S I M 



S I M 



ftrengthened the papal jnrifdiftion over the weftern churcii, 

 by appointing the bifhop of Seville apollolic vicar in the 

 province of Bostica, and by an attack upon the metro- 

 politan rights of the bifhop of Ravenna, together with other 

 vigorous meafures. Simplicius died in the year 483, after 

 having filled the papal chair nearly fifteen years and a half. 

 There are extant eighteen of his letters, chiefly relating 

 to matters of difcipline, and the affairs of the eaftern 

 churciies. 



SiiMPLicius, a Greek philofopher of the lixth century, 

 was a native of Cilicia. He was a difciple of Ammonius 

 the Peripatetic, and Damafcius the Stoic ; but in his own 

 mode of philofophiling, lie endeavoured to unite the Platonic 

 and Stoical dottriiics with thofe eilablilhed by Ariilotle. 

 Of this combination of heterogeneous tenets, his " Com- 

 mentary upon the Enchiridion of Epiftetus" is faid to be 

 2 good example. Of this work, Fabricius affirms there is 

 nothing in pagan antiquity better calculated to form the 

 morals, or afford jufter views of divine providence. Sim- 

 plicius wrote commentaries upon Ariilotle. He was one 

 of the philofophers who took refuge with Chofroes, king 

 of Perfia, from an apprehended perfecution by Juflinian ; 

 but they returned to Athens, upon a truce between the 

 Romans and Periians in 549, having flipulated for a tolera- 

 tion. His commentaries upon Ariilotle have been feveral 

 times publifhed in Greek. Thofe on Epiftctus were pub- 

 lifhcd in Greek and Latin, with the notes of Wolfius and 

 Salmaluis. They have been tranflated into the Englilh and 

 French languages. 



SIMPLIFYING, in Ecckjafical Mailers, is the taking 

 away of a cure of fouls from a benefice, and difpenfing the 

 beneficiary from refidence. 



Several benefices, which have been Gmplified, now require 

 refidence ; and many others, which required refidence, have 

 been fimplified. 



Some ufe the word in a more exteiifive fignification, -viz. 

 for the Ihorteniiig a relation, &c. or retrenching every 

 thing not precifely iieceflary. When the matter of fadl 

 (hall be fimplified, and flripped of its vain circumllances, the 

 court will fee, &c. 



SIMPLOCE, in Rhetoric, a figure which comprehends 

 both the anaphora and epillrophe. In this figure the 

 feveral members begin and end with the fame word. Thus 

 St. Paul : Arc they Hebrews'^ So am I. Arc they IfracUtes'f 

 So am I. Are they the feed of Abraham ? So am I. z Cor. 

 xi. 22. 



SIMPLON, in Geography, a mountain of Switzerland, 

 over which is a pafiagc from the Valais to the duchy of 

 Milan ; 6597 feet above the level of the iea ; 31 miles E. 

 of Sion. 



SIMPLUDIARIA, in Antiquity, a kind of funeral 

 honours paid to the deceafed at tlieir obfequies. 



The word is formed from the L-nlni flmplex, and ludut ; 

 whence ftmpludiaria, or fimpliludaria, q. d. fimple garnet. 

 Some will have fimpludiaria to be the funerals .it which 

 games were exhibited : fuch is the lentiment of Pauius Dia- 

 conus. Fcllus fays, they were thofe, in the games of which 

 nothing was fcen but dancers and leapers, called corviloret ; 

 who, according to M. Dacier, were perfons who run along 

 the malls and yards of vcfTels or boats, called corbes. 



In other refpeCts, thofe two authors agree as to the kind 

 of funerals called fimpludiaria ; viz. that they were oppofite 

 to thofe called indiitiva ; in which, befides the dancers and 

 leapers obferved in the fimpludiaria, there were dcfultores, 

 or people who vaulted on iiorfes ; or perhaps horfc-raccs, 

 in which the cavaliers leaped from horfe to horfe at full 

 fpeed. 



