SYRTICA REGIO.
 

TACITUS
 

ot Jerbah) is about eighty geographical miles,

and  the greatest  depth, measured westward

from  the line joining those points, is  about

sixty-five geographical miles.   In Herodotus,

the word Syrtis occurs in a few passages, with-

iut any distinction between the Greater and the

Less.  It seems most probable  that he means

to denote by this term the Greater Syrtis, and

that  he included the Lesser in  the Lake Tri-

tonis.

  Syrtica Regio (ti ZvprtKij: now the western

part of Tripoli), the special name of that part of

the northern coast of Africa which lay between

me two  Syrtes, from the  River Triton, at the

bottom of the Syrtis Minor, on the west, to the

Philaenorum Arae, at the  bottom of tha Syrtis

Major, on the east.   It was, for the most part, a

very narrow strip  of sand,  interspersed  with

salt marshes, between the sea and a range of

mountains forming the edge of the Great Desert

(now Sahara), with  only here and there a few

spots capable of cultivation, especially about the

River Cinyps.  It was peopled by Libyan tribes,

the chief of whom  were the Lotophagi, Macae,

Psylli, and  Nasamones; and several  Egyptian

and Phoenician colonies were  settled on  the

coast at  an  early period.  The  Greeks  of Cy¬

rene  disputed  with the Carthaginians the pos¬

session  of this district until  it was secured to

Carthage by the  self-devotion of the PHiLiENi.

Under the Romans  it formed a part of the prov¬

ince of Africa.  It was often called Tripolita-

na, from its three chief cities, Abrotonum, CEa,

and Leptis Magna ; and this became its usual

name under  the later empire,  and has been

handed  down to our own time  in the modern

name of the Regency of Tripoli.

  Syrus, a slave brought to Rome some years

before the downfall of the republic, and desig¬

nated, according  to the usual practice, from the

country of his birth.  He attracted attention,

while yet a youth, by his  accomplishments and

wit, was manumitted by his master, who prob¬

ably  belonged to the Clodia gens,  assumed the

name of Publius, from his patron,  and soon be¬

came highly celebrated as a mimographer.  He

may  be said to have flourished B.C. 45.   His

mimes were committed to writing, and exten¬

sively circulated  at an early period ;  and a col¬

lection of pithy moral sayings, extracted  from

his works, appears to have been used as  a

school-book in the  boyhood of St. Jerome.  A

compilation of this description, extending to up¬

ward of one thousand lines in iambic and  tro¬

chaic measures, every apophthegm being com¬

prised in a single line, and the whole arranged

alphabetically, according to the initial letter of

the first word in  each, is now extant under the

title Publii Syri Sententia.  These proverbs have

been drawn from various  sources, and are evi¬

dently tbe work  of many different hands ; but

a considerable number may be ascribed to Sy¬

rus and his contemporaries.  The  best editions

ofthe Sententia are by Havercamp, Lugd. Bat,

1708,1727; by Orelli, Lips., 1822  ; and by Bothe,

in his Poelarum  Latin. Scenicorum Fragmenta,

Lips., 1834.

  Sythas (ZvBag),  a river on the  frontiers of

tchaia and Sicyonia.

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                     T



  Tabai (TdBai:  Tafsyibg).  1.  Now  Tavij, a

small inland town of Sicily.—2. (Now Dawas)

a city of Caria, on the borders cf Phrygia.—3

A city of Persis, in the district of Paraetacene,

on the road from Ecbatana to Persepolis.

  Tabern.e.   V'.d Tres Tabernj®.

  [Tabraca.   Vid. Thabpaca.]

  Taburnus (now Taburno), a mountain belong

ing half to Campania and half to Samnium.  Its

southern side  was very fertile, and was cele¬

brated for its olive  grounds.   It shut in the

Caudine Pass on its southern side.

  Tacape (TaKairir:  now large ruins at Khabs),

a city of Northern Africa, in the Regio Syrtica.

at the innermost angle of the Syrtis Minor, to

which the modern town gives its name.  Under

the Romans, it at first belonged to Byzaeena,

but it was afterward raised to a  colony  and

made the western town of Tripolitana.  It had

an indifferent harbor.  A little to the west was

the bathing  place, called, from its  warm min¬

eral springs, Aquae Tacapitanae (now ElHammat-

el- Khabs).

  Tacfarinas, a Numidian in the reign of Ti¬

berius, had originally served among the auxil¬

iary troops in the Roman army, but he desert¬

ed ; and, having collected a  body of freeboot¬

ers, he  became  at  length the  acknowledged

leader of the Musulamii, a powerful people in

the interior of Numidia,  bordering on Maureta¬

nia.  For some years he defied the Roman arms

but was at length defeated and  slain in battle

by Dolabella, A.D. 24.

  Taohompso (Taxoprfid,  also Tacompsos, Plin.,

and MeraKopibd, Ptol.), afterward Contrapsel-

cis, a city in the  Dodecaschcenus,  that is, the

part  of /Ethiopia  immediately above Egypt,

built on an island (now Derar ?) near the east¬

ern bank of the river, a little above  Pselcis,

which stood on the opposite bank. Vid Pselcis.

  Tachos (Taxdg),  king of Egypt,  succeeded

Acoris,  and maintained the independence of his

country for a short  time during the latter end

of the reign of Artaxerxes II.  He invited Cha¬

brias, the Athenian, to take the command of his

fleet, and Agesilaus  to undertake the supreme

command of all his forces.  Both Chabrias and

Agesilaus came to Egypt; but the  latter was

much aggrieved in having only the command

of the mercenaries intrusted to him. Accord¬

ingly, when Nectanabis laid claim to the Egyp¬

tian crown, Agesilaus deserted Tachos, and es¬

poused the cause of Nectanabis, who thus be¬

came King of Egypt B C. 361.

   Tacitus.   1.  C.  Cornelius,  the historian

The  time and place of his birth are unknown.

He was a little older than the younger Pliny.

who was bern A.D. 61.  His father was prob¬

ably Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman eques, who is

mentioned as a procurator in  Gallia Belgica,

and who died in 79.   Tacitus was first promo¬

ted by the Emperor Vespasian, and he received

other favors from his sons Titus and Domitian.

In 78 he married the daughter of C. Julius Agric¬

ola, to whom he had been betrothed in the pre¬

ceding year, while Agricola was consul   In the

reign of Domitian, and in A.D 88, Tacitus was

praetor, and he assisted as one ofthe quindecem

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