Severus

Sĕvērus, i, m. [1. severus],

• a proper name.
• • A Of several men.
  • • 1 Cornelius Severus, a poet in the Augustan age, Quint. 10, 1, 89; Ov. P. 4, 2, 2 sqq.; 4, 16, 9.—
    • 2 Septimius Severus, a Roman emperor, A.D. 193-211.—
    • 3 Alexander Severus, a Roman emperor, A. D. 222-235, Eutr. 8, 10; Spart. Sev. 1 sqq.—
    • 4 T. Cassius Severus, a Roman orator, in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, Quint. 10, 1, 116; Tac. Or. 19.—
    • 5 Sulpicius Severus, a bishop in Gaul, author of a Historia Sacra, and of the Vita S. Martini, and several smaller works.—
  • B Mons Severus, a mountain in the country of the Sabines, Verg. A. 7, 713.

2. Sevērus, ī, m., ein römischer Familienname, unter dem bes. bekannt sind a) in literarhistor. Beziehung, Cornel. Severus, ein epischer Dichter zur Zeit des Augustus, Quint. 10, 1, 89. Sen. suas. 6, 25 sq.: Freund des Ovid, Ov. ex Pont. 4, 2, 1 sqq.; 4, 16, 9. Vgl. W. Teuffel Gesch. der röm. Liter.⁶ § 252, 5. – T. Cassius Severus, röm. Rhetor zur Zeit des Augustus u. Tiberius, Sen. exc. contr. 3. praef. § 1 sqq. Quint. 10, 1, 116. Plin. 7, 55. Tac. dial. 19 u. 26. Vgl. W. Teuffel Gesch. der röm. Liter.⁶ § 267, 11. – Septimius Severus, aus Afrika gebürtig, ein Rhetor, Zeitgenosse des Quintilian u. Statius, Quint. 4, 1, 9. Stat. silv. 4. prooem. p. 95, 15 Baehr. u. 4, 5, 34. Vgl. W. Teuffel Gesch. der röm. Liter.⁶ § 315, 5 u. 326, 9. – Sulpicius Severus, ein christlicher Schriftsteller im fünften Jahrh., Verf. einer historia sacra (chronica gen.), einer vita Martini u.a. Schriften. Vgl. W. Teuffel Gesch. der röm. Liter.⁶ § 441. – b) als Kaiser, L. Septimius Severus, reg. 193–211 n. Chr., Spart. Sever. 1 sqq. Eutr. 8, 19. – Aurelius Alexander Severus, reg. 222 bis 234 n. Chr., Lampr. Alex. Sev. 1 sqq. Eutr. 8, 23. – Dav. Sevēriānus, a, um, severianisch, des Kaisers (Septimius) Severus, thermae, Spart. Sev. 19, 5.

2 Sĕvērus, (12) ī, m. , surnom romain : Quint. 10, 1, 89 ; 10, 1, 116.

Seve'rus

(Σευῆρος). Greeks, literary and ecclesiastical. The name of Severus, though of pure Latin original, passed into the East, and was borne by various writers, whose works, chiefly in Arabic, are still extant in MSS. Only three persons of the name, however, require notice here, the two haeresiarchs (Severus the Encratite and Severus of Antioch) and Severus the rhetorician. For the others the reader is referred to Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis ; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii. p. 106, ed. Oxford, 1740-43; and Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. x. p. 623, &c.

Seve'rus

1. Acephalorum Princeps [No. 2.].

Seve'rus or Seve'rus Bar

2. Of Antioch. An eminent leader of the Monophysites in the earlier part of the sixth century, whence he is designated Haeresiarcha and Acephalus (the Acephali, Ἀκέφαλοι, " the headless," were the stricter Monophysites, and were so called because they renounced the communion of Peter Mongus, the trimming head of their party), not to enumerate the other reproachful epithets heaped upon hint by the members of the orthodox Greek and Latin churches. As a compensation for all this abuse, it may be observed that he enjoys, to this day, the highest reputation among the Jacobites of Syria and other parts of the East. He was born at Sozopolis, a town of Pisidia, in Asia Minor ; and was in early life a pleader at Berytus in Syria, being at that time a heathen. He is charged by his adversaries with having practised magic (Evagrius, H. E. 3.33; Epistola Orthodoxor. Episcop. Orientalium, and Libellus Monachor. ad Mennam apud Concil. vol. v. col. 40, 120, 121, ed. Labbe). Having, however, embraced Christianity and been baptized in the church of St. Leontius, the Martyr, at Tripolis in Syria, he quitted the bar and devoted himself to a monastic life, in a monastery of Palestine, between Gaza and its port Maiuma. He appears to have embraced the Monophysite doctrine almost immediately after his conversion; for he is charged (Libellus Monachor. l.c.) with renouncing, before the days of his baptism were complete, the church into which he had been baptized; " calling the holy temples of God receptacles of heresy and impiety " (ibid.). It is probable, and indeed Theophanes distinctly asserts it (Chronog. p. 241, ed. Bonn.), that the monastery to which he withdrew, was a monastery of the Monophysites; and it was there that he met with Peter the Iberian, bishop of Gaza, a strenuous Monophysite and a follower of Timotheus Aelurus [Timotheus], whose banishment he had shared. Severus was so earnest a Monophysite that he rejected the Henoticon of the emperor Zeno [Zeno], and anathematized Peter Mongus, the more moderate Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria [Petrus, literary and ecclesiastical, No. 22.], because he received the Henoticon (Liberat. Breviar. 100.19). Severus ridiculed the emperor's edict in his writings, calling it not the " Henoticon" (ἑνωτικόν, " edict of union"), but Kenoticon (κενωτικόν, " edict of vanity"), and Diaereticon (διαιρετικόν, " edict of disunion"). From his monastery in Palestine, Severus appears to have removed to another monastery in Egypt, of which Nephalius was abbot. Possibly his ultra opinions had rendered him a dangerous or a disagreeable inmate of his Palestinian monastery and he hoped to find a more cordial welcome or a securer shelter with Nephalius. In this hope he was disappointed : Nephalius embraced the side of Council of Chalcedon, and Severus and others were expelled from the monastery (Evagr. l.c.). Hereupon he fled to Constantinople, to plead his own cause and that of his fellow-sufferers; and in this way became known to the emperor Anastasius, who had (A. D. 491) succeeded Zeno. Severus is charged (Libellus Monachor. l.c.) with exciting troubles in the city of Alexandria, and occasioning the burning of many houses and the slaughter of many citizens, though the city had afforded him a shelter " in his adversity :" but it is difficult to fix the time to which these charges refer. If he was in Alexandria after leaving the monastery in Palestine, and before entering that of Nephalius, the expression " in his adversity " intimates that he had been diven from his monastery in Palestine : but it is not unlikely that the disturbances at Alexandria may have been consequent on his expulsion and that of his fellow-monks by Nephalius ; and the term "his adversity" may be understood as referring to that expulsion.

