No More Learning

SENECA.
children ; but Anicetus, he added, would finish | Seneca explained the words that he had used to
what he had begun. Anicetus performed his pro. Natalis, and the tribune carried them to the em-
mise, and Agrippina died by the hand of assas peror. Nero was in close council with the two great
sins, A. D. 60.
ministers of his cruelty, his wife Poppaea and Ti-
The imperial murderer fled as if he could leave gellinus. Nero asked if Seneca was preparing to
his conscience behind him, to the city of Naples, die voluntarily; and on the tribune replying ihat
whence he addressed a letter to the senate upon he saw no signs of fear, no gloomy indication in
the death of his mother: he charged her with a his words or countenance, he was ordered to go
conspiracy against himself, on the failure of which back and give him notice to die. The tribune,
she had committed suicide. The author of the himself a party to the conspiracy of Piso, did not
letter was Seneca (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 11): it is not show himself again to Seneca, but he sent in a
extant, but a few words from it are quoted by centurion with the order of death. Without show.
Quintilian (Inst. Orat. viii. 5). This letter is Se- ing any sign of alarm, Seneca asked for his testa-
neca's great condemnation: he had consented to ment, apparently with the intention of adding some
Agrippina being assassinated, and he added to this legacies, but the centurion refused to allow this, on
crime the despicable subterfuge of a lie which which Seneca told his friends that since he was
nobody could believe. From this time Nero felt forbidden to reward their services, his last testa-
more free, and Seneca in due time had his reward. mentary bequest must be the portraiture of his
In A. D. 63 Burrus died, and he may have been life, which, if they kept in their memory, they
poisoned. Nero appointed two commanders of the would have the reputation of an honest life and of
Praetorians in place of Burrus, Fennius Rufus and a constant friendship. He cheered his weeping
Sofonius Tigellinus, whose infamy has been per- friends by reminding them of the lessons of phi-
petuated with that of his master. The death of losophy, and that he who had murdered a brother
Burrus broke the power of Seneca : it diminished and a mother could not be expected to spare his
his influence towards good, and Nero was now in teacher. Einbracing his wife, he prayed her to
the hands of persons who were exactly suited to his moderate her grief, and to console herself for the
taste. Tigellinus and Rufus began an attack on Se- loss of her husband by the reflection that he had
neca. His enormous wealth, a never-failing matter lived an honourable life. But as Paullina protested
of charge against Seneca, his gardens and villae, more that she would die with him, Seneca consented, and
magnificent than those of the emperor, his exclusive the same blow opened the veins in the arms of both.
claims to eloquence, and his disparagement of Seneca's body was attenuated by age and meagre
Nero's skill in driving and singing, were all | diet; the blood would not flow easily, and he
urged against him ; and it was time, they said, opened the veins in his legs. His torture was ex-
for Nero to get rid of a teacher. Seneca heard of cessive ; and to save himself and his wiſe the pain
the charges against him : he was rich, and he of seeing one another suffer, he bade her retire to
knew that Nero wanted money. He obtained an her chamber. His last words were taken down in
interview in which he addressed the emperor in a writing by persons who were called in for the
studied speech (Tacit. Ann, xiv. 53). He asked purpose, and were afterwards published. Tacitus
for permission to retire, and offered to surrender all for some reason has not given the words, and he
that he had. Nero affected to be grateful for his past did not think proper to give the substance of them.
services, refused the proffered gift, and sent him The soldiers, at the entreaty of the slaves and
away with perfidious assurances of his respect and freedmen of Seneca, stopped the wounds of Paul-
affection. Seneca now altered his mode of life, saw lina, and she lived a few years longer ; but her
little company, and seldom visited the city, on the pallid face showed that the stream of life was
ground of feeble health, or being occupied with his largely drawn from her. Scandal, as usual, said
philosophical studies.
that when she found that Nero did not wish her
When Nero, after plundering Italy and the death, she was easily prevailed upon to submit to live.
