SAM 
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and two grottoes, consecrated, the one to the nymphs “ As- 
sigrides,” and the other to the “ Atlantides.” 
SAMI-DEVI, in Mythology, a name of the Hindoo god¬ 
dess Parvati ; which see. 
SAMINGAVA, a town of Xicoco, in Japan; 22 miles 
south-west of Ovutsi. 
SAMIRA, on the Tigris. See Samara. 
SAMI-RAMI, a name of the Hindoo goddess Parvati ; 
which see. 
SAMISAT, a town of Diarbekir, in Asiatic Turkey, on the 
Euphrates; 70 miles west of Ourfa. 
SA'MITE, s. [ samet , samit, old Fr. “ etoffe de soie. 
Roq. sammet, Germ, velvet. Morin traces it to the low Lat. 
samitum, or exaniitum, and that to the Gr. efapro?, used 
by Fices for a sort of silk; which is formed of six, and 
jwiToc, a thread; meaning therefore composed of six threads.] 
A sort of silk stuff. Obsolete. 
In silken a samite she was light arry’d 
And her fayre lockes were woven up in gold. Spenser. 
SAMLAND was formerly the name of a district of East 
Prussia, bounded by the Friesche and Curische Hafs, and the 
Pregal. Its chief town was Conigsberg. 
SAMLESBURY, a village of England, in Lancashire, near 
a navigable canal, which communicates with all the late 
inland navigation; 5 miles north-west of Blackburn. Po¬ 
pulation 1589, chiefly employed in manufactures. 
SAMLET, Salmulus, in Itchthyology. See Salmo. 
SAMLOVA, a small town in the north of European Tur¬ 
key, in Bulgaria, district of Sophia. 
SAMMA, a town on the south coast of the isle of Bourro. 
Lat. 3. 50. S. long. 127. 15. E. 
SAMMAEL, an evil angel, who, as the Jewish rabbins 
pretended, deceived Eve, mounted on the old serpent; they 
add, that he is the angel of the dead, the prince of the air, 
and the chief of the demons. Other rabbins represent him 
as the prince of the angels, and believe that he is to preside 
at the last judgment; on which account they present offer¬ 
ings to him bn the day of solemn expiation, to appease his 
anger. 
SAMMAN, a town in the interior of Lasha, in Arabia; 50 
miles west-north west of El Katif. 
SAMMARTINO, a small town of Austrian Italy; 11 miles 
west of Mantua. 
SAMNAH, a town of Lower Egypt, on the southern bank 
of Lake Menzeleh. It contains immense ruins of the ancient 
Tanis, particularly numerous obelisks. 
SAMNITES, a considerable people of Italy, who inha¬ 
bited the country called Samnium. They were descendants 
of the Sabines, and Strabo says expressly that they were 
called Sabellins, and that the Greeks called them Samnites. 
From them proceeded the Hirpini, Lucani, and Brutii. The 
Samnites were, like the Sabines, from whom they sprung, 
a warlike people; and engaged in frequent contests with the 
Romans. In the year of Rome 420, they attacked the Sidi- 
cini, a people of Ausonia, on the other side of the Liris, but 
upon their recurring for succour to the people of Campania 
the Samnites turned their arms against the latter, who, being 
an effeminate people, were defeated in two pitched battles, 
and their metropolis Capua was besieged. The Campanians, 
thus distressed by the Samnites, surrendered themselves and 
their country to the Roman republic. The Roman senate 
interposed, and dispatched ambassadors to intreat the Sam¬ 
nites, as friends, to spare a province which belonged to Rome. 
