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 soldiers know that he was their master, and by the terror of some of his own picked troops he drove them to a distance of a hundred miles from the city. His character is a singular study. With much practical good sense and skill in administration was blended a strong vein of superstition, and he is said to have taken a profound interest in magic and astrology. His wife, Julia Domna, whom he had married from Syria, was a very remarkable lady, superstitious, clever, and literary. She was, though this may be scandal, morally weak, and it is very possible that her alleged leaning towards Christianity may have been nothing better than a fondness for Eastern ceremonies and rituals. It seems that she had considerable influence over her husband. Severus, it is said, looked rather kindly on Christianity. The truth is, that by this time the Christian Church was a powerful force in the world, and could not be ignored, though it was not ripe for distinct political recognition. In the eastern half of the empire it had undoubtedly produced effects which had all the promise of permanence. This, with other influences, tended to that separation of the Eastern from the Western world, which was ultimately accomplished. The time seemed to be approaching when the former would wish to be independent of Rome, and would claim a centre of its own.

Severus, then, had been proclaimed emperor, but he had formidable rivals. Albinus in Gaul and Niger in Syria were at the head of armies which were prepared to support them. Over both Severus was decisively victorious. It is only his war with Niger which concerns