This is a
striking image of the arrogant pretensions of human
wisdom, which always proceeds upon generalities,
without teaching its possessor the right application of
them to himself.
striking image of the arrogant pretensions of human
wisdom, which always proceeds upon generalities,
without teaching its possessor the right application of
them to himself.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
While he resisted the reckless and
extravagant demands of those who desired all debts to
be cancelled, and the lands of the rich to be confis-
cated and parcelled out among the poor, he met the
reasonable expectations of the public by his disbur-
dening ordinance (iiiouxOcia), and relieved the debt-
or, partly by a reduction of the rate of interest, which
was probably made retrospective, and thus, in many
cases, would wipe off a great part of the debt, and
partly by lowering the standard of the silver coinage,
so that the debtor saved more than one fourth in ev-
ery payment. (Pint. , Sol. , 15. -- Vid. Boeckk, StaaUk. ,
2, p. 360. ) He likewise released the pledged lands
from their encumbrances, and restored them in full
property to their owners; though it does not seem cer-
tain whether this was one of the express objects of
Cite measure, or only one of the consequences which
it involved. Finally, he abolished the inhuman law
which enabled the creditor to enslave his debtor, and
restored thoso who were pining at home in such bond-
age to immediate liberty; and it would seem that he
compelled those who had sold their debtors into for-
eign countries to procure their freedom at their own
expense. The debt itself, in such cases, was of
course held to be extinguished. Solon himself, in a
poem which he afterward composed on the subject of
his legislation, spoke with a becoming pride of the
happy change which this measure had wrought in the
face of Attica, of the numerous citizens whose lands
he had discharged, and whose persons he had'eman-
cipated, and brought'back from hopeless slavery in
strange lands. He was only unfortunate in bestowing
his confidence on persons who were incapable of imi-
tating his virtue, and who abused his intimacy. At
the time when all men were uncertain as to his inten-
tions, and no kind of property could be thought se-
cure, he privately informed three of his friends of his
determination not to touch the estates of the land-own-
ers, but only to reduce the amount of debt. He had
afterward the vexation of discovering, that the men to
whom he had intrusted this secret had been base
enough to take advantage of it, by making large pur-
chases of land--which at such a juncture bore, no
? ? lioubt, a very low price--with borrowed money. For-
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? SOLON.
jXOI. OR.
jtners which had hitherto been reserved to the nobles;
thev were also destined to fill the highest commands
in the army, as ir later times, when Athens became a
maritime power, they did in the fleet. Some lower
offices were undoubtedly left open to the second and
thiro class, though we are unable to define the extent
of their privileges, or to ascertain whether, in their po-
litical rights, one had any advantage over the other.
Thev were at least distinguished from each other by
the mode of their military service; the one furnishing
the cavalry, the other the heavy-armed infantry. But,
tor their exclusion from the dignities occupied by the
wealthy few, they received a compensation in the
comparative lightness of their burdens. They were
assessed, not in exact proportion to the amount of
their incomes, but at a much lower rate; the nominal
value of their property being for this purpose reduced
below the truth, that of the knights by one sixth, that
of the third class by one third. The fourth class was
excluded from all share in the magistracy, and from
the honours and duties of the full-armed warrior, the
expense of which would, in general, exceed their means:
by land they served only as light troops; in later times
they manned the fleets. In return, they were exempt-
ed from all direct contributions, and they were permit-
ted to take a part in the popular assembly, as well as
in the exercise of those judicial powers which were
now placed in the hands of the people. We shall
shortly have occasion to observe how amply this boon
compensated for the loss of all the privileges that were
withheld from them. Solon's classification takes no
notice of any other than landed property; yet, as the
example of Solon himself seems to prove that Attica
must already have carried on some foreign trade, it is
not unlikely that there were fortunes of this kind equal
to those which gave admission to the higher classes.
But '? '. can hardly be supposed that they placed their
possessors on a level with the owners of the soil; it
is more probable that these, together with the newly-
adopted citizens, without regard to their various de-
grees of affluence, were all included in the lowest
rlass. Salon's system then made room for all free-
men, but assigned to them different places, varying
with their visible means of serving the state. His
general aim in the distribution of power, as he himself
explains it in a fragment which Plutarch has preserved
from one of his poems, was to give such a share to the
commonalty as would enable it to protect itself, and to
the wealthy as much as was necessary for retaining
their dignity; in other words, for ruling the people
without the means of oppressing it. He threw his
strong shield, he says, over both, and permitted neither
to gain an unjust advantage. The magistrates, though
elected upon a different qualification, retained their an-
cient authority; but they were now responsible for
the exercise of it, not to their own body, but to the
governed. The judicial functions of the archons were
perhaps preserved nearly in their full extent; but ap-
peals were allowed from their jurisdiction to courts
numerously composed, and filled indiscriminately from
all classes. (P/uf. , Sol. , 18. ) Solon could not fore-
see the change of circumstances by which this right
of appeal became the instrument of overthrowing the
equilibrium which he hoped to have established on a
? olid basis, when that which he had designed to exer-
cise an extraordinary jurisdiction became an ordinary
tribunal, which drew almost all causes to itself, and
? ? overruled every other power in the state. He seems to
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? SUP
SOPHOCLES.
(3 witness the partial overthrow of his system in the
usurpation of Pisistratus. (Vid. Pisistratus. )--It is
sot certain how long he survived this inroad upon his
institutions; one account, apparently the most authen-
tic, places his death in the year following thst in
which the revolution occurred (B. C. 559). The lei-
sure of his retirement from public life was to the last
devoted to the Muses: and if we might trust Pla-
to's assertions on such subjects, he was engaged at
'lie time of his death in the composition of a great po-
em, in which he had designed to describe the flourish-
ing state of Attica before the Ogygian flood, and to
celebrate the wars which it waged with the inhabitants
of the vast island which afterward sank in the Atlantic
Ocean. On the fragments of this poem, preserved in
the family, Plato, himself a descendant of Solon, pro-
fesses to have founded a work which he left unfinished,
but in which he had meant to exhibit hit imaginary
state in life and action. It is certainly not improba-
ble that Solon, when the prospect of his country be-
came gloomy, and his own political career was closed,
indulged his imagination with excursions into an ideal
world, where he may have raised a social fabric as un-
l. ke as possible to the realitv which he had before his
eyes at home, and perhaps suggested by what he had
seer, or heard in Egypt. It is only important to ob-
serve that the fact, if admitted, can lead to no safe
conclusions ss to his abstract political principles, and
tan still less be allowed to sway our judgment on the
design and character of his institutions. (Thirluall's
Greece, vol. 2, p. 23, sa/q )--Solon is generally ranked
under the gnomic poets, and some fragments of his
C reductions in this department have been preserved
y the ancient writers. Of these the finest is his
"prayer to the Muses. " The fragments of Solon
are found in the collections of H. Stephens, Winter-
ton, Brunck, Gaisford, and Boissonnade. --(Scholl,
Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 1, p. 238. )
Sih. vmi, a people of Lycia, of whom an account is
giren under the head of Lycia.
