turn, named him anew prefect of Rome and senator. | promontory was that formerly venerated by the inhabAlthough Sidonius was not then a priest, his country-itants of Sigæum for containing the ashes of Achilles. men, notwithstanding this, chose him, in 472, Bishop-It should also be observed, that to the south of Siof Augustunometum (Clermont in Auvergne). After gæum, upon the shore of the Egean, are yet other having transferred to his son his honours and his for- tumuli, of equal if not greater size, to which hardly tune, he entered on the duties of the episcopate, and any attention has yet been paid; and these are visible acquitted himself with zeal and fidelity. When the far out at sea.' (Travels, vol. 3, p. 210, segg.)-II. Visigoths seized upon a portion of Gaul, Sidonius fell A town of Troas, on the sloping side of the promoninto the power of Euric, their king; but, through the tory. It was founded posterior to the siege of Troy protection of Leo, the minister of this barbarian mon- by an Eolian colony, headed by Archæanax of Mytiarch, he was re-established in his bishopric, and dischar-lene. He is said to have employed the stones of anged the episcopal functions until the day of his death, cient Ilium in the construction of his town. The which appears to have taken place in 484. A French Athenians, some years afterward, sent a body of troops savant traces the pedigree of the Polignac family to there, headed by Phrynon, a victor at the Olympic Apollinaris. (Mangon de la Lande: Essais histor- games, and expelled the Lesbians. This act of aggresiques, &c., 1828.-Compare Revue Française, 1828, n. sion led to a war between the two states, which was 6, p. 303, seqq )-We have remaining of Sidonius a col- long waged with alternate success. Pittacus, one of lection of letters in prose; and twenty-four poems, the the seven sages, who commanded the Mytilenians, is principal of which are the three panegyrics pronounced said to have slain Phrynon, the Athenian leader, in as above, and some epithalamia. We see in these the single fight. The poet Alcæus was engaged in one productions of a man of talent, not deficient in imagi- of the actions that took place, and had the misfortune nation and poetic fire, and who knows how to interest to lose his shield. At length both parties agreed to and please. Although marked by the vices which refer their dispute to Periander of Corinth, who decharacterized the literary efforts of the age, namely, cided in favour of the Athenians. (Strab., 599.-Hesubtle conceits and exaggerated metaphors, he may rod., 5, 95.—Diog. Laert., 1, 74.) The latter people, still be regarded as one of the best of the Christian or, rather, the Pisistratida, remained then in possespoets.-The best edition of Sidonius Apollinaris is that sion of Sigæum, and Hippias, after being expelled from of Labbæus (Labhe), Paris, 4to, 1652. (Schöll, Hist. Athens, is known to have retired there, together with Lit. Rom., vol. 3, p. 96, seqq.) his family. (Herod., 5, 65.) The town of Sigæum SIGA, a city in the western part of Numidia, or no longer existed when Strabo wrote, having been what was afterward called Mauritania Cæsariensis. destroyed by the citizens of New Ilium. (Strab., 600. The Itinerary Antoninus makes it three miles distant-Plin., 5, 30.-Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 1, p. 109 ) from the coast, whereas Ptolemy ranks it among the The modern Jeni Schehr marks the site of the ancient maritime cities. It had a harbour, probably, on the Sigæum. (Leake's Tour, p. 276.) sea, while the city itself stood inland. Siga was an old Tyrian settlement, and is the only one of the many mentioned by Scylax in this quarter that we can fix upon with certainty. A river of the same name ran by it. Syphax, prince of the Massæsyli, selected this city for his residence, having taken it from the Carthaginians. He afterward took up his abode in Cirta. The modern Ned-Roma, mentioned by Leo Africanus, is thought to answer to the ancient city. (Mannert, Geogr., vol. 10, pt. 2, p. 427.) ted, also, for a particular mode of flooring with bricks, which was called " opus Signinum." (Plin., 15, 12. -Vitruv., 8, in fin.) The modern Segni marks the ancient site. (Cramer's Anc. It., vol. 2, p. 103.) SIGNIA, a city of Latium, southwest of Anagnia It became a Roman colony as early as the reign of Tarquinius Superbus. At first it was only a military post, which, in process of time, however, became a city. (Dion. Hal., 4, 63.) When Tarquin was dethroned, he sought the assistance of Signia, but the inhabitants remained faithful to Rome. (Dion. Hal., 5, 58.) They appear to have continued in the same sentiments even during the severe trial of the second Punic war; as we find Signia mentioned by Livy among SIGÆUM OF SIGEUM, I. a celebrated promontory of the colonies of that period most distinguished for their Troas, near the mouth of the Scamander. The mod- steady adherence to the Roman power (27, 10). Sigern name is Cape Jenischehr, or, as it is more com- nia is noticed by several writers as producing a wine monly pronounced, Cape Janissary. Homer does not of an astringent nature. (Strabo, 237.