members of this body, called _senatores_ on account of their _age_,
and _patres_ on account of their _authority_, were of the greatest
consequence in the republic. The senate was first instituted by
Romulus to govern the city, and to preside over the affairs of the
state during his absence. This was continued by his successors; but
Tarquin II. disdained to consult them, and by having his own council
chosen from his favourites, and from men who were totally devoted to
his interest, he diminished the authority and the consequence of the
senators, and slighted the concurrence of the people. The senators
whom Romulus created were 100, to whom he afterwards added the same
number when the Sabines had migrated to Rome. Tarquin the ancient
made the senate consist of 300, and this number remained fixed for
a long time. After the expulsion of the last Tarquin, whose tyranny
had thinned the patricians as well as the plebeians, 164 new senators
were chosen to complete the 300; and as they were called _conscripts_,
the senate ever afterwards consisted of members who were denominated
_patres_ and _conscripti_. The number continued to fluctuate during
the times of the republic, but gradually increased to 700, and
afterwards to 900 under Julius Cæsar, who filled the senate with men
of every rank and order. Under Augustus, the senators amounted to
1000, but this number was reduced to 300, which being the cause of
complaints, induced the emperor to limit the number to 600. The place
of a senator was always bestowed upon merit; the monarchs had the
privilege of choosing the members, and after the expulsion of the
Tarquins, it was one of the rights of the consuls, till the election
of the censors, who from their office seemed most capable of making
choice of men whose character was irreproachable, whose morals were
pure, and relations honourable. Sometimes the assembly of the people
elected senators, but it was only upon some extraordinary occasions;
there was also a dictator chosen to fill up the number of the senate
after the battle of Cannæ. Only particular families were admitted
into the senate; and when the plebeians were permitted to share the
honours of the state, it was then required that they should be born
of free citizens. It was also required that the candidates should be
knights before their admission into the senate. They were to be above
the age of 25, and to have previously passed through the inferior
offices of questor, tribune of the people, edile, pretor, and consul.
Some, however, suppose that the senators whom Romulus chose were all
old men; yet his successors neglected this, and often men who were
below the age of 25 were admitted by courtesy into the senate. The
dignity of a senator could not be supported without the possession of
80,000 sesterces, or about 7000_l._ English money; and therefore such
as squandered away their money, and whose fortune was reduced below
this sum, were generally struck out of the list of senators. This
regulation was not made in the first ages of the republic, when the
Romans boasted of their poverty. The senators were not permitted to
be of any trade or profession. They were distinguished from the rest
of the people by their dress; they wore the laticlave, half boots
of a black colour, with a crescent or silver buckle in the form of
a C; but this last honour was confined only to the descendants of
those 100 senators who had been elected by Romulus, as the letter C
seems to imply. They had the sole right of feasting publicly in the
capitol in ceremonial habits; they sat in curule chairs, and at the
representation of plays and public spectacles, they were honoured
with particular seats. Whenever they travelled abroad, even on their
own business, they were maintained at the public expense, and always
found provisions for themselves and their attendants ready prepared
on the road; a privilege that was generally termed _free legation_.
On public festivals they wore the _prætexta_, or long white robe,
with purple borders. The right of convoking the senate belonged
only to the monarchs; and after the expulsion of the Tarquins, to
the consuls, the dictator, master of the horse, governor of Rome,
and tribunes of the people; but no magistrate could exercise this
privilege except in the absence of a superior officer, the tribunes
excepted. The time of meeting was generally three times a month, on
the calends, nones, and ides. Under Augustus they were not assembled
on the nones. It was requisite that the place where they assembled
should have been previously consecrated by the augur. This was
generally in the temple of Concord, of Jupiter Capitolinus, Apollo,
Castor and Pollux, &c., or in the Curiæ called Hostilia, Julia,
Pompeia, &c. When audience was given to foreign ambassadors, the
senators assembled without the walls of the city, either in the
temples of Bellona or of Apollo; and the same ceremony as to their
meeting was also observed when they transacted business with their
generals, as the ambassadors of foreign nations, and the commanders
of armies, while in commission, were not permitted to appear within
the walls of the city. To render their decrees valid and authentic,
a certain number of members was requisite, and such as were absent
without some proper cause, were always fined. In the reign of
Augustus, 400 senators were requisite to make a senate. Nothing
was transacted before sunrise, or after sunset. In their office
the senators were the guardians of religion; they disposed of the
provinces as they pleased, they prorogued the assemblies of the
people, they appointed thanksgivings, nominated their ambassadors,
distributed the public money, and, in short, had the management of
everything political or civil in the republic, except the creating
of the magistrates, the enacting of laws, and the declarations of
war or peace, which were confined to the assemblies of the people.
