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them, and prohibited any from retaining copies of them, 
under pain of death. Augustus, when he assumed the high- 
priesthood of Rome, revived this law, and destroyed a great 
multitude of copies which were brought in. Tiberius caused 
many more to be burnt, and preserved only those which 
were found more worthy of approbation for that service 
of the state for which they were originally intended; 
and to these, as long as Rome remained heathen, they 
had constant recourse ; till at length Honorius the emperor, 
A.D. 399, issued an order for destroying them; in pursu¬ 
ance of which, Stilico burnt all these prophetic writings, 
and demolished the temple of Apollo, in which they were 
reposited. 
SI'BYLLINE, adj. [sibyllinus, Lat.] Of or belonging to 
a sibyl.—The genuine sibylline oracles — in the first ages 
of the church were easily distinguished from the spurious. 
Addison. 
SICABA, a town on the north-west coast of the island of 
Negroes. Lat. 11. 26. N. long. 123. 2. E. 
SI'CAMORE, or Sycamore, s. [ sicomorus , Latin; 
jrcomop, Sax.] A tree.—Of trees you have the palm, olive, 
and sicamorc. Peacham. 
SICANDRO, a small uninhabited island in the Grecian 
archipelago, near the island of Policandro. 
SICARD (Claude), a Jesuit missionary, was born at 
Aubergne, near Marseilles, in 1677. He entered into the 
society of Jesus in the year 1699, and for several years 
taught the classics and rhetoric in their schools. He was at 
length sent on a mission to Syria, and thence to Egypt 
where he died at Cairo, in 1726. He was a man of deep as 
well as extensive learning, and an exact observer of what 
was remarkable in the countries he visited. His first publi¬ 
cation was “ An easy Method of learning Greek,” trans¬ 
lated into French from the Latin of Peter Gras, with addi¬ 
tions. When abroad, he sent home several curious letters, 
which were published in the “ Nouveaux Memoirts des 
Missions de la Compagnie de Jesus dans le Levant;” in 
which are likewise published his “ Plan of a Work on 
Egypt, ancient and modern,” and “ A Dissertation on the 
Passage of the Red Sea, and Journey of the Israelites.” 
SICARII, in Ancient History, assassins of Judea, who 
went about the country for the accomplishment of their 
nefarious purposes, with short swords concealed under their 
clothes. 
SICASICA, a province formerly of Peru, but since 
included in the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres. It is a very 
extensive track, of nearly a hundred leagues in length, and 
contains some silver mines, two of which are worked. The 
far greater part of this district lies among the mountains, and 
it has Cochabamba to its west, Oruro to the south, Paria 
to the east, and La Paz to the north. Those parts which 
consist of plains or valleys, are exttemely hot, and produce 
great quantities of coca or betel, with which the neighbour¬ 
ing provinces are supplied. The mountains feed large herds 
of cattle, and flocks of vicunas, guanucos, &c. Its forests 
afford several sorts of valuable wood, and it is said to contain 
two rich gold mines. The inhabitants make the wool of 
their sheep into various kinds of stuff’s. 
SICAYAP POINT, a cape on the north-west coast of 
Mindanao. Lat. 8. N. long. 123. 30. E, 
SICCA, a town on the north coast of the island of 
Sumatra. Lat. 1. 32. N. long. 110. 40. E. 
LV.SI'CCATE, v. a. [sicco , Latin.] To dry. Unused, 
but a food word. 
SICCA'TION, ^ The act of drying. 
SICCHOS, a settlement of South America, in Quito, and 
province of Tacunga, in which are some silver mines, now 
abandoned ; 20 miles west of Lacatunga. 
SICCA'FICK, adj. [siccus and fo.\ Causing dryness. 
SI'CCITY, [siccate, Fr., siccitas, from siccus, Latin.] 
Dryness; aridity; want of moisture.—That which is coagu¬ 
lated by a fiery siccity will suffer coliquation from aque¬ 
ous humidity, as salt and sugar. Brown. 
