Like him, the Roman emperor undertook an expedition against the nations of the East; but he lamented with a sigh, that his advanced age scarcely left him any hopes of equalling the renown of the son of Philip.

Yet the success of Trajan, however transient, was rapid and specious.

The degenerate Parthians, broken by intestine discord, fled before his arms.

He descended the River Tigris in triumph, from the mountains of Armenia to the Persian Gulf.

He enjoyed the honor of being the first, as he was the last, of the Roman generals, who ever navigated that remote sea.