VI. without meeting an enemy. But the concealed ambus. CHAP. cades of the Caledonians, who hung unseen on the rear and flanks of his army, the coldness of the climate, and the severity of a winter march across the hills and morasses of Scotland, are reported to have cost the Romans above fifty thousand men. The Caledonians at length yielded to the powerful and obstinate attack, sued for peace, and surrendered a part of their arms, and a large tract of territory. But their apparent submission lasted no longer than the present terror. As soon as the Roman legions had retired, they resumed their hostile independence. Their restless spirit provoked Severus to send a new army into Caledonia, with the most bloody orders, not to subdue but to extirpate the natives. They were saved by the death of their haughty enemy12. his heroes. This Caledonian war, neither marked by decisive Fingal and events, nor attended with any important consequences, would ill deserve our attention; but it is supposed, not without a considerable degree of probability, that the invasion of Severus is connected with the most shining period of the British history or fable. Fingal, whose fame, with that of his heroes and bards, has been revived in our language by a recent publication, is said to have commanded the Caledonians in that memorable juncture, to have eluded the power of Severus, and to have obtained a signal victory on the banks of the Carun, in which the son of the King of the World, Caracul, fled from his arms along the fields of his pride1. Something of a doubtful mist still hangs over these Highland traditions; nor can it be entirely dispelled by the most ingenious researches of modern criticism": 12 Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1280, &c. Herodian, l. iii. p. 132, &c. 13 Ossian's Poems, vol. i. p. 175. 14 That the Caracul of Ossian is the Caracalla of the Roman History, is, perhaps, the only point of British antiquity in which Mr. Macpherson and Mr. Whitaker are of the same opinion; and yet the opinion is not without difficulty. In the Caledonian war, the son of Severus was known only by the appellation of Antoninus; and it may seem strange, that the Highland bard should describe him by a nick-name, invented four years afterwards, scarcely used by the Romans till after the death of that emperor, and seldom employed by the most ancient historians. See Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1317. Hist. August. p. 89. Aurel. Victor. Euseb. in Chron. ad ann. 214. CHAP. but if we could, with safety, indulge the pleasing supVI. position, that Fingal lived, and that Ossian sung, the Contrast striking contrast of the situation and manners of the conof the Ca- tending nations might amuse a philosophic mind. The ledonians parallel would be little to the advantage of the more Romans. civilized people, if we compared the unrelenting re Ambition calla. venge of Severus with the generous clemency of Fingal; the timid and brutal cruelty of Caracalla, with the bravery, the tenderness, the elegant genius of Ossian ; the mercenary chiefs who, from motivs of fear or interest, served under the Imperial standard, with the freeborn warriors who started to arms at the voice of the king of Morven ; if, in a word, we contemplated the untutored Caledonians, glowing with the warm virtues of nature, and the degenerate Romans, polluted with the mean vices of wealth and slavery. The declining health and last illness of Severus inof Cara- flamed the wild ambition and black passions of Caracalla's soul. Impatient of any delay or division of empire, he attempted, more than once, to shorten the small remainder of his father's days, and endeavoured, but without success, to excite a mutiny among the troops15. The old emperor had often censured the misguided lenity of Marcus, who, by a single act of justice, might have saved the Romans from the tyranny of his worthless son. Placed in the same situation, he experienced how easily the rigour of a judge dissolves away in the tenderness of a parent. He deliberated, he threatened, but he could not punish; and this last and only instance of mercy, was more fatal to the empire than a long series of cruelty16. The disorder of his mind irritated the pains of his body; he wished impatiently for death, and hastened the instant of it by his impatience. He Death of expired at York in the sixty-fifth year of his life, and Sexerus, in the eighteenth of a glorious and successful reign. sion of his In his last moments he recommended concord to his two sons, sons and his sons to the army. The salutary advice 4th Febru- never reached the heart, or even the understanding, of the impetuous youths; but the more obedient troops, and acces A. D. 811. ary. 15 Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1282. Hist. August. p. 71, Aurel Victor. VI. mindful of their oath of allegiance, and of the autho- CHAP. rity of their deceased master, resisted the solicitations of Caracalla, and proclaimed both brothers emperors of Rome. The new princes soon left the Caledonians in peace, returned to the capital, celebrated their father's funeral with divine honours, and were cheerfully acknowledged as lawful sovereigns, by the senate, the people, and the provinces. Some pre-eminence of rank seems to have been allowed to the elder brother, but they both administered the empire with equal and independent power1. of the two Such a divided form of government would have Jealousy proved a source of discord between the most affection- and hatred ate brothers. It was impossible that it could long emperors. subsist between two implacable enemies, who neither desired nor could trust a reconciliation. It was visible that one only could reign, and that the other must fall; and each of them judging of his rival's designs by his own, guarded his life with the most jealous vigilance from the repeated attacks of poison or the sword. Their rapid journey through Gaul and Italy, during which they never eat at the same table, or slept in the same house, displayed to the provinces the odious spectacle of fraternal discord. On their arrival at Rome, they immediately divided the vast extent of the Imperial palace18. No communication was allowed between their apartments; the doors and passages were diligently fortified, and guards posted and relieved with the same strictness as in a besieged place. The 17 Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1284. Herodian, 1. iii. p. 135. 