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request. The god of thunder was thunder-struck, but beingbound by bis oath was obliged to comply, and Semele perished incelestial "fire.

SEMEN, Seed; in botany. See Botany .

Semen, in the animal-ceconomy. See Anatomy , and Physi-ology.

SEMEN DRIAH, a town of Turkey, in Europe , 20 miles S. E.of Belgrade . Lon. 21. 45. E. Lat. 45. 0. N.

SEMENTINjE FERIrE, in antiquity, feasts held annuallyamong the Romans, to obtain of the gods a plentiful harvest.

SEMI-AR1ANS, in ecclesiastical history, a branch of the an-cient Arians , consisting, according to Epipbanius, of such as, inappearance, condemned the errors of that heresiarch, but yet ac-quiesced in some of the principles thereof, only palliating and hid-ing them under softer and niore moderate terms.

SEMICIRCLE, in geometry, half a circle, or that figure com-prehended between the diameter of a circle and half the circum-ference. See Geometry .

SEMICOLON, in grammar, one of the points or stops used to■distinguish the several members of sentences from each other. SeePunctuation, and Grammar.

SEMICIJBICAL PARABOLA, in the higher geometry, acurve of the second order, wherein the cubes of the ordinates areas the squares of the abscisses. Its equation is ax ! — y 3 .

SEMICUBIUM, in medicine, an half-bath, wherein the patientis only placed up to the navel.

SEMIDIAMETER, or half the diameter, is the same withwhat is otherwise called the radius.

SEMIFLOSCULUS, in botany, a term used to express theflowers of the syngenesia class. '

SEMIGALLIA, a duchy or division of Courland , compre-hending the eastern part of it. Mittaw is the capital.

SEMINARA , or SEMINARI, a town of Naples, in CalabriaUltra, 12 miles S. S. W. of Rossano, and 22 N. E. of Reggio .Lon. 16. 21. E. Lat. 38. 20. N.

SEMINARY, \semimrium, from semino, Lat.] in Catholiccountries, is particularly used for a kind of college or school, whereyouth are instructed in the ceremonies, &c. of the sacred ministry.Of these there are great numbers; it being ordained by the councilof Trent, that there be a seminary belonging to each cathedral,under the direction of the bishop. See College, School, Uni-versity , &c.

SEMINATION, denotes the manner or act of shedding anddispersing the seeds of plants.

SEMI-PARABOLA, in geometry, a curve defined by the

equation ax

m— 1

= y m \ as ax 1 — y 3 , and ax 3 ~y i . In semi-

parabolas, y'"\ v "~i:ax"~ ' : az " ::i \ z

or the powers of the semi-ordinates are, as the powers of the semi-abscisses one degree lower; for instance, in cubical semi-parabolasthe cubes of the ordinates are as the squares of the abscisses; thatjs, y 3 : v 3 : : i 2 ; z-.

SEMIPELAGIANS, in ecclesiastical history, a name ancient-ly, and even at this day, given to such as retain some tincture ofPelagianism- See Pelagians.

SEMIPOLATNAI, or SEMPALAT, an ancient town andfort of Russia , in the province of Kolivan ; 248 miles S. of Koli-Yan, and 616 S. FI. of Tobolsk .

SEMIQUADRATE, SEMIQUARTILE, in astronomy, anaspect of the planets when distant from each other 45 degrees, orone sign and a half.

SEMIQUAVER, in music, a note containing haif the quantityof the quaver.

SEMIQUINTILE, in astronomy, an aspect of the planetswhen at the distance of 36 degrees from one another.

SEMIRAMIS, in ancient, and partly fabulous, history, a cele-brated queen of Assyria, daughter of the goddess Derceto by ayoung Assyrian. Semiramis was married to Ninus , by whom shehad a son called Ninyas. Ninus was so fond of Semiramis, thatat her request he resigned the crown, and commanded her to beproclaimed queen and sole empress of Assyria . Of this, however,he had cause to repent; Semiramis put him to death, to establishherself on the throne ; and when she had no enemies to fear athome, she began to repair the capital of her empire, and by her

means Babylon became the most superb and magnificent city inthe world. She visited every part of her dominions, and lefteverywhere immortal monuments of her greatness. To render theroads passable and communication easy, she hollowed mountainsand filled up valleys, and water was conveyed at a great expenceby large and convenient aqueducts to barren deserts and unfruitfulplains. She was not less distinguished as a warrior: many of theneighbouring nations were conquered by her.

