Septimius Severus was a most remarkable man: he came from Leptis, an old Punic colony in which a Roman _conventus_ had settled. There is no doubt but that the Septimius Severus to whom Statius addressed a poem (the _Leptitani_), was an ancestor of his. He was thoroughly Punic, and indeed his sister, when she came to Rome, spoke nothing but broken Latin: these places in Africa had so completely retained their foreign character, that Punic was the prevailing language, even in the towns: Severus, however, both in Greek and Latin was a good writer. We have of his only one undoubted letter, which, although he wrote it in a passion, is very well written: he also composed memoirs, which unfortunately have been lost.—He was then in his forty-seventh year, and in every department, whether of administration or of military command, he had greatly distinguished himself. A marked feature in his character was his leaning towards foreign religions, astrology, and soothsaying: these things, on the whole, were now getting more and more into vogue, thus paving the way for the Christian religion. Many took this up as they would any other theurgy, as the Orphic or such like; and therefore it also now begins to emerge from obscurity. Severus’ reign was exceedingly favourable to Christianity, with which his empress, Julia, a Syrian woman, was particularly struck. Unction being at that time often applied as a remedy, Severus also had received it in a violent illness; and as he thought himself to have been cured by it, he gave protection to Christianity in the instructions issued to his lieutenants. He was an uncommonly handsome man; his countenance was so dignified and noble, that it prepossessed all who beheld it. The great charge brought against him, is that of cruelty, which showed itself after the downfall of Albinus: forty-one senators had to atone with their blood for their connexion with the latter, and Spartianus also mentions women and children. This wretched writer cannot, however, be relied on: he is so careless as to make Caracalla the son of Severus by his first wife.