Unfortunately the _entente cordiale_ between ruler and historian did
not long endure. Severus grew disappointing to Dio through his
severity, visited first upon Niger and later upon Cæsar Clodius
Albinus: and Dio came to be _persona non grata_ to Severus for this
reason among others, that the emperor changed his mind completely
about Commodus, and since he had begun to revere, if not to imitate
him, what Dio had written concerning his predecessor could be no
longer palatable. The estrangement seems to be marked by the fact that
until Severus's death Dio went abroad on no important military or
diplomatic mission, but remained constantly in Italy. He was sometimes
in Rome, but more commonly resided at his country-seat in Capua (Book
76, 2). In a very vague Passage in Book 76, 16 Dio speaks of finding
"when I was consul" three thousand indictments for adultery inscribed
on the records. This leads most scholars to assume that he was consul
_before_ the death of Severus. Reimar thought differently, and
produces arguments to support his view. I do not deem many of the
passages which he cites entirely apposite, and yet some of the points
urged are important. I can only say that the impression left in my
mind by a rapid reading of the Greek is that Dio was consul while
Severus reigned; if such be the case, he probably held the rank of
_consul suffectus_ ("honorary" or "substitute"). All who refuse to
admit that he could have obtained so high an office at that time place
the date of his first consulship anywhere from 219 to 223 A.D. because
of his own statement that in 224 he was appointed to the (regularly
proconsular) governorship of Africa.

The son of Severus, Caracalla or Antoninus, drew Dio from his
homekeeping and took him with him on an eastern expedition in 216, so
that our historian passed the winter of 216-217 as a member of
Caracalla's retinue at Nicomedea (Book 77, 17 and 18) and joined there