Saturnia, a name given to Italy, because Saturn had reigned there during the golden age. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 173.——A name given to Juno, as being the daughter of Saturn. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 173; Æneid, bk. 3, li. 80.——An ancient town of Italy, supposed to be built by Saturn, on the Tarpeian rock. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 358.——A colony of Etruria. Livy, bk. 39, ch. 55.
Saturnīnus Publius Sempronius, a general of Valerian, proclaimed emperor in Egypt by his troops after he had rendered himself celebrated by his victories over the barbarians. His integrity, his complaisance and affability, had gained him the affection of the people, but his fondness for ancient discipline provoked his soldiers, who wantonly murdered him in the 43rd year of his age, A.D. 262.——Sextius Julius, a Gaul, intimate with Aurelian. The emperor esteemed him greatly, not only for his virtues, but for his abilities as a general, and for the victories which he had obtained in different parts of the empire. He was saluted emperor at Alexandria, and compelled by the clamorous army to accept of the purple, which he rejected with disdain and horror. Probus, who was then emperor, marched his forces against him, and besieged him in Apamea, where he destroyed himself when unable to make head against his powerful adversary.——Appuleius, a tribune of the people who raised a sedition at Rome, intimidated the senate, and tyrannized for three years. Meeting at last with opposition, he seized the capitol, but being induced by the hopes of a reconciliation to trust himself amidst the people, he was suddenly torn to pieces. His sedition has received the name of Appuleiana in the Roman annals. Florus.——Lucius, a seditious tribune, who supported the oppression of Marius. He was at last put to death on account of his tumultuous disposition. Plutarch, Caius Marius.—Florus, bk. 3, ch. 16.——An officer in the court of Theodosius, murdered for obeying the emperor’s orders, &c.——Pompeius, a writer in the reign of Trajan. He was greatly esteemed by Pliny, who speaks of him with great warmth and approbation, as an historian, a poet, and an orator. Pliny always consulted the opinion of Saturninus before he published his compositions.——Sentius, a friend of Augustus and Tiberius. He succeeded Agrippa in the government of the provinces of Syria and Phœnicia.——Vitellius, an officer among the friends of the emperor Otho.
Saturnius, a name given to Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune, as being the sons of Saturn.
Saturnus, a son of Cœlus, or Uranus, by Terra, called also Titea, Thea, or Titheia. He was naturally artful, and by means of his mother, he revenged himself on his father, whose cruelty to his children had provoked the anger of Thea. The mother armed her son with a scythe, which was fabricated with the metals drawn from her bowels, and as Cœlus was going to unite himself to Thea, Saturn mutilated him, and for ever prevented him from increasing the number of his children, whom he treated with unkindness, and confined in the infernal regions. After this the sons of Cœlus were restored to liberty, and Saturn obtained his father’s kingdom by the consent of his brother, provided he did not bring up any male children. Pursuant to this agreement, Saturn always devoured his sons as soon as born, because, as some observe, he dreaded from them a retaliation of his unkindness to his father, till his wife Rhea, unwilling to see her children perish, concealed from her husband the birth of Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, and instead of the children she gave him large stones, which he immediately swallowed without perceiving the deceit. Titan was some time after informed that Saturn had concealed his male children, therefore he made war against him, dethroned and imprisoned him with Rhea; and Jupiter, who was secretly educated in Crete, was no sooner grown up, than he flew to deliver his father, and to replace him on the throne. Saturn, unmindful of his son’s kindness, conspired against him, when he heard that he raised cabals against him, but Jupiter banished him from his throne, and the father fled for safety into Italy, where the country retained the name of Latium, as being the place of his concealment (lateo). Janus, who was then king of Italy, received Saturn with marks of attention; he made him his partner on the throne; and the king of heaven employed himself in civilizing the barbarous manners of the people of Italy, and in teaching them agriculture and the useful and liberal arts. His reign there was so mild and popular, so beneficent and virtuous, that mankind have called it the golden age, to intimate the happiness and tranquillity which the earth then enjoyed. Saturn was father of Chiron the centaur by Philyra, whom he had changed into a mare, to avoid the importunities of Rhea. The worship of Saturn was not so solemn or so universal as that of Jupiter. It was usual to offer human victims on his altars, but this barbarous custom was abolished by Hercules, who substituted small images of clay. In the sacrifices of Saturn, the priest always performed the ceremony with his head uncovered, which was unusual at other solemnities. The god is generally represented as an old man, bent through age and infirmity. He holds a scythe in his right hand, with a serpent which bites its own tail, which is an emblem of time and of the revolution of the year. In his left hand he holds a child, which he raises up as if instantly to devour it. Tatius king of the Sabines first built a temple to Saturn on the Capitoline hill, a second was afterwards added by Tullus Hostilius, and a third by the first consuls. On his statues were generally hung fetters in commemoration of the chains he had worn when imprisoned by Jupiter. From this circumstance, all slaves that obtained their liberty generally dedicated their fetters him. During the celebration of the Saturnalia, the chains were taken from the statues to intimate the freedom and the independence which mankind enjoyed during the golden age. One of his temples at Rome was appropriated for the public treasury, and it was there also that the names of foreign ambassadors were enrolled. Hesiod, Theogony.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 1.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 319.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 8.—Tibullus, poem 3, li. 35.—Homer, Iliad.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 197; Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 123.
Satŭrum, a town of Calabria, where stuffs of all kinds were dyed in different colours with great success. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 197; bk. 4, li. 335.
Săty̆ri, demigods of the country, whose origin is unknown. They are represented like men, but with the feet and the legs of goats, short horns on the head, and the whole body covered with thick hair. They chiefly attended upon Bacchus, and rendered themselves known in his orgies by their riot and lasciviousness. The first fruits of everything were generally offered to them. The Romans promiscuously called them Fauni, Panes, and Sylvani. It is said that a Satyr was brought to Sylla as that general returned from Thessaly. The monster had been surprised asleep in a cave; but his voice was inarticulate when brought into the presence of the Roman general, and Sylla was so disgusted with it, that he ordered it to be instantly removed. The monster answered in every degree the description which the poets and painters have given of the Satyrs. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 23.—Plutarch, Sulla.—Virgil, eclogue 5, li. 13.—Ovid, Heroides, poem 4, li. 171.
Saty̆rus, a king of Bosphorus, who reigned 14 years, &c. His father’s name was Spartacus. Diodorus, bk. 20.——An Athenian who attempted to eject the garrison of Demetrius from the citadel, &c. Polyænus.——A Greek actor who instructed Demosthenes, and taught him how to have a good and strong delivery.——A man who assisted in murdering Timophanes, by order of his brother Timoleon.——A Rhodian sent by his countrymen to Rome, when Eumenes had accused some of the allies of intentions to favour the interest of Macedonia against the republic.——A peripatetic philosopher and historian, who flourished B.C. 148.——A tyrant of Heraclea, 346 B.C.——An architect who, together with Petus, is said to have planned and built the celebrated tomb which Artemisia erected to the memory of Mausolus, and which became one of the wonders of the world. The honour of erecting it is ascribed to others.
Savera, a village of Lycaonia.
Saufeius Trogus, one of Messalina’s favourites, punished by Claudius, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 11, ch. 35.——Appius, a Roman, who died on his return from the bath upon taking mead, &c. Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 53.
Savo, or Savona, a town with a small river of the same name in Campania. Statius, [♦]Sylvæ, bk. 4.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 5.——A town of Liguria.