Sabina, Saint and Martyr, was a pious and noble widow who had been converted to Christianity by Sera- pia, a virgin of Antioch who lived in her house (in what station is not known). Serapia was required to sacrifice to the gods, but refused ; and when the presid- ing judge commanded her to offer to Christ instead, she replied, "I sacrifice to him continually, and pray to liim day and night." To the inquiry, "AVhere is the tem- ple of your Christ, and what sacrifices do you offer?" she responded, " I offer myself in chastity and purity, and endeavor to persuade others to the same course ; for it is written, 'Ye are the temple of the living God.'" Thereupon the judge delivered her up to two Egyptians that they might violate her chastity; but they were smitten by divine power with blindness and terror, and were unable to accomplish their purpose. This result was attributed to the magical arts of Serapia, and she was subjected to various tortures, and finally beheaded. Sabina had the remains of her sainted teacher interred in her own tomb, and was soon called to suffer a similar fate. She endured joyfully for Christ, and was laid by the side of her companion. 'The year of their martyr- dom was about A.D. 125, as both Tillemont and the Bollandists assume; the place, according to Tillemont, some town in Li^mbria, but according to the Bollandists, the city of Rome. Roman Catholic scholars are not agreed respecting the character of such ancient "Acts" of this saint as still exist ; some, like Baronius, regard- ing them as " sincerissima," while others, like Tillemont {Monum. vol. ii), acknowledge them to be ancient, but doubt whether their antiquity reaches back to the time when these martyrs suffered, and also whether interpo- lations have not been added. The Bollandists decide, " nobis non videntur fide indigna, etiamsi non careant omni n.-evo" (see the Bollandists, in Act. SS. MM. Se- rapia et Sabince ad 29 Augusti). The relics of the two confessors were transferred in A.D. 430 to a new church erected in their honor at Rome. — Wctzer u. Welte, Kirchen-Lexikon, s. v.
Sabiuian. See Sabinianus.
Sabinianus, Pope, was a native of Volterra, and was elected bishop of Rome after the deafch of Gregory I, or the Great, Sept. 13, A.D. G04. He had been em- ployed on a mission to the court of Phocas, the usurper of the Eastern empire. He is said to have shown him- self avaricious and fond of hoarding, and to have there- by incurred the popular hatred. Sabinianus died in about eighteen months after his election (Feb. 22, A.D. GOG), and was succeeded, after a vacancy of nearly one year, by Boniface III, the first bishop of Rome wlio was acknowledged by the imperial court of Constantinople as primate of the whole Church. See Hoefer, s. v.
Sabotiers, a name given to the Waldenses, from the sabots (sandals) worn by the French peasantrj'. The sabots of the Waldenses were, however, distin- guished by a painted cross — insubbatati — or else by sandals tied crosswise. They are described in an epis- tle of Innocent III as '"calciamenta desuper apcrta" (In- nocent, Ep. XV, 137) ; and other writers speak of the Waldenses as wearing sandals, after the custom of the apostles, and as walking with naked feet. Ebrard speaks of them eontemptuously as assuming this name themselves: "Xabatenses a xabata potius, quam Chri- stiani a Christo, se volunt appellari." The custom was doubtless adopted in imitation of the voluntary poverty
SABTA
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SACCOPHORI
of the apostles, and in accordance with the names "Pan- peres de Lugduno" and " De Lombardia," which they as- sumed (Kbrard, Contr. Waldens. in Bibl. Luijd. [1572], xxiv).— Blunt, Diet, of Sects, s. v.
