A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

SABINA. SABINUS. 687
Annals, which were written subsequently, he had
no doubt obtained satisfactory authority for the
account which he there gives. 4
Poppaea now became the acknowledged mistress
of Nero, but this did not satisfy her ambition. She t
was anxious to be his wife. But as long as Agrippina, Ps
the mother of Nero, was alive, she could scarcely P
hope to obtain this honour. She therefore employed C
all her influence with Nero to excite his resent- I
ment against his mother; and by her arts, seconded
as they were by the numerous enemies of Agrippina, Nero was induced to put his mother to death
in A. D. 59. Still she did not immediately obtain COIN OF POPPAEA SABINA, THE WIFE OF NERO.
the great object of her desires; for although Nero
hated his wife Octavia, he yielded for a time to the SABI'NIA, FU'RIA, or SABI'NA TRANadvice of his best counsellors, not to divorce the QUILLI'NA, daughter of Misitheus [MIsIwoman who had brought him the empire. At THEUS], and wife of the third Gordian. From
length, however, Poppaea, who still continued to numbers exhibited upon coins of Alexandria and of
exercise a complete sway over the emperor, induced Cappadocian Caesareia numismatologists have conhim to put away Octavia, in A. D. 62, on the plea cluded that the marriage took place, A. D. 241,
of barrenness, and to marry her a few days after- but it is not known whether they had any prowards. But Poppaea did not feel secure as long as geny, nor have any indications been preserved of
Octavia was alive, and by working alternately upon her fate after the death of her father and her
the fears and passions of her husband, she prevailed husband, A. D. 241. (Capitolin. Gordian. tres, 23;
upon him to put the unhappy girl to death in the Eutrop. ix. 2; Eckhel, vol. vii. p. 318.) [W. R.]
course of the same year. [OCTAVIA, No. 3.] Thus SABINIA'NUS, a friend of the younger Pliny
two of the greatest crimes of Nero's life, the mur- who addressed two letters to him (IEp. ix. 21, 24).
der of his mother and of his wife, were committed SABINIA'NUS, a Roman general in the reign
at the instigation of Poppaea. of Constans, who appointed him in A. D. 359 to
In the following year, A.D. 63, Poppaea was supersede the brave Ursicinus in the command of
delivered of a daughter at Antium. This event the army employed against the Persian king Sapor
caused Nero the most extravagant joy, and was or Shapur. The choice was a very bad one, for
celebrated with public games and other rejoicings. Sabinianus was not only an incompetent general,
Poppaea received on the occasion the title of Au- though he had seen many campaigns, but was a
gusta. The infant, however, died at the age of traitor and a coward. He had scarcely taken the
four months, and was enrolled among the gods. In command, when Ursicinus was ordered to serve
A.D. 65 Poppaea was pregnant again, but was under him, that he might do the work, while
killed by a kick from her brutal husband in a fit of Sabinianus enjoyed the honour. But Sabinianus
passion. It was reported by some that he had could not even secure to himself the anticipated sucpoisoned her; but Tacitus gave no credit to this cess. Through his cowardice Amida, the bulwark of
account, since Nero was desirous of offspring, and the empire in Mesopotamia, was lost, and its garcontinued to the last enamoured of his wife. Her rison massacred. Among the few who escaped the
body was not burnt, according to the Roman custom, fury of the Persians was Ammianus Marcellinus,
but embalmed, and was deposited in the sepulchre who served in the staff of Ursicinus. The reason
of the Julii. She received the honour of a public why Sabinianus did not relieve Amida as he was
funeral, and her funeral oration was pronounced by urged to do by Ursicinus, was a secret order of the
Nero himself. She was enrolled among the gods, court eunuch, to cause as much disgrace to Ursiand a magnificent temple was dedicated to her by cinus as possible, in order to prevent him from
Nero, which bore the inscription Sabinae deae Veneri regaining his former influence and power. In this
nzatronae fecerunt. Nero continued to cherish her they succeeded completely, for after his return to
memory, and subsequently married a youth of the Constantinople in 360, Ursicinus was banished
name of Sporus, on account of his likeness to Pop- from the court and ended his days in obscurity.
paea. [SPoRUS.] But though the emperor lamented A similar though better-deserved fate was destined
her death, the people rejoiced at it on account of for Sabinianus, for on the accession of Julian, he
her cruelty and licentiousness; and the only class shrunk back from public life, and was no longer
in the empire who regretted her may have been heard of. There was another Roman general,
the Jews, whose cause she had defended. It is Sabinianus, a worthy man and distinguished
rather curious to find Josephus (Ant. xx. 8. ~ 11) captain, who was worsted by Theodoric the Great,
calling this adulteress and murderess a pious woman. in the decisive battle of Margas. (Amm. Marc.
Poppaea was inordinately fond of luxury and xviii. 4, &c., xix. 1, &c.; Zonar. vol. ii. p. 20, &c.
pomp, and took immense pains to preserve the ed. Paris.) [W. P.]
beauty of her person. Thus we are told that all SABI'NUS. 1. A contemporary poet and a
her mules were shod with gold, and that five hun- friend of Ovid, known to us only from two pasdred asses were daily milked to supply her with a sages of the works of the latter. From one of
bath. these (Amz. ii. 18. 27-34) we learn that Sabinus
(Tac. Ann. xiii. 45, 46, xiv. 1, 60, 61, xv. had written answers to six of the Epistolae HIeroi23, xvi. 6, 7, 21; Suet. Ner. 35, Oth. 3; Plut. duom of Ovid. Three answers enumerated by Ovid
Galb. 19; Dion Cass. lxi. 11, 12, lxii. 13, 27, 28, in this passage are printed in many editions of the
lxiii. 26; Plin. H. N. xi. 42. s. 96, xii. 18. s. 41, poet's works as the genuine poems of Sabinus. It
xxviii. 12. s. 50, xxxiii. 1 1. s. 49, xxxvii. 3. s. 12; is remarked in the life of Ovid [Vol. III. p. 72, a.]
comp. Eckhel, vol. vi. p. 286.) that their genuineness is doubtful; but we may go