A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY, ETC., ETC. (continued 41)

Sevo, a ridge of mountains between Norway and Sweden, now called Fiell, or Dofre. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 15.

Seuthes, a man who dethroned his monarch, &c.――A friend of Perdiccas, one of Alexander’s generals.――A Thracian king, who encouraged his countrymen to revolt, &c. This name is common to several of the Thracian princes.

Sextia, a woman celebrated for her virtue and her constancy, put to death by Nero. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 16, ch. 10.

Sextia Licinia lex, de Magistratibus, by Caius Licinius and Lucius Sextius the tribunes, A.U.C. 386. It ordained that one of the consuls should be elected from among the plebeians.――Another, de religione, by the same, A.U.C. 385. It enacted that a decemvirate should be chosen from the patricians and plebeians instead of the decemviri sacris faciundis.

Sextiæ Aquæ, now Aix, a place of Cisalpine Gaul, where the Cimbri were defeated by Marius. It was built by Caius Sextius, and is famous for its cold and hot springs. Livy, bk. 61.—Velleius Paterculus, bk. 1, ch. 15.

Sextilia, the wife of Vitellius. She became mother of two children. Suetonius, Lives.――Another in the same family. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 2, ch. 64.

Sextilius, a governor of Africa, who ordered Marius, when he landed there, to depart immediately from his province. Marius heard this with some concern, and said to the messengers, “Go and tell your master that you have seen the exiled Marius sitting on the ruins of Carthage.” Plutarch, Caius Marius.――A Roman preceptor, who was seized and carried away by pirates, &c.――One of the officers of Lucullus.――Hæna, a poet. See: ♦Hæna.――An officer sent to Germany, &c. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 3, ch. 7.

Sextius, a lieutenant of Cæsar in Gaul.――A seditious tribune in the first ages of the republic.――Lucius was remarkable for his friendship with Brutus; he gained the confidence of Augustus, and was consul. Horace, who was in the number of his friends, dedicated bk. 1, ode 4, to him.――The first plebeian consul.――A dictator.――One of the sons of Tarquin. See: Tarquinius.

Sextus, a prænomen given to the sixth son of a family.――A son of Pompey the Great. See: Pompeius.――A stoic philosopher, born at Cheronæa in Bœotia. Some suppose that he was Plutarch’s nephew. He was preceptor to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.――A governor of Syria.――A philosopher in the age of Antoninus. He was one of the followers of the doctrines of Pyrrho. Some of his works are still extant. The best edition of the treatise of Sextus Pompeis Festus, Lexicon of Festus, is that of Amsterdam, 4to, 1669.

Sibæ, a people of India. Strabo.

Sibaris. See: Sybaris.

Sibīni, a people near the Suevi.

Siburtius, a satrap of Arachosia, in the age of Alexander, &c.

Sibyllæ, certain women inspired by heaven, who flourished in different parts of the world. Their number is unknown. Plato speaks of one, others of two, Pliny of three, Ælian of four, and Varro of 10, an opinion which is universally adopted by the learned. These 10 Sibyls generally resided in the following places: Persia, Libya, Delphi, Cumæ in Italy, Erythræa, Samos, Cumæ in Æolia, Marpessa on the Hellespont, Ancyra in Phrygia, and Tiburtis. The most celebrated of the Sibyls is that of Cumæ in Italy, whom some have called by the different names of Amalthæa, Demophile, Herophile, Daphne, Manto, Phemonoe, and Deiphobe. It is said that Apollo became enamoured of her, and that, to make her sensible of his passion, he offered to give her whatever she should ask. The Sibyl demanded to live as many years as she had grains of sand in her hand, but unfortunately forgot to ask for the enjoyment of the health, vigour, and bloom, of which she was then in possession. The god granted her her request, but she refused to gratify the passion of her lover, though he offered her perpetual youth and beauty. Some time after she became old and decrepit, her form decayed, and melancholy paleness and haggard looks succeeded to bloom and cheerfulness. She had already lived about 700 years when Æneas came to Italy, and, as some have imagined, she had three centuries more to live before her years were as numerous as the grains of sand which she had in her hand. She gave Æneas instructions how to find his father in the infernal regions, and even conducted him to the entrance of hell. It was usual for the Sibyl to write her prophecies on leaves which she placed at the entrance of her cave, and it required particular care in such as consulted her to take up those leaves before they were dispersed by the wind, as their meaning then became incomprehensible. According to the most authentic historians of the Roman republic, one of the Sibyls came to the palace of Tarquin II., with nine volumes, which she offered to sell for a very high price. The monarch disregarded her, and she immediately disappeared, and soon after returned, when she had burned three of the volumes. She asked the same price for the remaining six books; and when Tarquin refused to buy them, she burned three more, and still persisted in demanding the same sum of money for the three that were left. This extraordinary behaviour astonished Tarquin; he bought the books, and the Sibyl instantly vanished, and never after appeared to the world. These books were preserved with great care by the monarch, and called the Sibylline verses. A college of priests was appointed to have the care of them; and such reverence did the Romans entertain for these prophetic books, that they were consulted with the greatest solemnity, and only when the state seemed to be in danger. When the capitol was burnt in the troubles of Sylla, the Sibylline verses, which were deposited there, perished in the conflagration; and to repair the loss which the republic seemed to have sustained, commissioners were immediately sent to different parts of Greece, to collect whatever verses could be found of the inspired writings of the Sibyls. The fate of the Sibylline verses, which were collected after the conflagration of the capitol, is unknown. There are now eight books of Sibylline verses extant, but they are universally reckoned spurious. They speak so plainly of our Saviour, of his sufferings, and of his death, as even to surpass far the sublime prediction of Isaiah in description, and therefore from this very circumstance, it is evident that they were composed in the second century, by some of the followers of christianity, who wished to convince the heathens of their error, by assisting the cause of truth with the arms of pious artifice. The word Sibyl seems to be derived from σιου, Æolice for Διος, Jovis, and βουλη, consilium. Plato, Phædras.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 12, ch. 35.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 12, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 14, lis. 109 & 140.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 445; bk. 6, li. 36.—Lucan, bk. 1, li. 564.—Pliny, bk. 13, ch. 13.—Florus, bk. 4, ch. 1.—Sallust.—Cicero, Against Catiline, ch. 3.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 1, ch. 1; bk. 8, ch. 15, &c.

Sica, a man who showed much attention to Cicero in his banishment. Some suppose that he is the same as the Vibius Siculus mentioned by Plutarch, Cicero.—Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 8, ltr. 12; Letters to his Friends, bk. 14, chs. 4, 15.

Sĭcambri, or Sicambria, a people of Germany, conquered by the Romans. They revolted against Augustus, who marched against them, but did not totally reduce them. Drusus conquered them, and they were carried away from their native country to inhabit some of the more westerly provinces of Gaul. Dio Cassius, bk. 54.—Strabo, bk. 4.—Horace, bk. 4, ode 2, li. 36; ode 14, li. 51.—Tacitus, bk. 2, Annals, ch. 26.

Sicambria, the country of the Sicambri, formed the modern provinces of Guelderland. Claudian, Against Eutropius, bk. 1, li. 383.

Sĭcāni, a people of Spain, who left their native country and passed into Italy, and afterwards into Sicily, which they called Sicania. They inhabited the neighbourhood of mount Ætna, where they built some cities and villages. Some reckoned them the next inhabitants of the island after the Cyclops. They were afterwards driven from their ancient possessions by the Siculi, and retired into the western parts of the island. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 1.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bks. 5 & 13.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 10; Æneid, bk. 7, li. 795.—Diodorus, bk. 5.—Horace, epode 17, li. 32.

Sĭcānia and Sīcănia, an ancient name of Italy, which it received from the Sicani, or from Sicanus their king, or from Sicanus, a small river in Spain, in the territory where they lived, as some suppose. The name was more generally given to Sicily. See: Sicani.

Sicca, a town of Numidia at the west of Carthage. Sallust, Jugurthine War, ch. 56.

Sicĕlis (Sīcĕlĭdes, plural), an epithet applied to the inhabitants of Sicily. The Muses are called Sicelides by Virgil, because Theocritus was a native of Sicily, whom the Latin poet, as a writer of Bucolic poetry, professed to imitate. Virgil, Eclogues, poem 4.

Sichæus, called also Sicharbas and Acerbas, was a priest of the temple of Hercules in Phœnicia. His father’s name was Plisthenes. He married Elisa the daughter of Belus, and sister to king Pygmalion, better known by the name of Dido. He was so extremely rich, that his brother-in-law murdered him to obtain his possessions. This murder Pygmalion concealed from his sister Dido; and he amused her by telling her that her husband had gone upon an affair of importance, and that he would soon return. This would have perhaps succeeded had not the shades of Sichæus appeared to Dido, and related to her the cruelty of Pygmalion, and advised her to fly from Tyre, after she had previously secured some treasures, which, as he mentioned, were concealed in an obscure and unknown place. According to Justin, Acerbas was the uncle of Dido. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 347, &c.—Paterculus, bk. 1, ch. 6.—Justin, bk. 18, ch. 4.

Sicĭlia, the largest and most celebrated island in the Mediterranean sea, at the bottom of Italy. It was anciently called Sicania, Trinacria, and Triquetra. It is of a triangular form, and has three celebrated promontories, one looking towards Africa, called Lilybæum; Pachynum looking towards Greece; and Pelorum towards Italy. Sicily is about 600 miles in circumference, celebrated for its fertility, so much that it was called one of the granaries of Rome, and Pliny says that it rewards the husbandman an hundredfold. Its most famous cities were Syracuse, Messana, Leontini, Lilybæum, Agrigentum, Gela, Drepanum, Eryx, &c. The highest and most famous mountain in the island is Ætna, whose frequent eruptions are dangerous, and often fatal to the country and its inhabitants, from which circumstance the ancients supposed that the forges of Vulcan and the Cyclops were placed there. The poets feign that the Cyclops were the original inhabitants of this island, and that after them it came into the possession of the Sicani, a people of Spain, and at last of the Siculi, a nation of Italy. See: Siculi. The plains of Enna are well known for their excellent honey; and, according to Diodorus, the hounds lost their scent in hunting on account of the many odoriferous plants that profusely perfumed the air. Ceres and Proserpine were the chief deities of the place, and it was there, according to poetical tradition, that the latter was carried away by Pluto. The Phœnicians and Greeks settled some colonies there, and at last the Carthaginians became masters of the whole island till they were dispossessed of it by the Romans in the Punic wars. Some authors suppose that Sicily was originally joined to the continent, and that it was separated from Italy by an earthquake, and that the straits of the Charybdis were formed. The inhabitants of Sicily were so fond of luxury, that Siculæ mensæ became proverbial. The rights of citizens of Rome were extended to them by Marcus Antony. Cicero, bk. 14, Letters to Atticus, ltr. 12; Against Verres, bk. 2, ch. 13.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 9, &c.—Justin, bk. 4, ch. 1, &c.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 414, &c.—Silius Italicus, bk. 14, li. 11, &c.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 8, &c.――The island of Naxos in the Ægean, was called Little Sicily on account of its fruitfulness.

