CHAP. of the Imperial family *. The honest labours VI. of Papinian served only to inflame the hatred which Caracalla had already conceived against his father's minister. After the murder of Geta the Præfect was commanded to exert the powers of his skill and eloquence in a studied apology for that atrocious deed. The philosophic Seneca. had condescended to compose a similar epistle to the senate, in the name of the son and assassin of Agrippina +; "That it was easier to commit "Than to justify a parricide," was the glorious reply of Papiniant, who did not hesitate be tween the loss of life and that of honour. Such intrepid virtue, which had escaped pure and unsullied from the intrigues of courts, the habits of business, and the arts of his profession reflects more lustre on the memory of Papinian, than all his great employments, his numerous writings, and the superior reputation as a lawyer, which he has preserved through every age of the Roman jurisprudence §.

His tyranny extended over the

pire.

It had hitherto been the peculiar felicity of the Romans, and in the worst of times their conwhole em solation, that the virtue of the emperors was active, and their vice indolent. Augustus, Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus, visited their extensive dominions in person, and their progress was marked by acts of wisdom and beneficence.

The

*It is said that Papinian was himself a relation of the empress Julia.

Tacit. Annal. xiv. 2.

Hist. August. p. 88.

§ With regard to Papinian, see Heineccius's Historia Juris Romani, 1. 330, &c.

VI,

The tyranny of Tiberius, Nero, and Domitian, C H A P. who resided almost constantly at Rome, or in the adjacent villas, was confined to the senatorial and equestrian orders *. But Caracalla was the common enemy of mankind. He left the capital (and he never returned to it) about a year A, D, 218. after the murder of Geta. The rest of his reign was spent in the several provinces of the empire, particularly those of the East, and every province was by turns the scene of his rapine and cruelty. The senators, compelled by fear to attend his capricious motions, were obliged to provide daily entertainments at an immense expence, which he abandoned with contempt to his guards; and to erect, in every city, magnificent palaces and theatres, which he either disdained to visit, or ordered to be immediately thrown down. The most wealthy families were ruined by partial fines and confiscations, and the great body of his subjects oppressed by ingenious and aggravated taxes t. In the midst of peace, and upon the slightest provocation, he issued his commands at Alexandria in Egypt, for a general massacre. From a secure post in the temple of Serapis, he viewed and directed the slaughter of many thousand citizens, as well as strangers, without distinguishing either the number or the crime of the sufferers; since, as he coolly informed

Tiberius and Domitian never moved from the neighbourhood of Rome. Nero made a short journey into Greece. "Et "laudatorum Principum usus ex æquo quamvis procul agentibus. "Sævi proximis ingruunt.' Tacit. Hist. iv. 75.

+ Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1294.

VI.

CHAP. formed the senate, all the Alexandrians, those who had perished and those who had escaped, were alike guilty *.

Relaxation of disci

pline.

The wise instructions of Severus never made. any lasting impression on the mind of his son, who, although not destitute of imagination and eloquence, was equally devoid of judgment and humanity †. One dangerous maxim, worthy of a tyrant, was remembered and abused by Caracalla," To secure the affections of the army, "and to esteem the rest of his subjects as of "little moment ." But the liberality of the father had been restrained by prudence, and his indulgence to the troops was tempered by firmness and authority. The careless profusion of the son was the policy of one reign, and the inevitable ruin both of the army and of the empire. The vigour of the soldiers, instead of being confirmed by the severe discipline of camps, melted away in the luxury of cities. The excessive increase of their pay and donatives § exhausted

the

* Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1307. Herodian, I. iv. p. 158. The former represents it as a cruel massacre, the latter as a perfidious one too. It seems probable, that the Alexandrians had irritated the tyrant by their railleries, and perhaps by their tumults.

Dion, I. lxxvii. p. 1296.

‡ Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1284. Mr. Wotton (Hist. of Rome, p. 330.) suspects that this maxim was invented by Caracalla himself, and attributed to his father.

§ Dion (1. lxxviii. p. 1343.) informs us, that the extraordinary gifts of Caracalla to the army amounted annually to seventy millions of drachmæ (about two millions three hundred and fifty thousand pounds.) There is another passage in Dion, concerning the military pay, infinitely curious; were it not obscure, imperfect, and probably corrupt. The best sense seems to be, that the Prætorian guards received twelve hundred and fifty

drachmæ

VI

the state to enrich the military order, whose chap. modesty in peace, and service in war, are best secured by an honourable poverty. The demeanor of Caracalla was haughty and full of pride; but with the troops he forgot even the proper dignity of his rank, encouraged their insolent familiarity, and, neglecting the essential duties of a general, affected to imitate the dress. and manners of a common soldier.

Caracalla.

It was impossible that such a character, and Murder of such a conduct as that of Caracalla, could inspire A. D. 217. either love or esteem; but as long as his vices 8th March. were beneficial to the armies, he was secure from the danger of rebellion. A secret conspiracy, provoked by his own jealousy, was fatal to the tyrant. The Prætorian præfecture was divided between two ministers. The military department was intrusted to Adventus, an experienced rather than an able soldier; and the civil affairs were transacted by Opilius Macrinus, who, by his dexterity in business, had raised himself, with a fair character, to that high office. But his favour varied with the caprice of the emperor, and his life might depend on the slightest suspicion, or the most casual circumstance. Malice or fanatçism had suggested to an African, deeply

skilled

drachmæ (forty pounds) a year. (Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1307.) Under the reign of Augustus, they were paid at the rate of two drachmæ, or denarii, per day, 720 a year. (Tacit. Annal. i. 17, Domitian, who increased the soldier's pay one fourth, must. have raised the Pratorians to 960 drachmæ (Gronovius de Pecunia Veteri, 1. iii. c. 2.) These successive augmentations rained the empire,. for, with the soldiers pay, their numbers. too were increased. We have seen the Prætorians alone in -creased from 10,000 to 50,000 men,

CH A P. skilled in the knowledge of futurity, a very dan

VI.

gerous prediction, that Macrinus and his son were destined to reign over the empire. The report was soon diffused through the province; and when the man was sent in chains to Rome, he still asserted, in the presence of the Præfect: of the city, the faith of his prophecy. That magistrate, who had received the most pressing instructions to inform himself of the successors of Caracalla, immediately communicated the examination of the African to the Imperial court, which at the time resided in Syria. But, notwithstanding the diligence of the public messengers, a friend of Macrinus found means to apprize him of the approaching danger. The emperor received the letters from Rome; and as he was then engaged in the conduct of a chariot race, he delivered them unopened to the Prætorian Præfect, directing him to dispatch the ordinary affairs, and to report the more important business that might be contained in them. Macrinus read his fate, and resolved to prevent it. He inflamed the discontents of some inferior officers, and employed the hand of Martialis, a desperate soldier, who had been refused the rank of centurion. The devotion of Caracalla prompted him to make a pilgrimage from Edessa to the celebrated temple of the Moon at Carrhæ. He was attended by a body of cavalry; but having stopped on the road for some necessary occasion, his guards preserved a respectful distance, and Martialis approaching his person under a pretence of duty, stabbed him with a dagger. The bold assassin