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his competitors. Thissuccess encouraged him to continue in thesame course, and lie gained the prize twenty times. Euripides was his powerful rival , and they divided the public applause.Seven only of the plays of Sophocles are extant. He died, aged91, B. C. 406, of joy, at having gained a prize at the Olympicgames. The best editions of Sophocles are that of Capperonier atParis , 2 vols. 4to. 1780, and that of Brunck, 4 vols. 8vo. 1786.This author has been translated into English by Potter.

SOPIIORA, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to the classdecandria, and order monogynia ; natural order, PapiiionaceaxCalyx quinquedentate, gibbous above ; corolla papilionaceous,the wings being of the same length with the vexillum ; seed con-tained in a legumen. There are twenty-live species.

SOPORIFICS, orliYPNOTICS, are medicines that producesleep ; such as opium, laudanum, the seed or extract of pop-pies, &c.

SORA; a town of Naples, in Lavora ; 31 miles N. N. W. ofSezza, and 60 N. W. ofNaples. Lon. 14. 4. E. Lat. 41. 54. N.

Sou a, a strong town of Denmark, in the isle of Zealand , with acollege for the nobility. Lon. II. 23. E. Lat. 55. 26. N.

SORBUS, Mountain-Ash ; in botany, a genus of the icosan-dria ti'.gynia class and order; natural order, Pomace®. Calyxfive-cleft; petals five; berry inferior; three-seeded. There arethree species.

SORCERY , the crime of witchcraft, or divination by the as-sistance of evil spirits. See Witchcraft.

SOREX, the Shrew ; in natural history, a genus of mammaliaof the order feras. In the upper jaw two front-teeth long and bifid ;in the lower two or four, the intermediate ones shorter; severaltusks on each side; grinders cuspidated. This genus of animals ismost nearly allied to that of the mouse. Its teeth, however, con-stitute an important variation, and class it rather with the carni-vorous tribes. There are seventeen species.

SORGUM, a plant also called holcus. See Holcus.SORITES , in logic, a species of reasoning, in which a greatnumber of propositions are so linked together, that the predicate ofthe one becomes continually the subject of the next following, tilllast a conclusion is formed by bringing together the subject ofthe first proposition and the predicate of the last ; such is the fol-lowing argument, ‘God is omnipotent ; an omnipotent being cando every thing possible ; a being that can do every thing possible,can do whatever involves not a contradiction ; therefore, God cando whatever involves not a contradiction.’ See Logic.

SORTES [Lat.] Lots, in antiquity, were of various kinds :j L Sortf.s Homerianie ; —Homeriun Lots, or lots drawn fromHomer’s Iliad :

■ 2. Sortes Prenestinje ;—Prenestine Lots ; and,, 3 - Sortes Virgilianie ; Virgilian Lots, or lots drawn fromv '^gil’s zEneid. See Sortilege.

SORTILEGE, {sortilegium, Lat.] an ancient species of divi-sion performed by sortes or lots. The sortes Prenestin®, fa-y’aus in antiquity, consisted in putting a number of letters, or■ Ven whole words into an urn ; and then, after shaking them to-Sctber, they were thrown on the ground ; and whatever sentencesulfi be made out from them, constituted the answer of the ora-C- To this method of divination succeeded that which has been. ted sortestlomerianse and sortes Virgiliana, a mode of inquir-8'uto futurity, which undoubtedly took its rise from a generalit „ | 11 ? °f the oracular priests of delivering their answers in verse ;hei S ] ste ^ a long time among the Greeks and Romans ; andj„ 11 § ‘ r °m them adopted by the Christians , it was not till after ath e ®,, sllcc ession of centuries that it became exploded. Among(j 0ll ltonia ns it consisted in opening some celebrated poet at ran-t], e l’ aiu ' among the Christians the Scriptures, and drawing, fromw ha -‘ Passage that presented itself to the eye, a prognostic of"' 1 >en' V ° l ! ld ^efal °ue’s self or Olliers, or direction for conductHot cq U r 6r 3n y ex *g enc y■ There is good evidence that this wasthe ^ aimed to the vulgar; the greatest persons, philosophers ofHot fie re .P llte > admitted this superstition. Socrates himself was' l .l * or wjien in prison, hearing this line of Homer ,immedi f 1 f hiu f' ,ree days I Phthia’s shore shall see,gatherj., -T sa 'di w dhin three days l shall be out of the world ;hi Grpef ll; - " om l * le ^ 0l 'ble meaning of the word l’hthia, which,Or ’ I s k°th the name of a country, and signifies corruption• 1 his prediction, addressed to jEshinus, was not easily