Lucius Sicinius Dentātus, a tribune of Rome, celebrated for his valour and the honours he obtained in the field of battle, during the period of 40 years, in which he was engaged in the Roman armies. He was present in 121 battles: he obtained 14 civic crowns, three mural crowns, eight crowns of gold, 83 golden collars, 60 bracelets, 18 lances, 23 horses with all their ornaments, and all as the reward of his uncommon services. He could show the scars of 45 wounds, which he had received all in his breast, particularly in opposing the Sabines when they took the capitol. The popularity of Sicinius became odious to Appius Claudius, who wished to make himself absolute at Rome, and therefore, to remove him from the capital, he sent him to the army, by which, soon after his arrival, he was attacked and murdered. Of 100 men who were ordered to fall upon him, Sicinius killed 15, and wounded 30; and, according to Dionysius, the surviving number had recourse to artifice to overpower him, by killing him with a shower of stones and darts thrown at a distance, about 405 years before the christian era. For his uncommon courage Sicinius has been called the Roman Achilles. Valerius Maximus, bk. 3, ch. 2.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 8.――Vellutus, one of the first tribunes in Rome. He raised cabals against Coriolanus, and was one of his accusers. Plutarch, Coriolanus.――Sabinus, a Roman general who defeated the Volsci.

Sicīnus, a man privately sent by Themistocles to deceive Xerxes, and to advise him to attack the combined forces of the Greeks. He had been preceptor to Themistocles. Plutarch.――An island, &c.

Sicŏrus, now Segre, a river of Hispania Tarraconensis, rising in the Pyrenean mountains, and falling into the Iberus, a little above its mouth. It was near this city that Julius Cæsar conquered Afranius and Petreius, the partisans of Pompey. Lucan, bk. 4, lis. 14, 130, &c.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 3.

Sicŭli, a people of Italy, driven from their possessions by the Opici. They fled into Sicania, or Sicily, where they settled in the territories which the Sicani inhabited. They soon extended their borders, and after they had conquered their neighbours the Sicani, they gave their name to the island. This, as some suppose, happened about 300 years before Greek colonies settled in the island, or about 1059 years before the christian era. Diodorus, bk. 5.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus.—Strabo.

Sicŭlum fretum, the sea which separates Sicily from Italy, is 15 miles long, but in some places so narrow, that the barking of dogs can be heard from shore to shore. This strait is supposed to have been formed by an earthquake, which separated the island from the continent. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 8.

Sicyon, now Basilico, a town of Peloponnesus, the capital of Sicyonia. It is celebrated as being the most ancient kingdom of Greece, which began B.C. 2089, and ended B.C. 1088, under a succession of monarchs of whom little is known, except the names. Ægialeus was the first king. Some time after, Agamemnon made himself master of the place, and afterwards it fell into the hands of the Heraclidæ. It became very powerful in the time of the Achæan league, which it joined B.C. 251, at the persuasion of Aratus. The inhabitants of Sicyon are mentioned by some authors as dissolute and fond of luxury, hence the Sicyonian shoes, which were once very celebrated, were deemed marks of effeminacy. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Lucretius, bk. 1, li. 1118.—Livy, bk. 32, ch. 16; bk. 33, ch. 15.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Plutarch, Demosthenes.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 1, &c.—Cicero, On Oratory, bk. 1, ch. 54.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 519.

Sicyonia, a province of Peloponnesus, on the bay of Corinth, of which Sicyon was the capital. It is the most eminent kingdom of Greece, and in its flourishing situation, not only its dependent states, but also the whole Peloponnesus, were called Sicyonia. The territory is said to abound with corn, wine, and olives, and also with iron mines. It produced many celebrated men, particularly artists. See: Sicyon.

Side, the wife of Orion, thrown into hell by Juno, for boasting herself fairer than the goddess. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 4.――A daughter of Belus.――A daughter of Danaus.――A town of Pamphylia. Livy, bk. 37, ch. 23.—Cicero, bk. 3, Letters to his Friends, ltr. 6.

Sidēro, the stepmother of Tyro, killed by Pelias.

Sidicīnum, a town of Campania, called also Teanum. See: Teanum. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 727.

Sidon, an ancient city of Phœnicia, the capital of the country, with a famous harbour, now called Said. It is situate on the shores of the Mediterranean, at the distance of about 50 miles from Damascus and 24 from Tyre. The people of Sidon were well known for their industry, their skill in arithmetic, in astronomy, and commercial affairs, and in sea voyages. They, however, had the character of being very dishonest. Their women were peculiarly happy in working embroidery. The invention of glass, of linen, and of a beautiful purple dye, is attributed to them. The city of Sidon was taken by Ochus king of Persia, after the inhabitants had burnt themselves and the city, B.C. 351; but it was afterwards rebuilt by its inhabitants. Lucan, bk. 3, li. 217; bk. 10, li. 141.—Diodorus, bk. 16.—Justin, bk. 11, ch. 10.—Pliny, bk. 36, ch. 26.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 15, li. 411.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 12.

Sidoniorum insulæ, islands in the Persian gulf. Strabo, bk. 16.

Sidōnis, is the country of which Sidon was the capital, situate at the west of Syria, on the coast of the Mediterranean. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, fable 19.――Dido, as a native of the country, is often called Sidonis. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 14, li. 80.

Sidonius Caius Sollius Apollinaris, a christian writer, born A.D. 430. He died in the 52nd year of his age. There are remaining of his compositions, some letters and different poems, consisting chiefly of panegyrics on the great men of his time, written in heroic verse, and occasionally in other metre, of which the best edition is that of Labbæus, Paris, 4to, 1652.――The epithet of Sidonius is applied not only to the natives of Sidon, but it is used to express the excellence of anything, especially embroidery or dyed garments. Carthage is called Sidonia urbs, because built by Sidonians. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 682.

Siena Julia, a town of Etruria. Cicero, Brutus, ch. 18.—Tacitus, bk. 4, Histories, ch. 45.

♦Siga, now Ned-Roma, a town of Numidia, famous as the residence of Syphax. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 11.

Sigæum, or Sigēum, now cape Incihisari, a town of Troas, on a promontory of the same name, where the Scamander falls into the sea, extending six miles along the shore. It was near Sigæum that the greatest part of the battles between the Greeks and Trojans were fought, as Homer mentions, and there Achilles was buried. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 2, li. 312; bk. 7, li. 294.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 71.—Lucan, bk. 9, li. 962.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 18.—Strabo, bk. 13.—Dictys Cretensis, bk. 5, ch. 12.

Signia, an ancient town of Latium, whose inhabitants were called Signini. The wine of Signia was used by the ancients for medicinal purposes. Martial, bk. 13, ltr. 116.――A mountain of Phrygia. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 29.

Sigovessus, a prince among the Celtæ, in the reign of Tarquin. Livy, bk. 5, ch. 34.

Sigȳni, Sigunæ, or Sigynnæ, a nation of European Scythia, beyond the Danube. Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 9.

Sila, or Syla, a large wood in the country of the Brutii near the Apennines, abounding in much pitch. Strabo, bk. 6.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 12, li. 713.

Silāna Julia, a woman at the court of Nero, remarkable for her licentiousness and impurities. She married Caius Julius, by whom she was divorced.

Decimus Silānus, a son of Titus Manlius Torquatus, accused of extortion in the management of the province of Macedonia. The father himself desired to hear the complaints laid against his son, and after he had spent two days in examining the charges of the Macedonians, he pronounced on the third day his son guilty of extortion, and unworthy to be called a citizen of Rome. He also banished him from his presence, and so struck was the son at the severity of his father, that he hanged himself on the following night. Livy, bk. 54.—Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 5, ch. 8.――Caius Junius, a consul under Tiberius, accused of extortion, and banished to the island of Cythere. Tacitus.――Marcus, a lieutenant of Cæsar’s armies in Gaul.――The father-in-law of Caligula. Suetonius, Caligula, ch. 22.――A propretor in Spain, who routed the Carthaginian forces there, while Annibal was in Italy.――Turpilius, a lieutenant of Metellus against Jugurtha. He was accused by Marius, though totally innocent, and condemned by the malice of his judges.――Torquatus, a man put to death by Nero.――Lucius, a man betrothed to Octavia the daughter of Claudius. Nero took Octavia away from him, and on the day of her nuptials, ♦Silanus killed himself.――An augur in the army of the 10,000 Greeks, at their return from Cunaxa.

Sĭlărus, a river of Picenum, rising in the Apennine mountains, and falling into the Tyrrhene sea. Its waters, as it is reported, petrified all leaves that fell into it. Strabo, bk. 5.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 3, li. 146.—Pliny, bk. 2, ch. 103.—Silius Italicus, bk. 2, li. 582.

Silēni, a people on the banks of the Indus. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 20.

Silēnus, a demi-god, who became the nurse, the preceptor, and attendant of the god Bacchus. He was, as some suppose, son of Pan, or, according to others, of Mercury, or of Terra. Malea in Lesbos was the place of his birth. After death he received divine honours, and had a temple in Elis. Silenus is generally represented as a fat and jolly old man, riding on an ass, crowned with flowers, and always intoxicated. He was once found by some peasants in Phrygia, after he had lost his way, and could not follow Bacchus, and he was carried to king Midas, who received him with great attention. He detained him for 10 days, and afterwards restored him to Bacchus, for which he was rewarded with the power of turning into gold whatever he touched. Some authors assert that Silenus was a philosopher, who accompanied Bacchus in his Indian expedition, and assisted him by the soundness of his counsels. From this circumstance, therefore, he is often introduced speaking with all the gravity of a philosopher concerning the formation of the world, and the nature of things. The Fauns in general, and the Satyrs, are often called Sileni. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 25; bk. 6, ch. 24.—Philostratus, bk. 23.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4.—Hyginus, fable 191.—Diodorus, bk. 3, &c.—Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 1, ch. 48.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 3, ch. 18.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 6, li. 13.――A Carthaginian historian who wrote an account of the affairs of his country in the Greek language.――An historian who wrote an account of Sicily.

Silicense, a river of Spain.

Silicis mons, a town near Padua.

Silis, a river of Venetia in Italy, falling into the Adriatic. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 18.

