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Five Good Emperors

The rulers commonly known as the " Five Good Emperors " were Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. The term was coined by Niccolò Machiavelli in his posthumously published book The Discourses on Livy from 1531:

From the study of this history, we may also learn how a good government is to be established; for while all the emperors who succeeded to the throne by birth, except Titus, were bad, all were good who succeeded by adoption, as in the case of the five from Nerva to Marcus. But as soon as the empire fell once more to the heirs by birth, its ruin recommenced.

Machiavelli argued that these adopted emperors earned the respect of those around them through good governance:

Titus, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, and Marcus had no need of praetorian cohorts, or of countless legions to guard them, but were defended by their own good lives, the good-will of their subjects, and the attachment of the senate.

Edward Gibbon wrote in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that their rule was a time when "the Roman Empire was governed by absolute power, under the guidance of wisdom and virtue". Gibbon believed that these benevolent monarchs and their moderate policies were unusual and contrasted with their more tyrannical and oppressive successors.