provinces, began, like the Eighth Henry of England, Seneca's torments being still prolonged, he took
the pillage of the temples and of things dedicated hemlock from his friend and physician, Statius
to religion, in order to meet his extravagant ex- Annaeus, but it had no effect. Ai last he entered
penditure, Seneca, who feared that he might be a warm bath, and as he sprinkled some of the
involved in the odium of the sacrilege, though it is water on the slaves nearest to him, he said, that
not said why he feared (Tacit. Ann. xv. 45), he made a libation to Jupiter the Liberator. He
prayed for leave to retire into the country ; and was then taken into a vapour stove, where he was
when it was refused, he kept his chamber on the quickly suffocated, A. D. 65. The body was burnt
pretence of sickness. A story was current that without ceremony, according to the instructions in
Nero tried to poison him, but the attempt failed. a codicil to his will, which was made when he was
The conspiracy of Piso gave the emperor a pretext in the full enjoyment of power and wealth. Seneca
for a more direct attack on his teacher's life, died, as was the fashion among the Romans, with
though there was not complete evidence of Seneca the courage of a stoic ; but with somewhat of a
being a party to the conspiracy (Tacit. Ann. xv. theatrical affectation which detracts from the dig.
60). Certain words of Seneca to Antonius Na- nity of the scene. Tacitus has not strongly cen-
talis, which were of a suspicious character, were sured Seneca in any passage ; but Dion Cassius
repeated to Nero ; and Granius Sylvanus, a tribune collected from among the contradictory memoirs of
of a Praetorian cohort, was sent by the emperor to the time every thing that was most unfavourable
Seneca to demand the meaning of them. It hap to his character. Seneca's great misfortune was to
pened that Seneca was returning from Campania, have known Nero; and though we cannot say
and had rested at a villa four miles from the city. that he was a truly great or a truly good man, his
In the evening the tribune with a band of soldiers character will not lose by comparison with that of
surrounded the house where Seneca was supping many others who have been placed in equally diffi-
with his wife Pumpcia Paullina and two friends. cult circumstances. Whether he was privy to


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SENECA.
781
SENECA.
bure.
-
Piso's conspiracy or not, is a matter which has 1“ betokeneth a great mind, as great a wit, and
been warmly discussed, but cannot be determined ; much eloquence ; in one word, it is one of his
nor if we suppose that he was in the conspiracy, best. ”
would that circunstance be an additional blot on 8. De Clementia ad Neronem Cacsarem Libri duo,
the life of a man who had aided the tyrant in which has been already mentioned. There is too
killing his mother. Seneca's fame rests on his much of the flatterer in this; but the advice is
numerous writings, which, with many faults, have good. The second book is incomplete. It is in
also great merits.
the first chapter of this second book that the
The following are Seneca's works:-
anecdote is told of Nero's unwillingness to sign a
1. De Ira, in three books, addressed to Novatus. sentence of execution, and his exclamation, “ I
Opinions vary as to the time when it was written. would I could neither read nor write. ” The work
Lipsius concludes from book iii. c. 18, that it was was written at the beginning of Nero's reign.
written in the time of Caligula, in which case it 9. De Brevitute Vilue ad Paulinum Liber, recom-
would be the earliest of Seneca's works. But this mends the proper employment of time and the
conclusion is by no means certain ; and it is un getting of wisdom as the chief purpose of life. Life
likely that he wrote so freely of Caligula while is not really short, but we make it so.
the " beast " was alive. The author has exhausted 10. De Vita Beata ad Gallionem, addressed to
the subject. In the first book he combats what his brother, L. Junius Gallio, is probably one of
Aristotle says of Anger in his Ethic.
the later works of Seneca, in which he maintains
2. De Consolatione ad Helviam Matrem Liber, the stoical doctrine that there is no happiness
which has been already mentioned. It is one of without virtue ; but he does not deny that other
Seneca's best treatises. The conclusion from c. 17, things, as health and riches, have their value.
that Seneca had been in Egypt, by no means “No man hath condemned wisdom to perpetual
poverty. " The conclusion of the treatise is lost.
3. De Consolatione ad Polybium Liber, which has 11. De Otio aut Secessu Sapientis, is sometimes
also been already mentioned: it was written in joined to No. 10.
the third year of Seneca's Corsican exile. It is 12. De Beneficiis Libri septem, addressed to
sometimes placed after the treatise De Brevilute Aebucius Liberalis, is an excellent discussion of
Vitae. Diderot and others maintain that it is not the way of conferring a favour, and of the duties
the composition of Seneca, because it is not worthy of the giver and of the receiver. The handling is
of him, and contains sentiments inconsistent with not very methodical, but it is very complete. It is
the Consolatio ad Helriam and ad Marciam. But a treatise which all persons might read with profit.
