CLAUDIUS
SEVERUS, consul with Sex.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
R.
] (Fasti.
)
SEVERUS, was bishop of Minorca in the SEVE’RUS, T. ALLE’DIUS, a Roman eques,
early part of the fifth century, at a time when a married his own niece to please Agrippina, because
great number of the Jews settled in that island she married her uncle the emperor Claudius. (Tac.
were suddenly converted to Christianity. This | Ann. xii. 7 ; comp. Suet. Claud. 26. )
happy change was ascribed by the prelate to the SEVE'RUS, A'NNIUS, father of Fabia Ores.
presence of the relics of St. Stephen, the proto- tilla, who was great grand-daughter of Antoninus,
martyr, which had been deposited in the church and wife of the elder Gordian. (Capitolin. Gor-
at Mago (Mahon) by Orosius, upon his return dian. tres, c. 6. )
(W. R. )
from the East [OROSIUS), and the event was SEVE'RUS, AQUILLIUS, a Spaniard, lived
solemnly announced to all ecclesiastics throughout under Valentian, and wrote a work, partly in
the world in a circular letter written A. D. 218, prose and partly in poetry, which is thus described
and inscribed Epistola ad omnes orbis terrarum by Hieronymus (de Vir. Ill. c. 3):
“ volumen,
Episcopos, Presbyteros, et Diaconos. This piece quasi 'Odoiropikóv, totius suae vitae statum con-
was nrst brought to light from among the MSS. tinens, tam prosa, quam versibus, quod vocavit
in the Vatican by Baronius, who published it in kataotpooriv, sive Deipar. ” (Wernsdorf, Poëtae
his annals, and it will be found also in the Ap- Latini Minores, vol. v. p. 1491. )
pendix to the seventh volume of the Benedictine SEVERUS, M. AUREYLIUS ALEXAN.
edition of St. Augustine, under the title of Severi | DER, usually called ALEXANDER SEVERUS,
Epistola ad omnem Ecclesiam de Virtutibus in Mi- Roman emperor, A. D. 222—235, the son of
noricensi insula factis per reliquias Sancti Stephani Gessius Marcianus and Julia Mamaea, and first
Martyris.
(W. R. ). cousin of Elagabalus (see genealogy under CARA-
SEVE'RUS (Ee6ņpos or Eevñpos), the name of CALLA), was born at Arce, in Phoenicia, in the
two physicians, who have been supposed to be the temple of Alexander the Great, to which his parents
same person by Bandini, in his excellent catalogue had repaired for the celebration of a festival. There
of the Library at Florence (see the Index), and is some doubt as to the year and day of his birth ;
one of whom (probably the former) is mentioned but the 1st of October, a. D. 205, is probably the
in a list of those who were most eminent in medical correct date, although Herodian places the event so
science. (Cramer's Anecd. Graeca Paris. vol. iv. ) low as A. D. 208. His original name appears to
1. A physician who is mentioned by Archigenes have been Alerianus Bassianus, the latter appel-
(ap. Gal. De Compos. Medicam. sec. Loc. iij. I. lation having been derived from his maternal grand-
vol. xii. p. 623), and in terms which seem to imply father. Upon the elevation of Elagabalus, he
that he was dead when Archigenes wrote. The accompanied his mother and the court to Rome,
Dame occurs several times in Aëtius, who has pre- a report having been spread abroad, and havi:ig
## p. 803 (#819) ############################################
SEVERUS.
803
SEVERUS.
