Chapter LXXIX: Act 8: Parliament 1. repeated in Act 99. Parliament 7 (5)

1°. There is no taking of Silesia from this man; no clipping
him down to the orthodox old limits; he and his Country have
palpably outgrown these. Austria gives-up the problem: 'We
have lost Silesia!' Yes; and, what you hardly yet know,—and
what, I perceive, Friedrich himself still less knows,—
Teutschland has found Prussia. Prussia, it seems, cannot be
conquered by the whole world trying to do it; Prussia has gone
through its Fire-Baptism, to the satisfaction of gods and men;
and is a Nation henceforth. In and of poor dislocated
Teutschland, there is one of the Great Powers of the World
henceforth; an actual Nation. And a Nation not grounding
itself on extinct Traditions, Wiggeries, Papistries,
Immaculate Conceptions; no, but on living Facts, —Facts of
Arithmetic, Geometry, Gravitation, Martin Luther's
Reformation, and what it really can believe in:—to the
infinite advantage of said Nation and of poor Teutschland
henceforth. …

2°. In regard to England. Her Jenkins's-Ear Controversy is at
last settled. Not only liberty of the Seas, but, if she were
not wiser, dominion of them; guardianship of liberty for all
others whatsoever: Dominion of the Seas for that wise object.
America is to be English, not French; what a result is that,
were there no other! Really a considerable Fact in the History
of the World. Fact principally due to Pitt, as I believe,
according to my best conjecture, and comparison of
probabilities and circumstances. For which, after all, is not
everybody thankful, less or more? O my English brothers, O my
Yankee half-brothers, how oblivious are we of those that have
done us benefit! …

{2899}

3°. In regard to France. It appears, noble old Teutschland,
with such pieties and unconquerable silent valours, such
opulences human and divine, amid its wreck of new and old
confusions, is not to be cut in Four, and made to dance to the
piping of Versailles or another. Far the contrary! To
Versailles itself there has gone forth, Versailles may read it
or not, the writing on the wall: 'Thou art weighed in the
balance, and found wanting' (at last even 'found wanting')!
France, beaten, stript, humiliated; sinful, unrepentant,
governed by mere sinners and, at best, clever fools ('fous
pleins d'esprit'),—collapses, like a creature whose limbs fail
it; sinks into bankrupt quiescence, into nameless
fermentation, generally into dry-rot."

_T. Carlyle,
History of Friedrich II.,
book 20, chapter 13 (volume 9)._

The text of the Treaty of Paris may be found here.

_Parliamentary History,
volume 15, page 1291,_

_Entick's History of the Late War,
volume 5, page 438._

SEVEN YEARS WAR:
The death and misery of the war summed up by Frederick the
Great.

"Prussia enumerated 180,000 men, whom she had been deprived of
by the war. Her armies had fought 16 pitched battles. The
enemy had beside almost totally destroyed three large corps;
that of the convoy of Olmutz, that of Maxen, and that of
Fouquet at Landshut; exclusive of the garrison of Breslau, two
garrisons of Schweidnitz, one of Torgau, and one of
Wittenberg, that were taken with these towns. It was further
estimated that 20,000 souls perished in the kingdom of Prussia
by the ravages of the Russians; 6,000 in Pomerania; 4,000 in
the New March and 3,000 in the electorate of Brandenbourg. The
Russian troops had fought four grand battles, and it was
computed that the war had cost them 120,000 men, including
part of the recruits that perished, in coming from the
frontiers of Persia and China, to join their corps in Germany.
The Austrians had fought ten regular battles. Two garrisons at
Schweidnitz and one at Breslau had been taken; and they
estimated their loss at 140,000 men. The French made their
losses amount to 200,000; the English with their allies to
160,000; the Swedes to 25,000; and the troops of the circles
to 28,000. … From the general picture which we have sketched,
the result is that the governments of Austria, France, and
even England, were overwhelmed with debts, and almost
destitute of credit; but that the people, not having been
sufferers in the war, were only sensible of it from the
prodigious taxes which had been exacted by their sovereigns.
Whereas, in Prussia, the government was possessed of money,
but the provinces were laid waste and desolated, by the
rapacity and barbarity of enemies. The electorate of Saxony
was, next to Prussia, the province of Germany that had
suffered the most; but this country found resources, in the
goodness of its soil and the industry of its inhabitants,
which are wanting to Prussia throughout her provinces, Silesia
excepted. Time, which cures and effaces all ills, will no
doubt soon restore the Prussian states to their former
abundance, prosperity, and splendor. Other powers will in like
manner recover, and other ambitious men will arise, excite new
wars, and incur new disasters. Such are the properties of the
human mind; no man benefits by example."

_Frederick II.,
History of the Seven Years War
(Posthumous Works, volume 3), chapter 17._

----------SEVEN YEARS WAR: End--------

SEVERINUS, Pope, A. D. 640, May to August.

SEVERUS, Alexander, Roman Emperor, A. D. 222-235.

SEVERUS, Libius, Roman Emperor (Western), A. D. 461-465.

SEVERUS, Septimius, Roman Emperor, A. D. 193-211.
Campaigns in Britain.

See BRITAIN: A. D. 208-211.

SEVERUS, Wall of.

See ROMAN WALLS IN BRITAIN.

SEVIER, John, and the early settlement of Tennessee.

See TENNESSEE: A. D. 1769-1772, to 1785-1796.

----------SEVILLE: Start--------

SEVILLE:
Early history of the city.

"Seville was a prosperous port under the Phœnicians; and was
singularly favored by the Scipios. In 45 B. C., Julius Cæsar
entered the city; he enlarged it, strengthened and fortified
it, and thus made it a favorite residence with the patricians
of Rome, several of whom came to live there; no wonder, with
its perfect climate and brilliant skies. It was then called
Hispalis."

_E. E. and S. Hale,
The Story of Spain,
chapter 18._

SEVILLE: A. D. 712.
Surrender to the Arab-Moors.

See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.

SEVILLE: A. D. 1031-1091.
The seat of a Moorish kingdom.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1031-1086.

SEVILLE: A. D. 1248.
Conquest from the Moors by St. Ferdinand of Castile.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1248-1350.

----------SEVILLE: End--------

SEVILLE, Treaty of (1730).

See SPAIN: A. D. 1726-1731.

SEVIN, Battle of (1877).

See TURKS: A. D. 1877-1878.

SEWAN.

See WAMPUM.

SEWARD, William H.
Defeat in the Chicago Convention of 1860.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1860 (APRIL-NOVEMBER).

