8.4

Trajan's moderation and generosity 

See Victor, De Caesaribus 13; Dio Cassius 68.6-7.

tamen: despite the considerable military achievements mentioned in the previous section.

cīvīlitāte et moderātiōne: the remainder of this chapter is a description of what it meant for an emperor to act "with citizen-like behavior and moderation."

superāvit: "surpassed," "outdid" 

Rōmae: "at Rome," locative (AG 427.3)

sē ... exhibēns: "showing himself," "behaving as"

amīcōs salūtandī causā frequentāns: "going often to his friends to visit them" in the traditional morning salutatio. salūtandī is the gerund, genitive object of causā (AG 507).

fēstōs diēs: special occasions, like weddings or other celebrations.

indiscrēta: "with no distinction of rank" (Hazzard). It was a vice of the Roman aristocracy to grade guests at dinner parties by social rank, serving better food and wine to higher status guests.

vicissim: reciprocating for the invitations he had received.

laedēns: by exiling or executing them on trumped up charges of conspiracy, as some earlier emperors had done

nihil iniūstum ad augendum fiscum agēns: his finances were prosperous, partly owing to good management, and partly from the success of certain mining operations in Dacia (Hazzard). ad augendum fiscum is a gerundive purpose clause (AG 506).

honōribus augēns: "promoting" by appointing them to prestigious and lucrative governmental posts (LS honor I.B.1)

per orbem terrārum aedificāns multa: he constructed several good roads in the provinces and Italy; among them was the road across the Pomptine Marshes. At Ostia he built a large new basin. At Rome he constructed the aqueduct called by his name, built a theater in the Campus Martius, and above all, made the Forum Traianum, with its basilicas and libraries, and his column in the center (Hazzard).

nihil nōn: the figure of litotes, affirming a thing by denying its contrary (Hazzard)

nihil nōn tranquillum et placidum agēns: one of the most famous examples was Trajan's famous letter preserved by Pliny the Younger expressing his desire to limit the scope of the execution of the Christian sect.

adeō ut: introduces a result clause (AG 537)

per senātum: "through (the efforts of) the Senate" (LS per II.B)

ignōrante Trāiānō: ablative absolute with a present active participle (AG 419)

deō proximus: "considered godlike" (Bird)

nihil nōn venerātiōnis meruit: "(there is) nothing of respect he did not earn," i.e. he earned every possible mark of respect. In 99 the Senate gave Trajan the title Pater Patriae, and starting in 103 his coins bore the legend Optimus Princeps, a phrase also used by Pliny the Younger.