Catius Silius Italĭcus, a Latin poet, who was originally at the bar, where he for some time distinguished himself, till he retired from Rome more particularly to consecrate his time to study. He was consul the year that Nero was murdered. Pliny has observed, that when Trajan was invested with the imperial purple, Silius refused to come to Rome and congratulate him like the rest of his fellow-citizens, a neglect which was never resented by the emperor, or insolently mentioned by the poet. ♦Silius was in possession of a house where Cicero had lived, and another in which was the tomb of Virgil, and it has been justly remarked, that he looked upon no temple with greater reverence than upon the sepulchre of the immortal poet, whose steps he followed, but whose fame he could not equal. The birthday of Virgil was yearly celebrated with unusual pomp and solemnity by Silius; and for his partiality, not only to the memory, but to the compositions of the Mantuan poet, he has been called the ape of Virgil. Silius starved himself when labouring under an imposthume which his physicians were unable to remove, in the beginning of Trajan’s reign, about the 75th year of his age. There remains a poem of Italicus, on the second Punic war, divided into 17 books, greatly commended by Martial. The moderns have not been so favourable in their opinions concerning its merit. The poetry is weak and inelegant, yet the author deserves to be commended for his purity, the authenticity of his narrations, and his interesting descriptions. He has everywhere imitated Virgil, but with little success. ♦Silius was a great collector of antiquities. His son was honoured with the consulship during his lifetime. The best editions of Italicus will be found to be Drakenborch’s in 4to, Utrecht, 1717, and that of Cellarius, 8vo, Lipscomb, 1695. Martial, bk. 11, ltr. 49, &c.――Caius, a man of consular dignity, greatly beloved by Messalina for his comely appearance and elegant address. Messalina obliged him to divorce his wife, that she might enjoy his company without intermission. Silius was forced to comply, though with reluctance, and he was at last put to death for the adulteries which the empress obliged him to commit. Tacitus.—Suetonius.—Dio Cassius.――A tribune in Cæsar’s legions in Gaul.――A commander in Germany, put to death by Sejanus. Tacitus, Annals, bks. ♠3 & 4.

Silphium, a part of Libya.

Silpia, a town of Spain. Livy, bk. 28, ch. 12.

Silvānus, a rural deity, son of an Italian shepherd by a goat. From this circumstance he is generally represented as half a man and half a goat. According to Virgil, he was son of Picus, or, as others report, of Mars, or, according to Plutarch, of Valeria Tusculanaria, a young woman, who introduced herself into her father’s bed, and became pregnant by him. The worship of Silvanus was established only in Italy, where, as some authors have imagined, he reigned in the age of Evander. This deity was sometimes represented holding a cypress in his hand, because he became enamoured of a beautiful youth called Cyparissus, who was changed into a tree of the same name. Silvanus presided over gardens and limits, and he is often confounded with the Fauns, Satyrs, and Silenus. Plutarch, Parallela minora.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 10; Germania, bk. 1, li. 20; bk. 2, li. 493.—Ælian, de Natura Animalium, bk. 6, ch. 42.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 10.—Horace, epode 2.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus.――A man who murdered his wife Apronia, by throwing her down from one of the windows of her chambers.――One of those who conspired against Nero.――An officer of Constantius, who revolted and made himself emperor. He was assassinated by his soldiers.

Silvium, a town of Apulia, now Gorgolione. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 11.――A town of Istria.

Silures, the people of South Wales in Britain.

Simbrivius, or Simbruvius, a lake of Latium, formed by the Anio. Tacitus, bk. 14, Annals, ch. 22.

Simena, a town of Lycia near Chimæra. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 27.

Simēthus, or Symēthus, a town and river at the east of Sicily, which served as a boundary between the territories of the people of Catana and the Leontini. In its neighbourhood the gods Palici were born. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 584.

Simĭlæ, a grove at Rome where the orgies of Bacchus were celebrated. Livy, bk. 39, ch. 12.

Similis, one of the courtiers of Trajan, who removed from Rome into the country to enjoy peace and solitary retirement.

Simmias, a philosopher of Thebes, who wrote dialogues.――A grammarian of Rhodes.――A Macedonian suspected of conspiracy against Alexander, on account of his intimacy with Philotas. Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 1.

Simo, a comic character in Terence.

Sĭmois (entis), a river of Troas, which rises in mount Ida and falls into the Xanthus. It is celebrated by Homer and most of the ancients poets, as in its neighbourhood were fought many battles during the Trojan war. It is found to be but a small rivulet by modern travellers, and even some have disputed its existence. Homer, Iliad.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 104; bk. 3, li. 302, &c.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 31, li. 324.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 18.

Simosius, a Trojan prince, son of Anthemion, killed by Ajax. Homer, Iliad, bk. 4, li. 473.

Simon, a currier of Athens, whom Socrates often visited on account of his great sagacity and genius. He collected all the information he could receive from the conversation of the philosopher, and afterwards published it with his own observations in 33 dialogues. He was the first of the disciples of Socrates who attempted to give an account of the opinions of his master concerning virtue, justice, poetry, music, honour, &c. These dialogues were extant in the age of the biographer Diogenes, who has preserved their title. Diogenes Laërtius, bk. 2, ch. 14.――Another who wrote on rhetoric. Diogenes Laërtius, bk. 2, ch. 14.――A sculptor. Diogenes Laërtius, bk. 2, ch. 14.――The name of Simon was common among the Jews.

Sĭmōnĭdes, a celebrated poet of Cos, who flourished 538 years B.C. His father’s name was Leoprepis, or Theoprepis. He wrote elegies, epigrams, and dramatical pieces, esteemed for their elegance and sweetness, and composed also epic poems, one on Cambyses king of Persia, &c. Simonides was universally courted by the princes of Greece and Sicily, and according to one of the fables of Phædrus, he was such a favourite of the gods, that his life was miraculously preserved in an entertainment when the roof of the house fell upon all those who were feasting. He obtained a poetical prize in the 80th year of his age, and he lived to his 90th year. The people of Syracuse, who had hospitably honoured him when alive, erected a magnificent monument to his memory. Simonides, according to some, added the four letters η, ω, ξ, ψ to the alphabet of the Greeks. Some fragments of his poetry are extant. According to some, the grandson of the elegiac poet of Cos was also called Simonides. He flourished a few years before the Peloponnesian war, and was the author of some books of inventions, genealogies, &c. Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 1.—Phædras, bk. 4, fables 21 & 24.—Horace, bk. 2, ode 1, li. 38.—Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 102.—Cicero, On Oratory, &c.—Aristotle.—Pindar, Isthmean, poem 2.—Catullus, bk. 1, poem 39.—Lucian, Macrobii.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 8, ch. 2.

Simplicius, a Greek commentator on Aristotle, whose works were all edited in the 16th century, and the latter part of the 15th, but without a Latin version.

Simŭlus, an ancient poet, who wrote some verses on the Tarpeian rock. Plutarch, Romulus.

Simus, a king of Arcadia after Phialus. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 5.

Simyra, a town of Phœnicia. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 12.

Sinæ, a people of India called by Ptolemy the most eastern nation of the world.

Sindæ, islands in the Indian ocean, supposed to be the Nicobar islands.

Sindi, a people of European Scythia, on the Palus Mæotis. Flaccus, bk. 6, li. 86.

Singæi, a people on the confines of Macedonia and Thrace.

Singara, a city at the north of Mesopotamia, now Sinjar.

Singulis, a river of Spain falling into the Guadalquiver.

Singus, a town of Macedonia.

Sinis, a famous robber. See: Scinis.

Sinnaces, a Parthian of an illustrious family, who conspired against his prince, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 6, ch. 31.

Sinnăcha, a town of Mesopotamia, where Crassus was put to death by Surena.

Sinoe, a nymph of Arcadia, who brought up Pan.

Sinon, a son of Sisyphus, who accompanied the Greeks to the Trojan war, and there distinguished himself by his cunning and fraud, and his intimacy with Ulysses. When the Greeks had fabricated the famous wooden horse, Sinon went to Troy with his hands bound behind his back, and by the most solemn protestations, assured Priam that the Greeks were gone from Asia, and that they had been ordered to sacrifice one of their soldiers, to render the wind favourable to their return, and that because the lot had fallen upon him, at the instigation of Ulysses, he had fled away from their camp, not to be cruelly immolated. These false assertions were immediately credited by the Trojans, and Sinon advised Priam to bring into his city the wooden horse which the Greeks had left behind them, and to consecrate it to Minerva. His advice was followed, and Sinon in the night, to complete his perfidy, opened the side of the horse, from which issued a number of armed Greeks, who surprised the Trojans, and pillaged their city. Dares Phrygius.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 8, li. 492; bk. 11, li. 521.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 2, li. 79, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 27.—Quintus Smyrnæus, bk. 12, &c.

Sinōpe, a daughter of the Asopus by Methron. She was beloved by Apollo, who carried her away to the border of the Euxine sea, in Asia Minor, where she gave birth to a son called Syrus. Diodorus, bk. 4.――A seaport town of Asia Minor, in Pontus, now Sinah, founded or rebuilt by a colony of Milesians. It was long an independent state, till Pharnaces king of Pontus seized it. It was the capital of Pontus, under Mithridates, and was the birthplace of Diogenes the cynic philosopher. It received its name from Sinope, whom Apollo carried there. Ovid, ex Ponto, bk. 1, poem 3, li. 67.—Strabo, bks. 2 & 12.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 19.――The original name of Sinuessa.

Sinorix, a governor of Gaul, &c. Polyænus, bk. 8.

Sintice, a district of Macedonia.

Sintii, a nation of Thracians, who inhabited Lemnos, when Vulcan fell there from heaven. Homer, Iliad, bk. 1, li. 594.

Sinuessa, a maritime town of Campania, originally called Sinope. It was celebrated for its hot baths and mineral waters, which cured people of insanity, and rendered women prolific. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 15, li. 715.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Strabo, bk. 5.—Livy, bk. 22, ch. 13.—Martial, bk. 6, ltr. 42; bk. 11, ltr. 8.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 12.

Sion, one of the hills on which Jerusalem was built.

Siphnos, now Sifano, one of the Cyclades, situate at the west of Paros, 20 miles in circumference, according to Pliny, or, according to modern travellers, 40. Siphnos had many excellent harbours, and produced great plenty of delicious fruit. The inhabitants were so depraved, that their licentiousness became proverbial. They, however, behaved with spirit in the Persian wars, and refused to give earth and water to the emissaries of Xerxes in token of submission. There were some gold mines in Siphnos, of which Apollo demanded a tenth part. When the inhabitants refused to continue to offer part of their gold to the god of Delphi, the island was inundated, and the mines disappeared. The air was so wholesome that many of the natives lived to their 120th year. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 11.—Herodotus, bk. 8, ch. 46.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 7.—Strabo, bk. 10.