SIMPSON, Thomas, in Biography, a celebrated felf- 

 taught mathematician, was born at Market Bofworth) in 

 Leicellerfhire, in 17 10. His father, who was a weaver in 

 that town, intended to bring him up to his own trade, and 

 took little heed of his education. Nature, however, had 

 endowed him with fine talents, and an ardour of difpofition, 

 which excited him to nobler purluits. At an early period 

 he gave indications of his turn for fludy, by eagerly perufing 

 every book that fell in hie way, and omitting no opportunity 

 to acquire inflrudtions from others. His father, finding 

 that he was thus led to negledl his work, endeavoured to 

 rellrain him from what he regarded as idle purfuits ; but 

 after fome fruitlefs attempts, a difference was produced be- 

 tween them, which at length terminated in an open rupture, 

 and Thomas left his father's houfe, and married the widow 

 of a taylor, with whom he refided at Nuneaton, where he 

 continued fome time working at his trade, and improving 

 his knowledge. Here he became acquainted with a travel- 

 ling pedlar, who lodged in the fame houfe, and who, to 

 the profefCon of an itinerant merchant, had united the more 

 profitable one of a fortune-teller. An intimacy was formed 

 between them, and as the pedlar was going to Briflol, he 

 lent, during his abfence. Cocker's Arithmetic to Simpfon, 

 to which was fubjoined a fhort appendix on Algebra ; and a 

 book en Genitures, by Partridge, the almanac-maker. 

 Thefe books he fludied fo clofely, that on the pedlar's re- 

 turn, he was aflonifhed to find that Simpfon was little 

 inferior to himfelf in tlie art of calculating nativities ; and he 

 predicted that he would fhortly be his fuperior. En- 

 couraged by this prophecy, he at fird determined to err.bark 

 in the trade of a fortune-teller ; and by this occupatiii;i, and 

 teaching a fchool, he found means to fupport himfelf with- 

 out weaving, which he now entirely abandoned, and was 

 foon regarded as the oracle of the neighbourhood. From 

 this time he feems to have lived very comfortably, till an 

 unfortunate event involved him in a deal of trouble. Hav- 

 ing undertaken to iMile the devil, in order to anfwer certain 

 quellions to a young woman, wlio confulted him refpecling 

 her fwcetheart, then abfent at fca, the credulous girl was fo 

 friglitened on the appearance of a man from beneath fome 

 flraw, who reprefeiitedthe devil, that fhe fell into violent 

 fits, from which flie was with difficulty recovered, and 

 which for a conlidcrable time threatened iiifanity or fatuity. 

 In confequence of this exertion of his art, he was obliged to 

 leave the phicc, and he removed to Derby, where he re- 

 mained a few years, working at his trade by day, and in- 

 ftruAing pupils in the evening. He became a writer in the 

 Lady's Diary in tlic year 1736: his firll queflions were 

 flatcd in verle, and are of that kind as fhcw that at this 

 period lie had made fome progrefs in mathematical know- 

 ledge. He from tills period applied himfelf with great 

 ardour to every branch of the analytic fciencc, and acquired 

 a deep infight into the dodlrine of fluxions, upon which he 

 afterwards jiublifhed a work, wliicli is even now regarded 

 as among the belt, if not the very bell, exilling in our lan- 

 guage. After he had given up allrology, and its emolu- 

 ments, he found iiimfclf reduced to great flraits, nolwith- 

 llanding iiis indutlry to provide a fublilleiiee for liis family 

 at Derby ; and on that account lie determined to remove to 

 London, which he did in the year 1736. When lie arrived 

 at the capit.nl, unknown and without recommendation, he 

 for fome time followed his bulinefs in Spitalfields, and 

 taught niatiiematics in the evening, and at other fpare hours. 

 His exertioiu were attended witli fuch fuccefs, that lie re- 

 turned to the country, and brought to town his wife, with 

 her three children. Tlie number of his fcholars increafcd, 

 and he was encouraged to make propofala for publilhing by 



fubfeription 



