In the year 846 from the founding of the City — although Eutropius wrote that this was the year 850 — Nerva, by then a very old man, was created emperor, the tenth from Augustus, by Petronius, the praetorian prefect, and Parthenius the eunuch, the slayer of Domitian; and he adopted Trajan as heir to his rule, through whom, by divine provision, he truly took thought for the afflicted commonwealth.1
1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCXLVI - quamuis Eutropius quinquagesimum hunc esse annum scripserit - Nerua admodum senex a Petronio praefecto praetorio et Parthenio spadone, interfectore Domitiani, imperator decimus ab Augusto creatus Traianum in regnum adoptauit, per quem reuera adflictae reipublicae diuina prouisione consuluit.
By his first edict he recalled all the exiles — whereupon the apostle John too, freed by this general indulgence, returned to Ephesus — and when a year of his rule had run its course, Nerva, worn out by disease, departed this life.
2 hic primo edicto suo cunctos exules reuocauit - unde et Iohannes apostolus hac generali indulgentia liberatus Ephesum rediit - emensoque anno imperii sui Nerua confectus morbo diem obiit.