forgotton, as it was verified. When this superstition passed fromPaganism into Christianity, the Christians had two methods ofconsulting the divine will from the Scriptures ; the one, casually,to open the divine writings, and take their direction, as above-mentioned ;the other, to go to church with a purpose of receiving,as a declaration of the will of heaven, the words of the Scripture,which were singing at the instant of entrance. This unwarrantablepractice of inquiring into futurity prevailed very generally in Eng-land till the beginning of the eighteenth century ; and sometimesthe books of Scripture, and sometimes the poems of Virgil , wereconsulted for oracular responses. Several, whose devotion hasnot always been regulated by judgement, have pursued this me-thod of divination ; and have generally observed, that the conse-quence has been despair or presumption. To such we beg leaveto recommend one passage in Scripture, “ Thou shalt not temptthe Lord thy God .”

SOSPELLO, a city of France , in the department of the Mari-time Alps, and late county of Nice; 6£ miles N. W. of Ventimi-glia, and 15 S. E. of Nice.

SOTADEA C ARM IN A, a name given to serpentine verses,which can be read either wav ; such as the following :

Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor,

Si bene te t«a laus taxat, sua laute tenebis.

It was also a name given to alt obscene poems ; from

SOTADES, a Greek poet of Thrace , who delighted in that,sort of poetry.

SGTERI A, in antiquity, sacrifices offered to the gods, the sa-viours, for delivering a person from danger; as also poetical piectscomposed for the same purpose.

SOVANO, atown and bishop’s see of Elruria, in the Siennese ;

25 miles W. of Orvietto, 45 N. N. \V. of Rome, and 55 S. 'ofFlorence.

SOUBISE, or SOUBIZE, a town of France , in the departmentof Lower Charente, and territory of Saintonge , Lon. 1. 2. W. 'Lat. 45. 57. N.

SOUCHAI, John Baptist, a learned French writer,born at St.Amand, near Vendome, in 1687. In 1720, be was elected amember of the Academy of Inscriptions ; and furnished severallearned Dissertations, which are preserved in their Memoirs. Hewas also canon of Rodez , counsellor to the king, and professor ofeloquence in the royal college. He died in 1780.

SOUDAN , a word in the language of Negroland, signifyingthe country of the Negroes.

Soudan , is likewise used as one of the names of an Africankingdom, otherwise called Dar-fnr. This kingdom, it is said, hasnot been visited by any European besides Mr. Brown, who place*it between 11 * and 10° lat. N. and between 26° and 30° ion. E.

SOVEREIGN, in matters of government, is applied to the su-preme magistrate or magistrates of an independent government ofstate ; because their authority is only bounded by the laws of God and the laws of the state : such are kings, princes, &c. SeeKing, Monarch, Prerogative , Prince, &c.

Sovereign Power, or Sovereignty, is the power of makinglaws; for wherever that power resides, all others must conform toit, and be directed by it, whatever appearance the outward formand administration of the government may put on.

SOU1LLAC, a town of France , in the department of Lot, andprovince of Querci ; 32 miles N. of Caiiors. Lon. 1. 21. E,Lat. 44. 55. N.

SOUL, the principle of perception, memory, intelligence, andvolition, in man; which, since the earliest ®ra oFphilosophy, hasfurnished questions of difficult investigation, and materials of keenand important controversy. See Antaomy, Metaphysics, andResurkf.ction.

SOUND, in geography, denotes, in general, any strait or inletof the sea between two headlands, ft is given by way of eminenceto the strait between Sweden and Denmark, joining the German ocean to the Baltic, being about three miles over.

Sound, [sojims, Lat.] in physics, a perception of the soul com-municated by means of the ear; being the effect of a collision ofbodies, and a tremulous motion consequent thereon, communi-cated thence to the circumambient fluid, and propagated throughit to the organ of hearing. Space moved through by sound in onesecond of time is 1142 feet, and a body falls in that time sixteenfeet one inch. Sec Acoustics,

Sound*