11, 17, terms of
intimacy
with the court, and must have
pp.
pp.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
A philosopher who flourished at Rome under
MSS. an eighth is added, containing a list of the the early emperors, and who is censured for his
seven wonders of the world. In each division the false eloquence by Seneca. (Epist. 40; comp.
objects are arranged alphabetically, and the de-Muret. Adv. )
scriptions are extremely short, indicating, for the 6. A philosopher of a later period, the friend
most part, merely the country in which the river, of Isidore, of whom Suidas (s. v. ) gives a long eu-
spring, lake, grove, swamp, hill
, or nation, is to logistic notice, extracted from the Life of Isidore
be found, and even when some farther notices are by Damascius, but containing scarcely any facts of
annexed they are expressed in very succinct terms, general interest. His library is said to have con-
Concerning the author personally we know ab- sisted of three volumes, one of which was the
solutely nothing, nor are we able to determine, even Orphic poems.
approximately, the epoch to which he belongs. We 7. Of Ascalon, wrote on the interpretation of
cannot state positively that he refers to writers dreams. (Fulgent. Myth, i. 13; Tertullian. de
later than Lucan and Statius ; but he appears to Anima, 46. )
have been indebted to scholiasts for any little in- 8. There was at least one poet of this name,
formation which he records, and from more than perhaps more. A Serapion of Athens, who, from
one passage it would seem highly probable that he the context, was evidently an epic poet, is intro-
copied Servius (e. g. Montes s. r. Cutillus). If duced by Plutarch as a speaker in his dialogue on
this be true he must be referred to some period not the reason of the Pythia's no longer giving oracles
earlier than the middle of the fifth century ; but in verse (p. 396). Another of the interlocutors
the evidence is after all so meagre, that we cannot compares Serapion's poems to those of Homer and
venture to speak with certainty.
Hesiod, for their force, and grace, and the style of
VOL. IIL.
38
## p. 786 (#802) ############################################
786
SERENA.
SERENUS.
.
their language. It is, therefore, scarcely to be foster-mother of the emperor Honorius, and wiſe
doubted that this Serapion is the same poct from of Stilicho. (HONORIUS ; Stilicho. ] [W: P. )
whose can Clemens Alexandrinus quotes certain SERENIANUS, A E’LIUS, a member of the
statements respecting the Sibylline oracles. (Strom. consilium of the emperor Alexander Severus, is
vol. i. p. 304. ) Stobaeus, agnin, quotes two called by Lampridius “omnium vir sanctissimus. "
iambic verses froin a certain Serapion. (Serm. 10. ) (Alex. Sever. 68. )
9. There are also some Christian writers of this SERE'NUS, AEʻLIUS, an Athenian gram-
name, but not of sufficient importance to require marian of uncertain date, wrote an epitome of the
particular notice. What is known of them, as work of Philo on Cities and their illustrious men,
well as of the other Serapions, will be found in in three books, and an epitome of the commentary
Fabricius. (Bill. Gruec. vol. ix. pp. 154—158, and of Philoxenus on Homer, in one book (Suidas, s. v.
the other passages there referred to). (P. S. ) Sepñvos ; comp. Etym. M. s. vo. 'Apo ivón and Bou-
SERAPION (Σεραπίων), a physician of Alex- | κέρας). Serenus also wrote Απομνημονεύματα,
andria (Galen, Introd. c. 4. vol. xiv. p. 683), who from which Stobaeus makes numerous extracts
lived in the third century B. C. , after Herophilus, | (Stobaeus, Floril. xi. 15, et passim). Photius
Erasistratus, and Philinus, and before Apollonius makes mention (Bibl. Cod. 279, p. 536, a. , ed.