Rank was always regarded in their meetings; the chief magistrates of
the state, such as the consuls, the pretors, and censors, sat first;
after these the inferior magistrates, such as the ediles and questors,
and last of all, those that then exercised no office in the state.
Their opinions were originally collected, each according to his age;
but when the office of censor was instituted, the opinion of the
_princeps senatus_, or the person whose name stood first on the
censor’s list, was first consulted, and afterwards those who were
of consular dignity, each in their respective order. In the age of
Cicero the consuls elect were first consulted; and in the age of
Cæsar, he was permitted to speak first till the end of the year,
on whom the consul had originally conferred that honour. Under the
emperors the same rules were observed, but the consuls were generally
consulted before all others. When any public matter was introduced
into the senate, which was always called _referre ad senatum_, any
senator whose opinion was asked, was permitted to speak upon it as
long as he pleased; and on that account it was often usual for the
senators to protract their speeches till it was too late to determine.
When the question was put, they passed to the side of that speaker
whose opinion they approved, and a majority of votes was easily
collected, without the trouble of counting the numbers. This mode
of proceeding was called _pedibus in alicujus sententiam ire_; and
therefore, on that account, the senators who had not the privilege
of speaking, but only the right of giving a silent vote, such as bore
some curule honours, and on that account were permitted to sit in the
senate, but not to deliberate, were denominated _pedarii senatores_.
After the majority had been known, the matter was determined, and
a _senatus consultum_ was immediately written by the clerks of the
house, at the feet of the chief magistrates, and it was signed by all
the principal members of the house. When there was not a sufficient
number of members to make a senate, the decision was called _senatus
autoritas_; but it was of no consequence if it did not afterwards
pass into a _senatus consultum_. The tribunes of the people, by the
word _veto_, could stop the debates, and the decrees of the assembled
senate, as also any one who was of equal authority with him who had
proposed the matter. The _senatus consulta_ were left in the custody
of the consuls, who could suppress or preserve them; but about the
year of Rome 304, they were always deposited in the temple of Ceres,
and afterwards in the treasury, by the ediles of the people. The
degradation of the senators was made by the censor, by omitting their
names when he called over the list of the senate. This was called
_præterire_. A senator could be again introduced into the senate
if he could repair his character or fortune, which had been the
causes why the censor had lawfully called him unqualified, and had
challenged his opposition. The meeting of the senate was often sudden,
except the particular times already mentioned, upon any emergency.
After the death of Julius Cæsar, they were not permitted to meet on
the ides of March, which were called _parricidium_, because on that
day the dictator had been assassinated. The sons of senators, after
they had put on the _toga virilis_, were permitted to come into
the senate, but this was afterwards limited. _See:_ Papirius. The
rank and authority of the senators, which were so conspicuous in the
first ages of the republic, and which caused the minister of Pyrrhus
to declare that the Roman senate was a venerable assembly of kings,
dwindled into nothing under the emperors. Men of the lowest character
were admitted into the senate; the emperors took pleasure in robbing
this illustrious body of their privileges and authority, and the
senators themselves, by their manners and servility, contributed
as much as the tyranny of the sovereign to diminish their own
consequence; and by applauding the follies of a Nero, and the
cruelties of a Domitian, they convinced the world that they no
longer possessed sufficient prudence or authority to be consulted on
matters of weight and importance. In the election of successors to
the imperial purple after Augustus, the approbation of the senate was
consulted, but it was only a matter of courtesy, and the concurrence
of a body of men was little regarded who were without power, and
under the control of a mercenary army. The title of _Clarissimus_ was
given to the senators under the emperors, and, indeed, this was the
only distinction which they had in compensation for the loss of their
independence. The senate was abolished by Justinian, 13 centuries
after its first institution by Romulus.