The Samnites, however, paid no regard to the message, but 
prepared for ravaging Campania. This insult incensed the 
Romans, who declared war against them. The succeeding 
contest was severe; and though the Samnites were defeated 
by the consul Valerus, the Romans owned that they had 
never engaged with a more intrepid enemy; nor would they 
have known that they had gained the victory, if the Samnites 
had not deserted their camp in the night, and abandoned it 
to the conquerors. In a subsequent engagement, the Ro¬ 
mans, under the command of Decius, obtained a complete 
victory, and plundered their camp, after having cut in pieces 
above 30,000 of the enemy. The Samnites having raised 
new forces, appeared before Suessulo, a town situated be¬ 
tween Nola and Capua; but they were again defeated by 
Valerius with great loss. Notwithstanding repeated defeats, 
the Samnites renewed their hostilities; and under the com¬ 
mand of Pontius, an experienced and able officer, gained 
so decisive an advantage over the Romans, that they were 
constrained to sue for peace. At length the consul signified 
to the Samnite general, that they intended to lay down their 
arms, and pass under the yoke. This intimation was fol¬ 
lowed by a conference, the result of which was, that the 
Romans promised to quit Samnium, to evacuate the places 
where they had planted colonies, and to suffer the Samnites 
to live in peace according to their own laws. In order to 
secure the performance of this convention, the Samnites de¬ 
manded 600 Roman knights as hostages, with this condi¬ 
tion, that they might cut off their heads, if the republic did 
not perform the consul’s promises. As soon as the terms 
were made known, sorrow and rage filled the hearts of the 
Roman soldiers; but whilst the legions were lamenting their 
hard fate, the consuls passed first under the yoke, stripped 
of their habits, and half naked; the inferior officers followed 
according to their rank, and at last the soldiers, one by one. 
The Samnites insulted them as they passed; and if any 
Roman returned merely a fierce look, he was immediately 
knocked down or killed. The Romans declared this treaty 
null; and soon formed an army consisting almost wholly 
of volunteers, burning with rage against the Samnites; and 
having marched from Rome to the neighbourhood of Cau- 
dium, where their army had suffered disgrace, they prepared 
to surrender the officers in due form to the Samnites. But 
preferring an open war to this act of vengeance, and demand¬ 
ing a fulfilment of the treaty, they released the hostages, 
and desired them to return, unmolested, to their camp. The 
Romans renewed the war; and the Samnites having sur¬ 
prised Fugellce, a Roman colony, offered quarter to all who 
should lay down their arms; upon which many submitted ; 
but the Samnites not thinking themselves obliged to keep 
their word with any of the Roman name, caused all who 
had surrendered to be burnt alive. The Samnites suffered a 
disastrous defeat at Apulia, and few of them escaped alive. 
At length Lucania, whither the Samnites had retired, was 
taken, and Papirius, afterwards consul, insisted that all the 
soldiers in the place, to the number of 7000, should, un¬ 
armed, and with one garment each, pass under the yoke, 
and Pontius at the head of them. These conditions were 
accepted, and the Romans had the pleasure of retaliating 
upon Pontius and his Samnites, the ignominy which he had 
made them and their consuls undergo at the Caudine forks. 
They also recovered the hostages which had been delivered 
up to the Samnites, as securities for the execution of a shame¬ 
ful treaty. After several successive defeats, the Samnites 
obtained a renewal of their alliance with Rome; nevertheless 
they soon renewed their hostility; and having sustained 
reat loss both of men and territory, they were at length 
riven out of their own country, and took refuge in Hetruria. 
Uniting with the Iletrurians, Umbrians, and Gauls, they pre- 
ared for war against the republic, and were defeated by Fa- 
ius and Attilius, &c. in several engagements. The war 
with the Samnites having furnished the Roman generals with 
24 triumphs, counterbalanced by many severe losses of men 
and money, the republic became tired of engaging the same 
enemy; and therefore consented, in the year of Rome 467, 
to enter into an alliance with them for the fourth time. In 
the year of the city 486, the Samnites lost all in a single 
battle, and thus terminated a bloody war, which had lasted 
72 years, and procured for the Roman generals 30 triumphs. 
We know nothing of the language of the Samnites, ex¬ 
cept from two medals, bearing two inscriptions. On the 
one is a head, probably that of a chief, with “ Embratur,” 
denoting, in Latin, “ Imperator;” and on the other is the 
word “ Saminius,” which Pellerin takes for the name of the 
Samins. 
Strabo informs us that no father of a family could dispose 
of his children in marriage at his own pleasure; but the 
state 
