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Biography.

From

A. D.

217. Accession of Caracalla

MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS CARACALLA

FROM A. D. 211 To 217.

Ir has been already mentioned, that the original name of this Emperor was Bassianus, derived from his maternal grandfather, who was Priest of Apollo, in a city of Phoenicia. When Severus had ascended the 211. Throne, and resolved to perpetuate the Crown in his to family, he made his eldest son relinquish an appellation which denoted the humble, and even obscure, lineage from which he drew his blood, and assume the noble and of Geta, and respected names of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, which were associated in the mind of every Roman with the happiness and glory of the Empire. It was from the fancy which the young Prince manifested for a particular robe of Gaulish manufacture that the cognomen arose by which he is most commonly known in History. He not only used it himself, but recommended it to the Soldiers, and even distributed it among the inhabitants of Rome; whence, as the national name of the gown in question was Caracalla, the wit or contempt of the Capital designated the young Monarch by a reference to his favourite dress. A similar proof of his frivolous disposition drew upon him the nickname of Tarantus, which was borrowed from a famous Gladiator, whose reputation the heir of Severus valued more highly than the renown of all his father's victories in the East and in the West.*

Their dis

cord.

lacter

Deta

The late Emperor continued to cherish the groundless hope that his two sons, whom he invested with an equal and joint authority, would administer the Government with mutual affection, and a due regard to the interests of the Commonwealth; a proof that his natural acuteness failed him in the most important concern of his whole life, or that his partiality for two very unpromising youths had more weight in his decision than the peace and prosperity of half the globe. Such a divided rule, it has been well observed, would probably have proved a source of discord between the kindest brothers: it was therefore impossible that it could long subsist between two implacable enemies, who had no desire to accomplish either a reconciliation or even a compromise. Both seemed to be impressed with the conviction that only one could reign, and that the other must fall; and each of them, judging of his rival's designs by the sentiments which filled his own breast, thought it necessary to guard his life with the most unremitting vigilance. Herodian tells us, that during their journey from Britain to Rome, they neither lodged in the same house nor eat at the same table; and that when they arrived in the Capital, they divided between them the Imperial Palace, shutting up all communications which might connect their several apartments, and placing Guards at their doors, as if the City had been threatened by an invading Army.

Caracalla, even before the obsequies of his father were duly performed, wrought upon the avarice of the

* Spartian. in Caracall. c. 9. Herodian. lib. ix. Dion Cassius, Epitom. p. 344.

Marcus

Aurelius

Caracalla.

From

A. D. 211.

to

217.

Soldiers with the view of inducing them to declare for him alone, and to set aside his brother. But the Troops, attached to the memory of Severus, and respecting his Antoninus will in the destination of the Empire, rejected the proffered bribes; looking upon themselves as the proper guardians of the two Princes, to whom they owed an equal allegiance and affection. Geta tried other arts to supplant his more boisterous colleague. He had recourse to smooth speeches and plausible professions; and as he was naturally of a mild and, apparently, an open disposition, he did not fail to secure a great number of partisans. He inherited his father's taste for Learning, promoted the study of the liberal Sciences, and in all his amusements encouraged only such exercises as became a man of rank and refinement. Caracalla, on the other hand, was harsh and brutal, extremely passionate, and always more desirous to be feared than to be loved. He affected the airs of a rough soldier; and while others praised the pursuits of Art or of Literature, he thundered out his approbation of war and arms.

In a case where interests and dispositions were so The Princes diametrically opposed, it was in vain to expect the propose to restoration of harmony. All the efforts of Julia proved divide the unavailing; her entreaties and her tears were despised; Empire. and she at length began to perceive that the enmity which embroiled the Palace and divided the Army, could not be extinguished but by the death or distant separation of the two brothers. It is, therefore, surprising that she should have opposed herself to the only expedient which could have removed her apprehensions respecting the fate of her sons. Fatigued with their incessant quarrels, the young men themselves proposed to divide the Empire, and to establish their Thrones in different seats of Government. Geta declared that he would be satisfied with Egypt and the Asiatic Provinces, and would fix his residence at Alexandria or Antioch. The Propontis, a natural boundary between the East and the West, was to have fixed the limits of their respective dominions, while garrisons at Byzantium and Chalcedon would have been charged with the duty of preventing all such communication as might have endangered the repose of either Country.