this internal evidence is not supported by any ex- The seventh chapter of the fourth book contains the
ternal evidence ; and an unprejudiced criticism will striking passage on Nature and God :-
“ What
vindicate the work as Seneca's, though it disgraces else is Nature but God, and a divine being and
him. It contains (c. 26) a humiliating picture of reason which by his searching assistance resideth
the Roman world crouching before an enfranchised in the world and all the parts thereof? ” &c.
slave and a stupid master (Schlosser, Univ. Hist. 13. Epistolae ad Lucilium, one hundred and
Uebersicht, vol. iji. pt. 1. pp. 221, 410. )
twenty-four in number, are not the correspondence
4. Liber de Consolatione ad Marciam, written of daily life, like that of Cicero, but a collection of
after his return from exile, was designed to console moral maxims and remarks without any systematic
Marcia for the loss of her son. Marcia was the order. They contain much good matter, and have
daughter of A. Cremutius Cordus. (Tacit. Ann. been favourite reading with many distinguished
iv. 34 ; and the Consol. ad Marciam, c. 22. ) men. Montaigne was a great admirer of them, and
5. De Providentia Liber, or Quare bonis viris thought them the best of Seneca's writings (Essay of
mala accidant cum sit Providentia, is addressed to Books). It is possible that these letters, and indeed
the younger Lucilius, procurator of Sicily. The many of Seneca's moral treatises, were written in
question that is here discussed often engaged the the latter part of his life, and probably after he
ancient philosophers: the stoical solution of the bad lost the favour of Nero. That Seneca sought
difficulty is that suicide is the remedy when mis- consolation and tranquillity of mind in literary
fortune has become intolerable. Lipsius calls this occupation, is manifest. The thoughts which en-
a Golden Book. In this discourse Seneca says that gaged him and the maxims which he inculcated on
he intends to prove
“ that Providence hath a others were consolatory to himself at least, while he
power over all things, and that God is always pre- was busied with putting them into form ; and that
sent with us. " (c. 1. )
is as much as most philosophers get from their
6. De Animi Tranquillitate, addressed to Sere- speculations in the way of comfort. Seneca was
nus, probably written soon after Seneca's return old when he wrote these epistles. (Ep. 12. )
from exile. It is in the form of a letter rather than 14. Apocolocyntosis, is a satire against the em-
a treatise: the object is to discover the means by peror Claudius. The word is a play on the term
which tranquillity of mind can be obtained. This Apotheosis or deification, and is equivalent in
work may be compared with the treatise of Plu- meaning to Pumpkinification, or the reception of
tarch teplevduuias. This treatise was written Claudius among the pumpkins. The subject was
soon after Seneca's return from exile (c. 1), when well enough, but the treatment has no great merit;
he was elevated to the praetorship, and had become and Seneca probably had no other object than to
Nero's tutor. He speaks as one who felt himself gratify his spite against the emperor. If such a
ill at ease in the splendour of the palace after living work was published in the lifetime of Seneca, he
a solitary and frugal life.
must have well known that it would not displease
7. De Constantiu Sapientis seu quod in sapientem either Agrippina or Nero ; and it leads to the pro-
non cadit injuria, also addressed to Serenus, is bable inference, that the poisoning of Claudius was
founded on the stoical doctrine of the impassiveness not a matter which he would complain of. In fact,
of the wise man.
“ This book," saith Lipsius, the manner of the death of Claudius was a subject


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782
SENECA.
SENECA.
for the wits of that day to sport with. (Dion Cass. did. We cannot suppose that his conscience
Ix. 35, and the notes of Reimarus. )
always approved of his acts. A practical philo-
15. Quuestionum Naturalium Libri septem, ad-sopher, who has lived in the world, must often have
dressed to Lucilius Junior, is one of the few done that which he would wish undone ; and the
Roman works in which physical matters are treated contradiction which appears between a man's acts
of. It is not a systematic work, but a collection of and his principles will appear in his writings.
natural facts from various writers, Greek and Roman, Ritter remarks that he has treated of the doctrines
many of which are curious. The first book treats of Seneca at some length, because they show how
of meteors, the second of thunder and lightning, little talent the Romans had for philosophy. Per-
the third of water, the fourth of hail, snow, and haps the historian of Philosophy may provoke a
ice, the fifth of winds, the sixth of earthquakes and like remark by his criticisins. Seneca applied him-
the sources of the Nile, and the seventh of comets. self chiefly to Ethic, which in its wide sense is the
Moral remarks are scattered through the work ; art of living happily, without which philosophy has
and indeed the design of the whole appears to be no value. To Physic he paid some attention, and
to find a foundation for ethic, the chief part of he does not undervalue it as an instrument towards
philosophy, in the knowledge of nature (Physic). an end. Of the other division of philosophy,
He says (book vii. c. 30), “How many things Logic, he knew little and cared nothing ; and it is
are there besides comets that pass in secret, and of no value except so far as it may be an aid to
never discover themselves to men's eyes ? For God Physic and Ethic.
