468 Tripitaka over an excessive confidence in reforms Nonetheless, he reacted militarily when the king of the Dacians, Decebalus, prevented the advance of the army in Germania He declared war against Dacia and conducted the army to his territory, where the king was completely beaten Trajan did not kill his enemy, but despite his mercy, two years later Decebalus organized a new rebellion against the emperor This time the traitor was fiercely defeated, and all the gold mines in the area were confiscated Trajan used the great bounty to finance a huge program of public works He built a large aqueduct, a new port in Ostia, four new big roads, and the amphitheater in Verona His most famous construction was the Trajan Forum During Trajan’s period Roman culture flourished with masterpieces of Latin literature Pliny the Younger was one of the prominent advisers of Trajan He left hundreds of letters in which we can appreciate the emperor’s personality as well as the customs of the time Aiming at concluding the work of Caesar and Antony, Trajan tried to expand the limits of the empire as far as the Indian Ocean, which he managed to by fighting the Parthians He was also able to conquer Babylon, Seleucia, Ctesiphon, and Susa Unfortunately, several rebellions arose, and he was compelled to return to Rome He never arrived back to the urbs, as he died on the way Hadrian succeeded him See also Roman historians; Rome: buildings, engineers Further reading: Bennett, J Trajan Optimus Princeps: A Life and Times New York: Routledge, 1997; Cizek, E L’Époque de Trajan Circonstances Politiques et Problèmes Idéologiques Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1983; Lepper, F Trajan’s Parthian War Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1948; ———, and S Frere Trajan’s Column: A New Edition of the Cichorius Plates Wolfboro, NH: Alan Sutton, 1988; Rossi, L Trajan’s Column and the Dacian Wars London: Thames and Hudson, 1971 ars of Buddhist belief; and the Abhidharma Pitaka, which are a series of philosophical discourses on the nature of the universe and of Buddhist belief The Tripitaka was assembled shortly after the death of Gautama Buddha through a sangha, or council of monks It was preserved in oral tradition for some four centuries before being committed to palm-leaf manuscript in the first century c.e Owing to linguistic and cultural differences, the Tripitaka varies from country to country where Theravada Buddhism is practiced In each case the writings are extensive and occupy many volumes The Sutta Pitaka, for example, contains more than 10,000 sutras of the Buddha These include details of the life of the Buddha and his road to nirvana, or enlightenment; Mahayana and Vajrayana forms of Buddhism also have their own Tripitaka canons The Vinaya Pitaka consists of rules and junctures for both monks and nuns, although in some societies the role of nuns is not officially accepted Various offenses against the sangha are enumerated together with their degree of severity and, hence, the sanctions that they attract Monks are expected both to know and to abide by the 227 rules of the Great Division (Maha-vibhanga), which greatly expand on the five basic precepts that all followers of Buddhism are expected to follow An additional section of the Vinaya Pitaka is the Khandhaka, which contains a variety of different sections that are not presented in an intuitively logical order This section contains precepts for the monkhood that vary from country to country Members of the sangha spend much of their time studying and attempting to master the many meanings and lessons inherent in the Tripitaka Lay Buddhists may also the same, either directly from the original canon or, more commonly, through the mediation of well-read monks who are able to translate the lessons into language and concepts easier for most people to understand See also Tantrism; Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism Silvana A Gaeta Tripitaka The Tripitaka (or Tipitaka) is the Sanskrit (or Pali) canon of religious discourse most highly regarded in Theravada Buddhism The literal translation is the “three baskets,” so named because the original writings were kept in baskets The three elements of the canon are the Vinaya Pitaka, which are the disciplinary rules by which monks are expected to live their lives; the Sutta Pitaka, which are the discourses of the Lord Buddha and other leading schol- Further reading: Conze, Edward, ed and trans Buddhist Scriptures New York: Penguin Classics, 1959; Rahula, Walpola What the Buddha Taught New York: Grove Press, 1974 John Walsh Triumvirate The years prior to the First Triumvirate were unstable and anticipated future conflicts A series of external struggles—such as a long war to suffocate the rebel-