But the dismemberment of the Roman Empire was Prevented opposed not only by Julia, who compared it to the dis- by Julia. section of her own body, but it was likewise deprecated by the chief persons in the Commonwealth, who foresaw, in its division, the seeds of weakness and mutual distrust. Disappointed in this project, which the feelings of his subjects were not prepared to adopt, Caracalla resolved to rid himself of his colleague by means less scrupulous. He solicited an interview with his brother in the chamber of their common parent; where, by the hands of assassins, whom he had con- Geta is cealed for the purpose, he put him to death, notwith- murdered. standing the shrieks and struggles of the Empress, who had clasped her unfortunate child in her arms.

She 15

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Caracalla gains the

This compulsory dissimulation on the part of Julia was necessary to accomplish the object which Caracalla Prætorians. had yet in view. Geta, he knew well, possessed a firm hold upon the affections of the Army: on which account he determined to have recourse to stratagem, in order to divert their resentment until he should have an opportunity of addressing himself with flattery and an extraordinary largess to their vanity and avarice. Rushing out of his mother's apartment with an air of assumed terror, he exclaimed, that he had just escaped from the most imminent danger, and had with difficulty saved his life. Summoning his Guards to attend him, he proceeded to the Camp of the Prætorians, where he returned thanks to the Gods for his miraculous escape, and entreated the wondering Soldiers to join with him in offering up sacrifice to Heaven for the continued preservation of the Empire. He intimated, indeed, that his brother had not been as for tunate as himself; but congratulated them that one Emperor still lived, ready to promote their interest and increase their conforts. He promised them a donative of ten thousand sesterces a man, doubled their daily allowance of provisions, and professed that the pleasure of his whole life would be to live amongst them, and his greatest honour to die in their ranks.t

The Senate listens to

The mercenary Prætorians could not resist such arguments as these. After passing a night in the his defence. Camp, which he pretended to regard as the only place of safety, the Emperor convoked the Senate, to whom he delivered a speech, full of deceit and prevarication, relative to the event which had spread among the Citizens so much fear and sorrow. He complained that his brother had laid snares to take away his life; and, accordingly, represented the death of Geta as an act of self-defence which could not be avoided, inasmuch as he was compelled to choose the painful alternative of removing a rival by violent means, or of falling himself a victim to a similar resolution. His auditors were far from being satisfied either with his motives or his reasoning; but having, perhaps, anticipated such a result, and being sensible that the Government could not have been conducted advantageously by two Princes whose sole study it was to oppose each other's views, they listened to the statement of Caracalla without any expression of impatience Apotheosis or of disapprobation. It was suggested to him, however, that in order to soothe the feelings of the People, and to atone, in some measure, for the crime to which Political necessity had urged him, he should honour the memory of his brother with the usual apotheosis conferred upon deceased members of the Imperial Family. The consent of this unworthy son of Severus was characteristic of his fierce and contemptuous disposition. "Let him be a God," he exclaimed, "provided he does not come alive again!" In pity to the misfortunes of

of Geta.

Herodian. lib. iii. Dion Cassius. Epitom. Xiphilin. p. 345. Spartian. in Get. p. 5, 6.

Dion Cassius, Epitom. p. 352. Herodian. lib. iv.

Antoninus Caracalla.

Geta, posterity has cast a veil over his vices. That Marcus young Prince has been considered as the innocent vic- Aurelius tim of his brother's ambition, without a recollection that he himself wanted power rather than inclination to consummate a crime similar to that by which he was destroyed.*

From

A. D. 211.

to 217.

Caracalla.

