A sophist; a Roman.[1]
This man came to Arabia via Syria and to Palestine and he sailed the Nile upstream towards Upper Egypt and he saw all of it apart from a few [parts]; for he was not able to reach the Ethiopian frontier because of a plague. And he was inquisitive about everything, even the things completely hidden; because he was the sort of person that would not leave anything unsearchable, neither human nor divine. For this reason he took from all the sanctuaries any book he could find that contained something not to be spoken about, and he closed off the tomb of Alexander [sc. the Great], in order that nobody would see his body any more or read[2] what was written in those [books].[3]
This man was a Libyan by race, both noble and courageous in the administration of state-affairs, accustomed to a hard and rough life and able to endure pain with ease, fast at thinking and sharp at accomplishing what he thought. After he ascended to the throne, he accused the friends of Albinus[4] in the senate and he brought forward their letters and [sc. other] proofs, and, charging them all with other indictments, he executed all the prominent members of the senate at the time and those who were preponderant in wealth and ancestry from all the nations. He was also very avaricious, to the point that it surpassed the gains of his bravery.[5]
This Severus lived at the time of emperor Anthemius;[6] after arriving in Alexandria, he lived a life of leisure, philosophizing, having plenty of books of all kinds. And if there was someone else capable of influencing those who excelled in education, he visited him in person in many occasions; and moderate [he was] ...[7]