S E L 
15 
S E t 
to raise, in opposition to Babylon, a Greek city,' with the 
privilege of being free. 
Browne (Travels in Africa, p. 391.) identifies Selucia 
with Suadea, the port of Antioch, about four hours dis¬ 
tant from it. Its former possessors, he says, took immense 
pains to render it convenient for traffic ; but it is now ren¬ 
dered useless, by the negligence of its present masters. A 
large gate, says this traveller, yet remains entire; it ap¬ 
proaches to the Doric order. The rock near it has been 
excavated into various apartments. A part exists of the 
thick and substantial wall which defended Seleucia towards 
the sea. The pert must have been commodious and secure, 
though small, as it was formed by a mole of very large 
stones. Although it be at present dry, the sand in the 
bottom appears no higher than the surface of the sea. A 
little to the north is a remarkable passage, cut in the rock, 
leading, by a gentle descent, from the summit of the moun¬ 
tain towards the water. It is about 600 common paces 
long, from 40 to 50 feet high, and above 20 broad. In 
the middle of it is a covered way, arched through the rock, 
but both ends are open. A channel for water runs along 
the side, conveying the pure element down from the moun¬ 
tain to Seleucia. The whole rock above is full of artificial 
cavities, formed for some purpose now unknown. A Greek 
inscription of five lines is visible on the south side of the ca¬ 
vern. Towards the sea are some catacombs, ornamented 
with pilasters, cornices and mouldings. 
SELEUCIANS, or Seluciani, a sect of ancient heretics, 
called also Hermiani. 
Seleucus and Hermias taught, that God was corporeal; 
that the elementary matter was co-eternal with him; and 
that the human soul was formed by the angels of fire and air. 
They also denied, that Jesus Christ sat at the right hand of 
God; asserting that he had quitted the right, and had re¬ 
moved his'throne into the sun. 
SELEUCIDvE, a race of Greek kings, who reigned as 
successors of Alexander the Great in Syria, as the Ptolemies 
did in Egypt. The era of the Seleucidae, or the Syro-Ma- 
cedonian era, is a computation of time, commencing from 
the establishment of the Seleucidae. 
This era we find expressed on a great number of Greek 
medals struck by the cities of Syria, &c. 
SELEUCUS I., surnamed Nicator, king of Syria.— Seleu¬ 
cus II., surnamed Callinicus.— Seleucus III., surnamed 
Ceraunus.— .Seleucus IV„ surnamed Philopater. See Ma- 
cedon, Jews, &c. 
SELEVITZA, a village of Greece, in the north-west 
of the Morea, a few miles to the south-west of Dimic- 
zana. 
SELF, pron. pi. seines, [silba, Gothic; ryl}'» I^F 3 * Sax., 
seine, Dutch.] Its primary signification seems to be that of 
an adjective; very; particular; this above others. 
Shoot another arrow that self way 
Which you did shoot the first. Shakspearc. 
Tire cruel ministers, by self and violent hands, 
Took offher life. _ Shakspearc. 
On these self hills the air is so thin, that it is not sufficient 
to bear up the body of a bird. Ralegh. 
At that self moment enters Palamon 
The gate of Venus. Dryden. 
It is united both to the personal pronouns, and to the neu¬ 
tral pronoun it, and is always added when they are used 
reciprocally, or return upon themselves: as, I did not hurt 
him, he hurt himself; the people hiss me, but I clap myself; 
thou lovest thyself, though the world scorns thee. It is 
sometimes used emphatically in the nominative case: as, 
myself will decide it; myself will come; himself shall re¬ 
venge it: but this use of self, thus compounded, without the 
ronoun personal, is chiefly poetical. Compounded with 
im, a pronoun substantive, self is in appearance an adjec¬ 
tive : joined to my, thy, our, your, pronoun adjectives, it 
seems a substantive. Even when compounded with him, it 
is at last found to be a substantive, by its variation in the 
plural, contrary to the nature of English adjectives, as him¬ 
self, themselves. Johnson. —Though the last reason of 
Johnson is, as Tyrwhitt has shewn, not at all conclusive, yet 
the simplest mode of considering these compounds is as 
pronouns substantive. 