The subsequent conduct of Caracalla is marked by so many features of extravagance, that it is impossible to account for it without the supposition of occasional insanity. His conscience appears to have been haunted Extravaby the most frightful phantoms; and he confessed that gauce and he often saw the indignant shades of his father and cruelty of brother pursuing him with angry looks, and threatening him with the severest punishment for his cruelty and disobedience. His remorse for the murder of Geta frequently melted him to tears; and while the fit of compunction was on him, he was wont to issue orders to put to immediate death certain of the individuals who had been concerned in that atrocious deed. Lætus, who is understood to have approved his determination to reign alone, was among the first who fell victims to his repentance. But, with the inconsistency of a madman and a tyrant, he embrued his hands deeply in the blood of those who were known to have been attached to Geta. Dion Cassius relates, that about twenty thousand persons, against whom no other charge could be brought than that they had been friends or dependents of the Emperor's brother, were condemned to death in some one of the various forms in which it pleased Caracalla to inflict it. In this miserable proscription were included all who had served the Prince, in a public or in a private capacity; his Guards, his Freedmen, his Counsellors, the Officers whom he had promoted, and the Commanders whom he had employed. Virtue could not protect, nor could obscurity conceal the victims; and both sexes were equally exposed to the fatal resentment of the unfeeling and capricious despot.†

Among the thousands whose unmerited fate signa- Death of lized this reign of terror, a conspicuous place has been Papinianus. assigned by Historians to Papinianus, whose death was lamented as a public calamity. During the latter years of Severus, this distinguished person exercised some of the most important offices of the State, and by his judicious advice kept the tenour of Government within the limits of justice and moderation. Relying upon his virtues and ability, the Emperor, when on his deathbed, entreated him to continue his services for the welfare of the Commonwealth, and for the benefit of the Imperial Family. But Caracalla endured with impatience the influence of a character which controlled his own, and seemed more disposed, in all matters of public interest, to lead than to follow. In truth, the more assiduously Papinianus laboured for the good of the community, the more did he become an object of hatred to the jealous spirit of his master. He was deprived of the important office of Prætorian Præfect, and divested of all military rank and authority. But as he was not less eminent as an orator and a constitutional lawyer than he was at the head of an Army, the Emperor applied to him immediately after the assassination of Geta, to compose such a defence or apology for that nefarious deed as he might pronounce before

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From A. D. 211

to

Biography, the Senate. The generous Roman made answer, that it was much more easy to commit a murder than to justify it; and that to assail the memory of the murdered person, was nothing better than to commit the crime a second time. Such freedom could not be pardoned at the Court of Caracalla. The wrath which he had excited was only to be appeased with his blood; and, accordingly, a short time afterwards, the intrepid Commander was put to death, together with his son, who had risen to the rank of Questor, and who could be charged with no other offence but that of imitating his father's virtues.*

217.

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cover his cruel intentions with the most consummate hypocrisy. For example, although he had resolved on the death of Fabius Cilo, he was compelled by popular indignation to relinquish his intentions, and even to applaud the excellence which he had wished to remove from his sight. Cilo had been one of the dearest friends of Severus; had served twice as Consul; and having been appointed to superintend the education of the two Princes, Caracalla affected to honour him as a second father. For these reasons, though he hated him as a monitor who had often reproved his vices, and blamed his conduct towards his brother, he could not openly give orders to put him to death. But a party of his devoted Prætorians, who were no strangers to his wishes, determined, by anticipating his commands, to earn a claim upon his liberality. Stimulated, as it were, by voluntary zeal in behalf of their Chief, they seized Cilo while in the bath, plundered his house, and dragged him, with the utmost violence, through the streets, towards the residence of the Emperor. The sight of such indignity inflicted on so good a man, roused the inhabitants to sedition. The City Cohorts, in particular, whom he had commanded, assumed in his defence an air of so much determination, that Caracalla found it expedient to leave the Palace in order to calm the tumult, and protect his venerable tutor. He threw his own robe round the naked body of Cilo, commanded the soldiers to desist from their meditated crime, and directed that they should be punished with death for proceeding so far without his authority. The Prætorians met their doom, says a native Annalist, not because they had assaulted the ancient friend of Severus, but because they did not despatch him when he was in their power.†

