Chapter M (31)

=Sepias=, a cape of Magnesia in Thessaly, at the north of Eubœa, now
_St. George_.

=Seplasia=, a place of Capua, where ointments were sold. _Cicero_,
_Against Piso_, chs. 7 & 11.

=Septem aquæ=, a portion of the lake near Reate. _Cicero_, bk. 4,
_Letters to Atticus_, ltr. 15.――――Fratres, a mountain of Mauritania,
now _Gebel-Mousa_. _Strabo_, bk. 17.――――Maria, the entrance of the
seven mouths of the Po.

=Septempeda=, a town of Picenum.

=Septerion=, a festival observed once in nine years at Delphi, in
honour of Apollo. It was a representation of the pursuit of Python by
Apollo, and of the victory obtained by the god.

=Titus Septimius=, a Roman knight distinguished by his poetical
compositions both lyric and tragic. He was intimate with Augustus
as well as Horace, who has addressed the sixth of his second book of
Odes to him.――――A centurion put to death, &c. _Tacitus_, _Annals_,
bk. 1, ch. 32.――――A native of Africa, who distinguished himself
at Rome as a poet. He wrote, among other things, a hymn in praise
of Janus. Only 11 of his verses are preserved. _Marcus Terentius
[Varro]._――_Petrus Crinitus_, _Lives_.

=Lucius Septimuleius=, a friend of Caius Gracchus. He suffered himself
to be bribed by Opimius, and had the meanness to carry his friend’s
head fixed to a pole through the streets of Rome.

=Sepyra=, a town of Cilicia, taken by Cicero when he presided over that
province. _Cicero_, _Letters to his Friends_, bk. 15, ch. 4.

=Sequăna=, a river of Gaul, which separates the territories of the
Belgæ and the Celtæ, and is now called _la Seine_. _Strabo_, bk. 4.
――_Mela_, bk. 3, ch. 2.――_Lucan_, bk. 1, li. 425.

=Sequăni=, a people of Gaul near the territories of the Ædui, between
the Saone and mount Jura, famous for their wars against Rome, &c.
_See:_ Ædui. The country which they inhabited is now called _Franche
Compté_, or _Upper Burgundy_. _Cæsar_, _Gallic War_.

=Sequinius=, a native of Alba, who married one of his daughters to
Curiatius of Alba, and the other to Horatius, a citizen of Rome. The
two daughters were brought to bed on the same day, each of three male
children.

=Serapio=, a surname given to one of the Scipios, because he resembled
a swine-herd of that name.――――A Greek poet who flourished in the age
of Trajan. He was intimate with Plutarch.――――An Egyptian put to death
by Achillas, when he came at the head of an embassy from Ptolemy, who
was a prisoner in the hands of Julius Cæsar.――――A painter. _Pliny_,
bk. 35, ch. 10.

=Serāpis=, one of the Egyptian deities, supposed to be the same
as Osiris. He had a magnificent temple at Memphis, another very
rich at Alexandria, and a third at Canopus. The worship of Serapis
was introduced at Rome, by the emperor Antoninus Pius, A.D. 146,
and the mysteries celebrated on the 6th of May, but with so much
licentiousness that the senate were soon after obliged to abolish
them. Herodotus, who speaks in a very circumstantial manner of the
deities, and of the religion of the Egyptians, makes no mention of
the god Serapis. Apollodorus says it is the same as the bull Apis.
_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 18; bk. 2, ch. 34.――_Tacitus_, _Histories_,
bk. 4, ch. 83.――_Strabo_, bk. 17.――_Martial_, bk. 9, ltr. 30.

=Serbōnis=, a lake between Egypt and Palestine.

=Serēna=, a daughter of Theodosius, who married Stilicho. She was put
to death, &c. _Claudian._

=Sereniānus=, a favourite of Gallus the brother of Julian. He was put
to death.

=Serēnus Samonicus=, a physician in the age of the emperor Severus and
Caracalla. There remains a poem of his composition on medicine, the
last edition of which is that of 1706, in 8vo, Amsterdam.――――Vibius,
a governor of Spain, accused of cruelty in the government of his
province, and put to death by order of Tiberius.