18 Mr. Hume is justly surprised at a passage in Herodian, (1. iv. p. 139.) who, on this occasion, represents the Imperial palace, as equal in extent to the rest of Rome. The whole region of the Palatine Mount on which it was built, occupied, at most, a circumference of eleven or twelve thousand feet (see the Notitia and Victor, in Nardini's Roma Antica). But we should recollect that the opulent senators had almost surrounded the city with their extensive gardens and superb palaces, the greatest part of which had been gradually confiscated by the emperors. If Geta resided in the gardens that bore his name on the Janiculum; and if Caracalla inhabited the gardens of Mæcenas on the Esqueline, the rival brothers were separated from each other by the distance of several miles; and yet the intermediate space was filled by the Imperial gardens of Sallust, of Lucullus, of Agrippa, of Domitian, of Caius, &c. all skirting round the city, and all connected with each other, and with the palace, by bridges thrown over the Tiber and the streets. But this explanation of Herodian would require, though it ill de. serves, a particular dissertation, illustrated by a map of ancient Rome. VI. CHAP. emperors met only in public, in the presence of their afflicted mother; and each surrounded by a numerous train of armed followers. Even on these occasions of ceremony, the dissimulation of courts could ill disguise the rancour of their hearts19. Fruitless between them. This latent civil war already distracted the whole negotiafor government, when a scheme was suggested that seemdividing ed of mutual benefit to the hostile brothers. It was the empire proposed, that since it was impossible to reconcile their minds, they should separate their interest, and divide the empire between them. The conditions of the treaty were already drawn with some accuracy. It was agreed, that Caracalla, as the elder brother, should remain in possession of Europe and the western Africa; and that he should relinquish the sovereignty of Asia and Egypt to Geta, who might fix his residence at Alexandria or Antioch, cities little inferior to Rome itself in wealth and greatness; that numerous armies should be constantly encamped on either side of the Thracian Bosphorus, to guard the frontiers of the rival monarchies; and that the senators of European extraction should acknowledge the sovereign of Rome, whilst the natives of Asia followed the emperor of the East. The tears of the empress Julia interrupted the negotiation, the first idea of which had filled every Roman breast with surprise and indignation. The mighty mass of conquest was so intimately united by the hand of time and policy, that it required the most forcible violence to rend it asunder. The Romans had reason to dread, that the disjointed members would soon be reduced by a civil war under the dominion of one master; but if the separation was permanent, the division of the provinces must terminate in the dissolution of an empire whose unity had hitherto renrained inviolate20. Murder of Geta. 27th Fe A. D. 212. bruary Had the treaty been carried into execution, the sovereign of Europe might soon have been the conqueror of Asia; but Caracalia obtained an easier though a more guilty victory. He artfully listened to his mother's entreaties, and consented to meet his brother in her 19 Herodian, I. iv. p. 139, 20 Herodian, I. iv. p. 144. VI. apartment, on terms of peace and reconciliation. In CHAP. the midst of their conversation, some centurions, who had contrived to conceal themselves, rushed with drawn swords upon the unfortunate Geta. His distracted mother strove to protect him in her arms; but, in the unavailing struggle, she was wounded in the hand, and covered with the blood of her younger son, while she saw the elder animating and assisting the fury of the assassins. As soon as the deed was perpetrated, Caracalla, with hasty steps, and horror in his countenance, ran towards the Prætorian camp as his only refuge, and threw himself on the ground before the statues of the tutelar deities22. The soldiers attempted to raise and comfort him. In broken and disordered words, he informed them of his imminent danger and fortunate escape; insinuating that he had prevented the designs of his enemy, and declared his resolution to live and die with his faithful troops. Geta had been the favourite of the soldiers; but complaint was useless, revenge was dangerous, and they still reverenced the son of Severus. Their discontent died away in idle murmurs, and Caracalla soon convinced them of the justness of his cause, by distributing in one lavish donative the accumulated treasures of his father's reign23. The real sentiments of the soldiers alone were of importance to his power or safety. Their declaration in his favour, commanded the dutiful professions of the senate. The obsequious assembly was always prepared to ratify the decision of fortune; but as Caracalla wished to assuage the first emotions of public indignation, the name of Geta was mentioned with decency, and he received the funeral honours of a Roman emperor24. Posterity, in pity to his misfortune, 21 Caracalla consecrated in the temple of Serapis the sword, with which, as he boasted, he had slain his brother Geta. Dion, 1. Ixxvii. p. 1307. 22 Herodian, 1. iv. p. 147. In every Roman camp there was a small chapel near the head quarters, in which the statues of the tutelar deities were preserved and adored; and we may remark, that the eagles, and other military ensigns, were in the first rank of these deities: an excellent institution, which confirmed discipline by the sanction of religion. See Lipsius de Militiâ Romanâ, iv. 5. v. 2. 23 Herodian, 1. iv. p. 148. Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1289. 24 Geta was placed among the gods. Sit divus, dum non sit vivus, said his brother. Hist. August. p. 91. Some marks of Geta's consecration are still found upon medals. |