In what year Severus went to Constantinople, or how long he abode there, is not clear. Tillemont places his arrival in A. D. 510; but he probably relied on a passage in Theophanes (Chronoy. ad A. M. 6002) which is ambiguous. The fellow-monks for whom Severus came to plead, were partisans of Peter Mongus [Petrus, No. 22.]; and Severus, because he had formerly anathematized Peter, was reproached with inconsistency in taking their part (Liberat l.c.). He appears to have been at Constantinople, A. D. 512; when, in consequence of the disturbances, excited on account of Flavian, patriarch of Antioch [Flavianus, Ecclesiastics, No. 2.], that prelate was deposed and banished to Petra in Idumaea (Evagr. H. E. 3.32), and Anastasius eagerly seized the opportunity afforded by this vacancy to procure the appointment of Severus to the patriarchate. The appointment was most offensive to the orthodox party. Whether Anastasius or Severus took any steps to abate its offensiveness is not clear. A letter of Epiphanius, archbishop of Tyre, and some other prelates to the synod of Constantinople states it as a matter of common report, vet with a cautious expression of doubt as to its truth, that Severus, before his consecration as patriarch, renounced the ordination to the office of presbyter, which he had received when among the Monophysites. This renunciation, if it really took place, implies that he was re-ordained to the priesthood by some orthodox prelate. Theodore Anagnostes or Lector (Hist. Eccles. 2.31) states, on the authority of Joannes Diacrinomenus, or John the Dissenter [comp. Joannes, literary and ecclesiastical, No. 2.], that Anastasius obliged Severus to swear that he would not anathematize the Council of Chalcedon (comp. Synodicon, apud Fabric. Biblioth. Graec. vol. xii. p. 401, and apud Concilia, vol. iv. col. 1414); but that Severus on the very day of his consecration, which appears to have taken place at Antioch, yielded to the urgent solicitations of his Monophysite friends, and, ascending the pulpit, publicly anathematized the Council, and afterwards (A. D. 413) obtained the confirmation of the anathema by a council which he assembled at Antioch (Synodicon, l.c.). He anathematized Macedonius, the deposed patriarch of Constantinople [Macedonius, No. 4.], and his own predecessor at Antioch, Flavianus. But he accepted the Henoticon of Zeno, and declared himself to be in communion with Timotheus and Joannes, or John III., the patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria; and restored to the diptychs the name of Peter Mongus [Petrus, No. 22.], whom he had once anathematized. At the same time he received into communion Peter the Iberian, his old comrade in the monastery in Palestine, who had retained the more rigid Monophysite views which had marked the early years of Severus himself, and continued out of communion with the more moderate Monophysites of Alexandria who had received the Henoticon. In fact, from the time of his going to Constantinople, Severus's policy appears to have been to unite all the Monophysites, whether moderates or ultras, into one great body, and to resist the orthodox or supporters of the Council of Chalcedon, by whom his appointment was not recognized, and against whom, if the representations of his opponents may be believed, he directed a fierce persecution with atrocious cruelty (Relatio Archimandritarum Syriae apud Concil. vol. iv. coll. 1461, 1462; Libell. Monachor. l.c.; Supplicatio Clericor. Antioch. and Epistola Epiphanii Tyrii, apud Concilia, vol. v. col. 157, 194, &c.). He is especially charged, in conjunction with Peter of Apameia, with having engaged a " band of Jewish robbers," and placing them in ambush for a company of three hundred and fifty of the orthodox, who were all slain, and their limbs left unburied and scattered about the road. Many of the bishops of Severus's patriarchate fled from their sees, others were banished, and others apparently were compelled to conceal their real sentiments. Elias I., patriarch of Jerusalem [Elias, No. 1.], was deposed, and the Monophysite party became triumphant in most parts of the East. Their triumph indeed was not complete, nor of long duration. Some bishops of Severus's own patriarchate renounced communion with him : two of them, Cosmas of Epiphaneia, and Severianus of Arethusa, had the audacity to send to him a document declaring him deposed; and so strongly were they supported by the people of their dioceses, that the emperor, who had sentenced them to banishment for their contumacy, was obliged to leave them in possession of their sees, finding he could not remove them without bloodshed (Evagr. H. E. 3.34). The patriarch of Jerusalem who succeeded Elias, prompted by the Anachorets Saba [Saba] and Theodosius, adhered to the orthodox faith, which was also supported by the pope and the Roman Church. Still, notwithstanding this opposition, the Monophysites having men of their own party in the patriarchal sees of Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople, possessed a decided superiority. But the accession of Justin I., who adhered to the Council of Chalcedon [Justinus I.], occasioned their overthrow; for in the balanced state of parties, and the servility or timidity of the ecclesiastics and people, the predominance of one side or the other depended on the individual filling the imperial throne. While the heretical Anastasius survived, heresy was in the ascendant; it succumbed to orthodoxy, on the accession of the orthodox Justin. Another circumstance which, perhaps, conduced to the overthrow of the Monophysites, was the re-action occasioned in many minds by their abuse of their pre-eminence. Among those who were thus led to return to the orthodox faith was Mamas, abbot of the convent near Gaza, under whom Severus had passed the earlier part of his monastic life. Early in the reign of Justin I. [Justinus I.], that emperor, at the instigation perhaps of Vitalian, commanded that Severus should be deposed and apprehended : according to some accounts he ordered his tongue to be cut out, and he was anathematized in a council held at Constantinople (A. D. 518). Severus, however, eluded the emperor's severity; and taking ship at Seleuceia, the port of Antioch, fled with Julian bishop of Halicarnassus, to Alexandria (A. D. 518 or 519). Paul was chosen patriarch of Antioch in his room (Evagrius, H. E. 4.4) : and the change was followed by the secession from the church of the followers of the deposed patriarch, and by the pronouncing, in various ecclesiastical councils, of anathemas upon him (Concilia, vol. iv. col. 1673 ; Liberat. Breriar. 100.19). Meanwhile Severus remained at Alexandria, protected by the patriarch Timotheus : and, as if it was his destiny to be the troubler of the Church, he and his fellow-exile Julian started the controversy on the corruptibility of Christ's human body before the resurrection, Severus affirming, and Julian denying, that it was corruptible; the patriarch Timotheus rather inclined to the side of Severus. After the death of Justin, and the accession of Justinian I., the prospects of Severus became more favourable ; for although the new emperor himself [Justinianus I.] supported the Council of Chalcedon, his empress Theodora favoured the Monophysite party, and by her influence Severus obtained the emperor's permission to return to Constantinople (Evagrius. l.c.). On his arrival, Severus found that Anthimus, who had just obtained the patriarchate of Constantinople, A. D. 535, was a Monophysite, and he prevailed on him to avow his sentiments. Timotheus of Alexandria was a Monophysite also, and the avowal of that obnoxious heresy by the heads of the church, naturally excited the alarm of the orthodox party. Anthimus and Timotheus were both deposed; and in the councils of Constantinople and Jerusalem (A. D. 536), and in an imperial edict, Severus was again anathematized ; his writings also were ordered to be burned. These decisive measures secured the predominance of the orthodox : and Evagrius boasts that the church remained from thenceforth united and pure. But this result was obtained by the separation of Monophysites, and the formation of the great Jacobite schismatical churches of Egypt and the East, by whom Severus has been ever regarded as, to his death, legitimate patriarch of Antioch. Some authorities state that Severus was compelled through the interference of Pope Agapetus (A. D. 535, 536) to leave Constantinople and return to Alexandria. The date of his death is uncertain : Joannes, bishop of Tela, his contemporary, in his Liber Directionum (apud Assemani, Biblioth. Orient. vol. ii. p. 54) places it in the year of the Greeks, i. e. the Seleucidae, 849 = A. D. 538; the Chronicon of Gregorius Bar Hebraeus, or Abulpharagius (apud eundem, p. 321), in the year of the Greeks 850= A. D. 539; and Assemani himself (ibid. note), in A. D. 542. It is said to have taken place at Alexandria, where he lurked in the disguise of a monk. The Jacobites recognize Sergius as his successor in the patriarchate. (Marcellinus, Chronicon Victor Tunnunensis, Chronicon ; Theophanes, Chronog. pp. 130-142. ed. Paris, pp. 104-113, ed. Venice, pp. 233-255, ed. Bonn; Evagrius, H. E. ll. cc.; Concilia, ll. cc.; Liberatus, Brexiarium Caussae Nestorianorum et Eutychianorum, 100.19; Nicephorus Callisti H. E. lib. 16.29-32, 34, 45, 17.2, 8, 9, 18.45, 49, 50; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad ann. 513, vol. i. p. 499; Tillemont Mémoires, xvi. pp. 632, &100.709, &c.; Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, vol. ii. col. 730; Abulpbaragius, Hist. Dynastiarnm, pp. 93, 94 of Pococke's Latin Version, 4to. Oxon, 1663; L'Art de vérifier lcs Dates, 8vo. Paris, 1818, vol. iv. p. 16, &c.)

That Severus was a man of indomitable courage and perseverance is obvious from his history. He was, in fact, the leader of the Monophysite party, and may be regarded as the principal author of the great Jacobite schism. His career was consistent, and, to all appearance, guided by integrity : and if lie largely partook of the bitter and uncharitable temper which the religious struggles of his day had generated, the general prevalence of his fault may be pleaded as extenuating the guilt of the individual. To which it must be added, that we know Him almost entirely from the representations of his opponents. His life was written by a contemporary ; but the work is lost, and is known to us only in the citations and references of Evagrius (H. E. 3.33), and Liberatus (Breriar. 100.19). A life of Severus in Syriac was noticed by Assemani among the MSS. of the Syriac convent of St. Mary, at Scete in the desert of Nitria, in Egypt, but it is not certain if it was the life of Severus of Antioch. (Assemani, Bibl. Orient. vol. iii. part 1, p. 19). Some statements of very doubtful credit, made by the Nestorians respecting him, are given by Assemani (ibid. p. 334, &c.). Works

Of the numerous works of Severus only fragments remain. There are citations from him in various Catenae in Genesim, in Jobum, in Esaiam, in Matthaeum, in Lucam, in Joannem, in Acta Apostolorum et Catholicas Epistolas (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. viii. pp. 646, 664, 676, 679, 684, 695, 696, vol.x. p. 616); and on the ground, apparently, of these citations, Fabricius (vol. x. p. 616) ascribes to him, 1. Commentarii on these various books of Scripture, though the extracts may be from his Sermones

or some of his other works. A Commentary on the Psalms is indeed mentioned by Gregorius Bar Hebraeus or Abulpharagius (Cave, Hist. Litt. p. 501), and a work, probably a Commentary, on St. Luke's Gospel, is cited in a Coislin MS. ( Montfauc. Bibl. Coislin. p. 54). Montfaucon published (Biblioth. Coislin. p. 63), under the name of Severus, and under the impression that it had never before been printed, a fragment, which he entitled Severi Archiepiscopi Antiocheni Concordantia Exangelistarum, circa ea quae in Sepulcro Domini contigerunt : item de Sabbatis et de Varietate Exemplarium S. Marci Exangelistae : but the fragment has been identified with a piece previously published among the works of Gregory of Nyssa, ed. Paris, A. D. 1615 and 1638 [Gregorius Nyssenus], to whom, however, it does not belong; and A. D. 1648, again in the Auctarium Norum of Combéfis, by whom it was more correctly ascribed to Hesychius of Jerusalem [Hesychius, No. 7]. How the piece came to be ascribed to Severus is discussed by Galland in the Prolegomena (100.3) to vol. xi. of his Bibliotheca Patrum, in which the piece is reprinted. An extract from a work of Severus is given under the title of Ἀπόκρισις, Responsum, to the question, Πῶς νοητέον τὴν τοῦ Κυρίον τριήμερον ταφὴν καἰ ἀνάστασιν; Quomodo sit intelligenda triduana Domini sepultura et resurrectio ? was given in the Quaestiones (Qu. lii) of Anastasius Sinaita [Anastasius Sinaita, No. 3]; and was published by Gretser in his edition of that work. Fabricius has inaccurately confounded this extract with the fragment published by Montfaucon. 2. Severus wrote a vast number of Λόγοι, Sermones. Λόγος ρξ́, Sermo CLX.

is cited in a MS. Catena in Prophetas Majores et Minores, in the King's Library at Paris (Montfaucon, l.c. p. 53), and there may have been many more than that number.