=Senĕca Marcus Annæus=, a native of Corduba in Spain, who married
Helvia, a woman of Spain, by whom he had three sons, Seneca the
philosopher, Annæus Novatus, and Annæus Mela, the father of the
poet Lucan. Seneca made himself known by some declamations, of which
he made a collection from the most celebrated orators of the age;
and from that circumstance, and for distinction, he obtained the
appellation of _declamator_. He left Corduba, and went to Rome,
where he became a Roman knight. His son Lucius Annæus Seneca, who
was born about six years before Christ, was early distinguished by
his extraordinary talents. He was taught eloquence by his father,
and received lessons in philosophy from the best and most celebrated
stoics of the age. As one of the followers of the Pythagorean
doctrines, Seneca observed the most reserved abstinence, and in his
meals never ate the flesh of animals; but this he abandoned at the
representation of his father, when Tiberius threatened to punish
some Jews and Egyptians, who abstained from certain meats. In the
character of a pleader, Seneca appeared with great advantage, but the
fear of Caligula, who aspired to the name of an eloquent speaker, and
who consequently was jealous of his fame, deterred him from pursuing
his favourite study, and he sought a safer employment in canvassing
for the honours and offices of the state. He was made questor, but
the aspersions which were thrown upon him on account of a shameful
amour with Julia Livilla, removed him from Rome, and the emperor
banished him for some time into Corsica. During his banishment, the
philosopher wrote some spirited epistles to his mother, remarkable
for elegance of language and for sublimity; but he soon forgot his
philosophy and disgraced himself by his flatteries to the emperor,
and in wishing to be recalled, even at the expense of his innocence
and character. The disgrace of Messalina at Rome, and the marriage
of Agrippina with Claudius, proved favourable to Seneca; and after
he had remained five years in Corsica, he was recalled by the empress
to take care of the education of her son Nero, who was destined to
succeed to the empire. In the honourable duty of preceptor, Seneca
gained applause; and as long as Nero followed his advice, Rome
enjoyed tranquillity, and believed herself safe and happy under
the administration of the son of Agrippina. Some, however, are
clamorous against the philosopher, and observe that Seneca initiated
his pupil in those unnatural vices and abominable indulgences which
disgraced him as a monarch and as a man. This may be the language of
malevolence, or the insinuation of jealousy. In the corrupted age of
Nero, the preceptor had to withstand the clamours of many wicked and
profligate ministers; and if he had been the favourite of the emperor,
and shared his pleasures, his debauchery and extravagance, Nero would
not perhaps have been so anxious of destroying a man whose example,
from vicious inclinations, he could not follow, and whose salutary
precepts his licentious associates forbade him to obey. Seneca was
too well acquainted with the natural disposition of Nero to think
himself secure; he had been accused of having amassed the most ample
riches, and of having built sumptuous houses, and adorned beautiful
gardens, during the four years in which he had attended Nero as a
preceptor, and therefore he desired his imperial pupil to accept of
the riches, and the possessions which his attendance on his person
had procured, and to permit him to retire to solitude and study.
Nero refused with artful duplicity, and Seneca, to avoid further
suspicions, kept himself at home for some time as if labouring
under a disease. In the conspiracy of Piso, which happened some time
after, and in which some of the most noble of the Roman senators
were concerned, Seneca’s name was mentioned by Natalis, and Nero,
who was glad of an opportunity of sacrificing him to his secret
jealousy, ordered him to destroy himself. Seneca very probably was
not accessary to the conspiracy, and the only thing which could be
produced against him as a crimination, was trivial and unsatisfactory.
Piso, as Natalis declared, had complained that he never saw Seneca,
and the philosopher had observed in answer, that it was not proper
or conducive to their common interest to see one another often. He
further pleaded indisposition, and said that his own life depended
upon the safety of Piso’s person. Seneca was at table with his wife
Paulina and two of his friends, when the messenger from Nero arrived.
