)
probability
that this is a false reading for Anniás.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
v.
).
There are some other in- But the child was miraculously preserved by doves,
significant persons of this name. (See Vossius, de who fed her till she was discovered by the shep-
Hist. Graec. p. 496, ed. Westermann ; Fabric. herds of the neighbourhood. She was then brought
Bibl. Graec. vol. i. pp. 86, 184, n. , 522, vol. ii. up by the chief shepherd of the royal herds, whose
p. 27, vol. iv. p. 166, vol. v. p. 107, vol. vi. p. name was Simmas, and from whom she derived
378. )
[P. S. ) the name of Semiramis. Her surpassing beauty
SELEUCUS, an engraver of precious stones, of attracted the notice of Onnes, one of the king's
unknown date, one of whose gems is extant ; it is friends and generals, who married her. He subse-
• a carnelian, engraved with a small head of Silenus. quently sent for his wife to the army, where the
(Bracci, 104 ; Stosch, 60. )
[P. S. ) Assyrians were engaged in the siege of Bactra,
SELI'CIUS, an usurer, and a friend of P. Len- which they had long endeavoured in vain to take.
tulus Spinther (Cic. ad Att
. i. 12, iv. 18. § 3, ad Upon her arrival in the camp, she planned an at-
Fam. 5, a. ). Orelli thinks (Onom. Tull. s. v. ) | tack upon the citadel of the town, mounted the
that Selicius may perhaps be the same name as walls with a few brave followers, and obtained
the Secilius (Enkinios) mentioned in Dion Cassius possession of the place. Ninus was so charmed
(xxxv. 3), but this Secilius is called Sextilius in by her bravery and beauty, that he resolved to
Plutarch. (Lucull. 25. )
make ber his wife, whereupon her unfortunate
SELINUS (Lentvolls), a son of Poseidon, was husband put an end to his life. By Ninus Semi-
king of degialos and father of Helice. (Paus, vii. ramis bad a son, Ninyas, and on the death of Ninus
1. § 2 ; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 292. ) (L. S. ] she succeeded him on the throne. According to
SE’LIUS. 1, 2. P. and C. SELII, two learned another account, Semiramis had obtained from her
men, friends of L. Lucullus, who had heard Philon husband permission to rule over Asia for five days,
at Rome. (Cic. Acad. ii. 4. )
and availed herself of this opportunity to cast the king
3. Selius, a bad orator mentioned by Cicero into a dungeon, or, as is also related, to put him to
about B. C. 51 (ail Fam. vii. 32).
death, and thus obtained the sovereign power.
A. SE'LLIUS, elected tribune of the plebs in (Diod. ii. 20 ; Aelian, V. H. vii. 1. ) Her fame
his absence in B. c. 422. (Liv. iv. 42. )
threw into the shade that of Ninus ; and later
SEʻMELE (Eeuéan), a daughter of Cadmus and ages loved to tell of her marvellous deeds and her
Harmonia, at Thebes, and accordingly a sister of heroic achievements. She built numerous cities,
Ino, Agave, Autonoë, and Polydorus. She was and erected many wonderful buildings ; and several
beloved by Zeus (Hom. Il. xiv. 323, Hynm. in of the most extraordinary works in the East, which
Bacch. 6, 57 ; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. ii. 40), and were extant in a later age, and the authors of which
Hera, stimulated by jealousy, appeared to her in were unknown, were ascribed by popular tradition
the form of her aged nurse Beroë, and induced her to this queen. In Nineveh she erected a tomb for
to pray Zeus to visit her in the same splendour and her husband, nine stadia high, and ten wide ; she
majesty with which he appeared to Hera. Zeus, built the city of Babylon * with all its wonders,
who had promised that he would grant her every
request, did as she desired. He appeared to her • Herodotus only once mentions Semiramis
as the god of thunder, and Semele was consumed (i. 181), where he states that she was a queen of
by the fire of lightning ; but Zeus saved her child | Babylon, who lived five generations before Nitocris,
a
## p. 777 (#793) ############################################
SEMPRONIA.
777
SENECA.
as well as many other towns on the Euphrates (Ascon. in Milon. p. 41, ed. Orelli). Orelli sup-
and the Tigris, and she constructed the hanging poses that she may be the same as the wife of
gardens in Media, of which later writers give us Brutus mentioned above.
such strange accounts. Besides conquering many
SEMPRONIA GENS, patrician and plebeian.
nations of Asia, she subdued Egypt and a great This gens was of great antiquity, and one of its
part of Ethiopia, but was unsuccessful in an attack members, A. Sempronius Atratinus, obtained the
which she made upon India. After a reign of consulship as early as B. c. 497, twelve years after
forty-two years she resigned the sovereignty to her the foundation of the republic. The Sempronii
Bon Ninyas, and disappeared from the earth, were divided into many families, of which the
taking her flight to heaven in the form of a dove. ATRATINI were undoubtedly patrician, but all the
Such is a brief abstract of the account in Dio others appear to have been plebeian: their names
dorus, the fabulous nature of which is still more are ASELLIO, BLAESUS, DENSUS, GRACCHUS,
apparent in the details of his narrative. We have Longus, Musca, Pitiu, Rufus, RUTILUS, So-
already pointed out, in the article SARDANAPALUS, PRUE, TUDITANUS. Of these, Atratinus, Gracchus,
the mythical character of the whole of the Assyrian and Pitio alone occur on coins. The glory of the
history of Ctesias, and it is therefore unnecessary Sempronia gens is confined to the republicun
to dwell further upon the subject in the present period. Very few persons of this name, and none
place. A recent writer has brought forward many of them of any importance, are mentioned under
reasons for believing that Seniiramis was originally the empire.
