[Sermo]; Colloquium; Oratio. 1. Sermo (εἰρόμενος) denotes a conversation accidentally arising, or at least carried on without any fixed and serious purpose; whereas colloquium, generally a conversation agreed upon for a particular purpose, like a conference. 2. Sermo is a natural mode of speaking; oratio, a speech premeditated and prepared according to the rules of art. The sermo arises when, in ordinary life, an individual speaks longer than usual, and continues speaking, and is accidentally not interrupted; the oratio has a definite extent with an observable beginning, middle, and end, and in it the speaker calculates upon not being interrupted. In the sermo, the language of ordinary life predominates, whether in prose or verse, as in the comic poets, and in the Sermones of Horace; whereas in the oratio the language is select, and in conformity to the rules of rhetoric. Cic. Orat. 16. Mollis est oratio philosophorum et umbratilis . . . Itaque sermo potius quam oratio dicitur. Tac. Hist. i. 19. Apud senatum non comptior Galbæ, non longior . . . sermo; Pisonis comis oratio. (iv. 23.)
Sermo, see [Lingua].
Serpens, Serpere, see [Repere].
[Servus]; Famulus; Mancipium; Minister; Ancilla; Servitus; Servitium. 1. Servus, ancilla, famulus, and mancipium, denote a servant who is not free, a slave; minister, one who is free, or only in subordination. Plin. Ep. x. 97. Ancillæ, quæ ministræ dicebantur; that is, in Christian assemblies. 2. Servus (from εἴρερος) means a slave, in a political and juridical sense, as in a state of subjugation, in opp. to dominus, Cic. Verr. iv. 50, like δοῦλος and δμώς; famulus (χαμαλός?) in a patriarchal sense, as belonging to and part of the family, in opp. to herus, Cic. Off. ii. 7, like οἰκέτης; mancipium, in an economical sense, as a possession and marketable commodity, like ἀνδράποδον. 3. Serva means a female slave, with especial reference to her legal condition; ancilla, in ordinary life, as the feminine of servus. Servitus denotes slavery, quite indifferently, as a regular, natural, legal state; whereas servitium, either with contempt or compassion, as an irregular, compulsory, ignominious state. Most prose writers, however, use servitus merely as the abstract; servitium, and especially servitia, as the concrete term for servi. (v. 136.)
[Severitas]; Gravitas; Strenuitas. Severitas (αὐηρότης) means earnestness, so far as it is seated in the mind; gravitas (from γεραιός) so far as it makes an impression on others; strenuitas (from στρηνής, δραίνω) so far as it shows itself in action. (ii. 129.)
Severus, see [Austerus] and [Serius].
Sica, see [Gladius].
Sicarius, see [Homicida].
Siccus, see [Aridus].
Sidus, see [Stella].