He heard the words which commanded him to destroy himself, with
philosophical firmness, and even with joy; and observed, that such a
mandate might have long been expected from a man who had murdered his
own mother, and assassinated all his friends. He wished to dispose
of his possessions as he pleased, but this was refused; and when
he heard this, he turned to his friends who were weeping at his
melancholy fate, and told them, that since he could not leave them
what he believed his own, he would leave them at least his own
life for an example, an innocent conduct which they might imitate,
and by which they might acquire immortal fame. Against their tears
and wailings he exclaimed with firmness, and asked them whether
they had not learnt better to withstand the attacks of fortune, and
the violence of tyranny? As for his wife, he attempted to calm her
emotions, and when she seemed resolved to die with him, he said he
was glad to find his example followed with so much constancy. Their
veins were opened at the same moment, but the life of Paulina was
preserved, and Nero, who was partial to her ordered the blood to
be stopped; and from that moment, according to some authors, the
philosopher’s wife seemed to rejoice that she could still enjoy the
comforts of life. Seneca’s veins bled but slowly, and it has been
observed, that the sensible and animated conversation of his dying
moments was collected by his friends, and that it has been preserved
among his works. To hasten his death he drank a dose of poison, but
it had no effect, and therefore he ordered himself to be carried into
a hot bath, to accelerate the operation of the draught, and to make
the blood flow more freely. This was attended with no better success;
and as the soldiers were clamorous, he was carried into a stove, and
suffocated by the steam, on the 12th of April, in the 65th year of
the christian era, in his 53rd year. His body was burnt without pomp
or funeral ceremony, according to his will, which he had made when
he enjoyed the most unbounded favours of Nero. The compositions of
Seneca are numerous, and chiefly on moral subjects. He is so much
admired for his refined sentiments and virtuous precepts, for his
morality, his constancy, and his innocence of manners, that St.
Jerome has not hesitated to rank him among christian writers. His
style is nervous, it abounds with ornament, and seems well suited to
the taste of the age in which he lived. The desire of recommending
himself and his writings to the world, obliged him too often to
depreciate the merit of the ancients, and to sink into obscurity.
His treatises are _de irâ_, _de consolatione_, _de Providentiâ_,
_de tranquillitate animi_, _de clementiâ_, _de sapientis constantiâ_,
_de otio sapientis_, _de brevitate vitæ_, _de beneficiis_, _de vitâ
beatâ_, besides his _naturales quæstiones_, _ludus in Claudium_,
_moral letters_, &c. There are also some tragedies ascribed to
_Seneca._ Quintilian supposes that the _Medea_ is his composition,
and according to others, the _Troas_ and the _Hippolytus_ were also
written by him, and the _Agamemnon_, _Hercules furens_, _Thyestes_
& _Hercules in Oetâ_ by his father, Seneca the declaimer. The
best editions of Seneca are those of Antwerp, folio, 1615, and of
Gronovius, 3 vols., Amsterdam, 1672; and those of his tragedies,
are that of Schroder’s, 4to, Delft, 1728, and the 8vo of Gronovius,
Leiden, 1682. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 12, &c.――_Dio Cassius._
――_Suetonius_, _Nero_, &c.――_Quintilian._
=Claudius Senecio=, one of Nero’s favourites, and the associate of his
pleasures and debauchery.――――Tullius, a man who conspired against
Nero, and was put to death though he turned informer against the rest
of the conspirators.――――A man put to death by Domitian, for writing
an account of the life of Helvidius, one of the emperor’s enemies.
――――One of Constantine’s enemies.――――A man who from a restless and
aspiring disposition acquired the surname of _Grandio_. _Seneca_,
_Suasoriæ_, ch. 1.
=Senia=, a town of Liburnia, now Segna. _Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 21.
=Senna=, or =Sena=, a river of Umbria. _See:_ Sena. _Lucan_, bk. 2,
li. 407.
=Senŏnes=, an uncivilized nation of Gallia Transalpina, who left their
native possessions, and under the conduct of Brennus, invaded Italy
and pillaged Rome. They afterwards united with the Umbri, Latins,
and Etrurians to make war against the Romans, till they were totally
destroyed by Dolabella. The chief of their towns in that part of
Italy where they settled near Umbria, and which from them was called
Senogallia, were Fanum Fortunæ, Sena, Pisaurum, and Ariminum. _See:_
Cimbri. _Lucan_, bk. 1, li. 254.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 8, li. 454.
――_Livy_, bk. 5, ch. 35, &c.――_Florus._――――A people of Germany near
the Suevi.
=Sentia lex=, _de senatu_, by Cnæus Sentius the consul, A.U.C. 734,
enacted the choosing of proper persons to fill up the number of
senators.
=Sentinum=, a town of Umbria. _Livy_, bk. 10, chs. 27 & 30.
