4 ([return])
[ Hist. August. p. 65.]
5 ([return])
[ Hist. August. p. 5.]
6 ([return])
[ Dion Cassius, l. lxxvii. p. 1304, 1314.]
7 ([return])
[ See a dissertation of Menage, at the end of his edition of Diogenes Lærtius, de Fœminis Philosophis.]
8 ([return])
[ Dion, l. lxxvi. p. 1285. Aurelius Victor.]
Two sons, Caracalla [9] 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.