SERRA DA ESTRELHA SERVETUS. 



201 



Serpentine forms mountain masses, and beds in 

 primitive rocks, and frequently contains crystals, 

 grains, or compound nodules of various other species. 

 Precious serpentine, in particular, is often mixed 

 with granular limestone. It is met with in most 

 European countries. Serpentine is turned, on the 

 lathe, into vases, and also worked into different 

 ornaments. 



SERRA DA ESTRELHA (Mons Herminius); 

 a lofty range of granite mountains in Portugal, a 

 continuation of the Spanish chain of Guadarrama, 

 extending into the province of Beira. Its highest 

 summit (the Cantaro Delgado) is 8000 feet high, 

 and is covered with snow from October to June. 

 The ridge contains some remarkable lakes, part of 

 which are tepid. The mountain streams Condieira 

 and Unhaes form fine cascades over the rocks. The 

 scenery around is highly picturesque and very inter- 

 esting. 



SERTORIUS, QUINTUS, a distinguished Roman 

 general, was born at Nursia, in Italy, and at an 

 early age served with reputation under Marius, 

 against the Cimbri, and in Spain. As questor, in 

 Cisalpine Gaul, he led a bodyof troops to the aid 

 of his native country in the Social war (A. U. 663), 

 and lost an eye in the war, in which he fought with 

 his usual bravery. In the quarrel of Marius and 

 Sylla, Sertorius at first took no part; but, in con- 

 sequence of Sylla's opposition to his election as 

 consul, he joined the party of Cinna, and thus be- 

 came connected, contrary to his intention, with 

 Marius. After the death of Marius and Cinna, 

 Sylla again acquired the ascendency, and Sertorius 

 was proscribed, and fled to Spain. Here his talents 

 found a wide sphere of action. He endeavoured to 

 gain the affections of the Spaniards, and to organize 

 a force capable of resisting Sylla, who had sent a 

 large army for the subjugation of Spain. The 

 means of Sertorius were unequal to the conflict, 

 and he embarked at New Carthage, passed into 

 Africa, and took part in a war between the king of 

 Mauritania and his subjects, on the side of the 

 latter. Having gained several victories, and liber- 

 ated the Mauritanians, he was requested by the Lusi- 

 tanians, who were threatened with war by the 

 Roman general Annius, to take command of their 

 forces. Sertorius eagerly seized this opportunity 

 of encountering Sylla. Invested with unlimited 

 powers, he appeared at the head of the Lusitanians, 

 who placed the most implicit confidence in him. 

 Opposed to much superior forces, he displayed the 

 talents of a skilful general, fatiguing the enemy by 

 hasty marches, harassing them by ambuscades, at- 

 tacking them in defiles, and avoiding a general en- 

 gagement where he was not sure of the victory. 

 With' 8000 men, he was thus enabled to resist four 

 Roman generals, at the head of 120,000 foot sol- 

 diers and 6000 cavalry, and to hold nearly all Spain 

 against them. Even Marcellus, whom Sylla finally 

 sent against him, and constantly reinforced with 

 new. troops, could effect nothing, and suffered 

 several severe defeats. The youthful Pompey (q. 

 v.) who, after the death of Sylla, led an army into 

 Spain, and acted in concert with Marcellus, met 

 with no better success. Yet Sertorius, from love 

 of his country, would have consented to submit, 

 had the proscription against him been revoked. 

 His fame even reached Mithridates, who offered 

 him 3000 talents and forty ships of war, on condi- 

 tion of his forming an alliance with him. Sertor- 

 ius, who fought with reluctance against Rome, and 

 was unwilling to see the republic humbled or en- 



feebled, accepted the offer, on Mithridates consent- 

 ing to restrict himself to the recovery of Bithynia 

 and Cappadocia. He accordingly received the sum 

 agreed upon, and was making preparations for push- 

 ing the war with greater vigour, when he perished 

 by the treachery of his friends. Perpenna, who had 

 formed a conspiracy against him, assassinated him 

 at a feast, A. U. 682. Thus was Rome delivered 

 from a formidable enemy, who equalled the greatest 

 heroes of antiquity in military talents, while he sur- 

 passed most of them in the virtues of his character. 



SERUM. See Blood. 



SERVANT. See Master and Servant. 



SERVETUS, MICHAEL, a learned Spaniard, 

 memorable as a victim of religious intolerance, was 

 born in 1509, at Villa Nueva, in Arragon. He was 

 the son of a notary, who sent him to Toulouse for 

 the study of the civil law. Excited by the discus- 

 sions of the Reformers in that city, he printed a tract 

 in disparagement of the orthodox doctrine of the 

 Trinity, entitled De Trinitatis Erroribus (1531), 

 which production was followed the next year by 

 his Dialogorum de Trinitate Libri duo. His cir- 

 cumstances being depressed, he engaged for some 

 time with the Frelons, booksellers of Lyons, as 

 corrector of the press. He then went to Paris, 

 where he studied physic. He graduated at Paris, 

 but quarrelled with the faculty, and repaired to 

 Charlieu, near Lyons, where he practised three 

 years, whence, at the instance of the archbishop 

 of Vienne, he removed to the latter city. Dur- 

 ing this time he was in constant correspondence 

 with Calvin, with whom he discussed points of 

 controversy, consulting him in respect to his writ- 

 ings and Arian notions. Of this confidence Calvin 

 subsequently made a base use, by producing his let- 

 ters and manuscripts as matters of accusation against 

 him. In 1553, Servetus published his matured 

 theological system, without his name, under the 

 title of Christlanismi JRestitutio; but Calvin took 

 care that the magistrates of Vienne should be duly 

 informed of it, and Servetus was committed to pri- 

 son, whence he contrived to escape, and thereby 

 avoided that fate from Catholic hands which he 

 was soon after to suffer from those of the reformers. 

 Purposing to proceed to Naples, he imprudently 

 took his way through Geneva, where Calvin in- 

 duced the magistrates to arrest him on a charge of 

 blasphemy and heresy, advanced against him by a 

 person who had been a servant in Calvin's family. 

 In order to ensure his condemnation, his various 

 writings were sifted for accusations; and, as a 

 proof of the malignity and injustice which he en- 

 countered, it may be mentioned that one of the 

 charges was extracted from his edition of Ptolemy's 

 Geography, in which he asserted that Judea had 

 been falsely extolled for its beauty and fertility, 

 modern travellers having found it both sterile and 

 unsightly. The magistrates of Geneva were, how- 

 ever, aware that many eyes were on them, in res- 

 pect to this extraordinary treatment of a person 

 who was neither a subject nor a resident, but, pro- 

 perly speaking, a traveller kidnapped in his passage. 

 They thought proper, therefore, to consult the 

 magistrates of all the Protestant Swiss cantons, 

 who referring the matter to their divines, the latter 

 unanimously declared for his punishment. As he 

 refused to retract his opinions, therefore, he was 

 condemned to the flames, which sentence was 

 carried into execution the 27th of October, 1553, in 

 the forty-fourth year of his age. Servetus is num- 

 bered among the anatomists who made the nearest 



