=Solōn=: of Athens, _c._ 638-558 B.C.; aristocrat, trader, traveller, poet and thinker. Chosen at a time of political and financial crisis as mediator between parties in Attica, and as constitution-maker, he behaved with strict impartiality and self-effacement. We may believe that he visited Egypt, but his intercourse with Croesus (q.v.) is of doubtful warrant. Author of much proverbial wisdom.
=Sophocles=: 496-406 B.C.; second in date, and perhaps in merit, of three great Athenian tragedians; a genial and practical man of the world.
=Sótădes=: a poet at Alexandria _c._ 280 B.C. He wrote songs and satires of a lascivious kind. One account states that in consequence of his abuse he was thrown into the sea in a leaden chest.
=Speusippus=: of Athens, nephew and disciple of Plato, and his successor as head of the Academy (347-339 B.C.); a writer on ethical and dialectical subjects. His character is said to have excelled his intellect.
=Spínthărus=: the best known person of the name was an inferior tragic poet of Heraclea on the Black Sea satirized by Aristophanes and other comedians.
=Stilpo=: a high-minded and sane philosopher of great dialectical acuteness. Founder of the Megarian school, which made a cult of virtue while denying the possibility of knowledge. See also under Demetrius.
=Sulla=: the distinguished Roman general, 138-78 B.C. He took charge of the war against Mithridates in 87 B.C., his capture of Athens taking place in the next year. His love of pleasure resulted in the pimpled face referred to in Plutarch’s article on _Garrulity_. Caecilia Metella was his fourth wife.
=Sýbăris=: the oldest Greek settlement in the southernmost part of Italy, once large, prosperous, and a by-word for effeminate luxury (whence ‘sybarite’); afterwards completely overthrown and destroyed, its place being taken by Thurii (q.v.).
=Taenărum=: now Matapan; cape at the end of the middle prong of the Peloponnese.
=Télĕphus=: king of Mysia at the time of the Trojan war. He was wounded by Achilles, and could only be cured by ‘that which had wounded him’. The remedy turned out to be the rust of Achilles’ spear.
=Tháïs=: a witty and beautiful courtesan of Athens, first associated with Alexander during his Asiatic campaigns and then with Ptolemy in Egypt.