SYMMACHUS
379
SYNAGOGUE
fiim, reads Verus not Severus, and explains a little
later that by this emperor is meant Marcus Aurelius
(161-SO). All that can be said is that there is noth-
ing improbable about this date. Epiphanius says
further that Symmachus was a Samaritan who having
quarrelled with his own people went over to Judaism,
but all other ancient authorities are unanimous in
making him an Ebionite. From the language of
many writers who speak of Symmachus (Ambrosias-
ter, "Prol. in Ep. ad Galat"; Philastrius, Ixiii; St.
(Augustine, "Contra Faust.", XIX, iv, xii), SjTnma-
jhus must have been a man of great importance in
lis sect, if not the founder of a sect within a sect.
His version of the Old Testament was largely used by
5t. Jerome, who twice speaks of two editions of it.
\s a translator he aimed at WTiting good Greek and
lot at the slavish literalness of Aquila. "Aquila et
symmachus et Theodotio . . . diversum pscne opus
n eodem opere prodiderunt, alio nitente verbum de
I'erbo exprimere, alio sensum potius sequi, tertio
ion multum a veteribus discrepare" (St. Jerome,
'Prolog, in Euseb. Chronicon").
H.\HN.\CK. Gcfich. der aUchriMl, Lit. bis Etisebius (3 vols., Leip- iig. 1893-1904); Diet. Christ. Biog., s. v. Heiapla, Sym- Tlachu."^. Thfodotinn; SwETE, Inlroduct. to O. T. in Greek (Lon- ion, 1891); Mercali, L'etd di Himmaco V Inlerprete c S. Epifanio Modena, 1892).
Francis J. Bacchus.
Symmachus Version. See Versions of the
Bible.
Symphorosa, Saint, martjTed with her seven sons it Tibur (Tivoli) towards the end of the reign of Em- jeror Hadrian (117-138). The story of their martjT- lom is fold in an old Passio, the reliability of which s seriously questioned by many modern hagiologists. \ocording to this Passio, Symphorosa w:is a lady iving at Tibur, the widow of the tribune, Getulius, vho had previously been martjTed by Emperor Ha- irian at Gabii, now Torri, a town of the Sabines. When Hadrian had completed his costly palace at Tibur and 3CK;m its dedication by offering .sacrifices, he received he following response from the gods: "The widow Minjihorosa and her sons torment us daily by invok- ng their God. If .she and her sons offer sacrifice, we jromise to give you all that you ask for. " When all he emperor's attempts to induce Symphorosa and ler sons to sacrifice to the gods were unsuccessful, he )rdered her to be brought to the Temple of Hercules, vhere, after various tortures, she waa thrown into the •iver (.\nio), with a heavy rock fastened to her neck, iler brother Eugenius. who was a member of the coun-
- il of Tibur, buried her in the outskirts of the city,
rhe next day the emperor summoned her seven sons, ind being equally unsuccessful in his attempts to make hem sacrifice to the gods, he ordered them to be tied
seven stakes which had been erected for the purpo.se ound the Temple of Hercules. Each of them suffered
1 different kinil of martyrdom. Crescens was pierced hrough the throat, Juli;m through the bre;i.st, Neme- ius through the he.art, Primitivus w:is wounded at he navel, Justinus w;is pierced through the back, ilr;ifteus (Staeteus, Estacteus) Wiis wounded at the ide, and Eugenius was cleft in two parts from top to )ottom. Their bodies were thrown into a deep ditch it a place which the p.agan priests afterwards called 'Ad septem Biothanatos". (The Greek word /SioSd- uTos, or rather /JiaioSararo!, was employed for self- nurderers and, by the pagans, applied to Christians rho suffered martjTdom). Hereupon the persecu- ion ceased for one year and six months, during rhich period the bodies of the martyrs were buried >n the Via Tiburf ina, eight or nine miles from Rome.