The reader of History cannot fail to regret, that the cruelties of records of the Roman Empire, for the period now Caracalla. under our consideration, are so closely connected with the personal character of its rulers; or rather, indeed, that the events which stand most prominently forward may be identified with the caprice, the extravagance, and the cruelty of the Sovereign. But as such details are neither agreeable nor instructive, we shall not enter into them with the minute diligence of Spartianus and Dion Cassius. It cannot be interesting to any one to know that Caracalla condemned to death an aged lady, sister of Commodus and daughter of Marcus Aurelius, merely because she mixed her tears with those of the Empress Julia upon the murder of Geta. Nor can it be more gratifying to learn, that

Spartian. in Caracall. c. 5. Dion Cassius, Epitom. lib. lxxvii. Spartian. in Caracall. c. 3, 4; in Sever. c. 21; in Get. c. 6,

VOL. XI.

Caracalla.

From

A. D. 211.

to

217.

he took away the life of his own cousin, because Marcus his name was Severus. In this instance, indeed, Aurelius he added the most contemptible duplicity to his in- Antoninus humanity. He sent to him a dish from the Imperial table as a mark of his respect and friendship, and next morning gave orders for his immediate death. Pertinax, a son of the Emperor of the same name, owed his destruction to an ill-timed joke. Being in the Senatehouse on one occasion when the Prætor rehearsed the titles which Caracalla had been pleased to assume, and hearing the epithets of Sarmaticus and Parthicus, with others denoting foreign conquest, annexed to the Imperial designation, he suggested that they should add the more striking honour of Geticus; an expression which was at once applicable to the Geta, a people with whom the Romans had been at war, and to the unfortunate youth who had recently shared the Empire. Pertinax, who was at no time a favourite, paid for this witticism with the loss of his head.*

war on the

Fortunately for Rome, her inhuman master was at The Emlength seized with the desire of martial renown, and peror leaves resolved to conduct the Legions in person against the Rome, an engages in Barbarians beyond the Rhine. The occurrences of the war which ensued are very obscurely related; but it Rhine. admits not of doubt, that, by means of the most abominable treachery, he succeeded in perpetrating an extensive massacre among the Alemanni; a valiant Tribe, whom he himself acknowledged he could not otherwise subdue. Another horde, to whom Dion Cassius gives the name of Catti, admonished, perhaps, by the fate of their neighbours, defended themselves with so much bravery that Caracalla was glad to purchase, with a large sum of money, permission to retreat. Defeated by the men, he took revenge upon some females who had fallen into his hands, and who, though they preferred death to servitude, were all sold for slaves. He reaped no other fruit from his German expedition than the contempt of the natives, who plainly saw, through all his pompous boastings, the cowardice and perfidy of his real character. The Barbarians still more remote, encouraged by his imbecility, menaced him with war; finding that, though he threatened them with utter extermination, he did not disdain to solicit their forbearance, and even to bribe them into peace.†

From the banks of the Rhine, Caracalla pursued his Proceeds to warlike career to the borders of the Danube; where he the Danube, and provoked the enmity of the Goths, whose manners passes and into Asia arms were at that time new to the Romans, and received Minor. hostages from the Dacians, who wished to avoid hostilities. Passing through Thrace, he arrived at the shores of the Hellespont; after which he sailed for Asia Minor, with the view of visiting Troy, and of doing honour to the heroes who had perished under its walls. He erected a statue to Achilles, and offered up libations upon his tomb. Smitten with disease, both in body and mind, he repaired to Pergamos, where there was a magnificent Temple of Esculapius, celebrated for the wonderful cures performed in it by the influence of that God. The effects of dissipation, and the disorders of an intellect which had never been well balanced, were ascribed to the incantations of the Germans, who, as his flatterers insinuated, being unable to oppose him in the field of battle, had sought their revenge in magic

*Spartian. in Caracall, c. 10.

