A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

b04 SEVERUS. SEVERUS.
1-18; Dion Cass. lxxx. frag.; Lamprid. Alex. toninus Pius, in consequence of his being anxious to
Sever., comp. Antonin. Elaqgab., Victor, de Caes. gain the empire for himself. I-He was the maternal
xxiv., Epit. xxiv.; Eutrop. viii. 14; Zosim. i. 11 great-grandfather of the emperor VM. Aurelius [see
-13.) [W. R.] Vol. I. p. 439]. Severus was a friend of the younger
Pliny, several of whose letters are addressed to
him. (Capitolin. Spaft. 5, 15, 24, M1. Anton. 1;:~R _ Plin. Ep. i. 22, iii. 6, v. 1, et alibi.)
2. A relation of the emperor Alexander Severus,
and a member of his consilium, is described as vie
o oniumr doctissiemus. (Lamprid. Alex. Sever. 68.)
SEVE'RUS, CE'STIUS. [CESTIUS, NO. 5.]
SEVE'RUS, CI'NCIUS, slain by the emperor
Septimius Severus (Spartian. Sever. 13), is probably the same as the pontifex Cingits Severus,
COIN OF ALEXANDER SEVERUS. who is mentioned in connection with the burial of
Commodus. (Lamprid. Comrnosd. 20.)
SEVE'RUS, A. CAECI'NA. [CAECINA, SEVE'RUS, CLAU'DIUS. 1. The leader of
No. 4.] the Helvetii, A. D. 69. (Tac. Hist. i. 68.)
SEVE'RUS, CA'SSIUS, a celebrated orator 2. CN. CLAUDIUS SEVERUS, consul with Sex.
and satirical writer, in the time of Augustus and Erucius Clarus, in A. D. 146, in which year the
Tiberius, is supposed by Weichert to have been emperor Severus was born. (Spartian. Sever. I
born about B. C. 50. He is called in the Index of Cod. Just. 6. tit. 26. s. 1.)
Authors to the thirty-fifth book of Pliny Longula- 3. TI. CLAUDIUS SEVERUS, consul A. D. 200,
nus, that is, a native of Longula, a town of Latium. with C. Aufidius Victorinus. (Cod. Just. 8. tit.
He was a man of low origin and dissolute cha- 45. s. 1, et alibi.)
racter, but was much feared by the severity of his SEVE'RUS, CORNE'LIUS, according to the
attacks upon the Roman nobles. He must have criticism of Quintilian, more distinguished as a
commenced his career as a public slanderer very verse-maker than as a poet, was contemporary with
early, if he is the person against whom the sixth Ovid, by whom he is addressed in one of the
epode of Horace is directed, as is supposed by Epistles written from Pontus. He was the author
many ancient and modern commentators. He at- of a poem entitled Bellumn Siculuon, which he was
tlacted particular attention by accusing of poison- prevented by death from completing. Seneca has
ing, in B. C. 9, Nonius Asprenas, the friend of preserved (Suasor. vii.) a fragment by Severus, on
Augustus, who was defended by Asinius Pollio the death of Cicero; and in one of his Epistles he
(Suet. Aug. 56; Plin. H. N. xxxv. 12. s. 46; Quintil. speaks of him as having written upon Aetna; but
x. l. ~ 23; Dion Cass. Ilv. 4). Towards the latter end whether this was an independent piece or was inof the reign of Augustus, Severus was banished eluded in the Sicilian War, we cannot tell. [See
by Atgustus to the island of Crete on account of LUCILIUS JUNIOR.]
his libellous verses against the distinguished men The above-mentioned fragments, and a few inand women at Rome; but as he still continued considerable scraps, collected chiefly from the gramto write libels, he was deprived of his pro- marians, will be found in Wernsdorf, PoSt. Lat.
perty in the reign of Tiberius, A. D. 24, and re- Ain. vol. iv. pt. i. pp. 217, 225, comp. vol. iv. pt. i.
moved to the desert island of Seriphos, where he p. 33, vol. v. pt. iii. p. 1469. (Ovid, Ep. ex Pont.
died in great poverty in the twenty-fifth year of iv. 2. 2; Senec. Suasor. vii. Lypist. lxxix.; Quintil.
his exile. Hieronymus places his death in A. D. x. 1. ~ 89.) [W. R.]
33, and if this be correct he was banished in A. D. SEVE'RUS, CU'RTIUS, a Roman officer in
8. Cassius Severus introduced a new style of Syria, in A. D. 52. (Tac. Ann. xii. 55.)
oratory, and is said, by the author of the Dialogue SEVE'RUS, FLA'VIUS VALE'RIUS, Roon Orators (cc. 19, 26), to have been the first who man emperor, A. D. 306-307. After the abdication
deserted the style of the ancient orators; and ac- of Diocletian and Maximian, followed by the elecordingly Meyer observes, that dividing the history vation of Galerius with Constantius Chlorus to the
of Roman oratory into three epochs, Cato would rank of Augusti, it became necessary, in order to
be the chief of the older school, Cicero of the maintain the scheme of the empire, to appoint new
middle period, and Severus of the later. The Caesars [DIoCILETIANUS]. The right of nomiworks of Severus were proscribed, but were per- nation was conceded to Galerius, who selected two
mitted by Caligula to be read again. (Tac. Ann. i. creatures of his own, devoted, as he believed, to his
72, iv. 21, de Orat. 19, 26; Senec. Controv. iii. interests, Maximinus Daza and Severus. The latter,
init.; Quintil. x. 1. ~ 11 6; Suet. Calig. 16, Vitell. an obscure Illyrian adventurer, altogether unknown,
2; Plin. H. N. vii. 10. s. 12; Macrob. Sat. ii. 4; save as the dissolute, although faithful, adherent of
Hieron. inz Euseb. Clsron. 2048; Weichert, De his patron, was invested with the insignia of his
Lucii Varii et Cassii Parmensis VTta, Grimae, new dignity at Milanl, on the Ist of May, A.D. 305,
1836, pp. 190-212, where the reader will find by Herculius in person, and obtained Italy, and
every thing that is known about Cassius Severus; probably Africa and Upper Pannonia also, as his
Drumann, Geschichte Romns, vol. ii. p. 161; Meyer, provinces. But as soon as intelligence was received
Oratorum Ronzanorum Fragmenta, pp. 545-551, of the death of Constantius Chlorus, which hap2d ed.) pened at York, in July, A. D. 306, Severls was
SEVE'RUS, CATI'LIUS. 1. Consul in A. D. forthwith proclaimed Augustus in his stead, by
120, was made by Hadrian governor of Syria, and Galerius, and soon after was instructed to quell the
subsequently praefectus urbi, but was removed disturbances excited by the usurpation of Maxenfrom the latter post in A. D. 138, because he tius. The details of this disastrous campaign, the
expressed disapprobation at the adoption of An- advance of Severus upon the capital, the defection