age is the
indiscriminate
and extravagant clothing of
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Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
SERES.
stem to have bad some acquaintance long before the
lime of Ptolemy. In the earlier fables and traditions
of the West, mention is made of a people named Alia-
tori, dwelling in a valley which was always warmed
by the genial rays of the sun, and protected by encir-
cling mountains from the rude blasts of the north, a
people closely assimilated in the peculiarities of their
situation to the fabled Hyperboreans. (Compare Plin. ,
6,17, who quotes an earlier author, A moments. )--Af-
ter leaving the Ottorokorne, the route led by Solona, in
a northeast direction, to the city of Sera. --Kosmas
Indicopleustes (Kosmas Indicopl. , Montfauc, iV. Coll.
Pair. , 2, 137, ? >. , et seqq. ) states, that the Brahmins
informed him, that if a line were drawn from the coun-
try of the Sinai (TJa. rJo) through Persia into the Ro-
man world, so as to strike Byzantium, it would divide
the earth into two equal parts. From this account
also, loose as it is, we may obtain very satisfactory
data for the position of Serica, which in the days of
Kosmas was confounded with the land of the Sina? ,
both of them being known merely as the country of
silk. --Among modern writers, the author of the " De-
cline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is decidedly in
favour of identifying the Seres with the people of Chi-
na {Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the R. E. , c. 40), and
hi* extensive and accurate learning is sufficiently well
known. But the most conclusive authority on the
subject is to be found in the pages of one of the first
Oriental scholars of the present day. (Klaproth, Ta-
bleaux Historiqucs de VAsie, depuis la monarchic de
Cyrus jusqu'a nos jours. , p. 58. ) "II n'y a plus de
doute," observes this writer, " que les Seres des an-
ciens ne soient les Chinois. D'apres les autcurs Grccs,
lo mot orjp desigue et le ver a soie et les habitants de
la Sirique ou les Sires; or, ce fait demontrc, que le
nom de ces derniers leur venait de la marchandise
precicusc que les peuples de l'Occident allaient cher-
chcr chez eux. En Armenien, l'insecto qui produit
la soie s'appelle chiram, nom qui ressemble assez au
o*i? p des Grccs. II est naturel de croire que ces deux
mots avaient ete empruntes a des peuples plus Orien-
taux. C'cst ce que les Ungues Mogole ct Mandchoue
aous donnent la facility de demontrcr. II en resultera
que le nom de la soie, chez les anciens, eft veritable-
inent originaire de la partie Orientate de l'Asie. I . a
<<ie s'appelle sirkek chez les Mcgols, et sirghe chez
es Mandchoux. Ces deux nations habitaient au nord
f t au nord-est de la Chine. Est-il presumable qu'elles
eussent rcc;u ces denominations des peuples Occiden-
laux? D'un aufre cdte, le mot Chinois sse ou sxu,
qui designe la Boie, monlre de la ressemblance avec
sirgh't ou sirkek, et avec le or/p des Urecs. Cctte
analogic frappcra d'autant plus quand on saura que,
dans la langue mandarine, le r ne se prononce pas,
tandis que cette finale se trouvait vraisemblablement
dans les anciens dialects de la Chine. Mais le mot co-
r? en str, qui designe la soie, est tout a fait idemique
avec le arip des Grecs, qui devait se prononcer aussi
sir. La soie a done donne son nom au peuple qui la
fabriquait et qui l'envoyait dans l'Occident, et lea Seres
sonl evidemment les Chinois, quoi qu'en puissent dire
les geographes, qui ne savent employer que le compas
pour chercher l'cmplacenient des nations. " Previous
to the appearance of the work from which the above
extract is made, its author had already published a
conjecture on the name of the Seres in one of the pe-
riodicals of the day. It is to this last that M Abel-
Remusat, another distinguished Orientalist, alludes in
? ? the following remarks (Melanges Asialiqucs, vol. 1,
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? SERES.
SERES.
rot) jetweeti tbe Bat lames and Roxolani, and, conse-
quently, on the two banks of the Borysthenes. The
Armenian historians make mention of them under the
lame of Hounk, and assign them, for their place of
residence, the country to the north of Caucasus, be-
tween the V dlga and the Don. For this same reason
they call the pass of Derbend the rampart of the Huns.
In the geography which is incorrectly ascribed to Mo-
ses of Khorene, the following passage also occurs:
"The Massagetas inhabit as far as the Caspian, where
is the branch of Mount Caucasus which contains the
rampart of Tarpant (Derbend), and a wonderful lower
built in the sea: to the north are the Huns, with their
city of Varhatchan, and others besides. " Moses of
Khorene, in his Armenian history, makes mention of
the wars which King Tiridates the Great, who reigned
from A. D. 259 to A. D. 312, waged against the north-
ern nations who had made an irruption into Armenia.
This monarch attacked them in the plains of tbe Kar-
keriens, in northern Albania, between Derbend and Te-
rek, defeated them, slow their prince, and pursued them
into the country of the Hounk or Huns. It were use-
less, however, to multiply authorities. (Compare
Klaproth, p. 235. ) Sufficient has been said to prove
that, in all probability, the original seats of the Huns
were in the vicinity of the Caspian. That they were
not of tbe Mongol or Calmuck race, is apparent of it-
self, if any reliance is to be placed upon the descrip-
tions that are given of their personal deformity by the
ancient writers. Scarcely a single feature of ihe well-
known Tartar physiognomy enters into these accounts
of them. They were probably Ihe same with the eastern
division of the Fins (Klaproth, p. 246), and hence the
theory which makes them to have dispossessed of their
primitive seals the ancient nations of the Seres, errs
in placing the original settlements of the Huns too far
altogether to the east. --We will now proceed to the
more immediate subject of inquiry, the knowledge
wnich the Greeks and Romans possessed in relation
to tbe silk manufacture of antiquity. The first writer
who gives Bny direct information on this head is Aris-
totle (Hist. Animal. , 5, 19). The surprising accuracy
of his account, considering his imperfect sources of in-
telligence, may well demand our attention. The pas-
sags is as follows: 'E/t it tivoc okM^koc fteyaXov,
<Sf Ixti olov Kipara ko< iiatyipet tuv i. XXuv, yivcrai
6i irpC'Tov /lev, fitrafaO. ovTos row OKuXnuoc, ku/itzv,
faeira po/tiiXwf, ex ie tovtov vexviaXoe. - iv If il
ur/ai nrraZuXhei ravrac rdc yuop^ac iruaaf in ie tov-
rov tov ? wov xai ru HopCvxia avaXvovai tuv ywat-
xuv nrcc uvaKT/vt^ofievat K&Treira vcpaivovat. tlpurtj
il Xtyerai i<j>uvai iv Ku Uaii$i? ,ri Aaruov dvyarr/p.
