Editing Trajan (section)

== Sources ==
An account of the [[Trajan's Dacian Wars|Dacian Wars]], the ''[[Dacica|Commentarii de bellis Dacicis]]'', written by Trajan himself or a [[ghostwriter]] and modelled after [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]]'s ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]]'', is lost with the exception of one sentence. Only fragments remain of the ''Getica'', a book by Trajan's personal physician [[Criton of Heraclea|Titus Statilius Criton]]. The ''Parthica'', a 17-volume account of the [[Roman–Parthian Wars|Parthian Wars]] written by [[Arrian]], has met a similar fate.{{sfn|Strobel|2010|p=14}} Book{{nbsp}}68 in Greek author [[Cassius Dio]]'s ''Roman History'', which survives mostly as [[Byzantine]] abridgements and [[epitome]]s, is the main source for the political history of Trajan's rule.{{sfn|Strobel|2010|p=15}} Besides this, [[Pliny the Younger]]'s ''Panegyricus'' and [[Dio Chrysostom]]'s orations are the best surviving contemporary sources. Both are adulatory [[Dispositio#Peroratio|perorations]], typical of the High Imperial period, that describe an idealized monarch and an equally idealized view of Trajan's rule, and concern themselves more with ideology than with fact.{{sfn|Bennett|2001|pp=xii/xiii & 63}}

The 10th volume of Pliny's letters contains his correspondence with Trajan, which deals with various aspects of imperial Roman government. It is generally agreed that Pliny, being part of the emperor's inner circle, provides a unique and valuable source of information through his letters with Trajan, the only surviving correspondence between a governor and his emperor. However, it has been argued that Pliny's correspondence with Trajan is neither intimate nor candid, but rather an exchange of official mail in which Pliny's stance borders on the servile. Some authors have even proposed that much of the text was written and/or edited by Trajan's Imperial secretary, his ''[[ab epistulis]]''.<ref>W. Williams, Pliny the Younger, Correspondence with Trajan from Bithynia, Epistles X, Warminster, 1990.</ref><ref>Sherwin-White, Trajan's replies to Pliny, 1962.</ref><ref>Hooper, Finley (1979). ''Roman Realities''. [[Wayne State University Press]], {{ISBN|0-8143-1594-1}}, p. 427.</ref><ref>Noreña, Carlos F. (2007). "The Social Economy of Pliny's Correspondence with Trajan". ''American Journal of Philology'', 128, 239–277, p. 251.</ref> Given the scarcity of literary sources, discussion of Trajan and his rule in modern historiography cannot avoid speculation. Non-literary sources such as archaeology, [[epigraphy]], and [[numismatics]] are also useful for reconstructing his reign.{{sfn|Bennett|2001|p=xiii}}
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