Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/977

Rh and Syphax was induced to enter into friendly relations with Rome, though it is doubtful whether (as asserted by Livy) he concluded any definite treaty; at least, he appears to have been shortly after gained over by Hasdrubal to the opposite cause. To this result the charms of Sophonisba, the beautiful daughter of Hasdrubal, whom he offered in marriage to the Numidian king, are said to have powerfully contributed; Syphax accepted the proffered alliance, and became from this time a staunch friend to the Carthaginians. (Liv. xxviii. 17, 18, xxix. 23; Polyb. xiv. 1, 7; Appian. Hisp. 29, 30, Pun. 10; Zonar. ix. 10, 11.)

Meanwhile another opening had presented itself to his ambition. After the death of Gala, the Massylian kingdom had been a prey to civil dis- sensions, in which, however, Syphax at first took little part; and though he lent some assistance to Lacumaces and his pupil Mezetulus, he did not succeed in preventing his old enemy Masinissa from establishing himself on his father's throne. [Masinissa.] He was even disposed, we are told, to acquiesce altogether in the elevation of his rival, had not the representations of Hasdrubal warned him of the danger of such a course. But he yielded to the suggestions of the Carthaginian general, and assembled a large army, with which he invaded the territories of Masinissa, defeated him in a pitched battle, and made himself master of his whole kingdom. The Massylian king was thence- forth compelled to restrict himself to a predatory warfare, in the course of which he obtained various advantages, and at one time compelled Syphax himself (in conjunction with his son Vermina) once more to take the field against him. Though again defeated, he was still able to maintain him- self at the head of a small force until the landing of Scipio in Africa, B. c. 204. (Liv. xxix. 29 — 33 ; Appian. Pun. 10—12.)

On that event Syphax, who had already sent an embassy to Scipio in Sicily to warn him against taking such a step, did not hesitate to support the Carthaginians, and joined Hasdrubal with an army of 50,000 foot and 10.000 horse. But his desire was not so much for the decided victory of either of the two parties, as to become the means of mediating a peace between them, which he hoped to effect on condition of the Romans withdrawing their troops from Africa, in return for the evacua- tion of Italy by Hannibal. He in consequence took advantage of the long protracted operations of the siege of Utica, during which his own army and that of Hasdrubal were encamped in the immediate neighbourhood of Scipio, to open negotiations with the Roman general. These were protracted through- out great part of the winter; but Scipio, while he pretended to lend a willing ear to the overtures of the Numidian king, secretly entertained wholly different designs, and early in the spring of b. c. 203, having abruptly broken off the treaty, he suddenly attacked the camp of Syphax in the night, and set fire to the straw huts under which his soldiers were sheltered. The Numidians were taken completely by surprise, arid their whole anny perished in the conflagration, or was put to the sword in the confusion that ensued. The Carthaginian camp shared the same fate. (Polyb. xiv. 1 — 5 ; Liv. xxx. 3 — 7 ; Appian. Pun. 13, 14, 17—22 ; Zonar. ix. 12.) Syphax himself, with a few fugitives, made his escape to Numidia, where he again began to collect troops; but disheartened

at this great disaster, he was unwilling again to take the field, and was with difficulty induced, by the united entreaties of Hasdrubal and Sophonisba, to try his fortune once more. Having at length assembled a fresh army, he again joined his forces with those of Hasdrubal, but they were once more totally defeated by Scipio, and Syphax fled for refuge to his hereditary dominions among the Massaesy- lians, leaving Laelius and Masinissa to recover, without oppo8itioi|, the kingdom of the latter. But while his enemies were thus employed, he con- trived to assemble for the third time a large army, with which he met the invaders on their advance to Cirta. An obstinate contest ensued, but the army of Syphax was at length totally routed, and the king himself fell into the hands of the Romans, who immediately sent him as a prisoner to Scipio. Meanwhile his capital city of Cirta was occupied by Masinissa. (Polyb. xiv. u — 9 ; Liv. xxx. 7 — 9, Tl, 12 ; Appian. Pun. 26, 27 ; Zonar. ix. 13.) Scipio treated his royal prisoner with distinction, for the pui-pose of enhancing his own victory, but immediately sent him (together with one of his sons who had been taken prisoner at the same time), under the charge of Laelius, to Rome. Here he was ordered by the senate to be imprisoned at Alba, for safe custody, where he remained until the return of Scipio, after the close of the war. Polybius states expressly that he was one of the captives who adorned the triumph of the conqueror upon that occasion, and that he died in confinement shortly after. Livy, on the contrary, asserts that he was saved from that ignominy by a timely death at Tibur, whither he had been transferred from Alba. (Polyb. xvi. 23; Liv. xxx. 13, 16, 17, 45 ; A pp. Pun. 27, 28.) The statement of Polybius, as well as the fact that his death occurred at Tibur, are confirmed by an inscription preserved in the Vatican, the authenticity of which is, how- ever, very doubtful. (See Niebuhr's Lect. on Rom. Hist. vol. i. p. 218, ed. Schmitz; Burton's De- scription of Rome, vol. ii. p. 312.)

If we may trust the same authority he was 48 years old at the time of his death. [E. H. B.]

SY'RIA DEA {'ZvpiT] ^ios), '• the Syrian god- dess," a name by which the Syrian Astarte or Aphrodite is sometimes designated. This Astarte was a Syrian divinity, resembling in many points the Greek Aphrodite, and it is not improbable that the latter was originally the Syrian Astarte, the opinions concerning whom were modified after her introduction into Greece ; for there can be no doubt that the worship of Aphrodite came from the East to Cyprus, and thence was carried into the south of Greece. (Lucian, De Syiia Dea; Pans. i. 14. § 6 ; Aeschyl. Suppl. 562.). [L. S.]

SYRIACUS, VA'LLIUS, a friend of Asinius Gallus, unjustly slain by Tiberius. He is fre- quently mentioned by the elder Seneca as a distin- guished rhetorician. (Dion Cass. lviii. 3; Senec. Controv. i. 9, 14, 2], 27).

SYRIA'NUS CSvpiavSs), a. Greek philosopher of the Neo-Platonic school, was a native of Alex- andria, and the son of Philoxenus. We know little of his personal history, but that he came to Athens, and studied with great zeal under Plutarchus, the head of the Neo-Platonic school, who regarded him with great admiration and affection, and appointed him as his successor. The most distinguished of his disciples was Proclus, who regarded him with the greatest veneration, and gave directions that at