Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/186

CHAP. VI.
_____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 every 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 to be immediately thrown down. The most wealthy families were ruined by partial fines and confiscations ; and the great body of his subjects oppressed by ingenious and aggravated taxes^[1]. In the midst of peace, and upon the slightest provocation, he issued his commands, at Alexandria in Egypt, for a general massacre. From a secure post in the temple of Serapis, he viewed and directed the slaughter of many thousand citizens, as well as strangers, without distinguishing either the number or the crime of the sufferers; since, as he co'olly informed the senate, all the Alexandrians, those who had perished and those who had escaped, were alike guilty^[2].

Relaxation of discipline.The wise instructions of Severus never made any lasting impression on the mind of his son ; who, although not destitute of imagination and eloquence, was equally devoid of judgement and humanity^[3]. One dangerous maxim, worthy of a tyrant, was remembered and abused by Caracalla, " To secure the affections of the army, and to esteem the rest of his subjects as of little moment^[4] ." But the liberality of the father had been restrained by prudence, and his indulgence to the troops was tempered by firmness and authority. The careless

1. Dion,l. Ixxvii.p. 1294.
2. Dion, 1. Ixxvii. p. 1307 ; Herodian, 1. iv. p. 158. The former represents it as a cruel massacre, the latter as a perfidious one too. It seems probable, that the Alexandrians had irritated the tyrant by their railleries, and perhaps by their tumults.
3. Dion, 1. Ixxvii. p. 1296.
4. Dion, 1. Ixxvi. p. 1284. Mr. Wotton (Hist, of Rome, p. 330.) suspects that this maxim was invented by Caracalla himself, and attributed to his father.