Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/16

* SESSA AUKUNCA. SETHITES. wine. Other products are olive oil, fruits, grain, and cheese. Many cattle are reared. The ancient Suossa Aurunca became a Roman colony in B.C. 313. Population (commune), in 1S81, 19,920; in 1901, 21,844. SESTERTIUS, ses-tcr'.shi-us (Lat., two and one-half, fr.ini sriiii-. half + tertius, third). A Roman coin, lien silver coinage was introduced in Rome in li.c. 2G.S with the copper as as a unit, the silver sestertius was valued at 2i/i; asses. The standard as now weighed only one-fourth of its original weight; hence the sestertius was equivalent to the original libral as; and as ac- counts had formerly been made in terras of tlie libral as, so now^ they were made in terms of sestertii. After the end of the First Punic War (B.C. 241), however, the sestertius ceased to be coined. The weight of the as was many times reduced, and the denarius was made equal to 16 asses. With the reorganization of the coinage xmder Augustus a copper sestertius of four asses was coined under the control of the senate, equal to about 4 cents of our money. Sums of money were counted in sestertii, and large sums in ses- tertia. or thousands of sestertii ; thus 10 sestertia equal lO.OOU sestertii. SES'TITJS, PuBLiis. A Roman patrician, qmestor in B.C. 63. In that year he assisted Cicero in the suppression of Catiline's conspiracy, and in 57, as tribune, helped recall Cicero from exile. Through Alliinovanus he was accused by his enemy Clodius in 50 of using illegal force during his tribunate. From this charge he was defended by Hortensius and Crassus, and by Cicero (whose speech is extant, urging the crit- ical condition of the Republic as an excuse for his client), and was acquitted largely through the influence of Pompey. Sestius was praetor in 53. He sided with Pompey at the beginning of the Civil War, but afterwards joined Ca>sar. • SES'TO, Ces.re da (c.l480-e.l521). A Lom- bard painter, known also as Jlilanese. He was bom at Sesto Calende and became one of the best pupils of Leonardo da Vinci. Afterwards he fell under the influence of Raphael in Rome, and his work became eclectic and enfeebled. His pictures have not all been perfectly authenti- cated on account of his imitation of the two masters named. His. however, are thought to be the "Madonna of the Laurel Tree" (Brera), "The Adoration of the ]Magi" (Naples), and "The Madonna of the Oinlle" (1521, Vatican). SESTO FIORENTINO, fe-o'ren-te'no. A town in the Province of Florence, Italy, five miles north-northwest of Florence (Map: Italy, F 4). The products of the district are fruit and grain, and there are manufactures of wine, straw- hats, and perfumery. Population (commune). in 1881. 14.324: in 1001, 18.504. Near by is the vil- lage of Doccia. with a large porcelain factory. SESTRI LEV ANTE, s&s'tre la-van'ta. A seaport in the Province of Genoa, Italy. 30 miles by rail southeast of Genoa (Map: Italy. D 3). It is a sea-bathing resort, and has an old castle, anchovy .and oyster fisheries, and manufactures of lime and olive oil. Population (comnnme), in 1901, 12.039. SESTRI PONENTE, po-nen'ta. A seaport in the Province of Genoa. Italy, five miles by rail west of Genoa (Map: Italy, C 3). It has fine villas, a technical school, and a music school. It manufactures machinery, matches, and tobac- co, and carries on sliipbuilding. Population (com- mune), in 1881, 10,872; in 1901, 17,187. SET (Gk. Sc/fl, Si'th). An Egyptian deity, the son of Seb and Xut, and the brother of Osiris, Isis, and Xeplithys. the latter being his wife. In the legend he endeavors to thwart the benefi- cent plans of Osiris, and failing in this, treacli- eroiisly nnirders him. So implacable is his hatred that he even persecutes his brother's body, tear- ing it into pieces and .scattering tliem far and wide. But Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, is safely guarded by his mother from the evil de- signs of Set, and on attaining maturity he takes vengeance for his father's nnirder. According to the popular conception Set was the personifi- cation of evil anil of darkness; hence he was the god of the inhospitable desert and of foreign countries hostile to Egypt. His sacred ani- mals were the crocodile, the hippopotamus, and the ass, especially the latter. But Set was not always regarded as an evil deity. At Tanis, for example, he was held to be the solar deity who pierced with his lance the Apep ser- pent, and he was called "the beloved of Re;' and at Ombos. where, he was worshiped in very early times, he was revered as lord of the South and was occasionally identified with the crocodile god Sobk ( q.v. ) . By the Greeks Set was called Typhon (q.v.), and was identified with the giaht of that name. Consult: Meyer, Het-Ty- plioii (Leipzig. 1875); Brugsch, Religion tind Mythologie tier alten Aegypter (Leipzig, 1888- 90) ; Wiedemann, Retigion of the Ancient Egyp- tinus (trans.. New York. 1897). SET'EBOS. The god worshiped by Sycorax and her sun Caliban in Shakespeare's Tempest, a Patagonian deity described in the account of Magellan's voyage in Eden's History of Trarayle (1577). Browning analyzes Caliban's attitude toward him in "Caliban upon Setebos." SETH, Andrew. A Scotch philosopher. See Pbixgle-Pattlsox, Andrew .Seth. SETH, .Iames (I860—). A Scotch philoso- pher, luother of Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison, born in Edinburgh and educated there and at Leipzig. .Tena. and Berlin. He was assistant to Campbell Fraser in logic and metaphysics at Edinburgh {1883-85). professor in Dalhousie College. Halifax. N. S. (1886-92). in Brown University (1892-96), and in Cornell University luitil 1808. when he was elected professor of moral philosophy at Edinburgh. He wrote .4 Study of Ethical Principles (1894; 6th ed. 1002), and with Calderwood revised Fleming's Vocabulary of Philosophy. SETHITES. The name given to an obscure Gnostic sect of the second century allied to the Ophites (q.v.) ; they belonged to that class of religionists who. in evolving their system, ap- proached paganism. Accepting the Christian mode of thought and its terminology, they niis- imderstood the great facts of Scripture history and maintained that Seth. the first son of Adam after the expulsion from Eden, had been the ancestor of all the Old Testament saints and their own progenitor; in the person of .Tesus he had again appeared in the world in miraculous manner to help his followers. They had a book bearing the name of Seth. See Gnosticism.