of by Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. bk. v. c. xvi. § 7), there are only two that require any notice here. 1. A contemporary and friend of St. Jerome, who gives him a section in his treatise De Viris Illustribus (c. 134), where he informs us that "Sophronius, a man of distinguished learning, wrote the Praises of Bethlehem (Laudes Bethlehem) while yet a boy, and lately composed an excellent work, De Subversione Serapis ;" that is, on the destruction of the temple of Serapis at Rome, in A. D. 389 or 390 (see Clinton, Fast. Rom. s. a. 389): "he translated into Greek, in an elegant style, my works, De Virginitate ad Eustochium and Vita Hilarionis monachi; also the Psalter and the Prophets, which we translated from Hebrew into Latin." Now, since the Catalogue of Jerome was written in A. D. 392, the date of Sophronius is clearly determined by this passage. We have no information respecting his country or condition in life. | that both the Latin epistle and the Greek version belong to an age later than that of Jerome and Sophronius. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ix. pp. 158-161; Cave, Script. Eccles. Hist. Litt. s. a., 390, p. 285, ed. Basil.; Vossius, de Hist. Graec. p. 306, ed. Westermann.) 2. Patriarch of Jerusalem, A. D. 629--638, was a native of Damascus, and at first a sophist, afterwards a monk, and in A. D. 629 he succeeded Modestus as patriarch of Jerusalem. He distinguished himself as a defender of orthodoxy; and at the Council of Alexandria, in A. D. 633, he openly charged Cyrus with introducing heresy into the church under pretence of peace, and renounced all communion with him. When Jerusalem was taken by Omar, in a. D. 636, he obtained for the Christians the free exercise of their worship. He died, according to some, in the same year; according to others, two years later, in A. D. 638. There are extant in MS. numerous epistles, disIn the year 1539, Erasmus published at Basel, courses, commentaries, and other treatises, by from what he calls an ancient and corrected MS., a Sophronius, full lists of which are given by FaGreek version of the Catalogue of Jerome, pur- bricius and Cave. He also wrote hymns and other porting to be made by Sophronius. This publica- poems. An Anacreontic poem by him, on the subtion has ever since been a literary stumbling-block.ject of Simeon taking Christ into his arms, was Soon after its appearance there were not wanting published by Leo Allatius, in his Diatriba de persons who accused Erasmus of fabricating the Simeonibus, pp. 5, foll. Three epigrams in the version from motives of vanity. Isaac Vossius (ad Greek Anthology are ascribed to him. (Fabric. S. Ignatii Epist. ad Smyrn. p. 257), while pro- Bibl. Graec. vol. ix. pp. 162-169; Cave, Script. fessing to reject this imputation, but solely on the Eccles. Hist. Litt. s. a. 629, p. 579; Vossius, de faith of Erasmus's veracity ("nisi Erasmus haec Hist. Graec. pp. 333, 334, ed. Westermann ; diceret, multum de ejus fide dubitarem"), strongly Brunck, Anal. vol. iii. p. 125; Jacob's, Anth. Graec. contends, on the ground of the badness of the Greek, vol. iv. p. 95. vol. xiii. pp. 619, 954, 955.) [P.S.] and on other internal evidence, that Erasmus had been imposed upon by a modern forgery. Stephanus le Moyne (ad Var. Sac. p. 418) replies to the charge against Erasmus by asserting that there are MSS. older than the one used by him, and that the version is quoted by earlier writers; but he does not say where these MSS. and quotations are to be found. Fabricius and Cave defend the genuineness of the version, chiefly on the following ground, which appears decisive, that many articles of Suidas are in the very words of this Greek version. It is true that Suidas does not quote Sophronius by name, any more than he does Jerome; but, if the antiquity of the version be established, there is no reason to ascribe it to any other person than Sophronius. The somewhat remarkable circumstance, that Clinton mentions the