Athen. TMs refers to this passage in the following terms:
'loropci ['ApiororAjfcj bri koX ix 77c tuv fdeipuv
bxtlaf al xoviier; yewuvrai, xai Jn ix tov okuXvkoc;
fieraoViAXovrof yivtrai xufiirv, i? ' r/f Ho/i6v? . ibf, a<j>' oi
veKvia)j>{ 6vo/ia^6uevoc. -- Dr. Vincent unites these
two passages together, making the one supply what is
defective in the other, and gives the following transla-
tion of them : "There is a worm which issues from [an
egg as small as] the nit of lice: it is of a large size,
and has [protuberances, bearing the resemblance of]
horns, [in which respect] it diners from other worms.
The first change which it undergoes is by the conver-
sion of the worm into a caterpillar; it then becomes a
grub or chrysalis, and at length a moth. The whole
of this transformation is completed in six months.
? ? There are women who wind off a thread from this an-
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? SERES
8ERES.
tnerales two distinct races, the eastern and western
/Ethiopians. It is easy to perceive, from his descrip-
tion of the former, and their "long, straight hair,"
that none other are meant than the people of India.
if this deduction be correct, the Seres of Virgil will,
>>f course, be the people of China. As to their comb-
ing fleeces from the leave* of trees, the allusion is
manifestly to silk, which many of the ancients be-
lieved to be a sort of down gathered from the leaves
>>f trees. Thus Piiny (Ptin. , 6, 17), in a subsequent
age, remarks, "I'nmi aunt hominum qui noscantur
Seres, lanicio sylzarum nobilcs, perfusam aqua depec-
tentes frondium camciem. "--The moment silk be-
came known among the western nations, it was ea-
gerly purchased as an article of luxury, and began to
form a conspicuous part of Greek and Roman attire.
At that period of growing corruption, it was no won-
der that such an invention should be hailed with trans-
port, which, while it supplied the person with a cov-
ering, still, like our gauze, exposed every limb to the
eye of the beholder in almost perfect nudity. The
Emperor Hcliogabalus, it is true, in a later age, was
Ihe first who disgraced himself by appearing in a dress
wholly of silk ; yet Seric and Coan vestments are fre-
quently mentioned by the Roman writers either con-
temporary with, or not long subsequent to, the time
of Virgil. (Tibullus, 2, 4, 29 --1,1. , 2, 6. 35-- Pro-
pert. , 1, 4, 22. --Id. , 4, 8, 23-- Ovid, Am. , 1, 4, 16. )
About the period of which we are speaking, it would
appear that Seric vestments found their way to Rome
also from foreign nations. Florus (Florus, 4, 12, 16)
states, that in the reign of Augustus, an embassy
from the Seres came to Rome, with presents of pre-
cious stones, elephants, and other gifts. Among
these last, Seric vestments, or else raw silk, were no
doubt included. If we glance at the Greek writers
who flourished about this period, we shall be surprised
to find Strabo passing over, in almost total silence,
both the nation of the Seres as well as their singular
manufacture, the more especially as his contemporary,
Dionysius Periegetes, makes such full mention of it.
Thus we find Dionysius describing the Seres as a na-
tion of the farthest East, who paid no attention to cat-
tle or sheep, but occupied themselves in combing the
variegated flome'rs produced from their otherwise neg-
lected land, and in making vestments of an ingenious
and costly kind, resembling in hue the meadow-flow-
ers, and with which even spiders' techs could not com-
pare as to the fineness of texture. (Dionysii Perie-
gesis, v. 752, et seqq. ) Eustathius, archbishop of
Thessalonica, who flourished about 1160 A. D. , and
wrote a learned commentary on the work whence this
extract is taken, gives a very curious account of the
Seres, which would tend still more strongly to con-
firm the belief that they were identical with the Chi-
nese. He describes them (Eustath. , in Dionys. Pe-
rieg. , p. 239, ed. Oxon. ) as an unsocial nation, refu-
sing all intercourse with strangers (uirpoopiyeic av-
dfw-oi Kni (ivnui? . rjToi). They marked the price on
the articles which they wished to sell, and, having,
left them in a particular place, retired. The traders
then came, and placed by the side of the goods the
amount demanded, or else so much as they were will-
ing to give. Upon this they withdrew in their turn,
and the Seres coming back, either took what was of-
fered, or carried away the goods again. We have here
the same cautious system of commercial dealing which
? ? characterizes the Chinese of our own days, only in a
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? SERES.
SERES.
! rom repletion The Seres obtain a quantity of thread
from its bowels. '' What Pausanias adds, however,
respecting the situation of Serica, that it is "an island
in the recess of the Indian Ocean," probably refers to
Ceylon, and is grounded upon the mistaken idea (Hit-
ters Vprhalle, p. 113) that the silk, which formed a chief
article of export from that island, was likewise manu-
factured there. Tcrtulliau (de Pallio, c. 3) and Cle-
mens Alexandrinus (in l'adagog. , 2, 10) also speak
of the silkworm, and appear better acquainted with
the several changes which it undergoes than Pausani-
as. The principal points in which they differ from the
correct accounts of modern times are, their making the
insect in question resemble the spider in the mode of
forming its thread, and their assigning a different leaf
from that of the mulberry for its food. (Mcmoircs dc
VAcademie del Inscription*, vol. 7, p. 342. ) Dio
Cassius and Hcrodian both make mention of the Seric
manufactures. The former describes the ancient or/p-
? jtov in the following language (Dio Cassius, ed. Hci-
mar, 43, 24, p. 358, I. 25): Toiro ie to vtfaaua ,yXj-
iijc (iapbupov iariv Ipyov, Kai nap' ixeivuv mil itpoc
iuac, be Tpvtfiv Tuv mmi ywautwv ixeptTTijv. "This
species of tissue is a work of barbarian luxury, and
has found its way from that distant quarter even unto
us, in order to furnish our higher class of females with
the materials for excessive extravagance. " Herodian
speaks of Seric vestments as fitter for females than
for men (Herodian, ed. Irmisch. , 5, 5, 9, vol. 3, p.
144): Td roiavra KaXKuniouara owe uvdpaoiv cl/t? . u
GnMiatc rrpineiv. Vopiscus (Vit. Aurcl. , c. 45) in-
forms us, " Vestem holosericam neque ipse (Aurelia-
nus) in testiario suo habuit, neque alteri utendam dedtt.
