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SARDONIC SMILE-SARNO.

been subjected to misgovernment and oppression from their emancipation from Roman rule till 1836, when feudal tenure was abolished, and the enormous power of the clergy somewhat reduced. They are generally stupid and indolent, clothe themselves in sheep-skins, and invariably profess the Catholic religion. The custom of the Vendetta is frequently practised, though not to the same extent as in Corsica. History.-S., at first called by the Greeks Ichnusa and Sandaliotis (from its resemblance to a human foot-print), and afterwards Sardo by the Romans, was colonised at a very early period. The first really historical event is its conquest, about 480 B. C., by the Carthaginians, who, during their occupation, rendered the island a celebrated corn-producing country. They were forced to abandon it to the Romans (238 B. C.), who gradually subdued the rebellious natives, and made it a province of the republic; but on three several occasions, formidable outbreaks required the presence of a consul with a large army to restore the authority of Rome. From this time it was held as a subject province, and on account of its value as the 'granary of Rome,' was carefully protected from invasion. It fell into the hands of the Vandals and other barbarians, and was recovered by the Eastern Empire in 534 A. D., but was finally separated from the Roman Empire by the Saracens. They were driven out in their turn by the Pisans, one of whose deputy-governors, being supported by the Genoese, obtained the erection of S. into a kingdom (1154) by Frederick I. The popes, who had long claimed a right of suzerainty over the island, gave it, in 1296, to James II. of Aragon; and it continued in the possession of Spain till 1708, when it was taken possession of by the British, and by the peace of Utrecht (1713) it was yielded to Austria. In 1730, Austria gave it to the Duke of Savoy in exchange for Sicily, and it has since that time formed a part of the dominions of the House of Savoy. When S. came to the House of Savoy, two-thirds of it belonged to barons of Spanish descent, and the most of the remainder to the clergy, who also levied a tithe on the whole produce, and for a century afterwards, it was shamefully neglected by the government. However, in 1836 and 1837, patrimonial rights and compulsory labour were abolished; and in 1838 and 1847, the peasants were freed from the rest of the vexatious imposts with which they were burdened. In 1847, the vice-royalty was abolished, and S. incorporated with the Sardinian kingdom (q. v.). It is at present divided into two provinces or capos-Cagliari in the south, containing 5166 English sq. m., with a population of 372,097; and Sassari in the north, containing 4093 English sq. m., with a pop. of 215,967. Cagliari is the capital.

modern town, built near the ruins of a very ancient town of the same name, and at present contains a pop. of about 35,000, who carry on a small trade in the produce of the province with Russia, through the Caspian ports, and with the interior of Persia. The great causeway of Shah Abbas runs through the town.

SARK, one of the Channel Islands. See JERSEY
-THE CHANNEL ISLANDS.

in all probability the same as s-rb, so that it has
been conjectured the name S. has the saine ethno.
logical meaning as Serbi and Servi. The oldest
Greek form of the word (and the only one found in
Herodotus) is Sauromatæ. The region occupied
by the S. embraced (according to Ptolemy, our chief
authority) a portion both of Europe and Asia.—1.
The European S. are found as far west as the
Vistula; as far north as the Venedicus Sinus (Gulf of
Riga?), or even further; as far east as the Crimea
and the Don; and as far south as Dacia. Roughly
speaking, their territory corresponded to modern
Esthonia, Lithuania, Western Russia, and parts of
Poland and Galicia. The principal, or at least the
best-known nations among the European S., were
the Peucini and Bastarnæ, about the mouths of the
Danube, and in Moldavia and Bessarabia; the
Jazyges and Roxolani, probably in Kherson, Tauris,
and Ekaterinoslay; the Venedi and Gythones, about
Riga, Memel, and Elbing; and the Avareni, at the
sources of the Vistula.-2. The Asiatic S. are found
as far west as the Tanais (Don), as far east as the
Caspian, as far south as the Euxine and Caucasus,
and as far north as the water-shed between the
rivers that fall into the White Sea and the Black,
but we have no distinct knowledge of their terri-
torial possessions. North of the Don, in the region
now occupied by the Don Cossacks, dwelt the
Jaxamatæ. Beyond the Perierbidi lay the Asæi,
Perierbidi; south-east of it, about Astrakhan, the
the horse-eating' (Hippophagi) Sarmatæ, the 'Royal"
besides a multitude of nations in the region of the
and Hyperborean Sarmatæ, and many others,
Northern Caucasus. The question naturally arises:
What were these Sarmatians? The vast extent of
territory over which they spread, and the manifest
inclusion under the name S. of different races, as,
for example, Goths, Finns, Lithuanians, Circas-
sians, Scythians, and Slaves, prove that the term
was loosely used by Ptolemy and his contemporaries,
just like the older Herodotean term Scythia, and is
not strictly ethnological; yet Dr Latham's view
(see Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geo-
graphy, arts. Sarmatia and Scythia), that it desig-
nated on the whole Slavic races, and in particular
the north-eastern portion of the great Slavic family,
may be regarded as tolerably certain. The S. figure
prominently among the barbarians who vexed the
north-eastern frontiers of the Roman Empire.

