SADOLETO
243
SAFFRON
returned to Rome to aid the pope further in his prepa- rations for the Council of Trent. The next year lie was called on to meet the emperor and the pope at Busseto in an endeavor to effect a peace with France. This was among the last of Sadoleto's labors. He was now far advanced in j-ears; his health gave way in the summer of 1547, and on Oct. 18 he entered into rest. Sadoleto was one of tlie noblest characters of the age ; he belonged to that select circle of high Roman prelates who sincerely desired to do away with the corruptions of their Church, but whose influence was largely coun- teracted by the worldly-minded majorit}'. His works, which are ver}' elegantly written, were printed in 1607 : Sadoleti Opera quce extant Omnia (JMogunt.). His col- lected works, except his Letters, were again issued at Verona in 1737-38, in 4 vols. 4to ; his Epistolarinn Lihri XVII, at Lyons in 1550 ; a better edition of these Let- ters, at Rome, 1759, in 5 vols. 8vo; his work on philoso- phy, at Paris in 1853. See his Life by Florebellus; Joly, Etude sur Sadolet (Caen, 1857): Herzog, Real- Enajklop. xiii, 297-301 ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s. V. (J. P. L.)
Sadoleto, Paolo, an Italian prelate, nephew of the preceding, was born at Modena, 1508. He studied literature and ancient languages at Ferrara, and was in 1533 made assistant of his uncle at the siege of Carpen- tras, and in 1541 governor of Venaissin. In 1544 he succeeded his uncle as bishop, and went to Rome as sec- retary of pope Julius III. At the death of that pontiff, in 1555, he returned to his diocese, and twice again was charged with the governorship of Venaissin, 1560, 1567. He died Feb. 26, 1572, deplored by his people for his excellent qualities and erudition. His Letters and Lat- er Poems were published by abbe Costanzi at the end of his uncle's Letters. See Tiraboschi, Storia della Let- teratura Italiana, vii ; Barjavel, Diet. Hist, du Vaucluse. — Hoefer, Noiiv. Biog. Generale, s. v.
Sadr, in Scandinavian mythology, is a surname of Odin, the principal deity.
Saewulf, supposed to have been a merchant of Gloucester, flourished in 1102, and is noticed by William of Malmesbury. He left in manuscript an account of his travels in the Holy Land, A.D. 1102-3, under the title, Relatio de Pei-egrinatione Saeu-ulji ad Ilierosolg- mam et Terram Sanctum, etc. A French translation was published in Paris, 1839, under the title. Relation des Voyages de Saevnilf a Jerusalem et en Terre-Sainte ; and an English translation is included in Thomas Wright's Early Travels in Palestine (Lond. 1848).
Saffron (nSIS, l-arkom', Sept. KpoKog) occurs only once in the O. T., viz. in Cant, iv, 14, where it is men- tioned along with several fragrant and stimulant sub- stances, such as spikenard, calamus, and cinnamon, trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes {ahalim): we may therefore suppose that it was some substance possessed of similar properties. The name, however, is so simi- lar to the Persian karkam (see Castelli, Lex. Ilept. Col. 1808) and the Greek /cpikoc that we have no difficulty in tracing the Hebrew karkom to the modern crocus or saffron. It is also probable that all three names had one common origin, saffron having from the earliest times been cultivated in Asiatic countries, as it still is in Persia and Cashmere (comp. Theophr. Plant, vi, G; Plinj^, xxi, 17), and especially in ancient Cilicia (Strabo, xiv, 6, 71 ; Dioscor. i, 25). Crocus is mentioned by Hippocrates and Theophrastus. Dioscorides describes the different kinds of it, and Pliny states that the benches of the public theatres were strewn with saf- fron ; indeed, '• the ancients frequently made use of this flower in perfumes. Not only saloons, theatres, and places which were to be filled with a pleasant fra- grance were strewn with this substance, but all sorts of vinous tinctures retaining the scent were made of it, and this costly perfume was poured into small fountains, which diffused the odor which was so highly esteemed. Even fruit and confitures placed before guests, and the
ornaments of the rooms, were spread over with it. It was used for the same purposes as the modem pot- pourri" (Rosenmliller, Bibl. Bot. p. 138). In the pres- ent day a very high price is given in India for saffron imported from Cashmere; native dishes are often col- ored and flavored with it, and it is in high esteem as a stimulant medicine. The common name, saffron, is no doubt derived from the Arabic zafran, as are the cor- responding terms in most of the languages of Europe. To this it may be added that it was a favorite pigment or dye. " Saffron-vested" (/cpoKOTTfTrXof) is a Homeric epithet for aurora or morning, and the crocota was a robe of delicate texture and bright-yellow color, occa- sionally worn by actors and Roman ladies. Its beauty in the landscape is referred to by Homer {Iliad, xiv, 399), Virgil [Geor;/. iv, 182), and Milton {Par. Lost, iv, 700). Nothing, therefore, was more likely than that saffron should be associated with the foregoing fragrant substances in the passage of Canticles, as it still con- tinues to be esteemed by Asiatic nations, and, as we have seen, to be cultivated bj' them. Hasselquist also (T'/flr. p.36), in reference to this Biblical plant, describes the ground between Smyrna and Magnesia as in some places covered with saffron; and Rauwolf mentions gardens and fields of crocus in the neighborhood of Aleppo, and particularizes a fragrant variety in Syria. Kitto (^Phys. Hist, of Palest, p. 321) says that the safHow- er {Cai'thamus tinctorius), a very different plant from the crocus, is cultivated in Syria for the sake of the flowers which are used in dyeing; but the karkom, no doubt, denotes the Crocus sativus.