appointed, shéth, me another seed instead of Abel.” It is further said that after Enos was born, men began to worship Yahweh. Apparently Gen. iv. 25, 26 had no original connexion with J.’s story of the creation, which speaks of Yahweh freely from the outset. As Enos is a Hebrew word for man, it is probably derived from a tradition in which Enos was the first man. An examination of the Sethite genealogy, vv. 12-27, Kenan, Maholalel, Jared, Enoch, M elhuselah, Lamech, shows that it is a slightly different version of the Cainite genealogy, iv. 17-18, Cain (Heb. Kayin), Enoch, I rad, M ehujael, M ethusael, Lamech. Seth is named in the opening genealogy of Chronicles, 1 Chron. i. 1, and in Luke’s genealogy of Christ, Luke iii. 38. The Hebrew text of Ecclesiasticus xlix. 16 has “And Shem and Seth and Enosh were visited,”—probably with divine favour; the Greek version runs, “Shem and Seth were glorified among men.”
In Num. xxiv. 17, the Authorized Version has “the children of Sheth” in a list of nations; the Hebrew is the same as Seth in Genesis. The passage may perhaps indicate that Seth was originally the name of a tribe. The “ Seth ” of Numbers is sometimes identified with the Bedouin, who appear as Sum in Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions. But the Revised Version takes the word shéth as a common noun, “tumult,” and others interpret it as “pride”; cf. Gray's Numbers, p. 371.
If the ten patriarchs of Gen. v. (see Noah) correspond to the ten primitive kings of Babylon, Seth, as second, will correspond with the Adapa of the Babylonian inscriptions, the Alaparos or Adaparos of Berosus. The two have been compared in that Adapa was demiurge and Logos; and Seth figures as the Messiah in later Jewish tradition.[1] We may also note the resemblance between the names Sheth, Set, the Egyptian god of war, and the Hittite deity Suteh. The latter has been supposed to be a Hyksos or Semitic deity and to have some connexion with Sheth; but Cheyne and Müller reject this view.[2] Seth is also identified with Moab or the land of Moab.[3]
A mass of Christian and Jewish tradition has gathered round the name of Seth. Philo, De posteriori Caini, § 3, explains the name as meaning ποτισμός, “watering” or “irrigation,” connecting it with the Hebrew root Sh Th H. Josephus, Ant. I. ii. 3, tells us that Seth was a virtuous man, and that his descendants lived in perfect harmony and happiness. They discovered astronomy, and inscribed their discoveries on two pillars, one of which, says Josephus, survived in his time. In the Book of Jubilees (1st century A.D.) the name of Seth’s wife is given as Azura. In the Ascension of Isaiah (1st century A.D.) Seth is seen in heaven. In the Book of Adam and Eve (A.D. 500–900) Seth is described as perfectly beautiful, like Adam, only more beautiful. Seth was the last child born to Adam; he grew in stature and strength, and began to fast and pray strenuously. A Gnostic sect took the name Sethians. (W. H. Be.)
SETIA (mod. Sezze, 52 m. by rail S.E. of Rome), an ancient
town of Latium (adjectum), Italy, on the south-west edge of the
Volscian mountains, overlooking the Pomptine Marshes, 1047 ft.
above sea-level, and over 900 ft. above the plain. It was an
ancient Volscian town, a member of the Latin league of 499 B.C.,
which became a Latin colony in 382 B.C., and, owing to the strength
of its position as a frontier fortress, is frequently mentioned in
the military history of Rome up to the time of Sulla, by whom
it was captured in 82 B.C. Under the empire it was well known
for its wine, which Augustus preferred even to Falernian. Considerable
remains of the city walls exist, built of large blocks of
limestone in the polygonal style. This style may also be seen
in several terrace walls belonging to a later date, as is indicated
by the careful jointing and bossing of the blocks of which they
are composed. Such intentional archaism is by no means
uncommon in the neighbourhood of Rome. The modern town,
occupying the ancient site, is an episcopal see, with a much-restored
13-century Gothic cathedral. Pop. (1901) 6944 (town),
10,827 (commune). At the foot of the hill on which the town
stands are considerable remains of Roman villas. (T. As.)