=Sentius Cnæus=, a governor of Syria, under the emperors.――――A governor
of Macedonia.――――Septimius, one of the soldiers of Pompey, who
assisted the Egyptians in murdering him.――――A Roman emperor. _See:_
Severus.――――A writer in the reign of the emperor Alexander, of whose
life he wrote an account in Latin, or, according to others, in Greek.
=Sepias=, a cape of Magnesia in Thessaly, at the north of Eubœa, now
_St. George_.
=Seplasia=, a place of Capua, where ointments were sold. _Cicero_,
_Against Piso_, chs. 7 & 11.
=Septem aquæ=, a portion of the lake near Reate. _Cicero_, bk. 4,
_Letters to Atticus_, ltr. 15.――――Fratres, a mountain of Mauritania,
now _Gebel-Mousa_. _Strabo_, bk. 17.――――Maria, the entrance of the
seven mouths of the Po.
=Septempeda=, a town of Picenum.
=Septerion=, a festival observed once in nine years at Delphi, in
honour of Apollo. It was a representation of the pursuit of Python by
Apollo, and of the victory obtained by the god.
=Titus Septimius=, a Roman knight distinguished by his poetical
compositions both lyric and tragic. He was intimate with Augustus
as well as Horace, who has addressed the sixth of his second book of
Odes to him.――――A centurion put to death, &c. _Tacitus_, _Annals_,
bk. 1, ch. 32.――――A native of Africa, who distinguished himself
at Rome as a poet. He wrote, among other things, a hymn in praise
of Janus. Only 11 of his verses are preserved. _Marcus Terentius
[Varro]._――_Petrus Crinitus_, _Lives_.
=Lucius Septimuleius=, a friend of Caius Gracchus. He suffered himself
to be bribed by Opimius, and had the meanness to carry his friend’s
head fixed to a pole through the streets of Rome.
=Sepyra=, a town of Cilicia, taken by Cicero when he presided over that
province. _Cicero_, _Letters to his Friends_, bk. 15, ch. 4.
=Sequăna=, a river of Gaul, which separates the territories of the
Belgæ and the Celtæ, and is now called _la Seine_. _Strabo_, bk. 4.
――_Mela_, bk. 3, ch. 2.――_Lucan_, bk. 1, li. 425.
=Sequăni=, a people of Gaul near the territories of the Ædui, between
the Saone and mount Jura, famous for their wars against Rome, &c.
_See:_ Ædui. The country which they inhabited is now called _Franche
Compté_, or _Upper Burgundy_. _Cæsar_, _Gallic War_.
=Sequinius=, a native of Alba, who married one of his daughters to
Curiatius of Alba, and the other to Horatius, a citizen of Rome. The
two daughters were brought to bed on the same day, each of three male
children.
=Serapio=, a surname given to one of the Scipios, because he resembled
a swine-herd of that name.――――A Greek poet who flourished in the age
of Trajan. He was intimate with Plutarch.――――An Egyptian put to death
by Achillas, when he came at the head of an embassy from Ptolemy, who
was a prisoner in the hands of Julius Cæsar.――――A painter. _Pliny_,
bk. 35, ch. 10.
=Serāpis=, one of the Egyptian deities, supposed to be the same
as Osiris. He had a magnificent temple at Memphis, another very
rich at Alexandria, and a third at Canopus. The worship of Serapis
was introduced at Rome, by the emperor Antoninus Pius, A.D. 146,
and the mysteries celebrated on the 6th of May, but with so much
licentiousness that the senate were soon after obliged to abolish
them. Herodotus, who speaks in a very circumstantial manner of the
deities, and of the religion of the Egyptians, makes no mention of
the god Serapis. Apollodorus says it is the same as the bull Apis.
_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 18; bk. 2, ch. 34.――_Tacitus_, _Histories_,
bk. 4, ch. 83.――_Strabo_, bk. 17.――_Martial_, bk. 9, ltr. 30.
=Serbōnis=, a lake between Egypt and Palestine.
=Serēna=, a daughter of Theodosius, who married Stilicho. She was put
to death, &c. _Claudian._
=Sereniānus=, a favourite of Gallus the brother of Julian. He was put
to death.
=Serēnus Samonicus=, a physician in the age of the emperor Severus and
Caracalla. There remains a poem of his composition on medicine, the
last edition of which is that of 1706, in 8vo, Amsterdam.――――Vibius,
a governor of Spain, accused of cruelty in the government of his
province, and put to death by order of Tiberius.