Many of these Sermones are extant in MS. in a Syriac version, by Jacobus of Edessa [Jacobus, No. 8] and others (Assemani, Biblioth. Oriental. vol. i. p. 494). Of the Λόγοι of Severus some were designated Ἐνθρονιαστικοί, Inaugurales ; and a fragment of one of these was published by Le Quien, in his edition of the works of Joannes Damascenus (vol. i. p. 504), by whom it was cited in the Appendix to his Letter or Tract Περὶ τῶν άγίων νηστειῶν De Sanctis Jejuniis [Damascenus, Joannes]. Another citation from a discourse of Severus, entitled Homilia de Epithronio, appears in the Latin version by Masius of the Paradisus of Moyses Bar Cepha (Assemani, Biblioth. Orient. vol. ii. p. 129), published first at Antwerp, A. D. 1569, and reprinted in various editions of the Bibliotheca Patrum (vol. vi. ed. Paris, 1575, vol. i. ed. Paris, 1589 and 1654, vol. x. ed. Cologne, 1618, and vol. xvii. ed. Lyons, 1677). The polemical works of Severus, as might be expected from his character and position, were numerous. Citations are extant in MS. from his writings. 3. Κατὰ τοῦ Γραμματικοῦ, Contra Grammaticum, or Κατὰ Ἰωάννου τοῦ γραμματικοῦ τοῦ Καισαρέως, Contra Joannem Caesarensem Grammaticum

in three books at least, written while in exile at Alexandria, after his deposition (Anast. Sinait. Hodegus, s. Viae Dux, 100.6.). 4. Κατὰ Φιλικισσίμου, Contra Felicissimum

in four books at least. 5. Πρὸς Ἰονλιανὸν Ἀλικαρνασέα, Contra Julianum Halicarnassensem

in several books, or more probably several successive works; from this work a short passage is quoted by Photius (Bibl. Cod. 225). 6. Κατὰ Ἀλεχάνδρου, Contra Alexandrum ; or Κατὰ κωδικίλλων Ἀλεχάνδρου, Contra Codicillos Alexandri

in several books. 7. Κατὰ τῆς διαθήκης Λαμπετίου, Contra Testamentum Lampetii

i. e. the work of Lampetius the Massalian, entitled Διαθήκη, which, as well as the reply of Severus, is noticed by Photius (Biblioth. Cod. 52). Severus wrote this work before his elevation to the Patriarchate. Severus wrote also two works against the Council of Chalcedon : one, 8. Τὰ Φιλαλήθη, or rather Ὁ Φιλαλήθης, Philalethes s. Amator Veri

(comp. Anastas. Sinait. l.c.). 9. in defence of the former, under the title of Ἀπολογία τοῦ Φιλαλήθους, Philalethae Apologia.

Perhaps the Φιλαλήθης is only another title for No. 3. 10. Fabricius mentions a work of Severus in eight books, if not more, Περὶ τῶν δύο φυδέων, De duabus Naturis

but does not cite his authority. Of the other works of Severus the principal were, 11. his ʼΕπιστολαί, Epistolae

of which Montfaucon enumerates nearly sixty, without including those to the Emperor Justinian and the Empress Theodora, and to the patriarch Theodosias of Alexandria, cited by Evagrius (H. E. 4.10) and Nicephorus Callisti (H. E. 17.8), the Συνοδικά, Synodica, or Ἐπιστολαὶ συνοδικαί, Epistolae Synodicae, or Ἐπιστολαὶ ἐνθρονιστικαί, Epistolae Inaugurales, issued by him on his promotion to the patriarchate, in which he anathematized the council of Chalcedon, and all who supported the doctrine of the two natures of Christ. (Evagr. H. E. 3.33, 34 ; Niceph. Callist. H. E. 17.2.) Of his other works the following are cited in various MSS. : 12. Υ̓πακοὴ εἰς τοὺς μάρτυρας, Hypacöe in Martyres

or simply Υ̓πακοή, Hypacöe. 13. Πρὸς Ἀναστάσιον διάλογος, Dialogus ad (s. Contra) Anastasium.

14. Πρὸς Εὐπράξιον κουβικουλάπιον ἀποκρίσεις, Responsiones ad Eupraxium Cubicularium.

15. Εἰς τὸ "ἅγιος ὁ Θεὸς," σύνταγμα, Syntagma in illud, "Sanctus Deus ;"

16. Βίβλος τῶν ὑποσημειμθέντων ἰδιοχείρως διαφόπων κεφαλακ́ων, Liber capitum variorum manu propria subsignatorum, of which Joannes Damascenus cites a passage in the Appendix to his De Jejuniis

(Le Quien's ed. l.c.). Other Works

Several citations of the works of Severus are given in the Hodegus s. Dux Viae of Anastasius Sinaita, and by Photius (Biblioth. Cod. 230) and in the Concilia ; but they are chiefly, if not wholly, from his Sermones and Epistolae.. Liber de Ritibus Baptismi et Sacrae Synaxis apud Syros receptis

A work, Liber de Ritibus Baptismi et Sacrae Synaxis apud Syros receptis, published in Syriac, with a Latin version, 4to. Antwerp, 1572, under the name of Severus, patriarch of Alexandria * The Severus of Alexandria, to whom this Liturgy is ascribed, is apparently Severus surnamed Bar Maschi, who lived in the tenth century after the Saracen conquest had superseded both the Greek government and the Greek language in Egypt; so that he comes not within the limits of our work., is ascribed in some MSS. to our Severus; and Cave inclines to assign it to him. Dionysius Bar Salibi, a Syriac writer, cites a work of "Severus patriarcha oecumenicus," which he entitles Canticum Crucis (Assemani, Bibl. Orient. vol. ii. p. 205). Further Information

The works of Severus are enumerated imperfectly by Cave (Hist. Litt. ad ann. 513, vol. i. p. 499, and more fully by Montfaucon (Biblioth. Coislin. p. 53, &c.), and Fabricius (Biblioth. Graec. vol. x. p. 616, &c.)

Seve'rus ENCRATITA

3. Encratita. There were two Severi emiment as leaders of bodies accounted heretical. The earlier was a leader of one of the divisions of the Gnostic body; the latter, and far more celebrated was the Monophysite Patriarch of Antioch [See No. 2.] We speak here of the former, who appears to have lived in the latter part of the second century. Little is known of his personal history. Eusebius (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 4.29), speaking of the sect of the Encratitae and their founder Tatian [Tatianus], says that a certain person named Severus having strengthened the sect, gave occcasion to their being called, after his own name, Severiani. Theodoret also makes Severus posterior to Tatian (Haeret. Fabul. Comp. 1.21). Epiplanius, on the other hand, makes Severus anterior to Tatian. But the silence of Irenaeus, who mentions Tatian, but not Severus, makes it probable that Tatian was the earlier. Our account of the opinions of the Severiani is very obscure. According to Eusebius they admitted the Law and the Prophets (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 4.29), while according to Augustin they rejected them (De Haeres. c. xxiv.). It is not improbable that they admitted them as an authentic record of the Old or Mosaic Dispensation, promulgated by the Demiurgos, and as such may have used them, and argued from them ; but yet denied their authority as binding upon themselves, who had embraced the New Dispensation, which rested not on the authority of the Demiurgos, but on the higher and opposite authority of the Supreme and All-merciful God. This explanation of two apparently opposite statements is at any rate consistent with the leading principles of Gnosticism. The curious opinions of Severus, at least of the Severiani, as to the genealogy of the Devil, and the origin of the vine, and of the formation of woman and man, are noticed elsewhere [Tatianus]. Severus denied the apostolic office of Paul, and consequently the authority of his writings; going in these respects beyond Tatian. His followers also denied, according to Augustin, the resurrection of the body, which is likely enough. It is not impossible that these differences may have led to the temporary division of the sect of the Encratitae to which Severus and Tatian both belonged, and to the formation of separate bodies under the respective names of Tatiani and Severiani, who afterwards reunited under the old and generic name of Encratitae. The ascetic features, abstinence from marriage and from the use of animal food and wine, appear to have been common to the whole body, whether designated Tatiani, Severiani, or Encratitae. [Tatianus]. (Euseb. l.c. ; Epiphan. Haeres. xlv. ; Augustin. l.c. ; Theodoret. l.c. ; Ittigius, De Haeresiarchis, sect. ii. c. 12. § xv.; Tillemont, Mémoires, vol. ii. p. 414; Neander, Church History (by Rose), vol. ii. p. 111; and (by Torrey) vol. ii. p. 167, note 3.)

Seve'rus

4. Haeresiarcha. [Nos. 2, 3.]

Seve'rus

5. Monophysita. [No. 2.]

Seve'rus RHETOR

6. Rhetor. Of this writer nothing certain is known. Fabricius is disposed to identify him with the Σεβῆρος σοφιστὴς Ῥωμαῖος, Severus Sophista Romans, mentioned by Suidas (s. v.) and by Photius, in his abstract of the life of Isidorus by Damascius (Biblioth. Cod. 242). The Severus of Photius resided at Alexandria in the latter part of the fifth century, in the enjoyment of an ample library, and of literary leisure, and was a great patron and encourager of learned men, circumstances which bespeak him to have been a man of fortune. The prospect of the revival of the Western Empire during the brief reign of the Emperor Anthemius [Anthemius], led him to visit Rome, where he obtained the honour of the consulship (A. D. 470), which honour, according to Damascius, was portended by the circumstance, deemed a prodigy, that his horse, when rubbed down, emitted from his skin an abundance of sparks. Works

Severus, the rhetorician, wrote the following works :-- I. Ἠθοποιΐαι, Ethopoeiae

A series of fictitious speeches, supposed to be uttered by various historical or poetical personages at particular conjunctures. There are extant eight of these Ethopoeiae. 1. Herculis, Periclymeno in certamine sese commutante. 2. Menelai rapta a Paride Helena. 3. Hectoris, quum comperisset Priamaum apud inferos cum Achille convivatum 4. Pictoris, depictae a se puellae amore correpti. 5. Achillis, apud inferos edocti captam a Pyrrho Trojam esse 6. Aeschinis, cum deprehenderet Philippi imagine apud Demosthenem 7. Ejusdem, in exilium abeuntis, cum ei Demosthenes viaticum daret 8. Briseis, cum Praecones eam abducerent Editions

Nos. 1-4 were first printed, with a Latin version, by Fed. Morel, 8vo. Paris, 1616, although the third appeared in an imperfect form and the fourth appeared as a fragment, with title merely of Fragmentum alterius Ethopoeiae.

