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

806 SEVER US SEVERUS.
beginning of the fifth century; and that the pesti- of power was to take vengeance on the actual
lence to which it refers, is the same as that which murderers of Pertinlax. He then collected the rest
entered Italy along with Alaric, in A. D. 409. of the guards, surrounded them with his legions,
Beyond this we can hardly venture to advance. compelled them to lay down their arms, and
The first two editions we have already named. banished them from Rome, forbidding them upon
It will be found also in the Bibliotheca Patrum pain of death to approach within a hundred miles
Aiax., fol. Lugd. 1677, vol. vi. p. 366; in the of the metropolis. This act of justice and of
Bibliotheca Patrumz of Galland, fol. Venet. 1788, policy being performed, he proceeded to enter
vol. viii. p. 207, and ill Wernsdorf's P. L. AL, the city, where all orders in the state now vied
vol. ii. p. 217. It has been published separately with each other in welcoming him with joyful
by Weitzius, 8vo. Francf. 1612; with the notes homage. He declared Clodius Albinus, whose
of Weitzius and Seberus, 8vo. Lug. Bat. 1715 rivalry he dreaded, Caesar, - celebrated the obseand 1745; by Richter, 4to. Hamb. 1747; and quies of Pertinax with the utmost spleindor,- disby Piper, 8vo. Gott. 1835. A dissertation on tributed an enormous donative to his soldiers,
Severus Sanctus is contained in Wernsdorf, Polt. amounting we are told to 30,000 sesterces for each
Lat. llain. vol. ii. p. 53, seqq., comp. vol. iv. pt. 2. man, and having arranged all matters connected
pp. 806, 812, vol. v. pt. 3. p. 1449; and ill the with the internal government of the state, quitted
edition of Piper. [W. R.] Rome within thirty days after his triumphal entry,
SEVE'RUS, L. SEPTI'MIUS, Roman empe- and hurried to the East in order to prosecute the
ror A. n. 193-211, was born on the 11th of war against Niger. While he marched direct
April, A. D. 146, near Leptis in Africa, and it has towards Syria at the head of a portion of his forces,
been remarked, that he was the only Roman em- he despatched some legions into Africa, lest the
peror who was a native of that continent. His enemy passing through Egypt, or along the coast,
family was of equestrian rank; the name of his might gain possession of the great granary of the
father was Geta, of his mother Fulvia Pia, and empire and starve the metropolis. So eagerly did
from the correspondence of appellation and country he watch over this department of the public serwe may fairly conjecture that he was a descendant vice in after life, that when he died the storeof the Septimius Severus of Leptis to whom Statius houses of Rome were found to contain a stock of
addresses a graceful poem. He devoted himself corn sufficient for the consumption of seven years,
eagerly when a boy to the study of Greek and and as much oil as would have supplied the wants
Latin literature, and became a proficient in these of all Italy for five.
languages. Having removed to Rome he entered The progress of the campaign, which was termiupon a public career, and at the age of thirty-two nated by the capture of Niger after the battle of
was made praetor elect by M. Aurelius, his ambi- Issus, A.D. 194, need not be recapitulated [NIGER,
tious views having been effectually promoted by PESCENNIUS]. But Severus was not yet satisfied.
the influence of his kinsman Septimius Severns, Some of the border tribes still refusing to acknowwho had been raised to the consulship. From ledge his authority, he crossed the Euphrates in
this time forward the progress of Severus was the following year (A. D. 195), wasted their lands,
steady and rapid. He successively commanded captured their cities, forced all whom he encounthe fourth legion then stationed near Marseilles tered to submit, and won for himself the titles of
-governed, with high reputation for impar- Adiabenicus, A4rabicus, and Partlicus. In A. D. 196
tiality and integrity, the province of Gallia Lug- Byzantium, after an obstinate resistance, protracted
dunensis - was legate of Pannonia, proconsul of for nearly three years, was taken, to the great joy
Sicily, and consul suffectus in A. D. 185, along of the emperor, who treated the vanquished with
with Apuleius Rufinus, being one of the twenty- little moderation. Its famous walls were levelled
five who in that year purchased the office from with the earth, its soldiers and magistrates were
Cleander [CLEANDER]. He was subsequently put to death, the property of the citizens was concommander-in-chief of the army in Pannonia and fiscated, and the town itself, deprived of all its
Illyria, and upon the death of Commodus ten- political privileges, made over to the Perinthians.
dered his allegiance to Pertinax, but after the Meanwhile Clodius Albinus, who, although created
murder of the latter, and the shameful elevation Caesar, found that after the destruction of Niger
of Julianus, which excited universal indignation he was treated with little consideration, had
throughout the provinces, he was himself pro- accepted the imperial dignity proffered by the
claimed emperor by the troops at Carnutum. Al- troops in Gaul. Severus being thus compelled to
though he consented with reluctance to receive return to Europe, endeavoured, in the first inthis honour, yet, when his decision was once made stance, to remove his antagonist by treachery, but
he acted with the greatest promptitude and energy. his schemes having been baffled, he procured a
While Pescennius Niger, who had been saluted as decree of the Senate, pronouncing him a public
Augustus by the eastern legions, was loitering enemy, and then hastened on to Gaul to prosecute
at Antioch, Severus marched straight upon Rome, the war. On the nineteenth of February, A.D.
and disregarding the threats, the assassins, and the 197, the contending hosts encountered near Lyons,
peaceful overtures of Julianus, as well as the reso- the rivals commanding in person, each at the head
lutions of the senate, in terms of which he had of 150,000 men. The battle was fiercely conbeen declared a public enemy, he pressed onwards tested, and for a time fortune seemed to waver.
with great rapidity, announcing himself every Severus, when rallying his men, lost his horse and
where as the avenger of Pertinax, whose name he narrowly escaped being slain; but eventually his
assumed, and from that time forward constantly superior skill and experience prevailed. The loss
retained among his titles. His arrival before the upon both sides was terrible. The whole plain
city on the 1st or 2d of June, A. D. 193, was the was covered with the dead, and wounded, and
signal for the death of Julianus [JuLIANITS], and streams of blood mingled with the waters of the
the praetorians having submitted, his first exercise Rhone. Albinus took refuge in a house near the