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

768 SEIUS. SELENE.
(De Tranquillitate, c. 11), there scarcely remained was a friend, and apparently legatus, of D. Brutus,
a fragment of it for the executioner to drag to the in B. c. 44. (Cic. ad Fam. xi. 7.)
river. 3. SaIUs, was a partisan of M. Antonius, after
Many of the friends of Sejanus perished at the the death of Caesar, and is therefore abused by
same time, among whom was probably his uncle Cicero (Phil. xii. 6). The person called Viseius in
Junius Blaesus. His surviving son and a daughter another passage of Cicero (Phil. xiii. 12), is proshared his fate. The daughter was probably the bably a false reading for Seius.
child who had been betrothed to Drusus, the son 4. CN. SEIUS, had the finest horse of his age,
of Claudius. The girl was so ignorant of what was which was fated to bring destruction to whoever
going on that she frequently asked why they were possessed it. Seius was condemned and put to
dragging her along, that she would never do so any death by M. Antonius, afterwards the triumvir, apmore, and would consent to a whipping. The parently during the civil war between Caesar and
writers of the time stated that it was a thing un- the Pompeians. This horse then passed into the
heard of for a virgin to be capitally punished by hands of Dolabella, and afterwards into those of
the triumviri, and accordingly she was ravished by Cassius, both of whom perished by a violent death.
the executioner before she was put to death. (Tacit. Hence arose the proverb concerning an unfortunate
Ann. v. 9.) man: ille homo habet equum Sejanum. (Gell. iii. 9.)
Apicata, the divorced wife of Sejanus, after SETUS PO'STUMUS. [PosTUMUv.]
having informed Tiberius by letter that his son SEIUS QUADRA'TUS, condemned A. D. 32.
Drusus had been poisoned by Sejanus and Livia, (Tac. Ann. vi. 7.)
killed herself. This disclosure brought about more SEIUS STRABO. [STRABO.]
executions. It is said that Tiberius would have SEIUS TU'BERO. [TUBERO.]
pardoned Livia, but that her mother Antonia would SEIREN. [SlREN.]
not pardon her, and compelled her to die by star- SELE'NE (:es7-vi7), also called Mene, or Latin
vation. The property of Sejanus was taken from Luna, was the goddess of the moon, or the moon
the aerarium into the fiscus. (Tacit. Ann. vi. 2.) personified into a divine being. She is called a
In addition to the Annals of Tacitus, the chief daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and accordingly
authorities for the history of Sejanus are Suetonius, a sister of Helios and Eos (Hes. Theog. 371, &c.;'I'berius, and Dion Cassius, lvii. lviii. All the Apollod. i. 2. ~ 2; Schol. ad Pind. Isthm. v. 1, ad
authorities are referred to by Tillemont, HIistoire Apollon. Rhod. iv. 55); but others speak of her as a
des Empereurs, vol. i. Velleius Paterculus is a daughter of Hyperion by Euryphaessa (Hom.
panegyrist of Sejanus; and if Tacitus has told the HIymn. 31. 5), or of Pallas (Hom. Hymn. in Merc.
truth of Sejanus, Paterculus was a vile flatterer. 99, &c.), or of Zeus and Latona (Schol. ad Eurip.
The fact that lie dedicated his work to M. Vinicius, Phoen. 175), or lastly of Helios (Eurip.. c.; comp.
who was consul A. D. 30, shows the latest period Hygin. Praef p. 10, ed. Muncker). She is also
at which he was writing. He may have perished called Phoebe, as the sister of Phoebus, the god of
with Sejanus. [PATERCULTJS.] [G. L.] the sun. By Endymion, whom she loved, and
SEJA'NUS, L., was praetor A. D. 32. Though whom she sent to sleep in order to kiss him, she
a friend of Aelius Sejanus, and probably a kinsman, became the mother of fifty daughters (Apollod. i.
he was spared by Tiberius. This Sejanus, at the 7. ~ 5; Cic. Tusc. i. 38; Catull. 66. 5; Paus. v.
celebration of the Floralia, employed only bald- 1. ~ 2); by Zeus she became the mother of Panheaded persons to perform the ceremonies, which deia, Ersa, and Nemea (Hom. Hymn. 32. 14;
were prolonged to the evening, and the spectators Plut. Symnpos. iii. in fin.; Schol. ad Pind. Nem.
were lighted out of the theatre by five thousand Hypoth. p. 425, ed. Bdckh). Pan also is said to
children, with torches in their hands and their have had connexion with her in the shape of a
beads shaved. This was done to ridicule Tiberius, white ram (Virg. Georg. iii. 391). Selene is dewho was bald at the top of his head. The emperor scribed as a very beautiful goddess, with long wings
affected to know nothing of this insult. It became and a golden diadem (Hom. Hymn. 32. 1, 7), and
a fashion, in consequence of this affair, to call bald Aeschylus (Sept. 390) calls her the eye of night.
persons Sejani. (Dion Cassius, lviii. 19.) [G. L.] She rode, like her brother Helios, across the
SEILENUS. [SILENUS.] heavens in a chariot drawn by two white horses,
SEIUS. 1. M. SEIUS L. F., distinguished cows, or mules (Ov. Fast. iv. 374, iii. 1]0, Renam.
himself by his largesses to the people in his curule Am. 258; Auson. Ep. v. 3; Claudian,Rapt. Proserp.
aedileship, although he had been previously con- iii. 403; Nonn. Dionys. vii. 244). She was redemnned to the payment of so great a fine that he presented on the pedestal of the throne of Zeus at
had no longer sufficient property to entitle him to Olympia, riding on a horse or a mule (Pals. v. 11.
a place in the equestrian census. We do not know ~ 3); and at Elis there was a statue of her with
the year in which he was aedile; but Cicero says two horns (Paus. vi. 24. ~ 5). In later times Sethat he was elected in preference to M. Pupius lene was identified with Artemis, and the worship
Piso, who was consul in B. C. 61 (Plin. H. N. xv. of the two became amalgamated (Callim. Hymn. in
1; Cic. de Off. ii. 17, pro Planc. 5). In B.C. 52 Dian. 114, 141; Soph. Oed. Tyr. 207; Plut.
he accused M. Saufeius, who was defended by Sympos. 1. c.; Catull. 34. 16; Serv. ad Aen. iv.
Cicero [SAUFEIUS, No. 2]. In the following year, 511, vi. 118). In works of art, however, the two
B. c. 51, he was involved in the condemnation of divinities are usually distinguished; the face of
Plaetorius (incendio Plaetoriano ambustus, Cic. Selene being more full and round, her figure less
ad Att. v. 20. ~ 8). [PLAETORIUS, No. 5.] He tall, and always clothed in a long robe; her veil
was a friend of Atticus -and Cicero, and the latter forms an arch above her head, and above it there is
laments his death in B. C. 45. (Ascon. in Milon. the crescent. (Hirt, Mythol. Bilderb. p. 38.)
p. 55, ed. Orelli; Varr. R. R. iii. 2. ~ 7, iii. 10. At Rome Luna had a temple on the Aventine.
~ 1; Cic. ad Famr. ix. 7, ad Att. v. 13, xii. 11.) (Liv. -xl. 2; Ov. Fast. iii. 884.) [L. S.
2. M. SEIus, probably the son of the preceding, SELE'NE. [CLEOPATRA, No. 8.]