Sipontum, Sipus, or Sepus, a maritime town in Apulia in Italy, founded by Diomedes after his return from the Trojan war. Strabo, bk. 6.—Lucan, bk. 5, li. 377.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.

Sipy̆lum and Sipy̆lus, a town of Lydia, with a mountain of the same name near the Meander, formerly called Ceraunius. The town was destroyed by an earthquake, with 12 others in the neighbourhood, in the reign of Tiberius. Strabo, bks. 1 & 2.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 20.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 24.—Hyginus, fable 9.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 2, ch. 47.――One of Niobe’s children, killed by Apollo. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, fable 6.

Sirbo, a lake between Egypt and Palestine, now Sebaket Bardoil. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 13.

Sīrēnes, sea nymphs who charmed so much with their melodious voice, that all forgot their employments to listen with more attention, and at last died for want of food. They were daughters of the Achelous by the muse Calliope, or, according to others, by Melpomene or Terpsichore. They were three in number, called Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia, or, according to others, Mœolpe, Aglaophonos, and Thelxiope, or Thelxione, and they usually lived in a small island near cape Pelorus in Sicily. Some authors suppose that they were monsters, who had the form of a woman above the waist, and the rest of the body like that of a bird; or rather that the whole body was covered with feathers, and had the shape of a bird, except the head, which was that of a beautiful female. This monstrous form they had received from Ceres, who wished to punish them, because they had not assisted her daughter when carried away by Pluto. But, according to Ovid, they were so disconsolate at the rape of Proserpine, that they prayed the gods to give them wings that they might seek her in the sea as well as by land. The Sirens were informed by the oracle, that as soon as any persons passed by them without suffering themselves to be charmed by their ♦songs, they should perish; and their melody had prevailed in calling the attention of all passengers, till Ulysses, informed of the power of their voice by Circe, stopped the ears of his companions with wax, and ordered himself to be tied to the mast of his ship, and no attention to be paid to his commands, should he wish to stay and listen to their song. This was a salutary precaution. Ulysses made signs for his companions to stop, but they were disregarded, and the fatal coast was passed with safety. Upon this artifice of Ulysses, the Sirens were so disappointed, that they threw themselves into the sea and perished. Some authors say that the Sirens challenged the Muses to a trial of skill in singing, and that the latter proved victorious, and plucked the feathers from the wings of their adversaries, with which they made themselves crowns. The place where the Sirens destroyed themselves was afterwards called Sirenis, on the coast of Sicily. Virgil, however, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 864, places the Sirenum Scoupli on the coast of Italy, near the island of Caprea. Some suppose that the Sirens were a number of lascivious women in Sicily, who prostituted themselves to strangers, and made them forget their pursuits while drowned in unlawful pleasures. The Sirens are often represented holding, one a lyre, a second a flute, and the third singing. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 6.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 12, li. 167.—Strabo, bk. 6.—Ammianus, bk. 29, ch. 2.—Hyginus, fable 141.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 555; De Ars Amatoria, bk. 3, li. 311.—Silius Italicus, bk. 12, li. 33.

Sirenūsæ, three small rocky islands near the coast of Campania, where the Sirens were supposed to reside.

Siris, a town of Magna Græcia, founded by a Grecian colony after the Trojan war, at the mouth of the river of the same name. There was a battle fought near it between Pyrrhus and the Romans. Dionysius Periegetes, li. 221.――The Æthiopians gave that name to the Nile before its divided streams united into one current. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 9.――A town of Pæonia in Thrace.

Sirius, or Canicŭla, the dog-star, whose appearance, as the ancients supposed, always caused great heat on the earth. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 141.

Sirmio, now Sermione, a peninsula in the lake Benacus, where Catullus had a villa. Catullus, poem 31.

Sirmium, the capital of Pannonia, at the confluence of the Savus and Bacuntius, very celebrated during the reign of the Roman emperors.

Sisamnes, a judge flayed alive for his partiality, by order of Cambyses. His skin was nailed on the benches of the other judges, to incite them to act with candour and impartiality. Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 25.

Sisapho, a Corinthian, who had murdered his brother, because he had put his children to death. Ovid, Ibis.

Sisapo, a town of Spain, famous for its vermilion mines, whose situation is not well ascertained. Pliny, bk. 33, ch. 7.—Cicero, Philippics, bk. 2, ch. 19.

Siscia, a town of Pannonia, now Sisseg.

Sisenes, a Persian deserter, who conspired against Alexander, &c. Curtius, bk. 3, ch. 7.

Lucius Sisenna, an ancient historian among the Romans, 91 B.C. He wrote an account of the republic, of which Cicero speaks with great warmth, and also translated from the Greek the Milesian fables of Aristides. Some fragments of his compositions are quoted by different authors. Ovid, Tristia, bk. 2, li. 443.—Cicero, Brutus, ltrs. 64 & 67.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 9.――Cornelius, a Roman, who, on being reprimanded in the senate for the ill conduct and depraved manners of his wife, accused publicly Augustus of unlawful commerce with her. Dio Cassius, bk. 54.――The family of the Cornelii and Apronii received the surname of Sisenna. They are accused of intemperate loquacity in the Augustan age, by Horace, bk. 1, satire 7, li. 8.

Sisigambis, or Sisygambis, the mother of Darius the last king of Persia. She was taken prisoner by Alexander the Great at the battle of Issus, with the rest of the royal family. The conqueror treated her with uncommon tenderness and attention; he saluted her as his own mother, and what he had sternly denied to the petitions of his favourites and ministers, he often granted to the intercession of Sisygambis. The regard of the queen for Alexander was uncommon, and, indeed, she no sooner heard that he was dead, than she killed herself, unwilling to survive the loss of so generous an enemy; though she had seen, with less concern, the fall of her son’s kingdom, the ruin of his subjects, and himself murdered by his servants. She had also lost, in one day, her husband and 80 of her brothers, whom Ochus had assassinated to make himself master of the kingdom of Persia. Curtius, bk. 4, ch. 9; bk. 10, ch. 5.

Sisimithræ, a fortified place of Bactriana, 15 stadia high, 80 in circumference, and plain at the top. Alexander married Roxana there. Strabo, bk. 11.

Sisocostus, one of the friends of Alexander, entrusted with the care of the rock Aornus. Curtius, bk. 8, ch. 11.

Sisy̆phus, a brother of Athamas and Salmoneus, son of Æolus and Enaretta, the most crafty prince of the heroic ages. He married Merope the daughter of Atlas, or, according to others, of Pandareus, by whom he had several children. He built Ephyre, called afterwards Corinth, and he debauched Tyro the daughter of Salmoneus, because he had been told by an oracle that his children by his brother’s daughter would avenge the injuries which he had suffered from the malevolence of Salmoneus. Tyro, however, as Hyginus says, destroyed the two sons whom she had by her uncle. It is reported that Sisyphus, mistrusting Autolycus, who stole the neighbouring flocks, marked his bulls under the feet, and when they had been carried away by the dishonesty of his friend, he confounded and astonished the thief by selecting from his numerous flocks those bulls which, by the mark, he knew to be his own. The artifice of Sisyphus was so pleasing to Autolycus, who had now found one more cunning than himself, that he permitted him to enjoy the company of his daughter Anticlea, whom a few days after he gave in marriage to Laertes of Ithaca. After his death, Sisyphus was condemned in hell to roll to the top of a hill a large stone, which had no sooner reached the summit than it fell back into the plain with impetuosity, and rendered his punishment eternal. The causes of this rigorous sentence are variously reported. Some attribute it to his continual depredations in the neighbouring country, and his cruelty in laying heaps of stones on those whom he had plundered, and suffering them to expire in the most agonizing torments. Others, to the insult offered to Pluto, in chaining Death in his palace, and detaining her till Mars, at the request of the king of hell, went to deliver her from confinement. Others suppose that Jupiter inflicted this punishment because he told Asopus where his daughter Ægina had been carried away by her ravisher. The more followed opinion, however, is, that Sisyphus, on his death-bed, entreated his wife to leave his body unburied, and when he came into Pluto’s kingdom, he received the permission of returning upon earth to punish this seeming negligence of his wife, but, however, on promise of immediately returning. But he was no sooner out of the infernal regions, than he violated his engagements, and when he was at last brought back to hell by Mars, Pluto, to punish his want of fidelity and honour, condemned him to roll a huge stone to the top of a mountain. The institution of the Pythian games is attributed by some to Sisyphus. To be of the blood of Sisyphus was deemed disgraceful among the ancients. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 11, li. 592.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 616.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, li. 459; bk. 13, li. 32; Fasti, bk. 4, li. 175; Ibis, li. 191.—Pausanias, bk. 2, &c.—Hyginus, fable 60.—Horace, bk. 2, ode 14, li. 20.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 4.――A son of Marcus Antony, who was born deformed, and received the name of Sisyphus, because he was endowed with genius and an excellent understanding. Horace, bk. 1, satire 3, li. 47.

Sitalces, one of Alexander’s generals, imprisoned for his cruelty and avarice in the government of his province. Curtius, bk. 10, ch. 1.――A king of Thrace, B.C. 436.

Sithnĭdes, certain nymphs of a fountain in Megara. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 40.

Sithon, a king of Thrace.――An island in the Ægean.

Sithŏnia, a country of Thrace between mount Hæmus and the Danube. Sithonia is often applied to all Thrace, and thence the epithet Sithonis, so often used by the poets. It received its name from king Sithon. Horace, bk. 1, ode 18, li. 9.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, li. 588; bk. 7, li. 466; bk. 13, li. 571.—Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 122.

Sitius, a Roman who assisted Cæsar in Africa with great success. He was rewarded with a province of Numidia. Sallust, Jugurthine War, ch. 21.

Sitones, a nation of Germany, or modern Norway, according to some. Tacitus, Germania, ch. 45.

Sittace, a town of Assyria. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 27.

Smaragdus, a town of Egypt on the Arabian gulf, where emeralds (smaragdi) were dug. Strabo, bk. 16.

Smenus, a river of Laconia rising in mount Taygetus, and falling into the sea near Hypsos. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 24.

Smerdis, a son of Cyrus, put to death by order of his brother Cambyses. As his execution was not public, and as it was only known to one of the officers of the monarch, one of the Magi of Persia, who was himself called Smerdis, and who greatly resembled the deceased prince, declared himself king, at the death of Cambyses. This usurpation would not, perhaps, have been known, had not he taken too many precautions to conceal it. After he had reigned for six months with universal approbation, seven noblemen of Persia conspired to dethrone him, and when this had been executed with success, they chose one of their number to reign in the usurper’s place, B.C. 521. This was Darius the son of Hystaspes. Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 30.—Justin, bk. 1, ch. 9.

Smilax, a beautiful shepherdess who became enamoured of Crocus. She was changed into a flower, as also her lover. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, li. 283.