In President Lincoln's Cabinet.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (MARCH), and after.

The Trent Affair.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A.D.1861 (NOVEMBER).

The Proclamation of Emancipation.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (SEPTEMBER).

Attempted assassination.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (APRIL 14TH).

In President Johnson's Cabinet.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (MAY-JULY).

SFORZA, Francesco, The rise to ducal sovereignty of.

See MILAN: A. D. 1447-1454.

SHABATZ, Battle of (1806).

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: 14-19TH CENTURIES (SERVIA).

SHACAYA, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.

SHAH, OR SCHAH.

See BEY; also CHESS.

SHAH JAHAN,
Moghul Emperor or Padischah of India, A. D. 1628-1658.

SHAH ROKH, Shah of Persia, A. D. 1747-1751.

SHAHAPTIAN FAMILY, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: NEZ PERCÉS.

SHAHPUR.

One of the capitals of the later Persian empire, the ruins of
which exist near Kazerun, in the province of Fars. It was
built by Sapor I., the second of the Sassanian kings, and
received his name.

_G. Rawlinson,
Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy,
chapter 4._

{2900}

SHAKERS, The.

"From the time of the first settlements until the age of the
Revolution, if there were any communistic societies founded,
[in the United States] I have met with no account of them. The
first which has had a long life, was that of the Shakers, or
Shaking Quakers, as they were at first called, on account of
their bodily movements in worship. The members of this sect or
society left England in 1774, and have prospered ever since.
It has now multiplied into settlements—twelve of them in New
York and New England—in regard to which we borrow the
following statistics from Dr. Nordhoff's book on communistic
societies in the United States, published in 1875. Their
property consists of 49,335 acres of land in home farms, with
other real estate. The value of their houses and personal
property is not given. The population of all the communities
consists of 695 male and 1,189 female adults, with 531 young
persons under twenty-one, of whom 192 are males and 339
females, amounting in all to 2,415 in 1874. The maximum of
population was 5,069, a decline to less than half, for which
we are not able to account save on the supposition that there
are permanent causes of decay now at work within the
communities. … The Shakers were at their origin a society of
enthusiasts in humble life, who separated from the Quakers
about the middle of the eighteenth century. Ann Lee, one of
the members, on account of spiritual manifestations believed
to have been made to her, became an oracle in the body, and in
1773 she declared that a revelation from heaven instructed her
to go to America. The next year she crossed the sea, with
eight others, and settled in the woods of Watervliet, near
Albany. She preached, and was believed to have performed
remarkable cures. From her … [was] derived the rule of
celibacy. … She died in 1784, as the acknowledged head of the
church; and had afterward nearly equal honors paid to her with
the Saviour. Under the second successor of Ann Lee almost all
the societies in New York and New England were founded; and
under the third, a woman named Lucy Wright, whose leadership
lasted nearly thirty years, those in Ohio and Kentucky. …
After 1830 the Shakers founded no new society. Dr. Nordhoff
gives the leading doctrines of the Shakers, which are, some of
them, singular enough. They hold that God is a dual person,
male and female; that Adam, created in his image, was dual
also; that the same is true of all angels and spirits; and
that Christ is one of the highest spirits, who appeared first
in the person of Jesus and afterward in that of Ann Lee. There
are four heavens and four hells. Noah went to the first
heaven, and the wicked of his time to the first hell. The
second heaven was called Paradise, and contained the pious
Jews until the appearance of Christ. The third, that into
which the Apostle Paul was caught, included all that lived
until the time of Ann Lee. The fourth is now being filled up,
and 'is to supersede all the others.' They hold that the day
of judgment, or beginning of Christ's kingdom on earth, began
with the establishment of their church, and will go on until
it is brought to its completion. … In regard to marriage and
property they do not take the position that these are crimes;
but only marks of a lower order of society. The world will
have a chance to become pure in a future state as well as
here. They believed in spiritual communication and
possession."

_T. D. Woolsey,
Communism and Socialism,
pages 51-56._

ALSO IN:
_C. Nordhoff,
The Communistic Societies of the United States,
pages 117-232._

SHAKESPEARE, and the English Renaissance.

See ENGLAND: 15-16TH CENTURIES.

SHAMANISM.

See LAMAS.—LAMAISM.

SHARON, Plain of.

That part of the low-land of the Palestine seacoast which
stretched northward from Philistia to the promontory of Mt.
Carmel. It was assigned to the tribe of Dan.

SHARPSBURG, OR ANTIETAM, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (SEPTEMBER: MARYLAND).

SHASTAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SASTEAN FAMILY.

SHASU, The.

An Egyptian name "in which science has for a long time and
with perfect certainty recognized the Bedouins of the highest
antiquity. They inhabited the great desert between Egypt and
the land of Canaan and extended their wanderings sometimes as
far as the river Euphrates."

_H. Brugsch,
History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs,
chapter 11._

See, also, EGYPT: THE HYKSOS.

SHAWMUT.

The Indian name of the peninsula on which Boston,
Massachusetts, was built.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1630.

SHAWNEES, OR SHAWANESE.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SHAWANESE.

SHAYS REBELLION.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1786-1787.

SHEADINGS.

See MANX KINGDOM, THE.

SHEBA.

"The name of Sheba is still to be recognised in the tribe of
Benu-es-Sab, who inhabit a portion of Oman" (Southern Arabia).

_F. Lenormant,
Manual of the Ancient History of the East,
book 7, chapter 1._

See, also,
ARABIA: THE ANCIENT SUCCESSION AND FUSION OF RACES.

SHEEPEATERS (Tukuarika).

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SHOSHONEAN FAMILY.

SHEKEL, The.

"Queipo is of opinion that the talent, the larger unit of
Egyptian weight for monetary purposes, and for weighing the
precious metals, was equal to the weight of water contained in
the cube of 2/3 of the royal or sacred cubit, and thus
equivalent to 42.48 kilos, or 113.814 lbs. troy. He considers
this to have been the weight of the Mosaic talent taken by the
Hebrews out of Egypt. It was divided into fifty minas, each
equal to 849.6 grammes, or 13,111 English grains; and the mina
into fifty shekels, each equal to 14.16 grammes, or 218.5
English grains. … There appears to be satisfactory evidence
from existing specimens of the earliest Jewish coins that the
normal weight of the later Jewish shekel of silver was 218.5
troy grains, or 14.16 grammes."

