A classical dictionary / containing a copious account of all the proper names mentioned in ancient authors with tables of coins, weights, and measures used among the Greeks and Romans and a chronological table

by John Lemprière

Sĕmīrămis, a celebrated queen of Assyria, daughter of the goddess Derceto by a young Assyrian. She was exposed in a desert, but her life was preserved by doves for one whole year, till Simmas, one of the shepherds of Ninus, found her, and brought her up as his own child. Semiramis, when grown up, married Menones the governor of Nineveh, and accompanied him to the siege of Bactra, where, by her advice and prudent directions, she hastened the king’s operations and took the city. These eminent services, but chiefly her uncommon beauty, endeared her to Ninus. The monarch asked her of her husband, and offered him instead, his daughter Sosana; but Menones, who tenderly loved Semiramis, refused, and when Ninus had added threats to entreaties, he hung himself. No sooner was Menones dead than Semiramis, who was of an aspiring soul, married Ninus, by whom she had a son called Ninyas. Ninus was so fond of Semiramis, that at her request he resigned the crown to her, and commanded her to be proclaimed queen and sole empress of Assyria. Of this, however, he had cause to repent; Semiramis put him to death, the better to establish herself on the throne, and when she had no enemies to fear at home, she began to repair the capital of her empire, and by her means Babylon became the most superb and magnificent city in the world. She visited every part of her dominions, and left everywhere immortal monuments of her greatness and benevolence. To render the roads passable and communication easy, she hollowed mountains and filled up valleys; and water was conveyed at a great expense, by large and convenient aqueducts, to barren deserts and unfruitful plains. She was not less distinguished as a warrior. Many of the neighbouring nations were conquered; and when Semiramis was once told, as she was dressing her hair, that Babylon had revolted, she left her toilette with precipitation, and though only half dressed, she refused to have the rest of her head adorned before the sedition was quelled and tranquillity re-established. Semiramis has been accused of licentiousness, and some authors have observed that she regularly called the strongest and stoutest men in her army to her arms, and afterwards put them to death, that they might not be living witnesses of her incontinence. Her passion for her son was also unnatural, and it was this criminal propensity which induced Ninyas to destroy his mother with his own hands. Some say that Semiramis was changed into a dove after death, and received immortal honours in Assyria. It is supposed that she lived about 1965 years before the christian era, and that she died in the 62nd year of her age, and the 25th of her reign. Many fabulous reports have been propagated about Semiramis, and some have declared that for some time she disguised herself and passed for her son Ninyas. Valerius Maximus, bk. 9, ch. 3.—Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 184.—Diodorus, bk. 2.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 3.—Strabo, bk. 5.—Paterculus, bk. 1, ch. 6.—Justin, bk. 1, ch. 1, &c.—Propertius, bk. 3, poem 11, li. 21.—Plutarch, de Alexandri magni fortuna aut virtute, &c.—Ovid, Amores, bk. 1, poem 5, li. 11; Metamorphoses, bk. 4, li. 58.—Marcellinus, bk. 14, ch. 6.

Semnŏnes, a people of Italy, on the borders of Umbria.——Of Germany, on the Elbe and Oder.

Semōnes, inferior deities of Rome, that were not in the number of the 12 great gods. Among these were Faunus, the Satyrs, Priapus, Vertumnus, Janus, Pan, Silenus, and all such illustrious heroes as had received divine honours after death. The word seems to be the same as semi homines, because they were inferior to the supreme gods and superior to men. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 6, li. 213.

Semosanctus, one of the gods of the Romans among the Indigetes, or such as were born and educated in their country.

Sempronia, a Roman matron, mother of the two Gracchi, celebrated for her learning, and her private as well as public virtues.——Also a sister of the Gracchi, who is accused of having assisted the triumvirs Carbo, Gracchus, and Flaccus to murder her husband Scipio Africanus the younger. The name of Sempronia was common to the female descendants of the family of the Sempronii, Gracchi, and Scipios.