RE
3
gained credit, that he also, as well as the emperor, Such is the acconnt given of the result of this
was the son of Caracalla. This connection was campaign by all ancient writers, with the exception
afterwards recognised by himself, for he publicly of Herodian, who draws a frightful picture of the
spoke of the divine Antoninus as his sire; and the losses sustained by the sword and by disease, and
same fact is asserted by the genealogy recorded on represents Severus as having been obliged to retreat
ancient monuments. In A. D. 221 he was adopted ingloriously into Syrin, with the mere skeleton of an
by Elagabalus and created Caesar, pontiff, consul army. But the well known hostility of this histo-
elect, and princeps juventutis, at the instigation of rian to Severus would, in itself, throw discredit upon
the acute and politic Julia Macs, who, foresceing these statements, unless corroborated by more in-
the inevitable destruction of one grandson, resolved partial testimony ; and the character of the princo
to provide beforehand for the quiet succession of forbids us to suppose that he would have deliberately
the other. The names Alerianus and Bassianus planned and executed a fraud which could have
were now laid aside, and those of M. Aurclius imposed upon no one, and would have commemorated
Alesunder substituted; M. Aurclius in virtue of his by speeches to the senate and people, by medals, by
adoption ; Alexander in consequence, as was asserted, inscriptions, and finally by a gorgeous triumph, that
of a direct revelation on the part of the Syrian god. which in reality was a shameful and most disastrous
Elagabalus spcedily repented of his choice, and defeat. Although little doubt, therefore, can be
made many efforts to remove one upon whom he now entertained with regard to the main facts of the
looked with jcalousy as a dangerous rival ; but his expedition, the determination of the dates is a
repeated efforts, open as well as secret, being frus- matter of considerable difficulty, and has given rise
trated by the vigilance of Mamaea and the affec- to much controversy among chronologers ; for the
tion of the soldiers, eventually led to his own death, evidence is both complicated and uncertain. On
as has been related elsewhere. [ELAGABALUS; the whole, the opinion of Eckhel (vol. vii. p. 274)
MAESA ; MAMAEA. ]
seems the most probable. He concludes that Severus
Alexander was forth with acknowledged emperor left the city for the Persian war, at the end of A. D.
by the praetorians, and their choice was upon the 230, or the beginning of A. D. 231; that the battle
same day confirmed by the senate, who voted all with Artaxerxes was fought in A. D. 232; and
the customary distinctions; and thus he ascended that the triumph was celebrated towards the end of
the throne, on the 11th of March, A. D. 222, in his A. D. 233.
seventeenth year, adding Severus to his other desig- Meanwhile, the Germans having crossed the
nations, in order to mark more explicitly the descent Rhine, were now devastating Gaul. Severus quitted
which he claimed from the father of Caracalla. the metropolis with an army, in the course of a. D.
For the space of nine years the sway of the new 234 ; but before he had made any progress in the
monarch was unmarked by any great event; but a campaign, he was way laid by a small band of mu-
gradual reformation was effected in the various tinous soldiers, instigated, it is said, by Maximinus,
abuses which bad so long preyed upon the state ; and slain, along with his mother, in the early part
men of learning and virtue were promoted to the of A. D. 235, in the 30th year of his age, and the
chief dignities, while the city and the empire at 14th of his reign.
large began to recover a healthier tone in religion, All ranks were plunged in the deepest grief by
morals, and politics. But during the period of the intelligence of his death, and their sorrow was
tranquillity in Italy, a great revolution had taken rendered more poignant by the well-known coarse-
place in the East, whose effects were soon felt in ness and brutality of his successor [MAXIMINUS).
the Roman provinces, and gave rise to a series of Never did a sovereign better merit the regrets of
convulsions which shook the world for centuries. his people. His noble and graceful presence, the
The Persians, after having submitted to the sway gentleness and courtesy of his manners, and the
of Alexander the Great, of the Seleucidae, and of the ready access granted to persons of every grade,
Parthians in turn, had made a desperate effort to produced, at an early period, an impression in his
regain their independence: after a protracted and favour, which became deeply engraven on the
sanguinary struggle, their chief, Artaxerxes, over- bearts of all by the justice, wisdom, and clemency
came the warlike Artabanus, and the sovereignty of which he uniformly displayed in all public trang-
Central Asia passed for ever from the hands of the actions, and by the simplicity and purity which
Arsacidae. The conquerors, flushed with victory, distinguished his private life. The formation of
now began to form more ample schemes, and fondly his character must, in a great measure, be ascribed
hoped that the time had now arrived when they might to the high principles instilled by his mother, who
thrust forth the Western tyrants from the regions not only guarded his life with watchful care against
they had so long usurped, and, recovering the vast the treachery of Elagabalus, but was not less vigi-
dominion once swayed by their ancestors, again lant in preserving his morals from the contamina-
rule supreme over all Asia, from the Indus to the tion of the double-dyed profligacy with which he
Aegaean. Accordingly, as early as A. D. 229, Meso- was surrounded. The son deeply felt the obliga-
potamia and Syria were threatened by the victorious tions which he owed to such a parent, and repaid
hordes ; and Alexander, finding that peace could no them by the most respectful tenderness and dutiful
longer be maintained, set forth from Rome in A. D. submission to her will. The implicit reliance which
231 to assume in person the command of the Ro- he reposed on her judgment, is said to have led to
man legions. The opposing hosts met in the level his untimely end ; for Mamaea inculcated excessivo
plain beyond the Euphrates, in A. D. 232. Arta- and ill-timed parsimony, which conjoined with the
xerxes was overthrown in a great battle, and driven strict discipline enforced, at length alienated the
across the Tigris ; but the emperor did not prose affections of the troops, who were at one time
cute his advantage, for intelligence having reached deeply attached to his person. So sensible was ho
him of a great movement among the German tribes, of this fatal error, that he is said to have reproached
he hurned back to the city, where he celebrated a his mother, with his dying breath, as the cause of
triumph in the autumn of A. D. 233.
