repeated, intensified, caused, attempted, reflected, suffered, and the like. As regards temporal and modal distinctions, it is far less rich and precise; it has but two tenses, formerly called preterite and future, but now more generally perfect and imperfect, which names more nearly express their distinctive character as denoting completed and incomplete action; each may, according to circumstances, be either past, present, or future. The imperfect has an imperative. In tense declension, three numbers are distinguished, singular, dual, and plural, and the persons, excepting the 1st, have both a masculine and a feminine form. The noun, both substantive and adjective, has but a very scanty declension; it possesses three numbers, but has hardly any distinction of cases; only the Arabic has separate forms for nominative, genitive, and accusative, or for nominative and accusative. All words are either masculine or feminine. The personal pronouns, beside their full forms, have briefer suffix forms, which are attached to the governing word, whether verb, noun, or particle. The syntax is of the plainest and baldest character; a compound sentence or period, with members duly subordinated and interwoven by varied connectives, is a thing unknown; the style admits only of a simple ranging one after another of coördinate clauses, tied together by the conjunction and. There is no such thing as the formation of compound words. A general literal and physical character belongs to the Semitic tongues; they depict sensible external attributes and actions, and have in a vastly less degree than the IndoEuropean idioms developed out of these a language for the moral and intellectual world; their expressions for metaphysical relations do not lose the character of bold metaphors. Hence, while picturesque and vivid, and capable of great force and dignity in description and injunction, they are but ill suited to continued and close argumentation, abstract reasoning, and philosophical investigation. With this character of the languages agrees that of the literatures of the race, which are somewhat monotonous and in important respects defective. Science and philosophy are almost wanting in them; of imaginative fiction there is next to none; and poetry is didactic and lyric only, never rising into the spheres of the dramatic and the epic.-The historical importance of the Semitic race begins perhaps with the Aramæan branch, in the Mesopotamian empires of Nineveh and Babylon, although it is yet matter of question how far those were properly Semitic empires, and not rather of another race, founded among and over a population in great part Semitic. The study of the cuneiform inscriptions has not yet reached a point at which we can tell what results it will yield for the early history of the Semites. Nor has it been thought necessary to take any account above of the Semitic dialect alleged to be represented by the inscriptions of the second class, considering the still unfinished state of

their investigation, and the serious doubts fà by many noted scholars as to many of the eve clusions arrived at; if Semitic, it has a pecut character, and its relation to the other diala remains to be determined. With this posse exception, the earliest branch of the family: acquire prominence in universal history e the Canaanitic. The Phoenicians, by a comercial and industrial activity unsurpassed ancient times, vastly extended the knowled of the earth's geography and valuable prod:tions, sowed the seeds of civilization and learing on remote coasts, and bound different races together by the ties of mutual helpfulness. Their principal colony, Carthage, long bore sway over northern Africa, extensively spread ing there its language and institutions; and disputed for a time with the growing power of Rome the empire of the world. Neither Phoenicia nor Carthage has left a literature: the language of the former is known solely from medals and inscriptions, chiefly found the sites of her various colonies. Only within a few years has been discovered in the mother country, at Sidon, a monument outweighing them all in extent and value, the inscripti on the coffin of King Eshmunezer, now in the museum of the Louvre at Paris; it is about equal in extent to the 10th chapter of Genesis or the 104th Psalm, and dates from the 5th or 6th century B. C.; its idiom is almost purely Hebrew. The Punic dialect, although it is supposed by some not to have become extinct in northern Africa until after the Mohammedan invasion, is known to us only by a mutilated passage in a Carthaginian play of Plautus, and by a few epigraphical monuments. Of the w derful literature originated during the period of Phoenician commercial and colonial activity by the other tribe of the Canaanitic bra the Hebrews-a race comparatively insignificant in political history-we do not need to speak; the Hebrew Bible has been made by Christi ity a household book among all the races of civilized man. The extinction by Greece and Rome of the power and independence of Ph nicia, and the dispersion and exile of the Ee brews, only very imperfectly retrieved by the later restoration of a part of them, caused the decay of this whole branch of the family some centuries before the Christian era; even their languages were crowded out and replaced by Aramaic dialects; and for more than 1.0 years, till the rise of Mohammedanism, the Aramaan was the principal branch, and its languages almost the sole organs of Semitic thought. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Judaism took refuge in Babylonia and Arabia; Syria, converted to Christianity, spreading it through central Asia, even to China, and an extensive Syriac literature grew up, founded however on Greek influence, atd reflecting European Christianity, and so only partially Semitic in character. It is asserted of late that important remains of an ancient Nabathæan or Babylonian literature still exist

