Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/809

Rh SETHON. which P. Sestius Capitolinus Vaticamis, consul in B. c. 452, is described as P. f. Vibi. n. The annexed coins refer apparently to this L. Sestius, as they were struck by a person of the same name who was the proquaestor of Brutus The obverse of the first represents a woman's head with L. SESxr pro q., and the reverse a tripod with a secespita on one side, and a simpuvium on the other, and the legend Q. caepio brvtvs pro COS. The obverse of the second is nearly the same as the reverse of the first: the reverse contains a seat with a spear, in allusion to his being quaestor, and the legend L. sesti pro q. (Eckhel, vol. V. p. 312.) coins of l. sestius. 7. p. Sestius P. f., to whom one of Cicero's letters (ad Fam. v. 17) is addressed, was a dif- ferent person from P. Sestius L. f. [No. 5.] It appears from this letter, which was probably written in B.C. 53, that P. Sestius P. F. had been condemned on account of some offence. 8. L. Sestius Pansa. [Pans a,] 9. T. Sestius Gallus, on whose estate P. Clodius was killed by Milo, in b. c. 52. (Cic. pro Mil. 31.) SETHON (SeewV), a priest of Hephaestus, is said by Herodotus to have made himself master of Egypt after the expulsion of Sabacon, king of the Ethiopians, and to have been succeeded by the Dodecarchia, or government of the twelve chiefs, which ended in the sole sovereignty of Psammiti- chus. Herodotus further relates that in his reign Sanacharibus, king of the Arabians and Assyrians, advanced against Egypt, at which Sethon was in great alarm, as he had insulted the warrior class, and deprived them of their lands, and they now refused to follow him to the war. In his perplexity he shut himself up in the temple of Hephaestus, where the god comforted him by a vision. Rely- ing, therefore, on the assistance of the god, he col- lected an army of retail-dealers and artizans, and marched out boldly to Pelusium to meet the enemy. The god did not forget his promised aid ; for while the two armies were encamped there, the field-mice in the night gnawed to pieces the bow-strings, the quivers, and the sliield-handles of the Assyrians, who fled on the following day with great loss. The recollection of this miracle was perpetuated by a statue of the king in the temple of Hephaestus, holding a mouse in his hand, and saying, *' Let every one look at me and be pious " (Herod, ii. 141). This Sanacharibus is the Sen- nacherib * of the Scriptures, and the destruction Sennacherib^ which is the form familiar to us SEVERINA. 797 of the Assyrians at Pelusium is evidently only another version of the miraculous destruction of the Assyrians by the angel of the Lord, when they had advanced against Jerusalem in the reign of Hezekiah (2 Kings, xviii. xix. and particularly xix. 35 ; 2 Chronicles, xxxii. ; Isaiah, xxxvi. xxxvii). According to the Jewish records, this event hap- pened in B.C. 711. Herodotus speaks as if Sethon were king of all Egypt at this time ; but we have shown in the article Sabacon, that Upper Egypt at least was governed by the Ethiopian Taracus or Tirhakah, who, as we learn from Isaiah, was ready to march against Sennacherib. The name of Sethon does not occur in Manetho, and it is probable that he only reigned over a part of Lower Egypt. SEVE'RA, JU'LIA AQUPLIA. [Aquilia.] SEVE'RA, MARCIA, T. f., a Roman artist in gold and precious stones (Auraria et Margari- taria), who lived in the Via Sacra (Doni, p. 319, No. 13 ; Muratori, T/ies. vol. ii. p. cmlxiv. No. 1 ; Orelli, Inscr. Lat. Sel. No. 4148). Her name is of some interest, on account of the small number of women who appear in the lists of ancient artists. (R. Rochette, Lettre a M. Schorn, p. 401, 2d ed.) [P. S.] SEVERIA'NUS, son of the emperor Flavins Valerius Severus, was put to death by Licinius a. d. 313. (Auct. de Mort. Persec. 50.) [W. R.] SEVERIA'NUS, JU'LIUS, a rhetorician who flourished under Hadrian, the author of a treatise Syntomata s. Praecepta Artis Bhetoricae, which will be found in the " Antiqui Rhetores Latini " of F. Pithou 4to. Paris, 1599, p. 302—312), and of Capperonerius (4to. Argent. 1746). This piece was published at Cologne in 1569 by Sextus Pompa, as Auli Cornelii Celsi de Arte dicendi Li- bellus, a title retained in the edition of Heumann, contained in the first volume of his Poecile (8vo. Hal. 1722, lib. iii. p. 378), and in that printed at Lunaeberg (12mo. 1745). There seems to be no doubt, however, that in the best MSS. the work is ascribed to Severianus, and their testimony seems to be confirmed by Sidonius ApoUinaris (Ep. ix. 11, 15, Carm. ix. 312). Funccius conjectures that the real name of the writer may have been Julius Celsus Severianus, who in this manner became con- founded with Aulus Cornelius Celsus. (Funccius, de Veget. L. L. mied. cap. v. § 2.) [W. R.] SEVERIA'NUS VERUS, an artist in silver (Argentarius), mentioned in an inscription found in Dauphine. (Gruter, p. dcxxxix. 6 ; R. Rochette, Lettre a M. Schorn, p. 401, 2d ed.) [P.S.] SEVERI'NA, U'LPIA, the wife of the em- peror Aurelian, well known from medals, and from COIN op sevbrina. from the English version, comes from the Sep- tuagint (Sewox^jpfS). The Hebrew is Sancherih (S^inip), In Josephus it is ^evax^piSos^ in Herodotus 2a»/ax<ipi§os,