_H. W. Chisholm,
On the Science of Weighing and Measuring,
chapter 2._

SHELBURNE MINISTRY, and the negotiation of peace between England and the United States.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1782-1783;
AND UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1782 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER).

SHENANDOAH, The Confederate Cruiser.

See ALABAMA CLAIMS: A. D. 1862-1865.

----------SHENANDOAH VALLEY: Start--------

SHENANDOAH VALLEY: A. D. 1716.
Possession taken by the Virginians.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1710-1710.

{2901}

SHENANDOAH VALLEY: A. D. 1744.
Purchase from the Six Nations.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1744.

SHENANDOAH VALLEY: A. D. 1861-1864.
Campaigns in the Civil War.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861-1862 (DECEMBER-APRIL,: VIRGINIA);
1862 (MAY-JUNE: VIRGINIA), (SEPTEMBER: MARYLAND),
(OCTOBER-NOVEMBER: VIRGINIA);
A. D. 1864 (MAY-JUNE: VIRGINIA),
(JULY: VIRGINIA-MARYLAND), and (AUGUST-OCTOBER:VIRGINIA).

----------SHENANDOAH VALLEY: End--------

SHENIR, Battle of.

A crushing defeat of the army of king Hazael of Damascus by
Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, B. C. 841.

SHEPHELAH, The.

The name given by the Jews to the tract of low-lying coast
which the Philistines occupied.

SHEPHERD KINGS.

See EGYPT: THE HYKSOS.

SHERIDAN, General Philip H.:
In the Battle of Stone River.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862-1863 (DECEMBER-JANUARY: TENNESSEE).

At Chickamauga, and in the Chattanooga Campaign.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER: TENNESSEE)
ROSECRANS' ADVANCE, and (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER: TENNESSEE).

Raid to Richmond.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (MAY: VIRGINIA).

Raid to Trevillian Station.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (MAY-JUNE: VIRGINIA).

Campaign in the Shenandoah.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (AUGUST-OCTOBER: VIRGINIA).

Battle of Five Forks.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1865 (MARCH-APRIL: VIRGINIA).

SHERIFF. SCIRGEREFA.

"The Scirgerefa is, as his name denotes, the person who stands
at the head of the shire, 'pagus' or county: he is also called
Scirman or Scirigman. He is properly speaking the holder of
the county court, scirgemot, or folcmot, and probably at first
was its elected chief. But as this gerefa was at first the
people's officer, he seems to have shared the fate of the
people, and to have sunk in the scale as the royal authority
gradually rose: during the whole of our historical period we
find him exercising only a concurrent jurisdiction, shared in
and controlled by the ealdorman on the one hand and the bishop
on the other. … The sheriff was naturally the leader of the
militia, posse comitatus, or levy of the free men, who served
under his banner, as the different lords with their dependents
served under the royal officers. … In the earliest periods,
the office was doubtless elective, and possibly even to the
last the people may have enjoyed theoretically, at least, a
sort of concurrent choice. But I cannot hesitate for a moment
in asserting that under the consolidated monarchy, the
scirgerefa was nominated by the king, with or without the
acceptance of the county-court, though this in all probability
was never refused."

_J. M. Kemble,
The Saxons in England,
book 2, chapter 5 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_R. Gneist,
History of the English Constitution,
chapter 4._

See, also,
SHIRE; and EALDORMAN.

SHERIFFMUIR, Battle of.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1715.

SHERMAN, General W. T.:
At the first Battle of Bull Run.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (JULY: VIRGINIA).

Removal from command in Kentucky.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY: KENTUCKY-TENNESSEE).

Battle of Shiloh.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (FEBRUARY-APRIL: TENNESSEE).

The second attempt against Vicksburg.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (DECEMBER: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).

The final Vicksburg campaign.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (APRIL-JULY: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).

The capture of Jackson.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (JULY: MISSISSIPPI).

The Chattanooga Campaign.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER).

Meridian expedition.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863-1864 (DECEMBER-APRIL; TENNESSEE-MISSISSIPPI).

Atlanta campaign.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864
(MAY: GEORGIA), and (MAY-SEPTEMBER: GEORGIA).

March to the Sea.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER; GEORGIA),
and (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER: GEORGIA).

The last campaign.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D.1865 (FEBRUARY-MARCH: THE CAROLINAS),
and (APRIL 26TH).

SHERMAN SILVER ACT, and its repeal.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1890-1893.

SHERSTONE, Battle of.

The second battle fought between Cnut, or Canute, and Edmund
Ironsides for the English crown. It was in Wiltshire, A. D.
1016.

SHERWOOD FOREST.

"The name of Sherwood or Shirewood is, there can be no
reasonable doubt," says Mr. Llewellyn Jewett, "derived from
the open-air assemblies, or folk-moots, or witenagemotes of
the shire being there held in primitive times." The Forest
once covered the whole county of Nottingham and extended into
both Yorkshire and Derbyshire, twenty-five miles one way by
eight or ten the other. It was a royal forest and favorite
hunting resort of both Saxon and Norman kings; but is best
known as the scene of the exploits of the bold outlaw Robin
Hood. Few vestiges of the great forest now remain.

_J. C. Brown,
The Forests of England._

SHESHATAPOOSH INDIANS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

SHETLAND, OR ZETLAND, ISLES:
8-13th Centuries.
The Northmen in possession.

See NORMANS.
NORTHMEN: 8-9TH CENTURIES, and 10-13TH CENTURIES.

SHEYENNES, OR CHEYENNES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

SHI WEI, The.

See MONGOLS: ORIGIN, &c.

SHIAHS, OR SHIAS, The.

See ISLAM;
also PERSIA: A. D. 1499-1887.

SHIITES, Sultan Selim's massacre of the.

See TURKS: A. D. 1481-1520.

SHILOH, OR PITTSBURG LANDING, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (FEBRUARY-APRIL: TENNESSEE).

SHINAR.

See BABYLONIA: PRIMITIVE.

SHIP OF THE LINE.

In the time of wooden navies, "a ship carrying not less than
74 guns upon three decks, and of sufficient size to be placed
in line of battle," was called a "ship of the line," or a
"line-of-battle ship."

SHIP-MONEY.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1634-1637.

SHIPKA PASS, Struggle for the.

See TURKS: A. D. 1877-1878.

SHIPWRECK, Law of.

See LAW: ADMIRALTY.

{2902}

SHIRE. SHIREMOOT.