SARMA'TIANS. The root s-rm in this word is

SARDO'NIC SMILE is a term applied by the older medical writers to a convulsive affection of the muscles of the face, somewhat resembling laughter. It may occur in tetanus or lock-jaw, and other convulsive affections, or may result from the SARNO, a city of Southern Italy, in the province action of certain vegetable poisons, such as the Ranunculus sceleratus, or Celery-leaved Crowfoot. The name is derived from a species of ranunculus that grows in Sardinia, termed Herba Sardonica or Sardoa.

SARGA'SSUM. See GULF-WEED.

of Principato Citra, on the river of the same name, 13 miles north-west of Salerno. It is a well-built town, with a very handsome cathedral containing some good paintings, and has a seminary for priests, a hospital, several paper-manufactories, and foundries. Its environs are famous for the produce of very fine silk. In the centre of the town, there are SARI', the capital of the province of Mazanderan, springs of sulphureous and chalybeate waters. Persia, is situated on the banks of a small stream, Among the buildings worthy of notice is the the Tejend, 18 miles south of the Caspian Sea. It is ancient castle of the Barberini family. Pop. 15,341. surrounded by a dilapidated wall and ditch. S. In the plain near S., Teias, king of the Goths, is distinguished by its remarkable tower, and by in a desperate battle with the Greeks, commanded its gardens, which are adorned with rows of beauti- by Narses, in 553, was vanquished and slain, and ful cypresses, forming, when seen from a distance, the reign of the Goths in Italy brought to a a conspicuous feature of the landscape. S. is a close.

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SARPI-SARSAPARILLA.

SARPI, PIETRO, better known by his monastic was written by the Roman Jesuit (afterwards Carappellation, FRA PAOLO, or Brother Paul, was born dinal) Pallavicino, which follows him into the at Venice, in the year 1552; became an early profi- details as well of the history as of the controversy. cient in mathematics, as well as in general litera- It would be out of place here to enter into any ture, resolved to embrace the monastic life, and in comparison of these rival histories of the Council. his 20th vear took the vows in the religious order The History of S. has been translated into most of of the SERVITES (q. v.). Soon afterwards, he was the European languages. The French translation is appointed by the Duke of Mantua to a professor- by the celebrated Courrayer, and is enriched with ship of theology in that city; but he held it only copious vindicatory and critical annotations. S. for a short time; and returning to his order, of lived in the full vigour of intellect to the age of 71, which he was elected provincial in his 27th year, and died of a neglected cold, which led to a prohe continued to pursue in private his studies in tracted illness, in the year 1623. His life, as an languages, in mathematics, in astronomy, and in all ecclesiastic, was without reproach; and his longthe other branches of natural philosophy, including tried zeal in the cause of the republic had made the medical and physiological sciences, in which he him the idol of his fellow-citizens. He was honoured attained to great proficiency, being by some writers accordingly by the republic with a public funeral. regarded (although, as it would seem, without suffi- His History of the Council of Trent has been recient grounds) as entitled to at least a share in the printed in numberless editions; and his collected glory of the discovery of the circulation of the works were published at Verona in 8 vols. 4to, blood. The freedom of some of his opinions led 1761-1768, and again at Naples, in 24 vols. 8vo, ir to his being charged at Rome with heterodox 1790. views, and although held free from actual heresy, his opinions became an object of suspicion; and in the dispute between the republic of Venice and Paul V. (q. v.) on the subject of clerical immunities, S. justified these suspicions by the energy with which he threw himself into the anti-papal party. On being summoned to Rome to account for his conduct, he refused to obey, and was accordingly excommunicated as being contumacious. The zeal of S.'s opposition to Rome drew upon him the hostility of the partisans of the Roman claim; and an attempt was even made upon his life by a band of assassins, whom the ardour of party-spirit at the time did not hesitate, although upon mere presumption, to represent as emissaries of the Jesuits. Fra Paolo himself openly professed to share this suspicion, and believing his life in danger, confined himself thenceforward within the enclosure of his monastery. It was in this retirement that he composed his celebrated History of the Council of Trent, which has long been the subject of controversy and criticism. It was published in London by Antonio de Dominis, the ex-bishop of Spalatro, who had recently conformed to Protestantism, at first under the pseudonym of Pietro Soave Polano, an anagram of the real name of the author, Paolo Sarpi Veneto; and it almost immediately rose into popularity with the adversaries of Rome as

