a celebrated Roman lawyer of the third century. The Emperor Severus had so high an opinion of his worth that he recommended his sons Caracalla and Geta to the care of the jurisconsult. Caracalla having murdered his brother, ordered Papinian to compose a discourse excusing this murder to the senate and people; but the lawyer refused to undertake the disgraceful task assigned him, and the brutal emperor, enraged at his refusal, ordered him to be beheaded, and his body dragged through the streets of Rome. Papinian wrote several treatises on professional subjects.