translation as the work of Sophronius, without intimating, either in his account of the Catalogue of Jerome, or in his notice of Sophronius, that its genuineness has been questioned, may be taken, we presume, as a proof of its decided genuineness, in the opinion of that great scholar (Fast. Rom. s. aa. 392, 393). Besides the separate edition of it by Erasmus, the version of Sophronius is contained in the Paris (1623) and Frankfort (1684) editions of the works of Jerome; and in the Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica of Fabricius (Hamb. 1718) it is printed with Jerome's original, and the passages of Eusebius, which were Jerome's chief authorities, in parallel columns. To this same Sophronius Fabricius and others ascribe the work "in defence of Basil against Eunomius" (rep Baσiλelov karà Evvouíov), which is very briefly noticed by Photius (Bibl. Cod. v.). There is another small work ascribed to him by Erasmus, which professes to be a Greek version of Jerome's Epistola ad Paulam et Eustochium de Adsumtione Mariae Virginis, but it is most probable SOPHUS, P. SEMPRO'NIUS, is mentioned by Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2. § 37) after App. Claudius Caecus, as one who owed his name o Sophus or Wise to his great merits. He was Tribunus Plebis in B. c. 310, and attempted to compel the censor Appius Claudius to conform to the Lex Aemilia which limited the censor's functions to eighteen months. (Liv. ix. 33.) He was consul B. c. 304 with P. Sulpicius Severus (Liv. ix. 45). The two consuls defeated the Aequi, and had a triumph. He was the first plebeian consul pontifex (Liv. x. 9) B. C. 300, and in the next year a lustrum was celebrated by him and his former colleague, as censors; and two tribes were added. He seems to be the same person who took the praetorship at a time when Rome was alarmed by a rumour of a Gallic war (Livy, x. 21). Pomponius says that no one after him bore the name of Sophus, but a P. Sempronius Sophus was consul in B. c. 268 (Fasti) and censor in B. c. 252 (Liv. Epit. 18; Fast. Capitol.), and he is called the son of Publius, who may have been the consul of B. C. 304. There is a story of one P. Sempronius Sophus, who divorced his wife, because she had been bold enough to see the public games without his consent; but those who believe the story of Carvilius divorcing his wife suppose that this Sophus must have lived later than the consul of B. c. 304. [G. L.] SO'POLIS (Zwoλis), son of Hermodorus, commanded the Amphipolitan cavalry in the army of Alexander the Great, in the battle against the Triballians on the banks of the river Lyginus, B. C. 335. He is mentioned again as commanding a troop of horse, probably the contingent from Amphipolis, at the battle of Arbela in B. c. 331; and we may perhaps identify him with the father of Hermolaus, the youthful conspirator against Alex ander's life [HERMOLAUS].' (Arr. Anab. i. 2, iii. 11, iv. 13; Curt. viii. 7.) [E. E.] SO'POLIS, a distinguished painter, who flourished at Rome in the middle of the first century B. C., is mentioned with Dionysius by Pliny, who says, that their works filled the picture galleries. (H. N. xxxv. 11. s. 40. § 43.) In some MSS. of this passage the name is written Sopylus. From a passage of Cicero (ad Att. iv. 16), which has been first pointed out by R. Rochette (Lettre à M. Schorn, pp. 315, 404, 2d ed.), we learn that Sopolis was at the head of a school of painters. [P.S.] SO'POLIS (TOλs) a physician who instructed Aëtius (the heretic, not the physician) in medicine, in the former half of the fourth century after Christ. A high character is given him by Philostorgius, who says he was inferior to none of his contemporaries (Hist. Eccles. iii. 15, p. 52); St. Gregory of Nyssa, on the other hand, without naming Sopolis, says that Aëtius became servant to a quack doctor (dyúprns), from whom he picked up his knowledge of physic. (Cont. Eunom. i. p. 293.) [W. A. G.] SOPYLUS. [SOPOLIS.] SORA NUS, a Sabine divinity of the