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having declared them enemies, and having confiscated the property of the citizens, he granted both it and its territory to the Perinthians. And having demolished the walls of the city, he did not grieve them any more than that he deprived them of the glory which they reaped from their own display, but he destroyed a great base of operations for the Romans against the barbarians from Pontus and Asia, and indeed also a place of refuge; for the walls of Byzantium were very strong. But Severus, being mad for glory, marched against the Osroenian barbarians and the Adiabenians and the Arabians, and having arrived in Nisibis, from there he sent both generals and legions against the said nations, who both ravaged their land and took their cities. But again a civil war befell Severus. For the one would not even give to Albinus the honor of Caesar, but the other demanded also that of emperor. And with the world being stirred up on account of these things, the people, a great crowd gathered in the hippodrome, most openly lamented, crying out, "how long do we suffer such things?" and "how far are we to be warred upon?" and they shouted certain other such things, being inspired as if by some more divine inspiration. For how did so many thousands, as if under a chorus-master, speak in unison and without stumbling what they said? However, for a time, a battle having been joined and the war 3.102 having had many forms and turns and shifts, Albinus was defeated, with Romans on both sides having fallen, almost beyond number, and with Albinus having killed himself. Severus gloated over him as he lay there and spoke insultingly, and ordered the rest of the body to be thrown away, but he sent the head to Rome and impaled it. And he killed many of the senate, but also acquitted some. After these things, he marched against the Parthians, who had taken Mesopotamia. And having constructed ships on the Euphrates, he took both Seleucia and Babylon, which had been abandoned. And having taken Ctesiphon, he allowed his soldiers to plunder it, and he killed many and took more alive. But he neither pursued Vologaeses, the ruler of the Parthians, who had retreated homeward, nor did he occupy Ctesiphon, but he departed as if he had campaigned only to plunder it. And while he was at war, he killed two distinguished men: one, Julius Crispus, a tribune of the guards, because he was vexed by the hardship of the war and had uttered some complaint, and he appointed the soldier who accused him as tribune in his place; and the other, Laetus, because he had a proud spirit and because he was loved by the soldiers, and they said they would not serve unless Laetus led them. And he blamed his murder on the soldiers, because having killed him out of envy, he had no cause to state. Then he