Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/910

Rh 898 STADIEUS. exalted sentiments with regard to a contemplative life which were entertained by the ecclesiastics of that epoch ; but the style of the Latinitj', and the number of Grecisms involved, forbid us to adopt this theory. A third party imagine that they may have been fabricated at an early period, and may have embodied scraps or fragments which were actually in circulation as the words of Spurinna, and this is the view to which Barthius himself inclines. It is almost impossible in a matter of this sort to form a very decided opinion. Every one who reads will discern that, in their present state, these lines in no way merit the eulogium pronounced by Pliny upon the poetical talents of his friend. Per- haps the most suspicious circumstance is that, not- withstanding the shortness, obscurity, and mu- tilated condition of the fragments, we are, in studying them, constantly reminded of the observa- tions of Pliny, just as if they had been composed for the purpose of tallying with them. The very fact of the imperfect state in which they appear in the MS. is a proof that at the time when they were copied they must have been ascribed to some author of importance, for had not a fictitious value been attached to them from some such consider- ation, they would never have been thought worthy of being preserved. These odes will be found in Wemsdorf, Po'ct. Lat. Min. vol. iii. pp. 351, &c., and a dissertation on the author, pp. 326, &c. See also Bayerus. *De Vestritio Spurinna lyrico et ejus Fragmenta," in the transactions of the Petersburgh Academy for 1750. [W. R.] SPURI'NUS, Q. PETI'LLIUS, was praetor urbanus in B. c. 181, and was commissioned to levy troops on account of the war with the Ligu- rians. In his praetorship the books of king Numa Pompilius are said to have been discovered upon the estate of one L. Petillius, though some writers give a different name for the latter person. Spu- rinus obtained possession of the books, and upon his representation to the senate that they ought not to be read and preserved, the senate ordered them to be burnt (Liv. xl. 18, 26, 29 ; Val. Max. i. I. § 12 ; Plin. H.JS. xiii. 14. s. 27 ; Plut. Num, 22 ; August, de Civ. Dei, vii, 34 ; Lactant. i. 22 ; comp. Numa, Vol. II. p. 1213). Spurinus was consul in b. c. 176 with Cn. Cornelius Scipio Hispallus, and fell in battle against the Ligurians. (Liv. xli. 14—18 ; Val. Max. i. 5. § 9, iu 7. § 15 ; Obsequ. 64 ; Fasti Capitol.) SPU'RIUS, is properly a Roman praenomen, but occurs as the gentile name of one or two persons of no importance. Thus, for instance, we read of a M. Spurius, who was one of the con- spirators against Julius Caesar. (Appian, B. C. ii. 113.) SQUILLA GALLICANUS. [Gallicanus.] SQUILLUS, L. LICI'NIUS, one of the con- spirators against Q. Cassius Longinus in Spain, B.C. 48. [Longinus, No. 15.] L. STABE'RIUS, the governor of ApoUonia for the Pompeians in b.c. 48, was obliged to desert the town on the approach of Caesar, in conse- quence of the inhabitants declaring in favour of the latter (Caes. B. C. iii. 1 2 ; Appian, B. C. ii. 54). STADIEUS (2To5t6uj), artists. 1. An Athe- nian statuary, the instructor of Polycles. (Pans. fL 4. § 3. s. 5.) The determination of his time STAPHYLUS. depends, of course, on that of Polycles : Stadieus probably flourished about 01. 95, b. c. 400. [Po- lycles.] 2. A painter, the disciple of Nicosthenes, men- tioned by Pliny among the artists who were non ignobiles quidem, sed in transcursu tamen dicendi, (Plin. H. N. XXXV. 11. s. 40. § 42.) [P. S.] C. STAIE'NUS, called in many editions of Cicero C. STALE'NUS, one of the judices at the trial of Oppianicus in B.C. 74. It was believed that he had at first received money from the accused to acquit him, but afterwards voted for his condemnation, because he had received a still larger sum from the accuser Cluentius. (Cic. Verr, ii. 32, with the note of Zumpt.) Cicero, in his oration for Cluentius, in b.c. 66, in which he is anxious to remove from the minds of the judges the bad impressions that fexisted against his client, dwells at length upon the fact that Oppianicus had bribed Staienus, and also represents the latter as the agent employed by Oppianicus to bribe the other judges. According to Cicero, Staienus was a low-born contemptible rascal, who called himself Aelius Paetus, as if he had been adopted by some member of the Aelia gens, and who had assumed the cognomen Paetus, in preference to that of Ligur, another cognomen of the Aelii, because the latter would have reminded the people that he had sprung from Liguria. His oratory was characterized by vehemence and fury, but was sufficiently po- pular to have raised him to the honours of the state, had he not been condemned of majestas, in consequence of exciting a mutiny among the troops during his quaestorship. (Cic. pro Cluent. 24, 26, 36, Brut. 68, Top. 20.) STAIUS MINA'CIUS, a general of the Samnites, b. c. 296, was taken prisoner and carried to Rome. (Liv. x. 20.) STALLIUS, C. and M., brothers, were Roman architects, who were employed, in conjunction with another architect named Menalippus, to rebuild the Odeion of Pericles at Athens, after it was burnt down by Aristion, in the Mithridatic War, 01. 173. 3, B, c. 86. (Appian, Mi/Anrfa<. 38.) The new edifice was erected at the cost of Ariobarzanes II. Philopator, king of Cappadocia, between b. c. 65 and b. c. 52. (Vitruv. v. 9. § 1.) The names of the artists are presers^ed by an Attic inscription on the base of a statue which they erected in honour of their patron, Ariobarzanes. (Bcickh, a I, No. 357, vol. i. p. 429 ; R. Rochette, Lettre a M. Schom, p. 407, 2d ed.) [P. S.] STA'PHYLUS (2Ta<|)uAos), a son of Dionysus and Ariadne (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. iii. 997), or of Theseus and Ariadne (Plut. Thes. 20), was one of the Argonauts (ApoUod. i. 9. § 16). By Chry- sothemis he became the father of three daughters, Molpadia, Rhoeo, and Parthenos. Rhoeo was beloved by Apollo, and Staphylus, believing that she was with child by some one else, locked her up in a chest and threw her into the sea. The chest was washed on the coast of Delos, where she gave birth to Anius. She placed the child on the altar of Apollo, praying that the god, if he were the father, should save the child. Apollo accord- ingly concealed the boy, and taught him the art of prophecy. The sisters of Rhoeo were to guard the wine of Staphylus, but while they had fallen asleep the swine spilled and spoiled the wine. The sisters, on discovering the mischief, took to fliaht and threw themselves down from a rock. But