Dion Cassius, Epitom, Xiphilin, p. 353. Herodian. lib. iv.

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Prepares to During a winter spent at Nicomedia, he made great invade the preparations for invading the Parthians and Armenians, Parthians. who, it was acknowledged, had given him no provocation, and were even averse to war. The former People had recently lost their King, and were exposed at that moment to all the disadvantages which attend a disputed succession. The Crown was claimed by two brothers, one of whom, Artabanes, obtained the ascendency; and being unwilling to hazard his acquisition in a doubtful war with the Romans, he complied with the conditions prescribed by Caracalla, and was allowed to occupy the Throne of his father as a vassal of the great Western Empire.

Treachery to the Kings of Edessa and Armenia.

Boasts of his duplicity.

The advantage which Caracalla thus took of the circumstances in which the Parthian Prince found himself involved, might, perhaps, be justified by the example of better men, and might find an apology in the motives upon which Sovereigns too frequently go to war. But his conduct towards the Kings of Edessa and Armenia admits not of excuse on any principle recognised among civilized nations. He invited the former, whose name was Abgarus, to meet him at Antioch, to consult on matters connected with their common interest; and as soon as he had him in his power he loaded him with chains, and seized upon his territory. In a similar manner he entrapped the Armenian King, who, with his two sons, was detained as a prisoner while a body of troops was sent to take possession of his land. But the people of that Country, more numerous and warlike than the subjects of Abgarus, flew to arms in order to defend their property, and to avenge the injuries inflicted upon their Monarch. In a battle which soon followed, they repulsed, with great slaughter, the Roman Army which Caracalla had despatched against them, and compelled his feeble General to fall back upon Syria with the remainder of his broken and dispirited forces.

Though the perfidy of the Emperor recoiled upon his own head, and involved him in disgrace which could not have occurred in an open and honourable war, he nevertheless took credit to himself for unbounded success and the most manly exploits. In a Letter to the Senate, he boasted of his triumph in having reconquered the East, and of his personal exertions in defying the effects of climate, and the obstacles of seas and mountains; reproaching, at the same time, the Members of that illustrious Council with their effeminacy and idleness, so unworthy of Romans, and of the glory which continued to follow their arms. It was perfectly well known, meanwhile, that the author of this boastful Epistle never saw an enemy in the field, but that, while his Lieutenants were ravaging one district, or retreating with shame from another, he was wallowing in the luxuries of Antioch, or seeking remedies for his bodily distempers.

Caracalla is The cruelty and deceit with which he treated foreign incensed at Princes, were in a short time surpassed by the barthe people barities which he exercised upon the Citizens of Alexandria. His person and pretensions excited the ridicule

of Alexandria.

Dion Cassius, Epitom.. Xiphilin, p. 354.

of that facetious People; who, finding that he aspired to the fame of Achilles in respect of strength and beauty, and to the renown of Alexander the Great as a conqueror, could not repress their merriment when they saw in Caracalla a deformed figure of very small stature, and learned that his courage had never been shown, except in the murder of his friends and relatives. Their unseasonable wit sought vent even in the theatres and public places. Eteocles and Polynices were produced as types of Caracalla and Geta; and Julia, the mother of these last, was alluded to under the name of Jocasta.

rant.

Marcus
Aurelius

Autoninus
Caracalla.

From

A. D. 211.

to

217.

But they soon discovered reason to repent the li- Visits that berties which they had taken with the ferocious Ty- city. He announced his intention of repeating his visit, that he might at more leisure examine their works of Art, and do honour to the genius and patriotic views of their immortal founders. Forgetting the ground of offence which they had given him, or hoping that it had altogether passed away from his mind, they made preparations to receive him with the utmost joy and magnificence. Concerts of music, illuminations, perfumes, garlands of flowers, and crowns of gold, were lavished with profusion. The sullen, vindictive Monarch appeared to receive these tokens of loyalty with entire satisfaction. He went first to the Temple of Serapis, where he sacrificed whole hecatombs, and burnt a prodigious quantity of incense upon the altar. He next repaired to the Tomb of Alexander, where he made an offering still more costly, and not less flattering to the vanity of those who witnessed it. He pulled off his Imperial robe, which was composed of the richest materials, his belt, which was covered with precious stones, and all the rings which were upon his fingers; and placing them on the coffin, or urn, which contained the ashes of the hero, devoted them to the memory of the greatest Warrior that any Age had produced, and whom he of all Commanders admired the most.*