-Plin., 14, 6. mention either the promontory of Sigæum or of Rho--Sil. Ital., 8, 380.-Martial, 13, 116) It was noteum. These names rather referred to cities which were built after his time. These two promontories formed the limits on either side of the station of the Grecian fleet. Achilles, Patroclus, and Antilochus were buried on Sigæum, and three large tumuli, or mounds of earth, are supposed to mark at the present day the three tombs; though, from a passage of Homer (Od, 24, 75, seqq.), it would seem that one mound or tomb covered the ashes of all three. We visit ed," says Dr. Clarke, "the two ancient tumuli called the tombs of Achilles and Patroclus. They are to the northeast of the village of Yeni-Cher. A third was discovered by Sir W. Gell near the bridge for passing the Mender; so that the three tumuli mentioned by Strabo are yet entire. (Strabo, 596.) The largest was opened by order of M. de Choiseul. Many authors bear testimony to the existence of the tomb of Achilles, and to its situation on or by the Sigean promontory. It is recorded of Alexander the Great, that he anointed the stélé upon it with perfumes, and ran naked around it, according to the custom of honouring the manes of a hero. (Elian, Var. Hist., 12, 7.— Diod. Sic., 17, 17.) Elian distinguishes the tomb of Achilles from that of Patroclus, by relating that Alexander crowned one, and Hephaestion the other. It will not, therefore, be easy to determine, at the present day, which of the three tombs now standing upon this SILA SILVA, a forest of vast extent, in the country of the Bruttii, to the south of Consentia. It consisted chiefly of fir, and was celebrated for the quantity of pitch which it yielded. (Plin., 15, 7.—Columella, 12, 20.-Dioscorides, 1, 98.) Strabo describes the Sıla as occupying an extent of 700 stadia, or eighty-seven miles, from the neighbourhood of Rhegium northward. (Strab., 260-Plin., 3, 11.) Virgil also alludes to it in a beautiful passage. (En, 12, 715) These immense woods may probably, in ancient times, have furnished the Tyrrheni with timber for their fleets, as we know they afterward did to the sovereigns of Sicily and to the Athenians. (Thucyd., 6, 90.—Athen., 43.-Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, p. 437.) SILANUS, the name of a Roman family belonging to the plebeian house of the Junii. The most remarkable of the name were the following: I. Marcus Silanus, served under Scipio in Spain (B.C. 207), and was sent, on one occasion, by that commander with 10,500 men against Mago and the Celtiberians, whom he succeeded in conquering. In the following year he brought to Scipio the auxiliaries from the Spanish prince Colcha, and aided him in gaining the victory it may be remarked in passing, designates various employments; it is sometimes synonymous with youxoToios, and denotes an officer whose duty it is to preserve quiet in the imperial palace; at other times the Silentiarius is a private secretary of the prince. Paul, the Silentiary, has left various poetical productions, which are not without merit. In the Greek Anthology we have about eighty epigrams of his, a portion of which are of an erotic character. They are deficient neither in spirit nor elegance. We perceive that their author was well read in the ancient writers; but it is evident, at the same time, that his verses have not the conciseness so essential to the epigram. The most celebrated of his productions, however, are, his poem on the Pythian Baths in Bithynia (Huiauba εis rù ev Ilvotos depuú), and his description of the Church of St. Sophia ("Ekopaσis the μeyúλys ékkλŋoíaç), which was publicly read at the dedication of that structure, A. D. 562. We have also a third poem, form placed in the great aisle of the patriarchal palace ('Ekopaσiç тov "Aμbwvoc, K. 7. 