Ritter says:
“ his zeal to
hath not made all things subject to human sighe establish a science which shall be simple and
How little see we of that which is enclosed in so merely adapted for the practical purpose of purity
great an orb ?
Even he who manageth these of morals, carries him so far, that he declares even
things, who hath created them, who hath founded the liberal sciences and philosophical Physic to be
the world, and hath inclosed it about hiniself, and useless, so far as they are not capable of application
is the greater and better part of this his work, is to Ethic. This zeal leads him to expressions which
not subject to our eyes, but is to be visited by our are scarcely reconcileable with a philosophical style
thoughts. " This is the man whom some have of thinking. To wish to know no more than is
called an Atheist.
necessary is a kind of intemperance ; such a know-
;
The judgments on Seneca's writings have been ledge makes us only proud: he considers it as a
as various as the opinions about his character ; and sample of the prevailing luxury. " The passages
both in extremes. It has been said of him that he to which Ritter refers are in the Epistolae (Ep. 88,
looks best in quotations ; but this is an admission | 106). The latter contains the striking passage:
that there is something worth quoting, which “sed nos ut caetera in supervacuum diffundimus,
cannot be said of all writers. That Seneca pos- | ita philosophiam ipsam. Quemadmodum omnium
sessed great mental powers cannot be doubted.
He rerum, sic litterarum quoque intemperantia labo-
had seen much of human life, and he knew well ramus ; non vitae, sed scholae discimus. " Which is
what man was. His philosophy, so far as he the wiser, Seneca or his critic, let every man judge
adopted a system, was the stoical, but it was for himself. There is enough in Ethic, or the
rather an eclecticism of stoicism than pure stoicism. practical application of knowledge to life, to employ
His style is antithetical, and apparently laboured ; us all. Those who have no taste for Ethic, as ihus
and when there is much labour, there is generally understood, may indulge, if they have money and
affectation. Yet his language is clear and forcible ; leisure, in the “intemperantia litterarum," of which
it is not mere words: there is thought always. It kind of intemperance a large part of all literature
would not be easy to name any modern writer who is an example.
has treated on morality, and has said so much that Seneca, like other educated Romans, rejected
is practically good and true, or has treated the the superstition of his country: he looked upon
matter in so attractive a way.
the ceremonials of religion as a matter of custom
People will judge of Seneca, as they do of most and fashion, and nothing more. His religion is
moral writers, by the measure of their own opinions. simple Deism : the Deity acts in man and in all
The less man cares for the practical, the real, the things ; which is the same thing that Paul said
less will he value Seneca. The more a man en- when he addressed the Athenians," for in him
velops himself in words and ideas without exact (God) we live and move and have our being" (Acts,
meaning, the less will he comprehend a writer who xvii. 28). Indeed there have been persons who,
does not merely deal in words, but has ideas with with the help of an active imagination, hare made
something to correspond to them. Montaigne (De Seneca a Christian, and to have been acquainted
fence of Seneca and Plutarch) says: “ the fami- with Paul, which is a possible thing, but cannot be
liarity I have had with these two authors, and the proved. The resemblance between many passages
assistance they have lent to my age and to my in Seneca and passages in the New Testament
book, which is wholly compiled of what I have is merely an accidental circumstance. Similar re-
borrowed from them, obliges me to stand up for semblances occur in the Meditations of the Emperor
their honour. ” In another place (Essay of Books) Marcus Antoninus. The fourteen letters of Seneca
he compares Seneca and Plutarch in his usual to Paul, which are printed in the old editions of
lively way: his opinion of the philosophical works Seneca, are apocryphal.
of Cicero is not so favourable as of Seneca's ; and Seneca wrote other works which are no longer
herein many people will agree with him. The judg. extant, though the titles of some of them are
ment of Ritter (Geschichte der Philosophie, vol. iv. known. Quintilian (Inst. Or. x. 1. $ 128) says,
p. 189) is a curious specimen of criticism. If Dide- “ he treated also on almost every subject of study ;
rot is extravagant in his praise of Seneca, Ritter for both orations of his, and poems, and epistles,
and others are equally extravagant in their censure. and dialogues, are extant. ” The fragments of the
Ritter finds contradictions in Seneca ; and such we lost works are contained in the complete editions
may expect in a man who lived the life that he l of Seneca. Niebuhr discovered the fragment of a
1


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783
SENTIA GENS.