=Seres=, a nation of Asia, according to Ptolemy, between the Ganges
and the eastern ocean in the modern Thibet. They were naturally of
a meek disposition. Silk, of which the fabrication was unknown to
the ancients, who imagined that the materials were collected from
the leaves of trees, was brought to Rome from their country, and on
that account it received the name of _Sericum_, and thence a garment
or dress of silk is called _serica vestis_. Heliogobalus the Roman
emperor was the first who wore a silk dress, which at that time was
sold for its weight in gold. It afterwards became very cheap, and
consequently was the common dress among the Romans. Some suppose
that the Seres are the same as the Chinese. _Ptolemy_, bk. 6, ch. 16.
――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 29, li. 9.――_Lucan_, bk. 1, li. 19; bk. 19,
lis. 142 & 292.――_Ovid_, _Am._ 1, poem 14, li. 6.――_Virgil_,
_Georgics_, bk. 2, li. 121.

=Sergestus=, a sailor in the fleet of Æneas, from whom the family of
the Sergii at Rome were descended. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 5, li. 121.

=Sergia=, a Roman matron. She conspired with others to poison their
husbands. The plot was discovered, and Sergia, with some of her
accomplices, drank poison and died.

=Sergius=, one of the names of Catiline.――――A military tribune at the
siege of Veii. The family of the Sergii was patrician, and branched
out into the several families of the _Fidenates_, _Sili_, _Catilinæ_,
_Nattæ_, _Ocellæ_, and _Planci_.

=Sergius= and =Sergiōlus=, a deformed youth, greatly admired by the
Roman ladies in Juvenal’s age. _Juvenal_, satire 6, li. 105, _et seq._

=Serīphus=, an island in the Ægean sea, about 36 miles in circumference,
according to Pliny only 12, very barren, and uncultivated. The
Romans generally sent their criminals there in banishment, and it was
there that Cassius Severus the orator was exiled, and there he died.
According to Ælian, the frogs of this island never croaked, but when
they were removed from the island to another place, they were more
noisy and clamorous than others; hence the proverb of _seriphia rana_,
applied to a man who neither speaks nor sings. This, however, is
found to be a mistake by modern travellers. It was on the coast of
Seriphos that the chest was discovered in which Acrisius had exposed
his daughter Danae and her son Perseus. _Strabo_, bk. 10.――_Ælian_,
_De Natura Animalium_, bk. 3, ch. 37.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 4, ch. 21.
――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, li. 242; bk. 7, li. 65.

=Sermyla=, a town of Macedonia. _Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 122.

=Seron=, a general of Antiochus Epiphanes.

=Serrānus=, a surname given to Cincinnatus, because he was found
_sowing_ his fields when told that he had been elected dictator.
Some, however, suppose that Serranus was a different person from
Cincinnatus. _Pliny_, bk. 18, ch. 3.――_Livy_, bk. 3, ch. 26.
――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 844.――――One of the auxiliaries of
Turnus, killed in the night by Nisus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 9,
li. 335.――――A poet of some merit in Domitian’s reign. _Juvenal_,
satire 7, li. 80.

=Serrheum=, a fortified place of Thrace. _Livy_, bk. 31, ch. 16.