lower world. Mount Soracte, which probably derived its name from him, was, according to Servius (ad Aen. xi. 785), sacred to the infernal gods, especially to Diespiter; and it is related that during a sacrifice offered to Soranus, wolves snatched away the entrails of the victims from the altar, and that the shepherds pursuing the wolves came to a cave, the poisonous vapours of which caused a pestilence among them. An oracle then ordered them to live, like wolves, on prey, and hence those people are called Hirpini, from the Sabine word hirpus, a wolf, which was joined to that of Soranus, so that their full name was Hirpini Sorani. It was a custom observed down to a comparatively late period that the Hirpi or Hirpini (probably some ancient Sabine families) at the festival on mount Soracte, walked with bare feet upon the glowing| coals of fir-wood, carrying about the entrails of the victims (Serv. ad Aen. xi. 784, &c. ; Plin. H. N. vii. 2; Sil. Ital. v. 174; Strab. v. p. 226). Strabo connects this ceremony with the worship of Feronia, and this circumstance, as well as the proximity of the sanctuary of the two divinities, shows, that Soranus and Feronia probably belonged to the same religion. Roman poets sometimes identified Soranus with the Greek Apollo. (Virg. Aen. xi. 786; comp. Müller, Etrusk. vol. ii. p. 67, &c.; Hartung, Die Religion der Römer, vol. ii. p. 191, &c.) [L. S.] SORA NUS (Zwpavès), the name of several physicians, whom it is difficult (if not impossible) to distinguish with certainty. The following are enumerated by Fabricius (Bibl. Gr. vol. xii. p. 684, ed. vet. See also vol. xiii. p. 426.) 1. A native of Cos, who appears to have written an account of Hippocrates, and is said to have examined the libraries and official records at Cos, in search of materials. His date is unknown, but he may perhaps have lived in the third or second century B. C. He is quoted by Soranus, the author of the Life of Hippocrates. (§ 1.) 2. A native of Mallus in Cilicia, whose date is * Haller seems to consider this Soranus to be the same as one of the following (Bibl. Medic. unknown, but wno is mentioned by Suidas as one of the "more ancient" physicians (TрeσbúτepoL). He appears to have been eminent in his profession; and as he lived after the time of Hippocrates, he may perhaps be placed in the fourth or third century B. C. (Suid. s. v. Zwpavós.) 3. A native of Ephesus, whose father's name was Menander, and his mother's Phoebe. He first practised his profession at Alexandria, and afterwards at Rome, in the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, A. D. 98-138. Suidas (who gives the above account of him) adds that he composed several excellent works. 4. Another native of Ephesus, who lived later, and who (according to Suidas) wrote Tvvaikeiwv βιβλία τέσσαρα, Βίους Ἰατρῶν, καὶ Αἱρέσεις, καὶ Zuvтáyμata, Bisλía déкa, and other works. Now it is quite possible that Suidas may be correct in stating that there were two physicians of the name of Soranus, both of whom were natives of Ephesus; but at any rate those modern writers who have attempted to distinguish them by assigning to each his proper writings, have decidedly failed, as is evident since the publication of the treatise Пepl Tuvaιkelwv Пabŵv, in 1838. For instance, Fabricius considers that the elder Soranus (No. 3) is the physician belonging to the sect of the Methodici who is frequently quoted by Caelius Aurelianus, and who wrote a work, "De Coenotetis," consisting of at least two books; and he thinks that the younger Soranus (No. 4) is the author who is frequently quoted by Aëtius, to whom belongs the short fragment Περὶ Μήτρας καὶ Γυναι Kelov Aldolov, which is still extant. It is, however, now quite clear, first, that the fragment in question forms part of the published treatise "De Morbis Mulierum;" 2. that the writer of this work belonged to the sect of the Methodici (see Dietz's Notes at pp. 4, 21); 3. that this is the work frequently quoted by Aëtius; and 4. that