the catastrophe. (Ilcrodian. v. 5, 17—23, vi.
3 F 2
## p. 804 (#820) ############################################
804
SEVERUS.
SEVERUS.
Lovi
COIN OF ALEXANDER SEVERUS,
a
1–18; Dion Cass. lxxx. frag. ; Lamprid. Aler. | toninus Pius, in consequence of his being anxious to
Sever. , comp. Antonin. Elagab. , Victor, de Cacs. gain the empire for himself. He was the maternal
xxiv. , Epit. xxiv. ; Eutrop. viii. 14 ; Zosim. i. 11 great-grandfather of the emperor M. Aurelius (see
-13. )
[W. R. ) Vol. 1. p. 439). Severus was a friend of the younger
Pliny, several of whose letters are addressed to
him. (Capitolin. Spart. 5, 15, 24, M. Anton. 1 ;
Plin. Ep. i. 22, iji. 6, v. 1, et alibi. )
2. A relation of the emperor Alexander Severus,
and a member of his consilium, is described as vir
omnium doctissimus. (Lamprid. Alex. Serer. 68. )
SEVE'RUS, CEÄSTIUS. (Cestius, No. 5. )
SEVE'RUS, CI'NCIUS, slain by the emperor
Septimius Severus (Spartian. Sever. 13), is pro
bably the same as the pontifex Cingius Severus,
who is mentioned in connection with the burial of
Commodus. (Lamprid. Commod. 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. )
SEVERUS, 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. );
born about B. C, 50. He is called in the Index of Cod. Just. 6. tit. 26. s. I. )
Authors to the thirty-fifth book of Pliny Longula- 3. Tı. 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. I, 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 Bellum Siculum, which he was
tracted 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. 1 2. s. 46; Quintil. speaks of him as having written upon Aetna ; but
x. 1. $ 23; Dion Cass. lv. 4). Towards the latter end whether this was an independent piece or was in-
of the reign of Augustus, Severus was banished cluded in the Sicilian War, we cannot tell. (See
by Augustus to the island of Crete on account of Lucilius JUNIOR. )
his libellous verses against the distinguished men The above-mentioned fragments, and a few in-
and women at Rome ; but as he still continued considerable scraps, collected chiefly from the gram-
to write libels, he was deprived of his pro. marians, will be found in Wernsdorf, Poët. Lat.
perty in the reign of Tiberius, A. D. 24, and re- Min. 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. _(Orid, Ep. ex Pont.
died in great poverty in the twenty-fifth year of iv. 2. 2 ; Senec. Suasor. vii. Epist. 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, FLAVIUS VALE'RIUS, Ro.
on 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 ele-
cordingly 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 (DIOCLETIANUS). The right of nomi-
works 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. ; Quinti). x. l. § 116; 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. in E'useb. Chron. 2048 ; Weichert, De his patron, was invested with the insignia of his
Lucii Varii et Cassii Parmensis Vita, Grimae, new dignity at Milun, on the 1st 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 Roms, vol. ii. p. 161; Meyer, provinces. But as soon as intelligence was received
Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta, pp. 545—551, of the death of Constantius Chlorus, which hap-
2d ed. )
pened at York, in July, A. D. 306, Severus was
SEVE'RUS, CATI'LIUS. 1. Consul in A. D. forth with 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 Maxen-
from the latter post in a. D. 138, because he tins. The details of this disastrous campaign, the
espressed disapprobation at the adoption of An. I advance of Severus upon the capital, the defection
## p. 805 (#821) ############################################
SEVERUS.