El quum ab eo uxor sua petcret, ut unico pallio blatteo
serico uterelur, ills respondit: absit ut auro lib pen-
sentur; libra enim awri tunc libra serici fuit. " The
extravagant price which is here mentioned, a pound
of gold for a pound of silk, may easily be accounted
for by the circumstance of the overland trade to Seri-
es being rendered more precarious by the rapid rise
of the second Persian E. -npire. Passing by the sev-
tral authors who mention the Seric vestments without
any accompanying circumstances sufficiently impor-
tant to merit a quotation, wo come to Lampridius,
who devotes to infamy the Emperor Heliogabalus
(lampridius, Vit. Heliogab. . c. 26) for having first
dared to appear in a dress wholly of silk. St. Basil
(S. Basil, in exam, homil. , 8) makes a curious appli-
cation of the knowledge that appears to have been
generally diffused, about this period, respecting the
transformations of the silkworm, by exhorting the
rich, who could not be induced to dispense with gar-
ments of silk, to remember, at least, in putting them
on, that the worm, of whoso substance they were
made, is a type of the resurrection. Julius Pollux
(c. 384, 31, cap. 17, lib. 7) also alludes to this insect:
SkwAij/ci'c tiaiv ol (}6/i6vkcc, d0' im to. vr/para ivvov-
rai, bemep 6 apaxvrir biioi 6i km tovc Zqpac urra
Toiovrov irepuv (uuv uOpoi&iv <paoi ra itbdouara.
Ammianus Marcellinus (Arnmian. Marccll. , 23,6) next
follows, who gives the following narrative: "They
(the Seres) weave a delicate and tender thread, form-
ed from moistened wool, combining it into a kind ? >(
fleece by frequently sprinkling with water the pods of
the trees; spinning this into inner garments, they
manufacture that celebrated ailk which anciently com-
posed the dress of the (Roman) nobility, but in my
? ?
age is the indiscriminate and extravagant clothing of
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? SER
SERTOKIUS.
Eastern neighbours. Hence their territory t jd capi-
tal took the name of Serinda (Ser-Ind), and even at
Che present day the name continues to be Serhend, or
"the land where the Hindus i-iture the silkworm. ''
It was to this quarter, very probably, that the monks
of Justinian came. Gibbon, however, boldly asserts
that these monks were missionaries, who had pre-
viously penetrated to China, and resided at Nan-kin.
Decline and Fall, ch. 40. )
Seriphus, an island of the ^Egean, south of Cyth-
nus, and now Serpho. It was celebrated in mytholo-
gy as the scene of some of the most remarkable ad-
ventures of Perseus, who changed Polydectes, king of
the island, and his subjects, into stones, to avenge the
wrongs offered to his mother Danae. (Pind. , Pyth. ,
12, 19. ) Strabo seems to account for this fable from
the rocky nature of ihe island. (Strab. , 487. ) Pliny
makes its circuit twelve miles. In Juvenal's time
state-prisoners were sent there (10, 169). The frogs
of this island were said to be mute, but to utter their
usual note when carried elsewhere; and hence the
proverbial saying, Barpaxoc Ik Zrpiioti (Rana Seri-
phia), applied to dull and silent persons, who on a sud-
den became loquacious. (Compare, however, the re-
marks of Erasmus, Chil. 1, cent. 5, ad. 31, id.
Stepk. , p. 166. )
Serranus, I. a surname given to C. Atilius, from
his having been engaged in sowing his field {severe,
"to sow") when intelligence was- brought him of his
having been appointed to the dictatorship. (Plin. , 18,
4. --Pertion. , Animadv. Hut. , c. 1. --Liv. , 3, 26. --
Virg , &n. , 6, 844. )--II. A poet in the time of Nero,
to whom Sarpe has ascribed the eclogues that pass un-
der the name of Calpurnius. (Quttst. Philolog. , c.
2, p. II, seqq. -- Bahr, Gesch. Rom. Lit. , vol. I, p.
303. )
Sertorius, Quintus, a distinguished Roman gen-
eral, born at Nursia. He made his first campaign
under Caepio, when the Cimbri and Teutones broke
into Gaul; and he distinguished himself subsequently
? ruler Marius, when the same enemy made their mem-
orable irruption into Italy. After the termination of
this war he was sent as a legionary tribune, undor Did-
lua, into Spain, and soon gained for himself a high
teputation in this country. On his return to Rome he
was appointed quaestor for Cisalpine Gaul; and the
Marsian war soon after breaking out, and Sertorius
being employed to levy troops and provide arms, he
made himself eatremely useful in that capacity, and
performed important services for the state. On the
ruin of the Marian party, to which he himself belong-
ed, Sertorius hastened back to Spain, and found no
difficulty in resuming possession of that province. As
soon as Sylla was informed of this act of rebellion, he
sent into Spain a considerable army under Caius An-
nuls, with orders to crush the insurgent forces. Ser-
torius, compelled to yield to the powerful force thus
brought against him, was induced to seek for safoty in
Africa. Pursued by bad fortune even to the wilds of
Mauritania, he was reduced to the necessity of again
putting to sea; but, being unable to effect a re-landing
in Spain, he strengthened bis little fleet by the addi-
tion of some of the Cilician pirates, and made a de-
scent upon the island of Ebusus (now /pica), in which
Annius had placed a small garrison. The lieutenant
of Sylla made haste to succour this insular colony,
and, sailing to Ebusus with a strong squadron, was re-
? ? solved to brirg Sertorius to battle. A storm prevent-
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? SER
SERVIUS.
luet the conspiratcts began to open their intentions by
? peaking with freedom and licentiousness in the pres-
ence of Sertorius, whose age and character had hith-
erto claimed deference from others. Perpenna over-
turned a glass of wine as a signal to the rest, and im-
mediately Antonius, one of his officers, stabbed Ser-
torius, and the example was followed by all the other
conspirators (B. C. 73). --No sooner had Perpenna ac-
complished his nefarious object, than he announced
himself as the successor of Sertorius. But he soon
proved as unfit for the duties as he was unworthy of
the honour attached to that high office. Pompey,
upon hearing that his formidable antagonist was no
more, attacked the traitor, whom he easily defeated.
He was taken prisoner, and afterward executed as an
enemy to his country; and in this way ended a war
which at one time threatened the overthrow of the
whole fabric of the Roman power in Spain. --Of Ser-
torius it has justly been remarked, that his great quali-
ties and military talents would have undoubtedly raised
him to the first rank among the chiefs of his coun-
try, had be been, not the leader of a party, but the
commander of a state. With nothing to support him
but the resources of his own mind, he created a pow-
erful kingdom among strangers, and defended it lor
more than ten years against the arms of Rome, al-
though wielded by the ablest generals of his time; and
he displayed public and private virtues which would
have rendered a people happy under his rule at a less
turbulent period. {Pint. , Vit. Sertor. --Veil. Palerc,
2, 30, seqq. --Flor. , 3, 31, seqq. )
ServilU Lei, I. de Peenniis repetundis, by C.
