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.
Servilius Quintus, a Roman who in his dictatorship defeated the Æqui.——Publius, a consul who supported the cause of the people against the nobles, and obtained a triumph in spite of the opposition of the senate, after defeating the Volsci. He afterwards changed his opinions, and very violently opposed the people because they had illiberally treated him.——A proconsul killed at the battle of Cannæ by Annibal.——Ahala, a master of horse to the dictator Cincinnatus. When Mælius refused to appear before the dictator to answer the accusations which were brought against him on suspicion of his aspiring to tyranny, Ahala slew him in the midst of the people whose protection he claimed. Ahala was accused for this murder and banished, but his sentence was afterwards repealed. He was raised to the dictatorship.——Marcus, a man who pleaded in favour of Paulus Æmilius, &c.——An augur prosecuted by Lucullus for his inattention in his office. He was acquitted.——A pretor ordered by the senate to forbid Sylla to approach Rome. He was ridiculed and insulted by the conqueror’s soldiers.——A man appointed to guard the sea-coast of Pontus by Pompey.——Publius, a proconsul of Asia during the age of Mithridates. He conquered Isauria, for which service he was surnamed Isauricus, and rewarded with a triumph.——A Roman general who defeated an army of Etrurians.——An informer in the court of Tiberius.——A favourite of Augustus.——Geminus, a Roman consul who opposed Annibal with success.——Nonianus, a Latin historian, who wrote a history of Rome, in the reign of Nero. There were more than one writer of this name, as Pliny speaks of a Servilius remarkable for his eloquence and learning; and Quintilian mentions another also illustrious for his genius and literary merit.——Casca, one of Cæsar’s murderers.——The family of the Servilii was of patrician rank, and came to settle at Rome after the destruction of Alba, where they were promoted to the highest offices of the state. To the several branches of this family were attached the different surnames of Ahala, Axilla, Priscas, Cæpio, Structus, Geminus, Pulex, Vatia, Casca, Fidenas, Longus, and Tucca.——Lacus, a lake near Rome. Cicero, For Sextus Roscius of Ameria, ch. 32.
Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome, was son of Ocrisia, a slave of Corniculum, by Tullius, a man slain in the defence of his country against the Romans. Ocrisia was given by Tarquin to Tanaquil his wife, and she brought up her son in the king’s family, and added the name of Servius to that which he had inherited from his father, to denote his slavery. Young Servius was educated in the palace of the monarch with great care, and though originally a slave, he raised himself so much to consequence, that Tarquin gave him his daughter in marriage. His own private merit and virtues recommended him to notice not less than the royal favours, and Servius, become the favourite of the people and the darling of the soldiers, by his liberality and complaisance, was easily raised to the throne on the death of his father-in-law. Rome had no reason to repent of her choice. Servius endeared himself still more as a warrior and as a legislator. He defeated the Veientes and the Tuscans, and by a proper act of policy he established the census, which told him that Rome contained about 84,000 inhabitants. He increased the number of the tribes, he beautified and adorned the city, and enlarged its boundaries by taking within its walls the hills Quirinalis, Viminalis, and Esquilinus. He also divided the Roman people into tribes, and that he might not seem to neglect the worship of the gods, he built several temples to the goddess of fortune, to whom he deemed himself particularly indebted for obtaining the kingdom. He also built a temple to Diana on mount Aventine, and raised himself a palace on the hill Esquilinus. Servius married his two daughters to the grandsons of his father-in-law; the elder to Tarquin, and the younger to Aruns. This union, as might be supposed, tended to ensure the peace of his family; but if such were his expectations, he was unhappily deceived. The wife of Aruns, naturally fierce and impetuous, murdered her own husband to unite herself to Tarquin, who had likewise assassinated his wife. These bloody measures were no sooner pursued than Servius was murdered by his own son-in-law, and his daughter Tullia showed herself so inimical to filial gratitude and piety, that she ordered her chariot to be driven over the mangled body of her father, B.C. 534. His death was universally lamented, and the slaves annually celebrated a festival in his honour, in the temple of Diana on mount Aventine, the day that he was murdered. Tarquinia, his wife, buried his remains privately, and died the following day. Livy, bk. 1, ch. 41.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 4.—Florus, bk. 1, ch. 6.—Cicero, Letters to his Friends, bk. 1, ch. 53.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 1, ch. 6.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 6, li. 601.——Galba, a seditious person who wished to refuse a triumph to Paulus Æmylius after the conquest of Macedonia.——Claudius, a grammarian. Suetonius, Lives of the Grammarians.——A friend of Sylla, who applied for the consulship to no purpose.——Cornelius, a consul in the first ages of the republic, &c.——Sulpitius, an orator in the age of Cicero and Hortensius. He was sent as ambassador to Marcus Antony, and died before his return. Cicero obtained a statue for him from the senate and the Roman people, which was raised in the Campus Martius. Besides orations he wrote verses, which were highly censured for their indelicacy. His works are lost. Cicero, Brutus, Philippics, &c.—Pliny, bk. 5, ltr. 3.——A despicable informer in the Augustan age. Horace, bk. 2, satire 1, li. 47.——Honoratus Maurus, a learned grammarian in the age of young Theodosius. He wrote Latin commentaries upon Virgil, still extant.
Sesara, a daughter of Celeus king of Eleusis, sister of Triptolemus. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 38.
Sesostris, a celebrated king of Egypt some ages before the Trojan war. His father ordered all the children in his dominions who were born on the same day with him to be publicly educated, and to pass their youth in the company of his son. This succeeded in the highest degree, and Sesostris had the pleasure to find himself surrounded by a number of faithful ministers and active warriors, whose education and intimacy with their prince rendered them inseparably devoted to his interest. When Sesostris had succeeded on his father’s throne, he became ambitious of military fame, and after he had divided his kingdom into 36 different districts, he marched at the head of a numerous army to make the conquest of the world. Libya, Æthiopia, Arabia, with all the islands of the Red sea, were conquered, and the victorious monarch marched through Asia, and penetrated further into the east than the conqueror Darius. He also invaded Europe, and subdued the Thracians; and that the fame of his conquests might long survive him, he placed columns in the several provinces he had subdued; and many ages after, this pompous inscription was read in many parts of Asia: “Sesostris the king of kings has conquered this territory by his arms.” At his return home the monarch employed his time in encouraging the fine arts, and in improving the revenues of his kingdom. He erected 100 temples to the gods for the victories which he had obtained, and mounds of earth were heaped up in several parts of Egypt, where cities were built for the reception of the inhabitants during the inundations of the Nile. Some canals were also dug near Memphis to facilitate navigation, and the communication of one province with another. In his old age Sesostris, grown infirm and blind, destroyed himself, after a reign of 44 years, according to some. His mildness towards the conquered has been admired, while some have upbraided him for his cruelty and insolence in causing his chariot to be drawn by some of the monarchs whom he had conquered. The age of Sesostris is so remote from every authentic record, that many have supported that the actions and conquests ascribed to this monarch are uncertain and totally fabulous. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 102, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 1.—Valerius Flaccus, bk. 5, li. 419.—Pliny, bk. 33, ch. 3.—Lucan, bk. 10, li. 276.—Strabo, bk. 16.
Sessites, now Sessia, a river of Cisalpine Gaul, falling into the Po. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 16.
Sestias, a name applied to Hero, as born at Sestos. Statius, bk. 6, Thebaid, li. 547.
Sestius, a friend of Brutus, with whom he fought at the battle of Philippi. Augustus resigned the consulship in his favour, though he still continued to reverence the memory of Brutus.——A governor of Syria.