805
SEVERUS.
.
VESALE
இதமாக
2. 1994
VIDEVAS
NO
INKERS
NNN
of his troops, his hasty retreat, and his surrender (Idatius, Chronicon ; Chronicon Alexandr. ; Eragr.
at Ravenna to Herculius, upon the most solemn ii
. 7; Theoph. p. 97 ; Jornand. De Reb. Goth.
assurances of ample protection, have been related c. 45. )
[W. P. )
in a former article (MAXENTIUS). In spite, how-
ever, of all the promises of the conqueror, the van-
quished prince was conveyed as a prisoner of war
to the vicinity of Rome, and detained in captivity
at Tres Tabernae, on the Appian road, where,
17
upon receiving intimation that he might choose the
manner of his death, he opened his veins, and was
entombed in the sepulchre of Gallienus, A. D. 307.
OZCOMCL
(Panegr. Vet. i. v. ; Auct. De Mort. Persec. 18,
19, 20, 25, 26 ; Victor, de Cues. 40, Epit. 40;
Eutrop. x. 2; Excerpta Valcsian. 5--10; Zosim.
COIN OF LIBIUS SEVERUS.
ü. 8, 10. )
[W. R. ]
SEVE'RUS SANCTUS, the writer of an amoe-
baean pastoral of considerable nierit, extending to
132 lines, in choriambic metre, first published by
P. Pithou in his “ Veterum aliquot Galliae Theolo-
gorum Scripta" (4to. Paris, 1586) as, Severi Rhe-
toris et Poctae Christiani Carmen Bucolicum. The
subject relates to a murrain among cattle, which,
after sweeping over Pannonia, Illyria, and Belgica,
was devastating the pastures of the country where
the scene is laid ; that is, probably Gaul (see
v.
SEVERUS, was bishop of Minorca in the SEVE’RUS, T. ALLE’DIUS, a Roman eques,
early part of the fifth century, at a time when a married his own niece to please Agrippina, because
great number of the Jews settled in that island she married her uncle the emperor Claudius. (Tac.
were suddenly converted to Christianity. This | Ann. xii. 7 ; comp. Suet. Claud. 26. )
happy change was ascribed by the prelate to the SEVE'RUS, A'NNIUS, father of Fabia Ores.
presence of the relics of St. Stephen, the proto- tilla, who was great grand-daughter of Antoninus,
martyr, which had been deposited in the church and wife of the elder Gordian. (Capitolin. Gor-
at Mago (Mahon) by Orosius, upon his return dian. tres, c. 6. )
(W. R. )
from the East [OROSIUS), and the event was SEVE'RUS, AQUILLIUS, a Spaniard, lived
solemnly announced to all ecclesiastics throughout under Valentian, and wrote a work, partly in
the world in a circular letter written A. D. 218, prose and partly in poetry, which is thus described
and inscribed Epistola ad omnes orbis terrarum by Hieronymus (de Vir. Ill. c. 3):
“ volumen,
Episcopos, Presbyteros, et Diaconos. This piece quasi 'Odoiropikóv, totius suae vitae statum con-
was nrst brought to light from among the MSS. tinens, tam prosa, quam versibus, quod vocavit
in the Vatican by Baronius, who published it in kataotpooriv, sive Deipar. ” (Wernsdorf, Poëtae
his annals, and it will be found also in the Ap- Latini Minores, vol. v. p. 1491. )
pendix to the seventh volume of the Benedictine SEVERUS, M. AUREYLIUS ALEXAN.
edition of St. Augustine, under the title of Severi | DER, usually called ALEXANDER SEVERUS,
Epistola ad omnem Ecclesiam de Virtutibus in Mi- Roman emperor, A. D. 222—235, the son of
noricensi insula factis per reliquias Sancti Stephani Gessius Marcianus and Julia Mamaea, and first
Martyris.