a Syrian goddess, probably the same who was SEMUS (Zņuos), a Greek grammarian of un
worshipped at Ascalon under the name of Astarte, certain date, wrote, according to Suidas (s. v. ), eight
or the Heavenly Aphrodite, to whom the dove was books on Delos, two books of trepiodoi, one on
sacred (Lucian, de Syria Dea, 14, 33, 39). Hence Paros, one on Pergamus, and a work on Paenirs.
the stories of her voluptuousness (Diod. ii. 13), Suidas calls him an Elean, but it appears from
which were current even in the time of Augustus Athenaeus (iii. p. 123, d. ) that this is a mistake,
(Ov. Am. i. 5. 11) (Coinp. Movers, Die Phönizier, and that he was a native of Delos. His work on
p. 631).
Delos (Δηλιακά or Δηλιάς) was the most im-
SEMO SANCUS. [SANCUS. ]
portant, and is frequently referred to by Athenaeus,
SEMON, an engraver of precious stones, be- and once or twice by other writers (Athen. iii.
longing to an early period, as is clear from the only p. 109, f. , iv. p. 173, e. , viii. pp. 331, f. , 335, a. ,
work of his which is extant, namely, a stone in xi. p. 469, C. , xiv. pp. 614, a. , 637, b. , 645, b. , xv.
the form of a scarabaeus, engraved with the name p. 676, f. ; Steph. Byz. s. v. Téyupa ; Etym. Magn.
XHMONOE, but in the reverse order, and in archaic s. v. BlbAivos). Athenaeus also quotes (xiv. pp.
characters. It is very rare to find an old Greek 618, d. , 622, a-d. ) his work on Paeans (nepl
gem inscribed with the name of the engraver, parávwv). We likewise find in Athenaeus (iii. p.
although this was the usual practice in the Roman 123, d. ), a reference to a work of Semus on Islands
period. (R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, p. 153, (Nnoiás), but it has been suggested with much
2d ed. )
[P. S.
) probability that this is a false reading for Anniás.
SEMPROʻNIA. 1. The daughter of Tib. Grac-(Vossius, De Histor. Graecis, p. 497, ed. Wester-
chus, censor B. C. 169, and the sister of the two mann. )
celebrated tribunes, married Scipio Africanus ninor. SE'NECA, M. ANNAEUS, was a native of
We know nothing of her private life or character. Corduba (Cordova) in Spain. The time of his
On the sudden death of her husband, she and her birth is uncertain ; but it may be approximated to.
mother Cornelia were suspected by some persons of He says (Contr. Praef. i. p. 67) that he considered
having murdered him, since Scipio did not like that he had heard all the great orators, except
her on account of her want of beauty and her Cicero ; and that he might have heard Cicero, if
sterility, and she likewise had no affection for him. the Civil Wars, by which he means the wars be-
But there is no evidence against her ; and if Scipio tween Pompeius and Caesar, had not kept him at
was really murdered, Papirius Carbo was most pro- home (intra coloniam meam). Seneca appears to
bably the guilty party. [Scipio, No. 21, p. 750. ] allude in this passage to some of Cicero's letters (ad
(Appian, B. C. i. 20; Liv. Epit. 59; Schol. Bob. Fam. vii. 33, ix. 16), in which Cicero speaks of
pro Mil. p. 283. )
Hirtius and Dolabella being his “ dicendi discipuli”
2. The wife of D. Junius Brutus, consul B. c. (B. C. 46). It is conjectured that as Seneca might
77, was a woman of great personal attractions and be fifteen in B. C. 46, he may have been born on or
literary accomplishments, but of a profligate cha- about B. C. 61 (Clinton, Fasti), the year before C.
racter, She took part in Catiline's conspiracy, Julius Caesar was praetor in Spain. Seneca was
though her husband was not privy to it (Sall
. Cat. I at Rome in the early period of the power of Au-
25,40). Asconius speaks of a Sempronia, the daugh- | gustus, for he says that he had seen Ovid declaiming
ter of Tuditanus, and the mother of P. Clodius, who before Arellius Fuscus (Contr. x. p. 172). Ovid
gave her testimony at the trial of Milo, in B. c. 52 was born B. C. 43. Seneca was an intimate friend
of the rhetorician M. Porcius Latro, who was one
and dammed up the Euphrates. As Nitocris pro- of Ovid's masters. He also mentions the rhetori-
bably lived about B. C. 600, it has been maintained cian Marillius, as the master of himself and of
that this Semiramis must be a different person Latro. He afterwards returned to Spain, and
from the Semiranis of Ctesias. But there is no married Helvia, by whom he had three sons, L.
occasion to suppose two different queens of the Annaeus Seneca, L. Annaeus Mela or Mella, the
name; the Semiramis of Herodotus is probably as father of the poet Lucan, and Marcus Novatus.
fabulous as that of Ctesias, and merely arose from Novatus was the eldest son, and took the name of
the practice we have noticed above, of assigning Junius Gallio, upon being adopted by Junius Gallio.
the great works in the East of unknown authorship Seneca was rich, and he belonged to the equestrian
to a queen of this name,
class. The time of his death is uncertain ; but he
## p. 778 (#794) ############################################
778
SENECA.
