SIM 



SIM 



xomene, his fellow fufferers being either drowned or pil- 

 laged, he met with a citizen acquainted with his poetry, who 

 liberally fupplied all his wants. It was a witty reply which 

 this author made to Hiero's queen, who demanded of him 

 whether knowledge or wealth was molt to be preferred : 

 " Wealth," faid he ; " for I fee every day learned men at 

 the doors of the rich." When hs was accufed of being 

 fo fordid, as to fell part of the provifions with which his 

 table was furnifhed by Hiero, he faid he had done it, in order 

 " to difplay to the world the magnificence of that prince, 

 and his own frugality." In judification of his paflion for 

 wealth, he faid, " I choofe rather to be ufeful to my enemies 

 after I am dead, than burdenfome to my friends while I am 

 living." He is laid to have been fufficiently eloquent to re- 

 concile two princes extremely irritated againll each other, 

 and aftually at war. He was unqueltionably one of the 

 moft confpicuous charafters of his time. Of his numerous 

 works only a few fragments remain, which are publilhed in 

 the Corpus Poetarum Graecarum. 



SIMONOR, in Geography, a fmall iiland in the Sooloo 

 Archipelago. N. lat. 4° 59'. E. long. 119° 50'. 



SIMONOSAKI. See XiMONOSEQf I. 



SIMONTORNYA, or Simon Thurn, atown of Hun- 

 gary, fituated on the Sarand, with a ftroKg caUle, taken by 

 the Imperialifts in the year 1686; 32 miles S.S.W. of 

 Buda. N. lat. 46^ 50'. E. long. 18° 25'. 



SIMONY, SiMOXiA, the crime of trafficking with facred 

 things ; particularly the corrupt prefentation of any one to 

 an ccclcfiaftical benefice for money, gift, or reward. 



The word is borrowed from Simon Magus, who is men- 

 tioned in the Afts of the Apoftles, as offering to buy the 

 power of working miracles with money : though the pur- 

 chaiing of holy orders feems to approach nearer to his 

 offence. 



By the Englifh canons, anno 1229, fimony is not only 

 committed by an agreement for money in hand, or to be 

 paid yearly ; but by any other profit or emolument ; any 

 reward, gift, or benefit, direftly or indireftly ; or by reafon 

 of any promifc, grant, bond, &c. and this either in the 

 acceptance of a living, or in an exchange or rcfignation. 



Simony was by the canon law a very grievous crime ; 

 and it is fo much the more odious, becaufe, as fir Edward 

 Coke obferves, it is ever accompanied with perjury ; for 

 the prefentee is fworn to have committed no fimony. How- 

 ever, it was not an offence punifhable in a criminal way 

 at the common law ; it being thought fufBcient to leave 

 the clerk to eccleliatUcal cenfures : but many afts of par- 

 liament have been made to reftrain it by means of civil for- 

 feitures. Thus the Itatute of 31 Eliz. c. 6. enafts, that 

 if any patron, for money, or any other corrupt confideration 

 or promife, directly or iadireftly given, (hall prefent, admit, 

 inflitute, iiiduft, inltal, or collate any perfon to an eccle- 

 fialHcal benefice or dignity, fuch prefentation ihall be void, 

 and the prefentee be rendered incapable of ever enjoying 

 the fame benefice, and the crown fhall prefent to it for 

 that turn only : moreover, both the giver and taker fhall 

 forfeit two years' value of the benefice or dignity ; one 

 moiety to the king, and the other to any one who will fue 

 for the fame. If perfons alfo corruptly refign or exchange 

 their benefices, both the giver and taker fhall, in like 

 manner, forfeit double the value of the money, or other 

 corrupt confideration. 



Farther, by the itatute :2 Ann. itat. 2. c. 12, if any 

 perfon, for money or profit, fhall procure, in his own 

 name, or the name of any other, the next prefentation to 

 any living ecclelialtical, and fhall be prefented thereupon, 

 this is declared to be a fimoniacal contratt, and the party 

 is fubjefted to all the ecclefialtical penalties of fimony, is 



difabled from holding the benefice, and the prefentation 

 devolves to the crown. 