(W. R. ). cousin of Elagabalus (see genealogy under CARA-
SEVE'RUS (Ee6ņpos or Eevñpos), the name of CALLA), was born at Arce, in Phoenicia, in the
two physicians, who have been supposed to be the temple of Alexander the Great, to which his parents
same person by Bandini, in his excellent catalogue had repaired for the celebration of a festival. There
of the Library at Florence (see the Index), and is some doubt as to the year and day of his birth ;
one of whom (probably the former) is mentioned but the 1st of October, a. D. 205, is probably the
in a list of those who were most eminent in medical correct date, although Herodian places the event so
science. (Cramer's Anecd. Graeca Paris. vol. iv. ) low as A. D. 208. His original name appears to
1. A physician who is mentioned by Archigenes have been Alerianus Bassianus, the latter appel-
(ap. Gal. De Compos. Medicam. sec. Loc. iij. I. lation having been derived from his maternal grand-
vol. xii. p. 623), and in terms which seem to imply father. Upon the elevation of Elagabalus, he
that he was dead when Archigenes wrote. The accompanied his mother and the court to Rome,
Dame occurs several times in Aëtius, who has pre- a report having been spread abroad, and havi:ig
## p. 803 (#819) ############################################
SEVERUS.
803
SEVERUS.
RE
3
gained credit, that he also, as well as the emperor, Such is the acconnt given of the result of this
was the son of Caracalla. This connection was campaign by all ancient writers, with the exception
afterwards recognised by himself, for he publicly of Herodian, who draws a frightful picture of the
spoke of the divine Antoninus as his sire; and the losses sustained by the sword and by disease, and
same fact is asserted by the genealogy recorded on represents Severus as having been obliged to retreat
ancient monuments. In A. D. 221 he was adopted ingloriously into Syrin, with the mere skeleton of an
by Elagabalus and created Caesar, pontiff, consul army. But the well known hostility of this histo-
elect, and princeps juventutis, at the instigation of rian to Severus would, in itself, throw discredit upon
the acute and politic Julia Macs, who, foresceing these statements, unless corroborated by more in-
the inevitable destruction of one grandson, resolved partial testimony ; and the character of the princo
to provide beforehand for the quiet succession of forbids us to suppose that he would have deliberately
the other. The names Alerianus and Bassianus planned and executed a fraud which could have
were now laid aside, and those of M. Aurclius imposed upon no one, and would have commemorated
Alesunder substituted; M. Aurclius in virtue of his by speeches to the senate and people, by medals, by
adoption ; Alexander in consequence, as was asserted, inscriptions, and finally by a gorgeous triumph, that
of a direct revelation on the part of the Syrian god. which in reality was a shameful and most disastrous
Elagabalus spcedily repented of his choice, and defeat. Although little doubt, therefore, can be
made many efforts to remove one upon whom he now entertained with regard to the main facts of the
looked with jcalousy as a dangerous rival ; but his expedition, the determination of the dates is a
repeated efforts, open as well as secret, being frus- matter of considerable difficulty, and has given rise
trated by the vigilance of Mamaea and the affec- to much controversy among chronologers ; for the
tion of the soldiers, eventually led to his own death, evidence is both complicated and uncertain. On
as has been related elsewhere. [ELAGABALUS; the whole, the opinion of Eckhel (vol. vii. p. 274)
MAESA ; MAMAEA. ]
seems the most probable. He concludes that Severus
Alexander was forth with acknowledged emperor left the city for the Persian war, at the end of A. D.
by the praetorians, and their choice was upon the 230, or the beginning of A. D. 231; that the battle
same day confirmed by the senate, who voted all with Artaxerxes was fought in A. D. 232; and
the customary distinctions; and thus he ascended that the triumph was celebrated towards the end of
the throne, on the 11th of March, A. D. 222, in his A. D. 233.
seventeenth year, adding Severus to his other desig- Meanwhile, the Germans having crossed the
nations, in order to mark more explicitly the descent Rhine, were now devastating Gaul. Severus quitted
which he claimed from the father of Caracalla. the metropolis with an army, in the course of a. D.
