POWER OF THE PROVINCES: DISCORD.--In the reign of _Caracalla_ is placed the Edict which gave the rights of citizenship to all the free inhabitants of the Roman Empire. The provinces had been steadily rising in power and influence. At Rome, among officials of the highest grade, as well as in the higher professions, there was a throng of provincials. The provinces were disposed to nominate emperors of their own. It was hard for the central authority to keep under control the frontier armies. To add to these sources of division, there was a growing jealousy between the East and West, owing to a difference in language, ideas, and interests. _Persia_ was soon to threaten the empire on the East, and Gothic barbarians to invade its territories. ALEXANDER SEVERUS: PERSIA.--_Alexander Severus_ (222-235) was a man of pure morals, and sincerely disposed to remedy abuses and to govern well. But the evils were too great for the moderate degree of vigor with which he was endowed. The overthrow of the _Parthian_ kingdom, in 226, created, in the _New Persian Monarchy_, a formidable enemy to Rome. Alexander did little more than check the advance of Persia. In a war against the Germans, he was slain by his own soldiers. TO DECIUS (A.D. 249).--The fierce and brutal _Maximin_, who had excited the soldiers of _Alexander Severus_ to mutiny, reigned from 235 to 238. The Senate roused itself to resist his advance into Italy; and he, and his son with him, were killed in his tent by his soldiers. _Gordian_ (238-244) at least held the frontier against the attacks of the Persians. _Philip_, an Arabian, probably a Roman colonist, after reigning from 244 to 249, was supplanted by _Decius_, whom his rebellious Moesian and Pannonian soldiers raised to power. DECIUS TO CLAUDIUS (A.D. 250-268).--The short reign of _Decius_ was marked by the first general persecution of the Christian Church. During his reign, the _Goths_ (A.D. 250) invaded the empire. They traversed _Dacia_, and crossed the Danube. They ravaged _Moesia_, and even made their way into Thrace. _Decius_ was defeated by them in _Moesia_, and slain. The peril of the empire continually increased. The German tribes on the north, the Goths on the Lower Danube and the Euxine, and Persia in the east, arrayed themselves in hostility.