Servilius, the praetor, A. U. C. 653. It ordained se-
verer penalties than formerly against extortion; and
that the defendant should hare a second hearing.
(Cic. in Kerr. , 1, 9. )--II. Another, de Judicibus, by
Q. Servilius Caepio, the consul, A. U. C. 647. It di-
vided the right of judging between the senators and
'. he equites, a privilege which, though originally be-
longing to the senators, had been taken from them by
he Sempronian Law, and given to the equites, who
. iad exercised it, in consequence, for seventeen years.
{Ci%, Brut. , 43, acq--Toe. , Ann, 13, 60. )--III.
Another, de Civii&te, by C. Servilius Glaucia, ordained
that if a Latin accused a Roman senator so that he
was condemned, the accuser should be honoured with
'he name and the privileges of a Roman citizen. --IV.
Another, Agraria, by P. Servilius Rullus, the tribune,
A. U. C. 690. It ordained that ten commissioners
should be created, with absolute power, for five years,
over all the revenues of the republic; to buy and sell
what lands they saw fit, at what price and from whom
they chose; to distribute them at pleasure to the citi-
zens; to settle new colonies wherever they judged
proper, and particularly in Campania, &c. But this
law was prevented from being passed by the eloquence
)f Cicero, who was then consul. (Ctc. in Pi>>. , 2. )
Servilius, I. Publics Ahala, a master of horse to
he dictator Cincinnatus. When Maelius refused to
ippear before the dictator to answer the accusations
which were brought against him on suspicion of his
aspiring to tyranny, Ahala slew him in the midst of
the people whose protection he claimed. Ahala was
accused of this murder, and banished; but this sen-
tence was afterward repealed. He was raised to the
dictatorship. --II. Publius, a proconsul of Asia during
the age of Mithradatcs. He conquered Isauria, for
? ? which service he was surnamed Isaurim. i, and re-
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? SEKVIUS.
SE 8
eighty-nine (or ninety-three) centuries, the first class
? lone contained eighty, to which must be added the
eighteen centuries of cguites, and that the last class had
either only one voice or none at all, it is easy to see
that Servius, if in effect he made this arrangement,
substituted an aristocracy of wealth for the former pa-
trician preponderance in the curia. As in these times
the property of land was for the most part in the hands
of the patricians, they of course retained preponder-
ance in the new aristocracy likewise. But this was
re-. dental, and soon ceased to be the case. --The war-
like undertakings of Servius were principally directed
against the Etrurians. He is said to have carried on
war, for twenty years, with the citizens of Veii, Cere,
Tarquinii, and, lastly, with the collective force of the
Etruscans, till all allowed the pre-eminence of Home
and her king. --Servius enlarged the city, so as to
bring within its compass the Viminal and Esquiline
Hills; he finished the work begun by Tarquinius, by
building the walls of the city of hewn stone; and, for
the purpose of consolidating more firmly the union of
the races of which the nation was composed, he erect-
ed the temple of Diana on the Aventine Hill, which was
to be the chief abode of the Latin population recently
brought to Rome. --The horrible tale of the last Tar-
quin's accession to the throne might be regarded as
incredible, were it not that Italian history in the mid-
dle ages affords us many similar examples. The nar-
rative in question is as follows: The two daughters
of Sorvius were married to the two sons of the elder
Taiquin. The one murdered her husband Aruns, and
her sister, with the aid of the other son of Tarquin,
and paved the way to the throne for herself and her
new husband by the murder of her father. --The per-
sonal existence of Servius Tullius is regarded by
many recent writers as involved in considerable doubt.
The constitution of the classes and centuries is as
real as Magna Charta, or the Bill of Rights, in Eng-
jsh hUtorj , yet its pretended author seems scarcely
a more historical personage than King Arthur. We
do not iven know with certainty his name or his race;
atill less can we trust the pretended chronology of the
common story. The last three reigns, according to
Livy, occupied a space of 107 years; yet the king,
who, at the end of this period, is expelled in mature,
nut not in declining age, is the eon of the king who
ascends the throne a grown man, in the vigour of life,
at the beginning of it: Servius marries the daughter
of Tarquinius a short time before he is made king, ;et
immediately after his accession he is the father of two
grown-up daughters, whom he marries to the brothers
of his own wife. The sons of A ncus Marcius wait pa-
tiently cight-and-thirty years, and then murder Tar-
quinius to obtain a throne which they had seen him so
iong quietly occupy. Still, then, we are, in a manner,
upon enchanted ground; the unreal and the real are
strangely mixed up together; but, although some real
elements exist, yet the general picture before us is a
mere fantasy: single trees and buildings may bo cop-
ied from nature, but their grouping is ideal, and they
are placed in the midst of fairy palaces and fairy be-
ings, whose originals this earth never witnessed. (Liv. ,
1, 41, seqq. --Hethcrtngton's History of Rome, p. 23,
seqq. --Arnold's Roman History, vol. 1, p. 48, seqq. )
-- II. Sulpitius Rufus, an eminent Roman jurist and
statesman, descended from an illustrious family. He
was contemporary with Cicero, and probably born about
? ? ? century B. C. He cultivated polite literature from a
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? &KSOSTRIS.
SESOSTRIS.
edifice on the western side of the river, which corre-
sponds with singular, if not perfect, exactness to the
magnificent palace of Osymandyas described by Dio-
Jorus, is so covered with his legends as to bo named
by Chainpollion, without the least hesitation, the
Rhameseion. --The dale of the accession of Sesostris,
as the head of the nineteenth dynasty, is of great im-
portance, but, like all such points, involved in much
difficulty. M. Champollion Figeac, by an ingenious
argumen*. deduced from the celebrated Sothic period
T 1460 years, reckoned according to data furnished
by Censorinus, and a well-known fragment of Theon
of Alexandrea, makes out the date of 1473 B. C. Dr.