For the space of nine years the sway of the new 234 ; but before he had made any progress in the
monarch was unmarked by any great event; but a campaign, he was way laid by a small band of mu-
gradual reformation was effected in the various tinous soldiers, instigated, it is said, by Maximinus,
abuses which bad so long preyed upon the state ; and slain, along with his mother, in the early part
men of learning and virtue were promoted to the of A. D. 235, in the 30th year of his age, and the
chief dignities, while the city and the empire at 14th of his reign.
large began to recover a healthier tone in religion, All ranks were plunged in the deepest grief by
morals, and politics. But during the period of the intelligence of his death, and their sorrow was
tranquillity in Italy, a great revolution had taken rendered more poignant by the well-known coarse-
place in the East, whose effects were soon felt in ness and brutality of his successor [MAXIMINUS).
the Roman provinces, and gave rise to a series of Never did a sovereign better merit the regrets of
convulsions which shook the world for centuries. his people. His noble and graceful presence, the
The Persians, after having submitted to the sway gentleness and courtesy of his manners, and the
of Alexander the Great, of the Seleucidae, and of the ready access granted to persons of every grade,
Parthians in turn, had made a desperate effort to produced, at an early period, an impression in his
regain their independence: after a protracted and favour, which became deeply engraven on the
sanguinary struggle, their chief, Artaxerxes, over- bearts of all by the justice, wisdom, and clemency
came the warlike Artabanus, and the sovereignty of which he uniformly displayed in all public trang-
Central Asia passed for ever from the hands of the actions, and by the simplicity and purity which
Arsacidae. The conquerors, flushed with victory, distinguished his private life. The formation of
now began to form more ample schemes, and fondly his character must, in a great measure, be ascribed
hoped that the time had now arrived when they might to the high principles instilled by his mother, who
thrust forth the Western tyrants from the regions not only guarded his life with watchful care against
they had so long usurped, and, recovering the vast the treachery of Elagabalus, but was not less vigi-
dominion once swayed by their ancestors, again lant in preserving his morals from the contamina-
rule supreme over all Asia, from the Indus to the tion of the double-dyed profligacy with which he
Aegaean. Accordingly, as early as A. D. 229, Meso- was surrounded. The son deeply felt the obliga-
potamia and Syria were threatened by the victorious tions which he owed to such a parent, and repaid
hordes ; and Alexander, finding that peace could no them by the most respectful tenderness and dutiful
longer be maintained, set forth from Rome in A. D. submission to her will. The implicit reliance which
231 to assume in person the command of the Ro- he reposed on her judgment, is said to have led to
man legions. The opposing hosts met in the level his untimely end ; for Mamaea inculcated excessivo
plain beyond the Euphrates, in A. D. 232. Arta- and ill-timed parsimony, which conjoined with the
xerxes was overthrown in a great battle, and driven strict discipline enforced, at length alienated the
across the Tigris ; but the emperor did not prose affections of the troops, who were at one time
cute his advantage, for intelligence having reached deeply attached to his person. So sensible was ho
him of a great movement among the German tribes, of this fatal error, that he is said to have reproached
he hurned back to the city, where he celebrated a his mother, with his dying breath, as the cause of
triumph in the autumn of A. D. 233.
the catastrophe. (Ilcrodian. v. 5, 17—23, vi.
3 F 2
## p. 804 (#820) ############################################
804
SEVERUS.
SEVERUS.