2.). The poem on the Pythian Baths is given in Brunck's Analecta, and in the editions of the Anthology. The description of the Church of St. Sophia is given at the end of the history of Johannes Cinnamus, in the edition of Ducange. În 1822, Groffe published a critical edition at Leipzig, in 8vo, to which is added the Description of the Ambon or pulpit. Bekker gave an edition of this last-mentioned poem, from a Heidelberg manuscript, Berol, 1815, 4to. (Schöll, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 6, p. 46, 115) near Bæcula, over the forces of the Carthaginians.II. Marcus Junius Silanus, was consul B.C. 109 with Q. Cæcilius Metellus. He obtained the command of the forces against the Cimbri, but was so unfortunate as to be more than once defeated, and even to lose his camp. Five years after this, the tribune Domitius brought him to trial for this ill-success, but only two tribes condemned him.-III. D. Junius Silanus, son of the preceding, was consul elect B.C.63, when Cicero asked him his opinion in the Roman senate as to the punishment to be inflicted on the accomplices of Catiline. He gave his opinion in favour of punishment. In the following year he entered on the consular office with L. Licinius Muræna.-IV. M. Junius Silanus, son of the preceding, served first under Cæsar as lieutenant in Gaul, and, after the assassination of that individual, attached himself to the party of Lepidus. This party, however, he afterward left, and joined that of Antony. In consequence of this, he was proscribed and his property confiscated. He after-ing, in fact, a supplement to the second, on the pulpit ward, however, was pardoned by Augustus, and, returning to Rome, became at last on such good terms with Augustus, that the latter made him his colleague | in the consulship, 25 B.C.-V. Junius Silanus Creticus, was consul A.D. 7, and afterward proconsul of Syria. Tiberius removed him from that province, on account of the friendship subsisting between him and Germanicus.—VI. D. Junius Silanus, was banished by Augustus for adultery with Julia. He obtained his recall under Tiberius, through the intercession of his brother.-VII. M. Junius Silanus, brother of the preceding, was a man of great reputation and influence, on account of his talents as an orator. His daughter Claudia married Caligula, and he himself was afterward sent as governor into Spain. The tyrant, becoming jealous of him, compelled him to destroy himself. -VIII. L. Junius Silanus, prætor A.D. 49, a brave and illustrious individual, stood so high in the favour of the Emperor Claudius that the latter intended to give him his daughter Octavia in marriage. This, however, was prevented by the artful Agrippina, who obtained her hand for her own son Nero. Various false charges were brought against Silanus; he was expelled from the senate, and, in his despair, destroyed himself.-IX. Turpilius, an officer of Metellus in the Jugurthine war. Having been left by that commander at the head of the Roman garrison in Vacca, and having, through want of care, allowed the town to be retaken by the inhabitants, he was tried, and condemned to death. (Sallust, Bell. Jug., 66, 69.) Plutarch, however, makes the accusaion to have been a false one, and Turpilius to have been condemned through the agency of Marius. (Plutarch, Vit. Mar.) SILĒNUS, a demigod, who became the nurse, the preceptor, and the attendant of Bacchus. Pindar calls him the Naiad's husband (fragm. incert., 73). Socrates used to compare himself, on account of his baldness, his flat nose, and the quiet raillery in which he was so fond of indulging, to the Sileni born of the divine Naiads. (Xenophon, Symp., 5, 7.—Compare Elian, V. H., 3, 18.) Others said that Silenus was a son of Earth, and sprung from the blood-drops of Uranus. (Serv. ad Virg., Ecl., 6, 13.-Nonnus. 14, 97.--Id., 29, 262.) Marsyas is called a Silenus. Like the seagods, Silenus was noted for wisdom. Hence some modern expounders of mythology think that Silenus was merely a river-god, and they derive the name from 12λw, eiλéw, to roll, expressive of the motion of the streams. The connexion between Silenus and Bacchus and the Naiades thus becomes easy of explanation; in their opinion, all being deities relating to water or moisture. (Keightley's Mythology, p. 234.)-The two legends relative to Midas and Silenus have already been noticed under the former article. (Vid. Midas.)