The fourth was afterwards given in a complete form by Allatius; viz. Pictoris, depictae a se puellae amore correpti.

Morel himself published the fourth complete, under the name of the sophist Aristides.

Nos. 1-5, but in a more ample form and in a different order, were included, with a new Latin version, in the Excerpta varia Graecorum Sophistarum ac Rhetorum of Allatius, 8vo. Paris, 1641.

Gale included nos. 1-5, which were already published, with 6-8 in his Rhetores Selecti, 8vo. Oxford, 1676. Editions

No. 7 had been published in the collection of Allatius, but under the name of Theodorus Cynopolites. Gale added a new Latin version of his own, and gave a revised, at least a different, text.

The whole eight are included in the Rhetores Graeci of Walz, vol. i. p. 539, 8vo. Stuttgard and Tubingen, 1832. II. Διηγήματα, Narrationes.

1. De Viola 2. De Hyacintho 3. De Narcisso 4. De Arione 5. De Icaro 6. De Oto et Ephialte. Editions

These were first published by Iriarte. (Regiae Biblioth. Matritensis Codd. Graeci MSti, vol. i. p. 462. fol. Madrid, 1769), and are reprinted by Walz in the collection just cited, p. 357. They are very short. Further Information

Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vi. p. 53. [J.C.M]

Seve'rus

bishop of Mileum in Numidia, the friend and ardent admirer of St. Augustine, composed in the fervour of overflowing affection a panegyrical epistle still extant, inscribed Venerabili ac desiderabili et toto sinu charitatis amplcctendo episcopo Augustino. It will be found among the correspondence of the bishop of Hippo, n. cix. ed. Bened. From Ep. cx. of the same collection it appears that Severus died before the object of his love and reverence. [W.R]

Seve'rus Works Epistola ad omnes orbis terrarum Episcopos, Presbyteros, et Diaconos

was bishop of Minorca in the early part of the fifth century, at a time when a great number of the Jews settled in that island were suddenly converted to Christianity. This happy change was ascribed by the prelate to the presence of the relics of St. Stephen, the protomartyr, which had been deposited in the church at Mago (Mahon) by Orosius, upon his return front the East [Orosius], and the event was solemnly announced to all ecclesiastics throughout the world in a circular letter written A. D. 218, and inscribed Epistola ad omnes orbis terrarum Episcopos, Presbyteros, et Diaconos. Editions

This piece was first brought to light from among the MSS. in the Vatican by Baronius, who published it in his annals, and it will be found also in the Appendix to the seventh volume of the Benedictine edition of St. Augustine, under the title of Severi Epistola ad omnem Ecclesiam de Virtutibus in Minoricensi insula factis per reliquias Sancti Stephani Martyris. [W.R]

Seve'rus

(Σεβῆρος or Σευῆρος), the name of two physicians, who have been supposed to be the same person by Bandini, in his excellent catalogue of the Library at Florence (see the Index), and one of whom (probably the former) is mentioned in a list of those who were most eminent in medical science. (Cramer's Anecd. Graeca Paris. vol. iv.)

Seve'rus

1. A physician who is mentioned by Archigenes (ap. Gal. De Compos. Medicam. see. Loc. 3.1. vol. xii. p. 623), and in terms which seem to imply that he was dead when Archigenes wrote. The name occurs several times in Aetius, who has preserved some rather large extracts from the writings of Severus. These may possibly belong to the other Severus; but upon the whole it seems better to attribute them to this one, and to suppose that those passages where mention is made of Archigenes (3.1. 34, pp. 480, 481), Oribasius (2.3. 102, 3.1. 34. pp. 348, 481), and Severus (2.3. 43, 98, 102, pp. 319, 341, 342, 347), were written by Aetius himself. If the places where Antonius Musa (2.3. 30. p. 312), Apollonius (ibid. and 2.3. 43, p. 319), and Asclepiades Pharmacion (2.3. 85, p. 334), are quoted, belong to Severus, he must have lived towards the end of the first century after Christ. One of his medical formulae is quoted by Alexander Trallianus (2.5, p. 174.). Fabricius mentions (Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 394, ed. vet.) a physician named Severianus, as quoted by Aetius ; but this is probably a mistake either in the Greek text or in the Latin translation. He also mentions a physician named Theodosius Severus ; but "Theodotium" is only the title given by Severus to one of his medicines. (See Bibl. Gr. vol. vii. p. 329.)

Seve'rus

2. The author of a short Greek medical treatise. He is called by the title of Iatrosophista, and from some of the words he uses (e. g. ἀσκληπιασμός) may be supposed to have lived in the sixth or seventh century after Christ. Works Περὶ Ἐνετήρων ἤτοι Κλυστήρων, De Clysteribus

There is nothing in the work itself that deserves particular notice here. Editions

This was first published by F. R. Dietz, 8vo. Regim. Pruss. 1836. [W.A.G]

Seve'rus

the architect, with Celer, of Nero's golden house. (Tac. Ann. 15.42; Suet. Ner. 31 ; Celer.) [P.S]

Seve'rus, Aci'lius

consul A. D. 323, with Vettius Rufinus, in the reign of Constantius. (Fasti.)

Seve'rus, T. Alle'dius

a Roman eques, married his own niece to please Agrippina, because she married her uncle the emperor Claudius. (Tac. Ann. 12.7; comp. Suet. Claud. 26.)

Seve'rus, A'nnius

father of Fabia Orestilla, who was great grand-daughter of Antoninus, and wife of the elder Gordian. (Capitolin. Gordian. tres, 100.6.) [W.R]

Seve'rus, Aquillius

a Spaniard, lived under Valentian, and wrote a work, partly in prose and partly in poetry, which is thus described by Hieronymus (de Vir. Ill. 100.3) : "volumen, quasi Ὁδοιπορικόν, totius suae vitae statum continens, tam prosa, quam versibus, quod vocavit καταστροφὴν, sive Πεῖραν." (Wernsdorf, Poetae Lutini Minores, vol. v. p. 1491.)

Seve'rus, M. Aure'lius Alexander or Alexander Severus or Severus Alexander

usually called ALEXANDER SEVERUS, Roman emperor, A. D. 222-235, the son of Gessius Marcianus and Julia Mamaea, and first cousin of Elagabalus [see genealogy under Caracalla], was born at Arce, in Phoenicia, in the temple of Alexander the Great, to which his parents had repaired for the celebration of a festival. There is some doubt as to the year and day of his birth ; but the 1st of October, A. D. 205, is probably the correct date, although Herodian places the event so low as A. D. 208. His original name appears to have been Alexianus Bassianus, the latter appellation having been derived from his maternal grandfather. Upon the elevation of Elagabalus, he accompanied his mother and the court to Rome, a report having been spread abroad, and having gained credit, that he also, as well as the emperor, was the son of Caracalla. This connection was afterwards recognised by himself, for he publicly spoke of the divine Antoninus as his sire; and the same fact is asserted by the genealogy recorded on ancient monuments. In A. D. 221 he was adopted by Elagabalus and created Caesar, pontiff, consul elect, and princeps juventutis, at the instigation of the acute and politic Julia Maesa, who, foreseeing the inevitable destruction of one grandson, resolved to provide beforehand for the quiet succession of the other. The names Alexianus and Bassianus were now laid aside, and those of M. Aurelius Alexander substituted; M. Aurelius in virtue of his adoption; Alexander in consequence, as was asserted, of a direct revelation on the part of the Syrian god. Elagabalus speedily repented of his choice, and made many efforts to remove one upon whom he now looked with jealousy as a dangerous rival; but his repeated efforts, open as well as secret, being frustrated by the vigilance of Mamaea and the affection of the soldiers, eventually led to his own death, as has been related elsewhere. [Elagabalus ; Maesa; Mamaea.]

Alexander was forthwith acknowledged emperor by the praetorians, and their choice was upon the same day confirmed by the senate, who voted all the customary distinctions; and thus he ascended the throne, on the 11th of March, A. D. 222, in his seventeenth year, adding Severus to his other designations, in order to mark more explicitly the descent which he claimed from the father of Caracalla.

For the space of nine years the sway of the new monarch was unmarked by any great event; but a gradual reformation was effected in the various abuses which had so long preyed upon the state ; men of learning and virtue were promoted to the chief dignities, while the city and the empire at large began to recover a healthier tone in religion, morals, and politics. But during the period of tranquillity in Italy, a great revolution had taken place in the East, whose effects were soon felt in the Roman provinces, and gave rise to a series of convulsions which shook the world for centuries. The Persians, after having submitted to the sway of Alexander the Great, of the Seleucidae, and of the Parthians in turn, had made a desperate effort to regain their independence : after a protracted and sanguinary struggle, their chief, Artaxerxes, overcame the warlike Artabanus, and the sovereignty of Central Asia passed for ever from the hands of the Arsacidae. The conquerors, flushed with victory, now began to form more ample schemes, and fondly hoped that the time had now arrived when they might thrust forth the Western tyrants from the regions they had so long usurped, and, recovering the vast dominion once swayed by their ancestors, again rule supreme over all Asia, from the Indus to the Aegaean. Accordingly, as early as A. D. 229, Mesopotamia and Syria were threatened by the victorious hordes; and Alexander, finding that peace could no longer be maintained, set forth from Rome in A. D. 231 to assume in person the command of the Roman legions. The opposing hosts met in the level plain beyond the Euphrates, in A. D. 232. Artaxerxes was overthrown in a great battle, and driven across the Tigris; but the emperor did not prosecute his advantage, for intelligence having reached him of a great movement among the German tribes, he hurried back to the city. where he celebrated a triumph in the autumn of A. D. 233.

