Segusiāni, a people of Gaul on the Loire. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 1, ch. 10.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 18.
Segusio, a town of Piedmont on the Durias. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 17.
Ælius Sejānus, a native of Vulsinum in Tuscany, who distinguished himself in the court of Tiberius. His father’s name was Seuis Strabo, a Roman knight, commander of the pretorian guards. His mother was descended from the Junian family. Sejanus first gained the favours of Caius Cæsar the grandson of Augustus, but afterwards he attached himself to the interest and the views of Tiberius, who then sat on the imperial throne. The emperor, who was naturally of a suspicious temper, was free and open with Sejanus, and while he distrusted others, he communicated his greatest secrets to this fawning favourite. Sejanus improved this confidence, and when he had found that he possessed the esteem of Tiberius, he next endeavoured to become the favourite of the soldiers and the darling of the senate. As commander of the pretorian guards he was the second man in Rome, and in that important office he made use of insinuations and every mean artifice to make himself beloved and revered. His affability and condescension gained him the hearts of the common soldiers, and by appointing his own favourites and adherents to places of trust and honour, all the officers and centurions of the army became devoted to his interest. The views of Sejanus in this were well known; yet to advance with more success, he attempted to gain the affection of the senators. In this he met with no opposition. A man who has the disposal of places of honour and dignity, and who has the command of the public money, cannot but be the favourite of those who are in need of his assistance. It is even said that Sejanus gained to his views all the wives of the senators, by a private and most secret promise of marriage to each of them, whenever he had made himself independent and sovereign of Rome. Yet however successful with the best and noblest families in the empire, Sejanus had to combat numbers in the house of the emperor; but these seeming obstacles were soon removed. All the children and grandchildren of Tiberius were sacrificed to the ambition of the favourite under various pretences; and Drusus the son of the emperor, by striking Sejanus, made his destruction sure and inevitable. Livia the wife of Drusus was gained by Sejanus, and though the mother of many children, she was prevailed upon to assist her adulterer in the murder of her husband, and she consented to marry him when Drusus was dead. No sooner was Drusus poisoned than Sejanus openly declared his wish to marry Livia. This was strongly opposed by Tiberius; and the emperor, by recommending Germanicus to the senators for his successor, rendered Sejanus bold and determined. He was more urgent in his demands; and when he could not gain the consent of the emperor, he persuaded him to retire to solitude from the noise of Rome and the troubles of the government. Tiberius, naturally fond of ease and luxury, yielded to his representations, and retired to Campania, leaving Sejanus at the head of the empire. This was highly gratifying to the favourite, and he was now without a master. Prudence and moderation might have made him what he wished to be; but Sejanus offended the whole empire when he declared that he was emperor of Rome, and Tiberius only the dependent prince of the island of Capreæ, where he had retired. Tiberius was upon this fully convinced of the designs of Sejanus; and when he had been informed that his favourite had had the meanness and audacity to ridicule him by introducing him on the stage, the emperor ordered him to be accused before the senate. Sejanus was deserted by all his pretended friends, as soon as by fortune; and the man who aspired to the empire, and who called himself the favourite of the people, the darling of the pretorian guards, and the companion of Tiberius, was seized without resistance, and the same day strangled in prison, A.D. 31. His remains were exposed to the fury and insolence of the populace, and afterwards thrown into the Tiber. His children and all his relations were involved in his ruin, and Tiberius sacrificed to his resentment and suspicions all those who were even connected with Sejanus, or had shared his favours and enjoyed his confidence. Tacitus, bk. 3, Annals, &c.—Dio Cassius, bk. 58.—Suetonius, Tiberias.
Cnæus Seius, a Roman who had a famous horse of large size and uncommon beauty. He was put to death by Antony, and it was observed, that whoever obtained possession of his horse, which was supposed to be of the same race as the horses of Diomedes destroyed by Hercules, and which was called Sejanus equus, became unfortunate, and lost all his property, with every member of his family. Hence arose the proverb, ille homo habet Sejanum equum, applied to such as were oppressed with misfortunes. Aulus Gellius, bk. 3, ch. 9.
Seius Strabo, the father of Sejanus, was a Roman knight, and commander of the pretorian guards.
Selasia. See: [Sellasia].
Selemnus, a river of Achaia. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 23. See: [Selimnus].
Selēne, the wife of Antiochus king of Syria, put to death by Tigranes king of Armenia. She was daughter of Physcon king of Egypt, and had first married her brother Lathurus, according to the custom of her country, and afterwards, by desire of her mother, her other brother Gryphus. At the death of Gryphus she had married Antiochus, surnamed Eusebes, the son of Antiochus Cyzicenus, by whom she had two sons. According to Appian, she first married the father, and after his death, his son Eusebes. Appian, Syrian Wars, &c.
Seleucēna, or Seleucis, a country of Syria, in Asia. See: [Seleucis].
Seleucīa, a town of Syria, on the sea-shore, generally called Pieria, to distinguish it from others of the same name. There were no less than eight other cities which were called Seleucia, and which had all received their name from Seleucus Nicator. They were all situate in the kingdom of Syria, in Cilicia, and near the Euphrates. Florus, bk. 3, ch. 11.—Plutarch, Demosthenes.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 12.—Strabo, bks. 11 & 15.—Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 26.——Also the residence of the Parthian kings. Cicero, bk. 8, Letters to his Friends, ltr. 14.