Caracalla put to death those who made water in front of his statues. “Damnati sunt eo tempore (that is, the end of his wars with the Germans) qui urinam in eo loco ferrant in quo statuæ aut imagines erant principis.”—(Ælius Lampridius, “Life of the Emperor Caracalla,” edition of Frankfort, 1588, p. 186, lines 43 and 44.) There are some very singular laws of the ancient Burgundians in regard to abusive words. “Si quis alterum concagatum clamaverit, 120 denariis mulctetur.”—(Barrington, “Obs. on the Statutes,” London, 1775, p. 315.) “I’ll pick thy head upon my sword, And piss in thy very visonomy.” (“Ram Alley,” Ludowick Barry, 1611, edition of London, 1825.) “The devil’s dung in thy teeth.” (“The Honest Whore,” Thomas Dekkar, 1604, edition of London, 1825.) “Again the coarsest word, _khara_. The allusion is to the vulgar saying, ‘Thou eatest skitel’ (that is, ‘Thou talkest nonsense’). Decent English writers modify this to ‘Thou eatest dirt;’ and Lord Beaconsfield made it ridiculous by turning it into ‘eating sand.’”—(“Arabian Nights,” Burton’s edition, vol. ii. pp. 222, 223.) Readers of classical history will recall the incident of the outrage perpetrated by the mob of Tarentum upon the person of the Roman ambassador Posthumus, 282 B.C. A buffoon in the street threw filth upon his toga. The ambassador refused to be mollified, and tersely telling his assailants that many a drop of Tarentine blood would be required to wash out the stains, took out his departure. A cruel war followed, and the Tarentines were reduced to the rank of a conquered province.—(See “History of Rome,” Victor Duruy, English translation, Boston, 1887, vol. i. p. 462.) “When the multitude had come to Jerusalem, to the feast of unleavened bread, and the Roman cohort stood over the temple, ... one of the soldiers pulled back his garment, and stooping down after an indecent manner, turned his posteriors to the Jews, and spake such words as might be expected upon such a posture.” The narration describes the riot which followed as a result, and ten thousand people were killed.—(See Josephus, “Wars of the Jews,” book ii. edition of New York, 1821.) The dispute between Richard the Lion-Hearted and the Arch-Duke of Austria, which resulted afterwards in the incarceration of the English king in a dungeon, had its rise in the great insult of throwing the Austrian standard down into a privy. Matthew of Paris says distinctly that Richard himself did this. “Now he, being over well disposed to the cause of the Norman, waxed wroth with the Duke’s train, and gave a headstrong, unseemly order for the Duke’s banner to be cast into a cesspool.”—(See “The Third Crusade and Richard the First,” T. A. Archer, in “English History from Contemporary Writers,” New York, 1889.) “_Bigot._ Out, dunghill! Darest thou brave a nobleman?” (“King John,” iv. 3.)