SENECA.
probably lived till near the end of the reign of Ti jealous of the influence of Julia with Claudius,
berius, and died at Rome or in Italy. It appears and hated her for her haughty behaviour. Julia
that he was at Rome early in life, from what has was again exiled, and Seneca's intimacy with her
been stated as to Ovid ; and he must have returned was a pretext for making him share her disgrace.
to Spain, because his son Lucius was brought to What the facts really were is unknown ; and the
Rome from Spain when he was an infant. (L. Se innocence of Seneca and Julia is at least as
neca, Consol. ad Ielvium. )
probable as their guilt, when Messalina was the
Seneca was gifted with a prodigious memory. accuser.
He was a man of letters, after the fashion of his In his exile in Corsica Seneca had the oppor-
time, when rhetoric or false eloquence was most in tunity of practising the philosophy of the Scoics,
vogue. His Controversiarum Libri decem, which to which he had attached himself. His Consolatio
he addressed to his three sons, were written when ad lleiviam, or consolatory letter to his mother,
he was an old man. The first, second, seventh, was written during his residence in the island.
eighth, and tenth books only, are extant, and these If the Consulatio ad Polybium, which was also
are somewhat mutilated : of the other books only | written during his exile, is the work of Seneca, it
fragments remain. These Controversiae are rhe- does him uo credit. Polybius was the powerful
torical exercises on imaginary cases, filled with freedman of Claudius, and the Consolutio is in-
common-places, such as a man of large verbal tended to comfort him on the occasion of the loss
memory and great reading carries about with him of his brother. But it also contains adulation of
as his ready money. Another work of the same the emperor, and many expressions unworthy of a
class, attributed to Seneca, and written after the true Stoic, or of an honest man. The object of
Controversiae, is the Suasoriarum Liber, which is the address to Polybius was to have his sentence
probably not complete. We may collect, from its of exile recalled, even at the cost of his character.
contents, what the subjects were on which the
After eight years' residence in Corsica Seneca
rhetoricians of that age exercised their wits: one of was recalled A. D. 49, by the influence of Agrip-
them is, “Shall Cicero apologise to Marcus Anto- pina (Tac. Ann. xii. 8), who had just married
nius ? Shall he agree to burn his Philippics, if her uncle the emperor Claudius. From this time
Antonius requires it? " Another is, “ Shall Alex. the life of Seneca is closely connected with that of
ander embark on the ocean ? " If there are some Nero, and Tacitus is the chief authority for both.
good ideas and apt expressions in these puerile de On his return he obtained a praetorship, and was
clamations, they have no value where they stand ; made the tutor of the young Domitius, afterwards
and probably most of them are borrowed. No the emperor Nero, who was the son of Agrippina
merit of form can compensate for worthlessness of by a former husband. Agrippina relied on the
matter. The eloquence of the Roman orators, which reputation of Seneca and his advice as a means of
was derived from their political institutions, was securing the succession to her son; and she trusted
silenced after the Civil Wars ; and the puerilities to his gratitude to herself as a guarantee for his
of the rhetoricians were the signs of declining taste. fidelity to her interests, and to his hatred of
The Controversiae and Suasoriarum Liber have Claudius for the wrongs that he had suffered from
often been published with the works of Seneca the him.
The edition of A. Schottus appeared at Hei- It was unfortunate that the philosopher bad so
delberg, 1603 and 1604, Paris, 1607 and 1613. bad a pupil, but we cannot blame him for all that
The Elzivir print of 1672, 8vo. , contains the notes Nero learned and all that he did not learn. The
of N. Faber, A. Schottus, J. F. Gronovius, and youth had a taste for what was showy and super-
others.
ficial: he had no capacity for the studies which
The confusion between Seneca, the father, and befit a man who has to govem a state. If Seneca
Seneca, the philosopher, is fully cleared up by had made a rhetorician of him after his own taste,
Lipsius, Electorum Lib. I. cap. 1, Opera, vol. i. p. that would have been something, but Domitins
631, ed. 1675.
