The Empire. R O 
murder, he found Severus encircled by his friends, and ready 
to receive him. Confounded at the sight, he confessed his 
designs. The emperor was disposed to pardon him; but 
Caracalla, heedless of the supplications of the criminal, ran 
him through the body with his sword. 
As the Roman arms had suffered some checks in Britain, 
Severus resolved to recover the territory whicli had been lost. 
After visiting some cities in Italy, and appointing Caracalla 
and Geta his successors in the empire, he was accompanied by 
his two sons, and, when he landed in the island, he left 
Geta in the south, and marched with Caracalla against the 
Caledonians. Pursuing the inhabitants through their ex¬ 
tensive marshes, and their dense forests, he lost about 50,000 
men in this toilsome warfare; but his success was such that 
the enemy sued for peace, and surrendered a considerable 
part of their country. 
He then built a wall across the island, extending from 
Bowness, or Tunnocelum, on the Solway Firth, to Cousin’s 
house, or Segcdunim, near the mouth of the river Tyne, a 
distance of 68 English miles. The wall was built of free¬ 
stone, and had a ditch on its north side. It was twelve feet 
high and eight broad, and contained a great number of for¬ 
tresses of different kinds. By this barrier the conquered pro¬ 
vinces were protected against the incursions of the Cale¬ 
donians, and the emperor retired to York. Caracalla at¬ 
tempted to murder his father; and the old man was so shock¬ 
ed with the brutality of his son, that he called him into his 
presence, and offering him a naked sword, exclaimed, “ If 
you are ambitious of reigning alone, imbrue now your hands 
in your father’s blood, and let not the world witness your 
want of filial tenderness.” Caracalla was not greatly dis¬ 
turbed by this reproof. He seems to have prevailed upon the 
soldiers to revolt, and to proclaim him emperor; but the mo¬ 
ment Severus, who had now lost the use of his feet, heard of 
these steps, he ordered himself to be put into his litter, and de¬ 
manded the presence of Caracalla, and the tribunes and cen¬ 
turions. Confounded with the energy and boldness of their 
emperor, they implored his pardon on their knees; upon 
which he exclaimed, “ It is the head that governs, and not 
the feet.” Feeling that his disorder daily gained strength, 
he called for poison; but his attendants having refused it, he 
ate to excess, which put an end to his life in the 66th year 
of his age, and the 18th of his reign, A. D. 210. 
Though noted for his severity and cruelty, and destitute 
of the common feelings of humanity, yet Severus has gained 
a high name for his military talents, his attention to business, 
and his temperance and simplicity of character. He was 
fond of literature, and was celebrated by his wit as well as 
by his learning. He is said to have composed a history of 
his own reign, which was praised for its correctness and 
truth. 
His sons, Caracalla and Geta, left joint heirs to the em¬ 
pire, very early began to shew a mutual hatred to each other. 
Their only agreement was in resolving to deify their father; 
but soon after each sought to attach the senate and army to 
his own particular interest. In disposition, as w'ell as views, 
they differed extremely: Caracalla was fierce and cruel to an 
extreme degree ; Geta was mild and merciful: so that Rome 
soon found the dangerous effects of being governed by two 
princes of equal pow'er and contrary inclinations. 
But this opposition was of no long continuance; for Ca¬ 
racalla, being resolved to govern alone, furiously entered 
Geta’s apartment, and, followed by ruffians, slew him in his 
mother’s arms. Having committed this fratricide, he is¬ 
sued, with great haste, from the palace, crying out, “ that 
his brother would have slain him ; and that he was obliged, 
in self-defence, to retaliate the intended injury.” He then 
took refuge among the praetorian cohorts, and, in a pathetic 
tone, began to implore their protection ; and, in order to 
strengthen his interest, promised to bestow upon them the 
largesses usually given upon the election of new emperors. 
By such persuasives, the soldiers were induced to proclaim 
him sole emperor, and to stigmatise the memory of his 
brother Geta as a traitor, and an enemy to the commonwealth. 