SET-OFF, in law, a statutory defence to the whole or to a
portion of' a plaintiff's claim. It had no existence under the
English common law, being created by 2 Geo. II. c. 22 for the
relief of insolvent debtors. Such a defence could be pleaded only
in respect of mutual debts of a definite character, and did not
apply to cases in which damages were claimed, nor to equitable
claims or demands. By the rules of the Supreme Court (O. XIX.
r. 3) a defendant in an action may set off or set up any right or
claim by way of counterclaim against the claims of a plaintiff,
and such set-off or counterclaim has the same effect as a statement
of claim in a cross-action. (See Pleading.)
In architecture, the term set-off is given to the horizontal line shown where a wall is reduced in thickness, and consequently the part of the thicker portion appears projecting before the thinner. In plinths this is generally simply chambered. In other' parts of work the set-off is generally concealed by a projecting string. Where, as in parapets, the upper part projects before the lower, the break is generally hid by a corbel table. The portions of buttress caps which recede one behind another are also called sets-off.
SETON (Family). The Scottish family of Seton, Seyton or
Seatoun, claims descent from a Dougall Seton who lived in the
reign of Alexander I. Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington
counted seven generations between this personage and Sir
Christopher Seton (d. 1306), the first of the house who emerges
in history with any distinctness, but these links are not all
supported by documentary evidence. The name was derived
from the Anglo-Norman family of Say, the Anglo-Norman
immigrant being supposed to have given the name of Sey-toun
to the lands granted to him in East Lothian; The family
honours include the earldoms of Wintoun (cr. 1600) and Dunfermline;
of Eglinton through marriage with the Montgomeries;
and through alliance wit-h a Gordon heiress a Seton became the
ancestor of the earls and marquesses of Huntly and dukes of
Gordon. The Setons were connected by marriage with the
royal family of Scotland, and also with the Dunbars, Lindsays,
Hays and Maitlands.
Sir Christopher Seton, son and heir of John de Seton, a Cumberland gentleman, and his wife Erminia Lascelles, was born probably in 1278, since his age is given in'March 1299 as twenty-one, in an inquisition into the lands of his deceased father. He did homage for these in October of that year, and was in the service of Edward I. at Lochmaben in 1304. In 1305 he came into possession of lands which had been granted by Sir John Seton to Robert Bruce and his wife Christian, who was perhaps a Seton. He had married about 1301 Christian Bruce, sister of King Robert, who was possibly his second cousin. He was present at his brother-in-law’s coronation at Scone in 1306, and saved his life at the battle of Methven later in the same year. According to Dugdale he shut himself up in Lochdoon Castle in Ayrshire, and on the surrender of that castle was hanged as a traitor at Dumfries by order of Edward I. He left no heirs. His widow was in March 1307 in receipt of three pence a day from Edward I. for her support at the monastery of Sixhill in Lincolnshire. She was afterwards placed in the custody of Sir Thomas de Gray. His Cumberland estates, with the exception of his mother's dower, were given to Robert de Clifford. Another Seton, John de Seton, described as having no lands or chattels, was hanged for helping in the defence of Tibbers Castle, and for aiding in the murder of John Comyn, with other prisoners of war, at Newcastle in August 1306.
Sir Alexander Seton (d. c. 1360) was probably the brother of Sir Christopher. He received considerable grants of land from King Robert Bruce, and was one of the signatories of the letter addressed by the Scottish nobles to the pope to assert the independence of Scotland. He was twice sent on embassies to England, and in 1333 he defended the town of Berwick against the English. He agreed with the English to surrender the town on a certain date unless he received relief before that time, giving his eldest surviving son Thomas as a hostage. On the refusal of the Scots to surrender at the expiry of the term Thomas Seton was hanged in sight of the garrison. This incident is
