"It is well known that certain colonies have Italian rights, as, for example, the magnificent colony of Tyre, in Syria of Phoenicia, my birthplace. This city, with its commanding position, great antiquity, and prowess in arms, held tenaciously to the treaty which she had made with the Romans. The divine Severus, our emperor, granted Italian rights to this city as a reward for its signal loyalty toward the republic and the empire of Rome."