279 



SATURNINUS. 



SAUNDERSON, DR. NICHOLAS. 



280 



has been erroneously asserted that he never was at Rome, but we are 

 assured by Vasari that he passed some time in that city. We are 

 informed that it was after his return from Rome that he painted for 

 the monastery of the Salvi his admired pictures of the ' Descent oi 

 the Holy Ghost/ the ' Birth of the Virgin,' and the ' Last Supper.' 

 Of the last, Lanzi reports, that at the siege of Florence in 1529, the 

 soldiers haviug destroyed the church and part of the convent, when 

 they entered the refectory, stood motionless before it, and had not the 

 heart to demolish it. Francis I., king of France, desirous to procure 

 specimens of the works of the most distinguished painters in Italy, 

 Andrea del Sarto was commissioned to paint a picture for his majesty, 

 and sent in a ' Dead Christ/ with the Virgin, St. John, and other 

 figures, painted in his best manner, which is now one of the chief 

 ornaments of the Gallery of the Louvre. This picture being univer- 

 sally admired, the king invited the artist to Paris, where be was received 

 with great distinction, and obtained considerable employment both 

 from Francis and the nobility. Amidst this success be received a 

 letter from his wife, urging him to return to Florence. He accordingly 

 requested leave of absence for a few months, promising to return with 

 his family and settle in France. The king granted his petition; and 

 not only made him liberal presents, but entrusted him with large 

 sums of money for the purchase of statues, pictures, and drawings. 

 Andrea however on returning to Florence, squandered away the whole 

 of the king's money as. well as his own. At last he was reduced to 

 poverty ; and his conscience reproaching him with his ingratitude to 

 his royal benefactor, he sunk into despondency, was abandoned by his 

 wife aud the false friends with whom he had spent his property, and 

 at last his afflictions were ended by the plague, which carried him off 

 in 1530, in the forty-second year of his age. 



The churches, convents, and palaces of Florence contain many of 

 his best works. Andrea is praised by Vasari as the prince of the 

 Tuscan school, for having committed fewer faults than any other 

 Florentine painter. 



His colouring is distinguished by sweetness and harmony of tone; 

 and he is remarkable for the boldness of his relief and his perfect 

 knowledge of chiaroscuro. His draperies are easy and graceful, and 

 his design extremely correct; but he wanted the grandeur which 

 characterises the greatest masters. 



SATURNI'NUS, a name of several Roman jurists. 

 CLAUDIUS SATURNINUS is the name of a Roman to whom two Rescripts 

 of Antoninus Pius are addressed ('Dig/ 20, tit. 3, s. 1, 2 ; 50, tit. 7, 

 s. 4); and a person of the same name was praetor under theDiviFratres, 

 the successors of Pius. He is generally considered to be the author of 

 a work in a single book, ' De Pcenis Paganorum/ which in the Florentine 

 Index is attributed to Veuuleius Saturninus. There is a single excerpt 

 from this work in the 'Digest' (48, tit. 19, s. 16). 



QUINTUS SATURNINUS is cited in the 'Digest' (34, tit. 2, s. 19, 7) 

 as the author of a work * Ad Edictum/ in ten books at leat. Whether 

 he is the same as Claudius or Venuleius, or is a third person, is 

 uncertain. 



VENULEIUS SATURNINUS, a Roman jurist, who is simply called 

 Venuleius in the Florentine Index, though in the titles of the excerpts 

 in the ' Digest ' he is often called Venuleius Saturninus. Lampridius 

 (' Alexander Severus/ 68) says that he lived under Alexander Severus, 

 but there is some doubt about his period. His writings mentioned in 

 the Florentine Index are Ten Books of Actiones, Six of Iiiterdicta, 

 Four on the Office of Proconsul, Three on Publica Judicia, and Nineteen 

 of Stipulationes. The book ' De Pcenis Paganorum ' has been already 

 mentioned. 



(Grotius, Vitce Jurisconsultorum ; Zimmern, Geschichte des Rom. 

 Frivatrechts, pp. 354, 379.) 



SAUL, the first king of the Hebrews, was the son of Kish, apparently 

 an influential man of the tribe of Benjamin. While wandering to 

 find his father's asses he had recourse to Samuel for advice, was by 

 him anointed king, and was subsequently elected by the people at 

 Gilgal ha B.C. 1110. Saul at the time is supposed to have been about 

 forty years of age, and in stature much exceeding his fellows. He 

 appears to have possessed a character like that of many of the oriental 

 sovereigns; he was brave, energetic, occasionally generous, fond of 

 magnificence, and highly ambitious, with very little of reverence for 

 the priestly institutions of his country, no feeling of true religion, and 

 much self-will. These qualities quickly displayed themselves. The 

 Ammonites attacked him, and laid siege to Jabesh ; but Saul rapidly 

 summoned his forces, attacked the camp of the Ammonites, defeated, 

 and dispersed them. He would not however consent to the expressed 

 wish of his army that those who had opposed his elevation should be 

 now put to death, and the people were satisfied by confirming his 

 election. Saul's authority was now fully established, and one of his 

 earliest acts was to embody a guard, of whom he kept 2000 with 

 himself in Michmash and Mount Kethel; and placed the other 1000 

 under Jonathan, his son, in Gibeah, who with them attacked the 

 Philistines in Geba. This occasioned the Philistines to collect a large 

 host, before whom the Israelites fled affrighted, hiding themselves in 

 thickets and in rocks, for they had been so completely disarmed that 

 only Saul and Jonathan had spear or sword, and " there was no smith 

 found throughout all the land." It was when about to oppose this 

 host that Saul superseded Samuel in offering sacrifice. [SAMUEL.] 