Young assumes 1424. Mr. Mure maintains that it
cannot be placed higher than 1410, nor lower than
1400. {Remarks on the Chronology of the Egyptian
Dynasties, Loud. , 1829. ) M. Champollion Figeac's
argument is unsatisfactory, and chiefly from the un-
certainty of fixing the reign of Menophres, which is the
basis of the whole system, and which is altogether a
gratuitous assumption.
stem to have bad some acquaintance long before the
lime of Ptolemy. In the earlier fables and traditions
of the West, mention is made of a people named Alia-
tori, dwelling in a valley which was always warmed
by the genial rays of the sun, and protected by encir-
cling mountains from the rude blasts of the north, a
people closely assimilated in the peculiarities of their
situation to the fabled Hyperboreans. (Compare Plin. ,
6,17, who quotes an earlier author, A moments. )--Af-
ter leaving the Ottorokorne, the route led by Solona, in
a northeast direction, to the city of Sera. --Kosmas
Indicopleustes (Kosmas Indicopl. , Montfauc, iV. Coll.
Pair. , 2, 137, ? >. , et seqq. ) states, that the Brahmins
informed him, that if a line were drawn from the coun-
try of the Sinai (TJa. rJo) through Persia into the Ro-
man world, so as to strike Byzantium, it would divide
the earth into two equal parts. From this account
also, loose as it is, we may obtain very satisfactory
data for the position of Serica, which in the days of
Kosmas was confounded with the land of the Sina? ,
both of them being known merely as the country of
silk. --Among modern writers, the author of the " De-
cline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is decidedly in
favour of identifying the Seres with the people of Chi-
na {Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the R. E. , c. 40), and
hi* extensive and accurate learning is sufficiently well
known. But the most conclusive authority on the
subject is to be found in the pages of one of the first
Oriental scholars of the present day. (Klaproth, Ta-
bleaux Historiqucs de VAsie, depuis la monarchic de
Cyrus jusqu'a nos jours. , p. 58. ) "II n'y a plus de
doute," observes this writer, " que les Seres des an-
ciens ne soient les Chinois. D'apres les autcurs Grccs,
lo mot orjp desigue et le ver a soie et les habitants de
la Sirique ou les Sires; or, ce fait demontrc, que le
nom de ces derniers leur venait de la marchandise
precicusc que les peuples de l'Occident allaient cher-
chcr chez eux. En Armenien, l'insecto qui produit
la soie s'appelle chiram, nom qui ressemble assez au
o*i? p des Grccs. II est naturel de croire que ces deux
mots avaient ete empruntes a des peuples plus Orien-
taux. C'cst ce que les Ungues Mogole ct Mandchoue
aous donnent la facility de demontrcr. II en resultera
que le nom de la soie, chez les anciens, eft veritable-
inent originaire de la partie Orientate de l'Asie. I . a
<<ie s'appelle sirkek chez les Mcgols, et sirghe chez
es Mandchoux. Ces deux nations habitaient au nord
f t au nord-est de la Chine. Est-il presumable qu'elles
eussent rcc;u ces denominations des peuples Occiden-
laux? D'un aufre cdte, le mot Chinois sse ou sxu,
qui designe la Boie, monlre de la ressemblance avec
sirgh't ou sirkek, et avec le or/p des Urecs. Cctte
analogic frappcra d'autant plus quand on saura que,
dans la langue mandarine, le r ne se prononce pas,
tandis que cette finale se trouvait vraisemblablement
dans les anciens dialects de la Chine. Mais le mot co-
r? en str, qui designe la soie, est tout a fait idemique
avec le arip des Grecs, qui devait se prononcer aussi
sir. La soie a done donne son nom au peuple qui la
fabriquait et qui l'envoyait dans l'Occident, et lea Seres
sonl evidemment les Chinois, quoi qu'en puissent dire
les geographes, qui ne savent employer que le compas
pour chercher l'cmplacenient des nations. " Previous
to the appearance of the work from which the above
extract is made, its author had already published a
conjecture on the name of the Seres in one of the pe-
riodicals of the day. It is to this last that M Abel-
Remusat, another distinguished Orientalist, alludes in
? ? the following remarks (Melanges Asialiqucs, vol. 1,
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? SERES.
SERES.
rot) jetweeti tbe Bat lames and Roxolani, and, conse-
quently, on the two banks of the Borysthenes. The
Armenian historians make mention of them under the
lame of Hounk, and assign them, for their place of
residence, the country to the north of Caucasus, be-
tween the V dlga and the Don. For this same reason
they call the pass of Derbend the rampart of the Huns.
In the geography which is incorrectly ascribed to Mo-
ses of Khorene, the following passage also occurs:
"The Massagetas inhabit as far as the Caspian, where
is the branch of Mount Caucasus which contains the
rampart of Tarpant (Derbend), and a wonderful lower
built in the sea: to the north are the Huns, with their
city of Varhatchan, and others besides. " Moses of
Khorene, in his Armenian history, makes mention of
the wars which King Tiridates the Great, who reigned
from A. D. 259 to A. D. 312, waged against the north-
ern nations who had made an irruption into Armenia.
This monarch attacked them in the plains of tbe Kar-
keriens, in northern Albania, between Derbend and Te-
rek, defeated them, slow their prince, and pursued them
into the country of the Hounk or Huns. It were use-
less, however, to multiply authorities. (Compare
Klaproth, p. 235. ) Sufficient has been said to prove
that, in all probability, the original seats of the Huns
were in the vicinity of the Caspian. That they were
not of tbe Mongol or Calmuck race, is apparent of it-
self, if any reliance is to be placed upon the descrip-
tions that are given of their personal deformity by the
ancient writers. Scarcely a single feature of ihe well-
known Tartar physiognomy enters into these accounts
of them. They were probably Ihe same with the eastern
division of the Fins (Klaproth, p. 246), and hence the
theory which makes them to have dispossessed of their
primitive seals the ancient nations of the Seres, errs
in placing the original settlements of the Huns too far
altogether to the east. --We will now proceed to the
more immediate subject of inquiry, the knowledge
wnich the Greeks and Romans possessed in relation
to tbe silk manufacture of antiquity. The first writer
who gives Bny direct information on this head is Aris-
totle (Hist. Animal. , 5, 19). The surprising accuracy
of his account, considering his imperfect sources of in-
telligence, may well demand our attention. The pas-
sags is as follows: 'E/t it tivoc okM^koc fteyaXov,
<Sf Ixti olov Kipara ko< iiatyipet tuv i. XXuv, yivcrai
6i irpC'Tov /lev, fitrafaO. ovTos row OKuXnuoc, ku/itzv,
faeira po/tiiXwf, ex ie tovtov vexviaXoe. - iv If il
ur/ai nrraZuXhei ravrac rdc yuop^ac iruaaf in ie tov-
rov tov ? wov xai ru HopCvxia avaXvovai tuv ywat-
xuv nrcc uvaKT/vt^ofievat K&Treira vcpaivovat. tlpurtj
il Xtyerai i<j>uvai iv Ku Uaii$i? ,ri Aaruov dvyarr/p.