=Quintus Sertorius=, a Roman general, son of Quintus and Rhea, born at
Nursia. His first campaign was under the great Marius, against the
Teutones and Cimbri. He visited the enemy’s camp as a spy, and had
the misfortune to lose one eye in the first battle he fought. When
Marius and Cinna entered Rome and slaughtered all their enemies,
Sertorius accompanied them, but he expressed his sorrow and concern
at the melancholy death of so many of his countrymen. He afterwards
fled for safety into Spain, when Sylla had proscribed him, and
in this distant province he behaved himself with so much address
and valour that he was looked upon as the prince of the country.
The Lusitanians universally revered and loved him, and the Roman
general did not show himself less attentive to their interest, by
establishing public schools, and educating the children of the
country in the polite arts, and the literature of Greece and Rome.
He had established a senate, over which he presided with consular
authority, and the Romans, who followed his standard, paid equal
reverence to his person. They were experimentally convinced of
his valour and ♦magnanimity as a general, and the artful manner in
which he imposed upon the credulity of his adherents in the garb
of religion, did not diminish his reputation. He pretended to hold
commerce with heaven by means of a white hind which he had tamed with
great success, and which followed him everywhere, even in the field
of battle. The success of Sertorius in Spain, and his popularity
among the natives, alarmed the Romans. They sent some troops
to oppose him, but with little success. Four armies were found
insufficient to crush or even hurt Sertorius; and Pompey and Metellus,
who never engaged an enemy without obtaining the victory, were driven
with dishonour from the field. But the favourite of the Lusitanians
was exposed to the dangers which usually attend greatness. Perpenna,
one of his officers who was jealous of his fame and tired of a
superior, conspired against him. At a banquet the conspirators began
to open their intentions by speaking with freedom and licentiousness
in the presence of Sertorius, whose age and character had hitherto
claimed deference from others. Perpenna overturned a glass of wine,
as a signal for the rest of the conspirators, and immediately
Antonius, one of his officers, stabbed Sertorius, and the example
was followed by all the rest, 73 years before Christ. Sertorius has
been commended for his love of justice and moderation. The flattering
description which he heard of the Fortunate Islands when he passed
into the west of Africa, almost tempted him to bid adieu to the world,
and perhaps he would have retired from the noise of war, and the
clamours of envy, to end his days in the bosom of a peaceful and
solitary island, had not the stronger calls of ambition and the love
of fame prevailed over the intruding reflections of a moment. It has
been observed that in his latter days ♠Sertorius became indolent,
and fond of luxury and wanton cruelty; yet we must confess that in
affability, clemency, complaisance, generosity, and military valour,
he not only surpassed his contemporaries, but the rest of the Romans.
_Plutarch_, _Lives_.――_Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 30, &c.――_Florus_, bk.
3, ch. 21, &c.――_Appian_, _Civil Wars_.――_Valerius Maximus_, bk. 1,
ch. 2; bk. 7, ch. 3.――_Eutropius._――_Aulus Gellius_, bk. 15, ch. 22.

♦ ‘magnamimity’ replaced with ‘magnanimity’

♠ ‘Sertorious’ replaced with ‘Sertorius’

=Servæus=, a man accused by Tiberius of being privy to the conspiracy
of Sejanus. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 6, ch. 7.

=Serviānus=, a consul in the reign of Adrian. He was a great favourite
of the emperor Trajan.

=Servilia=, a sister of Cato of Utica, greatly enamoured of Julius
Cæsar, though her brother was one of the most inveterate enemies of
her lover. To convince Cæsar of her affection, she sent him a letter
filled with the most tender expressions of regard for his person. The
letter was delivered to Cæsar in the senate-house, while they were
debating about punishing the associates of Catiline’s conspiracy;
and when Cato saw it, he exclaimed that it was a letter from the
conspirators, and insisted immediately on its being made public.
Upon this Cæsar gave it to Cato, and the stern senator had no sooner
read its contents, than he threw it back, with the words of “Take it,
drunkard.” From the intimacy which existed between Servilia and Cæsar,
some have supposed that the dictator was the father of Marcus Brutus.
_Plutarch_, _Cæsar_.――_Cornelius Nepos_, _Atticus_.――――Another sister
of Cato, who married Silanus. _Cornelius Nepos_, _Atticus_.――――A
daughter of Thrasea, put to death by order of Nero with her father.
Her crime was the consulting of magicians only to know what would
happen in her family.

=Servilia lex=, _de pecuniis repetundis_, by Caius Servilius the pretor,
A.U.C. 653. It punished severely such as were guilty of peculation
and extortion in the provinces. Its particulars are not precisely
known.――――Another, _de judicibus_, by Quintus Servilius Cæpio the
consul, A.U.C. 648. It divided the right of judging between the
senators and the equites, a privilege which, though originally
belonging to the senators, had been taken from them and given to
the equites.――――Another, _de civitate_, by Caius Servilius, ordained
that if a Latin accused a Roman senator, so that he was condemned,
the accuser should be honoured with the name and the privileges of a
Roman citizen.――――Another, _agraria_, by Publius Servilius Rullus the
tribune, A.U.C. 690. It required the immediate sale of certain houses
and lands which belonged to the people, for the purchase of others in
a different part of Italy. It required that 10 commissioners should
be appointed to see it carried into execution, but Cicero prevented
its passing into a law by the three orations which he pronounced
against it.