the writer of this work was also the author of a work Пepl KowOTTWV, consisting of at least two books. Upon the whole, therefore, it seems more probable that Dietz (note to Sor. p. 23) and Dr. Ermerins (Observ. Crit. in Sor. appended to his ed. of Hippocr. De Vict. Rat. in Morb. Acut. p. 372) are correct in supposing that the two physicians of the name of Soranus, mentioned by Suidas as being natives of Ephesus, were, in fact, one and the same individual. The only objection to this hypothesis, of which the writer is aware, arises from the fact that in the treatise "De Morbis Mulierum" the names of several physicians occur who lived later Ithan the time of Soranus; and this difficulty would of course be insuperable if the text in these passages were genuine and correct. But the text of the whole treatise is at present in a very unsatisfactory state, and contains many words, &c., that are undoubtedly spurious; so that (until the whole question has been thoroughly examined by some future editor of Soranus) we are quite justified in believing the passages in question to be interpolations. (See Ermerins, l. c. p. 371, &c.) If, therefore, we suppose that there was only one physician of the name of Soranus who was born at Ephesus, the date assigned by Suidas to the son of Menander will agree tolerably well with that which we gather from other sources; he is quoted by Caelius Pract. vol. i. p. 207), but probably without sufficient reason. The fragment Περὶ Σημείων Καταγμάτων was published with a Latin translation by Cocchi in his collection of "Graecorum Chirurgici Libri," Florent. 1754, fol.; and the Greek text is inserted in Ideler's Phys. et Med. Gr. Min. The short piece Περὶ Ἐπιδέσμων is to be found in Greek and Latin in the twelfth volume of Chartier's edition of Hippocrates and Galen, Paris, 1679, fol. The Βίος Ιπποκράτους is of little value in itself, but is interesting as being the only ancient account of that great physician that remains, except what is told us by Suidas and John Tzetzes. It may perhaps have formed part of the collection of medical biographies mentioned by Suidas as being written by the younger Soranus. It is published in several editions of the works of Hippocrates; and is inserted also in the old edition of Fabric. Bibl. Gr. (vol. xii. p. 675), in Ideler's Phys. et Med. Gr. Min., and in A. Westermann's" Vitarum Scriptores Graeci Minores," Brunsv. 1845, 8vo. Aurelianus rather as a predecessor than as a contemporary; he lived at least as early as Archigenes, who used one of his medicines (ap. Aët. ii. 2. 55, p. 277); he was tutor to Attalus [ATTALUS, Vol. I. p. 412]; and he was dead when Galen wrote his work De Methodo Medendi," i. e. about A. D. 178. (Gal. De Meth. Med. i. 7. vol. x. p. 53.) But, after all, it must be confessed that the exact chronology of Soranus is not quite satisfactorily made out. He belonged to the sect of the Methodici (Pseudo-Gal. Introd. c. 4, vol. xiv. p. 684), and was one of the most eminent physicians of that school. Besides the few particulars mentioned above, nothing is known of the events of his life, except that he passed some time in Aquitania for the purpose of treating some skin diseases which were very prevalent there at that time. (Marcell. Empir. De Medicam. c. 19, p. 321.) The following medical works are still extant under the name of Soranus:- 1. Пepl гvvaikeiwv Пabŵv, De Arte | Obstetricia Morbisque Mulierum; 2. Пepì Mýтpas καὶ Γυναικείου Αιδοίου, De Utero et Pudendo Mu liebri; 3. Пepl Σnuelwv Katayuaтwv, De Signis Fracturarum; 4. Пeρl 'Eπidéoμwv, De Fasciis; 5. Blos 'Inяокрáтоvs, Vita Hippocratis; 6. In Artem Medendi Isagoge. The treatise Пepl Tuvakelwy Пabŵy was first published in Greek in 1838. Regim. Pruss. 