Athen. TMs refers to this passage in the following terms:
'loropci ['ApiororAjfcj bri koX ix 77c tuv fdeipuv
bxtlaf al xoviier; yewuvrai, xai Jn ix tov okuXvkoc;
fieraoViAXovrof yivtrai xufiirv, i? ' r/f Ho/i6v? . ibf, a<j>' oi
veKvia)j>{ 6vo/ia^6uevoc. -- Dr. Vincent unites these
two passages together, making the one supply what is
defective in the other, and gives the following transla-
tion of them : "There is a worm which issues from [an
egg as small as] the nit of lice: it is of a large size,
and has [protuberances, bearing the resemblance of]
horns, [in which respect] it diners from other worms.
The first change which it undergoes is by the conver-
sion of the worm into a caterpillar; it then becomes a
grub or chrysalis, and at length a moth. The whole
of this transformation is completed in six months.
? ? There are women who wind off a thread from this an-
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? SERES
8ERES.
tnerales two distinct races, the eastern and western
/Ethiopians. It is easy to perceive, from his descrip-
tion of the former, and their "long, straight hair,"
that none other are meant than the people of India.
if this deduction be correct, the Seres of Virgil will,
>>f course, be the people of China. As to their comb-
ing fleeces from the leave* of trees, the allusion is
manifestly to silk, which many of the ancients be-
lieved to be a sort of down gathered from the leaves
>>f trees. Thus Piiny (Ptin. , 6, 17), in a subsequent
age, remarks, "I'nmi aunt hominum qui noscantur
Seres, lanicio sylzarum nobilcs, perfusam aqua depec-
tentes frondium camciem. "--The moment silk be-
came known among the western nations, it was ea-
gerly purchased as an article of luxury, and began to
form a conspicuous part of Greek and Roman attire.
At that period of growing corruption, it was no won-
der that such an invention should be hailed with trans-
port, which, while it supplied the person with a cov-
ering, still, like our gauze, exposed every limb to the
eye of the beholder in almost perfect nudity. The
Emperor Hcliogabalus, it is true, in a later age, was
Ihe first who disgraced himself by appearing in a dress
wholly of silk ; yet Seric and Coan vestments are fre-
quently mentioned by the Roman writers either con-
temporary with, or not long subsequent to, the time
of Virgil. (Tibullus, 2, 4, 29 --1,1. , 2, 6. 35-- Pro-
pert. , 1, 4, 22. --Id. , 4, 8, 23-- Ovid, Am. , 1, 4, 16. )
About the period of which we are speaking, it would
appear that Seric vestments found their way to Rome
also from foreign nations. Florus (Florus, 4, 12, 16)
states, that in the reign of Augustus, an embassy
from the Seres came to Rome, with presents of pre-
cious stones, elephants, and other gifts. Among
these last, Seric vestments, or else raw silk, were no
doubt included. If we glance at the Greek writers
who flourished about this period, we shall be surprised
to find Strabo passing over, in almost total silence,
both the nation of the Seres as well as their singular
manufacture, the more especially as his contemporary,
Dionysius Periegetes, makes such full mention of it.
Thus we find Dionysius describing the Seres as a na-
tion of the farthest East, who paid no attention to cat-
tle or sheep, but occupied themselves in combing the
variegated flome'rs produced from their otherwise neg-
lected land, and in making vestments of an ingenious
and costly kind, resembling in hue the meadow-flow-
ers, and with which even spiders' techs could not com-
pare as to the fineness of texture. (Dionysii Perie-
gesis, v. 752, et seqq. ) Eustathius, archbishop of
Thessalonica, who flourished about 1160 A. D. , and
wrote a learned commentary on the work whence this
extract is taken, gives a very curious account of the
Seres, which would tend still more strongly to con-
firm the belief that they were identical with the Chi-
nese. He describes them (Eustath. , in Dionys. Pe-
rieg. , p. 239, ed. Oxon. ) as an unsocial nation, refu-
sing all intercourse with strangers (uirpoopiyeic av-
dfw-oi Kni (ivnui? . rjToi). They marked the price on
the articles which they wished to sell, and, having,
left them in a particular place, retired. The traders
then came, and placed by the side of the goods the
amount demanded, or else so much as they were will-
ing to give. Upon this they withdrew in their turn,
and the Seres coming back, either took what was of-
fered, or carried away the goods again. We have here
the same cautious system of commercial dealing which
? ? characterizes the Chinese of our own days, only in a
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? SERES.
SERES.
! rom repletion The Seres obtain a quantity of thread
from its bowels. '' What Pausanias adds, however,
respecting the situation of Serica, that it is "an island
in the recess of the Indian Ocean," probably refers to
Ceylon, and is grounded upon the mistaken idea (Hit-
ters Vprhalle, p. 113) that the silk, which formed a chief
article of export from that island, was likewise manu-
factured there. Tcrtulliau (de Pallio, c. 3) and Cle-
mens Alexandrinus (in l'adagog. , 2, 10) also speak
of the silkworm, and appear better acquainted with
the several changes which it undergoes than Pausani-
as. The principal points in which they differ from the
correct accounts of modern times are, their making the
insect in question resemble the spider in the mode of
forming its thread, and their assigning a different leaf
from that of the mulberry for its food. (Mcmoircs dc
VAcademie del Inscription*, vol. 7, p. 342. ) Dio
Cassius and Hcrodian both make mention of the Seric
manufactures. The former describes the ancient or/p-
? jtov in the following language (Dio Cassius, ed. Hci-
mar, 43, 24, p. 358, I. 25): Toiro ie to vtfaaua ,yXj-
iijc (iapbupov iariv Ipyov, Kai nap' ixeivuv mil itpoc
iuac, be Tpvtfiv Tuv mmi ywautwv ixeptTTijv. "This
species of tissue is a work of barbarian luxury, and
has found its way from that distant quarter even unto
us, in order to furnish our higher class of females with
the materials for excessive extravagance. " Herodian
speaks of Seric vestments as fitter for females than
for men (Herodian, ed. Irmisch. , 5, 5, 9, vol. 3, p.
144): Td roiavra KaXKuniouara owe uvdpaoiv cl/t? . u
GnMiatc rrpineiv. Vopiscus (Vit. Aurcl. , c. 45) in-
forms us, " Vestem holosericam neque ipse (Aurelia-
nus) in testiario suo habuit, neque alteri utendam dedtt.
