1 full measure of regal power. In the reign of Se verus, the senate was filled with polished and eloquent slaves from the eastern provinces, who jus tified personal flattery by speculative principles of servitude. These new advocates of prerogative were heard with pleasure by the court, and with patience by the people, when they inculcated the duty of passive obedience, and descanted on the inevitable mischiefs of freedom. The lawyers and the historians concurred in teaching, that the Imperial authority was held, not by the delegated commission, but by the irrevocable resignation of the senate; that the emperor was freed from the restraint of civil laws, could command by his bitrary will the lives and fortunes of his subjects, and might dispose of the empire as of his private patrimony. The most eminent of the civil lawyers, and particularly Papinian, Paulus, and Ulpian, flourished under the house of Severus; and the Roman jurisprudence having closely united itself with the system of monarchy, was supposed to have attained its full maturity and perfection. The contemporaries of Severus, in the enjoyment of the peace and glory of his reign, forgave the cruelties by which it had been introduced. Posterity, who experienced the fatal effects of his maxims and example, justly considered him as the principal author of the decline of the Roman empire. * * Dion Cassius seems to have written with no other view, than to form these opinions into an historical system. The Pandects will shew how assiduously the lawyers, on their side, laboured in the cause of prerogative. CHA P. V.V 204 AKO THE DECLINE AND FALL 1. The Death of Severus.-Tyranny of Caracalla.Usurpation of Macrinus-Follies of Elagabalus. 2-Virtues of Alexander Severus.-Licentiousness of the Army General State of the Roman Fi nances. CHAP. HE ascent to greatness, however steep and THE ascent, to steep and dangerous, may entertain an active spirit VI. Greatness verus. with the consciousness and exercise of its own and discon- powers; but the possession of a throne could tent of Se- never yet afford a lasting satisfaction to an ambitious mind. This melancholy truth was felt and acknowledged by Severus, Fortune and, merit had, from an humble station, elevated him to the first place among mankind." He "had been all things," as he said himself," and "all was of little value *." Distracted with the care, not of acquiring, but of preserving an empire, oppressed with age and infirmities, careless of fame t, and satiated with power, all his prospects of life were closed. The desire of perpetuating the greatness of his family, was the only remaining wish of his ambition and pater-" nal tenderness. His wife the Em The Like most of the Africans, Severus was pas press Julia. sionately addicted to the vain studies of magict and divination, deeply versed in the interpreta *Hist. August, p. 71. "Omnia fui et nihil expedit." tion ง .VI. tion of dreams and omens, and perfectly ac- CHAP. quainted with the science of judicial astrology; which, in almost every age except the present, has maintained its dominion over the mind of man. He had lost his first wife, whilst he was governor of the Lyonnese Gaul * * In the choice of a second, he sought only to connect himself with some favourite of fortune; and as soon as he had discovered that a young lady of Emesa in Syria had a royal nativity, he solicited, and obtained her hand †. Julia Domna (for that was her name) deserved all that the stars could promise her. She possessed, even in an advanced age, the attractions of beauty †, and united to a lively imagination a firmness of mind and strength of judgment, seldom bestowed on her sex. Her amiable qualities never made any deep impression on the dark and jealous temper of her husband; but in her son's reign, she administered the principal affairs of the empire," with a prudence that supported his authority; and with a moderation that sometimes corrected his wild extravagancies f. Julia applied herself to letters and philosophy, with some success, and with * About the year 186, M. de Tillemont is miserably embar rassed with a passage of Dion, in which the empress Faustina, who died in the year 175, is introduced as having contributed to the marriag of Severus and Julia, (1. Ixxiv. p. 1243.) The fearn-" ed compiler forgot, that Dion is relating, not a real fact, but a dream of Severus; and dreams are circumscribed to no limits of time or space. Did M. de Tillemont imagine that marriages were consummated in the temple of Venus at Rome? Rome? Hist, des Empereurs, tom. iii. p. 389. Note 6. VI. CHAP. with the most splendid reputation! She was the patroness of every art, and the friend of every man of genius *The grateful flattery of the learned has celebrated her virtue; but, if we may credit the scandal of ancient history, chastity was very far from being the most conspicuous virtue of the empress Julia +. Their two racalla and Geta. Two sons, Caracalla and Geta, were the fruit sons, Ca- of this marriage, and the destined heirs of the empire. The fond hopes of the father, and of the Roman world, were soon disappointed by these vain youths, who displayed the indolent security of hereditary princes; and a presumption that fortune would supply the place of merit and application. Without any emulation of virtue or talents, they discovered, almost from their infancy, a fixed and implacable antipathy for each other. Their aversion, confirmed by years, and tual avers fomented by the arts of their interested favourites, broke out in childish, and, gradually in more serious, competitions; and, at length, divided the theatre, the circus, and the court, into two factions; actuated by the hopes and fears of their respective leaders. The prudent emperor endeavoured, by every expedient of advice and autho Their mu sion to each other. a Diogenesetation of Menage, at the end of his edition of Diogenes Laertius, de Fominis Philosophis. ↑ Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1285. Aurelius Victor. " Bassianus was his first name, as it had been that of his maternal grandfather. During his reign he assumed the appellation of Antoninus, which is employed by lawyers and ancient historians. After his death, the public indignation loaded him with the nick names of Tarantus and Caracalla. The first was borrowed from a celebrated Gladiator, the second from a long Gallic gown which he distributed to the people of Rome. VI. authority, to allay this growing animosity The GH A P. unhappy discord of his sons clouded all his pro spects, and threatened to overturn a throne raised with so much labour, cemented with so much blood, and guarded with every defence of arms and treasure. With an impartial hand he maintained between them an exact balance of favour, conferred on both the rank of Augustus, with the revered name of Antoninus; and for the first time the Roman world beheld three emperors * Yet even this equal conduct served only to inflame the contest, whilst the fierce Caracalla asserted the right of primogeniture, and the milder Geta courted the affections of the people and the soldiers. In the anguish of a disappointed father, Severus foretold, that the weaker of his sons would fall a sacrifice to the stronger; who, in his turn, would be ruined by his own vices †..do 3 In these circumstances the intelligence of a war in Britain, and of an invasion of the province by the barbarians of the North, was received with pleasure by Severus. Though the vigilance of his lieutenants might have been sufficient to repel the distant enemy, he resolved to embrace the honourable pretext of withdrawing his sons from the luxury of Rome, which enervated their minds and irritated their passions; and of inuring their youth to the toils of war and government. Notwithstanding his advanced age (for he was Stan se at dui era consizesɑbove The elevation of Caracalla is fixed by the accurate M. de Three em perors. The Cale donian war. D. 208. |