8vo. It was partly prepared for the press by F. R. Dietz, and finished after his death by J. F. Lobeck. It is a valuable and interesting work, consisting of one hundred and twenty-two chapters, with a few lines of the hundred and twenty-third, and the titles of thirty-eight more. As has been intimated above, the text is at present in a very corrupt state, and contains numerous interpolations. Dr. Ermerins has published some valuable "Observationes Criticae in Sor. Eph. De Arte Obstetr. Morbisque Mul." at the end of his edition of Hippocr. De Vict. Rat. in Morb. Acut. Lugd. Bat. 8vo. 1841; and a new edition of the work is at this present time (1848) being pre-2, vi. 7, 8, vii. 2. vol. xii. pp. 414, 956, 987, xiii. 42); pared by Dr. Bell of Paris. With respect to the medical contents of the work the reader may consult a dissertation by H. Häser, "De Sorano Ephesio, ejusque Περὶ Γυν. Παθῶν Libro nuper reperto," Jenae, 1840, 4to.; another by J. Pinoff, entitled "Artis Obstetriciae Sor. Eph. Doctrina ad ejus Librum Пepl гvv. Пatv nuper repertum exposita,” Vratisl. 1840, 8vo.; and four interesting articles by the same Dr. Pinoff in the first and second volumes of Henschel's "Janus," Breslau, 1846, 1847, 8vo. The short piece Περὶ Μήτρας καὶ Γυναικείου Αἰδοίου is, in fact, merely an extract from the preceding work (of which it forms the fourth and fifth chapters), containing one of the best anatomical descriptions of the female organs of generation that have come down to us from antiquity. It has been preserved by Oribasius (Coll. Medic. xxiv. 31, 32), and is to be found in Greek in Goupyl's edition of Rufus Ephesius, Paris, 1554, 8vo., and in the first volume of Ideler's "Physici et Medici Graeci Minores," Berol. 1841, 8vo. There is a Latin translation in different editions of Oribasius, in that of Theophilus De Corp. Hum. Fabr. Paris, 1556, 8vo., and in F. Paulini Universa Antiquorum Anatome," Venet. 1604. fol. The treatise entitled "In Artem Medendi Isagoge" is extant only in Latin, and is generally considered to be spurious. The author is called "Soranus Ephesius, insignis Peripateticus et vetustissimus Archiater." The only writers quoted in the work are Homer (c. 16), Hippocrates (c. 3, 4, 23), Erasistratus (c. 1), and Galen (c. 13); and it has been supposed to be rather an original Latin treatise than a translation from the Greek (see Cagnati, Var. Observ. iv. 2). It is to be found in the collection of medical authors published by Albanus Torinus, Basil. 1528, fol. ; and also in the Aldine Collection, Venet. 1547 fol. Besides these works (if they were all written by the same person), Soranus was the author of several others, of which only the titles and some fragments have been preserved. Galen mentions two works on Pharmacy, from which he quotes some passages (De Compos. Medicam, sec. Loc. i. one, consisting of at least four books, entitled Пepl SORA'NUS, SERVILIUS BA'REA. [BA REA.] SORA/NUS, Q. VALEʼRIUS, whom Crassus in the De Oratore designates as "literatissimum togatorum omnium," is the author of two hexameters, quoted at second-hand from Varro, by St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei, vii. 9), and also by the third of the mythographers first published by Mai. The lines in question, "Juppiter omnipotens, rerum regumque repertor, Progenitor genitrixque Deum, Deus unus et idem," may very possibly, as Meyer conjectures, have been contained in the work spoken of by Pliny (H. N. Praef.) as having been entitled 'EnоTidwr, while the fragment adduced in the treatise of Varro De Lingua Latina (vii. 31, comp. 65, x. 70), as an example of the word adagio, is probably extracted from a different piece. It is evident, from the passage in Cicero referred to above, that Soranus must have been a contemporary of Antonius the orator, and therefore flourished about B. c. 100. (See Anthol. Lat. ed. Meyer. praef. p. x.) The mythographer of Mai calls him Serranus, which is clearly a blunder, perhaps due to the copyist, and in no way must he be confounded with the Serranus of Juvenal (Sat. vii. 80), who lived under Nero. (Compare Plin. H.N. iii. 5; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 61; Gerlach's ed. of Lucilius, 8vo. Turic. 