-Silenus was represented as old, bald, and flat-nosed, riding on a broad-backed ass, usually intoxicated, and carrying his can (cantharus), or tottering along supported by his staff of fennel (ferula). SILARUS, I. a river of Lucania, in Italy, dividing that province from Campania. It takes its rise in that part of the Apennines which belonged to the Hirpini;-For other views of the legend of Silenus, consult and, after receiving the Tanager, now Negri, and the Calor, now Calore, it empties into the Gulf of Salerno. The waters of this river are stated by ancient writers to have possessed the property of incrusting, by means of a calcareous deposition, any pieces of wood or twigs which were thrown into them. (Strabo, 251. Plin., 2, 106.) This fact is confirmed by Baron Antonini, della Lucania, p. 2, disc. 1. The banks of this river were greatly infested by the gadfly. (Virg., Georg, 3, 146, seqq.) The modern name of the stream is the Silaro. (Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. 2, p. 360.)-II. A river of Cisalpine Gaul, to the east of Bononia, running into the Padusa, or Spinetic branch of the Padus. It is now the Silaro. (Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. 1, p. 89.) SILENTIARIUS, Paulus, a poet in the reign of the Emperor Justinian. He was the primarius or chief of the Silentiarii at the court of that monarch, whence the second part of his name. The title of Silentiarius, Creuzer (Symbolik, vol. 3, p. 207, seqq.), Rolle (Recherches sur le Culte de Bacchus, vol. 3, p. 354, seqq.), and Welcker (Nach. zur Tril, p. 214, seqq.).—According to another account, Midas mixed some wine with the waters of a fountain to which Silenus was accustomed to come, and so inebriated and caught him. He detained him for ten days, and afterward restored him to Bacchus, for which he was rewarded with the power of turning into gold whatever he touched. Some authors assert that Silenus was a philosopher, who accompanied Bacchus in his Indian expedition, and assisted him by the soundness of his counsels. From this circumstance, therefore, he is often introduced speaking, with all the gravity of a philosopher, concerning the formation of the world and the nature of things.-The legend of Silenus is evidently of Oriental origin. (Symbolik, vol. 3, p. 207, seqq.-Consult also Rolle, Recherches sur le Culte de Bacchus, vol. 3, p. 354, seqq.) SILIUS ITALICUS. SILIUS ITALICUS. means for interesting and pleasing his readers; but, many revolting improbabilities, and its machinery is SILIUS ITALICUS, C. a Latin poet, born about the 25th year of the Christian era. He has been supposed to have been a native of Italica, in Spain; but his not being claimed as a fellow-countryman by Martial, who has bestowed upon hin the highest praises, renders this improbable. Some make him to have been a native of Corfinium, a city of the Peligni, in Italy, which, according to Strabo, was called Italica in the time of the Social war; but Velleius Paterculus informs us that Corfinium merely intended to change its name to Italica, and that the project was never carried into effect. Whether, however, he were a native of Italica in Spain, or of an Italica elsewhere, his surname certainly does not show it; for in that event it would have been Italicensis. It is most probable that Italicus was a family name; and it may have been given to one of his ancestors, when residing in some Brivis Italicus applied himself with great ardour in the province, to show that was of Italian origin. study of eloquence and poetry. In the former of these pursuits he took Cicero for his model, and acquired at the bar the reputation of an eminent speaker. In poetry he gave the preference to Virgil. His predilection for these two great writers led him to purchase two estates which had belonged to them, that of Ci-it an historical production? its fictions become so cero at Tusculum, and that of Virgil near Naples, on which the poet had been interred. Silius often visited the tomb of the latter, and celebrated his birthday annually with great solemnities.-Our poet passed through all the public employments which led to the consulship. He is said also to have insinuated himself into the favour of Nero by following the vile trade of an informer. Pliny the younger, who mentions this fact, which, for the honour of literature, one could wish might be impugned, adds, that if it be true that Silius was thus guilty, he made amends for his fault by a long course of subsequent virtue, and enjoyed at Rome a high degree of consideration. The first consulship of Silius (for it is thought, on no very sufficient grounds, however, that he thrice held this magistracy) was in the famous year 68, when Nero died. -Silius enjoyed the favour of Vitellius and Vespasian under the latter he was proconsul of Asia. Loaded with honours, and having accumulated an ample fortune, he retired in his old age to Campania, and there passed the rest of his days in the society of the Muses. Attacked, at the age of 75 years, with an incurable malady, he starved himself to death, in the reign of Trajan, A.D. 100.