Caracalla and Geta by Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1907

"After his father's death he went to the Praetorian Camp and complained there to the soldiers that his brother was forming a conspiracy against him. And so he had his brother slain in the Palace, giving orders to burn his body at once. He also said in the Camp that his brother had shown disrespect to their mother. To those who had killed his brother he rendered thanks publicly, and indeed he even gave them a bonus for being so loyal to him. Nevertheless, some of the soldiers at Alba received the news of Geta's death with anger, and all declared they had sworn allegiance to both the sons of Severus and ought to maintain it to both. They then closed the gates of the camp, and the Emperor was not admitted for a long time, and then not until he had quieted their anger, not only by bitter words about Geta and by bringing charges against him, but also by enormous sums of money, by means of which, as usual, the soldiers were placated. After this he returned to Rome and then attended a meeting of the senate, wearing a cuirass under his senator's robe and accompanied by an armed guard. He stationed this in a double line in the midst of the benches and so made a speech, in which, with a view to accusing his brother and excusing himself, he complained in a confused and incoherent manner about his brother's treachery. The senate received his speech with little favour, when he said that although he had granted his brother every indulgence and had in fact saved him from a conspiracy, yet Geta had formed a most dangerous plot against him and had made no return for his brotherly affection. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] After this speech he granted those who had been exiled or sent into banishment the right of returning to their fatherland.

From the senate he betook himself to the praetorians and spent the night in the Camp. The following day he proceeded to the Capitolium; here he spoke cordially to those whom he was planning to put to death and then went back to the Palace leaning on the arm of Papinian and of Cilo. Here he saw Geta's mother and some other women weeping for his brother's death, and he thereupon resolved to kill them; but he was deterred by thinking how this would merely add to the cruelty of having slain his brother. Laetus, however, he forced to commit suicide, sending him the poison himself; he had been the first to counsel the death of Geta and was himself the first to be killed. Afterwards, however, the Emperor frequently bewailed his death. Many others, too, who had been privy to Geta's murder were put to death, and likewise a man who paid honours to his portrait.

After this he gave orders that his cousin Afer should be killed, although on the previous day he had sent him a portion of food from his own table. Afer in fear of the assassins threw himself from a window and crawled away to his wife with a broken leg, but he was none the less seized by the murderers, who ridiculed him and put him to death. Pompeianus too was killed, the grandson of the Emperor Marcus, — he was the son of his daughter and that Pompeianus who was married to Lucilla after the death of the Emperor Verus and made consul twice by Marcus and placed in command of all the most important wars of the time — and he was killed in such a way as to seem to have been murdered by robbers. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] Next, in the Emperor's own presence, Papinian was struck with an axe by some soldiers and so slain. Whereupon the Emperor said to the slayer, "You should have used a sword in carrying out my command." Patruinus, too, was slain by his order, and that in front of the Temple of the Deified Pius, and his body as well as Papinian's were dragged about through the streets without any regard for decency. Also Papinian's son was killed, who was a quaestor and only three days before had given a lavish spectacle. During this same time there were slain men without number, all of whom had favoured the cause of Geta, and even the freedmen were slain who had managed Geta's affairs. Then there was a slaughtering in all manner of places. Even in the public baths there was slaughter, and some too were killed while dining, among them Sammonicus Serenus, many of whose books dealing with learned subjects are still in circulation. Cilo, moreover, twice prefect and consul, incurred the utmost danger merely because he had counselled harmony between the brothers. For not until after the city-soldiers had seized Cilo, tearing off his senator's robe and pulling off his boots, did Antoninus check their violence. After this he committed many further murders in the city, causing many persons far and wide to be seized by soldiers and killed, as though he were punishing a rebellion. He put to death Helvius Pertinax, substitute consul, for no other reason than because he was the son of an emperor, and he would never hesitate, whenever an opportunity presented itself, to put to death those who had been his brother's friends."

-Historia Augusta, The Life of Antoninus Caracalla: Sections 2-4

Caracalla and Geta by Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1907. 123×154 cm. Private collection.

Source:

https://artchive.ru/en/almatadema/works/339728~Caracalla_and_Geta

 

Quote:

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Caracalla*.html