Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/813

Rh Asdrubal, Sophonisba obeyed, and drank with composure and serenity the cup of poison sent to her by her husband, about 203 B. C.. who, to many virtues, added that of turning the influence she possessed over the king to his glory, and the good of her country. She would not suffer him to sink into the luxurious indolence to which he was inclined; but animated him, by intreaties and remonstrances, to active measures against the English, and to perseverance, even when fortune did not seem in his favour.

being of a prophetic spirit, and foretelling future events, in verse no doubt, as the ancients especially were wont to do, some have not scrupled to place her among the poets. She is mentioned by Eugapius and Volaterranus. . paintings were frequently mistaken for those of Titian, her cotemporary. She died at the age of twenty-six, and her very competitor honoured her death by his tears. . STAAL