Somnus, son of Erebus and Nox, was one of the
deities of the lower world, and the god of Sleep. The
Latin poet Ovid (Met. , 11, 592, seqq. ), probably after
some Grecian predecessor, as was usually the case,
gives a beautiful description of the Cave of Sleep, near
:hi- land of the Cimmerians, and of the cortege which
. here attended on him, as Morpheus, Icelos or Phor-
3f ler, and Phantasos; the first of whom takes the form
ol man to appear in dreams, the second of animals, the
? liird of inanimate objects. (Keighlley's Mythology,
a. 200. )
Sonus, a river of India, falling into the Ganges, and
now the Saone ot Son. As this river towards its ori-
gin is called Ando-nadi, it appears that the name An-
domain (given also in Arrian), or. rather, Ando-natis,
can denote no other than it. (Plin. , 6, 18. )
Sophknk, a country of Armenia, between the prin-
cipal stream of the Euphrates and Mount Masius. It is
now called Zoph. (Dio Cass. , 36, 36. --Plin. , 5,12. )
Sophoclfs, a celebrated tragic poet, born at Colo-
nic, a village little more than a mile from Athens,
B. C. 495. He was, consequently, thirty years junior
to iEschylus, and fifteen senior to Euripides, the for-
mer having been born B. C. 525, and the latter B. C.
480. --Sophilus, his father, a man of opulence and re-
spectability, bestowed upon his son a careful educa-
tion in all the literary and personal accomplishments
? ? if Ilia age and country. The powers of the future
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? SOPHOCLES.
? trier produced, was to read before the court hia
CEdipus at Colonua, t piece which he had just com-
po*>>d; or, according to others, that beautiful chorus
oni in which he celebrates the loveliness of his fa-
vourite residence (Cic. ,dc Fin. , 5, 1). The admiring
judges instantly arose, dismissed the cause, and ac-
companied the aged poet to his house with the utmost
honour and respect Sophocles was spared the mis-
ery of beholding the utter overthrow of his declining
country. Early in the year 405 B. C. , some months
before the defeat of jEgospotamos put the finishing
stroke to the misfortunes of Athens, death came gen-
tly upon the venerable old man, full of years and glory.
The accounts of his death are very diverse, all tending
to the marvellous. later and Neanthes state that he
was choked by a grape; Satyrus makes him to expire
from excessive exertion, in reading aloud a long para-
graph out of the Antigone; others ascribe his death
to extreme joy at being proclaimed the Tragic victor.
Not content with the singularity of his death, the
ancient recorders of his life add prodigy to his funeral
also. He died when the Athenians were cooped up
within their walls, and the Lacedemonians were in
possession of Decelea, the place of his family sepul-
chre. Bacchus twice appeared in a vision to Lysan-
der, tho Spartan general, and bid him allow the inter-
ment; which accordingly took place with all due so-
lemnity. Pausanias, however, tells the story some-
what differently (1, 21). Ister slates, moreover, that
:he Athenians passed a decree to appoint an annual
sacrifice to so admirable a man. (Fir. Anon. )--Sev-
en tragedies alone remain out of the great number
which Sophocles composed; yet among these seven
we probably possess the most splendid productions of
lis genius. Suidas makes the number which lie wrote
one hundred and twenty-three. Aristophanes, the
grammarian, one hundred and thirty, seventeen of
which he deemed spurious. Bockh considers both
statements erroneous. It appears from the argument
. 0 the Antigone, that this play was exhibited a little
before the generalship of Sophocles, B. C. 441, and
that this was his thirty-second drama; and it is known
ihat Sophocles began to exhibit B. C. 468. Hence
Bockh argues that, as during the first twenty-seven
/cars of his dramatic career he produced thirty-two tra-
gedies, so during the remaining thirty-six years it is not
probable he composed many more than this number.
He therefore supposes that the true number is seventy,
>>r nearly so. To Iophon, the son of Sophocles, he re-
ers many of the plays which bore the father's name;
others he ascribes to the favourite grandson, Sopho-
eles, son of Ariston, by his wife or mistress Theoris.
The result of Bockh s investigation is, that of the one
nundred and six dramas whose titles remain, only twen-
ty-six can, with any certainty, be assigned to the elder
Sophocles. (Bockh. a J Trag. Grac. ,c. 8,seqq. )--The
personal character of Sophocles, without rising into
spotless excellence or exalted heroism, was honoura-
ble, calm, and amiable. In his younger days he seems
? o have been addicted to intemperance in love and wine
(Oic, Off. , 1, iO. --Athen. , 13, p. 603. ) And a say-
ing of his, recorded by Plato, Cicero, and Athemeus,
while it confirms the charges just mentioned, would
ilso imply that years had cooled the turbulent passions
of his youth. "I thank old sge," said the poet, " for
ielivering me from the tyranny of my appetites. " Yet
even in his later days, the charms of a Theoris and
ar. Archippe sre reported to have been too powerful for
? ? the still susceptible dramatist. Aristophanes, who, in
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? SOPHOCLES.