El quum ab eo uxor sua petcret, ut unico pallio blatteo
serico uterelur, ills respondit: absit ut auro lib pen-
sentur; libra enim awri tunc libra serici fuit. " The
extravagant price which is here mentioned, a pound
of gold for a pound of silk, may easily be accounted
for by the circumstance of the overland trade to Seri-
es being rendered more precarious by the rapid rise
of the second Persian E. -npire. Passing by the sev-
tral authors who mention the Seric vestments without
any accompanying circumstances sufficiently impor-
tant to merit a quotation, wo come to Lampridius,
who devotes to infamy the Emperor Heliogabalus
(lampridius, Vit. Heliogab. . c. 26) for having first
dared to appear in a dress wholly of silk. St. Basil
(S. Basil, in exam, homil. , 8) makes a curious appli-
cation of the knowledge that appears to have been
generally diffused, about this period, respecting the
transformations of the silkworm, by exhorting the
rich, who could not be induced to dispense with gar-
ments of silk, to remember, at least, in putting them
on, that the worm, of whoso substance they were
made, is a type of the resurrection. Julius Pollux
(c. 384, 31, cap. 17, lib. 7) also alludes to this insect:
SkwAij/ci'c tiaiv ol (}6/i6vkcc, d0' im to. vr/para ivvov-
rai, bemep 6 apaxvrir biioi 6i km tovc Zqpac urra
Toiovrov irepuv (uuv uOpoi&iv <paoi ra itbdouara.
Ammianus Marcellinus (Arnmian. Marccll. , 23,6) next
follows, who gives the following narrative: "They
(the Seres) weave a delicate and tender thread, form-
ed from moistened wool, combining it into a kind ? >(
fleece by frequently sprinkling with water the pods of
the trees; spinning this into inner garments, they
manufacture that celebrated ailk which anciently com-
posed the dress of the (Roman) nobility, but in my
? ?
age is the indiscriminate and extravagant clothing of
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? SER
SERTOKIUS.
Eastern neighbours. Hence their territory t jd capi-
tal took the name of Serinda (Ser-Ind), and even at
Che present day the name continues to be Serhend, or
"the land where the Hindus i-iture the silkworm. ''
It was to this quarter, very probably, that the monks
of Justinian came. Gibbon, however, boldly asserts
that these monks were missionaries, who had pre-
viously penetrated to China, and resided at Nan-kin.
Decline and Fall, ch. 40. )
Seriphus, an island of the ^Egean, south of Cyth-
nus, and now Serpho. It was celebrated in mytholo-
gy as the scene of some of the most remarkable ad-
ventures of Perseus, who changed Polydectes, king of
the island, and his subjects, into stones, to avenge the
wrongs offered to his mother Danae. (Pind. , Pyth. ,
12, 19. ) Strabo seems to account for this fable from
the rocky nature of ihe island. (Strab. , 487. ) Pliny
makes its circuit twelve miles. In Juvenal's time
state-prisoners were sent there (10, 169). The frogs
of this island were said to be mute, but to utter their
usual note when carried elsewhere; and hence the
proverbial saying, Barpaxoc Ik Zrpiioti (Rana Seri-
phia), applied to dull and silent persons, who on a sud-
den became loquacious. (Compare, however, the re-
marks of Erasmus, Chil. 1, cent. 5, ad. 31, id.
Stepk. , p. 166. )
Serranus, I. a surname given to C. Atilius, from
his having been engaged in sowing his field {severe,
"to sow") when intelligence was- brought him of his
having been appointed to the dictatorship. (Plin. , 18,
4. --Pertion. , Animadv. Hut. , c. 1. --Liv. , 3, 26. --
Virg , &n. , 6, 844. )--II. A poet in the time of Nero,
to whom Sarpe has ascribed the eclogues that pass un-
der the name of Calpurnius. (Quttst. Philolog. , c.
2, p. II, seqq. -- Bahr, Gesch. Rom. Lit. , vol. I, p.
303. )
Sertorius, Quintus, a distinguished Roman gen-
eral, born at Nursia. He made his first campaign
under Caepio, when the Cimbri and Teutones broke
into Gaul; and he distinguished himself subsequently
? ruler Marius, when the same enemy made their mem-
orable irruption into Italy. After the termination of
this war he was sent as a legionary tribune, undor Did-
lua, into Spain, and soon gained for himself a high
teputation in this country. On his return to Rome he
was appointed quaestor for Cisalpine Gaul; and the
Marsian war soon after breaking out, and Sertorius
being employed to levy troops and provide arms, he
made himself eatremely useful in that capacity, and
performed important services for the state. On the
ruin of the Marian party, to which he himself belong-
ed, Sertorius hastened back to Spain, and found no
difficulty in resuming possession of that province. As
soon as Sylla was informed of this act of rebellion, he
sent into Spain a considerable army under Caius An-
nuls, with orders to crush the insurgent forces. Ser-
torius, compelled to yield to the powerful force thus
brought against him, was induced to seek for safoty in
Africa. Pursued by bad fortune even to the wilds of
Mauritania, he was reduced to the necessity of again
putting to sea; but, being unable to effect a re-landing
in Spain, he strengthened bis little fleet by the addi-
tion of some of the Cilician pirates, and made a de-
scent upon the island of Ebusus (now /pica), in which
Annius had placed a small garrison. The lieutenant
of Sylla made haste to succour this insular colony,
and, sailing to Ebusus with a strong squadron, was re-
? ? solved to brirg Sertorius to battle. A storm prevent-
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? SER
SERVIUS.
luet the conspiratcts began to open their intentions by
? peaking with freedom and licentiousness in the pres-
ence of Sertorius, whose age and character had hith-
erto claimed deference from others. Perpenna over-
turned a glass of wine as a signal to the rest, and im-
mediately Antonius, one of his officers, stabbed Ser-
torius, and the example was followed by all the other
conspirators (B. C. 73). --No sooner had Perpenna ac-
complished his nefarious object, than he announced
himself as the successor of Sertorius. But he soon
proved as unfit for the duties as he was unworthy of
the honour attached to that high office. Pompey,
upon hearing that his formidable antagonist was no
more, attacked the traitor, whom he easily defeated.
He was taken prisoner, and afterward executed as an
enemy to his country; and in this way ended a war
which at one time threatened the overthrow of the
whole fabric of the Roman power in Spain. --Of Ser-
torius it has justly been remarked, that his great quali-
ties and military talents would have undoubtedly raised
him to the first rank among the chiefs of his coun-
try, had be been, not the leader of a party, but the
commander of a state. With nothing to support him
but the resources of his own mind, he created a pow-
erful kingdom among strangers, and defended it lor
more than ten years against the arms of Rome, al-
though wielded by the ablest generals of his time; and
he displayed public and private virtues which would
have rendered a people happy under his rule at a less
turbulent period. {Pint. , Vit. Sertor. --Veil. Palerc,
2, 30, seqq. --Flor. , 3, 31, seqq. )
ServilU Lei, I. de Peenniis repetundis, by C.