=Serviliānus=, a Roman consul defeated by Viriathus, in Spain, &c.

=Servilius Quintus=, a Roman who in his dictatorship defeated the Æqui.
――――Publius, a consul who supported the cause of the people against
the nobles, and obtained a triumph in spite of the opposition of
the senate, after defeating the Volsci. He afterwards changed his
opinions, and very violently opposed the people because they had
illiberally treated him.――――A proconsul killed at the battle of Cannæ
by Annibal.――――Ahala, a master of horse to the dictator Cincinnatus.
When Mælius refused to appear before the dictator to answer the
accusations which were brought against him on suspicion of his
aspiring to tyranny, Ahala slew him in the midst of the people whose
protection he claimed. Ahala was accused for this murder and banished,
but his sentence was afterwards repealed. He was raised to the
dictatorship.――――Marcus, a man who pleaded in favour of Paulus
Æmilius, &c.――――An augur prosecuted by Lucullus for his inattention
in his office. He was acquitted.――――A pretor ordered by the senate
to forbid Sylla to approach Rome. He was ridiculed and insulted by
the conqueror’s soldiers.――――A man appointed to guard the sea-coast
of Pontus by Pompey.――――Publius, a proconsul of Asia during the
age of Mithridates. He conquered Isauria, for which service he was
surnamed _Isauricus_, and rewarded with a triumph.――――A Roman general
who defeated an army of Etrurians.――――An informer in the court of
Tiberius.――――A favourite of Augustus.――――Geminus, a Roman consul who
opposed Annibal with success.――――Nonianus, a Latin historian, who
wrote a history of Rome, in the reign of Nero. There were more than
one writer of this name, as Pliny speaks of a Servilius remarkable
for his eloquence and learning; and Quintilian mentions another
also illustrious for his genius and literary merit.――――Casca, one
of Cæsar’s murderers.――――The family of the Servilii was of patrician
rank, and came to settle at Rome after the destruction of Alba,
where they were promoted to the highest offices of the state. To the
several branches of this family were attached the different surnames
of _Ahala_, _Axilla_, _Priscas_, _Cæpio_, _Structus_, _Geminus_,
_Pulex_, _Vatia_, _Casca_, _Fidenas_, _Longus_, and _Tucca_.――――Lacus,
a lake near Rome. _Cicero_, _For Sextus Roscius of Ameria_, ch. 32.

