emperor to the Parthian war. By Macrinus he was placed over the cities of Pergamum and Smyrna as curator ad corrigendum stalum civitatium,[1] and he was continued in this position by Elagabalus. Under Alexander Severus he became proconsul of Africa, and upon his return was sent out as governor successively of Dalmatia and Upper Pannonia,[2] both imperial provinces. In 229 he became consul for the second time (consul ordinarius) with Alexander himself as colleague. But his disciplinary measures in Pannonia had made him unpopular with the praetorians, so that he found it advisable to remain away from Rome much of the time; and he soon obtained permission to retire to Nicaea, his native city, on the plea of an ailment of the foot.[3] This is the last he tells us about himself, and we can only conjecture how many years of leisure he enjoyed in his native land; inasmuch, however, as he was presumably already past the age of seventy at the time of his retirement, it is probable that his death occurred soon afterwards.
The work for which Dio is known to the modern world is his Roman History (Ῥωραἴκὴ ιστορία or Ῥωραἴκά), originally in eighty books, covering the period from the landing of Aeneas down to the year of his own (second) consulship in 229 A.D. The last seven years, however, were treated very summarily, having been added, apparently, as an afterthought. He informs us that he spent ten years in gathering his