1846. p. xxxi.) [W. R.] SORO'RIA, a surname of Juno, under which an altar is said to have been erected to her in common with Janus Curiatius, when Horatius, on his return home, had slain his sister, and had been purified of the murder. (Liv. i. 26; Fest. p. 297, ed. Müller.) [L. S.] SOSANDER (wσavdpos). 1. A foster-brother of king Attalus. He distinguished himself in the war between the latter and Prusias by his defence of Elaea (Polyb. xxxii. 25). 2. A navigator referred to in the epitome of Artemidorus of Ephesus (p. 63), as the author of a work on India. (Vossius, de Hist. Graecis, p. 500, ed. Westermann.) [C. P. M]. SOSANDER (oavdpos), the seventeenth in descent from Aesculapius, who lived in the fifth and fourth centuries B. C. He was the son of Heraclides and brother of Hippocrates II., the most famous of that name. (Le Clerc, Hist. de la Méd.) A physician of the same name (who must have lived some time before the first century after Christ, and who may possibly be the same person), is quoted by Asclepiades Pharmacion (ap. Galen, De Compos. Medicam. sec. Loc. iv. 7. vol. xii. p. 733), who has preserved one of his medical formulae. See also Aëtius (ii. 3. 78. p. 332.) [W. A. G.] SO'SIA GALLA. [GALLA.] SOSIA'NUS, ANTI'STIUS, was tribune of the plebs, A. D. 56, and praetor, A. D. 62. In the latter year he was banished for having written libellous verses against Nero, but was recalled to Rome in A. D. 66, in consequence of his having brought an accusation against Anteius. He was, however, again banished at the commencement of Nero's reign as one of the informers under the tyrant. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 28, xiv. 48, xvi. 14, Hist. iv. 44.) SOSIA NUS, a surname of Apollo at Rome, derived from the quaestor C. Sosius bringing his statue from Seleucia to Rome. (Cic. ad Att. viii. 6; Plin. H. N. xiii. 5, xxxvi. 4.) [L. S.] SO'SIAS (Zworías), a vase-painter, whose name is inscribed on a beautiful cylia, which was discovered at Vulci, in 1828, and is now in the Royal Museum at Berlin (No. 1030). This work is one of the finest extant specimens of Greco-Etruscan vase-painting. Writers on ancient art have compared it to the productions of Polygnotus, on account of the character visible in the figures, or to those of Dionysius on account of its minute and elaborate finish. At all events it belongs to one of the best periods of Grecian art, and from the manner in which the figures are adapted to the shape of the vessel, as well as from the whole style of the composition, it is pronounced by the best judges to be manifestly an original work and not a mere copy from some greater artist. The subject represented on the inner side of the vase is taken from the mythical adventures of Achilles and Patroclus. Achilles, who had been instructed by Cheiron in the healing art, is binding up a wound which Patroclus has received, as is supposed, in the battle against the Mysian Telephus, which was the first great victory gained by the two heroes. The meaning of the composition on the outer side is more doubtful. It consists chiefly of figures of divinities, and has been variously interpreted as the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, or some other marriage subject, or, in connection with the other side of the vase, as a group of divinities assisting as spectators of the exploits of Achilles and his friend. The vase is supposed to have been a bridal present. It is engraved in the Monumenti Inediti of the Archaeological Institute of Rome, vol i. pl. 24, and in Gerhard's Trinkschalen des Kön. Mus. pl. 6. Respecting the artist we have no further information, but the critics have of course indulged in sundry conjectures. Raoul-Rochette supposes that he may have been a Sicilian, from the frequency with which names beginning in Sos are found among the Greeks of Sicily; a point of some importance in connection with the theory formerly advanced by him, that the painters of Etruscan vases were generally Sicilian Greeks; but that theory he now renounces. Others have seen a connection between the medicinal subject of the inner side of the vase and the root-meaning of the artist's name. (Müller, Archäol. d. Kunst. § 143, n. 3; R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, pp. 59, 60, 2d. ed.; Nagler, Künstler Lexicon, s. v.) [P. S.] SOSI'BIUS (Zwoistos), historical. 