264
DEFEAT AND DEATH OF ALBINUS.
ance, and held out for three years, until at length Severus, in
his indignation, took and completely destroyed the town. The
resistance of Byzantium is almost unaccountable; it is, how-
ever, not impossible that the Byzantines had so much offended
the emperor, that they may have dreaded severe treatment;
but they may also have been conscious of the importance of the
site which their city occupied, and may have wished even then
that it should be the capital of the eastern empire, for which
nature herself seems to have destined it.
During this war, Severus had gained over his other com-
petitor in Gaul, Clodius Albinus, who was a man below
mediocrity in every respect. He was likewise a native of
Africa, and claimed to be descended from the noble family of
the Postumii; but Severus, in a letter addressed to the Roman
senate10, charges him with making false pretensions, and states
that he was a mere African, and not even of Italian descent.
At all events he was a person of little importance, as is evident
from the fact of his being so easily duped; for when Severus
offered him the dignity of Caesar, he was perfectly satisfied,
and was taken in by the very improbable promise, that Se-
verus, who had children, would make him his successor.11
After the fall of Pescennius Niger, however, Severus spoke to
him in a different tone ; and either a real, or merely suspected
attempt at assassinating Severus, induced the latter to declare
war against Albinus. A battle was fought in the neighbour-
hood of Lyons, A.D. 197, with great efforts on both sides.
From the meagre account we have of this engagement, we
see that Britain, Gaul, and Spain, were already united under
Albinus, and Severus gained the victory at a moment when
he was on the point of losing it. Albinus was mortally
wounded, and died under the hoofs of the horses. Severus nχκle
a most cruel use of this victory, without taking any trouble to
conceal from the senate the bitterness of his feelings. Besides
the forty-one senators, many eminent men from Gaul and
Spain paid for their attachment to Albinus with their lives.
The imprudence of the Roman senate in regard to Albinus is
inconceivable: the senators must have considered the issue of
the contest so uncertain, as to believe that the probability of
success was greater on the side of Albinus than on that of
Severus : a mistake for which they had to pay fearfully.
10 J. Capitolin. Clod. Albinus, 12.
" Dion Cass. Ixxiii. 15; Herodian, Ц. 15; J. Capitolin. Clod. Albinus, 3, 7.
wars of Septimius severus.
265
After Severus had obtained the undisputed possession of
the empire, his government was not only glorious, but excel-
lent and mild too. The German nations were quiet after the
Marcomannian war ; though we do not know what kept
them so. But he made two expeditions against the Parthians :
in the first he led his army into Adiabene, the country east of
the Tigris, and Arabia, which, like Osroene, were in the con-
dition of feudal kingdoms under the Persian supremacy; but
according to the greater or lesser energy of the Parthian
sovereigns, the rulers of those countries were more or less
independent kings. Severus accordingly conducted the first
campaign without being at war with the Parthians themselves.
The second expedition, however, was directed against the
Parthians. Severus took the flourishing city of Ctesiphon,
which had been built by the Parthians opposite to Selcucia
as a rival to the latter: the town was given up to the soldiers
and plundered. It is strange that Severus did not make the
country a Roman province; but the emperors were in a sad
position, for they were almost compelled to carry on wars
perpetually, as peace produced general effeminacy. Severus
therefore merely concluded peace, gave back Babylon, but
retained Adiabene, which became tributary to Rome. Meso-
potamia, and all Arabia now recognised the supremacy of
Rome; but the kings of those countries were left in possession
of their kingdoms.
After this, Severus had to carry on another war in Britain.
It is surprising to find that he thought it necessary to employ
all the powers of the empire against the weak Caledonian bar-
barians. He was accompanied in this expedition by his two
sons, Caracalla and Geta, both of whom were destined to
become his successors. Caracalla, the elder, who was then
twenty-two years old, already acted as the colleague of his
father ; and Geta, who was several years younger, had received
the title of Caesar : he is the first who occurs in inscriptions
with the title of NobilissimusN Before his death, Severus
raised both his sons to the rank of Augustus, and bequeathed
the empire to them.
Severus strangely declared himself the adopted son of
M. Aurelius, and accordingly called himself M. Aurelius
Antoninus, M. Aurelii filius, T. Pii nepos, etc. It cannot be
's M∣ tσσψ,os in the Byzantine writers is synonymous with Caesar.—N.