Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/818

Rh 806 SEVERUS beginning of the fifth century ; and that the pesti- lence to which it refers, is the same as that which entered Italy along with Alaric, in A. D. 409. Beyond this we can hardly venture to advance. The first two editions we have already named. It will be found also in the Bibliotheca Patrum Ma,t., fol. Lugd. 1677, vol vi. p. 366 ; in the Bibliotlieca Patrum of Galland, fol. Venet. 1788, vol. viii. p. 207, and in Wernsdorf's P. L. iV/., vol. ii. p. 217. It has been published separately by Weitzius, 8vo. Francf. 1612 ; with the notes of Weitzius and Seberus, Bvo. Lug. Bat. 1715 and 1745 ; by Richter, 4to. Hamb. 1747 ; and by Piper, Bvo. Gott. 1835. A dissertation on Severus Sanctus is contained in Wernsdorf, Po'tit. Led. Min. vol. ii. p. 53, seqq., comp. vol. iv. pt. 2. pp. 806, 812, vol. v. pt. 3. p. 1449 ; and in the edition of Piper. [W. R.] SEVE'RUS, L. SEPTI'MIUS, Roman empe- ror A. P. 193 — 211, was born on the 11th of April, A. D. 146, near Leptis in Africa, and it has been remarked, that he was the only Roman em- peror who was a native of that continent. His family was of equestrian rank ; the name of his father was Geta, of his mother Fulvia Pia, and from the correspondence of appellation and country we may fairly conjecture that he was a descendant of the Septimius Severus of Leptis to whom Statius addresses a graceful poem. He devoted himself eagerly when a boy to the study of Greek and Latin literature, and became a proficient in these languages. Having removed to Rome he entered upon a public career, and at the age of thirty-two was made praetor elect by M. Aurelius, his ambi- tious views having been effectually promoted by the influence of his kinsman Septimius Severus, who had been raised to the consulship. From this time forward the progress of Severus was steady and rapid. He successively commanded the fourth legion then stationed near Marseilles — governed, with high reputation for impar- tiality and integrity, the province of Gallia Lug- dunensis — was legate of Pannonia, proconsul of Sicily, and consul suffectus in A. d. 185, along with Apuleius Rufinus, being one of the twenty- five who in that year purchased the office from Cleander [Clkander]. He was subsequently commander-in-chief of the army in Pannonia and Illyria, and upon the death of Commodns ten- dered his allegiance to Pertinax, but after the murder of the latter, and the shameful elevation of Julianus, which excited universal indignation throughout the provinces, he was himself pro- claimed emperor by the troops at Carnutum. Al- though he consented with reluctance to receive this honour, yet, when his decision was once made he acted with the greatest promptitude and energy. While Pescennius Niger, who had been saluted as Augustus by the eastern legions, was loitering at Antioch, Severus marched straight upon Rome, and disregarding the threats, the assassins, and the peaceful overtures of Julianus, as well as the reso- lutions of the senate, in terms of which he had been declared a public enemy, he pressed onwards with great rapidity, announcing himself every where as the avenger of Pertinax, whose name he assumed, and from that time forward constantly retained among his titles. His arrival before the city on the Ist or 2d of June, A. d. 193, was the signal for the death of Julianus [Juliantis], and the praetorians having submitted, bis first exercise SEVERUS. of power was to take vengeance on the actual murderers of Pertinax. He then collected the rest of the guards, surrounded them with his legions, compelled them to lay down their arms, and banished them from Rome, forbidding them upon pain of death to approach within a hundred miles of the metropolis. This act of justice and of policy being performed, he proceeded to enter the city, where all orders in the state now vied with each other in welcoming him with joyful homage. He declared Clodius Albinus, whose rivalry he dreaded, Caesar, — celebrated the obse- quies of Pertinax with the utmost splendor, — dis- tributed an enormous donative to his soldiers, amounting we are told to 30,000 sesterces for each man, and having arranged all matters connected with the internal government of the state, quitted Rome within thirty days after his triumphal entry, and hurried to the East in order to prosecute the war against Niger. While he marched direct towards Syria at the head of a portion of his forces, he despatched some legions into Africa, lest the enemy passing through Egypt, or along the coast, might gain possession of the great granary of the empire and starve the metropolis. So eagerly did he watch over this department of the public ser- vice in after life, that when he died the store- houses of Rome were found to contain a stock of com sufficient for the consumption of seven years, and as much oil as would have supplied the wants of all Italy for five. The progress of the campaign, which was termi- nated by the capture of Niger after the battle of Issus, A.D. 194, need not be recapitulated [Niger, Pescennius]. But Sevenis was not yet satisfied. Some of the border tribes still refusing to acknow- ledge his authority, he crossed the Euphrates in the following year (a. d. 195), wasted their lands, captured their cities, forced all whom he encoun- tered to submit, and won for himself the titles of Adiabenicus, Arabicus, and Parthicus. In A. D. 196 Byzantium, after an obstinate resistance, protracted for nearly three years, was taken, to the great joy of the emperor, who treated the vanquished with little moderation. Its famous walls were levelled with the earth, its soldiers and magistrates were put to death, the property of the citizens was con- fiscated, and the town itself, deprived of all its political privileges, made over to the Perinthians. Meanwhile Clodius Albinus, who, although created Caesar, found that after the destruction of Niger he was treated with little consideration, had accepted the imperial dignity proffered by the troops in Gaul. Severus being thus compelled to return to Europe, endeavoured, in the first in- stance, to remove his antagonist by treachery, but his schemes having been baffled, he procured a decree of the Senate, pronouncing him a public enemy, and then hastened on to Gaul to prosecute the war. On the nineteenth of February, A. D. 197, the contending hosts encountered near Lyons, the rivals commanding in person, each at the head of 150,000 men. The battle was fiercely con- tested, and for a time fortune seemed to waver. Severus, when rallying his men, lost his horse and narrowly escaped being slain ; but eventually his superior skill and experience prevailed. The loss upon both sides was terrible. The whole plain was covered with the dead and wounded, and streams of blood mingled with the waters of the Rhone. Albinus took refuge in a house near the