  All the time since its discovery the N$^*$(1440) baryon state, commonly known
as Roper resonance, has been a state with many question marks - despite of its
4-star ranking in the particle data book. One reason is that it does not
produce any explicit resonance-like structures in the observables of $\pi$N or
$\gamma$N reactions. Only in partial wave analyses of $\pi$N scattering data a
clear resonance strcuture gets obvious in the $P_{11}$ partial wave. Very
recent measurements of the J/$\Psi$ decay by the BES collaboration and of the
$pp \to np\pi^+$ reaction at 1.3 GeV by the CELSIUS-WASA collaboration show for
the first time a clear resonance structure in the invariant $n\pi^+$ mass
spectrum for the Roper resonance at M $\approx$ 1360 MeV with a width of about
150 MeV. These values agree very favorably with the pole position results of
recent $\pi$N phase shift analyses. In consequence of this very low-lying pole
postion, which is roughly 100 MeV below the nominal value, the decay properties
have to be reinvestigated. From our two-pion production data we see that the
decay mainly proceeds via N$^* \to $N$\sigma$, i.e. a monopole transition as
expected for the breathing mode of the nucleon.