=Servius Tullius=, the sixth king of Rome, was son of Ocrisia, a slave
of Corniculum, by Tullius, a man slain in the defence of his country
against the Romans. Ocrisia was given by Tarquin to Tanaquil his
wife, and she brought up her son in the king’s family, and added the
name of _Servius_ to that which he had inherited from his father,
to denote his _slavery_. Young Servius was educated in the palace of
the monarch with great care, and though originally a slave, he raised
himself so much to consequence, that Tarquin gave him his daughter in
marriage. His own private merit and virtues recommended him to notice
not less than the royal favours, and Servius, become the favourite
of the people and the darling of the soldiers, by his liberality and
complaisance, was easily raised to the throne on the death of his
father-in-law. Rome had no reason to repent of her choice. Servius
endeared himself still more as a warrior and as a legislator.
He defeated the Veientes and the Tuscans, and by a proper act of
policy he established the census, which told him that Rome contained
about 84,000 inhabitants. He increased the number of the tribes,
he beautified and adorned the city, and enlarged its boundaries
by taking within its walls the hills Quirinalis, Viminalis, and
Esquilinus. He also divided the Roman people into tribes, and that
he might not seem to neglect the worship of the gods, he built
several temples to the goddess of fortune, to whom he deemed himself
particularly indebted for obtaining the kingdom. He also built a
temple to Diana on mount Aventine, and raised himself a palace on the
hill Esquilinus. Servius married his two daughters to the grandsons
of his father-in-law; the elder to Tarquin, and the younger to Aruns.
This union, as might be supposed, tended to ensure the peace of his
family; but if such were his expectations, he was unhappily deceived.
The wife of Aruns, naturally fierce and impetuous, murdered her own
husband to unite herself to Tarquin, who had likewise assassinated
his wife. These bloody measures were no sooner pursued than Servius
was murdered by his own son-in-law, and his daughter Tullia showed
herself so inimical to filial gratitude and piety, that she ordered
her chariot to be driven over the mangled body of her father, B.C.
534. His death was universally lamented, and the slaves annually
celebrated a festival in his honour, in the temple of Diana on mount
Aventine, the day that he was murdered. Tarquinia, his wife, buried
his remains privately, and died the following day. _Livy_, bk. 1,
ch. 41.――_Dionysius of Halicarnassus_, bk. 4.――_Florus_, bk. 1,
ch. 6.――_Cicero_, _Letters to his Friends_, bk. 1, ch. 53.――_Valerius
Maximus_, bk. 1, ch. 6.――_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 6, li. 601.――――Galba,
a seditious person who wished to refuse a triumph to Paulus
Æmylius after the conquest of Macedonia.――――Claudius, a grammarian.
_Suetonius_, _Lives of the Grammarians_.――――A friend of Sylla, who
applied for the consulship to no purpose.――――Cornelius, a consul
in the first ages of the republic, &c.――――Sulpitius, an orator
in the age of Cicero and Hortensius. He was sent as ambassador to
Marcus Antony, and died before his return. Cicero obtained a statue
for him from the senate and the Roman people, which was raised
in the Campus Martius. Besides orations he wrote verses, which
were highly censured for their indelicacy. His works are lost.
_Cicero_, _Brutus_, _Philippics_, &c.――_Pliny_, bk. 5, ltr. 3.――――A
despicable informer in the Augustan age. _Horace_, bk. 2, satire 1,
li. 47.――――Honoratus Maurus, a learned grammarian in the age of
young Theodosius. He wrote Latin commentaries upon Virgil, still
extant.

=Sesara=, a daughter of Celeus king of Eleusis, sister of Triptolemus.
_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 38.

=Sesostris=, a celebrated king of Egypt some ages before the Trojan
war. His father ordered all the children in his dominions who were
born on the same day with him to be publicly educated, and to pass
their youth in the company of his son. This succeeded in the highest
degree, and Sesostris had the pleasure to find himself surrounded by
a number of faithful ministers and active warriors, whose education
and intimacy with their prince rendered them inseparably devoted to
his interest. When Sesostris had succeeded on his father’s throne,
he became ambitious of military fame, and after he had divided his
kingdom into 36 different districts, he marched at the head of a
numerous army to make the conquest of the world. Libya, Æthiopia,
Arabia, with all the islands of the Red sea, were conquered, and
the victorious monarch marched through Asia, and penetrated further
into the east than the conqueror Darius. He also invaded Europe,
and subdued the Thracians; and that the fame of his conquests might
long survive him, he placed columns in the several provinces he had
subdued; and many ages after, this pompous inscription was read in
many parts of Asia: “Sesostris the king of kings has conquered this
territory by his arms.” At his return home the monarch employed his
time in encouraging the fine arts, and in improving the revenues of
his kingdom. He erected 100 temples to the gods for the victories
which he had obtained, and mounds of earth were heaped up in several
parts of Egypt, where cities were built for the reception of the
inhabitants during the inundations of the Nile. Some canals were also
dug near Memphis to facilitate navigation, and the communication of
one province with another. In his old age Sesostris, grown infirm
and blind, destroyed himself, after a reign of 44 years, according
to some. His mildness towards the conquered has been admired, while
some have upbraided him for his cruelty and insolence in causing his
chariot to be drawn by some of the monarchs whom he had conquered.
The age of Sesostris is so remote from every authentic record, that
many have supported that the actions and conquests ascribed to this
monarch are uncertain and totally fabulous. _Herodotus_, bk. 2,
ch. 102, &c.――_Diodorus_, bk. 1.――_Valerius Flaccus_, bk. 5, li. 419.
――_Pliny_, bk. 33, ch. 3.――_Lucan_, bk. 10, li. 276.――_Strabo_,
bk. 16.

