[ + 62 ] 
were put to death by Severus , all of them men of 
eminence and dignity (i). And he further adds, 
that his houfe at Rome was remaining in his time, 
and went by the name of Refcenniana\ on the pe- 
diment of which was placed his ftatue, which had 
been fent him as a p re lent a rege Thebaeorum , as 
he exprefles it (2). But what the real character of 
the perfon was, called here rex Thebaeorum , has not 
hitherto, as Mr. de Boze remarks, been rightly fet- 
tled ; with this inquiry therefore he concludes his 
difeourfe. 
Cafaubon , and after him Salmajius , Reineccius , 
and Sir JohnMarfham, fuppofe there was then a 
governor of that part of Aegypt , fubjeft to the 
Romans , to whom they gave the title of Rex. But 
as this notion is no ways countenanced by hiftory, 
he thinks it cannot well be admitted ; and then pro- 
cedes to offer his own opinion with equal learning 
and addrefs. ' Augnflus , after the defeat of Antony 
and Cleopatra, having reduced Aegypt into the form 
of a province, divided the government of it among 
feveral perfons of the equeftrian order ; not think- 
ing it fafe to intruft a nation fo unfteady, daring, 
and aWaysflgihea to change, in the hands of fena- 
tors, who were otherwife too powerful. This divifion 
of Aegypt, as Arrian obferves, was made by the 
Romans in imitation of Alexander (3). And the 
governors, as Strabo fais, appointed by the empe- 
ror, tho perfons of moderate rank, had ™ v t ou 
v \V> ' €aaiAecos 
(1) Tr ament, infer ipt. Fratr. Arval. p. 69. 
(2) Ibid. p. 78. 
(3) Arrian. Be exped. Alex. L. in. c. 5^ 
* 