SOts
1? oj bia r. ghts within those limits. As . Eschylm
delights in carrying all his fictions into the disturban-
ces of the old world of Titanism, Sophocles, on the
contrary, 8eems to avail himself of Divii. e interference
only of necessity. He formed human beings, ss was
the general agreement of antiquity, belter, thai is, not
mom moraV and unerring, but more beautiful and noble
than they are in reality. --As characteristic of this poet,
the ancients have praised that native sweetness and
grac afulness, on account of which thoy called him the
Attic Bee. Whoever has penetrated into the feeling
of this peculiarity, may flatter himself that the spirit
for antique art has arisen within him; for modern sen-
sibility, very far from being able to fall in with that
judgment, would be more likely to find in the Sopho-
clean tragedy, both in respect of the representation of
bodily suffering and in the sentiments and arrange-
ments, much thai is insufferably auatere. --We will
now proceed to give a brief sketch of the tragedies of
Sophocles that have corns down to us. 1. Ataf uaa-
riyopopoc, "Ajax armed with the lash. " The sub-
ject of this piece is the madness of Ajax, his death,
and the dispute which arises on the subject of his in-
terment. Many critics have regarded the play as de-
fective, because the action does not terminate with
the death of the hero ; but, after this catastrophe, an
incident occurs which forms a second action. To this
it has been replied that there is not, in fact, any double
action, since the first is not terminated by the death of
Ajax, to whom burial is refused: as the deprivation
of funeral riles was regarded by the ancients in the
light of one of the greatest misfortunes, ihe spectators
could not have gone away satisfied so long as the
question of burial remained unsettled in the case of one
whose death they had mourned. --2. 'HUitrpa, " Elec-
tra. " The subject of this piece is the vengeance
which a son. urged on by an oracle, and in obedience
to the decree of Heaven, takes on the murderers of his
father, by consigning to death his own mother. The
character of Electra, the daughter of Agamemnon,
who here plays the principal part, is admirably deline-
ated, and sustained with exceeding ability throughout
the whole play. The recognition between the brother
and sister forms one of the most touching scenes in
the whole compass of the Grecian drama. --3. Oi'dt-
irovf Tvpavvoe, "King CEdipus. " It would be diffi-
cult to conceive a subject more thoroughly, tragical
than that which forms the basis of this play. The
grand and terrific meaning of the fable, however, as
Schlegel has well remarked, is a circumstance which
is generally overlooked: to that very CEdipus, who
solved the riddle of human life propounded by the
Sphinx, his own life remained an inexplicable riddle,
till it was cleared up, all too late, in the most dreadful
manner, when all was irrecoverably lost.
This is a
striking image of the arrogant pretensions of human
wisdom, which always proceeds upon generalities,
without teaching its possessor the right application of
them to himself. The CEdipus Tyrannua is regarded
not merely as the chef-d'oeuvre of Sophocles, but also,
as regards the choice and disposition of the fable, as
the finest tragedy of antiquity. And yet we know
that it failed of obtaining the prize. It has been imi-
tated by Seneca, P. Corneille, and Voltaire. --4. 'kv-
riyovn. "Antigone. " Creon, king of Thebes, had or-
dered that no one should bestow the rites of burial on
Polynices, and his object in so doing was to punish
? ? him for having borne arms against his country. Anti-
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? SPA
SPARTA.
Supination of the >>ixth day before the calends of
March was called the intercalary day. and the year in
which thi>> took place was styled Bissextile. This
was the . . ulian year, the reckoning by which com-
menced 45 B. C. , and continued till it gave place to
something more accurate, and a still farther reforma-
tion under Pope Gregory XIII. Sosigenes was the
author of a commentary upon Aristotle's book di
Calo.
Sosu, celebrated booksellers at Rome, in the age of
Horace. (Ep , 1, 20, 2. --Ep. ad Pis. , 345. )
Sustratud, I. a grammarian in the age of Augus-
tus. He was Strabo's preceptor. --II. An architect
of ("nidus. H C. 284, who built the tower of Pharos,
in the Bay of Alcxandrea. (Vid. Pharos. )--III. A
poet, who wrote a poem on the expedition of Xerxes
into Greece. (Jut. , 10, 178. -- Ltmairt, ad loe )
Sotaoes, I an Athenian poet of the middle come-
dy. (Sehbtl. , Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol, 2, p. 115 )--II. A
Greek port, a native of Maronea, whose name has de-
scended to posterity covered with infamy. He was
the author of Cinedologic strains, which exceeded in
impurity anything that had gone before them. These
poems, at first called lonica, were subsequently de-
nominated Sotadica. Having, before leaving Alex-
andres, where he had been living aome lime, written a
very gross epigram on Ptolemy Philadelphus, that
prince caused him to be pursued. Sotades was seiz-
ed in the island of Caunus, enclosed in a case of
lead, and cast into the sea. (Allien , 14, p. 620, ed.
Schweigk. , vol 5, p. 247. )
Sotkr, a surname of the first Ptolemy. (Vid.
Ptolemx'iis I )
Sothis, the Egyptian name of the star Sirius.
[Vid. Sirius. )
Sotiates, a people of Gaul conquered by Caesar.
ITieir country, which formed part of Aquitania, ex-
tended along the Garumna or Garonne, and their
chief town was Sotiatum, of which some traces still
(? main at the modern Sos. (Cats. , B. G-, 3, 20. )
Sotion, a grammarian of Alexandre,! , preceptor to
Boneca, B. C. 204. (Sencc. , Ep. , 49, 50. )
Sozomen, an ecclesiaatical historian, born, accord-
ing to some, at Salamis, in the island of Cyprus, but,
according to others, at Gaza or Bethulta, in Palestine.
Ho died 450 A. D. His history extends from tho
year 324 to 439, and is dedicated to Theodosius the
Younger, being written in a style of inelegance and
mediocrity. He is chargeable with several notorious
errors in the relation of facts, and has incurred cen-
sure for his commendations of Theodorus of Mopsu-
esta, with whom originated the heresy of two persons
in Christ. His history is usually printed with that of
Socrates and the other ecclesiastical historians. The
best edition is that of Reading, Cantab, 1720, folio.
A work of Sozomen. not now extant, containing, in
two hooks, a summary account of the affairs of the
Church from the ascension of our Saviour to the de-
feat of Liciniua, was written before his history.
Sparta, a celebrated city of Greece, the capital of
Laconia. It was situated in a plain of some extent,
bounded on one side by the chain of Taygetus, on the
other by the less elevated ridge of Mount Thornax,
and through which flowed the Eurotas. In the age of
Thucydides it was an inconsiderable town, without
fortifications, presenting rather the appearance of a
collection of villages than of a regularly-planned and
? ? well-built city. The public buildings also were very
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? SPARTA.
SPARTA.
hod and sea, to the Spartans. Pausanias, guardian
of the infant son of Leonidas, gained the celebrated
victory of Plataea over the Persians (B. C. 479), at the
head of the allies. On the same day, the Grecian
army and fleet, under the command of the Spartan
king Iieotychides, and the Athenian genera! Xanthip-
pu>>, defeated the Persians, by land and sea, near My-
cale With the rise of the political importance of
Spaita. the social organization of the nation was de-
veloped. The power of the kings was gradually limit-
ed, while that of tho ephori was increased. After the
Persians had been victoriously repelled, the Grecian
states, having acquired warlike habits, carried on hos-
tilities against each other. The jealousy of Sparta
towards Athens rose to such a height, that the I. ace-
drrmoiiians. under pretence that the Persians, in case
of a renewal of the war, would find a tenable position
in Athens, opposed the rebuilding of its walls and the
fortification of the Piraeus. Themistocles, discerning
the real grounds of this proceeding, baffled the designs
of Sparta by a stratagem, and thus contributed to
increase the ill-will of that state towards Athens.
