Note 66 — Chapter IX · THE EUPHRATES FRONTIER AND THE PARTHIANS. (continued 2)

The beginning of the Ursinian excerpt of Dio, lxxv. 1, 2, is confused. Οἱ Ὀρροηνοὶ, it is said, καὶ οἱ Ἀδιαβηνοὶ ἀποστάντες καὶ Νίσιβιν πολιορκοῦντες καὶ ἡττηθέντες ὑπὸ Σεουήρου ἐπρεσβεύσαντο πρὸς αὐτὸν μετὰ τὸν τοῦ Νίγρου θάνατον. Osrhoene was then Roman, Adiabene Parthian; from whom did the two districts revolt? and whose side did the Nisibenes take? That their opponents were defeated by Severus before the sending of the embassy is inconsistent with the course of the narrative; for the latter makes war upon them because their envoys make unsatisfactory offers to him. Probably the supporting of Niger by subjects of the Parthians and their concert with Niger’s Roman partisan are now strictly apprehended as a revolt from Severus; the circumstance that the people afterwards maintain that they had intended rather to support Severus, is clearly indicated as a makeshift. The Nisibenes may have refused to co-operate, and therefore have been attacked by the adherents of Niger. Thus is explained what is clear from the extract given by Xiphilinus from Dio, lxxv. 2, that the left bank of the Euphrates was for Severus an enemy’s land, but not Nisibis; therefore the town need not have been Roman at that time; on the contrary, according to all indications, it was only made Roman by Severus.