Lovi
COIN OF ALEXANDER SEVERUS,
a
1–18; Dion Cass. lxxx. frag. ; Lamprid. Aler. | toninus Pius, in consequence of his being anxious to
Sever. , comp. Antonin. Elagab. , Victor, de Cacs. gain the empire for himself. He was the maternal
xxiv. , Epit. xxiv. ; Eutrop. viii. 14 ; Zosim. i. 11 great-grandfather of the emperor M. Aurelius (see
-13. )
[W. R. ) Vol. 1. p. 439). Severus was a friend of the younger
Pliny, several of whose letters are addressed to
him. (Capitolin. Spart. 5, 15, 24, M. Anton. 1 ;
Plin. Ep. i. 22, iji. 6, v. 1, et alibi. )
2. A relation of the emperor Alexander Severus,
and a member of his consilium, is described as vir
omnium doctissimus. (Lamprid. Alex. Serer. 68. )
SEVE'RUS, CEÄSTIUS. (Cestius, No. 5. )
SEVE'RUS, CI'NCIUS, slain by the emperor
Septimius Severus (Spartian. Sever. 13), is pro
bably the same as the pontifex Cingius Severus,
who is mentioned in connection with the burial of
Commodus. (Lamprid. Commod. 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. )
SEVERUS, 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. );
born about B. C, 50. He is called in the Index of Cod. Just. 6. tit. 26. s. I. )
Authors to the thirty-fifth book of Pliny Longula- 3. Tı. 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. I, 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 Bellum Siculum, which he was
tracted 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. 1 2. s. 46; Quintil. speaks of him as having written upon Aetna ; but
x. 1. $ 23; Dion Cass. lv. 4). Towards the latter end whether this was an independent piece or was in-
of the reign of Augustus, Severus was banished cluded in the Sicilian War, we cannot tell. (See
by Augustus to the island of Crete on account of Lucilius JUNIOR. )
his libellous verses against the distinguished men The above-mentioned fragments, and a few in-
and women at Rome ; but as he still continued considerable scraps, collected chiefly from the gram-
to write libels, he was deprived of his pro. marians, will be found in Wernsdorf, Poët. Lat.
perty in the reign of Tiberius, A. D. 24, and re- Min. 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. _(Orid, Ep. ex Pont.
died in great poverty in the twenty-fifth year of iv. 2. 2 ; Senec. Suasor. vii. Epist. 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, FLAVIUS VALE'RIUS, Ro.
on 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 ele-
cordingly 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 (DIOCLETIANUS). The right of nomi-
works 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. ; Quinti). x. l. § 116; 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. in E'useb. Chron. 2048 ; Weichert, De his patron, was invested with the insignia of his
Lucii Varii et Cassii Parmensis Vita, Grimae, new dignity at Milun, on the 1st 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 Roms, vol. ii. p. 161; Meyer, provinces. But as soon as intelligence was received
Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta, pp. 545—551, of the death of Constantius Chlorus, which hap-
2d ed. )
pened at York, in July, A. D. 306, Severus was
SEVE'RUS, CATI'LIUS. 1. Consul in A. D. forth with 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 Maxen-
from the latter post in a. D. 138, because he tins. The details of this disastrous campaign, the
espressed disapprobation at the adoption of An. I advance of Severus upon the capital, the defection
## p. 805 (#821) ############################################
SEVERUS.
805
SEVERUS.
.
VESALE
இதமாக
2. 1994
VIDEVAS
NO
INKERS
NNN
of his troops, his hasty retreat, and his surrender (Idatius, Chronicon ; Chronicon Alexandr. ; Eragr.
at Ravenna to Herculius, upon the most solemn ii
. 7; Theoph. p. 97 ; Jornand. De Reb. Goth.
assurances of ample protection, have been related c. 45. )
[W. P. )
in a former article (MAXENTIUS). In spite, how-
ever, of all the promises of the conqueror, the van-
quished prince was conveyed as a prisoner of war
to the vicinity of Rome, and detained in captivity
at Tres Tabernae, on the Appian road, where,
17
upon receiving intimation that he might choose the
manner of his death, he opened his veins, and was
entombed in the sepulchre of Gallienus, A. D. 307.
OZCOMCL
(Panegr. Vet. i. v. ; Auct. De Mort. Persec. 18,
19, 20, 25, 26 ; Victor, de Cues. 40, Epit. 40;
Eutrop. x. 2; Excerpta Valcsian. 5--10; Zosim.
COIN OF LIBIUS SEVERUS.
ü. 8, 10. )
[W. R. ]
SEVE'RUS SANCTUS, the writer of an amoe-
baean pastoral of considerable nierit, extending to
132 lines, in choriambic metre, first published by
P. Pithou in his “ Veterum aliquot Galliae Theolo-
gorum Scripta" (4to. Paris, 1586) as, Severi Rhe-
toris et Poctae Christiani Carmen Bucolicum. The
subject relates to a murrain among cattle, which,
after sweeping over Pannonia, Illyria, and Belgica,
was devastating the pastures of the country where
the scene is laid ; that is, probably Gaul (see
v.