SARRACE’NIA, or SIDE-SADDLE FLOWER, a genus of very singular marsh plants, natives of North America. S. purpurea is common from Hudson's Bay to Carolina; the other species are confined to the Southern States. They are herbaceous perennial plants, with radical leaves and scapes, which bear one or more large flowers. The

[graphic]

Sarracenia Purpurea:

very large 5-angled stigma; a, a fully expanded flower; b, germen; c, section of the fruit.

well in England as throughout the continent. It 1, a flower, from which the corolla has fallen off, shewing the is by no means a simple history of the proceedings of the Council, but rather a controversial narrative of the discussions, in which the writer freely enters into the merits of the doctrines under discussion, and in many cases displays a strong anti-Catholic bias. His judgment of the motives and of the conduct of the members of the Council, especially of the representatives of the pope and his partisans in the assembly, is uniformly hostile, and has been accepted by Protestants as a strong testimony against Rome from a member of

the Roman Church. It must be confessed, however, that whatever judgment we may form of S.'s credibility on his own merits, it is idle to look upon him in the light of a member of the church of Rome. It is plain, from numberless declarations in his work, and from remains of his correspondence published after his death, that his opinions were strongly biassed, not merely with an anti-Roman, but even with rationalistic leanings; and Ranke does not nesitate to declare that his unsupported statements cannot be accepted with security, when there is question of a damaging narrative of some intrigue of the legates in the Council, or some cabal of the Italian bishops in the interest of Roman views. A voluminous counter-history of the Council of Trent

leaves are of very remarkable structure, the stalk being hollow and urn-shaped, and the blade of the leaf articulated at its apex, and fitting like a lid. It is from the form of the leaves that the name Sidethe small natural order Sarraceniacea, the only other saddle Flower is derived.—The genus is the type genus of which has recently been discovered in Guyana. The order is regarded as closely allied to Papaveracea.

SARREGUEMINES, a town of Elsass (Alsace), in what was formerly the French department of Moselle, 41 miles east of Metz. It is famous for its manufactures of pottery; hempen fabrics and velvets are also made. Pop. 6802.

SARSAPARI'LLA, or SARSA. This much-employed medicine is the produce of several species of Smilax (q. v.), although the species yielding the different kinds brought to the market have not yet been fully ascertained. Among them, the three principal are believed to be S. officinalis, S. medica, and S. papyracea; twining shrubs, with prickly angular stems; the first with large ovate-oblong, acute, heart-shaped, leathery leaves; the second

SARTHE-SARTO.

with shortly acuininate smooth leaves; the lower ones heart-shaped, the upper ones approaching to ovate; the third with membranous, oval-oblong,

Sarsaparilla.

obtuse leaves. These shrubs are natives of warm parts of America; S. officinalis and S. papyracea being found in South America, and S. medica on the Mexican Andes. Some botanists regard them as mere varieties of one species.

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and tonic, and is extensively used as a substitute for S., an Infusion, prepared by infusing two ounces of the root in a pint of boiling water, is generally employed, the dose being from two to four ounces three times a day. The syrup is chiefly used, in consequence of its pleasant flavour, as a vehicle for more active medicines.

In Germany, the roots of Carex arenaria, C. disticha, and C. hirta (see CAREX) are occasionally used as a substitute for S., under the name of German sarsaparilla.

