Summer The second or autumnal summer, said to last thirty days, begins about the time that the sun
enters Scorpio (October 23rd). It is variously called-
(1) St. Martin's summer (L'éte de St. Martin). St.
Martin's Day is the 11th November.
“Expect St. Martin's summer, halcyon days.”(2) All Saints' summer (All Saints' is the 1st November), or All Hallowen summer.
Shakespeare: 1 Henry VI., i. 2.
“Then followed that beautiful season,
Called by the pious Arcadian peasants the summer of All Saints.”
Longfellow: Evangeline.
“Farewell. All Hallowen summer.”- Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., i. 2.(3) St. Luke's little summer (St. Luke's day is 18th October).
Summer King (The). Amadeus of Spain.
Summons Peter and John de Carvajal, being condemned to death on circumstantial evidence, appealed without success to Ferdinand IV. of Spain. On their way to execution they declared their innocence, and summoned the king to appear before God within thirty days. Ferdinand was quite well on the thirtieth day, but was found dead in his bed next morning. (See Wishart.)
Summum Bonum The chief excellence; the highest attainable good.
SOCRATES said knowledge is virtue,
and ignorance is vice.
ARISTOTLE said that happiness is the greatest good.
BERNARD DE MANDEVILLE
and HELVETIUS contended that self-interest is the perfection of the ethical end.
BENTHAM and MILL
were for the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
HERBERT SPENCER places it in those actions
which best tend to the survival of the individual and the race.
LETOURNEAU places it in utilitarianism.
Sumpter Horse or Mule. One that carries baggage. (Italian, soma, a burden.) (See Somagia .)
Sumptuary Laws Laws to limit the expenses of food and dress, or any luxury. The Romans had their sumptuary laws (leges sumptuarii). Such laws have been enacted in many states at various times. Those of England were all repealed by 1 James I., c. 25.
Sun Hebrew, Elohim (God); Greek, helios (the sun); Breton, heol; Latin, sol; German, sonne; Anglo-
Saxon, sunne. As a deity, called Adonis by the Phoenicians, and Apollo by the Greeks and Romans.
Sun.
Harris, in his Hermes, asserts that all nations ascribe to the sun a masculine and the moon a feminine
gender. For confutation see Moon.
City of the Sun. Rhodes was so called because the sun was its
tutelar deity. The Colossos of Rhodes was consecrated to the sun. On or Heliopolis, Egypt.
Sun (The), called in Celtic mythology Sunna (fem.), lives in constant dread of being devoured by the
wolf Fenris. It is this contest with the wolf to which eclipses are due. According to this mythology, the
sun has a beautiful daughter who will one day reign in place of her mother, and the world will be wholly
renovated.
Horses of the Sun.
Arvakur, Aslo, and Alsvidur. (Scandinavian mythology.)
Bronte (thunder),
Eoos (day-break), Ethiops (flashing), Ethon (fiery), Erythreos (red-producers), Philoge'a (earth-loving),
Pyrois (fiery). All of them “breathe fire from their nostrils.” (Greek and Latin mythology.)
The horses of
Aurora are Abrax and Phaeton. (See Horse.)
More worship the rising than the setting sun, said Pompey; meaning
that more persons pay honour to ascendant than to fallen greatness. The allusion is, of course, to the
Persian fire-worshippers.
Heaven cannot support two suns, nor earth two masters. So said Alexander
the Great when Darius (before the battle of Arbela) sent to offer terms of peace. Beautifully imitated by
Shakespeare:-
“Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere;Here lies a she-sun, and a he-moon there (Donne). Epithalamium on the marriage of Lady Elizabeth, daughter of James I., with Frederick, elector palatine. It was through this unfortunate princess, called “Queen of Bohemia” and “Queen of Hearts,” that the family of Brunswick succeeded to the British throne. Some say that Lord Craven married (secretly) the “fair widow.”
Nor can one England brook a double reign,
Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales.”
1 Henry IV., v. 4.