Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/698

Rh 686 SABINA. xli. ; Philastrius, De Haeres. post Christi Pas- sioiiem, xxvi. ; Athanas. Contra Arianos Oratio III. iv., IV. cxxv., De Synodis, c. vii. ; Dionys. Romaiuis, apiid Athanas. Epistola de Se7itc7itia Dionysii, cxxvi. ; Theodoret, Haeret. Fahul. Com- j:end. ii. 9.) From the manner in which Athanasius argues against the Sabellians {Orat. contra Arianos., c. 11, 25), it appears that they considered the emission of the divine energy, the Son, to have been antecedent to creation, and needful to effect it : " That we might be created the Word proceeded forth, and from his proceeding forth we exist" (7m 17/xers KTiffdconev TrpofjAdeu 6 Xoyos Kal iTpoevTos avrov €0-;U6i'), is the form in which Athanasius (c. 25) states the doctrine of the Sabellians. The return of the Son into the Father appears also to have been regarded as subsequent to the consummation of all things (comp. Greg. Thaumaturgi Fides, apud Mai, Scriptor. Vet. Nova CoUeciio, vol. vii. p. 171), and therefore as yet to come. Neander (I. c.) says that Sabellius considered " human souls to be a revelation or partial out-beaming of the divine Logos," but gives no authority for the statement. (The ancient authorities for this article have been already cited. There are notices of Sabellius and his doctrine in the following modern writers : Tillemont, Memoires, vol. iv. p. 237, &c. ; Lardner, Credibility, ^c, pt. ii. bk. i. c. xliii. § 7 ; Mosheim, De Rebus Christianor. ante Constantin. Magnum^ Saec. iii. § xxxiii. ; Neander, /. c. ; Milman, Hist, of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 429.) [J. C. M.] SABELLUS, a contemporary of Martial, was the author of some obscene poems. (Mart. xii. 43.) SABI'DIUS, a friend of C. Antonius, Cicero's colleague in the consulship (Q. Cic. de Pet. Cons. 2. § 8). The name occurs in inscriptions, but is not found in writers. SABICTAS. [Abistamenes.] SABI'NA, the wife of the emperor Hadrian was the grand-niece of Trajan, being the daughter of Matidia, who was the daughter of Marciana, the sister of Trajan. Sabina was married to Hadrian about A. D. 1 00 through the influence of Plotina, the wife of Trajan, but not with the full appro- bation of the latter. The marriage did not prove a happy one. Hadrian complained of his wife's temper, and said that he would have divorced her if he had been in a private station ; while she used to boast that she had taken care not to propa- gate the race of such a tyrant. But, although Hadrian treated her almost like a slave, he would not allow others to fail in their respect towards the empress ; aud, accordingly, when Septicius Clarus, the praefect of the praetorian cohorts, Suetonius Tranquillus, and many other high officers at the court behaved rudely to her during the expedition into Britain, Hadrian dismissed them all from their employments. Worn out by his ill-treatment Sabina at length put an end to her life. There was a report that she had even been poisoned by her husband. Spartianus speaks as if she had died about two years before Hadrian, and it appears from a coin of Amisus, that she was alive in a. d. 136. Tillemont supposes that she did not die till after the adoption of Antoninus, since the latter calls her his mother in an inscription. This, how- ever, is scarcely sufficient evidence. Antoninus was adopted in February, a. d. 1 38, and Hadrian died m July in the same year. (Spartian, Iladr. 1,2, 1 1, 23 ; AureL Vict. Epit. 14.) Sabina was honoured SABINA. with the title of Augusta, as appears from her medals. She received her title at the same time as Hadrian was called Pater Patriae. (Oros. vii. 13.) Orosius supposes that this took place at the be- ginning of the reign of Hadrian, but Eckhel has shown that it must be referred to a. d. 128. Sabina was enrolled among the gods after her death, as we see from medals which bear Divae Sabinac. She is frequently called Julia Sabina by modern writers : but the name of Julia is found only on the forofcd coins of Goltzius. (Eckhel, vol. vi. pp. 519 — 523.) COIN OF SABINA, THE WIPE OF HADRIAN. SABFNA, POPFAEA, first the mistress and afterwards the wife of Nero, belonged to a noble family at Rome, and was one of the most beautiful women of her age. Her father was T. OUius, who perished at the fall of his patron Sejanus ; and her maternal grandfather was Poppaeus Sabinus, who had been consul in A. d, 9, and whose name she assumed as more illustrious than that of her father. Poppaea herself, says Tacitus, possessed every thing except a virtuous mind. From her mother she inherited surpassing beauty ; her fortune was sufficient to support the splendour of her birth ; her conversation was distinguished by sprightliness and vivacity ; and her modest appearance only gave a greater zest to her favours. She rarely appeared in public ; and whenever she did so, her face was partially concealed by a veil. She was careless of her reputation ; but in her amours she always con- sulted her interest, and did not gratify blindly either her own passions or those of others. She had been originally married to Rufius Crispinus, praefect of the praetorian troops under Claudius, by whom she had a son, but she afterwards became the mistress of Otho, who was one of the boon companions of Nero, and by whose means she hoped to attract the notice of the emperor. Having obtained a divorce from Rufius, she married Otho. Her hus- band extolled her charms with such rapture to the emperor, that he soon became anxious to see the lovely wife of his friend. Poppaea, who was a per- fect coquette, first employed all her blandishments to win the prince, and when she saw that she had secured her prize she affected modesty, and pleaded that respect for her husband would not allow her to yield to the emperor's wishes. Such conduct had the desired eflfect. Nero became more ardent in his passion, and to remove Otho out of the way sent him to govern the province of Lusitania. Tiiis was in A. d. 58. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 45, 46.) Other writers give rather a different account of Poppaea 's first acquaintance with Nero. They relate that Otho married Poppaea at the request of Nero, who was anxious to conceal the intrigue from his mo- ther, and that the two friends enjoyed her toge- ther, till the emperor became jealous of Otho and sent him into Lusitania. This was the account which Tacitus appears to have received when he was composing his Histories {Hist. i. 13) ; but as he relates the circumstances at greater length in bis