[G. L. ) had not even the low ability to distinguish himself
SENECA, L. ANNAEUS, the son of M. An- as a talker. There is no evidence to justify the
naeus Seneca, was born at Corduba, probably imputation that Seneca encouraged his vicious pro-
about a few years B, C. , and brought to Rome by pensities ; and if Nero had followed the advice
his parents when he was a child. Though he was contained in Seneca's treatise, De Clementia ad
naturally of a weak body, he was a hard student Neronem Caesarem, written in the second year
from his youth, and he devoted himself with great of Nero's reign, the young emperor might have
ardour to rhetoric and philosophy. He also soon been happy, and his administration beneficent.
gained distinction as a pleader of causes, and he That Seneca would look upon his connection with
excited the jealousy and hatred of Caligula by the Nero as a means of improring his fortunes and
ability with which he conducted a case in the enjoying power, is just what most other men
senate before the emperor. He was spared, it is would have done, and would do now in the same
said, because Caligula was assured by one of his circumstances ; and that a man with such views
mistresses that Seneca would soon die of disease. would not be very rigid towards an unruly pupil
The
emperor also affected to despise the eloquence is a reasonable inference. We know that he did
of Seneca : he said that it was sand without lime not make Nero a wise man or a good man ; we do
(Sueton. Calig. 53). Seneca obtained the quaes- not know that he helped to make him worse than
torship, but the time is uncertain. In the first year he would have been ; and in the absence of
of the reign of Claudius (A. D. 41), the successor positive evidence of his corrupting the youth, and
of Caligula, Seneca was banished to Corsica. Clau- with the positive evidence of his own writings in
dius had recalled to Rome his nieces Agrippina his favour, it is a fair and just conclusion that
and Julia, whom their brother Caligula had exiled he did as much with Nero as a man could who
to the island of Pontia (Ponza). It seems pro- had accepted, and chose to retain a post in which
bable that Messalina, the wife of Claudius, was his character could not possibly escape some impu-
son.
## p. 779 (#795) ############################################
SENECA.
779
SENECA.
tation. He who consents to be the tutor of a move him on the ground of his supposed adherence
vicious youth of high station, whom he cannot to the cause of Agrippina (Tacit. Ann. xiii. 20).
control, must be content to take the advantages of But Plinius and Cluvius Rufus said that Nero
his post, with the risk of being blamed for his never doubted the fidelity of Burrus, and that in his
pupil's vices.
aların and his impatience to get rid of his mother,
Claudius was poisoned by his niece and wife he could not be pacified till Burrus promised that
Agrippina A. D. 54, and Nero succeeded to the she should be put to death, if she should be con-
Imperial power. Tacitus (Ann. xiii. 2, &c. ) states victed of the designs which were imputed to her.
that both Burrus and Seneca attempted to check Burrus and Seneca paid Agrippina a visit, with
the young emperor's vicious propensities ; and some freedmen, to be witnesses of what took place.
both combined to resist his mother's arrogant pre- Burrus charged her with treasonable designs, to
tensions. A woman assuming the direct exercise which Agrippina replied with indignant eloquence.
of political power was a thing that the Romans A reconciliation with Nero followed, her accusers
had not yet seen, and it was inconsistent with were punished, and her friends rewarded ; neither
all their notions. The opposition of Burrus and Burrus nor Seneca was under any imputation of
Seneca to the emperor's mother was the duty of having prejudiced Nero against her.
good citizens.
The affair of P. Suilius (A. D. 58) brought some
Nero pronounced the funeral oration in memory discredit on Seneca. Suilius had been a formidablo
of Claudius. The panegyric on the deceased instrument of tyranny under Claudius, and was
emperor was listened to with decency and patience justly hated. He was charged under a Senatus-
till Nero came to that part of his discourse in consultum, which had amended the Lex Cincia,
which he spoke of the foresight and wisdom of with receiving money for pleading causes ; a feeble
Claudius, when there was a general laugh. The pretext for crushing an odious man. The defence
speech, which Nero delivered, was written by of Suilius was an attack on Seneca: he charged
Seneca in a florid style, suited to the taste of the him with debauching Julia, the daughter of Ger-
age, with little regard to truth, and none for his manicus, and hinted at his commerce with women of
own character, for he afterwards wrote a satire the imperial family, probably meaning Agrippina ;
(Apocolocyntosis) to ridicule the Apotheosis of the and he asked by what wisdom, by what precepts
man whom he bad despised and praised.
of philosophy he had, during a four-years' intimacy
In the first year of his reign Nero affected with an emperor, amassed a fortune of three hun-
mildness and clemency, and such was the tone of dred million sestertii : at Rome he was a hunter
his orationes to the senate ; but these professions after testamentary gifts, an ensnarer of those who
were the words of Seneca, uttered by the mouth were childless ; Italy and the provinces were
of Nero ; the object of Seneca was, as Tacitus drained by his exorbitant usury. His own profits,
says, either to give public evidence of the integrity Suilius said, were moderate, and earned with toil ;
of his counsels to the emperor, or to display his and he would endure any thing rather than humble
abilities. There might be something of both in himself before an upstart favourite. We must
his motives ; but it is consistent with a fair judg- assume that Suilius supposed that Seneca had
ment and the character of Seneca's writings to moved against him in this matter: his words were
believe that he did attempt to keep Nero within reported to Seneca, and perhaps aggravated. A
the limits of decency and humanity. A somewhat charge was got up against him, it is not said by
ambiguous passage of Tacitus (Ann. xiii. 13), whom, as to his infamous delations under Claudius,
seems to affirm that he endeavoured to veil Nero's and he was banished to the Balearic Islands. The
amour with Acte under a decent covering ; and words of such a man are no proof of Seneca's
Clurius (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 2) states that the amour guilt ; but the enormous wealth of Seneca gave a
with Acte was encouraged to prevent a detestable colour of truth to any thing that was said against
crime. “What a part for a Stoic to play," says him. (Tacit. Ann. xiii.