Such is the account given of the result of this campaign by all ancient writers, with the exception of Herodian, who draws a frightful picture of the losses sustained by the sword and by disease, and represents Severus as having been obliged to retreat ingloriously into Syria, with the mere skeleton of an army. But the well known hostility of this historian to Severus would, in itself, throw discredit upon these statements, unless corroborated by more impartial testimony; and the character of this prince forbids us to suppose that he would have deliberately planned and executed a fraud which could have imposed upon no one, and would have commemorated by speeches to the senate and people, by medals, by inscriptions, and finally by a gorgeous triumph, that which in reality was a shameful and most disastrous defeat. Although little doubt, therefore, call be entertained with regard to the main facts of the expedition, the determination of the dates is a matter of considerable difficulty, and has given rise to much controversy among chronologers; for the evidence is both complicated and uncertain. On the whole, the opinion of Eckhel (vol. vii. p. 274) sees the most probable. he concludes that Severus left the city for the Persian war, at the end of A. D. 230, or the beginning of A. D. 23; that the battle with Artaxerxes was fought in A. D. 232; and that the triumph was celebrated towards the end of A. D. 233.

Meanwhile, the Germans having crossed the Rhine, were now devastating Gaul. Severus quitted the metropolis with an army, in the course of A. D. 234; but before he had made any progress in the campaign, he was waylaid by a small band of mutinous soldiers, instigated, it is said, by Maximinus, and slain, along with his mother, in the early part of A. D. 235, in the 30th year of his age, and the 14th of his reign.

All ranks were plunged in the deepest grief by the intelligence of his death, and their sorrow was rendered more poignant by the well-known coarseness and brutality of his successor [Maximinus]. Never did a sovereign better merit the regrets of his people. His noble and graceful presence, the gentleness and courtesy of his manners, and the ready access granted to persons of every grade, produced, at an early period, an impression in his favour, which became deeply engraven on the hearts of all by the justice, wisdom, and clemency which he uniformly displayed in all public transactions, and by the simplicity and purity which distinguished his private life. The formation of his character must, in a great measure, be ascribed to the high principles instilled by his mother, who not only guarded his life with watchful care against the treachery of Elagabalus, but was not less vigilant in preserving his morals from the contamination of the double-dyed profligacy with which he was surrounded. The son deeply felt the obligations which he owed to such a parent, and repaid them by the most respectful tenderness and dutiful submission to her will. The implicit reliance which he reposed on her judgment, is said to have led to his untimely end; for Mamaea inculcated excessive and ill-timed parsimony, which conjoined with the strict discipline enforced, at length alienated the affections of the troops, who were at one time deeply attached to his person. So sensible was he of this fatal error, that he is said to have reproached his mother, with his dying breath, as the cause of the catastrophe. (Herodian. 5.5, 17-23, vi. 1_18; Dio Cass. lxxx. frag.; Lamprid. Alex. Sever., comp. Antonin. Elagab., Victor, de Caes. xxiv., Epit. xxiv.; Eurrop. 8.14; Zosim. 1.11-13.)

[W.R]

Seve'rus, A. Caeci'na

[Caecina, No. 4.]

Seve'rus, Ca'ssius

a celebrated orator and satirical writer, in the time of Augustus and Tiberius, is supposed by Weichert to have been born about B. C. 50. He is called in the Index of Authors to the thirty-fifth book of Pliny Longulanus, that is, a native of Longula, a town of Latium. He was a man of low origin and dissolute character, but was much feared by the severity of his attacks upon the Roman nobles. He must have commenced his career as a public slanderer very early, if he is the person against whom the sixth epode of Horace is directed, as is supposed by many ancient and modern commentators; He attracted particular attention by accusing of poisoning, in B. C. 9, Nonius Asprenas, the friend of Augustus, who was defended by Asinius Pollio (Suet.Aug. 56 ; Plin. H. N. 35.12. s.46; Quint. Inst. 10.1.23; Dio Cass.55.4). Towards the latter end of the reign of Augustus, Severus was banished by Augustus to the island of Crete on account of his libellous verses against the distinguished men and women at Rome; but as he still continued to write libels, he was deprived of his property in the reign of Tiberius, A. D. 24, and removed to the desert island of Seriphos, where he died in great poverty in the twenty-fifth year of his exile. Hieronymus places his death in A. D. 33, and if this be correct he was banished in A. D. 8. Cassius Severus introduced a new style of oratory, and is said, by the author of the Dialogue on Orators (cc. 19, 26), to have been the first who deserted the style of the ancient orators; and accordingly Meyer observes, that dividing the history of Roman oratory into three epochs, Cato would be the chief of the older school, Cicero of the middle period, and Severus of the later. The works of Severus were proscribed, but were permitted by Caligula to be read again. (Tac. Ann. 1.72, 4.21, de Orat. 19, 26 ; Senec. Controv. iii. init.; Quint. Inst. 10.1.116; Suet. Calig. 16, Vitell. 2 ; Plin. Nat. 7.10. s. 12; Macr. 2.4 ; Hieron. in Euseb. Chron. 2048 ; Weichert, De Lucii Varii et Cassii Parmensis Vita, Grimae, 1836, pp. 190-212, where the reader will find every thing that is known about Cassius Severus ; Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. ii. p. 161; Meyer, Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta, pp. 545-551, 2d ed.)

Seve'rus, Cati'lius

1. Consul in A. D. 120, was made by Hadrian governor of Syria, and subsequently praefectus urbi, but was removed from the latter post in A. D. 138, because he expressed disapprobation at the adoption of Antoninus Pius, in consequence of his being anxious to gain the empire for himself. He was the maternal great-grandfather of the emperor M. Aurelius [see Vol. I. 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. 1.22, 3.6, 5.1, et alibi.)

Seve'rus, Cati'lius

2. A relation of the emperor Alexander Severus, and a member of his consilium, is described as vir omnium doclissimus. (Lamprid. Alex. Sever. 68.)

Seve'rus, Ce'stius

[Cestius, No. 5.]

Seve'rus, Ci'ncius

slain by the emperor Septimius Severus (Spartian. Sever. 13), is probably the same as the pontifex Cingius Severus, who is mentioned in connection with the burial of Commodus. (Lamprid. Commod. 20.)

Seve'rus, Clau'dius

1. The leader of the Helvetii, A. D. 69. (Tac. Hist. 1.68.)

Seve'rus, Clau'dius

2. Cn. Claudius Severus, consul with Sex. Erucius Clarus, in A. D. 146, in which year the emperor Severus was born, (Spartian. Sever. 1 ; Cod. Just. 6. tit. 26. s. 1.)

Seve'rus, Clau'dius

3. Ti. Claudius Severus, consul A. D. 200, with C. Aufidius Victorinus. (Cod. Just. 8. tit. 45. s. 1, et alibi.)

Seve'rus, Corne'lius

according to the criticism of Quintilian, more distinguished as a verse-maker than as a poet, was contemporary with Ovid, by whom he is addressed in one of the Epistles written from Pontus. He was the author of a poem entitled Bellum Siculum, which he was prevented by death from completing. Seneca has preserved (Suasor. vii.) a fragment by Severus, on the death of Cicero; and in one of his Epistles he speaks of him as having written upon Aetna; but whether this was an independent piece or was included in the Sicilian War, we cannot tell. [See Lucilius Junior.]

The above-mentioned fragments, and a few inconsiderable scraps, collected chiefly from the grammarians, will be found in Wernsdorf, Poet. Lat. Min. vol. iv. pt. i. pp. 217, 225, comp. vol. iv. pt. i. p. 33, vol. v. pt. iii. p. 1469. (Ovid, Ep. ex Pont. 4.2. 2; Senec. Suasor. vii. Epist. lxxix.; Quint. Inst. 10.1.89.) [W.R]

Seve'rus, Cu'rtius

a Roman officer in Syria, in A. D. 52. (Tac. Ann. 12.55.)

Seve'rus, Fla'vius Vale'rius

Roman emperor, A. D. 306-307. After the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, followed by the elevation of Galerius with Constantius Chlorus to the rank of Augusti, it became necessary, in order to maintain the scheme of the empire, to appoint new Caesars [Diocletianus]. The right of nomination was conceded to Galerius, who selected two creatures of his own, devoted, as he believed, to his interests, Maximinus Daza and Severus. The latter, an obscure Illyrian adventurer, altogether unknown, save as the dissolute, although faithful, adherent of his patron, was invested with the insignia of his new dignity at Milan, on the 1st of May, A.D. 305, by Herculius in person, and obtained Italy, and probably Africa and Upper Pannonia also, as his provinces. But as soon as intelligence was received of the death of Constantius Chlorus, which happened at York, in July, A. D. 306, Severns was forthwith proclaimed Augustus in his stead, by Galerius, and soon after was instructed to quell the disturbances excited by the usurpation of Maxentius. The details of this disastrous campaign, the advance of Severus upon the capital, the defection of his troops, his hasty retreat, and his surrender at Ravenna to Herculius, upon the most solemn assurances of ample protection, have been related in a former article [Maxentius]. In spite, however, of all the promises of the conqueror, the vanquished 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, 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. (Panegr. Vet. i. v.; Auct. De Mort. Persec. 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 ; Victor, de Caes. 40, Epit. 40 ; Eutrop. 10.2; Excerpta Valeslan. 5-10; Zosim. ii, 8, 10.)

[W.R]

Seve'rus, Here'nnius

a friend of the younger Pliny, who speaks of him as " vir doctissimus." (Plin. Ep. 4.28.)