SICCOMARIO, a district in the east of the Sardinian 
states, in the Milanese, consisting of a small but fruitful 
stripe of land, near the junction of the Po and the Tanaro. 
It contains 15 petty towns and villages. 
SICE, s. [six, French.] A gambling term; the number 
six at dice. 
My study was to cog the dice. 
And dext’rously to throw the lucky sice ; 
To shun ames-ace, that swept my stakes away. Dry den. 
SICERA, in the Jewish Antiquities. The Hellenist Jews 
give this name to any inebriating liquor. St. Chrysostom, 
Theodoret, and Theophilus of Antioch, who were Syrians, 
and who therefore ought to know the signification and 
nature of sicera, assure us, that it properly signifies palm- 
wine. 
SICGENI, a small town of the island of Malta, with 2300 
inhabitants. 
SICH, adj. The old word for Such. 
I thought the soul would have made me rich; 
But now I wote it is nothing sick ; 
For either the shepherds been idle and still. 
And led off their sheep what they will. Spenser. 
SICIIEM, a small inland town of the Netherlands, in 
South Brabant, on the Demer. Population 1500; 14 miles 
north-east of Louvain. 
SIC1GNANO, a small town of Italy, in the south-west 
of the kingdom of Naples, in the Principato Citra, con¬ 
taining, with the village of Galdo di Sicignano, a population 
of 3400. In 1806 it was partly burned by the French, on 
account of the resistance made by the inhabitants. 
SICILIAN A, in Botany, a name given by Dodoneeus, and 
some other authors, to the great androsaemum. 
SICILIANE, or Pastorale, a kind of simple rural 
music, resounding in Christmas time through all quarters of 
Naples, and executed by Abruzzese or Calabrian shepherds, 
upon a species of bag-pipes, called in Abruzzo zampagne, 
and ciaramelli in Calabria. The tunes vary, according to 
the provinces: in the south, they have three different airs; 
the northern shepherds have only two, to which they add 
any variations which the boldness of their own genius in¬ 
spires. 
SICILIES, Two, Kingdom of the, the title assumed 
for their dominions by the royal family of Naples, since the 
early part of the 18th century. See the close of the 
succeeding article; see also Naples. 
SICILY, the largest island of the Mediterranean, situated 
between Italy and the coast of Africa, and extending from 
long. 12. 42. to 16. 10. E. lat. 36. 30. to 38. 12. N. Its 
form is that of an irregular triangle ; its length from east to 
west is 180 miles, its greatest breadth 130. Its extent, 
including the small islands along its coast, is about 12,500 
square miles, or somewhat more than one-third of the size of 
Ireland. 
Divisions and Population .—Modern Sicily has long 
been divided into three parts, the Val di Mazzara, or western 
part; the Val di Demona, or north-eastern; the Val di 
Noto, or southern : of these, the first is the most extensive. 
But since 1815, Sicily has been divided into seven inten¬ 
dancies, viz., Palermo, Messina, Catania, Girgenti, Syracuse, 
Trapani, and Calatanissetta, each corresponding in size to 
One of our larger counties, such as Somerset or Essex. The 
population of Sicily in former ages has been rated very 
high; but after making allowances for the uncertainty and 
tendency to exaggeration in ancient records, there seems 
little probability, that it ever equalled the present number, 
viz., 1,660,000. Certain it is, that three centuries ago it did 
not exceed the half of it. 
Palermo 
Marsala 
Trapani 
Termini 
Girgenti 
Salemi . 
Alcamo. 
Chief towns in the Val di Mazzara : 
150,000 
25,000 
24,000 
20,000 
14,000 
12,000 
12,000 
Naro. 
Corleo. 
Licatane .... 
Castel Vetrano 
Sciacca ...... 
Mazzara ..... 
12,000 
12,000 
12,000 
12,000 
11,000 
10,000 
Val 
