[ 463 ] 
CctaiXzws rd^iv, the authority of a king (1) ; or, as Taci- 
tus exprefles it, were loco regis (2). And agreably to 
this Spartian , fpcaking of the emperor Severus, tells 
us, that notwithftanding he granted to the Alexan- 
drians a civil jurifdiCtion for their private concerns; 
yet in all other things he fubje&ed them to the 
abfolute government of a perfon fent by the empe- 
ror, ut fub regibus ante 'vivebant (3).. From thefe 
reflexions Mr. de Boze thinks it may naturally 
enough be imagined, that this king of Thebes men- 
tioned by Spartian was no other than a Roman 
knight, who commanded at Thebes with the autho- 
rity of a king; and might be fo called there, in 
common with the governors of other parts of 
Aegypt ; and even at Rome too in their ordinary 
difeourfe. Which may feem the more probable, if 
it be confidered, how free the Romans made with’ 
that name, and to how many things they applied it; 
as rex facrorum , conviviorum , and others. He fur- 
ther obferves, that the cuftom of giving the title of 
king to one of their own magiftrates obtained alfo 
at Athens , and fome other cities of Greece ; and 
then concludes his difeourfe with a favourable cha- 
racter of Tefcennius Niger , taken from antient 
accounts. 
G. C. May 28 . 
1750 . 
j 
( 1 ) Lib. xviii. fag. 797 . 
( 2 ) Hijl. Lib. 1 . cap. 1 . 
( 3 ) lnvit. Sever, p. 70 . 
IX. 