It is difficult to ascertain how much reliability these Vets possess. The opinion that they were written )y Julius .\fricanus (third century) has been almost mivers.ally rejected, since neither Eusebius nor any (ther historian of that period makes the least allusion
to any Acts of Roman or Italian martyrs composed by
this African writer. The "Hieronymian MartjTol-
ogy", which was compiled by an unknown author in
the second half of the fifth century, commemorates
St. SjTnphorosa and her sons on 18 July, but here the
names of her sons are entirely different from those
given in the Acts. One of the manuscripts (codex
Bernensis) of this martyrology states that the Acts
of these martjTS are extant: " quorum gesta habentur "
("MartjTologium Hieronymianum " , edited by De
Rossi and Duchesne in Acta SS. Novembris II, I, 93).
Since here the names of Symphorosa's sons are differ-
ent from those of the Acts which we possess, there
must have existed some other "Gesta" to which the
author of the martjTology refers. In the same marfjT-
ology, on 27 June, are commemorated seven brother-
martjTS, whose names are identical with those which
our Acts assign to the sons of Symphorosa. It is prob-
able that the author of the Acts, guided by the tradi-
tion that Symphorosa had seven sons who were mar-
tyred, made her the mother of the seven martyrs,
whom he found mentioned in the martjTology on 27
June. If this is the case, we may infer, provided Sym-
phorosa had seven sons at all, that their names were
not those mentioned in the Acts. Whether they were
those assigned to them in the Hieronymian MartjT-
ology," will also remain doubtful as long as we have no
certainty that the "Gesta" to which the author refers
are authentic. Some hagiologists consider the seven
sons of Symphorosa, like those of Felicitas (q. v.), a
mere adaptation of the seven sons of the Maccabean
Mother. In the seventeenth century, Bosio dis-
covered the ruins of a basilica at the place popularly
called "le sette fratte" (the seven brothers), on the
Via Tiburtina, nine miles from Rome. (Bosio, "Roma
Sotteranea", 105-9). The Acts and the "Hierony-
mian Martyrology" agree in designating this spot as
the tomb of Symphorosa and her sons. Further dis-
coveries, that leave no room for doubt that the basilica
was built over their tomb, were made by Stevenson.
The remains were transferred to the Church of S.
Angelo is Pescaria at Rome by Stephen (II) 1 II in 7.')2.
A sarcophagus was found here in 1610, bearing the in-
scription: "Hie requiescunt corpora SS. Martyrum
Simforosa', viri sui Zotici (Getulii) et Filiorum ejus a
Stephano Papa translata. " The Diocese of Tivoli
honours them as patrons and the whole Church cele-
brates their feast 18 July.
Allard, Hist, des Persicuttons pendant lea deux premiers siecles (Paris, 1903), 276-92; Achelis, Die Martyrologien. ihre (Jesehichte u. ihr Wert (Berlin, 1900), 159-62; Stevenson, Scoperta della basiliea di santa Sinforosa e dei suoi sette figli al nono miglio delta via Tiburtina, I (Rome, 1878), 502-5; Butler, Lires of the Saints, 18 July; Acta SS. Julii IV, 350-9.
Michael Ott.
Sympson. Richard, Venerable. See Garlick, Nicholas, Venerable.
Synago^e, the place of assemblage of the Jews. This article will treat of the name, origin, history, organization, liturgy and building of the synagogue.
I. Name. — The Greek a-vpaywy/i, whence the Latin synagoga, French synagogue, and English synagogue, means a meet ing, an assembly ; and is used by the Sep- tuagint to translate the Hebrew -"liV The Aramaic translation is X."T.J"]3 (cf. Arabic Kanisah, a church) to which is akin the New Hebrew ."^~2;. The place of assemblage was termed in New Hebrew, ,"2, ."^CJin, meeting-house, i. e., ofTOi o-wayuyiis. In the course of time, the single word synagogue came to mean not only the meeting but the meeting-house, the teaching thereof and, in the broadest sense, the body politic of the Jews. This broad sense of the word synagogue is seen in John's use of 'atroawayuyit "excommunicated" or "put out of the synagogue' (cf. ix, 22; xii, 42; xvi, 2). .Vnot her Greek name for synagogue in use among Hellenistic Jews, is rpoffivx'i shortened after the analogy of amaywy/i, from oIkoi