SARTHE, an inland dep. of France, north of the Loire. Area 2395 sq. m.; pop. (1866) 463,619 It is a country of plains, traversed by low hills and by undulations clothed with vines, of large picturesque forests, and of pleasant valleys. The soil is fertile, productive in grain and in clover; hemp is cultivated, and hempen fabrics largely manufactured. The wine produced is of a mediocre quality. The climate is healthy and temperate. Clover-seeds are exported to England and Holland, and swine and cattle are reared in large numbers for the Paris and other markets. S. is divided into the four departments of Mans, La Flèche, Mamers, and St Calais. The capital is Le Mans. See MANS, LE

learned musical composers of the 18th c., was born SARTI, GIUSEPPE, one of the most skilful and at Faenza in the Papal States in 1729. He studied under Padre Martini at Bologna; and in 1752 produced his first opera, Il Re Pastore, which was performed at Faenza with great success. He held for a but returned to Italy in 1765. In 1770, and the followtime the office of Hof Kapellmeister at Copenhagen, ing years, he composed his principal operas, including Le gelosie villane and Giulio Sabino, the latter Italy, and is highly praised by Dr Burney. In of which was enthusiastically received throughout 1779, he became maestro di capella of the Duomo at Milan, and gave himself to the composition of church music. In 1784, he went to St Petersburg as music director of the court of the Empress Catharine, by whom he was treated with great liberality, and raised to the highest rank of nobility. He died at Berlin in 1802, on his way to Italy. His operas are thirty in number; but the composition by which he is now most known is his beautiful sacred terzett, Amplius Lava Me. S. was the musical instructor of Cherubini (q. v.).

[graphic]

The part of the plant used in medicine is the dried root, of which the following are the characters, as given in the British Pharmacopoeia: Roots not thicker than a goose-quill, generally many feet in length, reddish-brown, covered with rootlets, and folded in bundles about eighteen inches long, scentless taste mucilaginous, feebly bitterish, faintly acrid.' S. has been analysed by various chemists, and appears to consist of volatile oil, most of which is expelled during the process of drying; of a white crystallisable neutral substance named Smilacin, whose composition is represented by the formula CHO, an acrid bitter resin, lignin, starch, and mucilage. S. is one of the class of medicines called Diaphoretics. The British Pharmacopoeia contains three preparations of this drug -viz., the Decoction, the Compound Decoction (containing S., sassafras chips, guaiac wood-turnings, liquorice root, and mezereon), and the Liquid SARTO, ANDREA DEL, one of the most famous Extract. The cases in which they are serviceable painters of the Florentine school, was born at Florare those of chronic rheumatism, secondary syphilitic ence in 1488. According to later writers, the family affections, chronic skin diseases, &c. To be of any name was Vannucchi, and Andrea only received the service, S. must be taken in considerable doses. name of del Sarto (the Tailor) from the occupation The compound decoction, formerly known as the of his father; but this statement is probably erroDecoction of Sweet Woods, is the best preparation,neous. S. was a pupil of Piero di Cosimo, but and should be taken in doses of four or six ounces formed his style mainly through study of the works three times a day. of Masaccio, Domenico Ghirlandajo, and Buonarotti. These artists inspired him with a love of frescopainting, in which he achieved great distinction. During 1509-1514, he executed a series of representations from the life of St Filippo Benizzi, in the porch of the Annunziata at Florence; and in these the characteristics of his genius-dignity of composition, purity of form, freshness of colour, and grace of expression-are seen at their best. 1514 he commenced a series of frescoes from the life of John the Baptist, which were not finished, however, till 12 years afterwards. The finest works, of what may be called his middle period, are the 'Madonna di San Francesco' and the Contending Theologians,' both in the Florentine galleries. In 1518, Francis I. invited S. to Paris, where he painted, among other things, the picture of Charity' in the Louvre; but at the solicitations of his wife he

The root of S. aspera, a native of the south of Europe, is used as a substitute for S., although of inferior quality, and is called Italian sarsaparilla.

The root of Hemidesmus Indicus, a climbing shrub of the natural order Asclepiaceæ, is used in India as a substitute for S., and is therefore called Indian sarsaparilla. The plant is common in all parts of India. The root has a peculiar aromatic odour and bitter taste In consequence of the high price charged for genuine S., the root of Hemidesmus Indicus, or Indian Sarsaparilla, has been introduced into the British Pharmacopoeia. The following are its characters: 'Yellowish-brown, cylindrical, tortuous, furrowed, and with annular cracks, having a fragrant odour, and a very agreeable flavour.' The only officinal preparation is the Syrup; but in India, where this root is highly esteemed as a diaphoretic

491

In

SARUM-SASSAFRAS

returned to Florence, where he died in 1530.