=Seres=, a nation of Asia, according to Ptolemy, between the Ganges
and the eastern ocean in the modern Thibet. They were naturally of
a meek disposition. Silk, of which the fabrication was unknown to
the ancients, who imagined that the materials were collected from
the leaves of trees, was brought to Rome from their country, and on
that account it received the name of _Sericum_, and thence a garment
or dress of silk is called _serica vestis_. Heliogobalus the Roman
emperor was the first who wore a silk dress, which at that time was
sold for its weight in gold. It afterwards became very cheap, and
consequently was the common dress among the Romans. Some suppose
that the Seres are the same as the Chinese. _Ptolemy_, bk. 6, ch. 16.
――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 29, li. 9.――_Lucan_, bk. 1, li. 19; bk. 19,
lis. 142 & 292.――_Ovid_, _Am._ 1, poem 14, li. 6.――_Virgil_,
_Georgics_, bk. 2, li. 121.
=Sergestus=, a sailor in the fleet of Æneas, from whom the family of
the Sergii at Rome were descended. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 5, li. 121.
=Sergia=, a Roman matron. She conspired with others to poison their
husbands. The plot was discovered, and Sergia, with some of her
accomplices, drank poison and died.
=Sergius=, one of the names of Catiline.――――A military tribune at the
siege of Veii. The family of the Sergii was patrician, and branched
out into the several families of the _Fidenates_, _Sili_, _Catilinæ_,
_Nattæ_, _Ocellæ_, and _Planci_.
=Sergius= and =Sergiōlus=, a deformed youth, greatly admired by the
Roman ladies in Juvenal’s age. _Juvenal_, satire 6, li. 105, _et seq._
=Serīphus=, an island in the Ægean sea, about 36 miles in circumference,
according to Pliny only 12, very barren, and uncultivated. The
Romans generally sent their criminals there in banishment, and it was
there that Cassius Severus the orator was exiled, and there he died.
According to Ælian, the frogs of this island never croaked, but when
they were removed from the island to another place, they were more
noisy and clamorous than others; hence the proverb of _seriphia rana_,
applied to a man who neither speaks nor sings. This, however, is
found to be a mistake by modern travellers. It was on the coast of
Seriphos that the chest was discovered in which Acrisius had exposed
his daughter Danae and her son Perseus. _Strabo_, bk. 10.――_Ælian_,
_De Natura Animalium_, bk. 3, ch. 37.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 4, ch. 21.
――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, li. 242; bk. 7, li. 65.
=Sermyla=, a town of Macedonia. _Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 122.
=Seron=, a general of Antiochus Epiphanes.
=Serrānus=, a surname given to Cincinnatus, because he was found
_sowing_ his fields when told that he had been elected dictator.
Some, however, suppose that Serranus was a different person from
Cincinnatus. _Pliny_, bk. 18, ch. 3.――_Livy_, bk. 3, ch. 26.
――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 844.――――One of the auxiliaries of
Turnus, killed in the night by Nisus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 9,
li. 335.――――A poet of some merit in Domitian’s reign. _Juvenal_,
satire 7, li. 80.
=Serrheum=, a fortified place of Thrace. _Livy_, bk. 31, ch. 16.
=Quintus Sertorius=, a Roman general, son of Quintus and Rhea, born at
Nursia. His first campaign was under the great Marius, against the
Teutones and Cimbri. He visited the enemy’s camp as a spy, and had
the misfortune to lose one eye in the first battle he fought. When
Marius and Cinna entered Rome and slaughtered all their enemies,
Sertorius accompanied them, but he expressed his sorrow and concern
at the melancholy death of so many of his countrymen. He afterwards
fled for safety into Spain, when Sylla had proscribed him, and
in this distant province he behaved himself with so much address
and valour that he was looked upon as the prince of the country.
The Lusitanians universally revered and loved him, and the Roman
general did not show himself less attentive to their interest, by
establishing public schools, and educating the children of the
country in the polite arts, and the literature of Greece and Rome.