Empiricus, Glaucias, Heraclides of Tarentum, Me- Bekker) of dramas, written in different metres, by
nodotus, Sextus Empiricus (Gal. l. c. ; Celsus, the grammarian Serenus, who is probably the same
De Med. i. praef. p. 5), and Crito (Galen, Dc person as the preceding. (Vossius, De Hist. Graecis,
Compos. Mcdicam. sec. Gen. vi. 4. vol. xiii. p. 883). p. 498, ed. Westermann. )
lle belonged to the sect of the Empirici, and so SERE'NUS, AMU'LIUS, one of the prin.
much extended and improved the system of Phi- cipal centurions (primipilares) in Galba's army in
linus, that the invention of it is by some authors Rome in A. D. 69. (Tac. Hist. i. 31. )
attributed to him (Cels. l. c. ). Dr. Mead, in his SERE'NUS, ANNAEUS, one of the most in-
“ Dissert. de Numis quibusdam a Smyrnaeis in timate friends of the philosopher Seneca, who de-
Medicorum Honorem cusis”(Lond. 1724, 4to. p. 51), dicated to him his work De Tranquillitate. He
tries to prove that he was a follower of Erasis- was praefectus vigilum under Nero, and died in
tratus, because his name appears upon a medal consequence of eating a poisonous kind of fungue
discovered at Smyrna, where it is known that the (Senec. Ep. 63 ; Tac. Ann. xiii. 13 ; Plin. H. N.
school of Erasistratus flourished; but it is not at xxii. 23. s. 47. )
all certain that the physician is the person in SERE'NUS, GRA'NIUS, legatus of the em-
whose honour the coin was struck. Serapion wrote peror Hadrian in Asia, wrote to the latter, re-
against Hippocrates with much vehemence (Galen, monstrating with him upon the injustice of con-
De Sulfig. Empir. c. 13, vol. ii. p. 346, ed. Chart. ), demning Christians to death without any definite
but neither this, nor any of his other works, are charge being brought against them. In consequence
now extant, He is several times mentioned and of this letter Hadrian ordered Minucius Fundanus,
quoted by Celsus (v. 28. 17, p. 115), Galen (De the successor of Serenus in Asia, to condemn no
Meth. Med. ii. 7, vol. x. pp. 136, 143 ; De Compos. Christian unless convicted of some crime. (Oros.
Medicam. sec. Loc. x. 2, De Compos. Medicam. vii. 13 ; Euseb. H. E. iv, 8, 9. )
sec. Gen. ii. 9, vi. 4, vol. xiii. pp. 343, 509, 883; SERE'NUS, Q. SAMMONICUS (or Samo
De Remed. Parab. ii. 17, vol. xiv. p. 450), nicus), enjoyed a high reputation at Rome, in
Caelius Aurelianus (De Morb. Acut. ii. 6, iii. 4, the early part of the third century, as a man
8, 17, 21, De Morb. Chron. i. 4. pp. 84, 195, 212, of taste and varied knowledge. He lived upon
246, 263, 322), Aëtius (ii. 2. 96, iv. 3.
11, 17, terms of intimacy with the court, and must have
pp. 296, 747, 767), Paulus Aegineta (iii. 64, been possessed of great wealth, since he accu-
iv. 25, vii. 17, pp. 484, 515, 678), and Nicolaus mulated a library amounting, it is said, to 62,000
Myrepsus (De Compos. Medicam. i. 66, x. 149, volumes (Capitolin. Gordiun. 18). As the friend
pp. 374, 580), who have preserved some of his of Geta, by whom his compositions were studied
medical formulae, which are not of much value. with great pleasure, he was murdered while at
(See Sprengel's Gesch, der Arzneik. vol. i. ed. supper, by command of Caracalla, in the year A. D.
1846. )
212 (Spartian. Caracall. 4, Get. 5), leaving be-
It may be useful to remark that this Serapion hind him many learned works (cuius Libri plurimi
must not be confounded with either of the two ad doctrinam exstant, Spartian. l. c. ). Sidonius
Arabic physicians of the same name. (See Penny Apollinaris (Carm. xiii. 21) celebrates his mathe-
Cyclop. )
[W. A. G. ) matical lore, and that he turned his attention to
SERA'PION, a highly celebrated scene-painter, antiquarian pursuits may be gathered from Arno-
who failed, however, in his attempts to depict the bius (adv. Gentes, vi. 17) and Macrobius (Sat, ii.
