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.

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

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

Sontiătes, a people in Gaul.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sophroniscus, the father of Socrates.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Soritia, a town of Spain.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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