ority rested upon the support of
the soldiery. Light is thrown upon Severus' policy in general by the
significant fact that under him Rome, which he adorned with magnificent
structures, received the title _sacra_ (sacred), a term regularly used to
designate things under the control of the princeps. The activity of the
Senate was limited to registering its approval of his measures, and
equestrians were appointed to military posts hitherto filled only by
senators. The special privileges which Italy and the Italians had
continued to enjoy were equally disregarded. The title proconsul, which
Trajan and his successors had used in the provinces, was now employed by
Severus in Italy. In 193 he disbanded the old praetorian guard, which had
been recruited from Italy and the more thoroughly latinized provinces, and
organized a new corps of picked troops drawn from the legions in general,
but especially those of the Danubian army. Severus enrolled three new
legions for the Parthian war and placed them under the command of
equestrian prefects instead of senatorial legates. Two of these legions
were stationed in Mesopotamia, but the third was quartered at the Alban
Mount in Latium. This step had the effect of reducing Italy to the status
of a garrisoned province, but it was probably taken with the view of
providing a larger reserve force to supplement the frontier garrisons.
Severus also was the author of many reforms which improved the conditions
or increased the rewards of military service. The pay of the troops was
raised, the legionaries were allowed to contract a legal marriage when in
service, and the equestrian career was opened to veteran centurians.
However, there seems to be no proof that Severus deliberately fostered the
barbarization of the army by the exclusion of Italian centurians, or that
he ruined the discipline of the soldiers by permitting the married
legionaries to reside outside of barracks. To rescue the government from
the state of insolvency into which it had been brought by his
predecessors, Severus stood in need of a large sum of money. This he
secured by confiscating the estates of the adherents of Niger and Albinus.

Of signal importance was the increase in the power of the praetorian
prefecture at this time. This office was for a number of years held by a
single prefect, Publius Fulvius Plautianus, whose daughter was married to
the eldest son of Severus. However, his great power proved his undoing,
and in