}
work on Friendship in the Vatican, and the begin- complete French translations of the works of Se-
ning of another “De Vita Patris. "
neca, of which that of Lagrange is the last, and is
Besides the works which have been enumerated said to be the best. The last edition of Lagrange's
there are extant ten tragedies, which are attributed version is that of Paris, 1819, 13 vols. 12mo. : the
to Seneca : Quintilian (Inst. Or. ix. 2. $ 9) and life of Seneca makes the fourteenth volume. The
other Latin writers quote these plays as the works French translations of particular treatises are very
of Seneca. The plays are entitled Hercules Furens, numerous.
Thyestes, Thebais or_Phoenissae, Hippolytus or A list of the English translations of Seneca, or
Phnedra, Oedipus, Troades or Hecuba, Medea, of separate treatises, is contained in Brüggemann's
Agamemnon, Hercules Oetaeus, and Octavia. After work. The first edition of “ The Workes of L. An-
all the discussion that there has been about the naeus Seneca, both Morall and Naturall, translated
authorship of these tragedies, there seems no other by Thos. Lodge, D. in Physicke," was published
person to whom we can assign them than Seneca, in London in 1614, with a Latin dedication to
the teacher of Nero. The titles themselves, with Chancellor Ellesmere ; and “ The Life of L. An-
the exception of the Octavia, indicate sufficiently naeus Seneca described by Justus Lipsius. " This
what the tragedies are, Greek mythological subjects translation contains all the works of Seneca ex-
treated in a peculiar fashion. They are written cept the Apocolocyntosis, and the Epistles to Paul.
in Iambic senarii, interspersed with choral parts, in the translation has considerable merit, and was a
anapaestic and other metres. The subject of the great thing for a man to do who also translated
Octavia is Nero's ill-treatment of his wife, his Josephus, and in other respects contributed to the
passion for Poppaea, and the exile of Octavia. literature of England.
Seneca himself is one of the personages of the
One of the best editions of the tragedies of Se-
drama, and he is introduced in the second act, de neca is that by Schröder, Delft, 1728, 4to. There
ploring the vices of the age and his own unhappi- is an edition by F. H. Bothe, Leipzig, 1819, 2 vols.
ness in his elevated station. There seems no reason 8vo. There are two French translations of the tra-
why this tragedy should not be attributed to the gedies, the latter of which is by M. Lerée in his
same author as the other nine, except the fact that Théâtre des Latins, Paris, 3 vols. 8vo. 1822. An
it is not contained in the oldest Florentine MS. English translation of the tragedies by several
of the tragedies ; nor is there such difference be hands appeared in 1581.
tween this and the other tragedies, in character Bähr, Geschichte der Römischen Literatur, vol. i.
and expression, as to make it a probable conclusion contains very copious references to all the literature
that it is not by the same hand. If it is a work that belongs to the works of Seneca. [G. L. ]
of Seneca, it must have been written after the exile SENE'ČIO, CLAU'DIUS, a favourite of Nero
of Octavia, A. D. 62. [Octavia. ]
at the commencement of his reign, was the son of
These tragedies are not adapted, and certainly a freedman of the emperor. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 12. )
were never intended for the stage. They were SENE/CIO, HERE'NNIUS, was a native of
designed for reading or for recitation after the Baetica in Spain, where he served as quaestor. He
Roman fashion, and they bear the stamp of a was put to death by Domitian on the accusation of
rhetorical age. The Greek tragedies themselves, Metius Carus, who charged him with having been
of which these Latin tragedies are an imitation in a candidate for no public office after the quaestor-
form only, are overloaded with declamation, espe- ship, and with having written the life of Helvidius
cially those of Euripides. The tragedies of Seneca Priscus. He wrote the latter work at the request
contain many striking passages, and have some of Fannia, the wife of Helvidius. (Dion Cass.
