of that legion under him. The most noteworthy event of his command was that the governor of Syria, Gaius Poblius Marcellus, was called away to attend to the Bar Kochba revolt, which required Severus to fill in as governor of this strategic province. His interim term as governor must have been successful, for Severus was constantly in the imperial service for the rest of the 130s; this close sequence of offices make dating the exact year he held any office controversial. He won the sortition to govern Achaea for 133/134. Next, Hadrian picked him to govern Bithynia and Pontus, which has been dated from 134 to 135 or 136. Corbier suspects his duties included the same charge that Pliny the Younger and Gaius Julius Cornutus Tertullus were given before him: to sort out the finances of its cities. This he handled with a success that brought him fame with its inhabitants that was still remembered in Dio Cassius' time. After returning to Rome from that province, Severus was appointed prefect of the aerarium Saturni; the time he held this office must be squeezed in between his governorship and his suffect consulship, possibly as early as the year 135 to the year 138. Either in 138 or 139 Severus was honored with a consulship. His residency in Rome was extended with more appointments by Hadrian. First he was curator operum locarumque publicorum et aedium sacrarum ("overseer of public buildings, places, and sacred works") around 140. About this time he was admitted to the College of Pontiffs, the most prestigious of the ancient Roman priesthoods. This was followed by an appointment as governor of Germania Inferior from the year 142 to 145. Corbier notes his son accompanied him again, this time as commander of Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix. Severus returned to Rome in time to participate in the sortition for one of the two consular public provinces, and he received Asia as his to govern in the years 152/153. Corbier imagines him at this point as having felt like an exile, having spent so many years away from his ancestral Asia Minor. Seeing this province, where he began his imperial career some 25 years earlier, must have been a welcoming event. Here he came into conflict with the Greek orator Aelius Aristides, who had protested he could not discharge his civic duties due to his illness; despite his pleas, Severus ruled Aelius