SOP 



fpecies of compofition ; and in his 28th year he ventured to 

 contend with that veteran for the theatrical prize. He 

 obtained the vidory, which was followed by the retreat ot 

 his rival, who left him the undifputed nnaller of the tragic 

 ftas-e. The improvements introduced by Sophocles were 

 folreat, that he has generally and juftly been regarded as 

 the father of the regular tragedy. " He brought, fays 

 the critic, " a third interlocutor to the two who before alone 



SOP 



204. Schreb. 275. Willd. Sp. PI. v 

 Mill. Dia. v. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 

 Lamarck lUuftr. t. 325. Gaertn. t. 

 ( Edwardfia ; Salif. in Tr. of Linn. Soc. 

 Hort. Kew. V. 3. I.) — Clafs and order, 

 gynia. Nat. Ord. PapUionacta, Linn 

 Gen. Ch. Cnl. Perianth inferior. 



dignity ; and invented that artful conltruftion of fable and 

 developement of incidents, which contribute fo much to the 

 intereft of a dramatic performance." In thefe pomts he was 

 fuperior to his younger competitor Euripides ; and upon 

 the whole, he appears to have ftood at the head of his clals, 

 in the judgment both of Greek and Roman critics. Cicero 

 terms him a diiine poet; and he is highly commended by 

 Dionyfius of HaUcarnailus, for preferving the dign-ty of 

 his charafters, and dwelling rather on the more noble and 

 generous affedions, than on the mean and debafing panion3. 

 Thefe praifes (hew that his works were regarded as the moil 

 perfea example of tratjcdy, in the higheft fenfe of the word. 

 Sophocles was a Itatelnun, as well as a tragedian, and cn- 

 trufted with very important civil and military employments. 

 He retained his faculties to the lad, and continued to write 

 tragedies to an advanced age ; and when his unnatural fons, 

 on account of fome ncglcft in his doraellic affairs, applied to 

 the magiftrates to put him under their guardianlhip, as 

 having outHved his underltanding, he appeared in court, 

 an advocate in his own caufe, and reciting his Oidipus 

 at Colonus, which he had juil finifhed, appealed to the 

 judges and auditors, if that were the work of the dotard 

 defcribed by his own children. The fentence was pro- 

 nounced unanimoufly in his favour, and he was carried home 

 •with every mark of triumph. The benignity of his cha- 

 rafter acquired him a number of friends, his attachment to 

 whom, and his moderate wirties, caufed him to decline the 

 invitations of the kings who were defirous of drawing him 

 to their courts. He paid every token of refpeft to the 

 memory of his rival Euripides, thus demonltrating that 

 he was incapable of the meannefs of jealoufy. He lived to 

 the great age of 90, and is faid even at that age to have 

 died with joy, on obtaining the prize for his laft tragedy. 

 Above a hundred pieces have been attributed to him by 

 fome ancient writers, of which, however, only feven have 

 reached our times. Of thefe, both feparately and col- 

 leftively, many editions have been made. Among the moil 

 efteemed are Johnfon's, 3 vols. 8vo. Oxon. et Lond. ; 

 Capperonier's, Par. 4to. ; Brunck's, 2 vols, royal 8vo. 

 1786; and Mufgrave's, Oxon. 2 vols. 8vo. 



SOPHONE, in Ancient Geography, a country of Afia, 

 fituated in the place where the Tigris re-appears, after 

 having been under ground for the fpace of 25 miles, ac- 

 cording to Juif in. 



SOPHORA, in~ JSotany, a name of mod whimfical 

 origin. Sophera is, according to Profper Alpinus, the 

 Egyptian denomination of a fpecies of Cajfia, the Linnsan 

 C. Sophera, nearly related to the genus before us. Linnceus, 

 in his Hortus Cllfi'ortiamis, 156, fpelling it Sophora, calls it 

 a genus fophortim, or of wife men ; as teaching that feparate 

 ftamens, in the papilionaceous family, if ever the limits of 

 that family can be determined, aftbrd fo decifive a mark of 

 difcrimination, as almoft to exclude the plants furni(hed 

 with fuch, from the fame natural clafs, or order, with 

 rhofe whofe filaments are combined. The foundnefs of the 

 doftrine may make us tolerate the conceit. — Linn. Gen. 



