some conditions, may be brought to approve;
Theft, sacrilege, treason, and parricide,
When flattering opportunity enticed,
And desperation drove, have been committed
By those who once would start to hear them named.--_Lillo_.

1. Seve'rus having overcome Niger, A.D. 194, and Albinus, A.D. 198,
who were his competitors for the empire, assumed the reins of
government, uniting great vigour with the most refined policy; yet his
African cunning was considered as a singular defect in him. 2. He is
celebrated for his wit, learning, and prudence; but execrated for
his perfidy and cruelty. In short, he seemed equally capable of
the greatest acts of virtue, and the most bloody severities. 3. He
loaded his soldiers with rewards and honours, giving them such
privileges as strengthened his own power, while they destroyed that of
the senate; for the soldiers, who had hitherto showed the strongest
inclination to an abuse of power, were now made arbiters of the fate
of emperors. 4. Being thus secure of his army he resolved to give way
to his natural desire of conquest, and to turn his arms against the
Parthians, who were then invading the frontiers of the empire. 5.
Having, therefore, previously given the government of domestic policy
to one Plau'tian, a favourite, to whose daughter he married his son
Caracal'la, he set out for the east, and prosecuted the war with his
usual expedition and success. 6. He compelled submission from the king
of Arme'nia, destroyed several cities of Ara'bia Felix, landed on the
Parthian coast, took and plundered the famous city of Ctes'iphon,
marched back through Pal'estine and Egypt, and at length returned to
Rome in triumph. 7. During this interval, Plau'tian, who was left to
direct the affairs of Rome, began to think of aspiring to the empire
himself. Upon the emperor's return, he employed a tribune of the
praetorian cohorts, of which he was commander, to assassinate him, and
his son Caracal'la. 8. The tribune informed Seve'rus of his
favourite's treachery. He at first received the intelligence as an
improbable story, and as the artifices of one who envied his
favourite's fortune. However, he was at last persuaded to permit the
tribune to conduct Plau'tian to the emperor's apartments to be a
testimony against himself. 9. With this intent the tribune went and
amused him with a pretended account of his killing the emperor and his
son; desiring him, if he thought fit to see them dead, to go with h