human figure. We have no better clue to the time 13), of whom the latter quotes some remarks by
at which he flourished than the following obscure Sammonicus upon the sumptuary Lex Fannia
passage in Pliny:- Maeniana, inquit Varro, omnia while in another place (Sat. iii. 9), he extracts at
operiebat Serapionis tabula sub Veteribus (Plin. full length from the fifth book of his Res Reconditae,
H. N. xxxv. 10. s. 37). The invention of scene- the ancient forms by which the gods of a be
painting is ascribed to Sophocles. (Aristot. Poët. leaguered town were summoned forth by the
[P. S. ] besiegers, and the place itself devoted to the
SERA'PIS or SARA'PIS (Zápanis), an Egyp- destroying powers. In the Saturnalia also (ii. 12),
tian divinity, the worship of which was introduced is preserved a letter by Sammonicus addressed to
into Greece in the time of the Ptolemies. Apol- the emperor Septimius Sererus, on the honours
lodorus (ii. 1. § 1) states that Serapis was the rendered at solemn banquets to the sturgeon. Ac-
name given to Apis after his death and deification. cording to Lampridius he must have been either
(Comp. Callim. Ep. 39, and Isis. ) [L. S. ) an orator or a poet, or perhaps both, for it is re-
SERENA, niece of Theodosius the Great, corded by the Augustan historian in his life of
## p. 787 (#803) ############################################
1
1
SERENUS.
SERGIUS.
787
Alexander Severus (c. 30) that this prince was Wernsdorf has endeavoured to prove that the
wont to read “et oratores et počtas, in queis Sere. Moretum, found among the Calalecta Virgiliana,
num Sammonicum, quem ipse noverat et dilexerat, belongs in reality to Serenus, but the hypothesis
et Horatium. " His son, who bore the same name, rests upon no sure nor even plansible evidence.
was the preceptor of the younger Gordian, and The scanty remains of Serenus, of which the
bequcathed to his pupil the magnificent library longest fragment, the commencement of a sort of
which he had inherited from his sire. (Capitolin. hymn to Janus, extends to five lines only, afford
Gordian. 18. )
examples of several uncommon metres, and will be
A medical poem, extending to 115 hexameter found collected in Wernsdorf, Poët. Lat. Min. vol.
lines, divided into 65 chapters or sections, and ii. p. 279. The dissertation commencing in p. 217
ending abruptly, has descended to us under the of the same volume contains every thing that has
title Q. Sereni Sammonici de Medicina praccepla been ascertained or conjectured with regard to
saluberrima, or, Praecepta de Medicina parvo his name, his history, and his writings. See also
pretio purabili, which is usually ascribed to the Burmann, Anthol. Lut. i. 27, iii. 57, or No. 191,
elder Sammonicus. It contains a considerable | 192, ed. Meyer.
[W. R. )
amount of information, extracted from the best SERE'NUS, VI’BIUS, proconsul of Further
authorities, on natural history and the healing art, Spain, was condemned of Vis publica in A. D. 23,
mixed up with a number of puerile superstitions, and exiled (deportatus) to the little island of Amor-
such as the efficacy of the Abracadabra as an gus, near Naxos. The real reason of his punish-
amulet in ague, the whole expressed in plain, un- ment was his being an enemy of the all-powerful
ambitious, and almost prosaic language. The text Sejanus, as we learn from Dion Caseius (lviii. 8),
is very corrupt, probably in conseyuence of the who relates the circumstance, but without men-
estimation in which the treatise was held during the tioning the name of Serenus. In the following
middle ages. The most useful edition is that of Bur- year he was brought back to Rome, because he was
mann, included in his Poëtae Latini Minores (4to. accused by his own son, in the senate, of a plot
Leid. 1731, vol. ii. pp. 187—388), containing the against the emperor. The younger Serenus be-
best notes and the Prolegomena of Keuchen. For came one of the most infamous accusers in the
an account of some recent contributions towards reign of Tiberius, and was therefore held in all
the improvement of the text, see Reuss, Lectiones the higher honour by the emperor. (Tac. Ann. iv.
Sammonicae, p. i. 4to. Wirceb. 1837. (W. R. ] 13, 28, 36. )
SERE'NUS, A. SEPTI'MIUS, a Roman lyric SEÄRGIA. 1. One of the noble women at
poct (Terent. Maur. p. 2427, ed. Putsch. ; Serv. ad Rome who were accused of poisoning the leading
Virg. Aen. ii. 15; Hieron. Epist. ad Paulin. 7), men of the state in B. C. 331. The details and
who exercised his muse chiefly, it would appear, in authorities are given under CORNELIA, No. 1.
depicting the charms of the country, and the de- 2. The sister of Catiline, was married to Q.
light of rural pursuits. With the exception of one Caecilius, a Roman eques, who was slain by his
or two incidental notices in Sidonius Apollinaris brother-in-law during the proscription of Sulla.
