TRA^'CE
TKANSKICUKATlUN
Gil
Kviiiianian people to<lay. By the cml of 106 Triijan was ai;ain in Koine. In the prccedinj; year it had been necessary, in the interests of trade, to annex the territorj' of the tnrhulent Nabata\an tribes of Arabia I'etnea, and tlins the Koinan jimvinee Arabia was formed. From 1(16 to about U'J Trajan was in Italj", and anions nimli beneficial legislation tlie permanent establisliment of the system of aliinentationen, inaugurated by Nerva, deserves mention. This was a system for the support of poor boys and girls, including orpliansaiid foundlings, throughout Italy. Trajan's Forum and its features have been referred to in the article KoME. His interest in provincial govern- ment conies out in the official correspondence with C. Plinius Ca^cilius Secundus, governor of the province liitbynia-Pontus about 111-113. The reader is impressed by ' the careful attention paid to details . . . the consistent desire ... to respect local customs and usages, the avoidance of general rules and principles, and tlie equitable spirit which insists on the e.\ecution of the laws, but observes vested interests, and avoids the appearance of any- thing arbitrary' (E. G. Hardy, C. Plinii Ccccilii Seciindi Epistulm ad Traianiini Imveratorem, cum eiusdcm Jiesponsis, rt. 12). Pliny, having written that he had never taken part in trials of Christians, asked the Emperor what i)rocedure he ought to follow. Traj.'iU laid down that they must not be sought out, but that if duly prosecuted and con- victed they must pay the penalty of execution. There is no real reason to suppose that Trajan inaugurated this poHcy. It was probably in the time of Vespasian or one of the other Flavian Emperors that the confession of Christianity in itself began to be regarded as an oHence against the State, punishable with death. The atl'airs of Armenia caused the inevitable conflict with the Parthians on the eastern frontier, which occupied the last years of Trajan's life. The Emperor him- self set out for the East at the end of UH, and' in a succession of campaigns he was able to subdue the enemies of Koine and to add three provinces to the Empire — Armenia minor, Mesopotamia, and As- syria. But the conquest had been too rapid, and the last had to be relinquished. Trajan died at Selinus in Cilicia in August, 117.
Literature. — The chief ancient authorities are Xiphilinus' Epitome of Dio CasshtSy bk. Ixviii. ; Pliny, Panegyrictis and Correspondence with Trajan. There are also many important inscriptions and coins. Besides the relevant parts of the his- tories of H. Schiller, Gfscfiichte der romiscfien Kaiserzeit, i. [Gotha, 1883); V. Duruy, History of Home, Eng. tr., 6 vols., Ivondon, 1SS3-S6: J. B. Bury, Student's History of the Roman Umpire, do., 181)3 ; A. von Domaszewski, Geschichte der romischeji Kaiser, ii. [Leipzit.', I'.tnli] 171-1S5, there are the special monographs : J. Dierauer, Beitrdrje zu einer kritischen Geschichte Trajans, Leipziu', 1868 ; G. A. T. Davies, Lecturer in Roman History in the University of Aberdeen, is preparin|; a monograph on the Dacian campaigns (cf. his paper ' The Dacian Campaign of Trajan in A.D. 102,' read before the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies on 3rd March 1914, and to he published in JUS); E. G. Hardy's C. Plinii Ctxcilii Secundi EpisttdtB ad Traiayium Irnperatorem (ntm eiusdem Itesponsis, London, 1889, is important. On Trajan's attitude to the Chris- tians, consult 'W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire before A.I}. 170, do., 181)3, ch. x. pp. li)(>-2i'i, and E. G. Hardy, Studies in Roman History, do., 11)06, ch. vi. pp. 78-95 ; K. J. Neumann, Der romische Staat U7id die atlfiemeine Kirche his auf Diocletian, i. [Leipzig, 1890] 17-26, may also be read.
A. SOUTEE. TRANCE.— The English word, derived through the French from Lat. transitu.^, is the translation of the Gr. fxcrratri!, which means ' standing out' of oneself, or outside of one's ordinary consciousness. It is used very loosely to describe the sleep-like state which is obviously diH'erent from tli.at of ordinary sleep. Originally the soul was supposed to be temporarily withdrawn from the body ; at the pres(>nt time no such theory is generally held, but F. W. H. Myers would regard it as the abey- ance of the supraliminal self, in order that the
subliminal may be free to act. It is stated that Pcti'r fell into a trance, by which is meant that whilst his body was probably in a cataleptic con- dition his spirit was engageil in beholding a vision (ii()a,ua, \v, HI"' IF). St. Paul was in a trance whilst ])rayiiig in tlie Temple, when he saw the Lord and heard His voice ('I'l"). The second stage of trance mentioned by Myers may be .«aid to bo reached when visions, or ecstasy proper, are experienced. The third stage which he mentions embraces those instiinced in the NT as cases of demoniacal possession. Trance states are said by K. D. Starbuck to be ' the result of an over emphasis and irradiation of the relaxation and ana'sthesia which begin in the higher centres, and work until consciousness is obliterated, and only the muscular centres are active, thus producing a cataleptic condition of the body' {P.^i/c/wlogi/ of licliffion, p. lG8f.). Ecstasy has in all ages been regarded as characteristic of periods of religious excitement, and the spectacle presented of a person in the condition of catalejisy has commonly inspired a sense of awe in the minds of beholders. It has been thought that 'the thorn in the flesh' of St. Paul was the physical accompani- ment of his ecstasj'. In the visions of Ezekiel (4^') the bearing of the cords and the days of his lioundness are considered by K. Kraetzschmar (Da.i Buck Ezechiel, 1900, p|). v, vi, 45, 46) to be the functional cataleptic paralysis that followed, first on one side and then on the other. St. Teresa {Life, Eng. tr., D. Lewis, 1904, p. 16;i) speaks of her body being perfectly powerless during her raptures and her limbs remaining fixed in one position. The ecstatic condition which frequently accom- panies unu.sual religious excitement has often been deliberately cultivated by means of suggestion, fasting, music, and bodily contortions. The inner aspect of the phenomenon is treated more fully in the art. Kapture.