Severus provided everything which might be of service to his own people, and distress the enemy. And when all things were in sufficient readiness, he left Geta, in that part of the island which was subject to the Romans, to administer justice and manage civil affairs, appointing some elderly friends to be his assistants. His son Antoninus, better known by the name of Caracalla, he took with him when he marched against the barbarians. The Roman army passing the rivers and trenches, which were the boundaries of the empire, skirmished often in a tumultuous manner with the barbarians, and as often put them to flight. But it was easy for them to escape and to hide themselves in the woods and fens, being well acquainted with the country, whereas the Romans laboured under the opposite disadvantages. By these means the war was prolonged. Severus, being old and infirm, and confined at home, would have committed the management of the war to his son Antoninus. But he, neglecting the barbarians, endeavoured to gain the Roman army, with a view to the empire. During his father’s lingering sickness he endeavoured to prevail with the physicians and servants to despatch him. At last Severus died, worn out with sorrow, more than disease. It will be observed, that in this detailed account of the proceedings of Severus in Britain, not the least allusion is made to the construction of a wall. [Sidenote: THE NARRATIVE OF DION CASSIUS.] Dion Cassius was contemporary with Severus. That portion of his work which narrates the transactions of this emperor in Britain, is unfortunately lost, but an epitome of it, prepared by Xiphiline, remains. From this abridgment the following extracts are taken. Severus, observing that his two sons were abandoned to their pleasures, and that the soldiers neglected their exercises, undertook an expedition against Britain, though he was persuaded, from his horoscope, that he never should return from thence to Italy. Nor did he ever return from this expedition, but died three years after he first set out from Rome. He got a prodigious mass of riches in Britain. The two most considerable bodies of the people in that island, and to which almost all the rest relate, are the Caledonians and the Mæatæ. The latter dwell near the barrier wall which separates the island into two parts; the others live beyond them. Both of them inhabit barren uncultivated mountains, or desert marshy plains, where they have neither walls nor towns, nor manured lands, but feed upon the milk of their flocks, upon what they get by hunting, and some wild fruits. The mode in which he speaks of the Wall, in this passage, implies its existence at the time of the arrival of Severus. The historian, after giving an interesting account of the manners of the inhabitants, proceeds:—