Seve'rus, Ju'lius

a legatus of Hadrian, was first governor of Britain, from which he was summoned by the emperor to take the command of the war against the Jews. After the conclusion of this war he was placed over Bithynia, which he governed with great wisdom and justice. He must not be confounded with the Severus, whom Pliny addresses in several of his letters, as Glandorp has done in his Onomasticon; for the friend of Pliny was Catilius Severus, as has been shown above. (D. C. 69.13, 14.)

Seve'rus, Ju'lius

a Roman grammarian, of whom nothing is known. Works De Pedibus Expositio

He is the author of a small treatise entitled De Pedibus Expositio. Editions

This was first published by Heusinger, together with the work of Flavius Mallius Theodorus on the same subject, Guelf. 1755, and Lugd. Bat. 1766. It is also included in Gaisford's Script. Lat. Rei Metric. Oxon. 1837.

Seve'rus, Li'bius

Roman emperor from A. D. 461-465. He was a Lucanian by birth, and owed his accession to Ricimer, who placed him on the throne of Rome after the assassination of Majorian. His proclamation took place at Ravenna, on the 19th or 20th of November, 461, and the Roman senate confirmed the election soon afterwards. He was an obscure man, and his name is not mentioned previous to the murder of Majorian, of which he was one of the principal agents. No acts of his reign are recorded but one, namely his condemnation of Agrippinus. and the subsequent pardon which he granted to him in 462. Leo, the Eastern emperor, declined to acknowledge him, but afterwards complied with the wishes of the powerful Ricimer, to whom we refer for the political events of the time. Severus died in Rome on the 15th of August, 465, or perhaps some weeks later. (Idatius, Chronicon; Chronicon Alexandr. ; Evagr. 2.7; Theoph. p. 97; Jornand. De Reb. Goth. 100.45.)

[W.P]

Seve'rus Sanctus Works Pastoral

the writer of an amoebaean pastoral of considerable merit, extending to 132 lines, in choriambic metre. 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 5.22). The speakers who open the dialogue are Buculus and Aegon, both pagans; and these are afterwards joined by Tityrus, a Christian. Buculus recounts, with deep grief, the disease and death by which his oxen had been visited. While Aegon is condoling with him, and marvelling that, although many of their neighbours had been afflicted by this calamity, some had remained altogether uninjured, Tityrus, one of those who had escaped, comes up, and, on being questioned, declares that he attributed the preservation of his property to the sign of the cross impressed upon the foreheads of his flocks, and to the worship of Jesus, which he himself practised, at the same time recommending his friends to adopt the faith which he professed, as the only sure safeguard and remedy. Buculus, convinced by his arguments, and hoping to avert the pestilence from his herds, agrees to become a convert, Aegon also expresses his willingness to receive the truth, and both, conducted by Tityrus, proceeded to the city, for the purpose of offering homage at the shrine of Christ.

With regard to the author little, or rather nothing, is known; for every particular recorded with regard to him, resolves itself into a vague conjecture. Ausonius mentions a Flavius Sanctus as his kinsman (Parental. xviii. xix), and Sidonius Apollinaris (Sid. Ep. 8.11) speaks of his friend Sanctus, who had been bishop of Bordeaux; but the composer of the eclogue now under consideration, is commonly supposed to be the same with Sanctus, a friend of Paulinus Nolanus, to whom that prelate addresses his twenty-sixth epistle, while Pithou proceeds a step farther, and maintains that he is also the rhetorician Endeilichius, whom Paulinus names in a letter to Sulpicius Severus (Ep. ix. comp. Sirmond, ad Sidon. Apoll. Ep. 4.8). Accordingly, he published the second edition of the pastoral in his "Epigrammata et Poemata Vett.," &c. (Paris, 1590), as Carmen Severi Sancti, id est, Endeilichi Rhetoris, de Mortibus Boum ; and, since that period, scholars, according to their conviction, have adopted one or other, or both of these titles.

From the internal evidence afforded by the piece itself, we are led to conclude that it belongs to the beginning of the fifth century; and that the pestilence to which it refers, is the same as that which entered Italy along with Alaric, in A. D. 409. Beyond this we can hardly venture to advance. Editions

First published by P. Pithou in his "Veterum aliquot Galliae Theologorum Scripta" (4to. Paris, 1586) as, Severi Rhetoris et Poetae Christiani Carmen Bucolicum. The second edition is (Paris, 1590), named above.

It will be found also in the Bibliotheca Patrum Max., fol. Lugd. 1677, vol. vi. p. 366; in the Bibliothieca Patrum of Galland, fol. Venet. 1788, vol. viii. p. 207, and in Wernsdorf's P. L. M., vol. ii. p. 217. It has been published separately by Weitzius, 8vo. Francf. 1612; with the notes of Weitzius and Seberus, 8vo. Lug. Bat. 1715 and 1745; by Richter, 4to. Hamb. 1747; and by Piper, 8vo. Gott. 1835. Further Information

A dissertation on Severus Sanctus is contained in Wernsdorf, Poet. Lat. Min. vol. ii. p. 53, seqq., comp. vol. iv. pt. 2. pp. 806, 812, vol. v. pt. 3. p. 1449; and in the edition of Piper. [W.R]

Seve'rus, L. Septi'mius

Roman emperor A. D. 193-211, was born on the 11th of April, A. D. 146, near Leptis in Africa, and it has been remarked, that he was the only Roman emperor who was a native of that continent. His family was of equestrian rank; the name of his father was Geta, of his mother Fulvia Pia, and from the correspondence of appellation and country we may fairly conjecture that he was a descendant of the Septimius Severus of Leptis to whom Statius addresses a graceful poem. He devoted himself eagerly when a boy to the study of Greek and Latin literature, and became a proficient in these languages. Having removed to Rome he entered upon a public career, and at the age of thirty-two was made praetor elect by M. Aurelius, his ambitious views having been effectually promoted by the influence of his kinsman Septimius Severus, who had been raised to the consulship. From this time forward the progress of Severus was steady and rapid. He successively commanded the fourth legion then stationed near Marseilles -- governed, with high reputation for impartiality and integrity, the province of Gallia Lugdunensis -- was legate of Pannonia, proconsul of Sicily, and consul suffectus in A. D. 185, along with Apuleius Rufinus, being one of the twenty-five who in that year purchased the office from Cleaner [Cleander]. He was subsequently commander-in-chief of the army in Pannonia and Illyria, and upon the death of Commodus tendered his allegiance to Pertinax, but after the murder of the latter, and the shameful elevation of Julianus, which excited universal indignation throughout the provinces, he was himself proclaimed emperor )by the troops at Carnutum. Although he consented with reluctance to receive this honour, yet, when his decision was once made he acted with the greatest promptitude and energy. While Pescennius Niger, who had been saluted as Augustus by the eastern legions, was loitering at Antioch, Severus marched straight upon Rome, and disregarding the threats, the assassins, and the peaceful overtures of Julianus, as well as the resolutions of the senate, in terms of which he had been declared a public enemy, he pressed onwards with great rapidity, announcing himself every where as the avenger of Pertinax, whose name he assumed, and from that time forward constantly retained among his titles. His arrival before the city on the 1st or 2d of June, A. D. 193, was the signal for the death of Julianus [Julianus], and the praetorians having submitted, his first exercise of power was to take vengeance on the actual murderers of Pertinax. He then collected the rest of the guards, surrounded them with his legions, compelled them to lay down their arms, and banished them from Rome, forbidding them upon pain of death to approach within a hundred miles of the metropolis. This act of justice and of policy being performed, he proceeded to enter the city, where all orders in the state now vied with each other in welcoming him with joyful homage. He declared Clodius Albinus, whose rivalry he dreaded, Caesar, -- celebrated the obsequies of Pertinax with the utmost splendor,--distributed an enormous donative to his soldiers, amounting we are told to 30,000 sesterces for each man, and having arranged all matters connected with the internal government of the state, quitted Rome within thirty days after his triumphal entry, and hurried to the East in order to prosecute the war against Niger. While he marched direct towards Syria at the head of a portion of his forces, he despatched some legions into Africa, lest the enemy passing through Egypt, or along the coast, might gain possession of the great granary of the empire and starve the metropolis. So eagerly did he watch over this department of the public service in after life, that when he died the storehouses of Rome were found to contain a stock of corn sufficient for the consumption of seven years, and as much oil as would have supplied the wants of all Italy for five.

The progress of the campaign, which was terminated by the capture of Niger after the battle of Issus, A. D. 194, need not be recapitulated [Niger, Pescennius]. But Severus was not yet satisfied. Some of the border tribes still refusing to acknowledge his authority, he crossed the Euphrates in the following year (A. D. 195), wasted their lands, captured their cities, forced all whom he encountered to submit, and won for himself the titles of Adiabenicus, Arabicus, and Parthicus. In A. D. 196 Byzantium, after an obstinate resistance, protracted for nearly three years, was taken, to the great joy of the emperor, who treated the vanquished with little moderation. Its famous walls were levelled with the earth, its soldiers and magistrates were put to death, the property of the citizens was confiscated, and the town itself, deprived of all its political privileges, made over to the Perinthians. Meanwhile Clodius Albinus, who, although created Caesar, found that after the destruction of Niger he was treated with little consideration, had accepted the imperial dignity proffered by the troops in Gaul. Severus being thus compelled to return to Europe, endeavoured, in the first instance, to remove his antagonist by treachery, but his schemes having been baffled, he procured a decree of the Senate, pronouncing him a public enemy, and then hastened on to Gaul to prosecute the war. On the nineteenth of February, A. D. 197, the contending hosts encountered near Lyons, the rivals commanding in person, each at the head of 150,000 men. The battle was fiercely contested, and for a time fortune seemed to waver. Severus. when rallying his men, lost his horse and narrowly escaped being slain; but eventually his superior skill and experience prevailed. The loss upon both sides was terrible. The whole plain was covered with the dead and wounded, and streams of blood mingled with the waters of the Rhone. Albinus took refuge in a house near the river; but finding himself hotly pursued and his retreat cut off, perished by his own hand. The conqueror, after feasting upon the spectacle of his enemy's corpse, ordered the head to be cut off and despatched to Rome, whither he quickly followed, and put to death many senators suspected of having been in correspondence with the foe. Games were exhibited, and largesses bestowed on the people; but as soon as the first excitement of success had passed away Severus, still thirsting for military renown, resolved to return to Asia, and again assail the Parthians, who, taking advantage of the civil strife in the West, had spread over Mesopotamia. Accordingly he set forth accompanied by his sons Caracalla and Geta, crossed the Euphrates early in the year A. D. 198, and commenced a series of operations which were attended with the most brilliant results. Seleucia and Babylon were evacuated by the enemy; and Ctesiphon, at that time their royal city, was taken and plundered after a short siege. The campaign against the Arabs, who had espoused the cause of Niger, was less glorious. The emperor twice assailed their chief town Atra, and twice was compelled to retire with great loss.

