Chapter M (32)

=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.

♦ ‘Salinus’ replaced with ‘Silanus’

=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.

♦ ‘Silinus’ replaced with ‘Silius’

♠ ‘5’ replaced with ‘3’

=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.

♦ ‘sons’ replaced with ‘songs’

=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.