1. A Tarentine, one of the captains of the body-guards of Ptolemy Philadelphus. (Joseph. Ant. xii. 2. § 2.) It is not improbable he may have been the father of the minister of Ptolemy Philopator. 2. The chief minister of Ptolemy Philopator, king of Egypt. Nothing is known of his origin or parentage, though he may have been a son of No. 1; nor have we any account of the means by which he rose to power; but we find him immediately after the accession of Ptolemy (B. C. 222), exercising the greatest influence over the young king, and virtually holding the chief direction of affairs. He soon proved himself, as he is termed by Polybius, a ready and dexterous instrument of tyranny: it was by his ministration, if not at his instigation, that Ptolemy put to death in succession his uncle Lysimachus, his brother Magas, and his mother Berenice. Not long after, Cleomenes, of whose influence with the mercenary troops Sosibius had at this time dexterously availed himself, shared the same fate (Polyb. v. 34-39, xv. 25 ; Plut. Cleom. | themselves in solving the difficulties met with in 33-35). While the young king gave himself up the ancient authors, and who were therefore called to luxury and debauchery, the whole administration | λυτικοί or ἐπιλυτικοί, in opposition to the ἐνστατιof the kingdom appears to have been left to Sosi- Kol, who employed their ingenuity in proposing probius, who allowed both the finances and military blems for others to solve. (Suid. s. v.; Ath. xi. defences to fall into a state of the greatest decay, p. 493, f.) so that when Antiochus the Great declared war against Ptolemy, and invaded Coele-Syria, it was some time before the Egyptian monarch or his ministers could muster an army to oppose him. Sosibius, however, displayed some dexterity in delaying the progress of Antiochus by negotiation until he had time to organise a mercenary force: and when, in B. c. 218, Ptolemy at length took the field in person, Sosibius acccompanied him, and was present at the decisive battle of Raphia. After the close of the campaign he found a more congenial occupation in negotiating the terms of the treaty of peace, which Ptolemy commissioned him to arrange with Antiochus. (Polyb. v. 63, 65, 66, 83, 87.) During the remainder of the reign of Ptolemy Sosibius seems to have retained his power, without opposition, though sharing it in some degree with the infamous Agathocles, but we have very little information with regard to the latter years of his rule. We are told, however, that he was once more the minister of Ptolemy in putting to death his wife and sister Arsinoë, as he had previously been in the murder of his other relations (Polyb. xv. 25). But great as was the address of Sosibius in all the arts and intrigues of a courtier, he was no match for his yet baser colleague Agathocles; and although, after the death of Philopator (B. c. 205), the two ministers at first assumed in conjunction the guardianship of the young king, Ptolemy Epiphanes, Sosibius seems to have been soon supplanted and put to death by his insidious rival. All particulars of these events are, however, lost to us. (Polyb. xv. 25, 34; and Schweigh. ad loc.) 3. A son of the preceding, who held the office of body-guard (Somatophylax) to the young king, Ptolemy Epiphanes; a post which Agathocles suffered him to retain (probably on account of his youth) even after the death of his father. In the tumult which led to the destruction of Agathocles, Sosibius took a decisive part, by appealing to the infant monarch himself to give up his hated favourites to the populace; and it was probably on this account that he subsequently obtained the guardianship of the young king's person, with the custody of the royal signet. These duties he discharged in a manner that gave general satisfaction; but the intrigues of his more turbulent and ambitious brother, Ptolemy, having involved him in an open rupture with Tlepolemus, who was at the head of the administration, the latter obtained the advantage, and compelled Sosibius to resign his office; from which time we hear no more of him. (Polyb. xv. 32, xvi. 22.) [E. H. B.] SOSI'BIUS (Zwol6ios), literary. 