To the later years of his life, which were neither happy nor honourable, belong his 'Piety,' his most celebrated fresco, the 'Madonna del Sacco' (in the Annunziata at Florence), the Madonna with Saints' (in the Berlin Museum), and the Sacrifice of Abraham' (in the Dresden Gallery). His largest fresco is the Lord's Supper,' in what was formerly the Abbey of San Salvi, near Florence.-See Reumont's Andrea del Sarto (Leip. 1835).

SA'RUM, OLD, an extinct city and borough of England, was situated on a hill two miles to the north of Salisbury, in Wiltshire. It dated from the time of the Romans, by whom it was known as Sorbiodunum, and remained an important town under the Saxons. A Witenagemôte was held at O. S. in 960; and here William the Conqueror assembled all the barons of his kingdom in 1086. It was the seat of a bishop from the reign of William the Conqueror till 1220, when the cathedral was removed to New Sarum, now Salisbury (q. v.), and was followed by most of the inhabitants. In Henry VII.'s time it was almost wholly deserted, and has so continued till the present time. Some traces of walls and ramparts, and of its cathedral and castle, are still seen. Though without a single house or inhabitant, two members represented it in parliament, till, like many other rotten boroughs, it was disfranchised by the Reform bill of 1832. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, first sat in parliament for O. S. in 1735.

SARVASTIVADAS, or SARVASTIVADINS (lit., those who maintain the reality of all existence), is the name of one of the four divisions of the Vaibhashika system of Buddhism; its reputed founder was Rahula, the son of the Buddha S'âkyamuni. See C. F. Koeppen, Die Religion des Buddha (Berlin, 1857); and W. Wassiljew, Der Buddhismus, seine Dogmen, Geschichte und Literatur (St Petersburg, 1860).

SARZA'NA, a city of Northern Italy, in the province of Genoa, 8 miles east of Spezia. Its cathedral, built in 1200, is very rich in paintings and marbles. There is also an ancient fortress built by the Pisans in 1262. It is the birthplace of Pope Nicholas V. Pop. about 3000.

S. is a very ancient city, founded 176 B.C. The adjacent city of Luni having been sacked and destroyed by the Vandals and by the Normans, its inhabitants abandoned it, and took refuge in S., to which place they removed the episcopal see in 1204. There are still remains of the amphitheatre

of Luni.

earth and ground, that is, part of the very soil, to the other in presence of the witnesses. The notary then drew up an instrument reciting what had been thus done, and which was signed by the notary and two witnesses. In England, seisin never had so narrow and technical a meaning as it had in Scotland.

only recently-explored river of British North AmeSASKATCHEWAN, a large, important, and rica, draws its waters from the Rocky Mountains, and is formed by two head-waters called t e South Branch or Bow River, and the North Branca. The South Branch issues from a lake about four miles long, fed by a glacier descending from a magnificent mer de glace, and by a group of springs in the vicinity. A few yards north of this group of springs is another group, from which the North Branch takes its rise. The height above the sea is 6347 feet; the lat., 51° 40′ N.; the long., 117° 30' W. The South Branch flows south-east to its junction with the Belly River in long. 111° 40′ W., then north-east to its junction with the North Branch in long. 105° W. Fed mainly from the same glacier that feeds the South Branch, the North Branch flows north past Mount Murchison, 15,789 feet above sea-level, and one of the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains, north through Kutanie Plain, a fine prairie abounding in game, and then flows in a general eastern direction to its confluence with the South Branch. From long. 105 W., the Entire length stated at 1600 miles. From its mouth river flows east, and falls into Lake Winnipeg. it is navigable (on the North Branch) to Rocky Mountain House, a distance of 1000 miles. It flows through a country rich in coal and iron, with a healthy climate, and comprising almost boundless plains suited to the cultivation of grain. At the routes across the Rocky Mountains, especially the sources of the S., there are several easily practicable mountain-road called Vermilion Pass, which is practicable for carts.-Journal of the Geographical Society for 1860.

