Sibylline Verses. When the Sibylline books were destroyed (see above), all the floating verses of the several Sibyls were carefully collected and deposited in the new temple of Jupiter. Augustus had some 2,000 of these verses destroyed as spurious, and placed the rest in two gilt cases, under the base of the statue of Apollo, in the temple on the Palatine Hill; but the whole perished when the city was burnt in the reign of Nero. (See Sibyls [of the mediæval monks].)
Siccis pedibus [with dry feet]. Metaphorically, without notice.
"It may be worth noticing that both Mrs. Shelley and Mr. Rossetti pass over the line siccis pedibus."—Notes and Queries (26th May, 1893, p. 417).
Sice (1 syl.) A sizing, an allowance of bread and butter. "He'll print for a sice." In the University of Cambridge the men call the pound loaf, two inches of butter, and pot of milk allowed for breakfast, their "sizings;" and when one student breakfasts with another in the same college, the bed-maker carries his sizings to the rooms of the entertainer. (See Sizings.)
Sicil′ian Dishes (Sicŭlæ dapēs) were choice foods. The best Roman cooks were Sicilians. Horace (3 Odes, i. 18) tells us that when a sword hangs over our head, as in the case of Damoclēs, not even "Siculæ dapēs dulcem elaborabunt saporem."
Sicil′ian Vespers. The massacre of the French in Sicily, which began at the hour of vespers on Easter Monday in 1282.
Sick Man (The). So Nicholas of Russia (in 1844) called the Ottoman Empire, which had been declining ever since 1586.
"I repeat to you that the sick man is dying; and we must never allow such an event to take us by surprise."—Annual Register, 1853.
N.B. Don John, Governor-General of the Netherlands, writing in 1579 to Philip II. of Spain, calls the Prince of Orange "the sick man," because he was in the way, and he wanted him "finished."
"'Money' (he says in his letter) 'is the gruel with which we must cure this sick man [for spies and assassins are expensive drugs]'."—Motley: Dutch Republic, bk. v. 2.
Sick as a Cat. (See Similes.)
Sick as a Dog. (See Similes.)
Sick as a Horse. Nausea unrelieved by vomiting. A horse is unable to vomit, because its diaphragm is not a complete partition in the abdomen, perforated only by the gullet, and against which the stomach can be compressed by the abdominal muscles, as is the case in man. Hence the nausea of a horse is more lasting and more violent. (See Notes and Queries, C.S. xii., August 15th. 1885, p. 134.)
Siddons (Mrs.). Sidney Smith says it was never without awe that he saw this tragedy queen stab the potatoes; and Sir Walter Scott tells us, while she was dining at Ashestiel, he heard her declaim to the footman, "You've brought me water, boy! I asked for beer."
Side of the Angels. Punch, Dec. 10, 1864, contains a cartoon of Disraeli, dressing for an Oxford bal masqué, as an angel, and underneath the cartoon are these words— 1
"The question is, is man an ape or an angel? I am on the side of the angels."—Disraeli's Oxford Speech, Friday, Nov. 25 (1864).
Sidney (Algernon), called by Thomson, in his Summer, "The British Cassius," because of his republican principles. Both disliked kings, not from their misrule, but from a dislike to monarchy. Cassius was one of the conspirators against the life of Cæsar, and Sidney was one of the judges that condemned Charles I. to the block (1617–1683).
Sidney (Sir Philip). The academy figure of Prince Arthur, in Spenser's Faërie Queene, and the poet's type of magnanimity.
Sir Philip Sidney, called by Sir Walter Raleigh "the English Petrarch," was the author of Arcadia. Queen Elizabeth called him "the jewel of her dominions;" and Thomson, in his Summer, "the plume of war." The poet refers to the battle of Zutphen, where Sir Philip received his death-wound. Being thirsty, a soldier brought him some water; but as he was about to drink he observed a wounded man eye the bottle with longing looks. Sir Philip gave the water to the wounded man, saying, "Poor fellow, thy necessity is greater than mine." Spenser laments him in the poem called Astrophel (q.v.).
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother. Mary Herbert (née Sidney), Countess of Pembroke, poetess, etc. (Died 1621.) The line is by William Browne (1645).
Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge, founded by Lady Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex, in 1598.