(Epist. ad Polem. Curm. ix. ad Fel. ), and the pas- Sergia, like her brother, bore a bad character (Q.
sage in St. Jerome referred to above, he is known Cic. de Pet. Cons. 2 ; Ascon. in Tog. Cand. p. 84,
to us from the grammarians alone, unless, indeed, ed. Orelli),
we adopt the conjecture of Gronovius that the SEʻRGIA GENS, patrician. The Sergii, like
Ode of Statius (Šilo. iv. 5) addressed to Septimius many other ancient Roman gentes, traced their
Severus, we ought to substitute Serenus for Se descent from the Trojans. They regarded Ser-
The age in which he flourished is uncer- gestus as their ancestor (Virg. Aen. 4. 121):-
tain, since it depends upon the epoch which we
“Sergestusque, domus tenet a quo Sergia nomen. "
assign to Terentianus Maurus, with whom he
seems to have been nearly contemporary. (Terent. The Sergii were distinguished in the early history
Maur. pp. 2424, 2427, ed. Putsch. )
of the republic, but obtained an unenviable noto-
His chief work, at least that which is most riety at a later age by Catiline belonging to them.
frequently mentioned, is quoted by Nonius (c. v. The first member of the gens who obtained the
n. 35) under the title of Opuscula Ruralia, by consulship was L. Sergius Fidenas, in B. C. 437.
Terentianus Maurus (p. 2427, ed. Putsch. ), as The Sergii bore the cognomens of Catilina, Es-
Opuscula Ruris, by others simply as Opuscula, and QUILINUS, FIDENAS, ORATA, PAULUS, PLANCUS
must have been divided into two or more books (accidentally omitted under Plancus, and given
(Non. c. xiv. 5). Another piece, unless indeed it below), and Silus. Silus is the only cognomen
was included in the Opuscula, was named Falisca, which occurs on coins. A few persons of the gens
from containing a description of a farm which he are mentioned without any surname : these are
possessed in the country of the Falisci, and from given below.
this the author is designated as Poëta Faliscus SEʻRGIUS. 1. M. SERGIUS, tribune of the
(Terent. Maur. p. 2423, ed.
MSS. an eighth is added, containing a list of the the early emperors, and who is censured for his
seven wonders of the world. In each division the false eloquence by Seneca. (Epist. 40; comp.
objects are arranged alphabetically, and the de-Muret. Adv. )
scriptions are extremely short, indicating, for the 6. A philosopher of a later period, the friend
most part, merely the country in which the river, of Isidore, of whom Suidas (s. v. ) gives a long eu-
spring, lake, grove, swamp, hill
, or nation, is to logistic notice, extracted from the Life of Isidore
be found, and even when some farther notices are by Damascius, but containing scarcely any facts of
annexed they are expressed in very succinct terms, general interest. His library is said to have con-
Concerning the author personally we know ab- sisted of three volumes, one of which was the
solutely nothing, nor are we able to determine, even Orphic poems.
approximately, the epoch to which he belongs. We 7. Of Ascalon, wrote on the interpretation of
cannot state positively that he refers to writers dreams. (Fulgent. Myth, i. 13; Tertullian. de
later than Lucan and Statius ; but he appears to Anima, 46. )
have been indebted to scholiasts for any little in- 8. There was at least one poet of this name,
formation which he records, and from more than perhaps more. A Serapion of Athens, who, from
one passage it would seem highly probable that he the context, was evidently an epic poet, is intro-
copied Servius (e. g. Montes s. r. Cutillus). If duced by Plutarch as a speaker in his dialogue on
this be true he must be referred to some period not the reason of the Pythia's no longer giving oracles
earlier than the middle of the fifth century ; but in verse (p. 396). Another of the interlocutors
the evidence is after all so meagre, that we cannot compares Serapion's poems to those of Homer and
venture to speak with certainty.
Hesiod, for their force, and grace, and the style of
VOL. IIL.
38
## p. 786 (#802) ############################################
786
SERENA.
SERENUS.
