every art, and the friend of every
man of genius. The grateful flattery of the learned has celebrated her
virtues; but, if we may credit the scandal of ancient history, chastity
was very far from being the most conspicuous virtue of the empress
Julia.

Two sons, Caracalla and Geta, were the fruit 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 fomented by the arts of their
interested favorites, 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 endeavored, by every
expedient of advice and authority, to allay this growing animosity. The
unhappy discord of his sons clouded all his prospects, and threatened
to overturn a throne raised with so much labor, 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 favor,
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.

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 honorable 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