"The name scir or shire, which marks the division immediately
superior to the hundred, merely means a subdivision or share
of a larger whole, and was early used in connexion with an
official name to designate the territorial sphere appointed to
the particular magistracy denoted by that name. So the diocese
was the bishop's scire. … The historical shires or counties
owe their origin to different causes. … The sheriff or
scir-gerefa, the scir-man of the laws of Ini, was the king's
steward and judicial president of the shire. … The sheriff
held the shiremoot, according to Edgar's law, twice in the
year. Although the ealdorman and bishop sat in it to declare
the law secular and spiritual, the sheriff was the
constituting officer."

_W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 5, sections 48-50 (volume 1)._

See, also, KNIGHTS OF THE SHIRE;
EALDORMAN; and GAU.

SHOE-STRING DISTRICT, The.

See GERRYMANDERING.

SHOGUN.

See JAPAN: SKETCH OF HISTORY.

SHOSHONES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SHOSHONEAN FAMILY.

SHREWSBURY, Battle of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1403.

SHREWSBURY SCHOOL.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.—ENGLAND.

SHULUH, The.

See LIBYANS.

SHUMIR, OR SUMIR.

See BABYLONIA: THE EARLY (CHALDEAN) MONARCHY.

SHUPANES. GRAND SHUPANES.

The princes, ultimately kings, of the early Servian people.

_L. Ranke,
History of Servia,
chapter 1._

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES, 9TH CENTURY (SERVIA).

SHUSHAN.

See SUSA.

SIAM.

"The people known to Europeans as the 'Siamese,' but who call
themselves 'Thai,' that is 'Free Men,' have exercised the
greatest civilising influence on the aboriginal populations of
the interior. Within the historic period Siam has also
generally held the most extensive domain beyond the natural
limits of the Menam basin. Even still, although hemmed in on
one side by the British possessions, on the other by the
French protectorate of Camboja, Siam comprises beyond the
Menam Valley a considerable part of the Malay Peninsula, and
draws tribute from numerous people in the Mekong and Salwen
basins. But this State, with an area about half as large again
as that of France, has a population probably less than
6,000,000. … The inhabitants of Siam, whether Shans, Laos, or
Siamese proper, belong all alike to the same Thai stock, which
is also represented by numerous tribes in Assam, Manipur, and
China. The Shans are very numerous in the region of the Upper
Irrawaddi and its Chinese affluents, in the Salwen Valley and
in the portion of the Sittang basin included in British
territory. … The Lovas, better known by the name of Laos or
Laotians, are related to the Shans, and occupy the north of
Siam. … They form several 'kingdoms,' all vassals of the King
of Siam. … The Siamese, properly so called, are centred
chiefly in the Lower Menam basin and along the seaboard.
Although the most civilised they are not the purest of the
Thai race. … Siam or Sayam is said by some natives to mean
'Three,' because the country was formerly peopled by three
races now fused in one nation. Others derive it from saya,
'independent,' sama, 'brown,' or samo, 'dark'. … The Siamese
are well named 'Indo-Chinese,' their manners, customs, civil
and religious institutions, all partaking of this twofold
character. Their feasts are of Brahmanical origin, while their
laws and administration are obviously borrowed from the
Chinese. … About one-fourth of the inhabitants of Siam had
from various causes fallen into a state of bondage about the
middle of the present century. But since the abolition of
slavery in 1872, the population has increased, especially by
Chinese immigration. … The 'Master of the World,' or 'Master
of Life,' as the King of Siam is generally called, enjoys
absolute power over the lives and property of his subjects. …
A second king, always nearly related to the first, enjoys the
title and a few attributes of royalty. But he exercises no
power. … British having succeeded to Chinese influence, most
of the naval and military as well as of the custom-house
officers are Englishmen."

_É. Reclus,
The Earth and its Inhabitants: Asia,
volume 3, chapter 21._

The former capital of Siam was Ayuthia, a city founded A. D.
1351, and now in ruins. "Anterior to the establishment of
Ayuthia … the annals of Siam are made up of traditional
legends and fables, such as most nations are fond of
substituting in the place of veracious history. … There are
accounts of intermarriages with Chinese princesses, of
embassies and wars with neighbouring States, all interblended
with wonders and miraculous interpositions of Indra and other
divinities; but from the time when the city of Ayuthia was
founded by Phaja-Uthong, who took the title of
Phra-Rama-Thibodi, the succession of sovereigns and the course
of events are recorded with tolerable accuracy."

_Sir J. Bowring,
Kingdom and People of Siam,
volume 1, chapter 2._

"For centuries the Siamese government paid tribute to China;
but since 1852 this tribute has been refused. In 1855 the
first commercial treaty with a European power (Great Britain)
was concluded."

_G. G. Chisholm,
The Two Hemispheres,
page 523._

ALSO IN:
_A. R. Colquhoun,
Amongst the Shans,
introduction by T. de La Couperie,
and sup. by H. S. Hallett._

SIBERIA: The Russian conquest.

Siberia was scarcely known to the Russians before the middle
of the 16th century. The first conquest of a great part of the
country was achieved in the latter part of that century by a
Cossack adventurer named Yermac Timoseef, who began his attack
upon the Tartars in 1578. Unable to hold what he had won,
Yermac offered the sovereignty of his conquests to the Czar of
Muscovy, who took it gladly and sent reinforcements. The
conquests of Yermac were lost for a time after his death, but
soon recovered by fresh bodies of Muscovite troops sent into
the country. "This success was the forerunner of still greater
acquisitions. The Russians rapidly extended their conquests;
wherever they appeared, the Tartars were either reduced or
exterminated; new towns were built and colonies planted.
Before a century had elapsed, that vast tract of country now
called Siberia, which stretches from the confines of Europe to
the Eastern Ocean, and from the Frozen Sea to the frontiers of
China, was annexed to the Russian dominions."

_W. Coxe,
Russian Discoveries between Asia and America,
part 2, chapter 1._

{2903}

SIBUZATES, The.

See AQUITAINE: THE ANCIENT TRIBES.

SIBYLS. SIBYLLINE BOOKS.

"Tarquinius [Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the kings of
"Rome] built a mighty temple, and consecrated it to Jupiter,
and to Juno, and to Minerva, the greatest of the gods of the
Etruscans. At this time there came a strange woman to the king
and offered him nine books of the prophecies of the Sibyl for
a certain price. "When the king refused them, the woman went
and burnt three of the books, and came back and offered the
six at the same price which she had asked for the nine; but
they mocked at her and would not take the books. Then she went
away and burnt three more, and came back and asked still the
same price for the remaining three. At this the king was
astonished, and asked of the augurs what he should do. They
said that he had done wrong in refusing the gift of the gods,
and bade him by all means to buy the books that were left. So
he bought them; and the woman who sold them was seen no more
from that day forwards. Then the books were put into a chest
of stone, and were kept under ground in the Capitol, and two
men were appointed to keep them, and were called the two men
of the sacred books."