Semprōnia lex, de magistratibus, by Caius Sempronius Gracchus the tribune, A.U.C. 630, ordained that no person who had been legally deprived of a magistracy for misdemeanours should be capable of bearing an office again. This law was afterwards repealed by the author.——Another, de civitate, by the same, A.U.C. 630. It ordained that no capital judgment should be passed over a Roman citizen without the concurrence and authority of the senate. There were also some other regulations, included in this law.——Another, de comitiis, by the same, A.U.C. 635. It ordained that, in giving their votes, the centuries should be chosen by lot, and not give it according to the order of their classes.——Another, de comitiis, by the same, the same year, which granted to the Latin allies of Rome the privilege of giving votes at elections, as if they were Roman citizens.——Another, de provinciis, by the same, A.U.C. 630. It enacted that the senators should be permitted before the assembly of the consular comitia, to determine as they pleased the particular provinces which should be proposed to the consuls, to be divided by lot, and that the tribunes should be deprived of the power of interposing against a decree of the senate.——Another, called agraria prima, by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus the tribune, A.U.C. 620. It confirmed the lex agraria Licinia, and enacted that all such as were in possession of more lands than that law allowed, should immediately resign them, to be divided among the poor citizens. Three commissioners were appointed to put this law into execution; and its consequences were so violent, as it was directly made against the nobles and senators, that it cost the author his life.——Another, called agraria altera, by the same. It required that all the ready money which was found in the treasury of Attalus king of Pergamus, who had left the Romans his heirs, should be divided among the poorer citizens of Rome, to supply them with all the various instruments requisite in husbandry, and that the lands of that monarch should be farmed by the Roman censors, and the money drawn from thence should be divided among the people.——Another, frumentaria, by Caius Sempronius Gracchus. It required that a certain quantity of corn should be distributed among the people, so much to every individual, for which it was required that they should only pay the trifling sum of a semissis, and a triens.——Another, de usurâ, by Marcus Sempronius the tribune, A.U.C. 560. It ordained that, in lending money to the Latins and the allies of Rome, the Roman laws should be observed as well as among the citizens.——Another, de judicibus, by the tribune Caius Sempronius, A.U.C. 630. It required that the right of judging, which had been assigned to the Senatorian order by Romulus, should be transferred from them to the Roman knights.——Another, militaris, by the same, A.U.C. 630. It enacted that the soldiers should be clothed at the public expense, without any diminution of their usual pay. It also ordered that no person should be obliged to serve in the army before the age of 17.

Semprōnius Aulus Atratinus, a senator who opposed the Agrarian law, which was proposed by the consul Cassius, soon after the election of the tribunes.——Lucius Atratinus, a consul A.U.C. 310. He was one of the first censors with his colleague in the consulship, Papirius.——Caius, a consul summoned before an assembly of the people because he had fought with ill success against the Volsci.——Blæsus, a consul who obtained a triumph for some victories gained in Sicily.——Sophus, a consul against the Æqui. He also fought against the Picentes, and during the engagement there was a dreadful earthquake. The soldiers were terrified, but Sophus encouraged them, and observed that the earth trembled only for fear of changing its old masters.——A man who proposed a law that no person should dedicate a temple or altar, without the previous approbation of the magistrates, A.U.C. 449. He repudiated his wife because she had gone to see a spectacle without his permission or knowledge.——Rufus, a senator, banished from the senate, because he had killed a crane to serve him as food.——Tuditanus, a man sent against Sardinia by the Romans.——A legionary tribune, who led away from Cannæ the remaining part of the soldiers who had not been killed by the Carthaginians. He was afterwards consul, and fought in the field against Annibal with great success. He was killed in Spain.——Tiberius Longus, a Roman consul defeated by the Carthaginians in an engagement which he had begun against the approbation of his colleague Cornelius Scipio. He afterwards obtained victories over Hanno and the Gauls.——Tiberius Gracchus, a consul who defeated the Carthaginians and the Campanians. He was afterwards betrayed by Fulvius, a Lucanian, into the hands of the Carthaginians, and was killed, after he had made a long and bloody resistance against the enemy. Annibal showed great honour to his remains; a funeral pile was raised at the head of the camp, and the enemy’s cavalry walked round it in solemn procession.——Gracchus, a man who had debauched Julia. See: [Gracchus].——A eunuch, made governor of Rome by Caracalla.——Densus, a centurion of a pretorian cohort who defended the person of Galba against his assassins. He was killed in the attempt.——The father of the Gracchi. See: [Gracchus].——A censor, who was also sent as ambassador to the court of Egypt.——A tribune of the people, &c. Tacitus.—Florus.—Livy.—Plutarch, Cæsar.—Appian.——An emperor. See: [Saturninus].

Semurium, a place near Rome, where Apollo had a temple. Cicero, Philippics, bk. 6, ch. 6.

Sena, or Senogallia, a town of Umbria in Italy, on the Adriatic, built by the Senones, after they had made an irruption into Italy, A.U.C. 396; and on that account called Gallica. There was also a small river in the neighbourhood which bore the name of Sena. It was near it that Asdrubal was defeated by Claudius Nero. Cornelius Nepos, Cato.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 454.—Livy, bk. 27, ch. 46.—Cicero, Brutus, ch. 18.

Sĕnātus, the chief council of the state among the Romans. The 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 7000l. 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.