 Jonathan however, relying on divine aid, obtained a victory over it; 



but Saul again, without waiting for the reply of the priest, engaged in 

 the contest, and interdicted the army from tasting anything until 

 evening, that he might be avenged of his enemies. Jonathan unawares 

 transgressed, and his father, attributing the delay of the priest's 

 answer to his son's sin, sentenced him to death ; but " the people 

 rescued Jonathan, so that he died not." For six or seven years Saul 

 continued to make war successfully against the surrounding nations, 

 acquiring glory, and extending his power. At length, in the eleventh 

 year of his reign, he was commissioned to destroy the Amalekites. 

 He led his army against them, and captured their king Agag, with all 

 their riches. These he brought to Gilgal, where Samuel met him, and 

 where Agag was slain. [SAMUEL.] After the consecration of David 

 the history of that king comprises all the important events of Saul's 

 reign [DAVID] until his death, which happened in a battle with the 

 Philistines, where himself and three of his sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, 

 and Melchishua were slain in B.C. 1056. 

 SAUMASE, CLAUDE. [SALMASIUS.] 



SAUNDERSON, DR. NICHOLAS, an English scholar, particularly 

 distinguished by the extent of his acquirements in classical learning 

 and mathematics, under the disadvantageous circumstance of having 

 become blind from the small-pox at the age of twelve months. 



He was born in 1682, at Thurleston in Yorkshire, where his father 

 held an appointment in the Excise ; and at an early age he attended 

 the free-school at Penniston. where he was taught the rudiments of 

 the Latin and Greek languages. It is not stated by what means the 

 youth obtained a knowledge of the forms of letters or numbers ; and 

 probably the first instruction which he received in literature and 

 science was conveyed to his mind by oral information only. 



The elder Saunderson appears to have very soon observed the predi- 

 lection of his son for mathematical subjects, and though burdened 

 with the duties of his appointment and the cares attending a numerous 

 family, he laboured diligently to make him acquainted with all the 

 science which it was in his power to communicate. This consisted 

 merely of'the first elements of numbers ; and low as these may be in 

 the scale of knowledge, it will be readily conceived that the anxious 

 parent must have had an arduous task to perform in enabling a pupil 

 bereaved of sight to understand the combinations which enter even 

 into the rules of common arithmetic. The benevolence of Mr. Richard 

 West of Underbank and Dr. Nettleton came however in furtherance 

 of the father's efforts ; and these gentlemen perceiving the remarkable 

 talent of the youth, then about eighteen years of age, zealously exerted 

 themselves to communicate to him instruction in algebra and geometry. 

 By the kindness of his friends, young Saunderson was also enabled to 

 spend some time in the prosecution of his studies at an academy near 

 Sheffield. From this time his progress became rapid. By the help of 

 a retentive memory he succeeded in resolving the questions usually 

 given as exercises in elementary works, and by the power of his genius 

 he discovered methods of investigating propositions of considt-rable 

 intricacy. His application to mathematics did not however prevent 

 him from continuing to cultivate the study of classical literature ; and 

 it is stated that, besides making himself familiar with Cicero, Virgil, 

 and Horace, he became enabled to understand the works of Euclid, 

 Archimedes, and Diophantus, when read to him in the original Greek. 



Mr. Saunderson having decided on making an effort to establish 

 himself at Cambridge as a teacher, went to that university in 1707. 

 He resided in Christ's College, and immediately commenced a series 

 of lectures on the Universal Arithmetic, the Optics, and the Principia 

 of Newton. At this time, Mr. Winston, the Lucasian professor of 

 mathematics, was engaged in the delivery of lectures on the same 

 subjects ; and it is honourable to the benevolence of this gentleman, 

 that he readily consented, at the request of the friends of the blind 

 youth, that the latter should labour in the same field. The peculiar 

 circumstances under which Saunderson taught, and his great talents, 

 procured for him many pupils, and were the means of bringing him 

 into a correspondence with Sir Isaac Newton, and to an intimacy 

 with the other great mathematicians of that time When Whiston 

 was removed from his chair, in 1711, Queen Anne, at the recom- 

 mendation of Sir Isaac, was induced to confer on Mr. Saunderson 

 the degree of M.A., in order that he might become qualified to hold 

 the place which had become vacant by the retirement of his friend. 

 Saunderson, on being appointed, pronounced an inaugural discourse 

 in Latin, and from that time devoted himself wholly to his pro- 

 fessional duties. In 1723 he married a daughter of the Rev. Mr. 

 Dickens, rector of Coxworth ; and in 1728, when the king, George II., 

 visited the university, he was, by the royal authority, made Doctor 

 in Laws. 



Dr. Saunderson continued to enjoy good health till near the end of 

 his life. He died on the 19th of April 1739. 



This extraordinary man composed, in writing, for the use of his 

 pupils, several lectures on different subjects in natural philosophy, but 

 ;hey were never prepared, nor perhaps intended for publication. A 

 valuable treatise which he had composed on the elements of algebra, 

 appeared at Cambridge in two vols. 4to, in 1740; aud another on 

 luxions in 8vo, including a commentary on some parts of Newton's 

 ' Principia/ came out in the year 1756. 



In order to perform arithmetical computations, Saunderson used a 

 square board divided by lines at one-tenth of an inch asunder, and 

 parallel to the sides, into many small squares, each of which was 