The tyrannical conduct of Pausanias alienated the
other allies from Sparta; and most of them submitted
to the command of Athens. But, while Sparta was
learning moderation, Athens became so arrogant to-
wards the confederates, that they again attached them-
selves to the former power, which now began to
make preparations in secret for a new struggle. The
Athenians, however, formally renounced the friend-
ship of Sparia, and began hostilities (B. C. 431). This
war, the Peloponnesian, ended in the ascendancy of
Sparta, and the entire humiliation of her rival (-JUS).
The rivalry of the Spartan general Lysander and the
king Pausanias soon after produced a revolution,
which delivered the Athenians from the Spartan yoke.
Tiie Spnrtans next became involved in a war with
Piisia, hy joining Cyrua the Younger in his rebellion
against his brother Artaxerxes Mnemon. The Per-
sian throne was shaken by the victories of Agesi-
bus; but Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and some of
the Pc'oponnesian states were instigated by Persian
gold to declare war against the Lacedaemonians, who
found it necessary to recall Agesilaus. The latter
defeated the Thcbans at Coroiuea; but, on the other
hand, '. he Athenian commander, Conon, gained a vic-
tory over the Spartan fleet at Cnidus, and took fifty
galley,. This war, known as the Boeotian or Co-
rinthian war, lasted eight years, and increased the rep-
utation and power of Athens by the successes of her
admiral, Conon, and her fortunate expeditions against
the Spartan coasts and the islands of the iEgean.
The arrogance of Athens again involved her in hostil-
ities with Persia; and Antalcidas (B. C. 388) conclu-
ded the peace which bears his name, and which, though
highly advantageous to Persia, delivered Sparta from
hor enemies. The ambitious designs of Sparta in
concluding this peace soon became apparent: she con-
tinued to oppress her allies, and to sow dissension in
every quarter, that she might have an opportunity of
acting as umpire. Besides other outrages, she occu-
pied, without provocation, the city of Thebes, and in-
troduced an anslocratical constitution there. Pelopi-
das delivered Thebes, and the celebrated Theban war
followed, in which Athens took part, at first against
Sparta, but afterward in her favour. The latter was
so much enfeebled by the war that she thenceforward
? ? ceased to act a distinguished part in Greece. No
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? SFA
s PE
ware nol entirely remitted even afier they had attained
10 manhood. For it was a maxim with Lvcurgus,
that no man should live for himself, but for his coun-
try. Every Spartan, therefore, was regarded as a
soldier, and the city itself resembled a great camp,
where every one had a fixed allowance, and was re-
quired to perform regular service. In order that they
might have more leisure to devote themselves to
martial pursuits, they were forbidden to exercise any
mechanical arts or trades, which, together with the
labours of agriculture, devolved upon the Helots. --
Till the seventh year the child was kept in the gy-
ittTeum, under the care of the women; from that age
to the eighteenth year they were called boys (npurq-
pec), and thence to the age of thirty youths (c(fnj6oi).
In the thirtieth year the Spartan entered the period of
manhood, and enjoyed the full rights of a citizen. At
the age of seven the boy was withdrawn from the pa-
ternal care, and educated under the public eye, in com-
pany with others of the same age, without distinction
of rank or fortune. If any person withheld his son
from the care of the state, he forfeited his civil rights.
The principal object of attention, during the periods
of boyhood and youth, was the physical education,
which consisted in the practice of various gymnastic
exercises--running, leaping, throwing the discus, wres-
tling, boxing, the chase, and the pancratium. These
exercises were performed naked, in certain buildings
called gymnasia. Besides gymnastics, dancing and
the military exercises were practised. A singular cus-
tom was the flogging of boys (diamastigosis) on the
annual festival of Diana Onhia, for the purpose of in-
uring them to bear pain with firmness. (Vid. Bomon-
icae. ) To teach the youth cunning, vigilance, and
activity, they were encouraged to practise theft in cer-
tain casts; hut if delected, they were flogged, or obli-
ged to go without food, or compelled to dance round
the altar, singing songs in ridicule of themselves. The
dread of the shame consequent on being discovered
sometimes led to the most extraordinary acts. Thus
it is related that a boy who had stolen a young fox,
ai. d concealed it under his clothes, suffered it to gnaw
out his bowels rather than reveal the theft by suffer-
ing the fox to escape. Modesty of deportment was
also particularly attended to; and conciseness of lan-
guage was so much studied, that the term laconic is
mill employed to signify a short and pithy manner of
speaking. The Spartans were the only people of
Greece who avowedly despised learning, and excluded
it from the education of youth. Their whole instruc-
tion consisted in learning obedience to their superiors,
the endurance of all hardships, and to conquer or die
in war. The youth were, however, carefully instruct-
ed in a knowledge of the laws, which, not being re-
duced to writing, were taught orally. The education
of the females was entirely different from that of the
Athenians. Instead of remaining at home, as in Ath-
ens, spinning, etc. , they danced in public, wrestled
with each other, ran on the course, threw the discus,
dec. The object of this training of the women was to
give a vigorous constitution to their children. (Ency-
rlop. Americ. , vol. 11, p. 629, seqq. --Cramer's Anc.
Greece, vol. 3, p. 158, seqq. )
Spartacus, a celebrated gladiator, a Thracian by
birth, who escaped from the gladiatorial training-school
at Capua along with some of his companions, and was
soon followed by great numbers of other glsdiators.
? ? Bands of desperate men, slaves, murderers, robbers,
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? SPI
ST . 1
Mm; the surly philosopher refused to return the sa-
lute, and told him that such a feeble wretch ought to
be ashamed to live; to which Speusippus replied,
that he lived, not in his limbs, but in his mind. At
length, being wholly incapacitated by a paralytic
stroke for the duties of the chair, he resigned it to
Xenocratei. He is said to have been of a violent
temper, fond of pleasure, and exceedingly avaricious.
Speusippus wrote many philosophical works which are
now lost, but which Arisrjtle thought sufficiently val-
uable lo purchase at the expense of three talents.