-Silius, through all his life, had a strong attachment for poetry and literature, and devoted to them all the leisure moments which his public employments allowed. It was only, how-phrases, which he has not known how to appropriate ever, in his later years, and during his retreat at Naples, that he formed the serious idea of aiming at a place in the list of poets. He then composed an epic, or, rather, historical poem, in seventeen cantos, the subject of which was the second Punic war. This poem, entitled Punica, has come down to our times. It confirms the judgment which Pliny passed upon its author when he said that he wrote with more diligence than genius. (Ep., 3, 7, 5.) It appears that Silius was one of those men to whom Nature has granted a certain facility, which makes them succeed in some degree in whatever they undertake, and which, when it is seconded by learning and taste, may, to a certain degree, occupy the place of genius. The subject which he chose for his poem was one that possessed an unusual share of interest to the Romans. Three centuries had passed away since this memorable period, and, though all the details of the war were still well known, because many Greek and Roman historians had recorded them in their respective works, still there remained a wide field for the imagination of the poet, and he might indulge in the fictions and employ all the machinery of which the epic poem was naturally susceptible. Silius disdained not these to himself, or mark, as it were, with the impress of his own zeal. Does he attempt to express anger or tenderness? his coldness freezes the reader -Whatever may have been the reputation which this poet enjoyed among his contemporaries, he fell soon afterward inte neglect; no grammarian cites him, and Sidonius Apollinaris alone names him among the eminent poets. At the revival of letters, the conviction was so strong that the poem was lost, as to inspire the celebrated Petrarch with the idea of supplying its place by his Africa, the subject of which production is also the second Punic war. This point, however, is contested among scholars. During the sittings of the council of Censtance, Poggio succeeded in finding a manuscript of Silius, probably at the monastery of St. Gall. A copy was made of this, which thus became the original of all those of which the earlier editors made use, until Carrion discovered, about 1575, at Cologne, another manuscript, which he thought might date from the era of Charlemagne. A third, of still more modern date, was found at Oxford. Villebrune, who published, in 1781, an edition of Silius Italicus, which be pretended was the first complete one that had as yet appeared, inserted into the sixteenth book, after the twenty-sev SIMON, a shoemaker or currier of Athens, from whom the so-called okutikoì diahóyot, mentioned under the article Plato, are supposed to have derived their origin. (Vid. Plato, near the conclusion of that article.) enth verse, thirty-three other verses which he said he | Mount Ida, and falls into the Xanthus. (Consult rehad found in a MS. at Paris, and which exist, with marks on the Topography of Troy, under the article some slight changes, in the sixth book of Petrarch's Troja.) Latin poem entitled Africa. More recent critics, however, and especially Heyne, in a review written by him on Villebrune's edition, think that the thirty-three verses in question are rather from the pen of Petrarch than from that of Silius.-The best editions of Silius Italicus are, that of Ruperti, Götting., 1795-98, 2 vols. 8vo, and that of Lemaire, Paris, 1823, 2 vols. 8vo. The following editions are also valuable: that of Drakenborch, Traject. ad Rhen., 1717, 4to; that of Villebrune, Paris, 1781, 8vo; and that of Ernesti, Lips, 1791-92, 2 vols. 8vo. (Schöll, Hist. Lit. Rom., vol. 2. p. 496, seqq.-Compare Bähr, Gesch. Röm. Lit., vol. 1, p. 151, seqq.) SILVANUS, a deity among the Romans who had the care of fields and cattle (Virg., Æn., 8, 601), and who also presided over boundaries. (Horat., Epod., 2, 22.) Groves were consecrated to him, whence perhaps his name. He was usually represented as old, and bearing a cypress plucked up by the roots (Virg., Georg., 1, 20); and the legend of Apollo and Cyparissus was transferred to him. (Serv. ad Virg., Georgica, 1, 20.) The usual offering to Silvanus was milk. (Horat., Epist., 2, 1, 143.)