significant persons of this name. (See Vossius, de who fed her till she was discovered by the shep-
Hist. Graec. p. 496, ed. Westermann ; Fabric. herds of the neighbourhood. She was then brought
Bibl. Graec. vol. i. pp. 86, 184, n. , 522, vol. ii. up by the chief shepherd of the royal herds, whose
p. 27, vol. iv. p. 166, vol. v. p. 107, vol. vi. p. name was Simmas, and from whom she derived
378. )
[P. S. ) the name of Semiramis. Her surpassing beauty
SELEUCUS, an engraver of precious stones, of attracted the notice of Onnes, one of the king's
unknown date, one of whose gems is extant ; it is friends and generals, who married her. He subse-
• a carnelian, engraved with a small head of Silenus. quently sent for his wife to the army, where the
(Bracci, 104 ; Stosch, 60. )
[P. S. ) Assyrians were engaged in the siege of Bactra,
SELI'CIUS, an usurer, and a friend of P. Len- which they had long endeavoured in vain to take.
tulus Spinther (Cic. ad Att
. i. 12, iv. 18. § 3, ad Upon her arrival in the camp, she planned an at-
Fam. 5, a. ). Orelli thinks (Onom. Tull. s. v. ) | tack upon the citadel of the town, mounted the
that Selicius may perhaps be the same name as walls with a few brave followers, and obtained
the Secilius (Enkinios) mentioned in Dion Cassius possession of the place. Ninus was so charmed
(xxxv. 3), but this Secilius is called Sextilius in by her bravery and beauty, that he resolved to
Plutarch. (Lucull. 25. )
make ber his wife, whereupon her unfortunate
SELINUS (Lentvolls), a son of Poseidon, was husband put an end to his life. By Ninus Semi-
king of degialos and father of Helice. (Paus, vii. ramis bad a son, Ninyas, and on the death of Ninus
1. § 2 ; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 292. ) (L. S. ] she succeeded him on the throne. According to
SE’LIUS. 1, 2. P. and C. SELII, two learned another account, Semiramis had obtained from her
men, friends of L. Lucullus, who had heard Philon husband permission to rule over Asia for five days,
at Rome. (Cic. Acad. ii. 4. )
and availed herself of this opportunity to cast the king
3. Selius, a bad orator mentioned by Cicero into a dungeon, or, as is also related, to put him to
about B. C. 51 (ail Fam. vii. 32).
death, and thus obtained the sovereign power.
A. SE'LLIUS, elected tribune of the plebs in (Diod. ii. 20 ; Aelian, V. H. vii. 1. ) Her fame
his absence in B. c. 422. (Liv. iv. 42. )
threw into the shade that of Ninus ; and later
SEʻMELE (Eeuéan), a daughter of Cadmus and ages loved to tell of her marvellous deeds and her
Harmonia, at Thebes, and accordingly a sister of heroic achievements. She built numerous cities,
Ino, Agave, Autonoë, and Polydorus. She was and erected many wonderful buildings ; and several
beloved by Zeus (Hom. Il. xiv. 323, Hynm. in of the most extraordinary works in the East, which
Bacch. 6, 57 ; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. ii. 40), and were extant in a later age, and the authors of which
Hera, stimulated by jealousy, appeared to her in were unknown, were ascribed by popular tradition
the form of her aged nurse Beroë, and induced her to this queen. In Nineveh she erected a tomb for
to pray Zeus to visit her in the same splendour and her husband, nine stadia high, and ten wide ; she
majesty with which he appeared to Hera. Zeus, built the city of Babylon * with all its wonders,
who had promised that he would grant her every
request, did as she desired. He appeared to her • Herodotus only once mentions Semiramis
as the god of thunder, and Semele was consumed (i. 181), where he states that she was a queen of
by the fire of lightning ; but Zeus saved her child | Babylon, who lived five generations before Nitocris,
a
## p. 777 (#793) ############################################
SEMPRONIA.
777
SENECA.
as well as many other towns on the Euphrates (Ascon. in Milon. p. 41, ed. Orelli). Orelli sup-
and the Tigris, and she constructed the hanging poses that she may be the same as the wife of
gardens in Media, of which later writers give us Brutus mentioned above.
such strange accounts. Besides conquering many
SEMPRONIA GENS, patrician and plebeian.
nations of Asia, she subdued Egypt and a great This gens was of great antiquity, and one of its
part of Ethiopia, but was unsuccessful in an attack members, A. Sempronius Atratinus, obtained the
which she made upon India. After a reign of consulship as early as B. c. 497, twelve years after
forty-two years she resigned the sovereignty to her the foundation of the republic. The Sempronii
Bon Ninyas, and disappeared from the earth, were divided into many families, of which the
taking her flight to heaven in the form of a dove. ATRATINI were undoubtedly patrician, but all the
Such is a brief abstract of the account in Dio others appear to have been plebeian: their names
dorus, the fabulous nature of which is still more are ASELLIO, BLAESUS, DENSUS, GRACCHUS,
apparent in the details of his narrative. We have Longus, Musca, Pitiu, Rufus, RUTILUS, So-
already pointed out, in the article SARDANAPALUS, PRUE, TUDITANUS. Of these, Atratinus, Gracchus,
the mythical character of the whole of the Assyrian and Pitio alone occur on coins. The glory of the
history of Ctesias, and it is therefore unnecessary Sempronia gens is confined to the republicun
to dwell further upon the subject in the present period. Very few persons of this name, and none
place. A recent writer has brought forward many of them of any importance, are mentioned under
reasons for believing that Seniiramis was originally the empire.