was active in

Arabic translations; but its principal work, "Book of Nabathæan Agriculture," long looked for with much interest by the learned, ind of which the speedy publication is promsed by Chwolson, seems likely to turn out, at least in great part, a modern fabrication. The revival of Semitic power and influence by he Arabs, under the inspiration of Mohammedmism, in the 7th century, opened a new era in the history of the race, transferring its leadership to a branch hitherto insignificant, and giving it a combined political and literary importance which it had never before enjoyed. Gathering in to themselves the forces of all the Semitic tribes, and also of other conquered peoples of different lineage, the Arabs were for a time not only the most active proselytizers, but the most formidable military power, and the foremost representatives of art and science, throughout the world. This part of Semitic history, however, is sufficiently treated in the articles ARABIA and MOHAMMEDANISM. With the decline of Mohammedanism came the decalence of Semitism as a living power in history, although half the world still owns the sway of Semitic ideas and institutions, especially in matters concerning religion. Arab authority is again limited within the boundaries of the Arabian desert; but Arabic is still everywhere the sacred dialect of Mohammedanism; it is vernacular in Egypt and parts of N. Africa, and all the languages from the mouth of the Ganges on the east to the Atlantic shores of Africa and Spain on the west confess its influence by the greater or less infusion which they have received from its vocabulary. The Hebrew maintains only an artificial existence among the scanty Jewish communities scattered through the world, but its ancient literature is "the Book" par excellence of the leading civilized races. The domains of the Aramaan branch have been invaded and occupied by the Arabic, and of its languages there remain only the dialects of a few tribes near Damascus, and the modern Syriac of the Nestorian and Chaldean Christians in Koordistan and upon the borders of Persia. Abyssinia still employs the Geez and the kindred Amharic as literary dialects, and its spoken languages are in part descended from Semitic originals. The Maltese is a mixture of Arabic and Italian, the former predominating and constituting its groundwork.-To this brief sketch of the history of the race it is necessary to add but a word respecting its character, already illustrated in part upon the side of language and of history. Subjectivity, egotism, intense feeling and passion, unreasoning and intuitive penetration, are its distinctive traits. It lacks the richness and variety, and capacity of many-sided and indefinitely progressive cultivation, which belong to the IndoEuropean race. It has little power of organization; its civil and political life is simple; it has governed the world not so much by institutions as by ideas, and mainly by the idea of monotheism, the central feature of the Hebrew

religion, and the reassertion of which made the power also of Mohammedanism. It must be pronounced, upon the whole, inferior to the other principal white race, to which it has now everywhere yielded the leadership of mankind.

SEMLER, JOHANN SALOMO, a German theologian, and one of the chief founders of the rationalistic school (see GERMAN THEOLOGY), born in Saalfeld, Dec. 18, 1725, died March 14, 1791. In 1750 he was appointed professor at the gymnasium of Coburg and editor of the Coburger Zeitung, in 1751 professor of theology at the university of Halle, and in 1757 director of the theological seminary in the same city. He was a prolific writer in several departments of theology. In his exegetical writings he urged the difference between the canonicity and the inspiration of a biblical book, maintaining that the latter could not possibly be determined by its reception into a volume merely destined to be read in the churches, but only by intrinsic evidence of truth. He rejected therefore a number of the books of the Old Testament, and the Apocalypse in the New Testament, as not inspired. He was the first to develop the doctrine of "accommodation," according to which Jesus and his disciples accommodated themselves to the prevailing Jewish notions; and he taught that the national, local, and temporal peculiarities in their language must be well distinguished from the general truths, as which he recognized only those that have a direct and immediate bearing on the virtue and happiness of men. In his works on systematic theology he declared only those doctrines of Christianity essential which elucidate the nature of God and the essential relation of man to him, regarding all the rest, such as the doctrine of the Trinity, of the atonement of Christ, &c., as ever changing religious representations without obligatory char acter. The most important among his followers and pupils was Griesbach.