merit as poems. Moral sentiments and maxims lxvii. 13; Tac. Agr. 2, 45 ; Plin. Ep. i. 5, iv. 7,
abound, and the style and character of Seneca are 11, vii. 19, 33. )
as conspicuous here as in his prose works. But there SENE'CIO, C. SO'SIUS, consul suffectus,
is a wonderful difference between the Latin tragic A. D. 98, and consul A. D. 99, 102, 107, is probably
writer and the Greek dramatists. A comparison the same person who was a friend of the younger
of the Medea of Euripides and of Seneca is in- Pliny (Ep. i. 13), and whom Plutarch addresses
structive: the dullest understanding will feel that in several of his lives. (Theseus, 1, Demosth. 1, ·
the Greek play is intended and is suited for acting, Brut. 1. )
and that the Roman play was not intended for the SENÉ CIO, TU'LLIUS, a friend of Nero,
stage, and could not be acted. These Roman nevertheless took part in Piso's conspiracy against
tragedies are, in fact, little more than dramas in the emperor, and on its detection was obliged to
name and in form: the form, indeed, is precisely put an end to his life. (Tac. Ann. xv. 50, 56, 70. )
Greek, but there is no substance under the form. SE'NTIA GENS, plebeian, is not mentioned
The Octavia, which some critics violently con- till towards the close of the republic. We find in
demn, is perhaps the best of them, viewed as a it the cognomens A UGURINUS and SATURNINUS ;
drama. There is something to move the affections: and the first member of it who obtained the con-
there is a tragical situation of an unhappy woman sulship was C. Sentius Saturninus, in B. c. 19.
suffering from a brutal husband and a rival
favourite, and a catastrophe in the wretched fate of
Octavia. The study of the tragedies of Seneca
has had some influence on the French drama.
The editio princeps of Seneca is that of Naples,
1475, folio. The subsequent editions of the whole
works of Seneca and of particular treatises are
numerous. The edition of J. F. Gronovius, Leiden,
SENTICE
1649-1658, is in 4 vols. 12mo. : that of Ruhkopf,
Leipzig, 1797-1811, 5 vois. 8vo. ; Bipont edition,
Strassburg, 1809, 5 vols. 8ro. There are three
COIN OF THE SENTIA GENS

a


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784
SEPTIMIUS.
SEPTIMUS.
Some coins of the gens bear the cognomen Satur- / Severus, and is referred to by Lampridius as an
ninus, and others occur without any surname. of authority. (Lamprid. Alex. Sever. 17, 48. )
the latter we give a specimen : on the obverse is 13. Q. SEPTIMIUS, the translator of the work
the head of Pallas with ARG. PVB, and on the on the Trojan war, bearing the name of Dictys
reverse Jupiter in a quadriga with (L. ) SENTI C. F. Cretensis. [Vol. I. p. 1003, a. )
(Eckhel, vol. v. p. 305. )
SEPTI'MIUS GETA. (Geta. )
SEʻPPIUS LE'SIUS, held the office of meddix SEPTIMIUS SERE'NUS. (SERENUS. )
tuticus at Capua, in B. c. 211, being the last of the SEPTIMIUS SEVE'RUS. (SEVERUS. )
Campanians who obtained this dignity. (Liv. xxvi. SEPTIMIUS, TITIUS. Horace, in an epistle
6, 13. )
(i. 3. 9–14) to Julius Florus, at that time in the
SEPTI'CIUS CLARUS. [Clarus. )
East along with Tiberius Nero, makes inquiries
SEPTIMIA, apparently the wife of Sicca. with regard to the welfare and occupations of a
(Cic. ad Att. xvi. 11. )
certain Titius, whom in a tone of serious eulogy or
SEPTI’MIA GENS, plebeian. The Septimii are covert ridicule, - for here and elsewhere in these
not mentioned till towards the close of the republic, pieces it is difficult to determine whether words of
and none of them obtained any celebrity till the apparent praise do not hide a lurking sneer,—he re-
imperial period, when they were raised to impor-presents as having boldly ventured to quaff a
tance by Septimus Severus being elevated to the draught from the Pindaric spring, and as having,
empire.
moreover, been ambitious to achieve distinction in
SEPTIMIA'NUS, FA'BIUS CILO. [Cilo. ] the impassioned and grandiloquent outpourings of
SEPTI'MIUS. 1. P. Septimius Scaevola, the tragic muse. Acro and Porphyrio agree in
B. c. 72. [SCAEVOLA, p. 734, a.