a Syrian goddess, probably the same who was SEMUS (Zņuos), a Greek grammarian of un
worshipped at Ascalon under the name of Astarte, certain date, wrote, according to Suidas (s. v. ), eight
or the Heavenly Aphrodite, to whom the dove was books on Delos, two books of trepiodoi, one on
sacred (Lucian, de Syria Dea, 14, 33, 39). Hence Paros, one on Pergamus, and a work on Paenirs.
the stories of her voluptuousness (Diod. ii. 13), Suidas calls him an Elean, but it appears from
which were current even in the time of Augustus Athenaeus (iii. p. 123, d. ) that this is a mistake,
(Ov. Am. i. 5. 11) (Coinp. Movers, Die Phönizier, and that he was a native of Delos. His work on
p. 631).
Delos (Δηλιακά or Δηλιάς) was the most im-
SEMO SANCUS. [SANCUS. ]
portant, and is frequently referred to by Athenaeus,
SEMON, an engraver of precious stones, be- and once or twice by other writers (Athen. iii.
longing to an early period, as is clear from the only p. 109, f. , iv. p. 173, e. , viii. pp. 331, f. , 335, a. ,
work of his which is extant, namely, a stone in xi. p. 469, C. , xiv. pp. 614, a. , 637, b. , 645, b. , xv.
the form of a scarabaeus, engraved with the name p. 676, f. ; Steph. Byz. s. v. Téyupa ; Etym. Magn.
XHMONOE, but in the reverse order, and in archaic s. v. BlbAivos). Athenaeus also quotes (xiv. pp.
characters. It is very rare to find an old Greek 618, d. , 622, a-d. ) his work on Paeans (nepl
gem inscribed with the name of the engraver, parávwv). We likewise find in Athenaeus (iii. p.
although this was the usual practice in the Roman 123, d. ), a reference to a work of Semus on Islands
period. (R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, p. 153, (Nnoiás), but it has been suggested with much
2d ed. )
[P. S.
) probability that this is a false reading for Anniás.
SEMPROʻNIA. 1. The daughter of Tib. Grac-(Vossius, De Histor. Graecis, p. 497, ed. Wester-
chus, censor B. C. 169, and the sister of the two mann. )
celebrated tribunes, married Scipio Africanus ninor. SE'NECA, M. ANNAEUS, was a native of
We know nothing of her private life or character. Corduba (Cordova) in Spain. The time of his
On the sudden death of her husband, she and her birth is uncertain ; but it may be approximated to.
mother Cornelia were suspected by some persons of He says (Contr. Praef. i. p. 67) that he considered
having murdered him, since Scipio did not like that he had heard all the great orators, except
her on account of her want of beauty and her Cicero ; and that he might have heard Cicero, if
sterility, and she likewise had no affection for him. the Civil Wars, by which he means the wars be-
But there is no evidence against her ; and if Scipio tween Pompeius and Caesar, had not kept him at
was really murdered, Papirius Carbo was most pro- home (intra coloniam meam). Seneca appears to
bably the guilty party. [Scipio, No. 21, p. 750. ] allude in this passage to some of Cicero's letters (ad
(Appian, B. C. i. 20; Liv. Epit. 59; Schol. Bob. Fam. vii. 33, ix. 16), in which Cicero speaks of
pro Mil. p. 283. )
Hirtius and Dolabella being his “ dicendi discipuli”
2. The wife of D. Junius Brutus, consul B. c. (B. C. 46). It is conjectured that as Seneca might
77, was a woman of great personal attractions and be fifteen in B. C. 46, he may have been born on or
literary accomplishments, but of a profligate cha- about B. C. 61 (Clinton, Fasti), the year before C.
racter, She took part in Catiline's conspiracy, Julius Caesar was praetor in Spain. Seneca was
though her husband was not privy to it (Sall
. Cat. I at Rome in the early period of the power of Au-
25,40). Asconius speaks of a Sempronia, the daugh- | gustus, for he says that he had seen Ovid declaiming
ter of Tuditanus, and the mother of P. Clodius, who before Arellius Fuscus (Contr. x. p. 172). Ovid
gave her testimony at the trial of Milo, in B. c. 52 was born B. C. 43. Seneca was an intimate friend
of the rhetorician M. Porcius Latro, who was one
and dammed up the Euphrates. As Nitocris pro- of Ovid's masters. He also mentions the rhetori-
bably lived about B. C. 600, it has been maintained cian Marillius, as the master of himself and of
that this Semiramis must be a different person Latro. He afterwards returned to Spain, and
from the Semiranis of Ctesias. But there is no married Helvia, by whom he had three sons, L.
occasion to suppose two different queens of the Annaeus Seneca, L. Annaeus Mela or Mella, the
name; the Semiramis of Herodotus is probably as father of the poet Lucan, and Marcus Novatus.
fabulous as that of Ctesias, and merely arose from Novatus was the eldest son, and took the name of
the practice we have noticed above, of assigning Junius Gallio, upon being adopted by Junius Gallio.
the great works in the East of unknown authorship Seneca was rich, and he belonged to the equestrian
to a queen of this name,
class. The time of his death is uncertain ; but he
## p. 778 (#794) ############################################
778
SENECA.
