with a due sense of gratitude. You will not be overbearing in the possession of power, any more than you were servile when, at any moment, you might have fallen a victim to the miscarriage of a noble cause, You will not let yourself be befooled by flatterers, for you yourself have never learnt to flatter. You will acknowledge, that all your dignity and power emanate from the sovereign will of the people; that you rule only because your country bids you rule; that you are not called to be the tyrant, but the servant of the State.” So spoke Nerva, and Trajan bowed his head with a grave conviction of duty, and accepted the responsible honor.--Trajan, that noble, moderate and just man,[181] whom the verdict of posterity has, with singular unanimity, pronounced to be the best of all the emperors of Rome.