—According to the Agrimensors, every possession should have three Silvani: one domestic, for the possession itself; one agrestic, for the herdsman; a third oriental, for whom there should be a grove on the boundary. (Scal. ad Fest., s. v. Marspedis.) The meaning of this obscure passage probably is, that Silvanus was to be worshipped under three different titles: as protector of the family, for we meet with an inscription Silvano Larum; of the cattle, perhaps those on the public pastures; and of the boundaries, that is, of the whole possession. The Mars Silvanus, to whom Cato directs prayer to be made for the health of the oxen, is probably the second (R. R., 80), and the third is the tutor finium of Horace. (Keightley's Mythology, p. 536.) SILURES, the people of South Wales in Britain, occupying the counties of Hereford, Monmouth, Radnor, Brecon, and Glamorgan. Their capital was Isca Silurum, now Carleon, on the river Isca or Uske, in Glamorganshire. Caractacus was a prince of the Silures. (Tac., Ann., 12, 32.-Plin., 4, 16.) SIMĒTHUS, a river of Sicily, rising in the Herman Mountains, and falling into the sea below Catana. It receives a number of small tributaries, and is now the Giaretta. (Thucyd., 2, 65-Plin., 3, 8.) SIMMIAS, I. a native of Rhodes, who flourished between the 120th and 170th Olympiad. The period when he existed cannot be ascertained with more precision. He published a collection of poems, in four books, entitled Siάgopa пoinμara. Athenæus cites one of these pieces, entitled Gorgo, which appears to have been of an epic character. Simmias is perhaps the inventor of a kind of sport, which we do not find to have existed before him, and which could only have been conceived of at a period when the public taste had become extremely corrupt. It consisted in so arranging verses of different length as to represent an altar, an axe, a pair of wings, &c., the several verses at the same time making one poem. A production of this kind, forming a Zúptys, or Pandean pipe, has been often ascribed to Theocritus. It consists of twenty verses, every two of the same size, and each pair less in length than the preceding; thus representing an instrument composed of ten pipes, each shorter than the other. (Schöll, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 3, p. 126.) The remains of Simmias are given in the Anthology, and in the Poetæ Græci Minores.-II. A Theban philosopher, a disciple of Socrates. He was the author of twenty-three dialogues, which are lost. (Schöll, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 2, p. 357.) Sinois (-entis), a river of Troas, which rises in SIMONIDES, I. a poet of Amorgus (one of the Cyclades), who died 490 B.C. He was grandfather to the poet of Ceos, from whom he is distinguished by the title of 'Iauboypúpos, “writer of Iambics." We have a fragment of his preserved by Stobæus; it is a satyric piece, remarkable for its simplicity and elegance, and is entitled repì yuvaɩkāv, “Of Women." This fragment is given in the collections of Winterton, Brunck, Gaisford, and separateley by Koeler, Göett., 1781, 8vo, and Welcker, Bonn, 1835, 8vo.—II. A celebrated poet of Ceos, son of Leoprepas, and grandson of the preceding, born at the city of Iulis, 556 B.C., and who lived until B.C. 467. He attained, in fact, to a very advanced age, so as to become a contemporary not only of Pittacus and the Pisistratidæ, but also of Pausanias, king of Sparta: and he is named as the friend of these illustrious men. He was held in high estimation at the court of Hiero I., king of Syracuse, and acted as a mediator between this prince and Theron, king of Agrigentum, reconciling these two sovereigns at the very moment when the two armies were on the point of contending. Plato calls him a wise man (De Repub., 1, p. 411), and Cicero, in speaking of him, says, •Non enim poeta suavis, verum etiam cæteroquin doctus sapiensque traditur." (N. D., 1, 22.) He was the master of Pindar. Simonides is regarded as the first who applied the alternating hexameter and pentameter, or, in other words, the early elegiac measure to mournful and plaintive themes. This measure at first was martial in its character, not plaintive, and Cullinus is said to have been its inventor. Neither was it called elegy originally, but čñoç, a general term, subsequently confined to heroic verse. Simonides