SENECA.
probably lived till near the end of the reign of Ti jealous of the influence of Julia with Claudius,
berius, and died at Rome or in Italy. It appears and hated her for her haughty behaviour. Julia
that he was at Rome early in life, from what has was again exiled, and Seneca's intimacy with her
been stated as to Ovid ; and he must have returned was a pretext for making him share her disgrace.
to Spain, because his son Lucius was brought to What the facts really were is unknown ; and the
Rome from Spain when he was an infant. (L. Se innocence of Seneca and Julia is at least as
neca, Consol. ad Ielvium. )
probable as their guilt, when Messalina was the
Seneca was gifted with a prodigious memory. accuser.
He was a man of letters, after the fashion of his In his exile in Corsica Seneca had the oppor-
time, when rhetoric or false eloquence was most in tunity of practising the philosophy of the Scoics,
vogue. His Controversiarum Libri decem, which to which he had attached himself. His Consolatio
he addressed to his three sons, were written when ad lleiviam, or consolatory letter to his mother,
he was an old man. The first, second, seventh, was written during his residence in the island.
eighth, and tenth books only, are extant, and these If the Consulatio ad Polybium, which was also
are somewhat mutilated : of the other books only | written during his exile, is the work of Seneca, it
fragments remain. These Controversiae are rhe- does him uo credit. Polybius was the powerful
torical exercises on imaginary cases, filled with freedman of Claudius, and the Consolutio is in-
common-places, such as a man of large verbal tended to comfort him on the occasion of the loss
memory and great reading carries about with him of his brother. But it also contains adulation of
as his ready money. Another work of the same the emperor, and many expressions unworthy of a
class, attributed to Seneca, and written after the true Stoic, or of an honest man. The object of
Controversiae, is the Suasoriarum Liber, which is the address to Polybius was to have his sentence
probably not complete. We may collect, from its of exile recalled, even at the cost of his character.
contents, what the subjects were on which the
After eight years' residence in Corsica Seneca
rhetoricians of that age exercised their wits: one of was recalled A. D. 49, by the influence of Agrip-
them is, “Shall Cicero apologise to Marcus Anto- pina (Tac. Ann. xii. 8), who had just married
nius ? Shall he agree to burn his Philippics, if her uncle the emperor Claudius. From this time
Antonius requires it? " Another is, “ Shall Alex. the life of Seneca is closely connected with that of
ander embark on the ocean ? " If there are some Nero, and Tacitus is the chief authority for both.
good ideas and apt expressions in these puerile de On his return he obtained a praetorship, and was
clamations, they have no value where they stand ; made the tutor of the young Domitius, afterwards
and probably most of them are borrowed. No the emperor Nero, who was the son of Agrippina
merit of form can compensate for worthlessness of by a former husband. Agrippina relied on the
matter. The eloquence of the Roman orators, which reputation of Seneca and his advice as a means of
was derived from their political institutions, was securing the succession to her son; and she trusted
silenced after the Civil Wars ; and the puerilities to his gratitude to herself as a guarantee for his
of the rhetoricians were the signs of declining taste. fidelity to her interests, and to his hatred of
The Controversiae and Suasoriarum Liber have Claudius for the wrongs that he had suffered from
often been published with the works of Seneca the him.
The edition of A. Schottus appeared at Hei- It was unfortunate that the philosopher bad so
delberg, 1603 and 1604, Paris, 1607 and 1613. bad a pupil, but we cannot blame him for all that
The Elzivir print of 1672, 8vo. , contains the notes Nero learned and all that he did not learn. The
of N. Faber, A. Schottus, J. F. Gronovius, and youth had a taste for what was showy and super-
others.
ficial: he had no capacity for the studies which
The confusion between Seneca, the father, and befit a man who has to govem a state. If Seneca
Seneca, the philosopher, is fully cleared up by had made a rhetorician of him after his own taste,
Lipsius, Electorum Lib. I. cap. 1, Opera, vol. i. p. that would have been something, but Domitins
631, ed. 1675.
[G. L. ) had not even the low ability to distinguish himself
SENECA, L. ANNAEUS, the son of M. An- as a talker. There is no evidence to justify the
naeus Seneca, was born at Corduba, probably imputation that Seneca encouraged his vicious pro-
about a few years B, C. , and brought to Rome by pensities ; and if Nero had followed the advice
his parents when he was a child. Though he was contained in Seneca's treatise, De Clementia ad
naturally of a weak body, he was a hard student Neronem Caesarem, written in the second year
from his youth, and he devoted himself with great of Nero's reign, the young emperor might have
ardour to rhetoric and philosophy. He also soon been happy, and his administration beneficent.