SEMISEXT1LE, in astronomy, a semi-sixth ; an aspect of theplanets when they are distant from each oilier one-twelfth part of acircle, or 30 degrees.

SEMITONE. Sec Interval. '

SEMI-TYCHO'NIC SYSTEM OF ASTRONOMY. SeeAstronomy.

SEMIVOWELS, in grammar, are the same with liquids. SeeLiquid.

SEM LIN, a town of Sclavonia , 70 miles S. E. of Esseck. Lon.21. 0. E. Lat. 45. 20. N.

SEM NONES, two ancient nations of Europe: 1. in Germany ,inhabiting the banks of the Elbe and the Oder: 2. in Italy , on theborders of Umbria .

SEMONES, in the Roman mythology, inferior deities, whowere not among the number of the twelve great gods. Amongthese were Janus, Faunus, Pan, Vertumnus, Priapus , Silenus, theSatyrs &c.

SEM PACII, a town of Switzerland, 7 miles N. W. of Lucern ,and 24 S. W. of Zurich . Lon. 7. 57. E. Lat. 47. 10. N.

SEMPERVIVUM, Uouse-leek; in bbtany, a genus of plantsof the order dodecagynia, and class dodecandria ; natural order,Succulents . Calyx divided into twelve parts; petals twelve;capsules twelve ; seeds many. It has fourteen species.

SEMUR, or SEMUR EN AUXOIS, a town of France , in thedepartment of Cote d’Or, and province of Burgundy , situated ona rock, near the river Armancon ; 37 miles N. of Autun , 30 W,N. W. of Dijon, and 135 S. E. of Paris . Lon. 4. 19. E. Lat. 47.28. N.

Semur en Briennois, an ancient town of France , in the de-partment of Saone and Loire, and province of Burgundy : 2 milesE. of Marcigny, and 40 N. W. of Lyons.

SENA, or MARZALI, a town of Africa , in Monomotapa, onthe Zambese . Lon. 32. 0. E. Lat. 18. 3. S.

SENAAR, or SENNAAR. See Sennaar.

SENATE , is an assembly of the principal inhabitants of a state,who have a share in the government.

Senate of Ancient Rome , was of all others the most cele-brated. It exercised no contentious jurisdiction ; but appointedjudges either from among the senators or knights, to determineprocesses: it also appointed governors of provinces, and disposedof the revenues of the commonwealth, &c. Yet the whole sove-reign power did not reside in the senate, since it could not electmagistrates, make law's, or decide of war and peace ; in all whichcases the senate was obliged to consult the people.

SENATOR, properly a member of some senate. The dignityof a Roman senator could not be supported without the possessionof 80,000 sesterces, or about 70001. English money ; and thereforesuch as squandered away their money, and reduced their fortunebelow this sum, were generally struck out of the list of senators.

SENATUS CONSULTUM, anciently made part of the Ro-man law. When any public matter was introduced into the se-nate, which was always called referre ad senatum, any senatorw hose opinion was asked, was permitted to speak upon it as longas he pleased, and on that account it was often usual for the sena-tors to protract their speeches till it was too late to determine.When tlie question was put, they passed to the side of that speakerwhose opinion they approved, and a majority of votes was easilycollected, without the trouble of counting the numbers. Whenthe majority was known, the matter was determined, and a senateconsultum was immediately written by the clerks of the house, a 4the feet of the chief magistrates, and it was signed by all the prin-cipal members of the house. When there was not a sufficient

I number of members to make a senate, tile decision was called se-j natAs auctoritas, but it was of no force, if it did not afterward*j pass into a senalAs consultum.

SENECA, Lucius Annjeus, a celebrated Stoic philosopher#j the second son of Marcus, born at Corduba , about the beginning,

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