No More Learning

“ Meissner's Apollo,” 1797, Heft. 5. There is Caepio, whom he decoyed into an ambush ; but he
also a version into Italian by Buzio, which is con- was unable, either by his stratagems or his sarcasms,
tained in the Raccolta di tutti gli antichi poeti Latini, to force Marius to an engagement (Plut. Mar. 33).
4to. Milan 1765, vol. 34-35. (W. R. ] After most of the allies had laid down their arms
SI'LIUS MESSALLA. (MESSALLA, p. 1053. ] and submitted to the Romans, Pompaedius still
SIPLIUS NERVA. I. P. Silius Nerva, was continued the struggle. He regained Bovianum,
consul under Augustus B. c. 20, with M. Appuleius, which had been taken by Sulla, and entered this
and afterwards subdued the Cammunii and Venii capital of Samnium in triumph (Obsequ. 116).
(al. Venones), Gallic tribes. (Dion Cass. liv. 7, But this was his last success. He was first de-
20. )
feated by Mam. Aemilius, and subsequently by Q.
2. P. Silius NERVA, consul under Tiberius Metellus Pius. In the latter battle he perished,
A. D. 28, with Ap. Junius Silanus. (Tac. Ann. iv. and with his death the war came to an end, B. C.
68 ; Plin. H. N. viii. 40. )
88 (Appian, B. C. i. 40, 44, 53; Diod. xxxvii. p.
3. Silius NERVA, consul under Nero in A. D. 539, ed. Wess. ; Liv. Epit. 76 ; Flor. iii. 18;
65, with Vestinus Atticus (Tac. Ann. xv. 48). He Oros. v. 18 ; Vell. Pat, ii. 16). Several writers
is described in the Fasti as A. Licinius Nerva Si- have Popedius, and others give Sylo or Sillo as the
lianus ; whence it would appear that he was cognomen, but Pompaedius Silo is the correct
adopted by A. Licinius. He was probably the son orthography.
of No. 2.
SILO, POMPAEDIUS, fought under Venti-
There are several coins bearing on the reverse dius, the legatus of Antony, in his campaign against
P. NERVA, which are referred by modern numis- the Parthians in B. C. 39 (Dion Cass. xlviii. 41).
matologists to the Silia gens, and not to the Licinia The proceedings of Silo in Judaea are related at
gens, as older writers had done. A specimen of length by Josephus (Antiq. xiv. 15, B. J. i.
these coins is annexed. The reverse represents the 15).
septa of the comitia : one citizen is placing his ta- SILVA'NUS, a Latin divinity of the fields
bella in the ballot-box, while another is receiving and forests, to whom in the very earliest times the
his tabella from the officer. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 313. ) Tyrrhenian Pelasgians are said to have dedicated
a grove and a festival (Virg. Aen. viii. 600). He
is described as a god watching over the fields and
RRVA
husbandmen, and is also called the protector of the
boundaries of fields (Horat. Epod. ii. 22). Hy.
ginus (De Limit. Const. Praef. ) tells us that Sil-
vanus was the first to set up stones to mark the
limits of fields, and that every estate had three
Silvani, a Silvanus domesticus (in inscriptious
COIN OF P. SILIUS NERVA,
called Silvanus Larum and Silvanus sanctus sacer
Larum), Silvanus agrestis (also called salutaris),
SILLAX (ziarat), a painter, of Rhegium, / who was worshipped by shepherds, and Silvanus