gained distinction as a pleader of causes, and he That Seneca would look upon his connection with
excited the jealousy and hatred of Caligula by the Nero as a means of improring his fortunes and
ability with which he conducted a case in the enjoying power, is just what most other men
senate before the emperor. He was spared, it is would have done, and would do now in the same
said, because Caligula was assured by one of his circumstances ; and that a man with such views
mistresses that Seneca would soon die of disease. would not be very rigid towards an unruly pupil
The
emperor also affected to despise the eloquence is a reasonable inference. We know that he did
of Seneca : he said that it was sand without lime not make Nero a wise man or a good man ; we do
(Sueton. Calig. 53). Seneca obtained the quaes- not know that he helped to make him worse than
torship, but the time is uncertain. In the first year he would have been ; and in the absence of
of the reign of Claudius (A. D. 41), the successor positive evidence of his corrupting the youth, and
of Caligula, Seneca was banished to Corsica. Clau- with the positive evidence of his own writings in
dius had recalled to Rome his nieces Agrippina his favour, it is a fair and just conclusion that
and Julia, whom their brother Caligula had exiled he did as much with Nero as a man could who
to the island of Pontia (Ponza). It seems pro- had accepted, and chose to retain a post in which
bable that Messalina, the wife of Claudius, was his character could not possibly escape some impu-
son.
## p. 779 (#795) ############################################
SENECA.
779
SENECA.
tation. He who consents to be the tutor of a move him on the ground of his supposed adherence
vicious youth of high station, whom he cannot to the cause of Agrippina (Tacit. Ann. xiii. 20).
control, must be content to take the advantages of But Plinius and Cluvius Rufus said that Nero
his post, with the risk of being blamed for his never doubted the fidelity of Burrus, and that in his
pupil's vices.
aların and his impatience to get rid of his mother,
Claudius was poisoned by his niece and wife he could not be pacified till Burrus promised that
Agrippina A. D. 54, and Nero succeeded to the she should be put to death, if she should be con-
Imperial power. Tacitus (Ann. xiii. 2, &c. ) states victed of the designs which were imputed to her.
that both Burrus and Seneca attempted to check Burrus and Seneca paid Agrippina a visit, with
the young emperor's vicious propensities ; and some freedmen, to be witnesses of what took place.
both combined to resist his mother's arrogant pre- Burrus charged her with treasonable designs, to
tensions. A woman assuming the direct exercise which Agrippina replied with indignant eloquence.
of political power was a thing that the Romans A reconciliation with Nero followed, her accusers
had not yet seen, and it was inconsistent with were punished, and her friends rewarded ; neither
all their notions. The opposition of Burrus and Burrus nor Seneca was under any imputation of
Seneca to the emperor's mother was the duty of having prejudiced Nero against her.
good citizens.
The affair of P. Suilius (A. D. 58) brought some
Nero pronounced the funeral oration in memory discredit on Seneca. Suilius had been a formidablo
of Claudius. The panegyric on the deceased instrument of tyranny under Claudius, and was
emperor was listened to with decency and patience justly hated. He was charged under a Senatus-
till Nero came to that part of his discourse in consultum, which had amended the Lex Cincia,
which he spoke of the foresight and wisdom of with receiving money for pleading causes ; a feeble
Claudius, when there was a general laugh. The pretext for crushing an odious man. The defence
speech, which Nero delivered, was written by of Suilius was an attack on Seneca: he charged
Seneca in a florid style, suited to the taste of the him with debauching Julia, the daughter of Ger-
age, with little regard to truth, and none for his manicus, and hinted at his commerce with women of
own character, for he afterwards wrote a satire the imperial family, probably meaning Agrippina ;
(Apocolocyntosis) to ridicule the Apotheosis of the and he asked by what wisdom, by what precepts
man whom he bad despised and praised.
of philosophy he had, during a four-years' intimacy
In the first year of his reign Nero affected with an emperor, amassed a fortune of three hun-
mildness and clemency, and such was the tone of dred million sestertii : at Rome he was a hunter
his orationes to the senate ; but these professions after testamentary gifts, an ensnarer of those who
were the words of Seneca, uttered by the mouth were childless ; Italy and the provinces were
of Nero ; the object of Seneca was, as Tacitus drained by his exorbitant usury. His own profits,
says, either to give public evidence of the integrity Suilius said, were moderate, and earned with toil ;
of his counsels to the emperor, or to display his and he would endure any thing rather than humble
abilities. There might be something of both in himself before an upstart favourite. We must
his motives ; but it is consistent with a fair judg- assume that Suilius supposed that Seneca had
ment and the character of Seneca's writings to moved against him in this matter: his words were
believe that he did attempt to keep Nero within reported to Seneca, and perhaps aggravated. A
the limits of decency and humanity. A somewhat charge was got up against him, it is not said by
ambiguous passage of Tacitus (Ann. xiii. 13), whom, as to his infamous delations under Claudius,
seems to affirm that he endeavoured to veil Nero's and he was banished to the Balearic Islands. The
amour with Acte under a decent covering ; and words of such a man are no proof of Seneca's
Clurius (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 2) states that the amour guilt ; but the enormous wealth of Seneca gave a
with Acte was encouraged to prevent a detestable colour of truth to any thing that was said against
crime. “What a part for a Stoic to play," says him. (Tacit. Ann. xiii.
