9 



by the result. A battle at the famous strait where Darius had 

 been vanquished by Alexander, decided the contest. The for- 

 tune of Severus prevailed, and Niger met an irretrievable defeat. 

 Several of the provinces, by espousing the cause of the latter, 

 had provoked the resentment of the conqueror. " His unfor- 

 giving temper," to use the words of Gibbon, " stimulated by 

 avarice, indulged a spirit of revenge where there was no room 

 for apprehension. The most considerable of the provincials, who 

 without any dislike to the fortunate candidate, had obeyed the 

 governor under whose authority they were accidentally placed, 

 were punished by death, exile, and especially by confiscation of 

 their estates. Many cities of the east were stript of their an. 

 cient honors, and obliged to pay into the treasury of Severus 

 four times the amount of the sums contributed by them for the 

 service of Niger." Among the suiFering cities, it is probable, 

 Anazarba was included, and Agesilaus might have incurred the 

 usurper's resentment either by supineness in his cause, or by 

 imputed attachment, to that of his rival. When the citizens of 

 Anazarba waited on the victor to offer the usual congratula- 

 tions, Agesilaus was not in the number. Hoping, perhaps, to 

 escape notice, or deeming himself out of the reach of ma- 

 lignant suspicion, he continued in the retirement of study, 

 and lost the favourable opportunity of recommending himself to 

 the imperial patronage. The jealous and tyrannical mind of 

 Severus construed this neglect into a proof of intended disre- 

 spect or avowed disaffection, and avenged it, by ordering him into 

 immediate exile to Melita, an island in the Adriatic sea. 



Oppian, his son, and it may be presumed his wife, went the vo- 

 luntary companions of his banishment. Happily they had resources 

 in themselves against the malignity of tJieir destiny, and proved 



VOL. XIII. c 



