CARACALLA, MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 



CARAPFA. 



71 



there-establishment of Helvetian independence, and the restitution of 

 all the territory that the French had taken from the Swiss. These pro- 

 mises were well kept, and the count so conducted himself as to merit 

 the esteem of the Swiss. The Constitutional Act, which he sanctioned 

 and forwarded, removed many old abuses and invidious distinctions. 

 In September 1814 Capo d'Istria left Switzerland for the Cougreas of 

 Vienna, where, mainly through him, the affairs of the Swiss were happily 

 terminated. In 1815 he was with Alexander at Paris, and was his 

 plenipotentiary in the definitive treaty of peace with France. In the 

 course of that year he advocated the cause of education, and wrote to 

 the emperor an account of the establishment of M. Fellenberg at Hof wyl. 

 This letter, in the form of a pamphlet, was published at Paris in 1816, 

 in the course of which year the Grand Council of Lausanne gave the 

 count the citizenship of the Canton of Vaud. A short time afterwards 

 he was recalled to St. Petersburg by the Emperor Alexander, who 

 appointed him one of his secretaries of state for foreign affairs, the 

 duties of which office he divided for some time with Count Nesselrode. 

 Capo d'Istria had a principal share in the diplomatic underminings of 

 the Turkish empire, which took place from 1815 to 1827, and on the 

 separation of Greece from Turkey he was allowed to take upon himself 

 the office of president of the Greek government, in which he was 

 regularly installed early in the year 1828, or a few months after the 

 battle of Navarino. In this position he was almost constantly at 

 variance with the people whom he was sent to govern. On both sides 

 were violence, obstinacy, duplicity, and intrigue ; but making many 

 allowances for the Greeks, the opinion of most of those who watched 

 his administration in the country was very unfavourable to the count, 

 who it appeared pretty evident was desirous to render Greece wholly 

 subservient to Russia. Some memorable letters which he wrote to 

 Prince Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg (now king of the Belgians), to whom 

 the Greek crown had been offered in 1829, mainly induced that prince 

 to decline acceptirg it, which he did definitively on the 21st of May 

 1830. On the 9th of October of the following year, Capo d'Istria was 

 assassinated at Napoli di Romania, on the threshold of a ehurch, by 

 George, the son, and Constantine, the brother, of Pietro Mauromicbali, 

 the old bey of Maina, whom he had detained for many months in 

 prison without trial or even a specific accusation. 



CARACALLA, or CARACALLUS, MARCUS AURE'LIUS ANTO- 

 XI'NUS BASSIA'NUS, son of Septimius Severus, was born at Lyon 

 while his father was governor of the proviucia Lugdunensis. After 

 Severus became emperor, liissianus married Plautilla, daughter of 

 Plautianus, the emperor's favourite. He accompanied Severus in his 

 expedition to Britain, and was with him in the Caledonian war, on 

 which occasion he is said to have conspired against his father, and 

 even to have once drawn his sword to kill him. Severus forgave him, 

 but hU mind and health became so affected by the unnatural conduct 

 of his son, that he soon after died at Kboracum (York), A.D. 211, leaving 

 his two sons, Bassianus and Geta, his joint successors to the empire. 

 Having concluded peace with the Caledonians, the two brothers 

 returned to Rome, where Ba&sianus caused Geta to be murdered in 

 the apartment, and in the very arms, of his mother Julia. Having 

 bribed the Pnctorian soldiers, by money and promises, to acknowledge 

 him as sole emperor, he next put to death all the friends and attend- 

 ants of Geta, and those who had shown any sorrow for bis death, to 

 the number of several thousands. The celebrated jurist Papinianus, 

 the friend of Severus, was among the victims. Bassianus gave himself 

 up to the company of buffoons, comedians, gladiators, and eunuchs, 

 to whom be was prodigal of the public money, and many of whom he 

 raised to high offices. In order to obtain money for his extravagance 

 he deteriorated the public coin, and forced base money into circulation. 

 During a visit to Gaul he put to death the proconsul of the provincia 

 Narbonensis, and many other persons on his arrival at Narbo. On his 

 r< turn to Rome he brought with him a great quantity of garments 

 made after a Gaulish fashion, in the shape of a long tunic with a hood 

 to it, and known by the name of Caracalla, which he obliged all those 

 who came near his person to adopt. From this circumstance he derived 

 the surname Caracallus. At Rome he built the magnificent thermic 

 which are kuown by his name. In an expedition iuto Germany he 

 fought with the Catti and the Alemanni, and after much slaughter 

 purchased peace by paying them large sums of money. He seems to 

 have been the first emperor who adopted this humiliating system, 

 which in course of time proved fatal to Rome. In the following year 

 he went into Dacia against the Gets, and thence he proceeded by 

 Thrace into Asia Minor. Having arrived at Autioch, he invited the 

 kings of Armenia and of Osrhoenc to come to him, and then made them 

 iers. He seized upon Osrhoene, and founded a colony at Edesaa. 

