NERVA

Vespasian and his two young sons appeared to offer the empire a long period of stability, but the dynasty lasted only one generation. Many survivors of the civil war that had preceded their peaceful sequence were still alive when Domitian was murdered on the afternoon of 18 September 96. There were fears that history might repeat itself as once again an extravagant young aesthete, who had produced no heir, was replaced by a childless patrician sexagenarian. Like Galba, M. Cocceius Nerva was said to have been targeted by the tyrant for destruction and indeed to have been in danger during the reign, despite having held high office. In fact, Nerva had been honoured in 90 with a second consulship (rare at that point in Domitian's reign), and at the time of his supposed exile from Rome, the unheroic Martial had not been afraid to celebrate his merits as a poet: only later, writing of the emperor, would he celebrate his courage and virtue ‘under a hard prince and in evil times’.

Nerva had no doubt been chosen because he was of high birth but unrelated to the Flavian dynasty and because his service to Domitian had not been notorious. He was descended from a triumviral consul and imperial jurists and related, through a maternal uncle, to Iulia, the granddaughter of Tiberius. His celebration of Divus Augustus on coins was to show his desire for continuity with the Julio-Claudians, and he was eventually buried in the Mausoleum of Augustus with those emperors.