Smilis, a statuary of Ægina in the age of Dædalus. Pausanias, bk. 7.

Smindyrides, a native of Sybaris, famous for his luxury. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 9, ch. 24, & bk. 12, ch. 24.

Smintheus, one of the surnames of Apollo in Phrygia, where the inhabitants raised him a temple, because he had destroyed a number of rats that infested the country. These rats were called σμινθαι, in the language of Phrygia, whence the surname. There is another story similar to this related by the Greek scholiast of Homer, Iliad, bk. 1, li. 39.—Strabo, bk. 13.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 585.

Smyrna, a celebrated seaport town of Ionia in Asia Minor, built, as some suppose, by Tantalus, or, according to others, by the Æolians. It has been subject to many revolutions, and been severally in the possession of the Æolians, Ionians, Lydians, and Macedonians. Alexander, or according to Strabo, Lysimachus, rebuilt it 400 years after it had been destroyed by the Lydians. It was one of the richest and most powerful cities of Asia, and became one of the 12 cities of the Ionian confederacy. The inhabitants were given much to luxury and indolence, but they were universally esteemed for their valour and intrepidity when called to action. Marcus Aurelius repaired it after it had been destroyed by an earthquake, about the 180th year of the christian era. Smyrna still continues to be a very commercial town. The river Meles flows near its walls. The inhabitants of Smyrna believed that Homer was born among them, and to confirm this opinion they not only paid him divine honours, but showed a place which bore the poet’s name, and also had a brass coin in circulation which was called Homerium. Some suppose that it was called Smyrna from an Amazon of the same name who took possession of it. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 16, &c.—Strabo, bks. 12 & 14.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 565.—Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 8.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 17.――A daughter of Thias, mother of Adonis.――An Amazon.――The name of a poem which Cinna, a Latin poet, composed in nine years, and which was worthy of admiration, according to Catullus, poem 94.

Smyrnæus, a Greek poet of the third century, called also Calaber. See: Calaber.

Soana, a river of Albania. Ptolemy.

Soanda, a town of Armenia.

Soanes, a people of Colchis, near Caucasus, in whose territories the rivers abound with golden sands, which the inhabitants gather in wool skins, whence, perhaps, arose the fable of the golden fleece. Strabo, bk. 11.—Pliny, bk. 33, ch. 3.

Sōcrătes, the most celebrated philosopher of all antiquity, was a native of Athens. His father Sophroniscus was a statuary, and his mother Phænarete was by profession a midwife. For some time he followed the occupation of his father, and some have mentioned the statues of the graces, admired for their simplicity and elegance, as the work of his own hands. He was called away from this meaner employment, of which, however, he never blushed, by Crito, who admired his genius and courted his friendship. Philosophy soon became the study of Socrates, and under Archelaus and Anaxagoras he laid the foundation of that exemplary virtue which succeeding ages have ever loved and venerated. He appeared like the rest of his countrymen in the field of battle; he fought with boldness and intrepidity, and to his courage two of his friends and disciples, Xenophon and Alcibiades, owed the preservation of their lives. But the character of Socrates appears more conspicuous and dignified as a philosopher and moralist than as a warrior. He was fond of labour, he inured himself to suffer hardships, and he acquired that serenity of mind and firmness of countenance, which the most alarming dangers could never destroy, or the most sudden calamities alter. If he was poor, it was from choice, and not the effects of vanity, or the wish of appearing singular. He bore injuries with patience, and the insults of malice or resentment he not only treated with contempt, but even received with a mind that expressed some concern, and felt compassion for the depravity of human nature. So singular and so venerable a character was admired by the most enlightened of the Athenians. Socrates was attended by a number of illustrious pupils, whom he instructed by his exemplary life, as well as by his doctrines. He had no particular place where to deliver his lectures, but as the good of his countrymen, and the reformation of their corrupted morals, and not the aggregation of riches, was the object of his study, he was present everywhere, and drew the attention of his auditors either in the groves of Academus, the Lyceum, or on the banks of the Ilyssus. He spoke with freedom on every subject, religious as well as civil; and had the courage to condemn the violence of his countrymen, and to withstand the torrent of resentment, by which the Athenian generals were capitally punished for not burying the dead at the battle of Arginusæ. This independence of spirit, and that visible superiority of mind and genius over the rest of his countrymen, created many enemies to Socrates; but as his character was irreproachable, and his doctrines pure, and void of all obscurity, the voice of malevolence was silent. Yet Aristophanes soon undertook, at the instigation of Melitus, in his comedy of the Clouds, to ridicule the venerable character of Socrates on the stage; and when once the way was open to calumny and defamation, the fickle and licentious populace paid no reverence to the philosopher whom they had before regarded as a being of a superior order. When this had succeeded, Melitus stood forth to criminate him, together with Anytus and Lycon, and the philosopher was summoned before the tribunal of the 500. He was accused of corrupting the Athenian youth, of making innovations in the religion of the Greeks, and of ridiculing the many gods whom the Athenians worshipped; yet, false as this might appear, the accusers relied for the success of their cause upon the perjury of false witnesses, and the envy of the judges, whose ignorance would readily yield to misrepresentation, and be influenced and guided by eloquence and artifice. In this their expectations were not frustrated, and while the judges expected submission from Socrates, and that meanness of behaviour and servility of defence which distinguished criminals, the philosopher, perhaps, accelerated his own fall by the firmness of his mind, and his uncomplying integrity. Lysias, one of the most celebrated orators of the age, composed an oration in a laboured and pathetic style, which he offered to his friend to be pronounced as his defence in the presence of his judges. Socrates read it, but after he had praised the eloquence and the animation of the whole, he rejected it, as neither manly nor expressive of fortitude, and comparing it to Sicyonian shoes, which, though fitting, were proofs of effeminacy, he observed, that a philosopher ought to be conspicuous for magnanimity and for firmness of soul. In his apology he spoke with great animation, and confessed that while others boasted that they were acquainted with everything, he himself knew nothing. The whole discourse was full of simplicity and noble grandeur, the energetic language of offended innocence. He modestly said, that what he possessed was applied for the service of the Athenians; it was his wish to make his fellow-citizens happy, and it was a duty which he performed by the special command of the gods, “whose authority,” said he, emphatically to his judges, “I regard more than yours.” Such language from a man who was accused of a capital crime, astonished and irritated the judges. Socrates was condemned, but only by a majority of three voices; and when he was demanded, according to the spirit of the Athenian laws, to pass sentence on himself, and to mention the death he preferred, the philosopher said, “For my attempts to teach the Athenian youth justice and moderation, and render the rest of my countrymen more happy, let me be maintained at the public expense the remaining years of my life in the Prytaneum, an honour, O Athenians, which I deserve more than the victors of the Olympic games. They make their countrymen more happy in appearance, but I have made you so in reality.” This exasperated the judges in the highest degree, and he was condemned to drink hemlock. Upon this he addressed the court, and more particularly the judges who had decided in his favour, in a pathetic speech. He told them that to die was a pleasure, since he was going to hold converse with the greatest heroes of antiquity; he recommended to their paternal care his defenceless children, and as he returned to prison, he exclaimed: “I go to die, you to live; but which is the best the Divinity alone can know.” The solemn celebration of the Delian festivals [See: Delia] prevented his execution for 30 days, and during that time he was confined in the prison and loaded with irons. His friends, and particularly his disciples, were his constant attendants; he discoursed with them upon different subjects with all his usual cheerfulness and serenity. He reproved them for their sorrow, and when one of them was uncommonly grieved because he was to suffer, though innocent, the philosopher replied, “Would you then have me die guilty?” With this composure he spent his last days. He continued to be a preceptor till the moment of his death, and instructed his pupils on questions of the greatest importance; he told them his opinions in support of the immortality of the soul, and reprobated with acrimony the prevalent custom of suicide. He disregarded the intercession of his friends, and when it was in his power to make his escape out of prison he refused it, and asked, with his usual pleasantry, where he could escape death. “Where,” says he to Crito, who had bribed the gaoler, and made his escape certain, “where shall I fly, to avoid this irrevocable doom passed on all mankind?” When the hour to drink the poison was come, the executioner presented him the cup with tears in his eyes. Socrates received it with composure, and after he had made a libation to the gods, he drank it with an unaltered countenance, and a few moments after he expired. Such was the end of a man whom the uninfluenced answer of the oracle of Delphi had pronounced the wisest of mankind. Socrates died 400 years before Christ, in the 70th year of his age. He was no sooner buried than the Athenians repented of their cruelty; his accusers were universally despised and shunned. One suffered death, some were banished, and others, with their own hands, put an end to the life which their severity to the best of the Athenians had rendered insupportable. The actions, sayings, and opinions of Socrates have been faithfully recorded by two of the most celebrated of his pupils, Xenophon and Plato, and everything which relates to the life and circumstances of this great philosopher is now minutely known. To his poverty, his innocence, and his example, the Greeks were particularly indebted for their greatness and splendour; and the learning which was universally disseminated by his pupils, gave the whole nation a consciousness of their superiority over the rest of the world, not only in the polite arts, but in the more laborious exercises, which their writings celebrated. The philosophy of Socrates forms an interesting epoch in the history of the human mind. The son of Sophroniscus derided the more abstruse inquiries and metaphysical researches of his predecessors, and by first introducing moral philosophy, he induced mankind to consider themselves, their passions, their opinions, their duties, actions, and faculties. From this it was said that the founder of the Socratic school drew philosophy down from heaven upon the earth. In his attendance upon religious worship, Socrates was himself an example; he believed the divine origin of dreams and omens, and publicly declared that he was accompanied by a dæmon or invisible conductor [See: Dæmon], whose frequent interposition stopped him from the commission of evil, and the guilt of misconduct. This familiar spirit, however, according to some, was nothing more than a sound judgment assisted by prudence and long experience, which warned him at the approach of danger, and from a general speculation of mankind could foresee what success would attend an enterprise, or what calamities would follow an ill-managed administration. As a supporter of the immortality of the soul, he allowed the perfection of a supreme knowledge, from which he deduced the government of the universe. From the resources of experience as well as nature and observation, he perceived the indiscriminate dispensation of good and evil to mankind by the hand of Heaven, and he was convinced that none but the most inconsiderate would incur the displeasure of their Creator to avoid poverty or sickness, or gratify a sensual appetite, which must at the end harass their soul with remorse and the consciousness of guilt. From this natural view of things, he perceived the relation of one nation with another, and how much the tranquillity of civil society depended upon the proper discharge of these respective duties. The actions of men furnished materials also for his discourse; to instruct them was his aim, and to render them happy was the ultimate object of his daily lessons. From principles like these, which were enforced by the unparalleled example of an affectionate husband, a tender parent, a warlike soldier, and a patriotic citizen in Socrates, soon after the celebrated sects of the Platonists, the Peripatetics, the Academics, Cyrenaics, Stoics, &c., arose. Socrates never wrote for the public eye, yet many support that the tragedies of his pupil Euripides were partly composed by him. He was naturally of a licentious disposition, and a physiognomist observed, in looking in the face of the philosopher, that his heart was the most depraved, immodest, and corrupted that ever was in the human breast. This nearly cost the satirist his life, but Socrates upbraided his disciples, who wished to punish the physiognomist, and declared that his assertions were true, but that all his vicious propensities had been duly corrected and curbed by means of reason. Socrates made a poetical version of Æsop’s fables, while in prison. Diogenes Laërtius.—Xenophon.—Pluto.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 22.—Plutarch, On the Opinions of the Philosophers, &c.—Cicero, On Oratory, bk. 1, ch. 54; Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 1, ch. 41, &c.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 3, ch. 4.――A leader of the Achæans, at the battle of Cunaxa. He was seized and put to death by order of Artaxerxes.――A governor of Cilicia under Alexander the Great.――A painter.――A Rhodian in the age of Augustus. He wrote an account of the civil wars.――A scholiast born A.D. 380, at Constantinople. He wrote an ecclesiastical history from the year 309, where Eusebius ended, down to 450, with great exactness and judgment, of which the best edition is that of Reading, folio, Cambridge. 1720.――An island on the coast of Arabia.