## p. 826 (#842) ############################################

826
SILVANUS.
SILVANUS.
metamor-
(Cic. pro
orientalis ; that is, the god presiding over the point (The details with regard to the unfortunato
at which an estate begins. Hence Silvani are often usurpation of Silvanus are given with animated
spoken of in the plural. In connection with woods minuteness by Ammianus Marcellinus, xv. 5, 6,
(sylvestris deus), he especially presided over plan- who accompanied Ursicinus upon his hazardous
tations, and delighted in trees growing wild mission. See also Julian. Orat. i. ii. ; Mamertin.
(Tibull
. ii. 5. 30 ; Lucan, Phars. ii. 402; Plin. Panegyr. ii. ; Aurel. Vict. de Caes. 42, Epit. 42;
H. N. xii. 2; Ov. Met. i. 193); whence he is Eutrop. x. 7; Zonar. xiii. 9. ) (W. R. )
represented as carrying the trunk of a cypress SILVA'NUS, M. CEIOʻNIUS, consul under
(devopoqópos, Virg. Georg. i. 20). Respecting the Antoninus A. D. 156, with C. Serius Augurinus
cypress, however, the following story is told. (Fuoti).
Silvanus, or according to others, Apollo (Serv. SILVA'NUS, GRA'NIUS, tribune of a prae-
ad Aen. iii. 680 ; Ov. Met. x. 106, &c. ), was in torian cohort under Nero, was commissioned by
love with the youth Cyparissus, and once by the emperor, on the detection of the conspiracy of
accident killed a hind belonging to Cyparissus. Piso, A. D. 65, to demand from the philosopher Se-
The latter died of grief, and was
neca an explanation of certain suspicious words
phosed into a cypress (Serv. ad Virg. Georg. which he was charged with having spoken to An-
i. 20, Eclog. x. 26, Acn. iii. 680). He is tonius Natalis. Silvanus himself was involved in
further described as the divinity protecting the the conspiracy ; and though he was acquitted, he
flocks of cattle, warding off wolves, and promoting put an end to his own life (Tac. Ann. xv. 60, and
their fertility (Virg. Aen. viii. 601 ; Tibull. i. 5. 50, 71). Orelli, in his edition of Tacitus, reads
27 ; Cato, De Re Rust. 83; Nonn. ii. 324). Gavius Silvanus instead of Granius Silvanus.
Being the god of woods and flocks, he is also SILVA'NUS, PLAU'TIUS. 1. M. PLAU-
described as fond of music; the syrinx was sacred tius SILVANUS, tribune of the plebs, B. C. 89,
to him (Tibull. ii. 5.
30), and he is mentioned proposed a law that fifteen persons should be
along with the Pans and Nymphs (Virg. Georg. annually elected by each tribe, out of its own body,
i. 21 ; Lucan, l. c. ). Later speculators even iden- to be placed in the Album Judicum (Ascon. in
tified Silvanus with Pan, Faunus, Inuus and Cornel. p. 79, ed. Orelli). In conjunction with
Aegipan (Plut. Parall. Min. 22). Cato (l. c. ) his colleague, C. Papirius Carbo, he also proposed
calls him Mars Silvanus, from which it is clear a law conferring the Roman franchise upon the
that he must have been connected with the Italian citizens of the foederatae civitates.
Mars, and it is further stated that his connection Arch. 4 ; comp. Dict. of Antiq. p. 293, a, 2d ed. )
with agriculture referred only to the labour per- 2. M. Plautius M. f. A. N. SILVANUS, was
formed by men, and that females were excluded consul B. C. 2. He afterwards served with great
from his worship (Schol. ad Juven. vi. 446). distinction under Tiberius in the Pannonian and
In the Latin poets, as well as in works of art, he Illyrican wars, and obtained in consequence, as we
always appears as an old man, but as cheerful and learn from an inscription, the triumphal ornaments
in love with Pomona (Virg. Georg. ii. 494 ; Horat. (Vell. Pat. ii. 112 ; Dion Cass. lv. 34, lvi. 12;
Epod. ii. 21, Carm. iii. 8 ; 0v. Met. xiv. 639). Gruter, p. 452. 6).
The sacrifices offered to him consisted of grapes, 3. PLAUTIUS SILVANUS, praetor A. D. 24, threw
com-ears, milk, meat, wine and pigs. (Horat. his wife Apronia out of the window, and having
Epod. ii. 22, Epist. ii. 1. 143; Tibull. i. 5. 27 ; been accused of the crime, anticipated his con-
Juven. vi. 446; comp. Voss. Mythol. Briefe, ii. demnation by a voluntary death. (Tac. Ann. iv.
68; Hartung, Die Relig. der Röm. vol. ii. p. 170, 22).
&c. )
[L. S. ) 4. Tr. PLAUTIUS SILVANUS AELIANUS, offered
SILVA'NUS, a general of infantry in Gaul, up the prayer as pontifex when the first stone of
where he completely succeeded in quelling a for- the Capitol was laid, in A. D. 70 (Tac. Hist. iv,
midable insurrection of the barbarians during the 53). We learn from an inscription (Gruter, p.
reign of Constantius (A. D. 355), to whom he had 453 ; Orelli, n. 750) that he held many important
rendered an important service upon a former oc- military commands, and that he was twice consul.
casion by deserting, with a large body of cavalry, The date of these consulships, in both of which he
from Magnentius, immediately before the great was consul suffectus, is uncertain. Baiter, in bis
battle of Mursa. Having been falsely accused of Fasti Consulares, places the first in the reign of
treason by an informer who produced forged docu- Claudius, A. D. 47, and the second in the reign of
ments in support of the charge, he was urged by Vespasian, A. D. 76.
despair to commit the crime of which he had 5. M. PLAUTIUS SILVANUS, consul suffectus in
been so villanously impeached, and assumed the A. D. 68 (Fasti).
purple at Cologne, about the end of July A. 1). 355, SILVA'NUS, POMPEIUS, consul suffectus
almost at the very moment when his innocence under Claudius, A. D. 45 (Fasti), is perhaps the same
had been triumphantly established before the im- as the Pompeius or Poppaeus Silvanus, a man of
perial tribune at Milan. Ursicinus having been consular rank, who governed Dalmatia at the death
despatched with a few followers to crush this rebel- of Nero, and is described by Tacitus as rich and
lion as best he might, effected by treachery the aged. He espoused the side of Vespasian, but
destruction of Silvanus, who was murdered twenty- prosecuted the war with little vigour. He entered
eight days after he had been proclaimed Augustus. Rome along with the other generals of Vespasian,
He is represented by a contemporary historian as and was appointed by the senate to superintend the
an officer of great experience and skill, not less loan of money which the state was to obtain from
remarkable for his gentle temper and amiable private persons. (Hist. ii. 86, ii. 50, iv. 47. )
manners, than for his warlike prowess. It is not SILVA'NUS, POMPO'NIUS, was proconsul
improbable that he may be the Silvanus named in of Africa, and was accused by the provincials in
the Codex Theodosianus (Chron. A. D. 349) as a the reign of Nero, A. D. 58, but he was acquitted in
commander of infantry and cavalry under Constans. consequence of his being an old man possessing


