Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/347

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
LEFT
293
RIGHT

SCIPIO 293 fCOPAS ing the next three years Scipio made him- self master of all Spain except the town of Gades. In order to prepare the way for the invasion of the Carthaginian ter- ritory he made a secret visit to the court of Syphax, King of Numidia, and won his alliance. In 206 he returned to Rome and was chosen consul for the next year. Sicily was given to him as his province, and leading an army of volunteers, he crossed, in 204, into Africa, and began the siege of Utica, but on the approach of Hasdrubal retired into winter quar- ters. In the spring he burnt the camp of the enemy, and destroyed the fugitive SCIPIO, THE ELDER forces. Syphax, who had joined Hasdru- bal, was captured, and Cirta surrendered to the conquerors. Hannibal was called to oppose Scipio in Africa, and the sec- ond Punic War was terminated by the total defeat of Hannibal at the battle of Zama, Oct. 19, 202. Peace was signed the next year, and Scipio, on his return home, had the most splendid triumph, and received the surname Africanus. He de- clined other honors which were offered him; was subsequently censor, consul a second time, and in 193 ambassador to Antiochus, King of Syria, at whose court he is said to have met Hannibal. Hav- ing accompanied his brother Lucius to the Syrian War as lieutenant in 190, they were accused of misappropriation of mon- eys received from Antiochus. Cato was the leader of the party opposed to Scipio, and the prosecution of Lucius was suc- cessful, but that of Africanus was dropped by the advice of Tiberius Grac- chus. The popularity of Scipio had waned, and he left Rome never to return. He died at his villa, in Liternum, 183 B. c, the same year in which Hannibal died. SCIRPUS, a genus of plants of the order Cyperacess. The plants of this ge- nus are called club rushes, and the com- mon bulrush (S. lacustris) of ponds and sluggish streams is a familiar example. The rhizomes of S. diibius are eaten by the natives of the S. of India; as are the tubers of S. tuberosus by the Chinese, who cultivate the plant in tanks and ponds. The species of this genus, about 300, are universally diffused, though found chiefly in temperate climates. They date from the Lower Miocene period. SCOLLABD, CLINTON, an American poet; born in Clinton, N. Y., Sept. 18, 1860. In 1888 he was made assistant Pro- fessor of Rhetoric at Hamilton College, and later Professor of English Litera- ture, resigning in 1896 to devote himself to literature. Among his publications are: "Pictures in Song" (1884); "With Reed and Lyre" (1886) : "Old and New World Lyrics" (1888) ; "Giovio and Giu- lia" (1891); "Songs of Sunrise Lands" (1892) ; an edition of Ford's "Broken Heart" (1895) ; "A Christmas Garland" (1897) ; "A Man at Arms" (1898) ; "Lawton" (1900) ; "Poems— Selected" (1914); "Let the Flag Wave" (1917), etc. SCONE, a parish in Perthshire, Scot- land, lying on the left bank of the Tay. It is famous as the seat of one of the most venerable of Scotch abbeys. Scone is first mentioned in the beginning of the 10th century, when a council was held there in the sixth year of the reign of King Constantine, when it was styled the "royal city." A monastery was built at Scone probably about the same period, and there w?s located the famous stone on which the kings of Scotland were in- augurated, and which was carried by Edward I. of England to Westminster Abbey. Alexander III., the last of the ancient race of kings, and Robert Bruce, the founder of the new dynasty, were crowned at Scone. The last coronation which was celebrated here was that of Charles II., in 1651. SCOPAS, an ancient Greek sculptor, founder, along with Praxiteles, of the later Attic school; a native of the island of Paros, and flourished during the first