14. That the Caracul of Ossian is the Caracalla of the Roman
History is, perhaps, the only point of British antiquity in
which Mr. Macpherson and Mr. Whitaker are of the same
opinion, and yet the opinion is not without difficulty. In
the Caledonian war, the son of Severus was known only by the
appellation of Antoninus; and it may seem strange that the
Highland bard should describe him by a nick-name, invented
four years afterwards, scarcely used by the Romans till
after the death of that emperor, and seldom employed by the
most ancient historians. Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1317. Hist.
August. p. 89. Aurel. Victor. Euseb. in Chron. ad ann. 214.