became so distinguished in elegy (in the later acceptation of the term) that he must be included among the great masters of elegiac song. He is stated to have been victorious at Athens over Eschylus himself, in an elegy in honour of those who fell at Marathon, the Athenians having instituted a contest of the chief poets. The ancient biographer of Eschylus who gives this account, adds, in explanation, that the elegy requires a tenderness of feeling which was foreign to the character of Eschylus. To what degree Simonides possessed this quality, and, in general, how great a master he was of the pathetic, is proved by his celebrated lyric piece, containing the lament of Danaë, and by other remains of his poetry. Probably, also, in the elegies upon those who died at Marathon and Platæa, he did not omit to bewail the death of so many brave men, and to introduce the sorrows of the widows and orphans, which was quite consistent with a lofty, patriotic tone, particularly at the end of the poem. Simonides likewise used the elegy as a plaintive song for the death of individuals; at least the Greek Anthology contains several pieces of his, which appear not to be entire epigrams, but fragments of longer elegies, lamenting, with heartfelt pathos, the death of persons dear to the poet. Among these are the beautiful and touching verses concerning Gorgo, who, while dying, utters these words to her mother: Remain here with my father, and become, with a happier fate, the mother of another daughter, who may tend thee in thy old age."-It was Simonides who first gave to the epigram the perfection of which, consistently with its purpose, it was capable. In this respect he was favoured by the circumstances of his time; for, on account of the high consideration which he enjoyed in both Athens and the Peloponnesus, he SINDI, a people of Asiatic Sarmatia, below the Cimmerian Bosporus, and opposite the Tauric Chersonese. Their name would seem to indicate an Indian origin, and Ritter has attempted to prove this in his learned work on the earlier history of some of the ancient nations. (Ritter, Vorhalle, p. 157, seqq.) was frequently employed by the states which had fought | haeuser, making part of his edition of Epictetus. The against the Persians, to adorn with inscriptions the commentary on the Physics of Aristotle was published tombs of their fallen warriors. The best and most at the Aldine press, Ven., 1526, fol., and a Latin vercelebrated of these epigrams is the inimitable inscrip- sion by Lucillus Philalthæus, Ven., 1543, fol. The tion on the Spartans who died at Thermopyla, and most correct edition of the commentary on the Catwhich actually existed on the spot: "Stranger, tell egories is that printed at Basle, 1551, fol. There is a the Lacedæmonians that we are lying here in obedience Latin version by Dorotheus, Ven., 1541, 1550, 1567, to their laws." Never was heroic courage expressed fol. The commentary on the treatise De Calo was with such calm and unadorned grandeur. With the published at the Aldine press, Ven., 1526, fol. There epitaphs are naturally connected the inscriptions on is a Latin version by Morbeke, printed in 1540, and sacred offerings, especially where both refer to the Per- another by Dorotheus, in 1544, both from the Venice sian war; the former being the discharge of a debt to press. The commentary on the treatise De Anima the dead, the latter a thanksgiving of the survivers to was published at the Aldine press in 1527, and a verthe gods. Among these, one of the best refers to the sion by Faseolus, made from a more perfect manubattle of Marathon, which, from the neatness and ele- script, in 1543, both at Venice. There is another gance of the expression, loses its chief beauty in a version by Lungus, which has been often reprinted at prose translation (fragm., 25, ed. Gaisf.).--The form Venice. (Scholl, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 7, p. 129, segg.) of nearly all the epigrams of Simonides is elegiac. SINE, I. a people of India, called by Ptolemy the When, however, a name (on account of a short be- most eastern nation of the world. These Sina, who tween two long syllables) could not be adapted to the dwelt beyond the river Serus, or Menan, are supposed dactylic metre (as 'Aрxivaúτns, 'ITTOVÍKOг), he em- to have occupied what is now Cochin-China. — II. ployed trochaic measures. (Müller, Hist. Lit. Gr., There was another nation of the same name east of p. 125, seqq.)