2. 499. Mart.- 



3. 2. Jul!. 351. 



149, tomentofa. 



v. 9. 298. Ait. 



Decandria Mono- 

 Leguminoft, Jufl". 

 of one leaf, fhortj 

 oblique ; gibbous on the upper fide ; its tube turbinate, an- 

 gular ; limb bell-fliaped, abrupt, with five teeth. Cor. 

 papilionaceous, of five petals. Standard oblong, ilraight, 

 dilated upwards, deflexed at the tides, various in length. 

 Wings two, as long as the ftandard, or longer, with a lobe 

 at the bafe. Keel of two petals, fimilar to the wings and 

 about the fame length, their lower edges clofe together, 

 boat-hke. Stam. Filaments ten, inferted into the tube of 

 the calyx, dillincf, parallel, rigid, awl-fhapcd, about the 

 length of the corolla, and lodged in its keel, deciduous ; 

 anthers fmall, oval, incumbent. P'lJ}. Germen fuperior, 

 oblong, flender, nearly cylindrical ; Itylc the fize and (liapo 

 of the Itamens ; iligma fimple, obtufe. Perk. Legume 

 very long and flender, of one cell, and two imperfi-ft valve.-', 

 fwelling at each feed, fo as to become beaded ; often an- 

 gular or winged. Seeds numerous, rounJifh, large, po- 

 iifhed. 



Elf. Ch. Calyx bell-lhaped, oblique, five-toothed ; tur- 

 binate at the bafe. Corolla papilionaceous. Legume 

 beaded, fcarcely burfting, with many feeds. 



We have under Edv.ardsia (fee that article) expreded 

 an opinion unfavourable to the permanency of that genus of 

 Mr. Salifbury's, though we iiave many reafons for wifhing 

 we could admit it ; nor does our decifion at all interfere 

 with the propriety of the name. Our reafons will appear 

 prefently. The genus of Sophora is, ncverthelefs, com- 

 modiouily divifible into two fcftions, by the fituation of 

 the inflorufcence, but this can make no generic diftinftion, 

 unlefs it were fupported by fome charafter in the fruftifica- 

 tion, fuch as the learned editors of the Hortus Keiuenjis 

 thouglit they had found in the legume ; but it is overfet by 

 a new fpecies before us ; fee n. 5. 



Seclion I . Clujlers terminal, elongated. 



1. S. tomentofa. Downy Sophora. Linn. Sp. PI. 533. 

 Willd. n. 5. Ait. n. I. (S. occidcntalis ; Linn. Sp. PI. 

 533. Willd. n. 6. S. arborefcens, &c. ; Trew's Ehret, 

 27. t. 59. Colutea zeylanica argentea tota ; Herm. 

 Lugd.-IJat. 169. t. 171. Galega ? n. i; Browne Jam. 

 289. t. 31. f. I.) — Stem arboreous. Leaflets numerous, 

 roundifh-elliptical, very obtufe, downy as well as the calyx. 

 — Native of the Eall and Weft Indies. Long cultivated in 

 our lloves, but it has feldom flowered. The branches, 

 flalhs, foliage, and injlorefcence, are more or lefs clothed with 

 (hort, denfe, hoary pubcfcence. Leaves a fpan long, of 

 fix or feven pair, with an odd one, of ftalked, elliptical, 

 coriaceous leaflets, all nearly equal and uniform, above an 

 inch long ; fometimes their upper furface is fmooth, and 

 the whole of the plant much lels downy than nfual. Sti- 

 pulas none. Clujlers terminal, folitary, ftalked, fimple, 

 generally a foot long, compofed of very numerous, large, 

 elegant, pale-yellow Jloivers. Legume three or four inches 

 in length, beaded, two-edged, flighlly downy, often inter- 

 rupted here and there by a failure in the impregnation of 

 fome of the feeds, which, when perfeft, are the fize of a 

 large pea, globular, brown, difcharged finally by the decayj 

 and partial iplitting of the valves. 



2. S. beptaphylla. Seven-leaved Sophora. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 533. Willd. n. 8. (Anticholerica ; Rumph. Amboin. 

 V. 4. 60. t. 22.) — Stem (hrubby. Leaflets about feven, 

 elliptical, acute ; downy beneath.^Native of the Eafl 



1 2 Indies, 



\ 



