Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 148

=Serb=, a Servian or native of Servia.

=Sereme'nes= (4 _syl._), brother-in-law of King Sardanapalus, to whom he entrusts his signet-ring to put down the rebellion headed by Arbaces, the Mede, and Belesis, the Chaldean soothsayer. Seremenes was slain in a battle with the insurgents.--Byron, _Sardanapalus_ (1819).

=Sere'na=, allured by the mildness of the weather, went into the fields to gather wild flowers for a garland, when she was attacked by the Blatant Beast, who carried her off in its mouth. Her cries attracted to the spot Sir Calidore, who compelled the beast to drop its prey.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, vi. 3 (1596).

=Sergis= (_Sir_), the attendant on Irena. He informs Sir Artegal that Irena is the captive of Grantorto, who has sworn to take her life within ten days, unless some knight will volunteer to be her champion, and in single combat prove her innocent of the crime laid to her charge.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, v. 11 (1596).

=Sergius=, a Nestorian monk, said to be the same as Boheira, who resided at Bosra, in Syria. This monk, we are told, helped Mahomet in writing the _Koran_. Some say it was Sad or Felix Boheira.

Boheira's name, in the books of Christians, is Sergius.--Masudi, _History_, 24 (A.D. 956).

=Serimner=, the wild boar whose lard fed the vast mult.i.tude in Einheriar, the hall of Odin. Though fed on daily, the boar never diminished in size. Odin himself gave his own portion of the lard to his two wolves, Geri and Freki.--_Scandinavian Mythology._ (See RUSTICUS'S PIG.)

=Seri'na=, daughter of Lord Acasto, plighted to Chamont (the brother of Monimia, "the orphan").--Otway, _The Orphan_ (1680).

=Seriswattee=, the Ja.n.u.s of Hindu mythology.

=The Serpent and Satan.= There is an Arabian tradition that the devil begged all the animals, one after another, to carry him into the garden, that he might speak to Adam and Eve, but they all refused except the serpent, who took him between two of its teeth. It was then the most beautiful of all the animals, and walked upon legs and feet.--Masudi, _History_, 22 (A.D. 956).

_The Serpent's Punishment._ The punishment of the serpent for tempting Eve was this: (1) Michael was commanded to cut off its legs; and (2) the serpent was doomed to feed on human excrements ever after.

=Serpent d'Isabit=, an enormous monster, whose head rested on the top of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, its body filled the whole valley of Luz, St.

Sauveur, and Gedres, and its tail was coiled in the hollow below the cirque of Gavarnie. It fed once in three months, and supplied itself by making a very strong inspiration of its breath, whereupon every living thing around was drawn into its maw. It was ultimately killed by making a huge bonfire, and waking it from its torpor, when it became enraged, and drawing a deep breath, drew the bonfire into its maw, and died in agony.--Rev. W. Webster, _A Pyrenean Legend_ (1877).

=Served My G.o.d.= WOLSEY said, in his fall, "Had I but served my G.o.d with half the zeal I served my king, He would not in mine age have left me naked to mine enemies."--Shakespeare, _Henry VIII._ act iii. sc. 2 (1601).

SAMRAH, when he was deposed from the government of Basorah by the Caliph Moawiyah, said, "If I had served G.o.d so well as I have served the caliph, He would never have condemned me to all eternity."

ANTONIO PEREZ, the favorite of Philip II. of Spain, said, "Mon zele etoit si grand vers ces benignes puissances [i.e. _Turin_] qui si j'en eusse eu autant pour Dieu, je ne doubte point qu'il ne m'eut deja recompense de son paradis."

The earl of GOWRIE, when, in 1854, he was led to execution, said, "If I had served G.o.d as faithfully as I have done the king [_James VI._], I should not have come to this end."--Spotswood, _History of the Church of Scotland_, 332, 333 (1653).

=Sesostris= (_The Modern_), Napoleon Bonaparte (1769, 1804-1815, 1821).

But where is he, the modern, mightier far, Who, born no king, made monarchs draw his car; The new Sesostris, whose unharnessed kings, Freed from the bit, believe themselves with wings, And spurn the dust o'er which they crawled of late, Chained to the chariot of the chieftain's state?

Byron, _Age of Bronze_ (1821).

? "Sesostris," in Fenelon's _Telemaque_, is meant for Louis XIV.

=Set'ebos=, a deity of the Patagonians.

His art is of such power, It would control my dam's G.o.d Setebos.

Shakespeare, _The Tempest_ (1609).

The giants, when they found themselves fettered, roared like bulls, and cried upon Setebos to help them.--Eden, _History of Travayle_.

=Seth=, a servant of the Jew at Ashby. Reuben is his fellow-servant.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

=Seth Fairchild.= Young countryman, who is almost persuaded to be in love with Isabel, the wife of his brother, Albert. Albert is killed--it is supposed, accidentally--and Isabel, a.s.suming that Seth has murdered him, and for her sake, promises to keep the deed secret. The horror of the supposition and her readiness to believe him capable of the crime, dispels Seth's unholy illusion and sends him back to his first love, who has always been his good angel.--Harold Frederic, _Seth's Brother's Wife_ (1887).

=Settle= (_Elkana_), the poet, introduced by Sir W. Scott in _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Seven Champions of Christendom= (_The_): St. George for England; St.

Andrew for Scotland; St. Patrick for Ireland; St. David for Wales; St.

Denis for France; St. James for Spain; and St. Anthony for Italy.

? Richard Johnson wrote _The Famous History of the Seven Champions of Christendom_ (1617).

=Seven=, Rienzi's Number.

October 7, Rienzi's foes yielded to his power.

7 months Rienzi reigned as tribune.

7 years he was absent in exile.

7 weeks of return saw him without an enemy (Oct. 7).

7 was the number of the crowns the Roman convents and the Roman council awarded him.

=Seven Sleepers= (_The_). The tale of these sleepers is told in divers manners. The best accounts are those in the _Koran_ xviii., ent.i.tled, "The Cave, Revealed at Mecca;" _The Golden Legends_, by Jacques de Voragine; the _De Gloria Martyrum_, i. 9, by Gregory of Tours; and the _Oriental Tales_, by Comte de Caylus (1743).

_Names of the Seven Sleepers._ Gregory of Tours says their names were: Constantine, Dionysius, John, Maximian, Malchus, Martinian or Marcian, and Serapion. In the _Oriental Tales_ the names given are: Jemlikha, Mekchilinia, Mechlima, Merlima, Debermouch, Charnouch, and the shepherd Keschetiouch. Their names are not given in the _Koran_.

_Number of the Sleepers._ Al Seyid, a Jacobite Christian of Najran, says the sleepers were only three, with their dog; others maintain that their number was five, besides the dog; but Al Beidawi, who is followed by most authorities, says they were seven, besides the dog.

_Duration of the Sleep._ The _Koran_ says it was "300 years and nine years over;" the _Oriental Tales_ say the same; but if Gregory of Tours is followed, the duration of the sleep was barely 230 years.

_The Legend of the Seven Sleepers._ (1) According to Gregory of Tours.

Gregory says they were seven n.o.ble youths of Ephesus, who fled in the Decian persecution to a cave in Mount Celion, the mouth of which was blocked up by stones. After 230 years they were discovered, and awoke, but died within a few days, and were taken in a large stone coffin to Ma.r.s.eilles. Visitors are still shown, in St. Victor's Church, the stone coffin.