The scene which followed was truly horrible, but as Massacre of Dion Cassius and Herodian differ materially in the the inhabidetails, there is ground to suspect that the narrative tants. has been much exaggerated. According to the latter, Caracalla pretended a desire to form an Alexandrian phalanx, after the model of the famous Macedonian Body; and in pursuance of this object, he assembled all the young men of the city in a plain adjoining to the walls, where he surrounded them with his troops, and put them all to death. Dion Cassius makes no mention of this atrocious slaughter, but merely relates that the Emperor first murdered the most eminent of the citizens, who had waited upon him on his arrival, and whom he had invited to his table; that the Soldiers afterwards spread themselves all over the city, and killed without distinction every person whom they found, of whatever age or sex; and that the massacre was so extensive that even Caracalla thought it necessary to conceal or diminish the number of the slain. It is said that he feasted his eyes with the sight from the summit of the Temple of Serapis, whence, from time to time, he sent orders to the Tribunes to increase the activity of the assassins. It was on this occasion, if Herodian is to be believed, that he consecrated to Serapis the dagger with which he had murdered his brother.†

*Spartian. in Caracall. c. 6. Herodian. lib. iv.

Herodiau. lib. iv. Spartian. in. Caracall. c. 6. Dion Cassius,

Epitom.

From A. D. 211.

to

217. Returns

the Parthian war.

Biography. Resuming the intention of an Eastern campaign, he returned into Syria; but as he was at peace with all the nations which bordered on the Roman Province, it was necessary to create a pretext for a quarrel before he could march his Army into their country. With that view, he demanded in marriage a daughter of the King of Parthia, in the hope that she would be refused, and into Syria, thereby justify an appeal to arms, or in the prospect, if and renews his request were granted, of having a right to dictate in all affairs of Government. Herodian states, that though the projected marriage was contrary to the established customs of the Romans as well as to those of the Parthians, Artabanes, after considerable hesitation, at length agreed to it. But the authority of Dion, in this instance, seems entitled to greater confidence. He assures us that the Parthian King, seeing through the unjust and ambitious designs of Caracalla, resolutely declined to sanction an alliance the consequence of which, he predicted, could not fail to prove both fatal and disgraceful to his subjects. The Legions were therefore pushed forward into Mesopotamia without loss of time; and finding the low country of Parthia quite unprotected, they carried devastation over the greater part of it, plundering the cities, and destroying every monument of art and of independence. In the neighbourhood of the Capital, the Emperor observed some Royal Sepulchres, which he caused to be thrown open, and gratified his paltry resentment by scattering to the wind the dust of several generations of the Arsacidæ.

The King of Parthia had retreated beyond the Tigris, and taken possession of a line of strong posts, whereon he resolved to collect the military forces of his Country, and to descend thence, like a storm, upon the Romans in the following Spring. Meanwhile, Caracalla fell back upon Edessa, a town in Syria, to spend the winter in the voluptuous living peculiar to the Orientals, to write magnificent Letters to the Senate descriptive of his victories, and to prepare his Troops for a renewal of their conquests. But the career of his boasting and Is as folly was now near an end. The author of his death nated by was Macrinus, one of the Prætorian Præfects, whose Martialis, hatred he had provoked by many contumelies, and whose aspiring disposition had alarmed his jealousy. This Commander, aware of the danger with which he was surrounded, resolved to anticipate the designs of his suspicious master; for which purpose he applied to Martialis, an Officer of the Guard, who had various reasons to be dissatisfied with Caracalla, and incited him, by the strongest motives of hope and of fear, to revenge his wrongs on the body of the tyrant. During a march, accordingly, which the latter, attended by a detachment of the Prætorians, undertook to Carrhæ, where he meant to offer up a sacrifice in the Temple of the Moon, Martialis, seizing an opportunity when the Emperor was quite alone, stabbed him with a poniard. The assassin was himself almost instantly put to death by a Scythian bowman belonging to the Imperial Guard, but not before he had the satisfaction of knowing that his personal enemy had breathed his last.*

