originally for the same ends as you, nor should I be censured for failing
to desert the master whom I had once secured by the will of Heaven and for
not transferring my allegiance to you. You would not yourself have liked
to have your intimate circle and fellow judges here betray your cause and
go over to him. Examine therefore not our bodies nor our names but the
events themselves. For in every point in which you condemn us you will be
passing sentence upon yourself and your associates. However secure you may
be from conviction in any suit or by any court finding, still, in the
report of men, of which an eternal memory shall survive, you will be
represented as making against yourself the same charges as have led to
punishment [Footnote: Supplying, with Reiske, [Greek: soi [Lacuna]
kolasthaenai].] in the case of others."--Severus admired this man for his
frankness and allowed him to keep half his property.

[Many who had never even seen Niger and had not cooperated with him were
victims of abuse on the charge that they had been members of his party.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 195 (a.u. 948)] [Sidenote:--10--] The Byzantines performed
many remarkable deeds both during the life and after the death of Niger.
This city is favorably located with reference both to the continents and
to the sea that lies between them, and is strongly intrenched by the
nature of its position as well as by that of the Bosporus. The town sits
on high ground extending into the sea. The latter, rushing down from the
Pontus with the speed of a mountain torrent assails the headland and in
part is diverted to the right, forming there the bay and harbors. But the
greater part of the water passes on with great energy past the city itself
toward the Propontis. Moreover, the place had walls that were very strong.
Their face was constructed of thick squared stones, fastened together by
bronze plates, and the inner side of it had been strengthened with mounds
and buildings so that the whole seemed to be one thick wall and the top of
it formed a circuit betraying no flaws and easy to guard. Many large
towers occupied an exposed position outside it, with windows set close
together on every side so that those assaulting the fortification in a
circle would be cut off between them. Being built at a short distance from
the wall and not in a regular line, but one here and another there over a
rather crooked route, they were sure to command both sides of any
attacking party