SEMLIN (Slav. Zemun; Hun. Zimony), a fortified town of the Austrian Military Frontier, at the junction of the Save with the Danube, 3 m. N. W. from Belgrade in Servia, which is situated at the opposite nook formed by the junction of the two rivers; pop. about 10,000, consisting mostly of Slavonians, Serbs, Germans, and Jews. It is the principal entrepot of the trade between Austria and Turkey, has some manufactures, a theatre, several churches and schools, and a quarantine establishment. During the Hungarian and Ausstrian wars with the Turks its situation often made it a place of great strategic importance.

SEMMERING, or SOMMERING, a branch of the Noric chain of Alps, between Austria proper and Styria, 4,416 feet high, furnishing the principal passage between Lower Austria and the more southern provinces of the Austrian empire. In the 14th century a duke of Styria founded a hospital for travellers on the Styrian side of the pass. A post and carriage road over the mountain was completed by the

emperor Charles VI. in 1728. It rises, partly by zigzags, to a height of 3,290 feet above the sea, and has on its summit level a stone monument with the inscription: Aditus ad Maris Adriatici Litora. A new highway, longer, but more practicable, was completed in 1840. A railway over the Semmering, projected and undertaken by a private company, was executed for the Austrian government by the engineer Carlo Chega between 1848 and 1854. It extends 25 m. from Gloggnitz, at the N. extremity of the pass, 1,378 feet above the sea, to Mürzzuschlag, at the S. extremity, 2,181 feet above the sea. It rises from Gloggnitz, passing several pretty villas, crossing the Schwarzer on a curved viaduct of 13 arches, and sweeping along the shoulders of the hills through a series of magnificent engineering works, till it attains a height of 2,893 feet above the sea, when any further ascent is avoided by a tunnel through the mountain, 4,600 feet long. The works on the southern slope are less remarkable. Altogether the railway has about 2 m. of tunnelling. Quick trains run from Gloggnitz to Mürzzuschlag in 1 hour and 50 minutes.

SEMPLE, ROBERT BAYLOR, an American clergyman, born at Rose Mount, King and Queen co., Va., Jan. 20, 1769, died at Fredericsburg, Va., Dec. 25, 1831. At the age of about 18 he commenced the study of law, which he abandoned for theology, and in 1790 became pastor of the Bruington Baptist church. He divided his time between preaching, teaching, and the management of a farm or plantation; and he took a leading part in the educational and missionary operations of his denomination, and also in the colonization society. In 1827 he became the financial agent of the Columbian college, retaining his pastorate. From 1820 he had been the president of the Baptist triennial convention. As early as 1805 he was offered the presidency of Transylvania university, but declined it. The degree of D.D. was conferred on him by Brown university and William and Mary college, but from conscientious scruples he declined the honor in both cases. He published a catechism for children, which passed through numerous editions; a History of Virginia Baptists," with several biographical notices appended (1810); a "Memoir of Elder Straughan;""Letters to Alexander Campbell;" and some minor works.

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SENAC, JEAN BAPTISTE, a French physician, born near Lombez, Gascony, in 1693, died in Paris, Dec. 20, 1770. In 1752 he was appointed first physician to Louis XV., by whom he was subsequently made a councillor of state an superintendent general of the mineral waters of the kingdom. His principal work is a Traité de la structure du cœur (2 vols. 4to., 1749).