Sœmias Julia, mother of the emperor Heliogabalus, was made president of a senate of women, which she had elected to decide the quarrels and the affairs of the Roman matrons. She at last provoked the people by her debaucheries, extravagance, and cruelties, and was murdered with her son and family. She was a native of Apamea; her father’s name was Julius Avitus, and her mother’s Masa. Her sister Julia Mammæa married the emperor Septimus Severus.

Sogdiāna, a country of Asia, bounded on the north by Scythia, east by the Sacæ, south by Bactriana, and west by Margiana, and now known by the name of Zagatay, or Usbec. The people were called Sogdiani. The capital was called Marcanda. Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 93.—Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 10.

Sogdiānus, a son of Artaxerxes Longimanus, who murdered his elder brother, king Xerxes, to make himself master of the Persian throne. He was but seven months in possession of the crown. His brother Ochus, who reigned under the name of Darius Nothus, conspired against him, and suffocated him in a tower full of warm ashes.

Sol (the sun), was an object of veneration among the ancients. It was particularly worshipped by the Persians, under the name of Mithras; and was the Baal or Bel of the Chaldeans, the Belphegor of the Moabites, the Moloch of the Canaanites, the Osiris of the Egyptians, and the Adonis of the Syrians. The Massagetæ sacrificed horses to the sun on account of their swiftness. According to some of the ancient poets, Sol and Apollo were two different persons. Apollo, however, and Phœbus and Sol, are universally supposed to be the same deity.

Solicinium, a town of Germany, now Sultz, on the Neckar.

Solīnus Caius Julius, a grammarian at the end of the first century, who wrote a book called Polyhistor, which is a collection of historical remarks and geographical annotations on the most celebrated places of every country. He has been called Pliny’s ape, because he imitated that well-known naturalist. The last edition of the Polyhistor is that of Nuremberg, ex editione Salamasii. 1777.

Solis Fons, a celebrated fountain in Libya. See: Ammon.

Soloe, or Soli, a town of Cyprus, built on the borders of the Clarius by an Athenian colony. It was originally called Æpeia, till Solon visited Cyprus, and advised Philocyprus, one of the princes of the island, to change the situation of his capital. His advice was followed; a new town was raised in a beautiful plain, and called after the name of the Athenian philosopher. Strabo, bk. 14.—Plutarch, Solon.――A town of Cilicia on the sea-coast, built by the Greeks and Rhodians. It was afterwards called Pompeiopolis, from Pompey, who settled a colony of pirates there. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 27.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Some suppose that the Greeks, who settled in either of these two towns, forgot the purity of their native language, and thence arose the term Solecismus, applied to an inelegant or improper expression.

Solœis, or Soloentia, a promontory of Libya at the extremity of mount Atlas, now cape Cantin.――A town of Sicily, between Panormus and Himera, now Solanto. Cicero, Against Verres, bk. 3, ch. 43.—Thucydides, bk. 6.

Solon, one of the seven wise men of Greece, was born at Salamis, and educated at Athens. His father’s name was Euphorion, or Exechestides, one of the descendants of king Codrus, and by his mother’s side he reckoned among his relations the celebrated Pisistratus. After he had devoted part of his time to philosophical and political studies, Solon travelled over the greatest part of Greece, but at his return home he was distressed with the dissensions which were kindled among his countrymen. All fixed their eyes upon Solon as a deliverer, and he was unanimously elected archon and sovereign legislator. He might have become absolute, but he refused the dangerous office of king of Athens, and, in the capacity of lawgiver, he began to make a reform in every department. The complaints of the poorer citizens found redress, all debts were remitted, and no one was permitted to seize the person of his debtor if unable to make a restoration of his money. After he had made the most salutary regulations in the state, and bound the Athenians by a solemn oath that they would faithfully observe his laws for the space of 100 years, Solon resigned the office of legislator and removed himself from Athens. He visited Egypt, and in the court of Crœsus king of Lydia he convinced the monarch of the instability of fortune, and told him, when he wished to know whether he was not the happiest of mortals, that Tellus, an Athenian, who had always seen his country in a flourishing state, who had seen his children lead a virtuous life, and who had himself fallen in defence of his country, was more entitled to happiness than the possessor of riches and the master of empires. After 10 years’ absence Solon returned to Athens, but he had the mortification to find the greatest part of his regulations disregarded by the factious spirit of his countrymen, and the usurpation of Pisistratus. Not to be longer a spectator of the divisions that reigned in his country, he retired to Cyprus, where he died at the court of king Philocyprus, in the 80th year of his age, 558 years before the christian era. The salutary consequences of the laws of Solon can be discovered in the length of time they were in force in the republic of Athens. For above 400 years they flourished in full vigour, and Cicero, who was himself a witness of their benign influence, passes the highest encomiums upon the legislator, whose superior wisdom framed such a code of regulations. It was the intention of Solon to protect the poorer citizens, and by dividing the whole body of the Athenians into four classes, three of which were permitted to discharge the most important offices and magistracies of the state, and the last to give their opinion in the assemblies, but not have a share in the distinctions and honours of their superiors, the legislator gave the populace a privilege which, though at first small and inconsiderable, soon rendered them masters of the republic, and of all the affairs of government. He made a reformation in the Areopagus, he increased the authority of the members, and permitted them yearly to inquire how every citizen maintained himself, and to punish such as lived in idleness, and were not employed in some honourable and lucrative profession. He also regulated the Prytaneum, and fixed the number of its judges at 400. The sanguinary laws of Draco were all cancelled, except that against murder, and the punishment denounced against every offender was proportioned to his crime; but Solon made no law against parricide or sacrilege. The former of these crimes, he said, was too horrible to human nature for a man to be guilty of it, and the latter could never be committed, because the history of Athens had never furnished a single instance. Such as had died in the service of their country were buried with great pomp, and their family was maintained at the public expense; but such as had squandered away their estates, such as refused to bear arms in defence of their country, or paid no attention to the infirmities and distress of their parents, were branded with infamy. The laws of marriage were newly regulated; it became a union of affection and tenderness, and no longer a mercenary contract. To speak with ill language against the dead as well as the living, was made a crime, and the legislator wished that the character of his fellow-citizens should be freed from the aspersions of malevolence and envy. A person that had no children was permitted to dispose of his estates as he pleased, and the females were not allowed to be extravagant in their dress or expenses. To be guilty of adultery was a capital crime, and the friend and associate of lewdness and debauchery was never permitted to speak in public, for, as the philosopher observed, a man who has no shame, is not capable of being intrusted with the people. These celebrated laws were engraven on several tables, and that they might be better known and more familiar to the Athenians, they were written in verse. The indignation which Solon expressed on seeing the tragical representations of Thespis, is well known, and he sternly observed, that if falsehood and fiction were tolerated on the stage, they would soon find their way among the common occupations of men. According to Plutarch, Solon was reconciled to Pisistratus; but this seems to be false, as the legislator refused to live in a country where the privileges of his fellow-citizens were trampled upon by the usurpation of a tyrant. See: Lycurgus. Plutarch, Solon.—Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 29.—Diogenes Laërtius, bk. 1.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 40.—Cicero.

Solona, a town of Gaul Cispadana on the Utens.

Solonium, a town of Latium on the borders of Etruria. Plutarch, Caius Marius.—Cicero, de Divinatione, bk. 1.

Solva, a town of Noricum.

Solus (untis), a maritime town of Sicily. See: Solœis. Strabo, bk. 14.

Soly̆ma and Soly̆mæ, a town of Lycia. The inhabitants, called Solymi, were anciently called Milyades, and afterwards Termili and Lycians. Sarpedon settled among them. Strabo, bk. 14.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 6.—Pliny, bk. 5, chs. 27 & 29.――An ancient name of Jerusalem. See: Hierosolyma. Juvenal, satire 6, li. 543.

Somnus, son of Erebus and Nox, was one of the infernal deities, and presided over sleep. His palace, according to some mythologists, is a dark cave where the sun never penetrates. At the entrance are a number of poppies and somniferous herbs. The god himself is represented as asleep on a bed of feathers with black curtains. The dreams stand by him, and Morpheus, as his principal minister, watches to prevent the noise from awaking him. The Lacedæmonians always placed the image of Somnus near that of death. Hesiod, Theogony.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 14.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 893.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11.

Sonchis, an Egyptian priest, in the age of Solon. It was he who told that celebrated philosopher a number of traditions, particularly about the Atlantic isles, which he represented as more extensive than the continent of Africa and Asia united. This island disappeared, it is said, in one day and one night. Plutarch, de Iside et Osiride, &c.

Sontiătes, a people in Gaul.

Sopăter, a philosopher of Apamea, in the age of the emperor Constantine. He was one of the disciples of Iamblicus, and after his death he was at the head of the Platonic philosophers.

Sophax, a son of Hercules and Tinga the widow of Antæus, who founded the kingdom of Tingis, in Mauritania, and from whom were descended Diodorus, and Juba king of Mauritania. Strabo, bk. 3.

Sophēne, a country of Armenia, on the borders of Mesopotamia. Lucan, bk. 2, li. 593.