From the few fragments which remain of his philoso-
phy, it appears that he adhered very strictly to the
doctrines of his master. (Enfield, History of Phi-
losophy, vol. 1, p. 243, seqq. )
Sphacteria, an island off the coast of Mycenae,
and at the entrance of the harbour of Pylos Messeni-
acus, which it nearly closed. It was also known by
the name of Sphagia, which it still retains. Sphacte-
ria is celebrated in Grecian history for the defeat and
capture of a Lacedaemonian detachment in the sev-
enth year of the Peloponnesian war. (Strabo. 359. )
Sphinx, a fabulous monster, an account of which
will be found under the article CEdipus. --The Sphinx
is not mentioned by Homer; but the legend is no-
ticed in the Theogony (v.
extravagant demands of those who desired all debts to
be cancelled, and the lands of the rich to be confis-
cated and parcelled out among the poor, he met the
reasonable expectations of the public by his disbur-
dening ordinance (iiiouxOcia), and relieved the debt-
or, partly by a reduction of the rate of interest, which
was probably made retrospective, and thus, in many
cases, would wipe off a great part of the debt, and
partly by lowering the standard of the silver coinage,
so that the debtor saved more than one fourth in ev-
ery payment. (Pint. , Sol. , 15. -- Vid. Boeckk, StaaUk. ,
2, p. 360. ) He likewise released the pledged lands
from their encumbrances, and restored them in full
property to their owners; though it does not seem cer-
tain whether this was one of the express objects of
Cite measure, or only one of the consequences which
it involved. Finally, he abolished the inhuman law
which enabled the creditor to enslave his debtor, and
restored thoso who were pining at home in such bond-
age to immediate liberty; and it would seem that he
compelled those who had sold their debtors into for-
eign countries to procure their freedom at their own
expense. The debt itself, in such cases, was of
course held to be extinguished. Solon himself, in a
poem which he afterward composed on the subject of
his legislation, spoke with a becoming pride of the
happy change which this measure had wrought in the
face of Attica, of the numerous citizens whose lands
he had discharged, and whose persons he had'eman-
cipated, and brought'back from hopeless slavery in
strange lands. He was only unfortunate in bestowing
his confidence on persons who were incapable of imi-
tating his virtue, and who abused his intimacy. At
the time when all men were uncertain as to his inten-
tions, and no kind of property could be thought se-
cure, he privately informed three of his friends of his
determination not to touch the estates of the land-own-
ers, but only to reduce the amount of debt. He had
afterward the vexation of discovering, that the men to
whom he had intrusted this secret had been base
enough to take advantage of it, by making large pur-
chases of land--which at such a juncture bore, no
? ? lioubt, a very low price--with borrowed money. For-
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? SOLON.
jXOI. OR.
jtners which had hitherto been reserved to the nobles;
thev were also destined to fill the highest commands
in the army, as ir later times, when Athens became a
maritime power, they did in the fleet. Some lower
offices were undoubtedly left open to the second and
thiro class, though we are unable to define the extent
of their privileges, or to ascertain whether, in their po-
litical rights, one had any advantage over the other.
Thev were at least distinguished from each other by
the mode of their military service; the one furnishing
the cavalry, the other the heavy-armed infantry. But,
tor their exclusion from the dignities occupied by the
wealthy few, they received a compensation in the
comparative lightness of their burdens. They were
assessed, not in exact proportion to the amount of
their incomes, but at a much lower rate; the nominal
value of their property being for this purpose reduced
below the truth, that of the knights by one sixth, that
of the third class by one third. The fourth class was
excluded from all share in the magistracy, and from
the honours and duties of the full-armed warrior, the
expense of which would, in general, exceed their means:
by land they served only as light troops; in later times
they manned the fleets. In return, they were exempt-
ed from all direct contributions, and they were permit-
ted to take a part in the popular assembly, as well as
in the exercise of those judicial powers which were
now placed in the hands of the people. We shall
shortly have occasion to observe how amply this boon
compensated for the loss of all the privileges that were
withheld from them. Solon's classification takes no
notice of any other than landed property; yet, as the
example of Solon himself seems to prove that Attica
must already have carried on some foreign trade, it is
not unlikely that there were fortunes of this kind equal
to those which gave admission to the higher classes.
But '? '. can hardly be supposed that they placed their
possessors on a level with the owners of the soil; it
is more probable that these, together with the newly-
adopted citizens, without regard to their various de-
grees of affluence, were all included in the lowest
rlass. Salon's system then made room for all free-
men, but assigned to them different places, varying
with their visible means of serving the state. His
general aim in the distribution of power, as he himself
explains it in a fragment which Plutarch has preserved
from one of his poems, was to give such a share to the
commonalty as would enable it to protect itself, and to
the wealthy as much as was necessary for retaining
their dignity; in other words, for ruling the people
without the means of oppressing it. He threw his
strong shield, he says, over both, and permitted neither
to gain an unjust advantage. The magistrates, though
elected upon a different qualification, retained their an-
cient authority; but they were now responsible for
the exercise of it, not to their own body, but to the
governed. The judicial functions of the archons were
perhaps preserved nearly in their full extent; but ap-
peals were allowed from their jurisdiction to courts
numerously composed, and filled indiscriminately from
all classes. (P/uf. , Sol. , 18. ) Solon could not fore-
see the change of circumstances by which this right
of appeal became the instrument of overthrowing the
equilibrium which he hoped to have established on a
? olid basis, when that which he had designed to exer-
cise an extraordinary jurisdiction became an ordinary
tribunal, which drew almost all causes to itself, and
? ? overruled every other power in the state. He seems to
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? SUP
SOPHOCLES.
(3 witness the partial overthrow of his system in the
usurpation of Pisistratus. (Vid. Pisistratus. )--It is
sot certain how long he survived this inroad upon his
institutions; one account, apparently the most authen-
tic, places his death in the year following thst in
which the revolution occurred (B. C. 559). The lei-
sure of his retirement from public life was to the last
devoted to the Muses: and if we might trust Pla-
to's assertions on such subjects, he was engaged at
'lie time of his death in the composition of a great po-
em, in which he had designed to describe the flourish-
ing state of Attica before the Ogygian flood, and to
celebrate the wars which it waged with the inhabitants
of the vast island which afterward sank in the Atlantic
Ocean. On the fragments of this poem, preserved in
the family, Plato, himself a descendant of Solon, pro-
fesses to have founded a work which he left unfinished,
but in which he had meant to exhibit hit imaginary
state in life and action. It is certainly not improba-
ble that Solon, when the prospect of his country be-
came gloomy, and his own political career was closed,
indulged his imagination with excursions into an ideal
world, where he may have raised a social fabric as un-
l. ke as possible to the realitv which he had before his
eyes at home, and perhaps suggested by what he had
seer, or heard in Egypt. It is only important to ob-
serve that the fact, if admitted, can lead to no safe
conclusions ss to his abstract political principles, and
tan still less be allowed to sway our judgment on the
design and character of his institutions. (Thirluall's
Greece, vol. 2, p. 23, sa/q )--Solon is generally ranked
under the gnomic poets, and some fragments of his
C reductions in this department have been preserved
y the ancient writers. Of these the finest is his
"prayer to the Muses. " The fragments of Solon
are found in the collections of H. Stephens, Winter-
ton, Brunck, Gaisford, and Boissonnade. --(Scholl,
Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 1, p. 238. )
Sih. vmi, a people of Lycia, of whom an account is
giren under the head of Lycia.