_T. Arnold,
History of Rome,
chapter 4._

"Collections of prophecies similar to the Sibylline books are
met with not only among the Greeks, but also among the
Italians —Etruscans as well as those of Sabellian race. The
Romans had the prophecies of the Marcii ('Carmina Marciana,'
Hartung, 'Religion der Römer,' i. 139); prophetic lines
('sortes') of the nymph Albunea had come down to Rome from
Tibur in a miraculous manner (Marquardt, 'Röm. Alterth., iv.
299). There existed likewise Etruscan 'libri fatales' (Livy,
v. 45; Cicero, 'De Divin., i. 44, 100), and prophecies of the
Etruscan nymph Begoe (quæ artem scripserat fulguritorum apud
Tuscos. Lactant, 'Instit.,' i. 6, 12). Such books as these
were kept in the Capitol, together with the Sibylline books,
in the care of the Quindecemveri sacris faciundis. They are
all called without distinction 'libri fatales' and 'Sibylline'
books, and there seems to have been little difference between
them."

_W. Ihne,
History of Rome,
book 1, chapter 8, foot-note (volume 1)._

"Every schoolboy is familiar with the picturesque Roman legend
of the Sibyl. It is variously told in connection with the
elder and the later Tarquin, the two Etruscan kings of Rome;
and the scene of it is laid by some in Cumæ, where Tarquinius
Superbus spent the last years of his life in exile—and by
others in Rome. … The original books of the Cumæan Sibyl were
written in Greek, which was the language of the whole of the
south of Italy at that time. The oracles were inscribed upon
palm leaves; to which circumstance Virgil alludes in his
description of the sayings of the Cumæan Sibyl being written
upon the leaves of the forest. They were in the form of
acrostic verses. … It is supposed that they contained not so
much predictions of future events, as directions regarding the
means by which the wrath of the gods, as revealed by prodigies
and calamities, might be appeased. They seem to have been
consulted in the same way as Eastern nations consult the Koran
and Hafiz. … The Cumæan Sibyl was not the only prophetess of
the kind. There were no less than ten females, endowed with
the gift of prevision, and held in high repute, to whom the
name of Sibyl was given. We read of the Persian Sibyl, the
Libyan, the Delphic, the Erythræan, the Hellespontine, the
Phrygian, and the Tiburtine. With the name of the
last-mentioned Sibyl tourists make acquaintance at Tivoli. …
Clement of Alexandria does not scruple to call the Cumæan
Sibyl a true prophetess, and her oracles saving canticles. And
St. Augustine includes her among the number of those who
belong to the 'City of God.' And this idea of the Sibyls'
sacredness continued to a late age in the Christian Church.
She had a place in the prophetic order beside the patriarchs
and prophets of old."

_H. Macmillan,
Roman Mosaics,
chapter 3._

"Either under the seventh or the eighth Ptolemy there appeared
at Alexandria the oldest of the Sibylline oracles, bearing the
name of the Erythræan Sibyl, which, containing the history of
the past and the dim forebodings of the future, imposed alike
on the Greek, Jewish, and Christian world, and added almost
another book to the Canon. When Thomas of Celano composed the
most famous hymn of the Latin Church he did not scruple to
place the Sibyl on a level with David; and when Michel Angelo
adorned the roof of the Sixtine Chapel, the figures of the
weird sisters of Pagan antiquity are as prominent as the seers
of Israel and Judah. Their union was the result of the bold
stroke of an Alexandrian Jew."

_A. P. Stanley,
Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church,
lecture 47 (volume 3)._

ALSO IN:
_Dionysius, History,
book 4, section 62._

See, also, CUMÆ.

SICAMBRI, SIGAMBRI, SUGAMBRI.

See USIPETES;
also, FRANKS: ORIGIN, and A. D. 253.

SICARII, The.

See JEWS: A. D. 66-70.

SICELIOTES AND ITALIOTES.

The inhabitants of the ancient Greek colonies in southern
Italy (Magna Graecia) and Sicily were known as Siceliotes and
Italiotes, to distinguish them from the native Siceli and
Itali.

_H. G. Liddell,
History of Rome,
book 3, chapter 25 (volume 1)._

SICELS. SICANIANS.

See SICILY: THE EARLY INHABITANTS.

SICILIAN VESPERS, The.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1282-1300.

SICILIES, The Two.

See Two SICILIES.

----------SICILY: Start--------

SICILY:
The early inhabitants.

The date of the first known Greek settlement in Sicily is
fixed at B. C. 735. It was a colony led from the Eubœan city
of Chalcis and from the island of Naxos, which latter gave
its name to the town which the emigrants founded on the
eastern coast of their new island home. "Sicily was at this
time inhabited by at least four distinct races: by Sicanians,
whom Thucydides considers as a tribe of the Iberians, who,
sprung perhaps from Africa, had overspread Spain and the
adjacent coasts, and even remote islands of the
Mediterranean; by Sicels, an Italian people, probably not
more foreign to the Greeks than the Pelasgians, who had been
driven out of Italy by the progress of the Oscan or Ausonian
race, and in their turn had pressed the Sicanians back toward
the southern and western parts of the island, and themselves
occupied so large a portion of it as to give their name to
the whole. Of the other races, the Phœnicians were in
possession of several points on the coast, and of some
neighbouring islets, from which they carried on their
commerce with the natives.
{2904}
The fourth people, which inhabited the towns of Eryx and
Egesta, or Segesta, at the western end of the island, and bore
the name of Elymians, was probably composed of different
tribes, varying in their degrees of affinity to the Greeks. …
The Sicels and the Phœnicians gradually retreated before the
Greeks. … But the Sicels maintained themselves in the inland
and on the north coast, and the Phœnicians, or Carthaginians,
who succeeded them, established themselves in the west, where
they possessed the towns of Motya, Solus, and Panormus,
destined, under the name of Palermo, to become the capital of
Sicily."

_C. Thirlwall,
History of Greece,
chapter 12._

ALSO IN:
_G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapter 22._

_E. A. Freeman,
History of Sicily,
chapter 2._

See, also, ŒNOTRIANS.

SICILY:
Phœnician and Greek colonies.

