Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1'046 SISTRU M. SITOPHIYLACES.
Cnst. vi. 4; Is. xiii. 2); but not so the Greelk, Plutarch (de Is. et Osir. pp. 670, 671, ed. Steph.)
a.lthoughll the latter llad a standard, the elevation says, that the shaking of the four bars within the
of which served as a signal for joining battle, circular apsis represented the agitation of the four
either by land (Polyaen. iii. 9. ~ 27; Corn. Nepos, elements within the compass of the world, by which
xi. 2. ~ 2) or by sea. (Thucyd. i. 49.) A scarlet all things are continually destroyed and repro
lI.ag (1poWlCds) was sometimes used for this pur- duced, and that the cat sculptured upon the apsis
pose. (Polyaen. i. 48. ~ 2.) [J. Y.3] was an emblem of the moon. Apuleius (AIMet. xi
SIGNINUAI OPUS. [DoIis, p. 431, a.]
SIGNUM, a division of the Roman legion.
x ERCITr US, p. 501, a.]
SILENTIA'RII. [PRAAEPOSITUS.] \
SILIICE'RN1UM. [FuNus, p. 56', a.]
SILIQUA. [UNCIA.] I
SI'IMPULUMl or SIMTPU'VIUM, was tlle
name of a small cup used in sacrifices, by which ~ I
libations of wine were offered to the gods. Festus
says that it was not unlike the cyathuS. (Festus,
s. v.; Varr. l. L. Y. 124, ed. Miiller; Plin. I. N.
xxxv. 12. s. 46; Juv. vi. 343; Cic. de ep. v;i. 2.)
It often appears on etohran coins, as on the asn- [i
nexed coin of the Sestia gens, which represents on
the obverse a tripod wvith a secespita on one side //
and a simpuvium on the other. A snimpuvium also i
appears on the coin figured under SEcsJsmPTA.
sOo'@P o_ ft g ~ t,\ pp. 119, 121, ed. Aldi) describes thue sistrumn as a.., j bronze rattle (auresum cerepitacoulum), consisting of a
narrow plate curved like a sword-belt (balteus),
through which passed a fewrods, that rendered a
loud shrill sound. He says that these instruments
were sometimes made of silver or even of gold.
There was a proverbial expression excitarefiuctus -le also seems to intimate, that the shakes were
in sisnpleo, "to make much ado about nothing" three together (tePyenmios ictus), which would
(Cic. de Leg. iii. 16). make a sort of rude music.
SINDON. [PALLIUaM, P. 851, b.] The inltroduction of the worship of Isis into
S1NGULA'RES. [ExRacITus, p. 508, b.] Italy shortly before the commencement of the
SIPA'RIUM, a piece of tapestry stretched on a Christian aera made the Romans familiar withl this
frame, which rose before the stage of the theatre instrument. TIhe elinigeri calvi. sistrataque turba"
(Festus, s. v.; Cic. Pro;. Ccons. 6; Juv. viii. 186), (Mart. xii. 29) are most exactly depicted in two
and consequently answered the purpose of the paintings found at Portici (Ant. d'Ercolano, vol. ii.
drop-scene with us, althouigh, contrary to our prac- pp. 309-320), and containing the two figures of a
tice, it was depressed when the play began, so as priest of Isis and a womlan kneeling at her altar,
to go below the level of the stage (auictlealrenun- which are introduced into the preceding woodcut.
tur, Hor. 1zpist. ii. 1. 189), and was raised again The use of the sistrumn in Egypt as a military inI
when the performance was conclutded (tollhtnur, strument to collect the troops is probably a fiction.
Ovid. lIet. iii. 111-114). F'roml the last-cited (Virg. Aen. viii. 696; Propert. iii. 11. 43.) The
passage Nwe learn that human figures were repre- sistrum is used in Nubia and Abyssinia to the presented upon it, whose feet appeared to rest upon sent day.
the stage when this screen -was drawn iup. From Sistrunt, which is in fact, like ScEPTnUAe, a
a passage of Virgil (Georg. iii. 25) we further Greek word with a Latin termination, the proper
learn, that the figures were sometimes those of Latin term for it being crepitacuzltn, is sometimes
Britons woven in the canvass ald raising their usedfor a child's rattle. (Martial, xiv. 54; Pollux,
arms in'tlhe attitude of lifting tip a purple curtain, ix. 127.) [.T. Y.]
so as to be introduced in the same manner as SITELLA. [S1TrLA.]
ATLANTES, Persae, and CARYATIDES. SITO'NAE (o-srcTva). [SITos.]
In a more general sense siparitins denoted any SITOPHY'LACES (altopSTAarces), a board of
piece of cloth or canvass stretched upon a frame. officers, chosen by lot, at Athens. They were at
(Quintil. vi. 1. ~ 32.) [J. Y.] first three, afterwards increased to fifteen, of whom
SISTRUM ('relsepoe),: a mystical instrument ten were for thle city, five for the Peiraeeus. Their
of music, used by the ancient Egyptians in their business was partly to watch the arrival of the
ceremonies, and,. especially in the worship of Isis. corn ships, take account of the quantity imported,
(Ovid. Met. ix., 784, Ameor. ii. 13. 11, iii. 9. 34, and see that the import laws were duly observed
de Ponto, i. 1. 38.) It was held in the right hand partly to watch the sales of corn in the market,
(see woodcut), and shaken, from which circum- and take care that the prices were fair and reason.
stance it derived its name (aeua repulsea anu, able, and none but legal weights and measures
Tibull. i. 3. 24). Its most common form is seen in used by the factors; in which respect their duties
the right-hand figure of the annexed woodcut, were much the same as those of the Agoranomi
which represents an ancient sistrum formerly be- and Metronomi with regard to other saleable articles.
Ionging to the library of St. Genovefa at Paris. [SIros.] Demostheneg refers to thle entry in the