SATRAPS SATYRS. 



101 



Wieland, &c. ; among the English, Donne, Roches- 

 ter, Dryden, Butler, Pope, Swift, Young, Church- 

 ill, Johnson, Peter Pindar (Wolcot), Gifford, Ma- 

 thias ; among the Poles, Krasiczky. The Greeks 

 had not the proper satire. The poem of Archilo- 

 chus, and that of Simonides, were more properly 

 lampoons; and the 7/t had probahly a didactic 

 form, but were of the nature of parody. Entirely 

 different from the satire was the drama satyricon of 

 the Greeks, invented by Pratinas a mixture of 

 tragic, at least heroic action with comic. These 

 dramas served as interludes and after-pieces, and 

 had a low comic character. We possess only one 

 the Cyclops of Euripides. See Eichstadt, De 

 Dramate Grtxcorum comico-satyrico, &c., and Herr- 

 mann and Pinzger on the same subject. 



SATRAPS, in the Persian empire; the gover- 

 nors of the provinces which were called satrapies. 

 The term satrap is sometimes used to signify a 

 petty despot. 



SATURATION. A fluid, which holds in solu- 

 tion as much of any substance as it can dissolve, is 

 said to be saturated with it. But saturation with 

 one substance does not deprive the fluid of its power 

 of acting on, and dissolving some other bodies ; and 

 in many cases it increases this power. The word 

 saturation is also employed in another sense. The 

 union of two principles produces a body, the pro- 

 perties of which differ from those of its component 

 parts: when the principles are in such proportion 

 that neither predominates, they are said to be 

 saturated with each other; but if otherwise, the 

 most predominant principle is said to be subsatu- 

 rated, and the other supersaturated. 



SATURDAY (Saturni dies, Saturn's day,) so 

 called from the planet Saturn; the seventh day of 

 the week; the Sabbath of the Jews. It is called 

 by the Italians, Sabbato; by the French, Samedi; 

 and by the Germans, Somiabend (Sunday eve), or 

 in High German, Samstaa, a corruption of Sabbath- 

 stag (Sabbath day); and in Lower Germany, Safer- 

 day, of the same origin as the English. See Week. 



SATURN; originally an old Italian divinity, 

 who was afterwards confounded with the Kronos 

 (K^ovflf) of the Greeks. Uranus and Gaea (Terra) 

 were the parents of the six Titans. The youngest 

 of these Titans was Kronos (Time), who, when 

 Uranus imprisoned his children, and thereby 

 brought upon himself the anger of their mother, 

 was instigated by her to vengeance, armed himself 

 with a sharp knife, or sickle, and, as Hesiod says, 

 cut off the privities of his father, whereupon Uranus 

 was deprived of his sovereignty. The Titans set 

 fri'i' their imprisoned brothers, and the government 

 fell into the hands of Kronos. He then married 

 Rhea, who bore him several sons and daughters. 

 But, as he well knew that he should be dethroned 

 by one of his sons, he devoured the children that 

 were born to him. Jupiter alone, whom Rhea 

 concealed in Crete, where Terra promised to edu- 

 cate him, was preserved. Rhea presented Kronos 

 with a stone, in swaddling clothes, which he swal- 

 lowed instead of the new born infant. By means 

 of an emetic, administered to him by Terra and 

 Metis, he threw up the stone, as well as all the 

 children whom he had swallowed; by the assis- 

 tance of whom, Jupiter made war upon him and 

 the Titans, and dethroned him, after a contest of 

 ten years. Kronos was, together with the Titans, 

 confined in the dungeons of Tartarus; whence, 

 however, according to the later poets, they were 

 released; according to Pindar, Jupiter recgnised 



Kronos as the lord of the Fortunate Island in fie 

 western ocean. The unknown Hesperia was con- 

 sidered as the land where Uranus, and the suc- 

 ceeding Titans, reigned. But when this land 

 became more accurately known, Kronos, and the 

 golden age, were transferred to Italy. Kronos 

 now becoming blended with Saturn, Saturn was 

 represented as dethroned, cast out from his king- 

 dom, and flying before his son; and as having 

 selected a place of refuge in Italy, and concealed 

 himself in Latium (from latere"). There the 

 aged king Janus shared with him his throne, and 

 Saturn built upon the Saturnian mount (afterwards 

 the Capitoline hill) the city of Saturnia. His 

 temple stood in the Roman forum, and in it were 

 preserved the public treasures of the city. The 

 Saturnian period was the golden age, which poets 

 vied with each other in celebrating. At that time, 

 the years rolled tranquilly away, and every moment 

 offered an abundance of untroubled enjoyment. 

 Saturn has also been made the father of Chiron, 

 the Centaur. 



SATURN. (See Planets.') The thickness of 

 the ring of the planet Saturn has lately been esti- 

 mated by the German astronomer Bessel, at 29^ 

 German miles (15 to a degree), 128 T 8 o English geo- 

 graphical miles. 



SATURNALIA; a feast among the Romans, 

 in commemoration of the happy period under the 

 reign of Saturn, when freedom and equality pre- 

 vailed, when truth, confidence, and love, united 

 all, and violence and oppression were unknown. 

 It continued, at first, one day; then three; after- 

 wards five; and finally, under the Caesars, seven 

 days, viz. from the l?th to the 23d of December. 

 The festival began as soon as the woollen bands 

 which had bound the feet of Saturn's statue 

 through the year were removed. At the com- 

 mencement of this festival, a great number of wax 

 tapers were lighted in the temple of Saturn, as a 

 sign that no more human victims were to be sacri- 

 ficed. The slaves were freed from restraint during 

 this season, wore caps as badges of freedom, and 

 went about dressed in tunics, adorned with purple, 

 and in white togas. Masters and slaves changed 

 places; and while the servants sat and banqueted 

 at the tables, they were waited on by their masters 

 and their guests, who, if they did not do this, were 

 obliged to submit to all sorts of ridiculous punish- 

 ments. Jests and freedom every where prevailed ; 

 and all ceased from their various occupations. In 

 the last days of the festival, which were added in 

 later times, presents were sent from one to 

 another, particularly little images of the gods, 

 sigilla (seals), &c. ; whence these days were some- 

 times called Sigillaria, and persons were greeted 

 with the acclamations of " lo Saturnalia ! bona 

 Saturnalia!" Some prisoners were also set free, 

 who dedicated their chains to Saturn. 



SATYRS. The Greek mythology includes, 

 under the name of Satyrs (<rTt/, nrvfti), &s well 

 as under those of Sileni, Fauns, and Pans, a species 

 of beings who approach, more or less, to the 

 nature of brutes, and particularly to the form of 

 the goat. They were, originally, Peloponnesian 

 wood-gods. The development, of the idea of 

 these beings is due to the Attic drama, and the 

 drama satyricon in particular. The early Greeks 

 pictured them as long-eared, bald-headed, and as 

 having small protuberances behind their ears. Later 

 artists made them like Pan, giving them horns and 

 goats' feet. (See Voss's Mythological Letter*, ~2d 