The next three years were spent in the East. Severus entered upon his third consulship in Syria (A. D. 202), Caracalla being his colleague; visited Arabia, Palestine, and Egypt; and having made all the necessary arrangements in these countries, returned to Rome in the same year, in order to offer the decennial vows, and to celebrate the marriage of his eldest son with Plautilla. The shows in honour of the return of the prince, of the completion of the tenth year of his reign, of his victories, and of the royal nuptials, were unparalleled in magnificence; that is to say, the bloodshed and butchery of men and animals were greater than ever. On one occasion, four hundred wild beasts were let loose in the amphitheatre at one moment, and seven hundred, at the rate of a hundred for each day, were slaughtered during the course of the frames. At this time, also. each citizen whose poverty entitled him to obtain corn from the public store, and each of the praetorians received ten aurei; a largess which consumed about sixteen millions and a half sterling, the greatest sum which had ever been bestowed in such a manner on any one occasion.

For seven years Septimius remained tranquilly at Rome; but in A. D. 207, either because a rebellion in northern Britain had assumed an aspect so serious that his presence was deemed requisite, or for the purpose of giving active employment to his sons, who were leading a life of profligacy, and to the legions, whose discipline had become relaxed, he determined again to take the field. Accordingly, passing through Gaul, he reached his destination, early in A. D. 208. Marching at once to the disturbed districts, he entered Caledonia, and penetrated, we are told, to the very extremity of the island, the inhabitants offering no steady or formidable opposition, but rather luring the invaders onward, in the expectation that they might be destroyed in detail, by want and misery. Nor do these anticipations appear to have been altogether disappointed : after having endured excessive toil in transporting supplies over barren pathless mountains, in raising causeways across swampy plains, and in throwing bridges over anfordable river, the troops retraced their steps, worn out with hardships of every description, without having accomplished any great object, or secured any permanent advantage. In this expedition incalculable misery was inflicted; the prince lost fifty thousand men, and gained the title of Britannicus. That no moral impression even was made is evident from the fact that, scarcely had the legions withdrawn towards the south, and commenced the famous wall which still bears the name of their commander, when a fresh insurrection broke out among the Meatae and the Caledonians. Enraged by this audacity, Severus declared his resolution to exterminate the whole race, and instantly began to make preparations for a new campaign. But his designs were cut short by death. He was attacked by a violent disease in the joints, and expired at York, on the 4th of February, A.D. 211, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, and the eighteenth of his reign. His ashes were conveyed to Rome, and deposited in the tomb of M. Aurelius. As a matter of course, his apotheosis was decreed by the senate, and Herodian has preserved a detailed account of the ceremonies performed.

Although the character of Severus appears in a most favourable light when viewed in contrast with those rulers who immediately preceded and followed him, there is in it not much to admire, and nothing to love. He was, it must be admitted, a stranger to their brutal vices; he was free from all capricious tyranny; under ordinary circumstances he governed the state with integrity, and did all that might best promote the interests of the community at large. He devoted himself with great zeal to the administration of justice, and to the reform of public abuses : he was, moreover, an admirable general; and the strict discipline maintained by him among the troops, effectually repressed, for a season, military insolence and excess. Nor can we refuse to acknowledge that he possessed a large, keen, and vigorous intellect, such as might well befit the ruler of such an empire in such unhappy times. But he was utterly devoid of all high moral principle, totally destitute of gentleness and generosity of temper. When he had once resolved to gain an object, he entertained no scruples with regard to the means by which his purpose was to be accomplished; and although not naturally cruel, was perfectly indifferent to human suffering and life. Nor did success soften this hardness of heart, or qualify the bitter resentment which he cherished against all who in any way opposed or thwarted his designs. Not content with victory, he ever sought to glut his vengeance on his fallen foes, and was always most odious in the hour of triumph. In private life it is said that he was a warm friend, simple and domestic in his habits, and fond of literary pursuits.

Although undoubtedly possessed of a masculine tone of mind, we find one singular trait of weakness, so much at variance with his shrewdness, sagacity, and strong sense in other matters, that we must regard it as a most remarkable example of the paralysing influence of vanity. He endeavoured to establish a connection between himself and his predecessors in the purple, and most preposterously announced that he was the adopted son of M. Aurelius, fifteen years after the death of that prince. In this manner he set up a claim to a long line of imperial ancestors, which he formally and pompously enunciated in many inscriptions still extant, where he is styled son of M. Aurelius, brother of Commodus, and, mounting up through Pius, Hadrian, and Trajan, greatgreat-great-grandson of Nerva. (Dio Cass. lxxiv. lxxv. lxxvi. ; Herodian; Spartian. Sever. ; Eutrop. 8.10; Aurel. Vict. Caes. xx; Oros. 7.17.)

[W.R]

Seve'rus, T. Stati'lius

consul A. D. 171 with L. Alfidius Herennianus. (Fasti.)

Seve'rus, Sulpi'cius

chiefly celebrated as an ecclesiastical historian,was a native of Aquitaine (Dialog. 1.20), and flourished towards the close of the fourth century under Arcadius and Honorius, being a few years younger than his friend Paulinus of Nola, to whose letters, of which fourteen are addressed to Severus, we are principally indebted for any information we possess regarding his career. Descended from a noble family he was carefully trained in all the learning of the age and country to which he belonged, distinguished himself as an orator at the bar, and married early in life a high-born and very wealthy bride. The untimely death of this lady produced so deep an impression on his mind that, while yet in the flower of his years, he resolved to abandon the pursuit of worldly pleasures and honours, and in company with a few pious friends, to seek tranquillity in seclusion and holy exercises. To this determination he steadfastly adhered notwithstanding the opposition of his father, by whom he was in consequence disinherited, a misfortune compensated, however, to a great extent by the liberality of his mother-in-law Bassula. He eventually became a presbyter of the church, and attached himself closely to St. Martin of Tours, whom he ever cultivated with peculiar reverence, imbibing from him many wild and fantastic notions respecting dreams, visions, miraculous manifestations, and the millennium, which in some measure sullied the brightness of his orthodoxy. Gennadius, in a passage, whose authenticity has been somewhat unreasonably disputed, positively asserts that Severus, towards the close of his life, was tainted with the Pelagian heresy, but that having become sensible of his error, and feeling convinced that he had been betrayed by a too great love of speaking, maintained silence ever afterwards as an appropriate atonement for his sin. The precise date of his birth and of his death are alike unknown. The former has been referred to A. D. 363, the latter variously to A. D. 410, 420, 422, 432, an argument in favour of the earliest of these epochs being derived from the fact that he is never mentioned by Paulinus subsequent to that year. His retirement from the world took place about A. D. 392. We must carefully avoid confounding this Sulpicius Severus with another ecclesiastical writer. Sulpicius Severus, surnamed Pius, who was the twenty-seventh bishop of Bourges, in the middle of the seventh century, and contemporary with Gregory of Tours, who dedicated to him his tract on the Seven Sleepers. Works

The extant works of Severus are, I. Vita S. Martini Turonensis

Drawn up towards the end of A. D. 400, soon after the death of the holy man, whose virtues and miracles it commemorates. Editions

The life of St. Martin, the three epistles connected with it, and the Dialogues, were first printed at Milan about 1480 by Boninus Mombritius in the second volume of his Vitae Sanetorum, from whence they were transferred into the collection of Christian poets published by Aldus Manutius. 4to. Venet. 1502, and reprinted at Paris in 1511. But so completely had these tracts been overlooked and forgotten, that when found by Wolfgang Lazius, in a MS. belonging to the Imperial Library at Vienna, he gave them to the world as a new discovery in his collection, Diversorum auctorum apocryphorum de vita Christi et Apostolorum (fol.. Basil. 1551), and his mistake was not discovered for two centuries. II. Tres Epistolae.

These three letters are immediately connected with the preceding biography, being severally entitled, 1. Ad Eusebium Presbyterum contra aemulos virtutum beati Martini. 2. Ad Aurelium Diaconum de obitu et apparitiones ejusdem. 3. Ad Bassulam socrum suam de transitu illius (sc. B. Martini) ex hac vita ad immortalem. Editions

The Epistolae were collected from various sources at different times. Two were first printed in the Lectiones Antiquae of Canisius, vol. v. p. 540, 4to. Ingolds. 1604; two, with others of doubtful authenticity in the Spicilegium Veterum Scriptorum of Dacherius, vol, v. p. 532, 4to. Paris, 1661, and the two to Claudia in the Miscellanea of Baluzius, fol. Paris. 1678. III. Historia Sacra.

