The adoption of Trajan

[Epictetus]

What do we know about the adoption of Trajan? I knew the details were a bit hazy, but I don’t recall ever seeing that Nerva was forced to adopt him until a recent update in the On This Day thread.

I checked Cassius Dio and didn’t notice anything about Nerva having the choice of a successor placed upon him. I also read Pliny’s Panegyric in Praise of Trajan, but I’m unclear. At one point he says:

But though you possessed the proper qualifications, Caesar, you were unwilling to become emperor. You had therefore to be forced. Yet you could not have been forced but for the danger that threatened our country; you would not have assumed the imperial power were it not to save the empire. And I feel sure that the praetorians revolted because great force and danger were necessary to overcome your modesty.

This sounds like the Praetorians revolted because they wanted Trajan. And yet immediately afterwards Pliny says:

The revolt of the praetorians was a great disgrace to our age, a grave injury to the commonwealth. (Probably not the thing to say if they revolted for Trajan! - David)The emperor and father of the human race was besieged, taken, and shut up; the power of saving men was taken from the mildest of old men; our prince was deprived of his most salutary power — freedom of action. If only such calamity could induce you to assume the reins of government I should say that it was worth the price.

To me, this sounds like Trajan was induced to accept because Nerva was having problems, not that Nerva was induced to accept Trajan.

Even later Pliny says:

He [Trajan] remained unnoticed by a bad prince, though he could not but attract the attention of a good prince.

This clearly implies that Nerva was attracted to Trajan’s qualities and so, I would assume, made the decision himself.

What am I missing?

[Quintius Clavus]

Nerva may have been having problems with the Praetorians due to the assassination of Domitian. Not all of the Praetorians joined the conspiracy that finally killed Domitian. Nerva's hand may have been "forced" in the selection of his successor out of a need to have a strong, more soldierly man - who by the way supported Domitian in the suppression of Saturninus ' attempted revolt on the Rhine and became himself eventually a governor of one of the two Germanies (don't have my sources with me at work). By that, he might well have been viewed both by Nerva and the disaffected Praetorians as well chosen.

[D B Campbell]

What am I missing?

C.P. Jones has suggested that a passage in the Epitome de Caesaribus (13.6) hints at a threatened coup which forced Nerva's hand. Once emperor, Trajan allegedly "established baths in honour of [Lucius Licinius] Sura with whose backing he had seized command". (I deliberately skew the translation for effect -- a more neutral translation would be "with whose enthusiasm he secured power".)

[Epictetus]

Thanks. This looks quite a bit more complicated than I had realised. While doing some searching I found a fascinatingly-titled book, Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis of 96-99 AD by John Grainger. Google Books has a preview; pages 96+ look particularly relevant.

Edit: And it looks like the book has been mentioned here before. I didn't catch it in my earlier searches.