## p. 827 (#843) ############################################

SILUS.
827
SIMMIAS.
ecc. . .
COIN OP M. SERGIUS SILUS.
great wealth and no children (Tac. Ann. xiii. 52).
This Pomponius Silvanus is perhaps the same as
the Pompeius or Poppaeus Silvanus mentioned
above, as the names are frequently confounded, and
the latter is described by Tacitus (Hist. ii. 86) as
rich and aged.
PAASERO
SILVANUS, POPPAEUS. [SILVANUS,
POMPEIUS. )
SILVIUS, the son of Ascanius, is said to have
been so called because he was born in a wood. All
the succeeding kings of Alba bore the cognomen 2. M. Sergius Silus, son of the preceding,
Silvius. The series of these mythical kings is and grandfather of Catiline, was legatus of Aeni-
given somewhat differently by Livy, Ovid, and lius Paulus in the war with Perseus in B. c. 168.
Dionysius, as the following list will show (Liv. i. (Liv. xliv. 40. )
3 ; Ov. Met. xiv. 609, &c. ; Dionys. i. 70, 71). 3. SERGIUS SILUS, son of No. 2, and father of
Catiline. He does not appear to have held any of
Livy.
Ovid. Dionysius. the public offices, and we do not even know his
1. Aeneas.
Aenens. Aeneas.
praenomen. He left his son no property. (Q. Cic.
2. Ascanius.
Ascanius. Ascanius. de Pet. Cons. 2 ; Sall. Cat. 5. )
3. Silvius.
Silvius. Silvjus.
4. CN.