1. A philosopher mentioned by Diogenes Laërtius (ii. 46) as having opposed the opinions of Anaxagoras; but it does not follow necessarily that he was contemporary with Anaxagoras. Nothing more is known of him. 2. A distinguished Lacedaemonian grammarian, who flourished in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (about B. c. 251), and was contemporary with Callimachus. (Ath. xi. p. 493, f., iv. p. 144, e.) He was one of those writers who employed VOL. III. The following works of his are quoted:- 1. Пepì Аλкμâvos (Ath. iii. p. 115, a., xiv. p. 646, a., p. 648, b.) 2. Περὶ τῶν ἐν Λακεδαίμονι θυσιῶν (Ath. xv. p. 674, a., p. 678, b.) 3. 'OuoióTNTES (Ath. xv. p. 690, e.) 4. A Chronography, entitled περὶ χρόνων (Ath. xiv. p. 635, f.) or χρονῶν ἀναypapń (Clem. Alex. Strom. vol. i. p. 327, c.) One of his works, but we are not told which, contained information respecting the ancient Dorian Comedy of the Dicelistae and the Mimes. (Suid. s. vv. Σωσίβιος, Δικηλιστῶν; Ath. xiv. p. 621). Besides the passages now referred to, there are several other quotations from his writings. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vi. p. 379; Vossius, de Hist. Graec. pp. 136, 137, ed. Westermann; Clinton, F. H. vol. iii. p. 508.) 3. A grammarian, who lived under Claudius, and was the tutor of Britannicus. (Tacit. Ann. xi. 1.) 4. Respecting the supposed tragic poet of this name, see SoSITHEUS. [P. S.] SOSI'BIUS (Zwol6ios), an Athenian sculptor, known as the maker of a vase about two feet high, in the Louvre, adorned with eight figures in relief, of which two are those of Artemis and Hermes, and the remaining six represent a sacrifice. The two figures of divinities are in the archaic style, but the others display a freedom and grace, which has led Waagen to suppose it not improbable that the artist lived in the time of Pheidias. The architectural ornaments on the vase are quite in the style of that age. (Clarac, pl. 126, No. 332; Bouillon, iii. 79; Waagen, Kunstwerke u. Künstler in Paris, p. 101; Nagler, Künstler-Lexicon, s. v. Sosibius.) [P. S.] SOSICLES (Zwolkλns), a Corinthian deputy, at that remarkable congress of the allies of Sparta, before which the Spartans laid their proposal for restoring Hippias to the tyranny of Athens. Sosicles remonstrated with indignant vehemence against the measure, and set forth the evils which Corinth had endured under the successive tyrannies of Cypselus and Periander. His appeal was successful with the allies, and the project was abandoned. (Herod. v. 92, 93.) [E. E.] SO'SICLES (workλs), is mentioned by Fabricius, on the authority of Suidas and Eudocia, as a tragic poet of the time of Philip and Alexander the Great. It appears, however, from the best MSS. of Suidas, that the name is erroneously introduced, owing to the text of Suidas being misread by some of his copyists, as well as by Eudocia. According to the true reading of Suidas, Sosicles is simply mentioned as the father of the tragic poet Sosiphanes. (Suid. s. v. Zwoipárns, ed. Kuster; Eudoc. p. 384; Westermann, Vitarum Script. Graec. Min. p. 152, n. 65; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 322.) [P. S.] SO'SICLES (Zwolkλns), artists. 1. A sculptor of unknown age and country, whose name is found inscribed on a statue of an Amazon in the Capitoline Museum. (Mus. Cap. vol. iii. pl. 46.) The execution of the statue, we are told by Raoul Rochette, is very good, although the form of the letters of the inscription belongs to the later Roman empire. 3 L |
