a celebrated Roman lawyer of the third century, under the emperor Severus; who had so high an opinion of his worth, that he recommended his sons Caracalla and Geta to his care. Caracalla having first murdered his brother, ordered Papinian to compose a discourse to excuse this murder to the senate and people; which when he refused to undertake, the brutal emperor ordered him to be beheaded; and his body was dragged through the streets of Rome. Papinian wrote several treatises in the line of his profession.