Who more prudent than Sobrino?--Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605).
Soc´ratês (The English), Dr. Johnson is so called by Boswell (1709-1784).
Mr. South’s amiable manners and attachment to our Socrătês at once united me to him.--Life of Johnson (1791).
Sofronia, a young Christian of Jerusalem, the heroine of an episode in Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered (1575). The tale is this: Aladine, king of Jerusalem, stole from a Christian church an image of the Virgin, being told by a magician that it was a palladium, and, if set up in a mosque, the Virgin would forsake the Christian army, and favor the Mohammedan. The image was accordingly set up in a mosque, but during the night was carried off by some one. Aladine, greatly enraged, ordered the instant execution of all his Christian subjects, but, to prevent this massacre, Sofronia accused herself of the offence. Her lover, Olindo, hearing that Sofronia was sentenced to death, presented himself before the king, and said that he and not Sofronia was the real offender; whereupon the king ordered both to instant execution; but Clorinda, the Amăzon, pleading for them, obtained their pardon, and Sofronia left the stake to join Olindo at the altar of matrimony.--Bk. ii.
This episode may have been suggested by a well-known incident in ecclesiastical history. At Merum, a city of Phrygia, Amachius, the governor of the province, ordered the temple to be opened, and the idols to be cleansed. Three Christians, inflamed with Christian zeal, went by night and broke all the images. The governor, unable to discover the culprits, commanded all the Christians of Merum to be put to death; but the three who had been guilty of the act confessed their offence, and were executed.--Socratês, Ecclesiastical History, iii. 15 (A.D. 439). (See Sophronia.)
Soham, a monster with the head of a horse, four eyes, and the body of a fiery dragon. (See Ouranabad.)
Soi-même. St. Soi-même, the “natural man,” in opposition to the “spiritual man.” In almost all religious acts and feelings, a thread of self may be detected, and many things are done ostensibly for God, but in reality for St. Soi-même.
They attended the church service not altogether without regard to St. Soi-même.--Asylum Christi, ii.
Soldan (The), Philip II. of Spain, whose wife was Adicia (or papal bigotry). Prince Arthur sent the soldan a challenge for wrongs done to Samient, a female ambassador (deputies of the states of Holland). On receiving this challenge, the soldan “swore and banned most blasphemously,” and mounting “his chariot high” (the high ships of the Armāda), drawn by horses fed on carrion (the Inquisitors), went forth to meet the prince, whom he expected to tear to pieces with his chariot scythes, or trample down beneath his horses’ hoofs. Not being able to get at the soldan from the great height of the chariot, the prince uncovered his shield, and held it up to view. Instantly the soldan’s horses were so terrified that they fled, regardless of the whip and reins, overthrew the chariot, and left the soldan on the ground, “torn to rags, amongst his own iron hooks and grapples keen.”--Spenser, Faëry Queen, v. 8 (1596).
⁂ The overthrow of the soldan by supernatural means, and not by combat, refers to the destruction of the Armada by tempest, according to the legend of the medals, Flavit Jehovah, et dissipati sunt (“He blew with His blast, and they were scattered”).