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

818 SILANA.- SILANION.
Augusto bis consuli, extending to 548 hexameters, is described by Tacitus as distinguished by'ler
with a prologue in fifteen and an epilbgue in five birth, her beauty, and her wantonness. She hlad
elegiac couplets. Delivered A. D. 468. The plan formerly been an intimate fiiend of Agrippina, but
in each of these complimentary harangues is pre- afterwards quarrelled with her, because Agrippina
cisely the same. Each contains an account of the had prevented Sextius Africanus from marrying
ancestors of the personage whom it celebrates, of her. Accordingly when Aglippina displeased her
his education and early career, of the feats which son Nero in A. D, 55, Silana endeavoured to have
he had performed, and of the honours which he her revenge by accusing Agrippina of having in-'had won. Besides the above, we have two Epi- tended to marry Rubellius Plautus, and then to
thalasnia; a description in 235 hexameters of the raise him to the throne in the place of Nero. But
town of Burgus (Bourg sur mer), situated on the Agrippina had not yet lost all her influence over
Dronne, near its confluence with the Garonne; 512 her son; and Silana, in consequence of her accusahendecasyllabics in praise of Narbo (Narbonne); tion, was driven into exile. She returned to
Ewxctscatorimn ad [V C. Felicem in 350 hendecasyl- Italy when the power of Agrippina was declining,:labics; Euzhcaristicum ad Faustu7m Reiensenz epis- but died at Tarentunm before the murder of the
copuin in 128 hexameters; Propenmpticon ad Libel- latter in A. D. 59 (Tac. Ann. xi. 12, xiii. 19, 22,
lum ain 101 hendecasyllabics, and several short xiv. 12). Tacitus does not mention the father of
epigrams. this Junia Silana. She may, however, have been
II. _Epistolarum Libri IX., containing 147 letters, the daughter of M. Silanus, consul A. D. 19 [SILAmany of them interspersed with pieces of poetry. NUS, JUNIUS, No. 8], and the sister of Junia Clau-'They are addressed to a wide circle of relatives dilla, who married the emperor Caligula.
and friends upon topics connected with politics, SILA'NION (LmAavrwv), a distinguished Greek
literature, and domestic occurrences, but seldom statuary in bronze, is mentioned by Pliny among
touch upon ecclesiastical matters. the contemporaries of Lysippus at 01. 114,. c.
The writings of Sidonius are characterised by 324 (H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19). He probably begreat subtlety of thought, expressed in phraseology longed, however, not to the school of Lysippus,
abounding with harsh and violent metaphors. but to the later Attic school; for we learn from
Hence he is -generally obscure, and not unfre- Pausanias (vi. 4. ~ 3) that he was an Athenian.
quently unintelligible; but his works throughout The passage of Pliny, as commonly understood, rebear the impress of an acute, vigorous, and highly presents Silanion as a wonderful instance of a selfcultivated intellect. In poetry Claudian appears to taught artist; but perhaps the words " in hoc mzihave been the object of his imitation, but he is rabile, quod nullo doctore nobilis fidt," may- be
immeasurably inferior to his model, while in his referred to Lysippus, rather than to Silanion. So,
epistles he avowedly strove to tread in the foot- also, in the next clause, "ipse discipulnn7. habcit
steps of the younger Pliny and Symmachus. In Zeuxiadem," there is a doubt left, whether Zeuxiso far as Latinity is concerned, his verse, although ades was the disciple of Silanion or of Lysippus.
deformed by numerous metrical solecisms, is far It should here be observed that the word Zeuxsuperior to his prose, which probably approached iadem, which is the reading of all the best MSS.,
much more nearly to the langiiuage of ordinary life, is corrupted, in the inferior MSS. and the common
and abounds in barbarisms. On the other hand, editions, into Zeuxin et Iadem. (See Sillig, Cat.
his frigid poems are totally destitute of interest, ArtiJf s. v. and edition of Pliny: the reading
except in so far as the panlegyrics afford some data Zeusiadem, which some of the best MISS. give, is
for the historical events of an epoch regarding the same thing, for it is extremely common to find
which trustworthy sources of information are sin- s for the Greek t.)
gularly deficient, while his letters are frequently very The statues of Silanion belong to two classes,
amusing and instructive from the glimpses which ideal and actual portraits; the former again inthey afford of domestic usages and social habits in eluding heroes and men. Of these the most celethe fifth century among persons in the upper ranks brated was his dying Jocasta, in which a deadly
of life. paleness was given to the face by the mixture of
The editio Princeps of Sidonitis was published silver with the bronze; a remarkable example of
at Milan fol. 1498, with notes by Joannes Baptista the technical refinement, and of the principle of
Pius; the best edition is that of Sirmond, 4to. Paris, actual imitation which characterised the art of this
1 652. See also the collected works of Sinnond, period. We cannot conceive of Pheidias or Polyvol. i. p. 464, ed. Venet.; the Bibliotheca Patlrzm cleitus descending to such an artifice (Plut. lde
Max. Lagdun. fol. 1677, vol. vi. p. 1075, and the Aud. Poet. 3, Quaest. Conv. v. 1; comp. de Pytit.
Bibliotheca Patraum of Galland, fol. Venet. 1788, Or. 2; respecting the general subject of the cotom, x. p. 463. louring of bronze statues, see Muller, Archiiol. d.
(The materials for the life of Sidonius are de- Kunst, ~ 306. n. 3, ed. Welcker). He also made
rived chiefly from his own writings. In conse- a fine statue of Achilles (Plin. 1. c. ~ 21), and one
quence of the ambiguous nature of the expressions of Theseus (Plut. Thes. 4). Tatian ascribes to him
employed, some of the minor details are doubtful. statues of the lyric poetesses Sappho and Corinina
See Gregor. Turonensis, Ilistor. Franc. ii. 21; Gen- (Tatian. ad Graec. 52, pp. 113, 11 4, ed. Worth;
nad. de Firis Illustr. c. 92; Trithem. de Script. where by Ya7rc& 77'v EvaTcLpay Tatian undoubtedly
Eccles. c. 179; Alex. Germain, Essai litteraire et means the poetess and not, as some fancy, another
historique sur Apollinaire Sidoine, 8vo. Montpell. person, a courtezan of Eresos, of whose existence
1840.) [W. R.] there is no proof; see SAPPHO, p. 708, a.). Ilis
SIDONIUS CITE'RIUS. [CITERIUS.] statue of Sappho stood in the prlylaneioum at SyraSIGOVE'SUS. [AmBIGATUS.] cuse in the time of Verres, who carried it off; and
SILA'NA, JU'NIA, the husband of C. Silius, Cicero alludes to it in terms of the highest praise
whom the latter was obliged to put away in A. D. (Verr. iv. 57).
47, whlen Messa"ina fell its love with him. Silana Silanion also made a statue of Plato, which