Servilius, the praetor, A. U. C. 653. It ordained se-
verer penalties than formerly against extortion; and
that the defendant should hare a second hearing.
(Cic. in Kerr. , 1, 9. )--II. Another, de Judicibus, by
Q. Servilius Caepio, the consul, A. U. C. 647. It di-
vided the right of judging between the senators and
'. he equites, a privilege which, though originally be-
longing to the senators, had been taken from them by
he Sempronian Law, and given to the equites, who
. iad exercised it, in consequence, for seventeen years.
{Ci%, Brut. , 43, acq--Toe. , Ann, 13, 60. )--III.
Another, de Civii&te, by C. Servilius Glaucia, ordained
that if a Latin accused a Roman senator so that he
was condemned, the accuser should be honoured with
'he name and the privileges of a Roman citizen. --IV.
Another, Agraria, by P. Servilius Rullus, the tribune,
A. U. C. 690. It ordained that ten commissioners
should be created, with absolute power, for five years,
over all the revenues of the republic; to buy and sell
what lands they saw fit, at what price and from whom
they chose; to distribute them at pleasure to the citi-
zens; to settle new colonies wherever they judged
proper, and particularly in Campania, &c. But this
law was prevented from being passed by the eloquence
)f Cicero, who was then consul. (Ctc. in Pi>>. , 2. )
Servilius, I. Publics Ahala, a master of horse to
he dictator Cincinnatus. When Maelius refused to
ippear before the dictator to answer the accusations
which were brought against him on suspicion of his
aspiring to tyranny, Ahala slew him in the midst of
the people whose protection he claimed. Ahala was
accused of this murder, and banished; but this sen-
tence was afterward repealed. He was raised to the
dictatorship. --II. Publius, a proconsul of Asia during
the age of Mithradatcs. He conquered Isauria, for
? ? which service he was surnamed Isaurim. i, and re-
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? SEKVIUS.
SE 8
eighty-nine (or ninety-three) centuries, the first class
? lone contained eighty, to which must be added the
eighteen centuries of cguites, and that the last class had
either only one voice or none at all, it is easy to see
that Servius, if in effect he made this arrangement,
substituted an aristocracy of wealth for the former pa-
trician preponderance in the curia. As in these times
the property of land was for the most part in the hands
of the patricians, they of course retained preponder-
ance in the new aristocracy likewise. But this was
re-. dental, and soon ceased to be the case. --The war-
like undertakings of Servius were principally directed
against the Etrurians. He is said to have carried on
war, for twenty years, with the citizens of Veii, Cere,
Tarquinii, and, lastly, with the collective force of the
Etruscans, till all allowed the pre-eminence of Home
and her king. --Servius enlarged the city, so as to
bring within its compass the Viminal and Esquiline
Hills; he finished the work begun by Tarquinius, by
building the walls of the city of hewn stone; and, for
the purpose of consolidating more firmly the union of
the races of which the nation was composed, he erect-
ed the temple of Diana on the Aventine Hill, which was
to be the chief abode of the Latin population recently
brought to Rome. --The horrible tale of the last Tar-
quin's accession to the throne might be regarded as
incredible, were it not that Italian history in the mid-
dle ages affords us many similar examples. The nar-
rative in question is as follows: The two daughters
of Sorvius were married to the two sons of the elder
Taiquin. The one murdered her husband Aruns, and
her sister, with the aid of the other son of Tarquin,
and paved the way to the throne for herself and her
new husband by the murder of her father. --The per-
sonal existence of Servius Tullius is regarded by
many recent writers as involved in considerable doubt.
The constitution of the classes and centuries is as
real as Magna Charta, or the Bill of Rights, in Eng-
jsh hUtorj , yet its pretended author seems scarcely
a more historical personage than King Arthur. We
do not iven know with certainty his name or his race;
atill less can we trust the pretended chronology of the
common story. The last three reigns, according to
Livy, occupied a space of 107 years; yet the king,
who, at the end of this period, is expelled in mature,
nut not in declining age, is the eon of the king who
ascends the throne a grown man, in the vigour of life,
at the beginning of it: Servius marries the daughter
of Tarquinius a short time before he is made king, ;et
immediately after his accession he is the father of two
grown-up daughters, whom he marries to the brothers
of his own wife. The sons of A ncus Marcius wait pa-
tiently cight-and-thirty years, and then murder Tar-
quinius to obtain a throne which they had seen him so
iong quietly occupy. Still, then, we are, in a manner,
upon enchanted ground; the unreal and the real are
strangely mixed up together; but, although some real
elements exist, yet the general picture before us is a
mere fantasy: single trees and buildings may bo cop-
ied from nature, but their grouping is ideal, and they
are placed in the midst of fairy palaces and fairy be-
ings, whose originals this earth never witnessed. (Liv. ,
1, 41, seqq. --Hethcrtngton's History of Rome, p. 23,
seqq. --Arnold's Roman History, vol. 1, p. 48, seqq. )
-- II. Sulpitius Rufus, an eminent Roman jurist and
statesman, descended from an illustrious family. He
was contemporary with Cicero, and probably born about
? ? ? century B. C. He cultivated polite literature from a
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? &KSOSTRIS.
SESOSTRIS.
edifice on the western side of the river, which corre-
sponds with singular, if not perfect, exactness to the
magnificent palace of Osymandyas described by Dio-
Jorus, is so covered with his legends as to bo named
by Chainpollion, without the least hesitation, the
Rhameseion. --The dale of the accession of Sesostris,
as the head of the nineteenth dynasty, is of great im-
portance, but, like all such points, involved in much
difficulty. M. Champollion Figeac, by an ingenious
argumen*. deduced from the celebrated Sothic period
T 1460 years, reckoned according to data furnished
by Censorinus, and a well-known fragment of Theon
of Alexandrea, makes out the date of 1473 B. C. Dr.
Young assumes 1424. Mr. Mure maintains that it
cannot be placed higher than 1410, nor lower than
1400. {Remarks on the Chronology of the Egyptian
Dynasties, Loud. , 1829. ) M. Champollion Figeac's
argument is unsatisfactory, and chiefly from the un-
certainty of fixing the reign of Menophres, which is the
basis of the whole system, and which is altogether a
gratuitous assumption.
