my, and giving one to Laetus,
one to Anullinus, and one to Probus, sent them out against ARCHE [Lacuna];
[Footnote: The MS. is corrupt. Adiabene, Atrene and Arbelitis have all
been suggested as the district to which Dio actually referred here.] and
they, invading it in three divisions, subdued it not without trouble.
Severus bestowed some dignity upon Nisibis and entrusted the city to the
care of a knight. He declared he had won a mighty territory and had
rendered it a bulwark of Syria. It is shown, on the contrary, by the facts
themselves that the place is responsible for our constant wars as well as
for great expenditures. It yields very little and uses up vast sums. And
having extended our borders to include men who are neighbors of the Medes
and Parthians rather than of ourselves, we are always, one might say,
fighting over those peoples.

[Sidenote:--4--] Before Severus had had time to recover breath from his
conflicts with the barbarians he found a civil war on his hands with
Albinus, his Caesar. Severus after getting Niger out of the way was still
not giving him the rank of Caesar and had ordered other details in that
quarter as he pleased; and Albinus aspired to the preeminence of emperor.
[Footnote: Omitting [Greek: autou] (as Dindorf).] While the whole world
was moved by this state of affairs we senators kept quiet, at least so
many of us as inclining openly neither to one man nor the other yet shared
their dangers and hopes. But the populace could not restrain itself and
showed its grief in the most violent fashion. It was at the last
horse-race before the Saturnalia, and a countless throng of people flocked
to it. I too was present at the spectacle because the consul was a friend
of mine and I heard distinctly everything that was said,--a fact which
renders me able to write a little about it.

It came about in this way. There had gathered (as I said) more people than
could be computed and they had watched the chariots contesting in six
divisions (which had been the way also in Oleander's time), applauding no
one in any manner, as was the custom. When these races had ceased and the
charioteers were about to begin another event, then they suddenly enjoined
silence upon one another and all clapped their hands simultaneously,
shouting, besides, and entreating good fortune for the public welfare.
They first said this, and afterward, applying the terms "Queen" and
"Immortal" to Rome, they roared: "How long are we