Somnus, son of Erebus and Nox, was one of the
deities of the lower world, and the god of Sleep. The
Latin poet Ovid (Met. , 11, 592, seqq. ), probably after
some Grecian predecessor, as was usually the case,
gives a beautiful description of the Cave of Sleep, near
:hi- land of the Cimmerians, and of the cortege which
. here attended on him, as Morpheus, Icelos or Phor-
3f ler, and Phantasos; the first of whom takes the form
ol man to appear in dreams, the second of animals, the
? liird of inanimate objects. (Keighlley's Mythology,
a. 200. )
Sonus, a river of India, falling into the Ganges, and
now the Saone ot Son. As this river towards its ori-
gin is called Ando-nadi, it appears that the name An-
domain (given also in Arrian), or. rather, Ando-natis,
can denote no other than it. (Plin. , 6, 18. )
Sophknk, a country of Armenia, between the prin-
cipal stream of the Euphrates and Mount Masius. It is
now called Zoph. (Dio Cass. , 36, 36. --Plin. , 5,12. )
Sophoclfs, a celebrated tragic poet, born at Colo-
nic, a village little more than a mile from Athens,
B. C. 495. He was, consequently, thirty years junior
to iEschylus, and fifteen senior to Euripides, the for-
mer having been born B. C. 525, and the latter B. C.
480. --Sophilus, his father, a man of opulence and re-
spectability, bestowed upon his son a careful educa-
tion in all the literary and personal accomplishments
? ? if Ilia age and country. The powers of the future
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? SOPHOCLES.
? trier produced, was to read before the court hia
CEdipus at Colonua, t piece which he had just com-
po*>>d; or, according to others, that beautiful chorus
oni in which he celebrates the loveliness of his fa-
vourite residence (Cic. ,dc Fin. , 5, 1). The admiring
judges instantly arose, dismissed the cause, and ac-
companied the aged poet to his house with the utmost
honour and respect Sophocles was spared the mis-
ery of beholding the utter overthrow of his declining
country. Early in the year 405 B. C. , some months
before the defeat of jEgospotamos put the finishing
stroke to the misfortunes of Athens, death came gen-
tly upon the venerable old man, full of years and glory.
The accounts of his death are very diverse, all tending
to the marvellous. later and Neanthes state that he
was choked by a grape; Satyrus makes him to expire
from excessive exertion, in reading aloud a long para-
graph out of the Antigone; others ascribe his death
to extreme joy at being proclaimed the Tragic victor.
Not content with the singularity of his death, the
ancient recorders of his life add prodigy to his funeral
also. He died when the Athenians were cooped up
within their walls, and the Lacedemonians were in
possession of Decelea, the place of his family sepul-
chre. Bacchus twice appeared in a vision to Lysan-
der, tho Spartan general, and bid him allow the inter-
ment; which accordingly took place with all due so-
lemnity. Pausanias, however, tells the story some-
what differently (1, 21). Ister slates, moreover, that
:he Athenians passed a decree to appoint an annual
sacrifice to so admirable a man. (Fir. Anon. )--Sev-
en tragedies alone remain out of the great number
which Sophocles composed; yet among these seven
we probably possess the most splendid productions of
lis genius. Suidas makes the number which lie wrote
one hundred and twenty-three. Aristophanes, the
grammarian, one hundred and thirty, seventeen of
which he deemed spurious. Bockh considers both
statements erroneous. It appears from the argument
. 0 the Antigone, that this play was exhibited a little
before the generalship of Sophocles, B. C. 441, and
that this was his thirty-second drama; and it is known
ihat Sophocles began to exhibit B. C. 468. Hence
Bockh argues that, as during the first twenty-seven
/cars of his dramatic career he produced thirty-two tra-
gedies, so during the remaining thirty-six years it is not
probable he composed many more than this number.
He therefore supposes that the true number is seventy,
>>r nearly so. To Iophon, the son of Sophocles, he re-
ers many of the plays which bore the father's name;
others he ascribes to the favourite grandson, Sopho-
eles, son of Ariston, by his wife or mistress Theoris.
The result of Bockh s investigation is, that of the one
nundred and six dramas whose titles remain, only twen-
ty-six can, with any certainty, be assigned to the elder
Sophocles. (Bockh. a J Trag. Grac. ,c. 8,seqq. )--The
personal character of Sophocles, without rising into
spotless excellence or exalted heroism, was honoura-
ble, calm, and amiable. In his younger days he seems
? o have been addicted to intemperance in love and wine
(Oic, Off. , 1, iO. --Athen. , 13, p. 603. ) And a say-
ing of his, recorded by Plato, Cicero, and Athemeus,
while it confirms the charges just mentioned, would
ilso imply that years had cooled the turbulent passions
of his youth. "I thank old sge," said the poet, " for
ielivering me from the tyranny of my appetites. " Yet
even in his later days, the charms of a Theoris and
ar. Archippe sre reported to have been too powerful for
? ? the still susceptible dramatist. Aristophanes, who, in
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? SOPHOCLES.
SOts
1? oj bia r. ghts within those limits. As . Eschylm
delights in carrying all his fictions into the disturban-
ces of the old world of Titanism, Sophocles, on the
contrary, 8eems to avail himself of Divii. e interference
only of necessity. He formed human beings, ss was
the general agreement of antiquity, belter, thai is, not
mom moraV and unerring, but more beautiful and noble
than they are in reality. --As characteristic of this poet,
the ancients have praised that native sweetness and
grac afulness, on account of which thoy called him the
Attic Bee. Whoever has penetrated into the feeling
of this peculiarity, may flatter himself that the spirit
for antique art has arisen within him; for modern sen-
sibility, very far from being able to fall in with that
judgment, would be more likely to find in the Sopho-
clean tragedy, both in respect of the representation of
bodily suffering and in the sentiments and arrange-
ments, much thai is insufferably auatere. --We will
now proceed to give a brief sketch of the tragedies of
Sophocles that have corns down to us. 1. Ataf uaa-
riyopopoc, "Ajax armed with the lash. " The sub-
ject of this piece is the madness of Ajax, his death,
and the dispute which arises on the subject of his in-
terment. Many critics have regarded the play as de-
fective, because the action does not terminate with
the death of the hero ; but, after this catastrophe, an
incident occurs which forms a second action. To this
it has been replied that there is not, in fact, any double
action, since the first is not terminated by the death of
Ajax, to whom burial is refused: as the deprivation
of funeral riles was regarded by the ancients in the
light of one of the greatest misfortunes, ihe spectators
could not have gone away satisfied so long as the
question of burial remained unsettled in the case of one
whose death they had mourned. --2. 'HUitrpa, " Elec-
tra. " The subject of this piece is the vengeance
which a son. urged on by an oracle, and in obedience
to the decree of Heaven, takes on the murderers of his
father, by consigning to death his own mother. The
character of Electra, the daughter of Agamemnon,
who here plays the principal part, is admirably deline-
ated, and sustained with exceeding ability throughout
the whole play. The recognition between the brother
and sister forms one of the most touching scenes in
the whole compass of the Grecian drama. --3. Oi'dt-
irovf Tvpavvoe, "King CEdipus. " It would be diffi-
cult to conceive a subject more thoroughly, tragical
than that which forms the basis of this play. The
grand and terrific meaning of the fable, however, as
Schlegel has well remarked, is a circumstance which
is generally overlooked: to that very CEdipus, who
solved the riddle of human life propounded by the
Sphinx, his own life remained an inexplicable riddle,
till it was cleared up, all too late, in the most dreadful
manner, when all was irrecoverably lost.
