Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/959

SUMMANHS. speeches and his responsa were free fiom all ob- scurity ; and this clearness was the result of a careful separation of a thing into all its parts, an exact definition of all that was by implication contained in it, and the removal of all obscurity by just interpretation. As to what was ambiguous, his first care was to ascertain the ambiguity, and then to separate it from every thing else ; he applied a correct judgment to the estimate of truth and falsehood, and he deduced his conclusions from his premises with logical precision. To these qualities were added a profound knowledge of the Jus Civile^ a perfect apprehension of the universal principles of the Jus Naturale, and a power of ex- pression in which no man surpassed him. Perhaps of all the men of his age, or of any age, he was, as an orator, a jurist, and an advocate, without an equal or a rival. His friend Cicero has recorded the excellence of his moral character. Servius left about one hundred and eighty treatises, or parts or sections of treatises (libri), among which were criticisms on the responsa of Scaevola the ponti- fex. (Gell. iv. 1 ; Dig. 17. tit. 2. s. 30.) Several of these treatises were extant in the time of Pomponius, and Servius is often cited by the jurists whose writings are excerpted in the Digest ; but there is no excerpt directly from Servius in the Digest. Servius had numerous pupils, the most distinguished of whom were A. Ofilius and Alfenus Varus. From the writings of eight of the pupils of Servius, Aufidius Namusa, who was one of them, compiled a large treatise in 140 parts ; and it is to this work that later jurists refer, when they cite " Servii auditores " as a collective term. He was probably the author of a commentary on the Twelve Tables ; and he wrote also Ad Edictum, and Notae ad Mucium, which have been already referred to. He was also the author of a treatise De Dotibus (Gell. iv. 3 ; Dig. 12. tit. 4. s. 8), and of several books De Sacris Detestandis (Gell. vi. 121) ; and there are fragments or short notices of various other works of his (Cic. Top. 8 ; Macrob. Saturn. 3), and of his orations. Quintilian speaks of three Orationes of Servius as being extant in liis time {Inst. Or. x. 1 and 7) ; one of these was his speech against L. Licinius Murena, who was accused of ambitus, B. c. 63 ; and the other was a speech Pro Aufidia, or Contra Aufidiam, it is doubt- ful which, delivered probably in B. c. 44 or 43. (Meyer, Oratorum Romanorum Frag. p. 398, 2d ed.) There are extant in the collection of Cicero's Epistles (adFam. iv.), two letters from Sulpicius to Cicero, one of which is the well-known letter of consolation on the death of Tullia, the daughter of the orator. The same book contains several letters from Cicero to Sulpicius. He is also said to have written some erotic poetry. (Ovid, Trist. ii. 1. 141 ; FWn. Epist. y. 3.) [G. L.] SULPFCIUS SEVE'RUS. [Sevkrus.] SULPFCIUS TERTULLUS. [Tertullus.] SULPFCIUS VICTOR. [Victor.] SUMMA'NUS, a derivative form from summus^ the highest, an ancient Roman or Etruscan divi- nity, who was equal or even of higher rank than Jupiter ; in fact, it would seem that as Jupiter was the god of heaven in the bright day, so Sum- manus was the god of the nocturnal heaven, and lightnings plying in the night were regarded as the work of Summanus (Augustin, De Civ. Dei, iv. 23; Piin. H.N. ii. 53; Paul Diac. s.v. Dium, SURA. 947 p. 75 ; Fest. s. v. provorsum, p. 229, ed. Miiller.) Varro (De Ling. Lat. v. 74) describes the god as of Sabine origin ; but the ancients themselves on this as on many other points connected with their earliest religion, were in great uncertainty both in regard to the nature and the origin of Summanus ; and some connecting the name with sub and manes regarded him as a deity of the lower world, an opinion which is totally at variance with the at- tributes given him by most writers, and there is ample reason for regarding him as the Jupiter of night. He had a temple at Rome near the Circus Maximus (Plin. H. N. xxix. 14 ; Liv. xxxii. 29 ; Ov. Fast. vi. 731). There was a representation of Summanus in the pediment of the Capitoline temple (Cic. de Div. i. 10 ; comp. MUller, Etrusk. vol. ii. pp. 60, 167 ; Hartung, i>2e Reiig. der Rom. vol. ii. p. 59, &c.) [L. S.] SUTERA, CORNE'LIA. A few medals, both Roman and Greek, are extant bearing the above name, with the addition of Augusta or CEBACTH. Antiqurians differ in opinion as to the reign to which they belong, but from the date upon a coin of Aegae in Cilicia, which bears her name, it seems almost certain that she must have been the wife either of Trebonianus Gallus, or of Aemilia- nus, while other circumstances make it highly probable that the latter was her husband. (Eckhel, vol. vii. p. 374.) [W. R.] COIN OF CORNELIA SUPERA. SUPERBUS, TARQUI'NIUS. [Tarqui- NIUS.] SUPERIA'NUS (SouTreptavo's), a sophist at Athens, of whom an account is preserved by Suidas (s. v.). SURA, a cognomen in many Roman gentes, signifies " the calf of the leg," and is one of the many cognomens which took their origin from some bodily peculiarity in the person to whom it was first given. SURA, A'CCIUS, for whom the younger Pliny- begs the praetorship from the emperor Trajan. (Plin. Ep. X. 7. 8. 9.) SURA, AEMPLIUS, the author of a work De Annis Populi Romani, an extract from which is inserted in the present text of Velleius Pater- culus (i. 6), but evidently not by Paterculus himself. SURA, BRU'TTIUS, legatus of C. Sentius Saturninus, praetor in Macedonia in B. c. 88, was sent against Metrophanes, the general of Mithridates, whom he defeated in a naval engagement, and com- pelled to take to flight. He followed up his victory by taking the island of Sciathus, where the enemy had deposited their plunder. He next advanced into Boeotia, to oppose Archelaus, with whom he fought for three days in succession. Plutarch re- lates that he gained a brilliant victory, but Appian says that the two armies parted on equal terms. On the approach of Sulla, who had been appointed 3p 2