SENATE (Lat. senatus, an assembly of elders), the deliberative assembly of the Roman people. It was composed originally of 100 members, each representing one of the decurio into which the populus Romanus, or body of the Roman citizens, when it comprehended but a

single tribe, the Ramnenses, was divided. W the Sabines or Titienses were incorporatedthe Ramnenses as a second tribe, an equal La ber of senators was added; and upon the 2mission of the third tribe, the Lucerenses the reign of Tarquinius Priscus (according the opinion of recent critics), the number increased to 300. The new senators were he ever distinguished from those of the two earl tribes (who were called patres majorun çitium) by the title of patres minorum gent The number was diminished considerably ing the reign of Tarquin the Proud, but at the formation of the republic was recruited to established standard from the principal beians of the equestrian order, who we thence called conscripti, and it was there fe customary to address the whole senate as tres conscripti, that is, patres et conscripti. Tx number remained unchanged, notwithstanding attempts at alteration by Caius Gracchus & the tribune Livius Drusus, until the time Sylla, when it was increased to 600 by the ad dition of 300 equites. Julius Cæsar created sc eral hundred new senators, and during the s ond triumvirate the number exceeded 1,00 Augustus reduced it to 600. The sena held office for life, and were originally of advanced age; but under Augustus th were admitted as members in their 25th year, which thenceforth became the atas senat They were elected during the kingly perd by the decurio, under the republic by the of suls and consular tribunes, and after the est lishment of the censorship by the censors clusively. The persons eligible to fill vacar were those who had been quaestors or cara magistrates, and the latter held seats er er, and were entitled to speak but not to write, The plebeians as an order were never el ble, but after the quæstorship and curule gistracies were opened to them, they of cre frequently attained to the senatorial dig Hence the senate, originally a purely aris cratic body, became gradually the real représentative of the people. No property qual cation seems to have been required previous 13 the time of Augustus, who established a sentro rial census, which was increased from 4000 sesterces to 1,200,000; and any senator fall short of this amount was obliged to withdref from office. Senators were forbidden to ef gage in mercantile pursuits, and no one wa eligible to office whose parents were not of fre birth; but from both these requirements the appear to have been frequent deviations. The senate met on the kalends, nones, and ides of each month during the republic, and under Augustus on the kalends and ides only; b extraordinary meetings could be convoked en any day not a dies comitialis or a dies ater, by a variety of magistrates, who on such occasions exercised the privilege of presiding. At re lar meetings under the empire one of the con suls, or the emperor if a consul, generally pre sided; and the number of senators constituting

a quorum seems to have varied from about 70 to 400. The title of princeps senatus, which was originally associated with that of custos urbis, and conferred the power of convoking and presiding over the senate, became after the overthrow of the republic a purely honorary one, and was usually borne by the emperors. After the time of Julius Cæsar the proceedings were regularly recorded by scribes appointed for the purpose. The powers of the senate during the republic comprehended the general care of the public welfare, the superintendence of all matters of religion, the management of all affairs with foreign nations, and the disposition of the finances requisite for these purposes. Its enactments, called senatus consulta, and which were passed by a majority of votes, under Augustus and his successors took the place of the leges enacted by the comitia tributa. Its authority was considerably impaired after the institution of the tribunes of the people, and in the latter part of the republic it frequently became merely an instrument in the hands of Sylla, Cæsar, and other ambitious generals. The establishment of the empire reduced it to the condition of a purely subordinate power, whose functions and very existence were dependent on the will of the emperor. As a high court of justice, however, it still possessed a considerable degree of importance, and admission into its ranks, which was wholly under the control of the emperors, in virtue of their assumption of the censorship, was coveted by men of wealth and rank down to a late period. A second senate was established by Constantine at Byzantium, upon which Julian conferred powers similar to those possessed by the Roman senate. The latter body continued in existence until the Gothic conquest of Italy in the 6th century, and seems to have been the last depository of what remained of the old national spirit.-The affairs of the Italian cities and provincial towns of the Roman empire were administered by bodies called senates, whose functions were generally of a civic character; and the term is frequently employed in modern times to designate the upper house of assembly in republican or limited monarchical governments. The senate of the United States is composed of two members for each state of the Union, who are elected by the legislatures of such states and hold office for the term of 6 years. In addition to its legislative functions, it possesses the power of ratifying foreign treaties and nominations to office made by the president, and is the high court of impeachment for public functionaries. Each state of the Union has a legislative chamber, which exercises functions of a similar nature, though differing in degree.-The French senate, called the sénat conservateur, came into exist ence after the revolution of the 18th Brumaire, and was originally composed of 80 members of at least 40 years of age. Its chief functions were to prevent violations of the constitution, to introduce such changes as were neces