Vol. XXII. No. 1501. 
M E. The Empire. 281 
The senators were soon after prevailed on, either through 
favour or fear, to approve of what had been done by the 
army; and Caracalla, now invested with undivided power, 
in order to render his crime more detestable, by the grossest 
hypocrisy, affected to mourn for his brother, and ordered 
him to be adored as a god. 
The enormities of Domitian and Nero, were soon ex¬ 
ceeded by this monster. Lsetius, who first advised him to 
murder his brothej, was the first who fell a sacrifice to his 
jealousy : his own wife, Plautina, followed ; and Papinian, 
the renowned civilian, was beheaded for refusing to write in 
vindication of his cruelty, and answering the emperor’s 
request, by observing, “ that it was much easier to commit 
a parricide than to defend it.” He commanded all governors 
to be slain whom his brother had appointed, and destroyed 
not less than two thousand of his adherents. Whole nights 
were spent in the execution of his bloody decrees; and the 
dead bodies of people of all ranks, were carried out of the 
city in carts, where they were burnt in heaps, without the 
customary rites. Upon a certain occasion, he ordered his 
soldiers to set upon a crowded audience in the theatre, only 
for discountenancing a charioteer, whom he happened to 
favour. Perceiving himself hated by the people, he pub¬ 
licly declared, “ that he could insure his own safety, though 
not their love ; so that he neither valued their reproaches, 
nor feared their hatred.” 
This safety, in which he so much confided, was the pro¬ 
tection of his soldiers. He had exhausted the treasury, drained 
the provinces, and committed a thousand acts of rapacity, 
merely to keep them stedfast in his interests; and now he 
resolved to lead them upon a visit through all the provinces 
of the empire. He first went into Germany, where, to 
oblige the natives, he dressed himself in the habit of the 
country. From thence he travelled into Macedonia, where 
he pretended to be a great admirer of Alexander the Great; 
and among other extravagances, caused a statue of that 
monarch to be made with two faces; one of which resem¬ 
bled Alexander, and the other himself. He was so corrupted 
by flattery, that he called himself Alexander; and affected 
the walk and gesture of that hero. Shortly after, arriving 
in Lesser Asia, as he was viewing the tomb of Aehilles, he 
felt the desire of imitating him in something: and one of 
his freedmen happening to die at that time, he used the same 
ceremonies that were performed at the tomb of Patroclus. 
Passing from thence into Egypt, he cut off numbers at once, 
in the amphitheatre at Alexandria, only for having passed 
some jests upon his person. 
Going from thence into Syria, he invited Artabanus, king 
of Parthia, to a conference, desiring his daughter in marriage, 
and promising him the most honourable reception. In con¬ 
sequence of this, that king met him on a spacious plain, 
unarmed, and only attended with a vast concourse of his 
nobles. This was what Caracalla desired. Regardless of 
his promise, or the law of nations, he instantly surrounded 
him with armed troops, let in wild beasts among his attend¬ 
ants, and made a most terrible slaughter among them, Arta¬ 
banus himself escaping with the utmost difficulty. For this 
vile treachery, Caracalla assumed the surname of Parthicus. 
Upon his return to Rome, as if to show how far ingenuity 
in vice and progress in crime could be carried, he became 
enamoured of the mother of Geta, and the wife of his father, 
and publicly married her. 
However, though he disregarded shame, he was not insen¬ 
sible of fear. He was ever uneasy, in the consciousness of 
being universally hated; and was continually consulting 
astrologers concerning his future destiny. Among others, 
he sent one of his confidants, named Maternianus, with orders 
to consult all the astrologers in the city concerning his end. 
Maternianus considered this as a proper time to get rid of 
Macrinus, a man of considerable eminence, who was daily 
supplanting him in his master’s favour. He therefore in¬ 
formed him by letter, as if from the astrologers, that Mac¬ 
rinus had a design against his life; and they consequently 
advised him to put the conspirator to death. This letter, 
4 C amongst 
