There are also some extant fragments concerning geography. In his astronomical writ-
ings, he refers to the work of B, particularly regarding his astronomical esti-
mate that the lifespan of the kosmos was to be 6,000 years. He is significant for
promoting Indian sciences, particularly mathematics and astronomy, in addition to Greek
learning, and may indeed be the first external writer to refer to the Indian numerical
system. Severus continued to write and work until at least 665 CE, just two years before
his death in 667 CE.
W. Wright, A Short History of Syriac Literature (1894) 137–141; PLRE 3 (1992) 1105; Brock (1997) 53,
222 – 223.
Siam Bhayro
S ⇒ A
L. Sextilius Paconianus (26 – 35 CE)
Praetor in 26, strangled in prison in 35, for verses against Tiberius. He is probably the author
of an astronomic poem, of which there survive four hexameters describing the cardinal winds
(Diome ̄de ̄s, de art. Gramm.: GL 1.500.1–4).
GRL §503, 813, 863; H. Wieland, “Pacon. Carm. Frg. 3,” MH 31 (1974) 114–116.
Bruno Centrone
Q. Sextius (5 – 40 CE)
Roman philosopher and scientist, father of S N. Renouncing his state offices
to pursue philosophy, Sextius founded a philosophical sect which, according to S QN
7.32.2, despite its “Roman vigor,” was extinct at its very beginning. Sextius was a moral
philosopher influenced by Stoic and Pythagorean ideas. Nonetheless, his practice of
vegetarianism was not grounded in the doctrine of transmigration of souls, but was rather
justified by hygiene and the contention that practicing butchery forms a habit of cruelty.
Reflecting Stoic dogma is his simile of the wise man with an army marching in a hollow
square, his fighting qualities deployed on every side, so as to be able to withstand any
attack.
RE 2A.2 (1923) 2040–2041 (#10), H. von Arnim.
Bruno Centrone
Sextius Niger (30 – 50 CE)
Writer of handbooks on pharmacology (in Greek), excoriated by D
A (MM, Pr.3) as a woefully inadequate armchair herbalist, a would-be botanist
who thought aloe was “mined” in Judea (Sextius Niger was probably describing the pre-
pared form of aloe-juice, which was set out in trays to harden in the sun, then cut into
lozenges to be re-melted or dissolved as needed), and could not differentiate spurges from
spurge-olives. Despite his condemnation, Dioskouride ̄s employs – as does P – Sextius
Niger’s (lost) works fairly frequently. E.g., Pliny (32.26) names Sextius as his source on beaver
castor, writing that Sextius is diligentissimus medicinae, but what follows is sheer folklore, slightly
corrected by Dioskouride ̄s (2.24). Pliny/Sextius (29.76) prescribes a gutted, decapitated, and
dismembered salamander preserved in honey as an aphrodisiac, while Dioskouride ̄s (2.62)
L. SEXTILIUS PACONIANUS