Sŏphŏcles, a celebrated tragic poet of Athens, educated in the school of Æschylus. He distinguished himself not only as a poet, but also as a statesman. He commanded the Athenian armies, and in several battles he shared the supreme command with Pericles, and exercised the office of archon with credit and honour. The first appearance of Sophocles as a poet reflects great honour on his abilities. The Athenians had taken the island of Scyros, and to celebrate that memorable event, a yearly contest for tragedy was instituted. Sophocles on this occasion obtained the prize over many competitors, in the number of whom was Æschylus, his friend and his master. This success contributed to encourage the poet; he wrote for the stage with applause, and obtained the poetical prize 20 different times. Sophocles was the rival of Euripides for public praise; they divided the applause of the populace, and while the former surpassed in the sublime and majestic, the other was not inferior in the tender and pathetic. The Athenians were pleased with their contention, and as the theatre was at that time an object of importance and magnitude, and deemed an essential and most magnificent part of the religious worship, each had his admirers and adherents; but the two poets, captivated at last by popular applause, gave way to jealousy and rivalship. Of 120 tragedies which Sophocles composed, only seven are extant: Ajax, Electra, Œdipus the tyrant, Antigone, the Trachiniæ, Philoctetes, and Œdipus at Colonos. The ingratitude of the children of Sophocles is well known. They wished to become immediate masters of their father’s possessions, and therefore, tired of his long life, they accused him before the Areopagus of insanity. The only defence the poet made was to read his tragedy of Œdipus at Colonos, which he had lately finished, and then he asked his judges, whether the author of such a performance could be taxed with insanity? The father upon this was acquitted, and the children returned home covered with shame and confusion. Sophocles died in the 91st year of his age, 406 years before Christ, through excess of joy, as some authors report, of having obtained a poetical prize at the Olympic games. Athenæus has accused Sophocles of licentiousness and debauchery, particularly when he commanded the armies of Athens. The best editions of Sophocles are those of Capperonier, 2 vols., 4to, Paris, 1780; of Glasgow, 2 vols., 12mo, 1745; of Geneva, 4to, 1603; and that by Brunck, 4 vols., 8vo, 1786. Cicero, Against Catiline; de Divinatione, bk. 1, ch. 25.—Plutarch, Cimon, &c.—Quintilian, bk. 1, ch. 10; bk. 10, ch. 1.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 7; bk. 9, ch. 12.—Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 53.—Athenæus, bk. 10, &c.

Sophonisba, a daughter of Asdrubal the Carthaginian, celebrated for her beauty. She married Syphax, a prince of Numidia, and when her husband was conquered by the Romans and Masinissa, she fell a captive into the hands of the enemy. Masinissa became enamoured of her, and married her. This behaviour displeased the Romans; and Scipio, who at that time had the command of the armies of the republic in Africa, rebuked the monarch severely, and desired him to part with Sophonisba. This was an arduous task for Masinissa, yet he dreaded the Romans. He entered Sophonisba’s tent with tears in his eyes, and told her that, as he could not deliver her from captivity and the jealousy of the Romans, he recommended her, as the strongest pledge of his love and affection for her person, to die like the daughter of Asdrubal. Sophonisba obeyed, and drank, with unusual composure and serenity, the cup of poison which Masinissa sent to her, about 203 years before Christ. Livy, bk. 30, ch. 12, &c.—Sallust, Jugurthine War.—Justin.

Sophron, a comic poet of Syracuse, son of Agathocles and Damasyllis. His compositions were so universally esteemed, that Plato is said to have read them with rapture. Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 7.—Quintilian, bk. 1, ch. 10.

Sophroniscus, the father of Socrates.

Sophronia, a Roman lady whom Maxentius took by force from her husband’s house, and married. Sophronia killed herself when she saw that her affections were abused by the tyrant.

Sophrosy̆ne, a daughter of Dionysius by Dion’s sister.

Sopŏlis, the father of Hermolaus. Curtius, bk. 8, ch. 7.――A painter in Cicero’s age. Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 4, ltr. 16.

Sora, a town of the Volsci, of which the inhabitants were called Sorani. Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 395.—Cicero, For Plancius.

Soractes and Soracte, a mountain of Etruria, near the Tiber, seen from Rome, at the distance of 26 miles. It was sacred to Apollo, who is from thence surnamed Soractis; and it is said that the priests of the god could walk over burning coals without hurting themselves. There was, as some report, a fountain on mount Soracte, whose waters boiled at sunrise, and instantly killed all such birds as drank of them. Strabo, bk. 5.—Pliny, bk. 2, ch. 93; bk. 7, ch. 2.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 9.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 785.—Silius Italicus, bk. 5.

Sorānus, a man put to death by Nero. See: Valerius.――The father of Atilia the first wife of Cato.

Sorex, a favourite of Sylla, and the companion of his debaucheries. Plutarch.

Sorge, a daughter of Œneus king of Calydon, by Æthea daughter of Thestius. She married Andremon, and was mother of Oxilus. Apollodorus, bks. 1 & 2.

Soritia, a town of Spain.

Sosia Galla, a woman at the court of Tiberius, banished, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 4, ch. 19.

Sosibius, a grammarian of Laconia, B.C. 255. He was a great favourite of Ptolemy Philopator, and advised him to murder his brother, and the queen his wife, called Arsinoe. He lived to a great age, and was on that account called Polychronos. He was afterwards permitted to retire from the court, and spend the rest of his days in peace and tranquillity after he had disgraced the name of minister by the most abominable crimes, and the murder of many of the royal family. His son, of the same name, was preceptor to king Ptolemy Epiphanes.――The preceptor of Britannicus the son of Claudius. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 11, ch. 1.

Sosĭcles, a Greek who behaved with great valour when Xerxes invaded Greece.

Sosicrătes, a noble senator among the Achæans, put to death because he wished his countrymen to make peace with the Romans.

Sosigĕnes, an Egyptian mathematician, who assisted Julius Cæsar in regulating the Roman calendar. Suetonius.—Diodorus.—Pliny, bk. 18, ch. 25.――A commander of the fleet of Eumenes. Polyænus, bk. 4.――A friend of Demetrius Poliorcetes.

Sosii, celebrated booksellers at Rome, in the age of Horace, bk. 1, ltr. 20, li. 2.

Sosĭlus, a Lacedæmonian in the age of Annibal. He lived in great intimacy with the Carthaginian, taught him Greek, and wrote the history of his life. Cornelius Nepos, Hannibal.

Sosipăter, a grammarian in the reign of Honorius. He published five books of observations on grammar.――A Syracusan magistrate.――A general of Philip king of Macedonia.

Sosis, a seditious Syracusan, who raised tumults against Dion. When accused before the people he saved himself by flight, and thus escaped a capital punishment.

Sosistrătus, a tyrant of Syracuse, in the age of Agathocles. He invited Pyrrhus into Sicily, and afterwards revolted from him. He was at last removed by Hermocrates. Polyænus, bk. 1.――Another tyrant. Polyænus, bk. 1.

Sospis, a consul who followed the interest of Mark Antony.――A governor of Syria.――A Roman consular dignity, to whom Plutarch dedicated his Lives.

Sospĭta, a surname of Juno in Latium. Her most famous temple was at Lanuvium. She had also two at Rome, and her statue was covered with a goat-skin, with a buckler, &c. Livy, bks. 3, 6, 8, &c.—Festus, Lexicon of Festus.

Sosthĕnes, a general of Macedonia, who flourished B.C. 281. He defeated the Gauls under Brennus, and was killed in the battle. Justin, bk. 24, ch. 5.――A native of Cnidos, who wrote a history of Iberia. Plutarch.

Sostrătus, a friend of Hermolaus, put to death for conspiring against Alexander. Curtius, bk. 1, ch. 6.――A grammarian in the age of Augustus. He was Strabo’s preceptor. Strabo, bk. 14.――A statuary.――An architect of Cnidos, B.C. 284, who built the white tower of Pharos, in the bay of Alexandria. He inscribed his name upon it. See: Pharos. Strabo, bk. 17.—Pliny, bk. 30, ch. 12.――A priest of Venus at Paphos, among the favourites of Vespasian. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 2, ch. 7.――A favourite of Hercules.――A Greek historian, who wrote an account of Etruria.――A poet, who wrote a poem on the expedition of Xerxes into Greece. Juvenal, satire 10, li. 178.

Sotădes, an athlete. A Greek poet of Thrace. He wrote verses against Philadelphus Ptolemy, for which he was thrown into the sea in a cage of lead. He was called Cinædus, not only because he was addicted to the abominable crime which the surname indicates, but because he wrote a poem in commendation of it. Some suppose, that instead of the word Socraticos in the 2nd satire, verse the 10th, of Juvenal, the word Sotadicos should be inserted, as the poet Sotades, and not the philosopher Socrates, deserved the appellation of Cinædus. Obscene verses were generally called Sotadea carmina from him. They could be turned and read different ways without losing their measure or sense, such as the following, which can be read backwards:

Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor.

Si bene te tua laus taxat, sua laute tenebis.

Sole medere pede, ede, perede melos.

Quintilian, bk. 1, ch. 8; bk. 9, ch. 4.—Pliny, bk. 5, ltr. 3.—Ausonius, ltr. 17, li. 29.

Soter, a surname of the first Ptolemy.――It was also common to other monarchs.

Soteria, days appointed for thanksgivings and the offerings of sacrifices for deliverance from danger. One of these was observed at Sicyone, to ♦commemorate the deliverance of that city from the hands of the Macedonians, by Aratus.

Soterĭcus, a poet and historian in the age of Diocletian. He wrote a panegyric on that emperor, as also a life of Apollonius Thyanæus. His works, greatly esteemed, are now lost, except some few fragments preserved by the scholiast of Lycophron.

Sothis, an Egyptian name of the constellation called Sirius, which received divine honours in that country.

Sotiates, a people of Gaul, conquered by Cæsar. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 3, chs. 20 & 21.

Sotion, a grammarian and philosopher of Alexandria, preceptor to Seneca. Seneca, ltrs. 49 & 58.

Sotius, a philosopher in the reign of Tiberius.

Sous, a king of Sparta, who made himself known by his valour, &c.

Sozŏmen, an ecclesiastical historian, who died 450 A.D. His history extends from the year 324 to 429, and is dedicated to Theodosius the younger, being written in a style of inelegance and mediocrity. The best edition is that of Reading, folio, Cambridge, 1720.

Spaco, the name of Cyrus. Justin, bk. 1, ch. 4.—Herodotus.

Sparta, a celebrated city of Peloponnesus, the capital of Laconia, situate on the Eurotas, at the distance of about 30 miles from its mouth. It received its name from Sparta the daughter of Eurotas, who married Lacedæmon. It was also called Lacedæmon. See: Lacedæmon.