 I laving understood that the people of Alexandria spoke freely of him, 

 and had loudly disapproved of the murder of Geta, ho visited that 

 city under the pretence of sacrificing to Serapis, and ordered an indis- 

 criminate massacre of the citizens, which lasted several days : the city 

 he gave up to plunder. He afterwards invaded the territory of the 

 I'artliiani, under the pretence that Artabanus their king had refused 

 liiui the hand of his daughter. He took Arbela, and overran Media, 

 the Parthians having withdrawn to the mountains beyond the Tigris 

 to collect their forces. The following year while lie was expecting to 

 be attacked by them, a conspiracy was formed against his life by 

 Marrimis, ]>r;r;f>-ct of the prxtorium. As the emperor was proceeding 

 on horseback from Ivlex-a to Came, having alighted from his horse on 



Bioo. i>iv. vol.. It. 



the road, a soldier of the name of Julius Martialis stabbed him to 

 death, in 217, after a reign of six years and two months. Macriuus 

 was proclaimed emperor by the army. (Dion. 77, 78; Spartianus, and 

 Herodian, lib. iv.) 



Coin of Caracalla. 

 British Museum. Actual size. Bronze. Weight 29G grains. 



Caracalla was one of the worst among the bad emperors of Rome 

 his cruelty seems to have been mixed up with a degree of insanity, a 

 frequent consqueuce of unlimited power being possessed by one 

 individual of uncontrolled passions and no principles. 



CARACCI, or CARRACCI, LODOVI'CO, AGOSTI'NO, and ANNI'- 

 BALE, three of the first painters of Italy, kinsmen, fellow-students, 

 and fellow-labourers, were natives of Bologna, and founders of the 

 Bolognese School. 



LODOVICO CABACCI was born in 1555, and was placed at an early 

 age with Prospero Fontana to study painting. He made such slow 

 progress that his master dissuaded him from the pursuit, upon which 

 he left Fontana, and thenceforth studied the works only of the great 

 masters, for which purpose he travelled to Venice (where he became 

 acquainted with Tintoretto) and Parma. Returning to Bologna, he 

 found his cousins Agostino and Annibale so well inclined to his pro- 

 fession for which they had evinced an early taste by scribbling 

 sketches in their school-books that he persuaded their father, a, 

 respectable tailor, to leave their education to him. 



AOOSTINO CABACCI, who was born in 1557, had been intended for 

 one of the learned professions ; but his inclination led him to seek 

 employment with a goldsmith, whose business he attended to for a 

 time. He learned engraving from Cornelius Cort, and attained to such 

 excellence that many of his engravings are only distinguishable from 

 his master's by the superiority of the drawing; his works in that style 

 are highly valued. His cousin placed him with P. Fontana, and after- 

 wards with Passerotti. He never practised painting however with any 

 constancy, but indulged a versatile ingenuity in various pursuits con- 

 nected with literature and the liberal arts, working at his easel by 

 fits and starts. 



ANNIBALE CABACCI was born about 1560. Lodovico, after instruct- 

 ing him in his art, retained him with himself. Aunibale exhibited a 

 perfect contrast to the phlegmatic calmness of Lodovico, to the accom- 

 plished fickleness of Agostino, and to the amiable mildness of both ; 

 he was rude and impatient in temper, though of so open and generous 

 a nature that he is said to have kept his colours and his money in the 

 same box, both of which were equally at the disposal of his scholars. 

 He laboured in his vocation with an unwearying and enthusiastic 

 devotion, and a singleness of purpose which has never been excelled, 

 scarcely perhaps equalled. He disliked all study but that of painting, 

 and more than once burst out into complaints against the school-HLe 

 refinements and the slow proceedings of his kinsmen in their pursuit 

 of excellence. Like Lodovico, he travelled about from place to placo, 

 improving himself by all that he saw, and aiming to combine in his 

 own works the excellences of the great works that he studied. The 

 three opened an academy in Lodovico's studio, which became famous 

 for the illustrious pupils whom it sent forth. 



The fame of the Caracci reaching Rome, Annibale was invited by 

 the Cardinal Odoardo Faruese to adorn his palace with paintings. He 

 went, accompanied by Agostino; and the two brothers were delighted 

 and exalted by the sight of the ancient works of art, and the labours 

 of Michel Angclo and the divine Kaffaelle. The usual dissensions how- 

 ever arose, and Annibale's intolerant devotion to labour drove away 

 his more festive brother. The Farnese Gallery occupied Annibale for 

 eight years, for which he is said to have received only five hundred 

 crowns a meanness of remuneration, as Lanzi justly observes, almost 

 incredible. He did little after this, and died in 1609. He was buried, 

 according to his own desire, by the side of Uuffaellc. Agostino died 

 in 1602. Lodovico lived until 1619. 



The works of the three kinsmen are principally in Bologna and 

 Rome. The Farnese Gallery is considered the greatest work of Anni- 

 bale. The Louvre contains the ' St. John the Baptist ' by Lodovico, 

 and the ' Communion of St. Jerome ' by Agostino, which are respec- 

 tively reckoned their best works in oil. Our own National Gallery 

 contains several paintings and two cartoons by the Caracci, but none 

 perhaps that can be reckoned among their finest works. (Malvasia.) 



UAItACCIOLI. [NELSON, LOUD.] 



CAKA'CTACUS. [BRITANNIA, in GEOO. Div.] 



CARA'FFA, a distinguished Neapolitan family, divided into many 

 branches, all descended from Filippo Caraffa, lord of Spinalonga, who 