He had established a senate, over which he presided with consular
authority, and the Romans, who followed his standard, paid equal
reverence to his person. They were experimentally convinced of
his valour and ♦magnanimity as a general, and the artful manner in
which he imposed upon the credulity of his adherents in the garb
of religion, did not diminish his reputation. He pretended to hold
commerce with heaven by means of a white hind which he had tamed with
great success, and which followed him everywhere, even in the field
of battle. The success of Sertorius in Spain, and his popularity
among the natives, alarmed the Romans. They sent some troops
to oppose him, but with little success. Four armies were found
insufficient to crush or even hurt Sertorius; and Pompey and Metellus,
who never engaged an enemy without obtaining the victory, were driven
with dishonour from the field. But the favourite of the Lusitanians
was exposed to the dangers which usually attend greatness. Perpenna,
one of his officers who was jealous of his fame and tired of a
superior, conspired against him. At a banquet the conspirators began
to open their intentions by speaking with freedom and licentiousness
in the presence of Sertorius, whose age and character had hitherto
claimed deference from others. Perpenna overturned a glass of wine,
as a signal for the rest of the conspirators, and immediately
Antonius, one of his officers, stabbed Sertorius, and the example
was followed by all the rest, 73 years before Christ. Sertorius has
been commended for his love of justice and moderation. The flattering
description which he heard of the Fortunate Islands when he passed
into the west of Africa, almost tempted him to bid adieu to the world,
and perhaps he would have retired from the noise of war, and the
clamours of envy, to end his days in the bosom of a peaceful and
solitary island, had not the stronger calls of ambition and the love
of fame prevailed over the intruding reflections of a moment. It has
been observed that in his latter days ♠Sertorius became indolent,
and fond of luxury and wanton cruelty; yet we must confess that in
affability, clemency, complaisance, generosity, and military valour,
he not only surpassed his contemporaries, but the rest of the Romans.
_Plutarch_, _Lives_.――_Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 30, &c.――_Florus_, bk.
3, ch. 21, &c.――_Appian_, _Civil Wars_.――_Valerius Maximus_, bk. 1,
ch. 2; bk. 7, ch. 3.――_Eutropius._――_Aulus Gellius_, bk. 15, ch. 22.
♦ ‘magnamimity’ replaced with ‘magnanimity’
♠ ‘Sertorious’ replaced with ‘Sertorius’
=Servæus=, a man accused by Tiberius of being privy to the conspiracy
of Sejanus. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 6, ch. 7.
=Serviānus=, a consul in the reign of Adrian. He was a great favourite
of the emperor Trajan.
=Servilia=, a sister of Cato of Utica, greatly enamoured of Julius
Cæsar, though her brother was one of the most inveterate enemies of
her lover. To convince Cæsar of her affection, she sent him a letter
filled with the most tender expressions of regard for his person. The
letter was delivered to Cæsar in the senate-house, while they were
debating about punishing the associates of Catiline’s conspiracy;
and when Cato saw it, he exclaimed that it was a letter from the
conspirators, and insisted immediately on its being made public.
Upon this Cæsar gave it to Cato, and the stern senator had no sooner
read its contents, than he threw it back, with the words of “Take it,
drunkard.” From the intimacy which existed between Servilia and Cæsar,
some have supposed that the dictator was the father of Marcus Brutus.
_Plutarch_, _Cæsar_.――_Cornelius Nepos_, _Atticus_.――――Another sister
of Cato, who married Silanus. _Cornelius Nepos_, _Atticus_.――――A
daughter of Thrasea, put to death by order of Nero with her father.
Her crime was the consulting of magicians only to know what would
happen in her family.
=Servilia lex=, _de pecuniis repetundis_, by Caius Servilius the pretor,
A.U.C. 653. It punished severely such as were guilty of peculation
and extortion in the provinces. Its particulars are not precisely
known.――――Another, _de judicibus_, by Quintus Servilius Cæpio the
consul, A.U.C. 648. It divided the right of judging between the
senators and the equites, a privilege which, though originally
belonging to the senators, had been taken from them and given to
the equites.――――Another, _de civitate_, by Caius Servilius, ordained
that if a Latin accused a Roman senator, so that he was condemned,
the accuser should be honoured with the name and the privileges of a
Roman citizen.――――Another, _agraria_, by Publius Servilius Rullus the
tribune, A.U.C. 690. It required the immediate sale of certain houses
and lands which belonged to the people, for the purchase of others in
a different part of Italy. It required that 10 commissioners should
be appointed to see it carried into execution, but Cicero prevented
its passing into a law by the three orations which he pronounced
against it.
=Serviliānus=, a Roman consul defeated by Viriathus, in Spain, &c.