.
their language. It is, therefore, scarcely to be foster-mother of the emperor Honorius, and wiſe
doubted that this Serapion is the same poct from of Stilicho. (HONORIUS ; Stilicho. ] [W: P. )
whose can Clemens Alexandrinus quotes certain SERENIANUS, A E’LIUS, a member of the
statements respecting the Sibylline oracles. (Strom. consilium of the emperor Alexander Severus, is
vol. i. p. 304. ) Stobaeus, agnin, quotes two called by Lampridius “omnium vir sanctissimus. "
iambic verses froin a certain Serapion. (Serm. 10. ) (Alex. Sever. 68. )
9. There are also some Christian writers of this SERE'NUS, AEʻLIUS, an Athenian gram-
name, but not of sufficient importance to require marian of uncertain date, wrote an epitome of the
particular notice. What is known of them, as work of Philo on Cities and their illustrious men,
well as of the other Serapions, will be found in in three books, and an epitome of the commentary
Fabricius. (Bill. Gruec. vol. ix. pp. 154—158, and of Philoxenus on Homer, in one book (Suidas, s. v.
the other passages there referred to). (P. S. ) Sepñvos ; comp. Etym. M. s. vo. 'Apo ivón and Bou-
SERAPION (Σεραπίων), a physician of Alex- | κέρας). Serenus also wrote Απομνημονεύματα,
andria (Galen, Introd. c. 4. vol. xiv. p. 683), who from which Stobaeus makes numerous extracts
lived in the third century B. C. , after Herophilus, | (Stobaeus, Floril. xi. 15, et passim). Photius
Erasistratus, and Philinus, and before Apollonius makes mention (Bibl. Cod. 279, p. 536, a. , ed.
Empiricus, Glaucias, Heraclides of Tarentum, Me- Bekker) of dramas, written in different metres, by
nodotus, Sextus Empiricus (Gal. l. c. ; Celsus, the grammarian Serenus, who is probably the same
De Med. i. praef. p. 5), and Crito (Galen, Dc person as the preceding. (Vossius, De Hist. Graecis,
Compos. Mcdicam. sec. Gen. vi. 4. vol. xiii. p. 883). p. 498, ed. Westermann. )
lle belonged to the sect of the Empirici, and so SERE'NUS, AMU'LIUS, one of the prin.
much extended and improved the system of Phi- cipal centurions (primipilares) in Galba's army in
linus, that the invention of it is by some authors Rome in A. D. 69. (Tac. Hist. i. 31. )
attributed to him (Cels. l. c. ). Dr. Mead, in his SERE'NUS, ANNAEUS, one of the most in-
“ Dissert. de Numis quibusdam a Smyrnaeis in timate friends of the philosopher Seneca, who de-
Medicorum Honorem cusis”(Lond. 1724, 4to. p. 51), dicated to him his work De Tranquillitate. He
tries to prove that he was a follower of Erasis- was praefectus vigilum under Nero, and died in
tratus, because his name appears upon a medal consequence of eating a poisonous kind of fungue
discovered at Smyrna, where it is known that the (Senec. Ep. 63 ; Tac. Ann. xiii. 13 ; Plin. H. N.
school of Erasistratus flourished; but it is not at xxii. 23. s. 47. )
all certain that the physician is the person in SERE'NUS, GRA'NIUS, legatus of the em-
whose honour the coin was struck. Serapion wrote peror Hadrian in Asia, wrote to the latter, re-
against Hippocrates with much vehemence (Galen, monstrating with him upon the injustice of con-
De Sulfig. Empir. c. 13, vol. ii. p. 346, ed. Chart. ), demning Christians to death without any definite
but neither this, nor any of his other works, are charge being brought against them. In consequence
now extant, He is several times mentioned and of this letter Hadrian ordered Minucius Fundanus,
quoted by Celsus (v. 28. 17, p. 115), Galen (De the successor of Serenus in Asia, to condemn no
Meth. Med. ii. 7, vol. x. pp. 136, 143 ; De Compos. Christian unless convicted of some crime. (Oros.
Medicam. sec. Loc. x. 2, De Compos. Medicam. vii. 13 ; Euseb. H. E. iv, 8, 9. )
sec. Gen. ii. 9, vi. 4, vol. xiii. pp. 343, 509, 883; SERE'NUS, Q. SAMMONICUS (or Samo
De Remed. Parab. ii. 17, vol. xiv. p. 450), nicus), enjoyed a high reputation at Rome, in
Caelius Aurelianus (De Morb. Acut. ii. 6, iii. 4, the early part of the third century, as a man
8, 17, 21, De Morb. Chron. i. 4. pp. 84, 195, 212, of taste and varied knowledge. He lived upon
246, 263, 322), Aëtius (ii. 2. 96, iv. 3.
