Silvānus, a rural deity, son of an Italian shepherd by a goat. From this circumstance he is generally represented as half a man and half a goat. According to Virgil, he was son of Picus, or, as others report, of Mars, or, according to Plutarch, of Valeria Tusculanaria, a young woman, who introduced herself into her father’s bed, and became pregnant by him. The worship of Silvanus was established only in Italy, where, as some authors have imagined, he reigned in the age of Evander. This deity was sometimes represented holding a cypress in his hand, because he became enamoured of a beautiful youth called Cyparissus, who was changed into a tree of the same name. Silvanus presided over gardens and limits, and he is often confounded with the Fauns, Satyrs, and Silenus. Plutarch, Parallela minora.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 10; Germania, bk. 1, li. 20; bk. 2, li. 493.—Ælian, de Natura Animalium, bk. 6, ch. 42.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 10.—Horace, epode 2.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus.——A man who murdered his wife Apronia, by throwing her down from one of the windows of her chambers.——One of those who conspired against Nero.——An officer of Constantius, who revolted and made himself emperor. He was assassinated by his soldiers.
Silvium, a town of Apulia, now Gorgolione. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 11.——A town of Istria.
Silures, the people of South Wales in Britain.
Simbrivius, or Simbruvius, a lake of Latium, formed by the Anio. Tacitus, bk. 14, Annals, ch. 22.
Simena, a town of Lycia near Chimæra. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 27.
Simēthus, or Symēthus, a town and river at the east of Sicily, which served as a boundary between the territories of the people of Catana and the Leontini. In its neighbourhood the gods Palici were born. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 584.
Simĭlæ, a grove at Rome where the orgies of Bacchus were celebrated. Livy, bk. 39, ch. 12.
Similis, one of the courtiers of Trajan, who removed from Rome into the country to enjoy peace and solitary retirement.
Simmias, a philosopher of Thebes, who wrote dialogues.——A grammarian of Rhodes.——A Macedonian suspected of conspiracy against Alexander, on account of his intimacy with Philotas. Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 1.
Simo, a comic character in Terence.