Asmonean house (see Maccabees) was itself of priestly origin, but aceouiplished its work through the help of the patriotic and religious party, which now came to the fore. But the ambition and worldly interests of this dynasty, which united in itself the high-priesthood and the monarchy, soon alienated the rigorous or Pharisaic party, and in the latter part of the reign of John Hyreanus (b.c. 135–105) the Court allied itself with the conservative priestly aristocracy. With this reign the distinction between the two parties as such began, and the remainder of the Maccabean history is characterized by the struggle between the two parties.
Pompey's destruction of Jewish independence gave the final advantage to the Pharisees, but the Sadducees, through their wealth and position, still remained a strong element, although small and divorced from popular sympathy. It is a mistake to regard them as diametrically opposed to the Pharisees. The latter were the party of keen religious development: the Sadducees were those who hung back from religious advance through motives of conservatism, caste and culture. Hence in the theological differences between these parties, the Sadducees stood closer to the Old Testament, while their opponents went far beyond the theology of the Canon. The chief differences were these: The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the flesh (cf. Matt. xxii. 23 sqq.), or in the existence of spirits and angels (cf. Acts xxiii. 8), in opposition to the huge development of Pharisaic angelology. Josephus also records that they denied Providence, while the Pharisees were predestinarian, and this is an indication of the comparative religious indifference of the party and perhaps also of Greek influence. The view that the Sadducees accepted only the Pentateuch is an error, although it is probable that they did not assign much authority to the later books as an integral part of the Canon. The chief sources of knowledge for these parties are the New Testament and Josephus; the former vividly represents the acute differences between the two (cf. Acts xxiii. 6 sqq.), but withal shows how the two could work together, as in the trial of Jesus and the persecution of the Christian Church (cf. Acts v. 17). The Sadducees have left no literary productions. The classic study of the subject is Wellhausen, Pharisäer und Sadducäer (Greifswald, 1874). Consult also: Schürer, History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ (Eng. trans., Edinburgh, 1886–90); Derenbourg, Histoire de la Palestine (Paris, 1868); Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus (London, 1896). See Pharisees.
SADELER, sä′de-lẽr. A Flemish family of engravers, the best-known of whom were the following: Jan the Elder (1550–c.1610) , who was born at Brussels, worked at Mainz, Cologne, Frankfort, and Munich, and then settled in Venice, where he died. Of his work, numbering more than 200 plates, the portraits were the most meritorious part.—Raphael (1561–1628), born at Brussels, was a pupil of Jan, and accompanied him to Germany and Venice; thence he returned to Munich in 1604, to execute the engravings for Bavaria Saneta et Pia, an extensive publication, completed in 1618. One of his principal works, which has become very rare, was "The Battle of Prague" (1620), in eight plates.—Egidius (1570–1629), engraver and painter, nephew of the preceding, the most talented of the family, was born at Antwerp, accompanied his uncles on their travels, was called to Prague by Rudolph II. and continued there in high favor also under Rudolph's successors, Matthias and Ferdinand II. His plates after Italian, Dutch, and Flemish masters, his own compositions, and many excellent portraits number more than 400. A series of 52 plates on the Roman Antiquities, Vestigi della antiquità in Roma (1606), was always held in great esteem, and two very rare plates represent the "Interior of Vladislav Hall in the Burg at Prague" (1607). His painting of the "Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian" is in the Vienna Museum.
SÁ DE MIRANDA, sā dā̇ mē̇-rändȧ, Francisco de (c.1495–1558). A Portuguese poet, who wrote in Spanish also. He was born in Coimbra, studied law at Lisbon, traveled in Spain and Italy, and gave up all chance of advancement at Court or on the bench to devote himself to poetry. Save for a few of his pastorals, all his work bears the impress of the Italian school, and he is ranked first of the 'Petrarchists' in Spain and Portugal. Of his eight eclogues, six are in Spanish, and only two in Portuguese. As an innovator in the drama he was unsuccessful, his plays arousing no popular interest. His complete works, published first at Lisbon in 1595, were often reprinted; the best edition is that of 1885 at Halle, with biography by Karoline Michaelis-Vasconcellos.
SADI, sä′dē̇ (Pers. Sa' dî) (c.1184–c.1291) . One of the greatest of Persian poets, whose full name was Musharrif-ud-din ibn Muslih-ud-din Abdallah Sadi. He was born at Shiraz about 1184. The career of Sadi may be divided into three periods, of which the first extended from 1193 to 1226. These were years of study, which were spent in Bagdad, whither he had been sent by the Atabeg prince. Sad ibn Zengi, and it was then that he came under the influence of Sufiism (q.v.). The dethronement of his patron by the Mongols in 1226 drove Sadi forth on a series of wanderings which lasted until 1256. This period of thirty years forms the second epoch in his life. In Delhi he learned Hindustani, in which he composed a few poems, and ent thence to Yemen, after which he visited Abyssinia, returning before long to Arabia. After performing the pilgrimage to Mecca several times, he resided at Damascus and Baalbek, and finally dwelt as a hermit in the desert near Jerusalem. Here he was made captive by a scouting party of Crusaders, and was forced to menial drudgery, until he was recognized by a friend at Aleppo and ransomed. The poet married the daughter of his deliverer, but the union was an unhappy one, and Sadi resumed his wandering life. He traveled first through Northern Africa and then through Asia Minor, returning at last to his native city, where the Atabeg Abu Bekr ibn Sad, the son of his old patron, ruled. Here he spent the last and most important period, from 1256 until his death, about 1291. Within a year after his return to Shiraz he had composed his Būstān or Fruit-Garden (also called the Sa‘dīnāmah or Book of Sadi), a didactic poem in ten cantos which deal respectively with ethics, justice, beneficence, love, humility, devotion, contentment, culture, gratitude, and repentance. The same general plan characterizes his more popular book, the Gulistān or Rose-Garden, which was written in the following year, and which still enjoys the utmost es-