11, 17, terms of intimacy with the court, and must have
pp. 296, 747, 767), Paulus Aegineta (iii. 64, been possessed of great wealth, since he accu-
iv. 25, vii. 17, pp. 484, 515, 678), and Nicolaus mulated a library amounting, it is said, to 62,000
Myrepsus (De Compos. Medicam. i. 66, x. 149, volumes (Capitolin. Gordiun. 18). As the friend
pp. 374, 580), who have preserved some of his of Geta, by whom his compositions were studied
medical formulae, which are not of much value. with great pleasure, he was murdered while at
(See Sprengel's Gesch, der Arzneik. vol. i. ed. supper, by command of Caracalla, in the year A. D.
1846. )
212 (Spartian. Caracall. 4, Get. 5), leaving be-
It may be useful to remark that this Serapion hind him many learned works (cuius Libri plurimi
must not be confounded with either of the two ad doctrinam exstant, Spartian. l. c. ). Sidonius
Arabic physicians of the same name. (See Penny Apollinaris (Carm. xiii. 21) celebrates his mathe-
Cyclop. )
[W. A. G. ) matical lore, and that he turned his attention to
SERA'PION, a highly celebrated scene-painter, antiquarian pursuits may be gathered from Arno-
who failed, however, in his attempts to depict the bius (adv. Gentes, vi. 17) and Macrobius (Sat, ii.
human figure. We have no better clue to the time 13), of whom the latter quotes some remarks by
at which he flourished than the following obscure Sammonicus upon the sumptuary Lex Fannia
passage in Pliny:- Maeniana, inquit Varro, omnia while in another place (Sat. iii. 9), he extracts at
operiebat Serapionis tabula sub Veteribus (Plin. full length from the fifth book of his Res Reconditae,
H. N. xxxv. 10. s. 37). The invention of scene- the ancient forms by which the gods of a be
painting is ascribed to Sophocles. (Aristot. Poët. leaguered town were summoned forth by the
[P. S. ] besiegers, and the place itself devoted to the
SERA'PIS or SARA'PIS (Zápanis), an Egyp- destroying powers. In the Saturnalia also (ii. 12),
tian divinity, the worship of which was introduced is preserved a letter by Sammonicus addressed to
into Greece in the time of the Ptolemies. Apol- the emperor Septimius Sererus, on the honours
lodorus (ii. 1. § 1) states that Serapis was the rendered at solemn banquets to the sturgeon. Ac-
name given to Apis after his death and deification. cording to Lampridius he must have been either
(Comp. Callim. Ep. 39, and Isis. ) [L. S. ) an orator or a poet, or perhaps both, for it is re-
SERENA, niece of Theodosius the Great, corded by the Augustan historian in his life of
## p. 787 (#803) ############################################
1
1
SERENUS.
SERGIUS.
787
Alexander Severus (c. 30) that this prince was Wernsdorf has endeavoured to prove that the
wont to read “et oratores et počtas, in queis Sere. Moretum, found among the Calalecta Virgiliana,
num Sammonicum, quem ipse noverat et dilexerat, belongs in reality to Serenus, but the hypothesis
et Horatium. " His son, who bore the same name, rests upon no sure nor even plansible evidence.
was the preceptor of the younger Gordian, and The scanty remains of Serenus, of which the
bequcathed to his pupil the magnificent library longest fragment, the commencement of a sort of
which he had inherited from his sire. (Capitolin. hymn to Janus, extends to five lines only, afford
Gordian. 18. )
examples of several uncommon metres, and will be
A medical poem, extending to 115 hexameter found collected in Wernsdorf, Poët. Lat. Min. vol.
lines, divided into 65 chapters or sections, and ii. p. 279. The dissertation commencing in p. 217
ending abruptly, has descended to us under the of the same volume contains every thing that has
title Q. Sereni Sammonici de Medicina praccepla been ascertained or conjectured with regard to
saluberrima, or, Praecepta de Medicina parvo his name, his history, and his writings. See also
pretio purabili, which is usually ascribed to the Burmann, Anthol. Lut. i. 27, iii. 57, or No. 191,
elder Sammonicus. It contains a considerable | 192, ed. Meyer.
