lutary influence, guided the emperor's steps in
the paths of justice and moderation. In full assurance of his virtue and
abilities, Severus, on his death-bed, had conjured him to watch over
the prosperity and union of the Imperial family. The honest labors of
Papinian served only to inflame the hatred which Caracalla had already
conceived against his father's minister. After the murder of Geta, the
Praefect 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 Papinian; who did
not hesitate between the loss of life and that of honor. Such intrepid
virtue, which had escaped pure and unsullied from the intrigues 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.

It had hitherto been the peculiar felicity of the Romans, and in the
worst of times the consolation, 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 tyranny of Tiberius, Nero,
and Domitian, who resided almost constantly at Rome, or in the adjacent
was confined to the senatorial and equestrian orders. But Caracalla was
the common enemy of mankind. He left capital (and he never returned to
it) about a year 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 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 expense, 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 immediately thrown down. The most wealthy families ruined
by partial fines and confiscations, and the great body of his subjects
oppressed by ingenious and aggravated taxes. In the midst of peace, and
upon the slightest provocati