Mæsa, the sister of Julia Augusta, had two daughters, Soæmias and Mammæa, by her husband Julius, an ex-consul. She had also two male grandchildren. One was Avitus, the child of Soæmias and Varius Marcellus, a man of the same race,--he was from Apamea,--who had been occupied in procuratorships, had been enrolled in the senate, and soon after died. The other was Bassianus, the child of Mammæa and Gessius Marcianus, who was himself also a Syrian, from a city called Arca, and had been assigned to various positions as procurator. Now Mæsa at home in Emesa her life [lacuna] her sister Julia, with whom she had made her abode during the entire period of the latter's reign, having perished. For Avitus, after governing in Asia, sent by Caracalla from Mesopotamia into Cyprus, was seen to be limited to the position of adviser to some magistrate who suffered from old age and sickness; and again [lacuna] him, when [lacuna] he died, one Eutychianus, that had given satisfaction in games and exercises, and for that reason [lacuna] who [lacuna] [Sidenote:--31--] [lacuna] upon [lacuna] becoming aware of the strong dislike of the soldiers for Macrinus [lacuna] wall [lacuna] and partly persuaded by the Sun, whom they name Elagabalus and worship devotedly, and by some other prophecies, he undertook to overthrow Macrinus and put up Avitus, the grandson of Mæsa and a mere child, as emperor in his stead. And he accomplished both projects, although he had himself as yet not fully reached manhood and had as helpers only a few freedmen and soldiers [lacuna] and Emesenian senators [lacuna] pretending that he was a natural son of Tarautas and arraying him in clothing which the latter had worn when a child, Cæsar by the [lacunæ] introduced into the camp at night, without the knowledge of his mother or his grandmother, and at dawn on the sixteenth of May he persuaded the soldiers, who were eager to get some starting-point for an uprising, to revolt. Julianus, the prefect, learning this (for he happened to be not far distant), caused both a daughter and a son-in-law of Marcianus, together with some others, to be assassinated. Then, after collecting as many of the soldiers remaining as he could in the short time at his disposal, he made an attack upon what was, to all intents and purposes, a most hostile fortress. [Sidenote:--32--] He might have taken it that very day, for the Moors sent to Tarautas according to the terms of alliance fought most valiantly for Macrinus, who was a countryman of theirs, and even broke through some of the gates. But he refused the opportunity, either because he was afraid to rush in or because he expected that he could win the men inside to surrender voluntarily. As no propositions were made to him, and they furthermore built up all the gates during the night, so that they were now in a securer position, he again assaulted the place but effected nothing. For they carried Avitus (whom they were