Sab'ta (Ileb. Sabta', XP^D, of unknown etymolo- gy ; Sept. S«/3o^a v. r. Sa/iara, 1 Chron. i, 9 ; in Gen. X, 7 the lleb. [in most MSS.] is Sabtdh', nPlZD ; Sept. l'«/3((^« ; Eng. Vers. " Sabtah"), the third named of the five sons of Cush, the son of Ham. B.C. cir. 247o. His descendants appear to have given name to a region of the Cushites (Gen. x, 7; 1 Chron. i, 9). See Cusii,
In accordance with the identitications of the settle- ments of the Cusliites in the art. Akabia and else- where, Sabtah should be looked for along the southern coast of Arabia. Tliere seem to be no traces in Arabic writers; but the statements of I'liny (vi, 32, § 155; xii, 32), Ptolemy (vi, 7, p. 411), and Anon. PeripL (27), re- specting Sdhbathu, Sabotu, or Subotale, metropolis of the Atramitaj (probably the Chatramotitaj), seem to point to a trace of the tribe which descended from Sab- la, always supposing that this city Sabbatha was not a corruption or dialectic variation of Saba, Seba, or Sheba. See Sheba. It is only necessary to remark here that the indications afforded by the Greek and Komau writers of Arabian geography require very cau- tious handling, presenting, as they do, a mass of con- tradictions and transparent travellers' tales respecting the unknown regions of Arabia the Happy, Arabia Thurifera, etc. Ptolemy places Sabbatha in long. 77^, lat. IG^ 30'. It was an important city, containing no less than sixty temples (Pliny, N, II. vi, 23, 32) ; it was also situate in the territory of king Elisarus, or Eleazus (comp. Anon. PeripL ap. jMuUer, Geof/. Min. p. 278, 279), supposed by Fresnel to be identical with '•Ascharides," or "Alascharissoun" in Arabic {Journ. Asiat. Nouv. Serie, x, 191). Winer thinks the identifi- cation of Sabta with Sabbatha, etc.. to be probable; and it is accepted by Bunsen (^Bibdwerk, Gen. x, and Atlas). It certainly occupies a position in which we should expect to tind traces of Sabta, where are traces of Cushitic tribes in very early times, on their way, as we hold, from their earlier colonies in Ethiopia to the Euphrates. Gesenius, who sees in Cush only Ethiopia, '• has no doubt that Sabta should be compared with 2o/3rtr, 2a/3a, "EajSai (see Strabo, xvi, p. 770, ed. Ca- saub. ; Ptolemy, iv, 10), on the shore of the Arabian Gulf, situated just where Arkiko is now, in the neigh- borhood of which the Ptolemies hunted elephants. Among the ancient translators, Pseudo- Jonathan saw the true meaning, rendering it '^XT^D, for which read ''XlwQ, i. e. the Senibrilce, whom Strabo (/. c. p. 78G) places in the same region. Josephus (.1?!^ i, G, 1) un- derstands it to be the inhabitants of Astabora" ((Jese- nius, ed. Tregelles, s. v.). Here the etymology of Sab- ta is compared plausibly with Sn/jfir ; but when prob- ability is against his being found in Ethiopia, etymology is of small value, especially when it is remembered that Sabat and its variations (Sabax, Sabai) may be related to iSeba, which certainly was in Ethiopia. On the Rab- binical authorities wliich he quotes we place no value. It onlj' remains to add that Michaelis (Supjil. p. 1712) removes Sabta to Ceuta, opposite Gibraltar, called in Arabic Sebtah (comp. Manisid, s. v.) ; and that Bochart {Phale(j, i, 114, 115, 252 sq.), while he mentions Sabba- tha, prefers to place Sabta near tlie western shore of the Persian (Jidf, with the Saphtha of Ptolemy, the name also of an island in that gulf. — Smith. Sab'tali (Gen. x, 7). See Sabta. Sab'techa (Heb. Sabteka', NZPHO, etymology unknown ; Sept. in Gen. ^afia^ccKu v. r. 2o/3f(/ca3« ; in Chron. A. V. '• Sabtechah ;" ^ifitBaxd v- r. EtKci^a), the last named of the five sons of Cush, the son of Ham. B.C. cir. 2475. His descendants seem to have given name to a people in Ethiopia (Gen. x, 7 ; 1 Chron. i, 9). See Cusii, " Their settlements would probably be near