In the conltruftion of thefe ftatutas, thefe points, fays 

 judge Blackltone, feem to be clearly fettled. 



1 . That to purchafe a prefentation, the living being ac- 

 tually vacant, is open and notorious fimony. 



2. That for a clerk to bargain for the next prefentation, 

 the incumbent being fick and about to die, was fimony, 

 even before the itatute of queen Anne ; and now, by that 

 ftatute, to purchafe, either in his own name or another's, the 

 next prefentation, and be thereupon prefented at any future 

 time to the living, is direft and palpable fimony. 



But, 3. It is held, that for a father to purchafe fuch a 

 prefentation, in order to provide for his fon, is not fimony ; 

 the fon not being concerned in the bargain, and the father 

 being by nature bound to make a provifion for him. 



4. That if a fimoniacal contraft be made with the patron, 

 the clerk not being privy thereto, the prefentation for that 

 turn fhall indeed devolve to the crown, as a punifhment of 

 the guilty patron ; but the clerk who is innocent, does not 

 incur any difability or forfeiture. 



5. That bonds given to pay money to charitable ufes, on 

 receiving a prefentation to a living, are not fimoniacal, pro- 

 vided the patron or his relations be not benefited thereby ; 

 for this is no corrupt confideration, moving to the patron. 



6. That bonds of refignation in cafe of non-refidence, or 

 taking any other living, are not fimoniacal, there being no cor- 

 rupt confideration therein, but fuch as is only for the good of 

 the public. So alfo bonds to refign, when the patron's fon 

 comes to canonical age, are legal ; upon the reafon before 

 given, that the father is bound to provide for his fon. 



7. Laftly, general bonds to refign at the patron's requeft, 

 are held to be legal ; for they may poffibly be given for 

 one of the legal confiderations before-mentioned, and where 

 there is a poflibility that the tranfaftion may be fair, th» 

 law will not fuppofe it iniquitous without proof; but if 

 the party can prove the contraft to have been a corrupt one ; 

 fuch proof will be admitted, in order to fhew the bond 

 fimoniacal, and therefore void. Neither will the patron be 

 fuffered to make an ill ufe of fuch a general bond of refig- 

 nation ; as by extorting a compofition for tithes, procuring 

 an annuity for his relations, or by demanding a refignation 

 wantonly, and without good caufe, fuch as is approved by 

 the law, as for the benefit of his own fon, or on account 

 of non-refidence, plurality of Hvings, or grofs immorality in 

 the incumbent. Blackft. Comm. b. ii. 



SiMON'Y is alfo committed by buying or felling the facra- 

 ment, baptifm, ordination, or abfolution ; as well as bj 

 the nomination and collation to a benefice, a place in 

 monaftery, or the like. 



By 31 Eliz. cap. 6, perfons who fhall corruptly ordain 

 or liccnfe any minilter, or procure him to be ordained or 

 licenfed, fhall incur a forfeiture of 40/., and the minifler 

 himielf of 10/., befides an incapacity to hold any eccle- 

 fialtical preferment for feven years afterwards. See Pre- 

 sentation. 



Some have pretended it to be fufficient to avoid the 

 charge of fimony, if only the ordination were gratuitous, 

 though the revenues were bought and fold as a temporal 

 thing. But the canons of feveral councils have condemned 

 this fubtile diltinftion ; fince the revenues are atached to an 

 eccleliattical office purely fpiritual. 



Cafuiits diilinguifh three kinds of fimony ; -vlx. 



Si.MONV, Mental, is that which is reitrittcd to the mere 

 w ill and inclination, without ever breaking forth into aft. 

 As when a prefent is made to a collator, without taking 

 any notice, that we expeft a benefice from him. This 

 kind of fimony is only punifhable \nforo confclentit. 



Simony, 



