12. The emperor seemed inclined to pardon;
but Caracal'la, his son, who from the earliest age showed a
disposition to cruelty, ran him through the body with his sword. 13.
After this, Seve'rus spent a considerable time in visiting some cities
in Italy, permitting none of his officers to sell places of trust or
dignity, and distributing justice with the strictest impartiality. He
then undertook an expedition into Britain, where the Romans were in
danger of being destroyed, or compelled to fly the province. After
appointing his two sons, Caracal'la and Ge'ta, joint successors in the
empire, and taking them with him, he landed in Britain, A.D. 208, to
the great terror of such as had drawn down his resentment. 14. Upon
his progress into the country, he left his son Ge'ta in the southern
part of the province, which had continued in obedience, and marched,
with his son Caracal'la, against the Caledo'nians. 15. In this
expedition, his army suffered prodigious hardships in pursuing the
enemy; they were obliged to hew their way through intricate forests,
to drain extensive marshes, and form bridges over rapid rivers; so
that he lost fifty thousand men by fatigue and sickness.
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