[W. R. )
amount of information, extracted from the best SERE'NUS, VI’BIUS, proconsul of Further
authorities, on natural history and the healing art, Spain, was condemned of Vis publica in A. D. 23,
mixed up with a number of puerile superstitions, and exiled (deportatus) to the little island of Amor-
such as the efficacy of the Abracadabra as an gus, near Naxos. The real reason of his punish-
amulet in ague, the whole expressed in plain, un- ment was his being an enemy of the all-powerful
ambitious, and almost prosaic language. The text Sejanus, as we learn from Dion Caseius (lviii. 8),
is very corrupt, probably in conseyuence of the who relates the circumstance, but without men-
estimation in which the treatise was held during the tioning the name of Serenus. In the following
middle ages. The most useful edition is that of Bur- year he was brought back to Rome, because he was
mann, included in his Poëtae Latini Minores (4to. accused by his own son, in the senate, of a plot
Leid. 1731, vol. ii. pp. 187—388), containing the against the emperor. The younger Serenus be-
best notes and the Prolegomena of Keuchen. For came one of the most infamous accusers in the
an account of some recent contributions towards reign of Tiberius, and was therefore held in all
the improvement of the text, see Reuss, Lectiones the higher honour by the emperor. (Tac. Ann. iv.
Sammonicae, p. i. 4to. Wirceb. 1837. (W. R. ] 13, 28, 36. )
SERE'NUS, A. SEPTI'MIUS, a Roman lyric SEÄRGIA. 1. One of the noble women at
poct (Terent. Maur. p. 2427, ed. Putsch. ; Serv. ad Rome who were accused of poisoning the leading
Virg. Aen. ii. 15; Hieron. Epist. ad Paulin. 7), men of the state in B. C. 331. The details and
who exercised his muse chiefly, it would appear, in authorities are given under CORNELIA, No. 1.
depicting the charms of the country, and the de- 2. The sister of Catiline, was married to Q.
light of rural pursuits. With the exception of one Caecilius, a Roman eques, who was slain by his
or two incidental notices in Sidonius Apollinaris brother-in-law during the proscription of Sulla.
(Epist. ad Polem. Curm. ix. ad Fel. ), and the pas- Sergia, like her brother, bore a bad character (Q.
sage in St. Jerome referred to above, he is known Cic. de Pet. Cons. 2 ; Ascon. in Tog. Cand. p. 84,
to us from the grammarians alone, unless, indeed, ed. Orelli),
we adopt the conjecture of Gronovius that the SEʻRGIA GENS, patrician. The Sergii, like
Ode of Statius (Šilo. iv. 5) addressed to Septimius many other ancient Roman gentes, traced their
Severus, we ought to substitute Serenus for Se descent from the Trojans. They regarded Ser-
The age in which he flourished is uncer- gestus as their ancestor (Virg. Aen. 4. 121):-
tain, since it depends upon the epoch which we
“Sergestusque, domus tenet a quo Sergia nomen. "
assign to Terentianus Maurus, with whom he
seems to have been nearly contemporary. (Terent. The Sergii were distinguished in the early history
Maur. pp. 2424, 2427, ed. Putsch. )
of the republic, but obtained an unenviable noto-
His chief work, at least that which is most riety at a later age by Catiline belonging to them.
frequently mentioned, is quoted by Nonius (c. v. The first member of the gens who obtained the
n. 35) under the title of Opuscula Ruralia, by consulship was L. Sergius Fidenas, in B. C. 437.
Terentianus Maurus (p. 2427, ed. Putsch. ), as The Sergii bore the cognomens of Catilina, Es-
Opuscula Ruris, by others simply as Opuscula, and QUILINUS, FIDENAS, ORATA, PAULUS, PLANCUS
must have been divided into two or more books (accidentally omitted under Plancus, and given
(Non. c. xiv. 5). Another piece, unless indeed it below), and Silus. Silus is the only cognomen
was included in the Opuscula, was named Falisca, which occurs on coins. A few persons of the gens
from containing a description of a farm which he are mentioned without any surname : these are
possessed in the country of the Falisci, and from given below.
this the author is designated as Poëta Faliscus SEʻRGIUS. 1. M. SERGIUS, tribune of the
(Terent. Maur. p. 2423, ed.
