K OM A N E M P I HE. 



421 



<Jba*n opposite counsels, he waited the approach of his rival. 

 U'hi-n near to Home, Didius, 



^^/^^ with the consent of t . sent ambassadors to of- 



1't-r him a share in the (.ncmi ; but when the general 

 rrj-'i-t-d t : ii- offer, the .senate immediately assembled, 



)idiu an '-l hiving pasM-.l a .u-rrre depriving Didius of the 



epoMtl, empire, tlu-v proclaimi'd Scvrrus in his place. Didius 

 was ordered by the senate to ho sl.iin, and, when the 

 executioners Ind perforn.cd tlnir of] great re- 



ed" 1 '" 'o n ' tr;il >" l ' s :llu ' wailinn < i n the ])art of Didm-, they 

 stuck up his head in the court of justice, where he 

 had formerly carried on \\]< pro!'. - -c.nal pursuits. 



Severus was now dec! i ;or by the semte in 



the 47th year of his nge. Before he entered Rome, 

 he ordered the PnKorian i-oldicr-, who had sold the 

 empire, to romc out uinrnn-d to nr-ct. him. I laving no 

 alternative but compliance, tiu-y inarched out with lau- 

 i their hands to welcome his approach; but Se- 

 after reproiching them for their crimes, ordered 

 them to be stripped of their military equipments, de- 

 i of the title and rank of soldiers-, and banished to 

 tiie distance of 100 miles from Rome. Severus then 

 made his entrance into the city. 1 he streets were 

 strewed with flowers, and the senate received him 

 with open arms, and granted him every honour and 

 title that he desired, while he in return promised to 

 govern with justice and moderation. In order to se- 

 cure adherents, he seized all the children of those who 

 occupied situations of authority in the east, and he kept 

 them as hostages for the good conduct of their fathers. 

 He next supplied the city with corn, and hastened to 

 Syria to attack Niger, who still reigned in the east un- 

 der the title of Augustus. After many obstinate en- 

 .ionts between the rival sovereigns, a decisive bat- 

 tle took place on the plai i of the Issus, in which N'iger 

 was totally defeated with the loss of 20,000 men. The 

 head of Niger was cut off, and carried on the point of a 

 lance to Severus, who exercised the greatest severity 

 against the adherents of his rival. The Parthians, and 

 several of the neighbouring nations, had taken up arms 

 in defence of Niger; but Severus defeated them in 

 such decisive battles that he put down all his enemies 

 in tliL- east. 



Having thus established peace, and even enlarged 

 the empire, Severus resolved to get rid of Claudius Al- 

 binm, whom he had assumed as his, partner in the em- 

 pire at a time when he dreaded his influence and power. 

 Under the guise of messengers carrying dispatches, he 

 sent assassins into Bri'.-.iin to murder Albintis ; but the 

 general, being informed of their designs, assumed a 

 warlike attitude, and proclaimed himself emperor. 

 These rival leaders met each other in Gaul, where they 

 carried on a vigorous, though an indecisive campaign. 

 < A desperate engagement at lust took place, which 

 continued from morning till night with variable though 

 equal success. The troops of Severus at last gave way ; 

 and he himself falling from his horse, the rival army 

 raised the shouts of victory. A body of reserve, how- 

 ever, under La^tus, one of Severus's officers, who in- 

 tended to destroy both parties and assume the sove- 

 reignty, restored the fury of the battle, and enabled 

 Severus to rally his troops, and make a deaperate charge 

 against Albinu*. This attack was made with such 

 skill and bravery, that the army of Albinus was pur- 

 sued into the city of Lyons, and he himself taken pri- 

 soner and slain. In place of using this victory with 

 moderation, Severus executeel all the senators who 

 were taken prisoners ; and he treated with unmanly in- 

 solence the bodies of those who fell. 



In order to establish hirmelf in the power which he 



had now acquired, he distributed rewards and honours 

 in the most profuse manner among his troops, and hav- 

 ing given the charge of the government to one Plauii- 

 anus, whose daughter his eon ('amcaUa had married, 

 Severus, accompanied by his Mins Caracalla and Geta, 

 undertook an expedition :i/;:i;i-t the Parthians, who 

 had t 'it-ii .-.- i!ne:l an hostile attitude on his eastern 

 frontier. In this campaign he subjugated Armenia, 

 and making himself master of ScltMieia, Uabylon, and 

 Ctesiphon, l;e sulxlutd the kingdom of Purthia. From 

 Parthia he advanced to the south of Asia, and, after vi- 

 siting tiif tomb of Pompey the Great, and granting a 

 senate to Alexandria, he studied with an inquiring eye 

 the various monument'-: and ruin* w 1 .. _ % !i even at that 

 time rendered Mgypt an object of general interest. 



During the absence of Severus and his sons, 1'lati- 

 tianus conceived the design of seizing the empiie ; and 

 no sooner had Severus returned, than Plautianus en- 

 gaged a tribune of the Praetorian bands, whom he com- 

 manded to assasiinate both Severus and Caracalla. The 

 tribune lost no time in communicating the intelligence 

 to Severus, who treated it as a plot devised by the ene- 

 mies of his favourite. The tribune at last requested 

 permission to bring Plautianus to the emperor's apart- 

 ment, and having informed him that he had slain both 

 Severus and Caracalla, Plautianus was ordered to follow 

 him to the palace. Conducted at midnight to the place 

 of murder, he found Severus encircled by his friend?, 

 and ready to receive him. Confounded at the sight, he 

 confessed his designs. The emperor was disposed to 

 par Jon him ; but Caracalla, heedless of the supplica- 

 tions of the criminal, ran him through the body with 

 his sword. 



As the Roman arms had suffered some checks in Severn*'* 

 Britain, Severus resolved to recover the territory which expedition 

 had been lost. After visiting some cities in Italy, and ' n . l Bri- 

 appointing Caracalla and Geta his successors in the *?'"' 

 empire, he was accompanied by his two sons, and, 

 when he landed in the island, he left Geta in the south, 

 and marched with Caracalla against the Caledoni- 

 ans. Pursuing the inhabitants through their extensive 

 marshes, and their dense forests, he lost about 50,000 

 men in this toilsome warfare ; but his success was such 

 that the enemy sue-:l for peace, and surrendered a con- 

 siderable part of their country. There is reason to 

 think that Severus did not obtain possession of any 

 part of Caledonia, and that he was never able to make 

 any impression upon the people of that country. 



Having conquered the countries bordering on Cale- \\'M of 

 donia, Severu's built a wall across the island, extending Sererus. 

 from sea to sea, from Bowness, or Tunnocelum, on the 

 Solway Firth, to Cousin's house, or Sfgetltnium, near 

 the mouth of the river Tyne, a distance of 68 English 

 miles. The wall was built of freestone, and had a ditch 

 on its north side. It was twelve feet high and eight 

 broid, and contained a great number of fortresses of 

 different kinds. Uy this barrier the conquered pro- 

 vinces were protected against the incursions of the Ca- 

 leelonians, and Severus retired to Ycrk. Caracalla at- 

 tempted to murder his father ; and the old man was so 

 shocked with the brutality of his son, that he called 

 him into his presence, and offering him a naked sword, 

 exclaimed, " If you are ambitious of reigning alone, 

 imbrue now your hands in your father's blood, and let 

 not the world witness your want of filial tenderness." 

 Caracal la was not greatly disturbed by this reproof. 

 He seems to have prevailed upon the soldiers to revolt, 

 and to proclaim h:m emperor ; but the moment Seve. 