Spartăcus, a king of Pontus.――Another, king of Bosphorus, who died B.C. 433. His son and successor of the same name died B.C. 407.――Another, who died 284 B.C.――A Thracian shepherd, celebrated for his abilities and the victories which he obtained over the Romans. Being one of the gladiators who were kept at Capua in the house of Lentulus, he escaped from the place of his confinement, with 30 of his companions, and took up arms against the Romans. He soon found himself with 10,000 men equally resolute with himself, and though at first obliged to hide himself in the woods and solitary retreats of Campania, he soon laid waste the country; and when his followers were increased by additional numbers, and better disciplined, and more completely armed, he attacked the Roman generals in the field of battle. Two consuls and other officers were defeated with much loss, and Spartacus, superior in counsel and abilities, appeared more terrible, though often deserted by his fickle attendants. Crassus was sent against him, but this celebrated general at first despaired of success. A bloody battle was fought, in which, at last, the gladiators were defeated. Spartacus ♦behaved with great valour: when wounded in the leg, he fought on his knees, covering himself with his buckler in one hand, and using his sword with the other; and when at last he fell, he fell upon a heap of Romans, whom he had sacrificed to his fury, B.C. 71. In this battle no less than 40,000 of the rebels were slain, and the war totally finished. Florus, bk. 3, ch. 20.—Livy, bk. 95.—Eutropius, bk. 6, ch. 2.—Plutarch, Crassus.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 30.—Appian.

Spartæ, or Sparti, a name given to those men who sprang from the dragon’s teeth which Cadmus sowed. They all destroyed one another, except five, who survived and assisted Cadmus in building Thebes.

Spartāni, or Spartiātæ, the inhabitants of Sparta. See: Sparta, Lacedæmon.

Spartiānus Ælius, a Latin historian who wrote the lives of all the Roman emperors, from Julius Cæsar to Diocletian. He dedicated them to Diocletian, to whom, according to some, he was related. Of these compositions only the life of Adrian, Verus, Didius Julianus, Septimus Severus, Caracalla, and Geta, are extant, published among the Scriptores Historiæ Augustæ. Spartianus is not esteemed as an historian or biographer.

Spechia, an ancient name of the island of Cyprus.

Spendius, a Campanian deserter who rebelled against the Romans and raised tumults, and made war against Amilcar the Carthaginian general.

Spendon, a poet of Lacedæmon.

Sperchīa, a town of Thessaly, on the banks of the Sperchius. Ptolemy.

Sperchīus, a river of Thessaly, rising on mount Œta, and falling into the sea in the bay of Malia, near Anticyra. The name is supposed to be derived from its rapidity (σπερχειν, festinare). Peleus vowed to the god of this river the hair of his son Achilles, if ever he returned safe from the Trojan war. Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 198.—Strabo, bk. 9.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 23, li. 144.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 13.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 557; bk. 2, li. 250; bk. 7, li. 230.

Spermatophăgi, a people who lived in the extremest parts of Egypt. They fed upon the fruits that fell from the trees.

Speusippus, an Athenian philosopher, nephew, as also successor, of Plato. His father’s name was Eurymedon, and his mother’s Potone. He presided in Plato’s school for eight years, and disgraced himself by his extravagance and debauchery. Plato attempted to check him, but to no purpose. He died of the lousy sickness, or killed himself, according to some accounts, B.C. 339. Plutarch, Lysander.—Diogenes Laërtius, bk. 4.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 4, ch. 1.

Sphacteriæ, three small islands opposite Pylos, on the coast of Messenia. They are also called Sphagiæ.

Spherus, an arm-bearer of Pelops son of Tantalus. He was buried in a small island near the isthmus of Corinth, which, from him, was called Sphetia. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 10.――A Greek philosopher, disciple to Zeno of Cyprus, 243 B.C. He came to Sparta in the age of Agis and Cleomenes, and opened a school there. Plutarch, Agis.—Diodorus.

Sphinx, a monster which had the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a dog, the tail of a serpent, the wings of a bird, the paws of a lion, and a human voice. It sprang from the union of Orthos with the Chimæra, or of Typhon with Echidna. The Sphinx had been sent into the neighbourhood of Thebes by Juno, who wished to punish the family of Cadmus, which she persecuted with immortal hatred, and it laid this part of Bœotia under continual alarms by proposing enigmas, and devouring the inhabitants if unable to explain them. In the midst of their consternation the Thebans were told by the oracle, that the Sphinx would destroy herself as soon as one of the enigmas she proposed was explained. In this enigma she wished to know what animal walked on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening. Upon this, Creon king of Thebes promised his crown and his sister Jocasta in marriage to him who could deliver his country from the monster by a successful explanation of the enigma. It was at last happily explained by Œdipus, who observed that man walked on his hands and feet when young, or in the morning of life, at the noon of life he walked erect, and in the evening of his days he supported his infirmities upon a stick. See: Œdipus. The Sphinx no sooner heard this explanation than she dashed her head against a rock, and immediately expired. Some mythologists wish to unriddle the fabulous traditions about the Sphinx, by the supposition that one of the daughters of Cadmus, or Laius, infested the country of Thebes by her continual depredations, because she had been refused a part of her father’s possessions. The lion’s paw expressed, as they observe, her cruelty, the body of the dog her lasciviousness, her enigmas the snares she laid for strangers and travellers, and her wings the despatch she used in her expeditions. Plutarch.—Hesiod, Theogony, li. 326.—Hyginus, fable 68.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Ovid, Ibis, li. 378.—Strabo, bk. 9.—Sophocles, Œdipus Tyrannus.

Sphodrias, a Spartan who, at the instigation of Cleombrotus, attempted to seize the Piræus. Diodorus, bk. 15.

Sphragidium, a retired cave on mount Cithæron in Bœotia. The nymphs of the place, called Sphragitides, were yearly honoured with a sacrifice by the Athenians, by order of the oracle of Delphi, because they had lost few men at the battle of Platæa. Pliny, bk. 35, ch. 6.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 3.—Plutarch, Aristeides.

Spicillus, a favourite of Nero. He refused to assassinate his master, for which he was put to death in a cruel manner.

Spina, now Primaso, a town on the most southern mouth of the Po. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 16.

Spintharus, a Corinthian architect, who built Apollo’s temple at Delphi. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 5.――A freedman of Cicero. Letters to Atticus, bk. 13, ltr. 25.

Spinther, a Roman consul. He was one of Pompey’s friends, and accompanied him at the battle of Pharsalia, where he betrayed his meanness by being too confident of victory, and contending for the possession of Cæsar’s offices and gardens before the action. Plutarch.

Spio, one of the Nereides. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 26.

Spitamĕnes, one of the officers of king Darius, who conspired against the murderer Bessus, and delivered him to Alexander. Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 5.

Spithobătes, a satrap of Ionia, son-in-law of Darius. He was killed at the battle of the Granicus. Diodorus, bk. 17.

Spithridates, a Persian killed by Clitus as he was going to strike Alexander dead.――A Persian satrap in the age of Lysander.

Spoletium, now Spoleto, a town of Umbria, which bravely withstood Annibal while he was in Italy. The people were called Spoletani. Water is conveyed to the town from a neighbouring ♦fountain by an aqueduct of such a great height, that in one place the top is raised above the foundation 230 yards. An inscription over the gates still commemorates the defeat of Annibal. Martial, bk. 13, ltr. 20.

Spŏrădes, a number of islands in the Ægean sea. They received their name à σπειρω, spargo, because they are scattered in the sea at some distance from Delos, and in the neighbourhood of Crete. Those islands that are contiguous to Delos, and that encircle it, are called Cyclades. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Strabo, bk. 2.

Spurīna, a mathematician and astrologer, who told Julius Cæsar to beware of the ides of March. As he went to the senate-house on the morning of the ides, Cæsar said to Spurina, “The ides are at last come.” “Yes,” replied Spurina, “but not yet past.” Cæsar was murdered a few moments after. Suetonius, Cæsar, ch. 81.—Valerius Maximus, bks. 1 & 8.

Spurius, a prænomen common to many of the Romans.――One of Cæsar’s murderers.――Latius, a Roman who defended the bridge over the Tiber against Porsenna’s army.――A friend of Otho, &c.

Lucius Staberius, a friend of Pompey, set over Apollonia, which he was obliged to yield to Cæsar, because the inhabitants favoured his cause. Cæsar, Gallic War.――An avaricious fellow, who wished it to be known that he was uncommonly rich. Horace, bk. 2, satire 3, li. 89.

Stabiæ, a maritime town of Campania on the bay of Puteoli, destroyed by Sylla, and converted into a villa, whither Pliny endeavoured to escape from the eruption of Vesuvius, in which he perished. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 5; bk. 6, ch. 16.

Stabŭlum, a place in the Pyrenees, where a communication was open from Gaul into Spain.

Stagīra, a town on the borders of Macedonia, near the bay into which the Strymon discharges itself, at the south of Amphipolis; founded 665 years before Christ. Aristotle was born there, from which circumstance he is called Stagirites. Thucydides, bk. 4.—Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 4.—Diogenes Laërtius, Solon.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 3, ch. 46.

Staius, an unprincipled wretch, in Nero’s age, who murdered all his relations. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 19.

Stalēnus, a senator who sat as judge in the trial of Cluentius, &c. Cicero, For Aulus Cluentius.

Staphy̆lus, one of the Argonauts, son of Theseus, or, according to others, of Bacchus and Ariadne. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9.

Stasander, an officer of Alexander, who had Aria at the general division of the provinces. Curtius, bk. 8, ch. 3.

Staseas, a peripatetic philosopher, engaged to instruct young Marcus Piso in philosophy. Cicero, On Oratory, bk. 1, ch. 22.

Stasicrătes, a statuary and architect in the wars of Alexander, who offered to make a statue of mount Athos, which was rejected by the conqueror, &c.

Stasileus, an Athenian killed at the battle of Marathon. He was one of the 10 pretors.

Statilli, a people of Liguria, between the Tænarus and the Apennines. Livy, bk. 42, ch. 7.—Cicero, bk. 11, Letters to his Friends, ltr. 11.

Statilia, a woman who lived to a great age, as mentioned by Seneca, ltr. 77.――Another. See: Messalina.

Statilius, a young Roman celebrated for his courage and constancy. He was an inveterate enemy to Cæsar, and when Cato murdered himself, he attempted to follow his example, but was prevented by his friends. The conspirators against Cæsar wished him to be in their number, but the answer which he gave displeased Brutus. He was at last killed by the army of the triumvirs. Plutarch.――Lucius, one of the friends of Catiline. He joined in his conspiracy, and was put to death. Cicero, Against Catiline, ch. 2.――A young general in the war which the Latins undertook against the Romans. He was killed, with 25,000 of his troops.――A general who fought against Antony.――Taurus, a proconsul of Africa. He was accused of consulting magicians, upon which he put himself to death. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 12, ch. 59.