"Sicilian history begins when the great colonizing nations of
antiquity, the Phœnicians and the Greeks, began to settle in
Sicily. … It was a chief seat for the planting of colonies,
first from Phœnicia and then from Greece. It is the presence
of these Phœnician and Greek colonies which made the history
of Sicily what it was. These settlements were of course made
more or less at the expense of the oldest inhabitants of the
island, those who were there before the Phœnicians and Greeks
came to settle. … Phœnician and Greek settlers could occupy
the coasts, but only the coasts; it was only at the corners
that they could at all spread from sea to sea. A great inland
region was necessarily left to the older inhabitants. But
there was no room in Sicily, as there was in Asia, for the
growth of great barbarian powers dangerous to the settlers.
Neither Phœnician nor Greek was ever able to occupy or conquer
the whole island; but neither people stood in any fear of
being conquered or driven out, unless by one another. But
instead of conquest came influence. Both Phœnicians and Greeks
largely influenced the native inhabitants. In the end, without
any general conquest, the whole island became practically
Greek. … Carthage at a later time plays so great a part in
Sicilian history that we are tempted to bring it in before its
time, and to fancy that the Phœnician colonies in Sicily were,
as they are sometimes carelessly called, Carthaginian
colonies. This is not so; the Phœnician cities in Sicily did
in after times become Carthaginian dependencies: but they were
not founded by Carthage. We cannot fix an exact date for their
foundation, nor can we tell for certain how far they were
settled straight from the old Phœnicia and how far from the
older Phœnician cities in Africa. But we may be sure that
their foundation happened between the migration of the Sikels
in the 11th century B. C. and the beginning of Greek
settlement in the 8th. And we may suspect that the Phœnician
settlements in the east of Sicily were planted straight from
Tyre and Sidon, and those in the west from the cities in
Africa. We know that all round Sicily the Phœnicians occupied
small islands and points of coast which were fitted for their
trade, but we may doubt whether they anywhere in Eastern
Sicily planted real colonies, cities with a territory attached
to them. In the west they seem to have done so. For, when the
Greeks began to advance in Sicily, the Phœnicians withdrew to
their strong posts in the western part of the island, Motya,
Solous, and Panormos. There they kept a firm hold till the
time of Roman dominion. The Greeks could never permanently
dislodge them from their possessions in this part. Held,
partly by Phœnicians, partly by Sikans and Elymians who had
been brought under Phœnician influence, the northwestern
corner of Sicily remained a barbarian corner. … The greatest
of all Phœnician settlements in Sicily lay within the bay of
which the hill of Solous is one horn, but much nearer to the
other horn, the hill of Herkte, now Pellegrino. Here the
mountains fence in a wonderfully fruitful plain, known in
after times as the Golden Shell (conca d'oro). In the middle
of it there was a small inlet of the sea, parted into two
branches, with a tongue of land between them, guarded by a
small peninsula at the mouth. There could be no better site
for Phœnician traders. Here then rose a Phœnician city, which,
though on the north coast of Sicily, looks straight towards
the rising sun. It is strange that we do not know its
Phœnician name; in Greek it was called Panormos, the
All-haven, a name borne also by other places. This is the
modern Palermo, which, under both Phœnicians and Saracens, was
the Semitic head of Sicily, and which remained the capital of
the island under the Norman kings. … Thus in Sicily the East
became West and the West East. The men of Asia withdrew before
the men of Europe to the west of the island, and thence warred
against the men of Europe to the east of them. In the great
central island of Europe they held their own barbarian corner.
It was the land of Phœnicians, Sikans, and Elymians, as
opposed to the eastern land of the Greeks and their Sikel
subjects and pupils. … For a long time Greek settlement was
directed to the East rather than to the West. And it was said
that, when settlement in Italy and Sicily did begin, the
earliest Greek colony, like the earliest Phœnician colony, was
the most distant. It was believed that Kyme, the Latin Cumæ in
Campania, was founded in the 11th century B. C. The other
plantations in Italy and Sicily did not begin till the 8th.
Kyme always stood by itself, as the head of a group of Greek
towns in its own neighbourhood and apart from those more to
the south, and it may very well be that some accident caused
it to be settled sooner than the points nearer to Greece. But
it is not likely to have been settled 300 years earlier. Most
likely it was planted just long enough before the nearer sites
to suggest their planting. Anyhow, in the latter half of the
8th century B. C. Greek settlement to the West, in Illyria,
Sicily, and Italy, began in good earnest. It was said that the
first settlement in Sicily came of an accident. Chalkis in
Euboia was then one of the chief sea-faring towns of Greece.
Theokles, a man of Chalkis, was driven by storm to the coast
of Sicily. He came back, saying that it was a good land and
that the people would be easy to conquer. So in 735 B. C. he
was sent forth to plant the first Greek colony in Sicily. The
settlers were partly from Chalkis, partly from the island of
Naxos. So it was agreed that the new town should be called
Naxos, but that Chalkis should count as its metropolis. So the
new Naxos arose on the eastern coast of Sicily, on a peninsula
made by the lava. It looked up at the great hill of Tauros, on
which Taormina now stands. The Greek settlers drove out the
Sikels and took so much land as they wanted. They built and
fortified a town, and part of their walls may still be seen. …
Naxos, as the beginning of Greek settlement in Sicily, answers
to Ebbsfleet, the beginning of English settlement in Britain."

_E. A. Freeman,
The Story of Sicily,
chapters 1-4._

ALSO IN:
_E. A. Freeman,
History of Sicily,
chapters 3-4 (volume 1)._

{2905}

SICILY: B. C. 480.
Carthaginian invasion.
Battle of Himera.

During the same year in which Xerxes invaded Greece (B. C.
480), the Greeks in Sicily were equally menaced by an
appalling invasion from Carthage. The Carthaginians, invited
by the tyrant of Himera, who had been expelled from that city
by a neighbor tyrant, sent 300,000 men it is said, to
reinstate him, and to strengthen for themselves the slender
footing they already had in one corner of the island. Gelo,
the powerful tyrant of Syracuse, came promptly to the aid of
the Himerians, and defeated the Carthaginians with terrible
slaughter. Hamilcar the commander was among the slain. Those
who escaped the sword were nearly all taken prisoners and made
slaves. The fleet which brought them over was destroyed, and
scarcely a ship returned to Carthage to bear the deplorable
tidings.

_C. Thirlwall,
History of Greece,
chapter 15._

ALSO IN:
_G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapter 43._

SICILY: B. C. 415-413.
Siege of Syracuse by the Athenians.
Its disastrous failure.