sary into that instrument, and to elect the consuls, tribunes, and members of the legislature from lists prepared by the departments. It soon became a tool in the hands of the first consul, and upon the establishment of the empire was reduced to the condition of a state council. It was replaced by the chamber of peers at the restoration of the Bourbons, but was revived by Napoleon III. in 1852.-The Hanseatic towns are governed by senates, and similar bodies, having legislative functions of various degrees of importance, are recognized by the constitutions of Belgium, Greece, and some other European governments. The Russian senate is the supreme judicial tribunal of the empire, and its decrees, when not vetoed by the emperor, have the force of laws. In many countries of Europe, particularly in Germany, the affairs of universities are administered by academic senates, composed of the professors, and over which the government exercises a control by means of a royal commission. The term is there commonly applied to the managing board of a scientific or literary association.

SENECA. I. A central co. of N. Y., bounded E. by Cayuga lake and Seneca river, and W. chiefly by Seneca lake, and drained by the Seneca and Clyde rivers; area, 330 sq. m.; pop. in 1860, 28,139. The surface is hilly and the soil generally very fertile. The productions in 1855 were 163,108 bushels of wheat, 556,238 of oats, 387,998 of Indian corn, 104,856 of barley, 72,544 of potatoes, 175,278 of apples, 705,574 lbs. of butter, 529,811 of flax, 150,946 of wool, and 20,879 tons of hay. There were 4 newspaper offices, 48 churches, 98 schools, 5 furnaces, 15 grist mills, and 15 saw mills. The New York central railroad, the Erie canal, and the Cayuga and Seneca canal traverse the county. Shire towns, Ovid and Waterloo. II. A N. co. of Ohio, intersected by Sandusky river and Honey and Green creeks; area, 540 sq. m.; pop. in 1860, 30,869. The surface is almost level, well timbered, and very productive. The productions in 1850 were 474,737 bushels of wheat, 632,879 of Indian corn, 237,112 of oats, 202,181 lbs. of wool, and 25,580 tons of hay. There were 31 saw mills, 11 grist mills, 3 woollen factories, 6 tanneries, 3 newspaper offices, 49 churches, and 6,451 pupils attending public schools. Large numbers of cattle and swine are raised. It is traversed by the Sandusky, Dayton, and Cincinnati railroad. Capital, Tiffin.

SENECA, MARCUS ANNEUS, a Roman rhetorician, born in Corduba (Cordova), Spain, about 61 B. C., died in Italy probably near the end of the reign of Tiberius. He appears to have spent part of his early life in Rome, but afterward returned to Spain, and there married. He was a rich member of the equestrian order, was gifted with a great memory, and wrote several books, of which only fragments remain. One of these, entitled Controversiarum Libri X., consists of rhetorical remarks on supposed

cases.

