On another occasion both were riding to meet the Caledonians for the purpose of receiving them and holding a conference about a truce, and Antoninus undertook to kill his father outright with his own hand.  They were going along on their horses, for Severus, although his feet were rather shrunken [Footnote:  Reading [Greek:  hypotetaekos] (suggestion of Boissevain, who does not regard Naber’s emendation, Mnemosyne, XVI, p. 113, as feasible).] by an ailment, nevertheless was on horseback himself and the rest of the army was following:  the enemy’s force, too, was likewise a spectator.  At this juncture, in the midst of the silence and order, Antoninus reined up his horse and drew his sword, apparently intending to strike his father in the back.  Seeing this, the other horsemen in the detachment raised a cry of alarm, which scared the son, so that he did nothing further.  Severus turned at their shout and saw the sword; however, he uttered not a syllable but ascended the tribunal, finished what he had to do, and returned to the general’s tent.  Then he called his son and Papinianus and Castor, ordered a sword to be placed within easy reach, and upbraided the youth for having dared to do such a thing at all and especially for having been on the point of committing so great a crime in the presence of all the allies and the enemy.  Finally he said:  “Now if you desire to slay me and have done, put an end to me here.  You are strong:  I am an old man and prostrate.  If you have no objection to this, but shrink from becoming my actual murderer, there stands by your side Papinianus the prefect, whom you may order to put me out of the way.  He will certainly do anything that you command, since you are emperor.”  Though he spoke in this fashion, he still did the plotter no harm, in spite of the fact that he had often blamed Marcus for not ending the life of Commodus and that he had himself often threatened his son with this treatment.  Such words, however, were invariably spoken in a fit of anger:  on this occasion he allowed his love of offspring to get the better of his love of country; yet in doing so he simply betrayed his other child, for he well knew what would happen.

[Sidenote:—­15—­] Upon another revolt of the inhabitants of the island he summoned the soldiers and bade them invade the rebels’ country, killing whomsoever they should encounter.  He added these verses: 

“Let none escape utter destruction At our hands.  Yea, whatso is found in the womb of the mother, Child unborn though it be, let it not escape utter destruction!” [Footnote:  Homer’s Iliad, VI, verse 57, with a slight change at the end.]

When this had been done and the Caledonians as well as the Maeatians revolted, he proceeded with preparations to make war upon them in person.  While he was thus engaged his sickness carried him off on the fourth of February. [Sidenote:  A.D. 211 (a.u. 964)] Antoninus, it is said, contributed something to the