See SYRACUSE: B. C. 415-413.

SICILY: B. C. 409-405.
Carthaginian invasion.

The quarrels of the city of Egesta, in Sicily, with its
neighbors, brought about the fatal expedition from Athens
against Syracuse, B. C. 415. Six years later, in the same
protracted quarrel, Egesta appealed to Carthage for help,
against the city of Selinus, and thus invited the first of the
Hannibals to revenge terribly the defeat and death of his
grandfather Hamilcar, at Himera, seventy years before.
Hannibal landed an army of more than one hundred thousand
savage mercenaries in Sicily, in the spring of 409 B. C. and
laid siege to Selinus with such vigor that the city was
carried by storm at the end of ten days and most of its
inhabitants slain. The temples and walls of the town were
destroyed and it was left a deserted ruin. "The ruins, yet
remaining, of the ancient temples of Selinus, are vast and
imposing; characteristic as specimens of Doric art during the
fifth and sixth centuries B. C. From the great magnitude of
the fallen columns, it has been supposed that they were
overthrown by an earthquake. But the ruins afford distinct
evidence that these columns have been first undermined, and
then overthrown by crowbars. This impressive fact,
demonstrating the agency of the Carthaginian destroyers, is
stated by Niebuhr." From Selinus, Hannibal passed on to Himera
and, having taken that city in like manner, destroyed it
utterly. The women and children were distributed as slaves;
the male captives were slain in a body on the spot where
Hamilcar fell—a sacrifice to his shade. A new town called
Therma was subsequently founded by the Carthaginians on the
site of Himera. Having satisfied himself with revenge,
Hannibal disbanded his army, glutted with spoil, and returned
home. But three years later he invaded Sicily again, with an
armament even greater than before, and the great city of
Agrigentum was the first to fall before his arms. "Its
population was very great; comprising, according to one
account, 20,000 citizens, among an aggregate total of 200,000
males—citizens, metics, and slaves; according to another
account, an aggregate total of no less than 800,000 persons;
numbers unauthenticated, and not to be trusted further than as
indicating a very populous city. … Its temples and porticos,
especially the spacious temple of Zeus Olympus—its statues and
pictures—its abundance of chariots and horses—its
fortifications—its sewers—its artificial lake of near a mile
in circumference, abundantly stocked with fish—all these
placed it on a par with the most splendid cities of the
Hellenic world." After a siege of some duration Agrigentum was
evacuated and most of its inhabitants escaped. The
Carthaginians stripped it of every monument of art, sending
much away to Carthage and destroying more. Hannibal had died
of a pestilence during the siege and his colleague Imilkon
succeeded him in command. Having quartered his army at
Agrigentum during the winter, he attacked the cities of Gela
and Kamarina in the spring, and both were believed to have
been betrayed to him by the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius, who
had then just established himself in power. A treaty of peace
was presently concluded between Dionysius and Imilkon, which
gave up all the south of Sicily, as well as Selinus, Himera,
and Agrigentum, to the Carthaginians, and made Gela and
Kamarina tributary to them. The Carthaginian army had been
half destroyed by pestilence and the disease, carried home by
its survivors, desolated Carthage and the surrounding country.

_G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapters 81-82, with foot-note._

ALSO IN:
_E. A. Freeman,
History of Sicily,
chapter 9 (volume 3)._

SICILY: B. C. 397-396.
Dionysius, the Tyrant of Syracuse,
and his war with the Carthaginians.

See SYRACUSE: B. C. 397-396.

SICILY: B. C. 394-384.
Conquests and dominion of Dionysius.

See SYRACUSE: B. C. 394-384.

SICILY: B. C. 383.
War with Carthage.

Dionysius, the Syracusan despot, was the aggressor in a fresh
war with Carthage which broke out in 383 B. C. The theatre of
war extended from Sicily to southern Italy, where Dionysius
had made considerable conquests, but only two battles of
serious magnitude were fought—both in Sicily. Dionysius was
the victor in the first of these, which was a desperate and
sanguinary struggle, at a place called Kabala. The
Carthaginian commander, Magon, was slain, with 10,000 of his
troops, while 5,000 were made captive. The survivors begged
for peace and Dionysius dictated, as a first condition, the
entire withdrawal of their forces from Sicily. While
negotiations were in progress, Magon's young son, succeeding
to his father's command, so reorganized and reinspirited his
army as to be able to attack the Syracusans and defeat them
with more terrific slaughter than his own side had experienced
a few days before. This battle, fought at Kronium, reversed
the situation, and forced Dionysius to purchase a humiliating
peace at heavy cost.

_G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapter 83._

SICILY: B. C. 344.
Fall of the Tyranny of Dionysius at Syracuse.

See SYRACUSE: B. C. 344.

SICILY: B. C. 317-289.
Syracuse under Agathokles.

See SYRACUSE: B. C. 317-289.

SICILY: B. C. 278-276.
Expedition of Pyrrhus.

See ROME: B. C. 282-275.

{2906}

SICILY: B. C. 264-241.
The Mamertines in Messene.
First war of Rome and Carthage.-
Evacuation of the island by the Carthaginians.
The Romans in possession.

See PUNIC WAR: THE FIRST.

SICILY: B. C. 216-212.
Alliance with Hannibal and revolt against Rome.
The Roman siege of Syracuse.

See PUNIC WAR: THE SECOND.

SICILY: B. C. 133-103.
Slave wars.

See SLAVE WARS IN SICILY.

SICILY: A. D. 429-525.
Under the Vandals, and the Goths.

"Sicily, which had been for a generation subjected, first to
the devastations and then to the rule of the Vandal king [in
Africa], was now by a formal treaty, which must have been
nearly the last public act of Gaiseric [or Genseric, who died
A. D. 477] ceded to Odovacar [or Odoacer, who extinguished the
Western Roman Empire and was the first barbarian king of
Italy], all but a small part, probably at the western end of
the island, which the Vandal reserved to himself. A yearly
tribute was to be the price of this concession; but, in the
decay of the kingdom under Gaiseric's successors, it is
possible that this tribute was not rigorously enforced, as it
is also almost certain that the reserved portion of the
island, following the example of the remainder, owned the sway
of Odovacar."

_T. Hodgkin,
Italy and Her Invaders,
book 4, chapter 4._

Under Theodoric the Ostrogoth, who overthrew Odoacer and
reigned in Italy from 493 until 525, Sicily was free both from
invasion and from tribute and shared with Italy the benefits
and the trials of the Gothic supremacy.