This is a
striking image of the arrogant pretensions of human
wisdom, which always proceeds upon generalities,
without teaching its possessor the right application of
them to himself. The CEdipus Tyrannua is regarded
not merely as the chef-d'oeuvre of Sophocles, but also,
as regards the choice and disposition of the fable, as
the finest tragedy of antiquity. And yet we know
that it failed of obtaining the prize. It has been imi-
tated by Seneca, P. Corneille, and Voltaire. --4. 'kv-
riyovn. "Antigone. " Creon, king of Thebes, had or-
dered that no one should bestow the rites of burial on
Polynices, and his object in so doing was to punish
? ? him for having borne arms against his country. Anti-
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? SPA
SPARTA.
Supination of the >>ixth day before the calends of
March was called the intercalary day. and the year in
which thi>> took place was styled Bissextile. This
was the . . ulian year, the reckoning by which com-
menced 45 B. C. , and continued till it gave place to
something more accurate, and a still farther reforma-
tion under Pope Gregory XIII. Sosigenes was the
author of a commentary upon Aristotle's book di
Calo.
Sosu, celebrated booksellers at Rome, in the age of
Horace. (Ep , 1, 20, 2. --Ep. ad Pis. , 345. )
Sustratud, I. a grammarian in the age of Augus-
tus. He was Strabo's preceptor. --II. An architect
of ("nidus. H C. 284, who built the tower of Pharos,
in the Bay of Alcxandrea. (Vid. Pharos. )--III. A
poet, who wrote a poem on the expedition of Xerxes
into Greece. (Jut. , 10, 178. -- Ltmairt, ad loe )
Sotaoes, I an Athenian poet of the middle come-
dy. (Sehbtl. , Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol, 2, p. 115 )--II. A
Greek port, a native of Maronea, whose name has de-
scended to posterity covered with infamy. He was
the author of Cinedologic strains, which exceeded in
impurity anything that had gone before them. These
poems, at first called lonica, were subsequently de-
nominated Sotadica. Having, before leaving Alex-
andres, where he had been living aome lime, written a
very gross epigram on Ptolemy Philadelphus, that
prince caused him to be pursued. Sotades was seiz-
ed in the island of Caunus, enclosed in a case of
lead, and cast into the sea. (Allien , 14, p. 620, ed.
Schweigk. , vol 5, p. 247. )
Sotkr, a surname of the first Ptolemy. (Vid.
Ptolemx'iis I )
Sothis, the Egyptian name of the star Sirius.
[Vid. Sirius. )
Sotiates, a people of Gaul conquered by Caesar.
ITieir country, which formed part of Aquitania, ex-
tended along the Garumna or Garonne, and their
chief town was Sotiatum, of which some traces still
(? main at the modern Sos. (Cats. , B. G-, 3, 20. )
Sotion, a grammarian of Alexandre,! , preceptor to
Boneca, B. C. 204. (Sencc. , Ep. , 49, 50. )
Sozomen, an ecclesiaatical historian, born, accord-
ing to some, at Salamis, in the island of Cyprus, but,
according to others, at Gaza or Bethulta, in Palestine.
Ho died 450 A. D. His history extends from tho
year 324 to 439, and is dedicated to Theodosius the
Younger, being written in a style of inelegance and
mediocrity. He is chargeable with several notorious
errors in the relation of facts, and has incurred cen-
sure for his commendations of Theodorus of Mopsu-
esta, with whom originated the heresy of two persons
in Christ. His history is usually printed with that of
Socrates and the other ecclesiastical historians. The
best edition is that of Reading, Cantab, 1720, folio.
A work of Sozomen. not now extant, containing, in
two hooks, a summary account of the affairs of the
Church from the ascension of our Saviour to the de-
feat of Liciniua, was written before his history.
Sparta, a celebrated city of Greece, the capital of
Laconia. It was situated in a plain of some extent,
bounded on one side by the chain of Taygetus, on the
other by the less elevated ridge of Mount Thornax,
and through which flowed the Eurotas. In the age of
Thucydides it was an inconsiderable town, without
fortifications, presenting rather the appearance of a
collection of villages than of a regularly-planned and
? ? well-built city. The public buildings also were very
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? SPARTA.
SPARTA.
hod and sea, to the Spartans. Pausanias, guardian
of the infant son of Leonidas, gained the celebrated
victory of Plataea over the Persians (B. C. 479), at the
head of the allies. On the same day, the Grecian
army and fleet, under the command of the Spartan
king Iieotychides, and the Athenian genera! Xanthip-
pu>>, defeated the Persians, by land and sea, near My-
cale With the rise of the political importance of
Spaita. the social organization of the nation was de-
veloped. The power of the kings was gradually limit-
ed, while that of tho ephori was increased. After the
Persians had been victoriously repelled, the Grecian
states, having acquired warlike habits, carried on hos-
tilities against each other. The jealousy of Sparta
towards Athens rose to such a height, that the I. ace-
drrmoiiians. under pretence that the Persians, in case
of a renewal of the war, would find a tenable position
in Athens, opposed the rebuilding of its walls and the
fortification of the Piraeus. Themistocles, discerning
the real grounds of this proceeding, baffled the designs
of Sparta by a stratagem, and thus contributed to
increase the ill-will of that state towards Athens.