shrubs of the natural order Lauraceae, having diceSA'SSAFRAS (Sassafras), a genus of trees or shrubs of the natural order Lauraceae, having dicecious flowers, a 6-parted membranous perianth, 9 stamens, a succulent fruit placed on the thick fleshy apex of the fruit-stalk, and surrounded by the unchanged perianth. The S.-tree (S. officinale) of North America, found from Canada to Florida, a mere bush in the north, but a tree of 50 feet in the south, has deciduous leaves, yellow flowers which appear before the leaves, and small dark-blue fruit. The wood is soft, light, coarse in fibre, dirty-white and reddish-brown, with a strong but agreeable rather pungent and sweetish taste. The wood of the root possesses these properties in a higher degree than that of the stem, and the thick spongy bark of the root most of all. The wood is brought to market in the form of chips, but the bark of the root is preferred for medicinal use, is a powerful

SASH, in the British Army, is a military distinction worn on duty or parade by officers and non-smell, resembling that of fennel, and an aromatic, commissioned officers. For the former, it is of crimson silk; for the latter, of crimson cotton. It is tied on the right side by the cavalry, and on the left side by the infantry. In Highland regiments, the sash is worn over the left shoulder and across the body.

SASH. The frames in which the glass of win-stimulant, sudorific, and diuretic, and is employed dows is inserted are called window-sashes. Common windows are usually made with an upper and lower sash, contrived so that, by means of cords or chains, pulleys, and balance-weights, they slide up and down in a wooden case.

SASIN. See ANTELOPE.

SA'SINE. (See INFEFTMENT.) The ceremony was as follows: the attorney of the party giving the right produced his warrant of title, and gave it to the bailie or representative of the other party, who gave it to the notary to be explained by the latter to witnesses, and then the first party delivered

in cutaneous diseases, gout, rheumatism, and syphilis, generally in combination with other medicines. It contains a volatile oil, Oil of S., which is often used instead. An agreeable beverage is made in North America by infusion of S. bark or S. wood; and a similar beverage was once very commonly sold at daybreak in the streets of London under the name of Saloop. A few saloop-venders are still to be seen plying their vocation. The leaves of S. contain so much mucilage that they may be used for thickening soup.-Another species of S. (S. parthenoxylon), possessing similar properties, is found in Sumatra,

SASSAFRAS NUTS-SATIN.

nation, YESDIGERD III. (632-651) was raised to the throne. The Arabs, who had already twice attacked Persia without success, made a third attempt in 639, and routed Yesdigerd's army at Kudseah (Cadesia) with immense loss. Yesdigerd made another energetic attempt to rescue his kingdom; but the great battle of Nahavend, in which more than 100,000 Persians are said to have been slain, extinguished all hope of success; and the unfortunate monarch became a fugitive and a wanderer in Northern Khorassan till 651, when he was treacherously murdered. Thus perished the dynasty which had pulled down the Romans from their proud pre-eminence among nations by the hands of a horde of robber-fanatics, under whose barbarous rule the extensive commercial prosperity and refined civilisation which had been so carefully fostered for four centuries, were utterly swept away, leaving only such traces as ruined aqueducts, choked-up canals, and the still magnificent remains of almost forgotten cities.

SATAN. See DEVIL.