=Sessites=, now _Sessia_, a river of Cisalpine Gaul, falling into the
Po. _Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 16.

=Sestias=, a name applied to Hero, as born at Sestos. _Statius_, bk. 6,
_Thebaid_, li. 547.

=Sestius=, a friend of Brutus, with whom he fought at the battle of
Philippi. Augustus resigned the consulship in his favour, though he
still continued to reverence the memory of Brutus.――――A governor of
Syria.

=Sestos=, or =Sestus=, a town of Thrace on the shores of the Hellespont,
exactly opposite Abydos on the Asiatic side. It is celebrated for
the bridge which Xerxes built there across the Hellespont, as also
for being the seat of the amours of Hero and Leander. _Mela_, bk. 2,
ch. 2.――_Strabo_, bk. 13.――_Musæus_, _Hero & Leander_.――_Virgil_,
_Georgics_, bk. 3, li. 258.――_Ovid_, _Heroides_, poem 18, ltr. 2.

=Sesuvii=, a people of Celtic Gaul. _Cæsar_, _Gallic War_.

=Setăbis=, a town of Spain between New Carthage and Saguntum, famous
for the manufacture of linen. There was also a small river of the
same name in the neighbourhood. _Silius Italicus_, bk. 16, li. 474.
――_Strabo_, bk. 2.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 6.――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 3;
bk. 19, ch. 1.

=Sethon=, a priest of Vulcan, who made himself king of Egypt after the
death of Anysis. He was attacked by the Assyrians and delivered from
this powerful enemy by an immense number of rats, which in one night
gnawed their bow-strings and thongs, so that on the morrow their arms
were found to be useless. From this wonderful circumstance Sethon
had a statue which represented him with a rat in his hand, with the
inscription of, “Whoever fixes his eyes upon me, let him be pious.”
_Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 141.

=Setia=, a town of Latium above the Pontine marshes, celebrated for
its wines, which Augustus is said to have preferred to all others.
_Pliny_, bk. 14, ch. 6.――_Juvenal_, satire 5, li. 34; satire 10,
li. 27.――_Martial_, bk. 13, ltr. 112.

=Sevēra Julia Aquilia=, a Roman lady, whom the emperor Heliogabalus
married. She was soon after repudiated, though possessed of all the
charms of the mind and body which could captivate the most virtuous.
――――Valeria, the wife of Valentinian, and the mother of Gratian, was
well known for her avarice and ambition. The emperor, her husband,
repudiated her and afterwards took her again. Her prudent advice at
last ensured her son Gratian on the imperial throne.――――The wife of
Philip the Roman emperor.

=Severiānus=, a governor of Macedonia, father-in-law to the emperor
Philip.――――A general of the Roman armies in the reign of Valentinian,
defeated by the Germans.――――A son of the emperor Severus.

