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History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1

Edward Gibbon · 1782 (Written); 1845 (Revised)

passage 156 of 518 · Chapter I: The Extent Of The Empire In The Age Of The > Chapter VI: Death Of Severus, Tyranny Of Caracalla, Usurpation Of (8/8)

in brief
Caracalla’s guilt drives further violence: he eliminates people connected to Geta through terror and executions, silences Julia, and executes numerous nobles under the broad label “friends of Geta.”

25 (return) [ Dion, l. lxxvii. p. 1307]

251 (return) [ The most valuable paragraph of dion, which the industry of M. Manas recovered, relates to this daughter of Marcus, executed by Caracalla. Her name, as appears from Fronto, as well as from Dion, was Cornificia. When commanded to choose the kind of death she was to suffer, she burst into womanish tears; but remembering her father Marcus, she thus spoke:—“O my hapless soul, (... animula,) now imprisoned in the body, burst forth! be free! show them, however reluctant to believe it, that thou art the daughter of Marcus.” She then laid aside all her ornaments, and preparing herself for death, ordered her veins to be opened. Mai. Fragm. Vatican ii p. 220.—M.]

26 (return) [ Dion, l. lxxvii. p. 1290. Herodian, l. iv. p. 150. Dion (p. 2298) says, that the comic poets no longer durst employ the name of Geta in their plays, and that the estates of those who mentioned it in their testaments were confiscated.]

27 (return) [ Caracalla had assumed the names of several conquered nations; Pertinax observed, that the name of Geticus (he had obtained some advantage over the Goths, or Getæ) would be a proper addition to Parthieus, Alemannicus, &c. Hist. August. p. 89.]

28 (return) [ Dion, l. lxxvii. p. 1291. He was probably descended from Helvidius Priscus, and Thrasea Pætus, those patriots, whose firm, but useless and unseasonable, virtue has been immortalized by Tacitus. Note: M. Guizot is indignant at this “cold” observation of Gibbon on the noble character of Thrasea; but he admits that his virtue was useless to the public, and unseasonable amidst the vices of his age.—M.]

281 (return) [ Caracalla reproached all those who demanded no favors of him. “It is clear that if you make me no requests, you do not trust me; if you do not trust me, you suspect me; if you suspect me, you fear me; if you fear me, you hate me.” And forthwith he condemned them as conspirators, a good specimen of the sorites in a tyrant’s logic. See Fragm. Vatican p.—M.]

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topics: corruption, patronage, and bribery · crime and punishment · treason and sedition

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1 · Edward Gibbon · 1782–1845