-Simonides became avaricious and Serica, who were probably settled in Shen-si, the mercenary towards the close of his life; and it is men- most westerly province of China, immediately adjointioned as a subject of dispraise, that he was the first ing the great wall. In this province was a kingdom who wrote verses for money. Plutarch relates, that called Tsin, which probably gave name to these Sinæ. some one having reproached him with his sordid avarice, he returned for answer that age, being deprived of all other sources of enjoyment, the love of money was the only passion left for it to gratify. (Plut., An seni sit gerenda respubl.-Opp., ed. Reiske, vol. 9, p. 142.)-To Simonides the Greek alphabet is indebted for four of its letters, E, Y, H, ; and to him, also, is SINGARA, a strongly fortified city of Mesopotamia, attributed the invention of a system of Mnemonics, or the southernmost possession of the Romans on the artificial memory. (Compare Cic., de Orat., 2, 84.-eastern side of that country, from Trajan to ConstanPlin., 7, 24.- Quintil., 11, 2, 11.)—It was Simonides tius. It is now Sindschar. (Plin., 5, 25.— Amm. that gave the celebrated answer, when Hiero of Syra- Marcell., 18, 5.) cuse inquired of him concerning the nature of God. The poet requested one day for deliberating on the subject; and when Hiero repeated his question on the morrow, the poet asked for two days. As he still went on doubling the number of days, and the monarch, lost in wonder, asked him why he did 80, "Because, the longer I reflect on the subject, the more obscure does it appear to me to be." (Cic., N. D., 1, 22.) The remains of the poetry of Simonides are given in the collections of Stephens, Brunck, Gaisford, Boissonade, and others. The latest separate edition is that of Schneidewin, Bruns., 1835, 8vo. (Schöll, Hist. Gr. Lit., vol. 1, p. 242.-Id ib., vol. 2, p. 129.— Compare Bode, Gesch. der Lyrischen Dichtkunst, vol. 2, p. 122, seqq.)—III. A son of the daughter of the preceding. Being also a native of Ceos, he was distinguished from the former by the appellation of the 'Younger.' He wrote "on Inventions" (Epì evpnpárov), and a work in three books on Genealogies. (Beurette, Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscr., &c., vol. 13, p. 257.-Van Goens, De Simonide Ceo et philosopho, Traj. ad Rhen., 1768, 4to.) SIMPLICIUS, a native of Cilicia, the clearest and most intelligent of the commentators on Aristotle. His commentaries are extremely valuable, from their containing numerous fragments of the works of previous philosophers. He flourished in the seventh century of our era, and was involved in some disputes with the Christian writers, particularly John Philoponus, on the subject of the eternity of the world. His commentary on the Manual or Enchiridion of Epictetus is regarded as one of the best moral treatises that has come down to us from antiquity, and proves that Simplicius did not confine himself to the tenets of the Peripatetic school. The works of Aristotle on which we have the commentaries of Simplicius are, the eight books of Physics, the Categories, the four books of the Heavens, and the three of the Soul. The best edition of the commentary on Epictetus is that of Schweig SINGUS, a town of Macedonia, in the peninsula of Sithonia, on the lower shore of, and giving name to, the Sinus Singiticus. The modern name of the gulf is that of Monte Santo. (Herod., 7, 122.—Thucyd., 5, 18.) SINON, a Greek, who accompanied his countrymen to the Trojan war. When the Greeks had fabricated the famous wooden horse, Sinon went to Troy, at the instigation of Ulysses, 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, he had fled away from their camp, not to be cruelly sacrificed. 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 Phryg.-Hom, d., 8, 492.-Virg., Æn., 2, 79, &c.-Pausan., 10, 20.Q. Smyrn., 12, &c.) SINOPE, I. a daughter of the Asopus by Methone. She was beloved by Apollo, who carried her away to the borders of the Euxine Sea, in Asia Minor, where she gave birth to a son called Syrus. (Apoll. Rhod., 2, 946.—Schol., ad loc.)-II. A city of Paphlagonia, on the eastern coast, and a little below its northern extremity. It was the most important commercial place on the shores of the Euxine, and was founded by a Milesian colony at a very early period, even prior to the rise of the Persian empire. The particular year of its origin, however, is not known: the Peripl. Anon. (p. 8) says it was at the time when the Cimmerians were ravaging Asia Minor. The leader of the colony was named Autolycus, and he received from the later |