marched against Hatra. This is an Arabian city, in which were stored many other treasures and also the offerings of the Sun, to whom the city was dedicated. But having accomplished nothing, although he had demolished the outer wall, and having lost many of his own men, he withdrew; and 3.103 he came to Palestine and to Egypt, and saw everything and pried into its hidden things. For he was of such a sort as to leave nothing unexamined, neither divine nor human. And the books which had anything secret he took away from all the shrines, as many as he was able to find at that time. These things, then, were so; but let it be said, as in passing, also what we have found Dio saying about the Nile, both from where it rises and why it makes its flood in the summer. He says, then, that it rises from the Atlas, and that the Atlas is a mountain in Macennitis beside the Ocean itself to the west, and that it rises above all mountains, so that on account of its height it was even called a pillar of heaven by the poets. For neither has anyone ever ascended to its summit nor seen its peaks, which are always full of snow, from which much water flows down during the summer, and for this reason the Nile floods at that time. And he says these things were confirmed for the Romans by the people of lower Mauretania, who are neighbors to Macennitis, and that many of the Romans who campaigned there also came to the Atlas. These things, then,

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ἀποφήνας, δημεύσας τε τὰς οὐσίας τῶν πολιτῶν, Περινθίοις αὐτήν τε καὶ τὴν χώραν αὐτῆς ἐχαρίσατο. τὰ δὲ τείχη τῆς πόλεως καθελὼν ἐκείνους μὲν οὐδὲν πλέον ἐλύπησεν η τῆς δόξης αὐτοὺς ἐστέρησεν ην ἐκαρποῦντο ἐκ τῆς αὐτῶν ἐπιδείξεως, τῶν δὲ ̔Ρωμαίων μέγα καθεῖλεν ὁρμητήριον πρὸς τοὺς ἐκ Πόντου καὶ τῆς Ἀσίας βαρβάρους, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ κρησφύγετον· ην γὰρ τὰ τείχη τοῦ Βυζαντίου καρτερώτατα. Σευῆρος δὲ δοξομανῶν κατὰ τῶν ̓Οσροηνῶν βαρβάρων καὶ τῶν ̓Αδιαβηνῶν καὶ τῶν ̓Αραβίων ἐστράτευσε, καὶ εἰς τὴν Νίσιβιν ἀφικόμενος ἐκεῖθεν επεμψε στρατηγούς τε καὶ τάγματα κατὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ἐθνῶν, οι τήν τε χώραν αὐτῶν ἐδῄουν καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἐλάμβανον. Αυθις δὲ πόλεμος συνηνέχθη τῷ Σευήρῳ ἐμφύλιος. ὁ μὲν γὰρ τῷ ̓Αλβίνῳ οὐδὲ τὴν τοῦ Καίσαρος ἐδίδου τιμήν, ὁ δ' ῃτει καὶ τὴν τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος. συγκινουμένης δὲ διὰ ταῦτα τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὁ δῆμος ἐν ἱπποδρομίᾳ συνειλεγμένος πολὺς ἐκφανέστατα κατωδύρατο, "μέχρι πότε τοιαῦτα πάσχομεν" κράζοντες καί "μέχρι ποῦ πολεμούμεθα;" καὶ αλλα δέ τινα τοιαῦτα ὡς ἐκ θειοτέρας τινὸς ἐπιπνοίας ἐνθουσιῶντες ἐβόησαν. πῶς γὰρ τοσαῦται μυριάδες ὡς ὑπὸ χορολέκτῃ ὁμοφώνως ειπον καὶ ἀπταίστως α ειπον; τέως μέντοι μάχης συγκροτηθείσης καὶ πολλὰς ἰδέας