Another treatise, called Suasoriarum Liber, is ascribed to him. The matter of both works is worthless.-LUCIUS ANNEUS, a Roman stoic philosopher, son of the preceding, born in Corduba a few years before the Christian era, died in Rome, A. D. 65. He was early brought to Rome, applied himself to the study of rhetoric and philosophy, travelled in Greece and Egypt, and became a successful advocate, and subsequently quaestor. Messalina, the wife of the emperor Claudius, having accused him of adultery with Julia the emperor's niece, he was banished to Corsica for 8 years, during which he wrote one of his best treatises, the Consolatio ad Helviam, a consolatory letter to his mother, and the Consolatio ad Polybium, addressed to a powerful freedman of Claudius. In the latter, the authenticity of which has been doubted, he grossly flatters the emperor. In 49, through the influence of Agrippina, who after the death of Messalina had married her uncle Claudius, Seneca was recalled, and was made prætor. Subsequently, with Afranius Burrhus, he became tutor to the young Domitius, afterward the emperor Nero. After Clau dius had been poisoned by his wife, Nero ascended the throne, and both Burrhus and Seneca hereupon placed themselves in opposition to the pretensions of Agrippina. A reconciliation was however effected, but the reputation of Seneca has been somewhat injured by the attack made upon him in A. D. 58 by Suilius, one of Claudius's instruments, who charged him with debauching Julia, accumulating a fortune of 300,000,000 sesterces by unjust means, and despoiling Italy and the provinces. Not long afterward Nero put his mother to death in consequence of her opposition to Poppæa; and if Seneca had no hand in instigating the deed, he certainly consented to it. Nero, tormented by his conscience, fled to Naples, and from that place sent to the senate a letter written by Seneca, in which he charged Agrippina with a conspiracy against himself, and with having committed suicide in consequence of its failure. In 63 Burrhus died, and Seneca, conscious that the emperor was growing tired of him and coveted his wealth, offered to surrender his property, and retire on a small competency. This the emperor refused, and from this period, says Tacitus, Seneca "kept no more levees, declined the usual civilities which had been paid to him, and under pretence of indisposition avoided appearing in public." At this time Nero is reported to have made an effort to poison him. Not long afterward he was accused of complicity in the conspiracy of Piso, and ordered to commit suicide. Without showing any signs of alarm, Seneca had the veins of his arms opened; but on account of his age and the extreme meagreness of his body, the blood flowed slowly, and the veins in his legs were also opened. As even this did not much relieve his pain, a dose of hemlock was given without producing any effect. He was at last placed in a warm bath and then taken into a

vapor stove, where he was soon suffocated. His wife, Paulina, caused her own veins to be opened, but by order of Nero they were tied up by her attendants, and she lived a few years longer. -Beside the two treatises already mentioned Seneca wrote De Ira; De Consolatione ad Nor ciam, written to console the daughter of A. Cremutius Cordus for the loss of her son: I Providentia, a discussion of the question why evils happen to good men; De Animi Tres quillitate; De Constantia Sapientis; De Crmentia ad Neronem Cæsarem; De Brevitate Vito ad Paulinum, a treatise on the employ ment of time and the acquisition of wisdem as the chief object of life; De Vita Beata od Gallionem, to which is sometimes added Is Otio aut Secessu Sapientis; De Beneficiis; 124 Epistolæ ad Lucilium, containing moral maxims and observations; Apocolocyntosis, a satire on the emperor Claudius; and Quæstionum Naty ralium Libri VII., a work which treats of physical phenomena. There were several other works by Seneca now lost. "He treated." says Quintilian, "on almost every subject of study; for both orations of his, and poems, and epistles, and dialogues are extant." Ten tragedies are attributed to him, although their authenticity has sometimes been denied: Her cules Furens, Thyestes, Thebais or Phanism, Hippolytus or Phadra, Edipus, Troades or Hecuba, Medea, Agamemnon, Hercules tors and Octavia. Their merit has been even far more discussed than their authorship; they were designed not for representation upon the stage, but for reading. The character and the works of Seneca have alike been made the subject of much controversy among critics, some praising him extravagantly, and others censuring him in the same proportion. He was no believer in the superstitions of his country, and has been called by some an atheist; but his religion appears to have been pure deism. On the other hand, it has been asserted that he was a Christian, and was acquainted with St. Paul; and 14 spurious letters purporting to be written by him to that apostle were printed in the old editions of his works. The editio princeps of Seneca is that of Naples (fol., 1475). Since that time there have been numerous editions, of which that of Schröder (4to., Delft, 1728), the Bipont edition (Strasbourg 1809), and that of F. H. Bothe (2 vols. 8vo., Leipsic, 1819) are valuable. There have been several translations into English.

SENECA INDIANS, a once powerful tribe belonging to the Iroquois or Six Nations, and formerly occupying W. New York and a portion of N. W. Pennsylvania. Their most famous chief was Sagoyewatha or Red Jacket. They now occupy, with other New York Indians, a large reservation in Kansas.

SENECA LAKE, a long, narrow sheet of water, lying nearly N. and S. in the W. part of New York, between Seneca co. on the N. and E., Schuyler co. on the E., S., and W., and Yates and Ontario cos. on the W. It is about 37 m.