=Sevērus Lucius Septimius=, a Roman emperor born at Leptis in Africa,
of a noble family. He gradually exercised all the offices of
the state, and recommended himself to the notice of the world by
an ambitious mind and a restless activity, that could, for the
gratification of avarice, endure the most complicated hardships.
After the murder of Pertinax, Severus resolved to remove Didius
Julianus, who had bought the imperial purple when exposed to sale
by the licentiousness of the pretorians, and therefore he proclaimed
himself emperor on the borders of Illyricum, where he was stationed
against the barbarians. To support himself in this bold measure, he
took as his partner in the empire Albinus, who was at the head of
the Roman forces in Britain, and immediately marched towards Rome, to
crush ♦Didius and all his partisans. He was received as he advanced
through the country with universal acclamations, and Julianus himself
was soon deserted by his favourites, and assassinated by his own
soldiers. The reception of Severus at Rome was sufficient to gratify
his pride; the streets were strewed with flowers, and the submissive
senate were ever ready to grant whatever honours or titles the
conqueror claimed. In professing that he had assumed the purple only
to revenge the death of the virtuous Pertinax, Severus gained many
adherents, and was enabled not only to disarm, but to banish the
pretorians, whose insolence and avarice were become alarming not
only to the citizens, but to the emperor. But while he was victorious
at Rome, Severus did not forget that there was another competitor
for the imperial purple. Pescennius Niger was in the east at the head
of a powerful army, and with the name and ensigns of Augustus. Many
obstinate battles were fought between the troops and officers of the
imperial rivals, till on the plains of Issus, which had been above
five centuries before covered with the blood of the Persian soldiers
of Darius, Niger was totally ruined by the loss of 20,000 men. The
head of Niger was cut off and sent to the conqueror, who punished
in a most cruel manner all the partisans of his unfortunate rival.
Severus afterwards pillaged Byzantium, which had shut her gates
against him; and after he had conquered several nations in the
east, he returned to Rome, resolved to destroy Albinus, with whom
he had hitherto reluctantly shared the imperial power. He attempted
to assassinate him by his emissaries; but when this had failed of
success, Severus had recourse to arms, and the fate of the empire
was again decided on the plains of Gaul. Albinus was defeated, and
the conqueror was so elated with the recollection that he had now no
longer a competitor for the purple, that he insulted the dead body of
his rival, and ordered it to be thrown into the Rhone, after he had
suffered it to putrefy before the door of his tent, and to be torn to
pieces by his dogs. The family and the adherents of ♠Albinus shared
his fate; and the return of Severus to the capital exhibited the
bloody triumphs of Marius and Sylla. The richest of the citizens
were sacrificed, and their money became the property of the emperor.
The wicked Commodus received divine honours, and his murderers were
punished in the most wanton manner. Tired of the inactive life which
he led in Rome, Severus marched into the east, with his two sons
Caracalla and Geta, and with uncommon success made himself master
of Seleucia, Babylon, and Ctesiphon; and advanced without opposition
far into the Parthian territories. From Parthia the emperor marched
towards the more southern provinces of Asia: after he had visited
the tomb of Pompey the Great, he entered Alexandria; and after he
had granted a senate to that celebrated city, he viewed with the
most criticizing and inquisitive curiosity the several monuments
and ruins which that ancient kingdom contains. The revolt of Britain
recalled him from the east. After he had reduced it under his power,
he built a wall across the northern part of the island, to defend
it against the frequent invasions of the Caledonians. Hitherto
successful against his enemies, Severus now found the peace of his
family disturbed. Caracalla attempted to murder his father as he was
concluding a treaty of peace with the Britons; and the emperor was so
shocked at the undutifulness of his son, that on his return home he
called him into his presence, and after he had upbraided him for his
ingratitude and perfidy, he offered him a drawn sword, adding, “If
you are so ambitious of reigning alone, now imbrue your hands in the
blood of your father, and let not the eyes of the world be witnesses
of your want of filial tenderness.” If these words checked Caracalla,
yet he did not show himself concerned, and Severus, worn out with
infirmities which the gout and the uneasiness of his mind increased,
soon after died, exclaiming he had been everything man could wish,
but that he was then nothing. Some say that he wished to poison
himself, but that when this was denied, he ate to great excess, and
soon after expired at York on the 4th of February, in the 211th year
of the christian era, in the 66th year of his age, after a reign
of 17 years, eight months, and three days. Severus has been so much
admired for his military talents, that some have called him the most
warlike of the Roman emperors. As a monarch he was cruel, and it has
been observed that he never did an act of humanity or forgave a fault.
In his diet he was temperate, and he always showed himself an open
