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Such is a condensed summary of the Augustan history during the period about the middle of which Philostratus published his life of Apollonius; it includes the lives of princes who, with the exception of the first, were below the ordinary average of men. And yet during this same period the empire remained comparatively tranquil, and passed without any noticeable convulsion into an entirely new era. It was in Caracalla's time that this very serious transformation was effected, which had long been dreamt of and intended by the imperial aristocracy, viz., that all who were freemen in the state should be created Roman citizens. It was the final blow to the old Roman commonwealth. From that time forth Rome became the conquest of the provinces. The religious universalism which is so main a feature in the teachings of Apollonius has its counterpart in the political universalism the introduction of which has given to the obtuse-minded Caracalla a position in history which he was far from anticipating; at the same time, however, when the true character of this period is closely examined,