that their vessels were overheavy and depressed almost to the water's edge, put out against them. They assailed the company, which was scattered about as wind and flood chose to dispose them, and really engaged in nothing like a naval contest but crushed the enemy's boats mercilessly, striking many with their boat-hooks, ripping up many with their beaks, and actually capsizing some by their mere onset. The victims were unable to do anything, however much they might have wished it: and when they attempted to flee in any direction either they would be sunk by force of the wind, which encountered them with the utmost violence, or else they would be overtaken by the enemy and destroyed. The inhabitants of Byzantium, as they watched this, for a time called unceasingly upon the gods and kept uttering now one shout and now another at the various events, according as each one was affected by the spectacle or the disaster enacted before his eyes. But when they saw their friends perishing all together, the united throng sent up a chorus of groans and wailings, and thereafter they mourned for the rest of the day and the whole night. The entire number of wrecks proved so great that some drifted upon the islands and the Asiatic coast, and the defeat became known by these relics before it was reported. The next day the Byzantines had the horror increased even above what it had been. For, when the surf had subsided, the whole sea in the vicinity of Byzantium was covered with corpses and wrecks with blood, and many of the remains were cast up on shore, with the result that the catastrophe, now seen in its details, appeared even worse than when in process of consummation.
14
The Byzantines straightway, though against their will, surrendered their city. The Romans executed all the soldiers and magistrates except the pugilist who had greatly aided the Byzantines and injured the Romans. He perished also, for in order to make the soldiers angry enough to destroy him he immediately hit one with his fist and with a leap gave another a violent kick.
Severus was so pleased at the capture of Byzantium that to his soldiers in Mesopotamia (where he was at this time) he said unreservedly: "We have taken Byzantium, too!" He deprived the city of its independence and of its civil rank, and made it tributary, confiscating the property of the citizens. He granted the town and its territory to the Perinthians, and the latter, treating it after the manner of a village, committed innumerable outrages. So far he seemed in a way to be justified in what he did. His demolition of the walls of the city grieved the inhabitants no more than did the loss of that reputation which the appearance of the walls had caused them to enjoy; and incidentally he had abolished a strong Roman outpost and base of operations against the barbarians from the Pontus and Asia. I was one that viewed the walls after they had fallen, and a person would have judged that they had been taken by some other people than the Romans. I had also seen them standing and had heard them "speak." There were seven towers extending from the Thracian gates to the sea. If a man approached any of these but the first, it was silent; but if he shouted a few words at that one or threw a stone at it, it not only echoed and spoke itself but caused the second to do the same thing. In this way the sound passed through them all alike, and they did not interrupt one another, but all in their proper turn, one receiving the impulse from the one before it, took up the echo and the voice and sent it on.
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Severus's war against the Osrhoeni, Adiabeni, and Arabians (chapters [1],[2], [3] ).
Severus's war against Albinus Caesar (chapters [4], [5] ).
How Albinus was vanquished by Severus and perished (chapters [6], [7] ).
The arrogance of Severus after his victory (chapters [7], [8] ).
Severus's Parthian expedition (chapter [9] ).
How he besieged the Atreni, but found his endeavors fruitless (chapters [10], [11], [12] ).
How he started for Egypt: and about the source of the Nile (chapter [13] ).
About the power and tyrannous conduct of Plautianus (chapters [14], [15], [16] ).
DURATION OF TIME
Scapula Tertullus, Tineius Clemens,
(A.D. 195 = a.u. 948 = Third of Severus, from the Calends of June).
C. Domitius Dexter (II), L. Valerius Messala Priscus.
(A.D. 196 = a.u. 949 = Fourth of Severus).
Ap. Claudius Lateranus, Rufinus.
(A.D. 197 = a.u. 950 = Fifth of Severus).
Ti. Saturninus, C. Gallus.
(A.D. 198 = a.u. 951 = Sixth of Severus).
P. Cornelius Anullinus, M. Aufidius Fronto.
(A.D. 199 = a.u. 952 = Seventh of Severus).
Ti. Claudius Severus, C. Aufidius Victorinus.
(A.D. 200 = a.u. 953 = Eighth of Severus).
L. Annius Fabianus, M. Nonius Mucianus.
(A.D. 201 = a.u. 954 = Ninth of Severus).
L. Septimius Severus Aug. (III), M. Aurel. Antoninus Aug.
(A.D. 202 = a.u. 955 = Tenth of Severus).