The tyrannical conduct of Pausanias alienated the
other allies from Sparta; and most of them submitted
to the command of Athens. But, while Sparta was
learning moderation, Athens became so arrogant to-
wards the confederates, that they again attached them-
selves to the former power, which now began to
make preparations in secret for a new struggle. The
Athenians, however, formally renounced the friend-
ship of Sparia, and began hostilities (B. C. 431). This
war, the Peloponnesian, ended in the ascendancy of
Sparta, and the entire humiliation of her rival (-JUS).
The rivalry of the Spartan general Lysander and the
king Pausanias soon after produced a revolution,
which delivered the Athenians from the Spartan yoke.
Tiie Spnrtans next became involved in a war with
Piisia, hy joining Cyrua the Younger in his rebellion
against his brother Artaxerxes Mnemon. The Per-
sian throne was shaken by the victories of Agesi-
bus; but Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and some of
the Pc'oponnesian states were instigated by Persian
gold to declare war against the Lacedaemonians, who
found it necessary to recall Agesilaus. The latter
defeated the Thcbans at Coroiuea; but, on the other
hand, '. he Athenian commander, Conon, gained a vic-
tory over the Spartan fleet at Cnidus, and took fifty
galley,. This war, known as the Boeotian or Co-
rinthian war, lasted eight years, and increased the rep-
utation and power of Athens by the successes of her
admiral, Conon, and her fortunate expeditions against
the Spartan coasts and the islands of the iEgean.
The arrogance of Athens again involved her in hostil-
ities with Persia; and Antalcidas (B. C. 388) conclu-
ded the peace which bears his name, and which, though
highly advantageous to Persia, delivered Sparta from
hor enemies. The ambitious designs of Sparta in
concluding this peace soon became apparent: she con-
tinued to oppress her allies, and to sow dissension in
every quarter, that she might have an opportunity of
acting as umpire. Besides other outrages, she occu-
pied, without provocation, the city of Thebes, and in-
troduced an anslocratical constitution there. Pelopi-
das delivered Thebes, and the celebrated Theban war
followed, in which Athens took part, at first against
Sparta, but afterward in her favour. The latter was
so much enfeebled by the war that she thenceforward
? ? ceased to act a distinguished part in Greece. No
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? SFA
s PE
ware nol entirely remitted even afier they had attained
10 manhood. For it was a maxim with Lvcurgus,
that no man should live for himself, but for his coun-
try. Every Spartan, therefore, was regarded as a
soldier, and the city itself resembled a great camp,
where every one had a fixed allowance, and was re-
quired to perform regular service. In order that they
might have more leisure to devote themselves to
martial pursuits, they were forbidden to exercise any
mechanical arts or trades, which, together with the
labours of agriculture, devolved upon the Helots. --
Till the seventh year the child was kept in the gy-
ittTeum, under the care of the women; from that age
to the eighteenth year they were called boys (npurq-
pec), and thence to the age of thirty youths (c(fnj6oi).
In the thirtieth year the Spartan entered the period of
manhood, and enjoyed the full rights of a citizen. At
the age of seven the boy was withdrawn from the pa-
ternal care, and educated under the public eye, in com-
pany with others of the same age, without distinction
of rank or fortune. If any person withheld his son
from the care of the state, he forfeited his civil rights.
The principal object of attention, during the periods
of boyhood and youth, was the physical education,
which consisted in the practice of various gymnastic
exercises--running, leaping, throwing the discus, wres-
tling, boxing, the chase, and the pancratium. These
exercises were performed naked, in certain buildings
called gymnasia. Besides gymnastics, dancing and
the military exercises were practised. A singular cus-
tom was the flogging of boys (diamastigosis) on the
annual festival of Diana Onhia, for the purpose of in-
uring them to bear pain with firmness. (Vid. Bomon-
icae. ) To teach the youth cunning, vigilance, and
activity, they were encouraged to practise theft in cer-
tain casts; hut if delected, they were flogged, or obli-
ged to go without food, or compelled to dance round
the altar, singing songs in ridicule of themselves. The
dread of the shame consequent on being discovered
sometimes led to the most extraordinary acts. Thus
it is related that a boy who had stolen a young fox,
ai. d concealed it under his clothes, suffered it to gnaw
out his bowels rather than reveal the theft by suffer-
ing the fox to escape. Modesty of deportment was
also particularly attended to; and conciseness of lan-
guage was so much studied, that the term laconic is
mill employed to signify a short and pithy manner of
speaking. The Spartans were the only people of
Greece who avowedly despised learning, and excluded
it from the education of youth. Their whole instruc-
tion consisted in learning obedience to their superiors,
the endurance of all hardships, and to conquer or die
in war. The youth were, however, carefully instruct-
ed in a knowledge of the laws, which, not being re-
duced to writing, were taught orally. The education
of the females was entirely different from that of the
Athenians. Instead of remaining at home, as in Ath-
ens, spinning, etc. , they danced in public, wrestled
with each other, ran on the course, threw the discus,
dec. The object of this training of the women was to
give a vigorous constitution to their children. (Ency-
rlop. Americ. , vol. 11, p. 629, seqq. --Cramer's Anc.
Greece, vol. 3, p. 158, seqq. )
Spartacus, a celebrated gladiator, a Thracian by
birth, who escaped from the gladiatorial training-school
at Capua along with some of his companions, and was
soon followed by great numbers of other glsdiators.
? ? Bands of desperate men, slaves, murderers, robbers,
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? SPI
ST . 1
Mm; the surly philosopher refused to return the sa-
lute, and told him that such a feeble wretch ought to
be ashamed to live; to which Speusippus replied,
that he lived, not in his limbs, but in his mind. At
length, being wholly incapacitated by a paralytic
stroke for the duties of the chair, he resigned it to
Xenocratei. He is said to have been of a violent
temper, fond of pleasure, and exceedingly avaricious.
Speusippus wrote many philosophical works which are
now lost, but which Arisrjtle thought sufficiently val-
uable lo purchase at the expense of three talents.
From the few fragments which remain of his philoso-
phy, it appears that he adhered very strictly to the
doctrines of his master. (Enfield, History of Phi-
losophy, vol. 1, p. 243, seqq. )
Sphacteria, an island off the coast of Mycenae,
and at the entrance of the harbour of Pylos Messeni-
acus, which it nearly closed. It was also known by
the name of Sphagia, which it still retains. Sphacte-
ria is celebrated in Grecian history for the defeat and
capture of a Lacedaemonian detachment in the sev-
enth year of the Peloponnesian war. (Strabo. 359. )
Sphinx, a fabulous monster, an account of which
will be found under the article CEdipus. --The Sphinx
is not mentioned by Homer; but the legend is no-
ticed in the Theogony (v.
