Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/944

Rh y32 SUIDAS. consular comitia from being held, in consequence of which an interregnum ensued and thus Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls. On account of their violent conduct in their tribunate Sufenas and his colleagues were brought to trial in B. c. 54 ; Procilius was condemned, but Sufenas and Cato were acquitted through the influence of Pompey, Sufenas was propraetor in B. c. 51, in one of the pro- vinces in the neighbourhood of Cilicia, and on the breaking out of the civil war two years afterwards, he is mentioned as one of Pompey's generals. (Cic. adAtt. iv. 15. § 4, vi. 1. § 13, viii. 15. § 3.) He appears to be the same as the Nonius, who was present at the battle of Pharsalia, and who sought to encourage his party after their defeat by remark- ing that seven eagles were left in the camp of Pompey ; when Cicero replied, " It would be very well if we were fighting with jack-daws." (Plut. Cic. 38.) There are coins of one Sex. Nonius Sufenas, a specimen of which is subjoined. On the obverse is the head of Saturn and on the reverse a woman seated whom Victory is in the act of crowning. On the reverse we read sex. noni. pr. l. v. p. f ; the latter letters are interpreted either praetor or primus ludos votivos pvhlicos fecit. ( Eckhel, vol. v. pp. 261, 262.) COIN OP SEX. NONIUS SUFENAS. SUIDAS (2ovf5os). A Greek Lexicon is ex- tant under the name of Suidas, but nothing is known of the compiler. A Suidas is mentioned by Strabo (p. 329, ed. Casaub.) as the author of a history of Thessaly, and this work is also cited by the scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, and by Ste- phanus of Byzantium (s. vv. "A/xvpos^ AwSclJ^/rj, Frag. Staph.). It is not likely that this Suidas is the author of the Lexicon ; but no certain conclu- sion as to the age of the compiler can be derived from passages in the work, which undoubtedly were written long after the time of Stephanus of Byzantium, for the work may have received nu- merous interpolations and additions. Eiistathius, who lived about the end of the twelfth century A. D., quotes the Lexicon of Suidas. The article Adam ('ASoju) contains a chronological epitome, which ends with the emperor Joannes Zimisces, who died A. D. 974 ; and in the article Constan- tinople {KoovaravrivovTroKis) are mentioned Basi- silius the second, and Constantius, who succeeded Joannes Zimisces. A remark under the article Polyeuctus {TloXvevKros) shows that the writer of that remark was contemporaneous with the Patri- arch Polyeuctus (eyevcTo koX Kad' i^fxas irokvevK- Toy, &c.) who succeeded Theophylactus, A. D. 956 (note of Reinesius) ; but the date 936 is given by other authorities. This passage which Reinesius assumes to prove the period of the author of the Lexicon, merely proves the period of the writer who made the remark ; and he may be either the author of the Lexicon or an interpolator. But there are passages in the Lexicon which refer even to a SUIDAS. later date (s. w. rrfcipos ; Aeprpov • 'HT^ropej"), for Michael Psellus is quoted, and Psellus lived at the close of the eleventh century a. d. (See the notes on these words in Gaisford's edition.) The Lexicon of Suidas is a dictionary of words arranged in alphabetical order, with some few peculiarities of arrangement ; but it contains both words which are found in dictionaries of languages, and also names of persons and places, with extracts from ancient Greek writers, grammarians, scholiasts, and lexicographers, and some extracts from later Greek writers. The names of persons comprehend both persons who are mentioned in sacred and in profane history, which shows that if the work is by one hand, it is by a Christian ; but there is no inconsistency in supposing that the original of the Lexicon which now goes under the name of Suidas, is a work of earlier date even than the time of Stephanus of Byzantium, and that it received large accessions from some various hands. No well conceived plan has been the basis of this work : it is incomplete as to the number of articles, and ex- ceedingly irregular and unequal in the execution. Some articles are pretty complete, others contain no information at all. As to the biographical no- tices it has been conjectured that Suidas or the compiler got them all from one source, which, it is further supposed, may be the Onomatologos or Pinax of Hesychius of Miletus ; for it is said in Suidas (s. V. "iiavx^os), "• of which this book is an epitome ;" but it is an incorrect interpretation to conclude that Suidas means to say that his work is an epitome of the Onomatologos (or iriua^ rwv iv TraiSiia duoixacrrwu), which would be manifestly false: he means to say that the work in use at the time when he wrote was an epitome of the Ono- matologos. The scholiast on Aristophanes has been freely used in the compilation of this Lexicon. The extracts from ancient Greek writers are very nu- merous, but the names of the writers are frequently omitted. These extracts have sometimes no refer- ence to the title of the article, and have no appli- cation to it ; a circumstance probably owing to numerous interpolations made in the manuscript copies of the Lexicon. A want of criticism per- vades the whole work, or rather excessive careless- ness, as in the case of the name Severus (Segrjpos, and Kiister's note). The article Alyattes {'AAv- oTTTjy) is another instance, and there are others of a like kind. There is prefixed to the editions of Suidas the following notice : — T^ fxh irapov fii6iou 2out5a, ol Se (TiiVTa^apLevot toDto &vdpes a6<poi^ which is followed by a list of twelve names. As to this title, see the remarks of Harles. The Lexicon of Suidas, though without merit as to its execution, is valuable both for the literary history of antiquity, for the explanation of words, and for the citations from many ancient writers ; and a pro- digious amount of critical labour has been bestowed upon it. Many emendations have been made on the text by Toup and others. The first edition of Suidas was by Demetrius Chalcondylas, Milan, 1499, fol., without a Latin version. The second, by the elder Aldus, Venice, 1514, fol., is also without a Latin version: this edition was reprinted by Froben, Bale, 1 544, fol., with some corrections. The first Latin translation of Suidas was made by Hieron. Wolf, Bale, 1564, 1581, fol. The first edition, which contained both