_T. Hodgkin,
Italy and Her Invaders,
book 4, chapter 9._

SICILY: A. D. 535.
Recovered by Belisarius for the Emperor Justinian.

See ROME: A. D. 535-553.

SICILY: A. D. 550.
Gothic invasion.

See ROME: A. D. 535-553.

SICILY: A. D. 827-878.
Conquest by the Saracens.

The conquest of Sicily from the Byzantine empire, by the
Saracens, was instigated in the first instance and aided by an
influential Syracusan named Euphemios, whom the Emperor
Michael had undertaken to punish for abduction of a nun.
Euphemios invited the African Saracens to the island, and
Ziadet Allah, the Aglabite sovereign who had established
himself in power at Cairowan or Kairwan, felt strong enough to
improve the opportunity. In June 827 the admiral of the
Moslems formed a junction with the ships which Euphemios had
set afloat, and the Saracens landed at Mazara. The Byzantines
were defeated in a battle near Platana and the Saracens
occupied Girgenti. Having gained this foothold they waited
some time for reinforcements, which came, at last, in a naval
armament from Spain and troops from Africa. "The war was then
carried on with activity: Messina was taken in 831; Palermo
capitulated in the following year; and Enna was besieged, for
the first time, in 836. The war continued with various
success, as the invaders received assistance from Africa, and
the Christians from Constantinople. The Byzantine forces
recovered possession of Messina, which was not permanently
occupied by the Saracens until 843. … At length, in the year
859, Enna was taken by the Saracens. Syracuse, in order to
preserve its commerce from ruin, had purchased peace by paying
a tribute of 50,000 byzants; and it was not until the reign of
Basil I, in the year 878, that it was compelled to surrender,
and the conquest of Sicily was completed by the Arabs. Some
districts, however, continued, either by treaty or by force of
arms, to preserve their municipal independence, and the
exclusive exercise of the Christian religion, within their
territory, to a later period."

_G. Finlay,
History of the Byzantine Empire, from 716 to 1057,
book 1, chapter 3, section 1._

"Syracuse preserved about fifty years [after the landing of
the Saracens in Sicily] the faith which she had sworn to
Christ and to Cæsar. In the last and fatal siege her citizens
displayed some remnant of the spirit which had formerly
resisted the powers of Athens and Carthage. They stood above
twenty days against the battering-rams and catapultæ, the
mines and tortoises of the besiegers; and the place might have
been relieved, if the mariners of the imperial fleet had not
been detained at Constantinople in building a church to the
Virgin Mary. … In Sicily the religion and language of the
Greeks were eradicated; and such was the docility of the
rising generation that 15,000 boys were circumcised and
clothed on the same day with the son of the Fatimite caliph.
The Arabian squadrons issued from the harbours of Palermo,
Biserta, and Tunis; a hundred and fifty towns of Calabria and
Campania were attacked and pillaged; nor could the suburbs of
Rome be defended by the name of the Cæsars and apostles. Had
the Mahometans been united, Italy must have fallen an easy and
glorious accession to the empire of the prophet."

_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 52._

A hundred and fifty years after the fall of Syracuse Basil II.
undertook its recovery, but death overcame him in the midst of
his plans. "Ten years later, the Byzantine general Maniakes
commenced the reconquest of Sicily in a manner worthy of Basil
himself, but the women and eunuchs who ruled at Constantinople
procured his recall; affairs fell into confusion, and the
prize was eventually snatched from both parties by the Normans
of Apulia."

_E. A. Freeman,
History and Conquests of the Saracens,
lecture 5._

SICILY: A. D. 1060-1090.
Norman conquest.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1000-1090.

SICILY: A. D. 1127-1194.
Union with Apulia in the kingdom of Naples or the Two Sicilies.
Prosperity and peace.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1081-1194.

SICILY: A. D. 1146.
Introduction of Silk-culture and manufacture.

See BYZANTINE EMPIRE: A. D. 1146.

SICILY: A. D. 1194-1266.
Under the Hohenstaufen.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1183-1250.

SICILY: A. D. 1266.
Invasion and conquest of the kingdom of the Sicilies
by Charles of Anjou.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1250-1268.

SICILY: A. D. 1282-1300.
The Massacre of the Sicilian Vespers.
Separation from the kingdom of Naples.
Transfer to the House of Aragon.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1282-1300.

SICILY: A. D. 1313.
Alliance with the Emperor against Naples.

See ITALY: A. D. 1310-1313.

SICILY: A. D. 1442.
Reunion of the crowns of Sicily and Naples,
or the Two Sicilies, by Alphonso of Aragon.

See ITALY: A. D. 1412-1447.

SICILY: A. D. 1458.
Separation of the crown of Naples from
those of Aragon and Sicily.

See ITALY: A. D. 1447-1480.

SICILY: A. D. 1530.
Cession of Malta to the Knights of St. John.

See HOSPITALLERS OF ST. JOHN: A. D. 1530-1565.

{2907}

SICILY: A. D. 1532-1553.
Frightful ravages of the Turks along the coast.

See ITALY: A. D. 1528-1570.

SICILY: A. D. 1713.
Ceded by Spain to the Duke of Savoy.

See UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.

SICILY: A. D. 1718-1719.
Retaken by Spain, again surrendered, and acquired by
Austria in exchange for Sardinia.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1713-1725;
and ITALY: A. D. 1715-1735.

SICILY: A. D. 1734-1735.
Occupation by the Spaniards.
Cession to Spain, with Naples,
forming a kingdom for Don Carlos.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1733-1735.

SICILY: A. D. 1749-1792.
Under the Spanish-Bourbon regime.

See ITALY: A. D. 1749-1792.

SICILY: A. D. 1805-1806.
Held by the King, expelled from Naples by the French.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1805-1806 (DECEMBER-SEPTEMBER).

SICILY: A. D. 1821.
Revolutionary insurrection.

See ITALY: A. D. 1820-1821.

SICILY: A. D. 1848-1849.
Patriotic rising.
A year of independence.
Subjugation of the insurgents by King "Bomba."

See ITALY: A. D. 1848-1849.

SICILY: A. D. 1860-1861.
Liberation by Garibaldi.
Absorption in the new kingdom of Italy.

See ITALY: A. D. 1859-1861.

----------SICILY: End--------

SICULI, The.

See SICILY: THE EARLY INHABITANTS.

SICYON, SIKYON.