enemy to pomp and splendour. He loved the appellation of a man of
letters, and he even composed a history of his own reign, which
some have praised for its correctness and veracity. However cruel
Severus may appear in his punishments and in his revenge, many have
endeavoured to exculpate him, and observed that there was need of
severity in an empire whose morals were so corrupted, and where no
less than 3000 persons were accused of adultery during the space of
17 years. Of him, as of Augustus, some were found to say, that it
would have been better for the world if he had never been born, or
had never died. _Dio Cassius._――_Herodian._――_Aurelius Victor._, &c.
――――Alexander Marcus Aurelius, a native of Phœnicia, adopted by
Heliogabalus. His father’s name was Genesius Marcianus, and his
mother’s Julia Mammæa, and he received the surname of _Alexander_,
because he was born in a temple sacred to Alexander the Great. He was
carefully educated, and his mother, by paying particular attention to
his morals, and the character of his preceptors, preserved him from
those infirmities and that licentiousness which old age too often
attributes to the depravity of youth. At the death of Heliogabalus,
who had been jealous of his virtues, Alexander, though only in the
14th year of his age, was proclaimed emperor, and his nomination was
approved by the universal shouts of the army, and the congratulations
of the senate. He had not long been on the throne before the peace of
the empire was disturbed by the incursions of the Persians. Alexander
marched into the east without delay, and soon obtained a decisive
victory over the barbarians. At his return to Rome he was honoured
with a triumph, but the revolt of the Germans soon after called him
away from the indolence of the capital. His expedition in Germany was
attended with some success, but the virtues and the amiable qualities
of Alexander were forgotten in the stern and sullen strictness of the
disciplinarian. His soldiers, fond of repose, murmured against his
severity; their clamours were fomented by the artifice of Maximinus,
and Alexander was murdered in his tent, in the midst of his camp,
after a reign of 13 years and nine days, on the 18th of March, A.D.
235. His mother Mammæa shared his fate with all his friends; but
this was no sooner known than the soldiers punished with immediate
death all such as had been concerned in the murder except Maximinus.
Alexander has been admired for his many virtues, and every historian,
except Herodian, is bold to assert, that if he had lived, the Roman
empire might soon have been freed from those tumults and abuses which
continually disturbed her peace, and kept the lives of her emperors
and senators in perpetual alarms. His severity in punishing offences
was great, and such as had robbed the public, were they even the most
intimate friends of the emperor, were indiscriminately sacrificed
to the tranquillity of the state, which they had violated. The great
offices of the state, which had before his reign been exposed to
sale, and occupied by favourites, were now bestowed upon merit, and
Alexander could boast that all his officers were men of trust and
abilities. He was a patron of literature, and he dedicated the hours
of relaxation to the study of the best Greek and Latin historians,
orators, and poets; and in the public schools which his liberality
and the desire of encouraging learning had founded, he often heard
with pleasure and satisfaction the eloquent speeches and declamations
of his subjects. The provinces were well supplied with provisions,
and Rome was embellished with many stately buildings and magnificent
porticoes. _Alexander Polyhistor_, _Lives_.――_Herodian._――_Zosim._
――_Aurelius Victor._――――Flavius Valerius, a native of Illyricum,
nominated Cæsar by Galerius. He was put to death by Maximianus, A.D.
307.――――Julius, a governor of Britain under Adrian.――――A general of
Valens.――――Libius, a man proclaimed emperor of the west, at Ravenna,
after the death of Majorianus. He was soon after poisoned.――――Lucius
Cornelius, a Latin poet in the age of Augustus, for some time
employed in the judicial proceedings of the forum.――――Cassius,
an orator banished into the island of Crete by Augustus, for his
illiberal language. He was banished 17 years, and died in Seriphos.
He is commended as an able orator, yet declaiming with more warmth
than prudence. His writings were destroyed by order of the senate.
_Suetonius_, _Octavian Augustus_.――_Quintilian._――――Sulpitius, an
ecclesiastical historian, who died A.D. 420. The best of his works
is his _Historia Sacra_, from the creation of the world to the
consulship of Stilicho, of which the style is elegant, and superior
to that of the age in which he lived. The best edition is in
2 vols., 4to, Patavii, 1741.――――An officer under the emperor Julian.
――――Aquilius, a native of Spain, who wrote an account of his own life
in the reign of the emperor Valens.――――An officer of Valentinian,
&c.――――A prefect of Rome, &c.――――A celebrated architect employed in
building Nero’s golden palace at Rome after the burning of that city.
――――A mountain of Italy, near the Fabaris. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7,
li. 713.

♦ ‘Didus’ replaced with ‘Didius’

♠ ‘Albinius’ replaced with ‘Albinus’

=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.

♦ No matching reference

=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.

♦ ‘Sida’ replaced with ‘Siga’