τε καὶ τροπὰς καὶ μετακλίσεις τοῦ πολέμου 3.102 ἐσχηκότος ὁ ̓Αλβῖνος ἡττήθη, πεσόντων μὲν ἀμφοτέρωθεν ̔Ρωμαίων σχεδὸν ὑπερβαινόντων καὶ ἀριθμόν, τοῦ δὲ ̓Αλβίνου ἑαυτὸν ἀνελόντος. ῳ κειμένῳ ἐπεντρυφήσας ὁ Σευῆρος καὶ γλωσσαλγήσας τὸ μὲν αλλο σῶμα ῥιφῆναι ἐκέλευσε, τὴν κεφαλὴν δ' ἐς τὴν ̔Ρώμην στείλας ἀνεσταύρωσε. καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν τῆς γερουσίας ἀπέκτεινε, τινὰς δὲ καὶ ἀπέλυσε. Μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ κατὰ τῶν Πάρθων ἐστράτευσε τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν ἑλόντων. καὶ πλοῖα κατασκευάσας ἐν τῷ Εὐφράτῃ τήν τε Σελεύκειαν καὶ τὴν Βαβυλῶνα ἐκλειφθεῖσαν ελαβε. καὶ τὴν Κτησιφῶντα ἑλὼν διαρπάσαι τοῖς στρατιώταις ἐφῆκε, πολλούς τε ἀνεῖλε καὶ ζῶντας πλείονας ειλεν. ουτε δὲ τὸν Οὐολόγαισον ἐπεδίωξε τὸν τῶν Πάρθων ἡγεμονεύοντα ἀναχωρήσαντα οικαδε, ουτε τὴν Κτησιφῶντα κατέσχεν, ἀλλ' ῳχετο ωσπερ ινα διαρπάσῃ ταύτην μόνον ἐστρατευκώς. ̓Εν ῳ δὲ ἐπολέμει, ανδρας δύο ἀπέκτεινε τῶν ἐπιφανῶν, τὸν μὲν Κρίσπον ̓Ιούλιον χιλιαρχοῦντα τῶν δορυφόρων, οτι ηχθετο τῇ τοῦ πολέμου κακώσει καί τι καὶ παρεφθέγξατο, καὶ τὸν κατηγορήσαντα αὐτοῦ στρατιώτην χιλίαρχον ἀπέδειξεν ἀντ' αὐτοῦ· τὸν δὲ Λαῖτον, οτι φρόνημα ειχε καὶ οτι ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἠγαπᾶτο, καὶ οὐκ αλλως στρατεύσειν ελεγον εἰ μὴ Λαῖτος αὐτῶν ἡγοῖτο. καὶ τὸν φόνον αὐτοῦ τοῖς στρατιώταις προσῆπτεν, οτι φθόνῳ αὐτὸν ἀνελὼν οὐκ ειχε λέγειν αἰτίαν. Ειτα ἐπὶ τὰ Ατρα ἐστράτευσε. πόλις δὲ ταῦτα ̓Αράβιος, ἐν ῃ πολλά τε αλλα ἀπέκειντο χρήματα καὶ τὰ τοῦ ̔Ηλίου δὲ ἀναθήματα, ῳ ἡ πόλις ἀπέκειτο. οὐδὲν δὲ ἀνύσας, καίτοι τὸ ἐκτὸς τεῖχος καθῃρηκώς, καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν οἰκείων ἀποβαλών, ἀνεχώρησε· καὶ 3.103 εἰς τὴν Παλαιστίνην ἀφίκετο καὶ ἐς Αιγυπτον, καὶ πᾶσαν ειδε καὶ τὰ κεκρυμμένα ἐπολυπραγμόνησεν. ην γὰρ οιος μήτε θεῖον μήτε τι ἀνθρώπινον καταλιπεῖν ἀνερεύνητον. καὶ τὰ βιβλία α τι ειχον ἀπόρρητον ἐκ πάντων τῶν ἀδύτων ἀνείλετο, οσα τέως εὑρεῖν δεδύνητο. Ταῦτα μὲν ουτως· εἰρήσθω δ' ὡς ἐν παρόδῳ καὶ οσα τὸν ∆ίωνα περὶ τοῦ Νείλου λέγοντα ευρομεν, οθεν τε ἀναδίδοται καὶ διὰ τί κατὰ τὸ θέρος πεποίηται τὴν ἀνάβασιν. λέγει τοίνυν οτι ἐκ τοῦ Ατλαντος ἀναδίδοται, τὸν δὲ Ατλαντα ορος ειναι ἐν τῇ Μακεννίτιδι παρ' αὐτῷ τῷ ̓Ωκεανῷ πρὸς ἑσπέραν, καὶ ὀρῶν ἁπάντων ὑπερανίστασθαι, ωστε καὶ κίονα αὐτὸν διὰ τὸ υψος παρὰ τῶν ποιητῶν κληθῆναι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. μήτε γὰρ ἀναβῆναί τινά ποτε εἰς ακρον αὐτοῦ μήτ' ἰδέσθαι τὰς αὐτοῦ κορυφὰς χιόνος ἀεὶ πληθούσας, ἐξ ης πολὺ καταρρεῖν τὸ υδωρ ὑπὸ τὸ θέρος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τότε τὸν Νεῖλον πληθύνεσθαι. λέγει δὲ ταῦτα ̔Ρωμαίοις ἀκριβωθῆναι ἐκ τῶν τῆς κάτω Μαυριτανίας ἀνθρώπων, προσοίκων οντων τῇ Μακεννίτιδι, καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἐκεῖ στρατευσαμένων ̔Ρωμαίων ἀφικέσθαι καὶ πρὸς τὸν Ατλαντα. ταῦτα μὲν