Ex death

Unworthy and contemptible as Caracalla was, his ed by loss was nevertheless deeply regretted by a large porArmy. tion of the Army. The Prætorians, already increased in number from ten to fifty thousand, bewailed in him a constant benefactor; for although the son of Severus

• Dion Cassius, Epitom. p. 359. Spartian. in Caracall. c. 6, 7.

Marcus

Antoninus

From A. D. 211.

to

217.

was unprovided by nature with those qualities which
are necessary to form a successful Commander, he Aurelius
thirsted for military reputation with so strong an appe- Caracalla.
tite, as to place the main study and pleasure of his life
in the aggrandisement of the Soldiery, whom he was
pleased to regard as the instruments of his fame. The
desire which he manifested to be thought like Alexander
the Great, and to rival the exploits of that celebrated
conqueror, led him into a thousand absurdities. It
was not enough for him to form a Macedonian phalanx
of sixteen thousand men, all natives of Greece, and to
appoint Officers with names corresponding to those of
the Generals who served under the son of Philip. He
was not satisfied with copying the dress, the armour,
and the gait of his favourite warrior, and with erecting
to him innumerable statues in all parts of the Empire.
He thought it, moreover, incumbent upon him to per- His foolish
secute the Peripatetic School of Philosophy wherever a imitation of
single Member of it could be found, merely because a
rumour had reached his ears that Aristotle was privy
to the death of Alexander. The accusation itself is
admitted to have been an arrant calumny: but Cara-
calla thought otherwise; and in consequence of this
notion, he not only gave orders that all the Works of
that great Philosopher should be burnt; he farther
insisted that every individual who was known to hold
his opinions should be made responsible for the crime
with which his memory is charged, and accordingly he
issued instructions that the annual payments, and other
advantages, bestowed upon the Museum at Alexandria,
wherein the doctrines of the Stagyrite were inculcated,
should be forthwith discontinued.

Mistaking the real points of excellence in the cha-
racter which he was so desirous to imitate, he professed
to take a great delight in military exercises which he
did not understand; he dressed and armed himself
like the meanest of the Soldiers, mixed with them in
their labours, and shared with them the same food;
but as he chose for these manifestations of his zeal the
time of profound peace, or the security of a summer
encampment, his bustling activity had no other effect
than that of exciting derision. Herodian adds, that he
sometimes ground with his own hands the corn which
was selected to make his bread, then kneaded the dough,
baked it, and eat the fruit of his own toil. He conde-
scended, on other occasions, to act the part of an Ensign,
and carry on his shoulders the heaviest standards of the
Legions. In a word, he thought himself an Alexander
merely because he did the duty of a common soldier,
by working in the trenches; and imagined that he
could revive in his Army the Spartan discipline, by
tasting once or twice of coarse food, and by descending
from the necessary dignity of his high station.

Alexander

the Great.

Another bad consequence arising from his military His conaffectation, appeared in a marked contempt for Learning, tempt of and for all men of Letters. The peaceful pursuits of learning. the Student, and the abstract researches of the Philosopher, were regarded by him as an avowed dereliction of manhood; and on no occasion was he more delighted than when an opportunity occurred for expressing his deep and utter aversion from all the votaries of the Muses. He endeavoured to forget that he had ever heard the name of one of the Sciences, The Games of the Circus and the fights of wild beasts were his favourite studies; and he boasted that in one day, after taking a share in other combats, he had killed a hundred boars with his own hand.

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