No more be mention’d then of violence 
Against ourselves, or wilful barrenness. Milton, 
A horse well bitted which himself did dress. Dryden. 
And touched with miseries myself have known, 
1 learn to pity woes so like my own. Dryden. 
It often adds only emphasis and force to the pronoun with 
which it is compounded: as, he did it himself. —It signifies 
the individual, as subject to his own contemplation or action. 
—Since consciousness always accompanies thinking, and it 
is that that makes every one to be what he calls self, and 
thereby distinguishes himself from all other thinking things; 
in this alone consists personal identity, i. e. the sameness of 
a rational being. Locke. —It is much used in composition : 
thus we have from Sidney, the words self love, self] ike, self- 
destruction. — Nc/Z-consuming from Spenser.—Se//-abuse, 
self affairs, self-charity, self- chain (very chain), seaborn, 
5("//’-affrighted, self-mate, self- metal (same metal), self-same, 
self-wAtcd, self-wrong, seZ/’-subdued, .scZ/^-sIaughter, self 
reproving, self- offences, self- caparisons, self- neglecting, 
•seZ/’-mettle, se//^glorious, se?/ffiarming, cum multis aliis, 
from Shakspeare—Sc/f-preservation, self- rolled, self-esteem, 
self-knowing, self-begotten, self left; from Milton.— Self- 
delusions, seZ/^denial, se//^denying, .seZ/’-examination, self- 
imposture, seZ/’-opinioned, scZ/^sufficient; from South.— 
«SV//’-conscious, sufficiency, self-centered, self- born, 
wZ/^kindled, ,$<?Z/’-restraincd ; from Dryden..—/?e//-evidence, 
seZ/tconceitedness, seZ/^consciousness, self determination; 
from Locke. 
SE'LFIIEAL, s. [ prunella, Lat.] A plant. See SA r 
NICULA. 
SE'LFISH, adj. Attentive only to one’s own sensual in¬ 
terest ; void of regard for others. 
Passions, though selfish, if their means be fair. 
List unto Reason, and deserve her care; 
Those that imparted court a nobler aim, 
Exalt their kind, and take some virtue’s name. Pope. 
SE'LFISHNESS, s. Attention to his own interest, with¬ 
out any regard to others; self-love.—This sublimer love, 
being, by an intimate conjunction with its object, thoroughly 
refined from all base dross of selfishness and interest, nobly 
begets a perfect submission of our wills to the will of God. 
Boyle. 
SE'LFISHLY, adv. With regard only to his own in¬ 
terest ; without love of others. 
He can your merit selfishly approve. 
And shew the sense of it without the love. Pope. 
SE'LFNESS, s. Self-love ; selfishness.—Wholly her’s, 
all selfless he forbears. Sidney. —The simple good with¬ 
out all selfness or straitness. More. — TJnused. 
SE'LFSAME, adj. Exactly the same. 
Behold me punish’d in the self-same kind ; 
Th’ ungrateful does a more ungrateful find. Dryden. 
SELGOVJE, in Ancient Geography, a people of Britain, 
seated to the west of the Gadeni, in the countries now called 
Eskdale, Annandale and Nithsdale, lying along the shores of 
the Solway Frith, which is believed to have derived its name 
from that of this ancient British nation. 
SELI, in Botany, a word formed by an abbreviation of the 
word seseli, and signifying the same plant. 
SELIADRIM, a political division or district of the island 
of Celebes. 
SELIAICINSKO, a fort of Asiatic Russia, in the govern¬ 
ment of Tobolsk, on the Yenisei; 260 miles north-north- 
west of Turuchansk. 
SELICHA, a name given by the Arabians to a kind of 
cinnamon. 
SELICO, 