SASSAFRAS NUTS. See PITCHURIM BEANS. SASSA'NIDÆ, the dynasty which succeeded that of the Arsacide on the throne of Persia (q. v.), | derived its name from Sassan, the grandfather of the newly-elected monarch ARDISHIR. The reign of the Sassanidæ is remarkable in the history of Persia, not for the extent of their sway, or the luxury and magnificence of their court, though in these respects they could vie with the Achæmenidæ at the epoch of their greatest power and splendour, but for the intense energy which they succeeded in infusing into the people at large. A comparatively small army of Greeks might and did successfully strive against the immense hordes of a Xerxes and a Darius; but the veterans of Rome could gain no permanent laurels in a conflict with an equal force of Persians under the Sassanidæ. Ardishir made the desert of Khiva and the Tigris his boundaries, and resigned the throne to his son, SHAHPUR 1. (SAPOR) (240-273 A. D.), who subdued Armenia, took Algezira (258) and Nisibis, totally routed the Romans at Edessa, taking prisoner the Emperor SAʼSSARI, a city in the north-west of the island Valerian and the relics of his army, and overrun- of Sardinia, the chief town of the province of the ning Syria, Cappadocia, and other portions of same name, 8 miles from the shore of the Gulf of Western Asia. This monarch paid as much attention Asinara. It is a handsome and important archieto the prosperity of his subjects and the encourage- piscopal city, and has a vast cathedral, with ment of the fine arts as he did to the extension of many sculptures, one of which is by Canova; a his power; but his enlightened plans were not university, founded in 1776; a college; and carried out by his immediate successors.-NARSI a rich library, with the MSS. of the Azuni. S. (NARSES) (294-303) retook Armenia, and signally is a very busy town, and trades especially in defeated the Romans under Galerius; but fortune grain, wine, fruits, wool, olive oil, and tobacco. deserted him in the following year (297).-His Its harbour, Torres, is 10 miles north-west of S.; it grandson, SHAHPUR II. (310-381), surnamed POST- is narrow and shallow, and does not admit large HUMUS, an infant, succeeded, and Persia, during his vessels. Pop. 22,945. minority, was much harassed by the Arabs, Romans, and Tartars; but Shahpur had no sooner taken in his hands the reins of government, than in return, he ravaged Yemen, punished the Tartars, and took the sole revenge at that time in his power against the Romans, by commencing a dreadful persecution of the Christians in his dominions. A regular war speedily followed; the army of Constantius was routed at Singarah, and he was compelled to sue for peace. But the war continued; Constantius's successor, Julian, was defeated, and lost his life (363) near Ctesiphon, and the Romans were glad to conclude the humiliating peace of Dura. Armenia, Iberia, and the other Caucasian principalities were then reduced by Shahpur. The wholesome terror thus infused into the Romans effectually restrained them from aggressions for many years.-Among his successors were BAHARAM V. (420-448), surnamed GOUR, who recommenced hostilities with the Romans, the result being a partition of Armenia and a truce for 100 years; and KOBAD (COBADES or CABADES) (488-498, 502-531), a wise and able monarch, who, on the Romans refusing any longer to pay the stipulated tribute, declared war against them, and defeated them in every engagement, concluding peace (505) on receiving 11,000 lbs. of gold. A second war, which commenced in 521, was from beginning to end in favour of the Persians, though the Romans at that time possessed a staff of generals unsurpassed at any previous epoch of their history. The war continued for some time after the accession of KHUSRU I. (q. v.) (531—579), and was continued at intervals till nearly the conclusion of the century, when another great Persian conqueror, KHUSRU II. (q. v.) (591-628), ascended the throne; but the details of his annihilation of the Roman power in Asia, and the resistless march of Heraclius (q. v.), who again cooped up the Persians within the Tigris, and inflicted upon the S. a blow from which they never recovered, will be found under these names.-After four years of petty civil war, which wore out the remaining strength of the

SÁTÁRÁ, generally spelled Sattara, a collectorate in the Poona division of the Bombay presidency, British India, is bounded on the N. by the state of Poona, and on the W. by the lofty ridge of the SÁTÁRÁ, the capital, from which the state derives Western Ghauts. Area, 11,000 sq. m.; pop. 1,220,000. its name, one of the most salubrious and pleasant stations in the Deccan, is 133 miles south-east of Bombay. Pop. inconsiderable.

SA’TELLITES (Lat. satelles, an attendant) are certain celestial bodies which attend upon and revolve round some of the planets, as these latter revolve round the sun; and hence scientific men frequently apply to them the generic term, secondary planets.' The Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, each possesses one or more of these attendants. The eclipses, inequalities, inclinations, and reciprocal attractions of the satellites, have been carefully noted from time to time, and the theory of their motions, at least of the most prominent of them, has been found to coincide with that of the moon. The satellites of Jupiter are invested with additional interest, from their eclipses having been the means of directing Römer to his great discovery of the successive propagation and velocity of light. On careful investigation, he found that the eclipses regularly happened 16' 26" earlier when the planet was in opposition (i. e., nearest the earth), than when it was in conjunction (i. e., furthest from the earth), a phenomenon which could only be accounted for by the supposition, that light requires 16' 26" to pass over a distance equal to the diameter of the Earth's orbit.

SATIN, a fabric in which so much of the weft is brought uppermost in the weaving as to give a more lustrous and unbroken surface to the cloth than is seen when the warp and weft cross each other more frequently; this will be better understood by reference to the figure than by any verbal description. A are the warp threads, of which orly every tenth

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