An epitome of sacred history, extending from the creation of the world to the consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus, A. D. 400. It was concluded about A. D. 403. Editions

The Historia Sacra was first printed at Basle (8vo. 1556) by Matthaeus Flaccius. Among the numerous editions which have appeared from time to time the most notable are those with the commentary of Sigonius (8vo. Bonon. 1561, 1581), and with that of Drusius. (8vo. Arnhem. 1607.) IV. Dialogi duo

Generally divided into three, although that termed the second forms in reality a portion of the first. They contain a temperate review of the bitter discussions and dissensions which had arisen among ecclesiastics in the East regarding the tendency of the works of Origen. Composed about A. D. 405. V. Epistolae Sex. 1. Ad Claudiam Sororem -- on the last judgment. 2. Ad eandem -- on virginity. 3. Ad Paulinum Episcopum. 4. To the magistrates (decuriones) of a town which he does not name. 5. Ad Salvium. 6. A note, without address, extending to a few lines only. Lost Letters to Paulinus and others

Several letters to Paulinus and others have been lost, as we gather from the words of Gen nadius. Letter to Paulinus

A letter addressed to Paulinus, and published along with those of Severus in the collection of Dacherius is by some other hand. Assessment

Sulpicius Severus was greatly admired by his contemporaries, and his fame stood high with all classes of readers in the middle ages. Their estimate of his merits was far too favourable, for none of his productions exhibit much strength of mind or critical sagacity, nor do they furnish matter possessing any particular interest. His history, moreover, abounds with chronological errors and blunders of all kinds, copied from the old chronicles, whose mistakes he adopted with unsuspecting confidence. But, notwithstanding these grave defects, the polished terseness of his style, and the general purity of his language, have served to maintain his reputation even in modern times. From the general characteristics of his phraseology he has been termed the Christian Sallust, and the resemblance is unquestionable. He has, however, judiciously avoided the obscurity and affectation which so often deform the pages of his model, while on the other hand he not unfrequently permits himself to employ the ordinary jargon of ecclesiastical Latinity, instead of seeking for more graceful and classical forms of expression. Editions

The collected works were first printed at Basle (16mo. 1563), but the first impression with any pretensions to critical accuracy was that of Victor Giselinus, 8vo. Ant. 1574, accompanied by notes, and an elaborate life of Sulpicius. Considerable improvements were introduced by Hornius, 8vo. Lug. Bat. 1647; by Vorstius, 12mo. Berol. 1668 ; and Lips. 1703, by Mercierus, 8vo. Paris, 1675 ; by far the most complete and satisfactory edition is that of Hieronymus de Prato, 4to. 2 vols. Veron. 1741-1754, which has always, since its appearance, been regarded as the standard, although not absolutely complete, since the six epistles are omitted. It was reprinted, with the addition of the epistles, by Galland, in his Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. viii. fol. Venet. 1772. Further Information

Gennad. de Viris. Illust. 19 ; Honorius Augustod. de Script. Eccles. 3.19; Trithemius, de Script. Eccles. 113 ; Gregor. Turon. de Mirac. S. Mart. i.; Histor. Franc. 10.31; Paulin. Nol. Ep. 5.1, 11.5, 23.3, &c.; Hieronym. Comment. in Ezech. 36 ; Augustin. Ep. 205. [W.R]

Seve'rus, Verula'nus

a legatus of Corbulo, under whom he served in the East, in A. D. 60-12 (Tac. Ann. 14.26, 15.3). The L. Verulanus Severus, who was consul suffectus under Trajan in A. D. 108, was perhaps a son of the preceding.

Sevērus, A. Caecina

See Caecina.

Sevērus

Cassius. A celebrated orator and satirical writer in the time of Augustus and Tiberius, was born about B.C. 50 at Longula, in Latium. He was a man of low origin and dissolute character, but was much feared for the severity of his attacks upon the Roman nobles. He must have commenced his career as a public slanderer very early, if he is the person against whom the sixth Epode of Horace is directed, as is supposed by many ancient and modern commentators. Towards the latter end of the reign of Augustus, Severus was banished by Augustus to the island of Crete on account of his libellous verses; but as he still continued to write libels, he was removed by Tiberius in A.D. 24 to the desert island of Seriphus, where he died in great poverty in the twenty-fifth year of his exile, A.D. 33.

Sevērus, Cornelius

, the author of a poem entitled Bellum Siculum. He was contemporary with Ovid, by whom he is addressed in one of the Epistles written from Pontus.

Sevērus, Flavius Valerius

A Roman emperor (A.D. 306-307). He was proclaimed Caesar by Galerius in 306, and was soon afterwards sent against Maxentius, who had assumed the imperial title at Rome. The expedition, however, was unsuccessful; and Severus, having surrendered at Ravenna, was taken as a prisoner to Rome, and compelled to put an end to his life. See Maxentius.

Sevērus, Libius

A Roman emperor (A.D. 461- 465). He was a Lucanian by birth, and owed his accession to Ricimer, who placed him on the throne after the assassination of Majorian. During his reign the real government was in the hands of Ricimer. Severus died a natural death (Iornand. De Rebus Goth. 45).

Sevērus, Lucius Septimius

A Roman emperor (A.D. 193-211), who was born 146, near Leptis in Africa. After holding various important military commands under M. Aurelius and Commodus, he was at length appointed commander-in-chief of the army in Pannonia and Illyria. By this army he was proclaimed emperor after the death of Pertinax (193). He forthwith marched upon Rome, where Iulianus had been made emperor by the Praetorian troops. Iulianus was put to death upon his arrival before the city. (See Iulianus.) Severus then turned his arms against Pescennius Niger, who had been saluted emperor by the Eastern legions. The struggle was brought to a close by a decisive battle near Issus, in which Niger was defeated by Severus, and, having been shortly afterwards taken prisoner, was put to death by order of the latter (194). Severus then laid siege to Byzantium, which refused to submit to him even after the death of Niger, and which was not taken till 196. The city was treated with great severity by Severus. Its walls were levelled with the earth, its soldiers and magistrates put to death, and the town itself, deprived of all its political privileges, made over to the Perinthians. During the continuance of this siege, Severus had crossed the Euphrates (195) and subdued the Mesopotamian Arabians. He returned to Italy in 196, and in the same year proceeded to Gaul to oppose Albinus, who had been proclaimed emperor by the troops in that country. Albinus was defeated and slain in a terrible battle fought near Lyons on the 19th of February, 197. Severus returned to Rome in the same year; but after remaining a short time in the capital, he set out for the East in order to repel the invasion of the Parthians, who were ravaging Mesopotamia. He crossed the Euphrates early in 198, and commenced a series of operations which were attended with brilliant results. Seleucia and Babylon were evacuated by the enemy, and Ctesiphon was taken and plundered after a short siege. After spending three years in the East, and visiting Arabia, Palestine, and Egypt, Severus returned to Rome in 202. For the next seven years he remained tranquilly at Rome, but in 208 he went to Britain with his sons Caracalla and Geta. Here he carried on war against the Caledonians, and erected the celebrated wall, which bore his name, from the Solway to the mouth of the Tyne. After remaining two years in Britain, he died at Eboracum (York) on the 4th of February, 211, in the sixty-fifth year of his age and the eighteenth of his reign. His life is written by Spartianus. See Duruy, Septime - Sévère (Paris, 1878); and Hassebrank, Kaiser Septimius Severus, 2 pts. (1890-91).

Sevērus, Marcus Aurelius Alexander

, usually called Alexander Sevērus. A Roman emperor (A.D. 222-235), the son of Gessius Marcianus and Iulia Mamaea, and first cousin of Elagabalus. He was born at Arcé, in Phoenicia, in the temple of Alexander the Great, to which his parents had repaired for the celebration of a festival, on the 1st of October, A.D. 205. His original name appears to have been Alexianus Bassiānus, the latter appellation having been derived from his maternal grandfather. Upon the elevation of Elagabalus, he accompanied his mother and the court to Rome, a report having been spread abroad that he also, as well as the emperor, was the son of Caracalla. In 221 he was adopted by Elagabalus and created Caesar. The names Alexianus and Bassianus were laid aside, and those of M. Aurelius Alexander substituted; M. Aurelius in virtue of his adoption; Alexander in consequence, as was asserted, of a direct revelation on the part of the Syrian god. On the death of Elagabalus, on the 11th of March, A.D. 222, Alexander ascended the throne, adding Severus to his other designations, in order to mark more explicitly the descent which he claimed from the father of Caracalla. After reigning in peace some years, during which he reformed many abuses in the State, he was involved in a war with Artaxerxes, king of Persia, who had lately founded the new Empire of the Sassanidae on the ruins of the Parthian monarchy. Alexander gained a great victory over Artaxerxes in 232; but he was unable to prosecute his advantage in consequence of intelligence having reached him of a great movement among the German tribes. He celebrated a triumph at Rome in 233, and in the following year (234) set out for Gaul, which the Germans were devastating; but before he had made any progress in the campaign, he was waylaid by a small band of mutinous soldiers, instigated, it is said, by Maximinus, and slain, along with his mother, in the early part of 235, in the thirtieth year of his age and the fourteenth of his reign. Alexander Severus was distinguished by justice, wisdom, and clemency in all public transactions, and by the simplicity and purity of his private life. His life is written by Lampridius. See Porrath, Der Kaiser Alexander Severus (1876).

Sevērus, Sulpicius

A writer chiefly celebrated as an ecclesiastical historian. He was a native of Aquitania, and flourished towards the close of the fourth century under Arcadius and Honorius. He was descended from a noble family, and was originally an advocate; but he eventually became a presbyter of the church, and attached himself closely to St. Martin of Tours. The extant works of Severus are: (a) Historia Sacra, an epitome of sacred history, extending from the creation of the world to the consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus, A.D. 400; (b) Vita S. Martini Turonensis; (c) Tres Epistolae; (d) Dialogi duo, containing a review of the dissensions which had arisen among ecclesiastics in the East regarding the works of Origen; (e) Epistolae Sex. The best edition of the complete works of Severus is by Hahn (Vienna, 1886).