n of the state, as certainly as it was the
unfairest and unwisest of the deeds of Severus, to place the younger
brother as co-regent with the first-born, the rightful heir to the
throne. I, whom my father had taught to watch for signs, was reminded
every hour that this unbearable position must come to an end.

"After the death of Severus, we lived at first close to one another in
separate parts of the same palace like two lions in a cage across which
a partition has been erected, so that they may not reciprocally mangle
each other.

"We used to meet at my mother's.

"That morning my mastiff had bitten Geta's wolfhound and killed him, and
they had found a black liver in the beast he had sent for sacrifice.
I had been informed of this. Destiny was on my side. This indolent
inactivity must be brought to a close. I myself do not know how I felt
as I mounted the steps to my mother's rooms. I only remember distinctly
that a demon cried continually in my ear, 'You have murdered your
brother!' Then I suddenly found myself face to face with him. It was in
the empress's reception-room. And when I saw the hated flat-shaped head
so close to me, when his beardless mouth with its thick underlip smiled
at me so sweetly and at the same time so falsely, I felt as if I again
heard the cry with which he had cheered on his horse. And I felt ... I
even felt the pain-as if he broke my thigh again with his wheel. And at
the same time a fiend whispered in my ear: 'Destroy him, or he will kill
you, and through him Rome will perish!'

"Then I seized my sword. In his odious, peevish voice he said
something--I forget what nonsense--to me. Then it appeared to me as
if all the sheep and goats over which he had squandered his time were
bleating at me. The blood rushed to my head. The room spun round me in a
circle. Black spots on a red ground danced before my eyes.

"And then--What flashed in my right hand was my own naked sword! I
neither heard nor said anything further. Nor had I planned, nor ever
thought of, what then occurred.... But suddenly I felt as if a mountain
of oppressive lead had fallen from my breast. How easily I could breathe
again! All that had just before turned round me in a mad, whirling dance
stood still. The sun shone brightly in the large room; a shaft of light,
showing dancing dust, fell on Geta. He sank on his knees close to me,
with my sword in his breast. My mother made a fruitless effort to shield
him. His blood trick