THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
permit even an approximate conclusion as to whether it was derived from Zoroastrianism or from Platonism or from some syncretism in which both elements had already been blended.
R. LlECHTENHAN.
Bibliography: The sources are: Irenceus, Hcer., I., xxiv. 1-2, Eng. transl. in A.XF, i. 348-349; Tertullian, De anima, xxiii., in AXF, iii. 203; Hippolytus, Hcer., VII., xvi., in AXF, v. 109-110; Eusebius, Hist, eccl., IV., vii. 3-4, in A'PXF, i. 178; Epiphanius, Hwr., xxiii. Consult further: DCB, iv. 587-588; and the literature under Gnosticism.
SATURNINUS, SAINT: Missionary and martyr of the third century. He was a native of Italy and was sent as a missionary to Gaul by Pope Fabian (c. 245). He settled at Toulouse and there labored with considerable success, becoming first bishop of the town. Later his preaching infuriated the mob, and he was martyred by being bound to a bull which was maddened by goads. He became the patron saint of Toulouse, and is commemorated on Nov. 29.
SAUER, sau'er, JOSEPH: German Roman Catholic; b. at Unzhurst (a village near Buhl, 25 m. s.s.w. of Carlsruhe), Baden, June 7, 1872. He was educated at University of Freiburg (1891-94, 1896-97; D.D., 1900), and, after being a parish priest and teacher at Sasbach, Baden, in 1898-99, studied in France and Italy in 1900-02, devoting himself especially to Christian archeology. In 1902 he became privat-docent for church history and archeology in the theological faculty of the University of Freiburg, where he was promoted to his present position of associate professor of the same subjects in 1905. In addition to editing the Literarische Rundschaufiir das katholische Deutschland since 1905 and preparing and editing the second part of the second volume of F. X. Kraus' Geschichte der christlichen Kunst (Freiburg, 1907), he has written Symbolik des Kirchengebaudes und seiner Ausstattung in der Auffassung des Mittelalters (1902).
SANKARACHARYA: Hindu philosopher. See India, I., 2, § 2.
SAUL, sel: First king of Israel. His dates, according to the old chronology, are 1099-1059; later chronographers bring down the end of his reign to 1017, and give much less than the forty years ascribed to him (Acts xiii. 21). His dates are in confusion; in his third year his son Jonathan was old enough to have command of a body of men (I Sam. xiii. 2); Josephus (Ant., X., viii. 4) gives the length of his reign as twenty years; modern scholarship reduces even this to ten or nine years.
Saul was the son of Kish, a Benjaminite of Gibeah. The sources describe him as of unusual height and of prepossessing appearance, while in the first years of his reign he distinguished himself by his modest bearing, ability, and courage. In obedience to a divine revelation Samuel secretly anointed him king, and had this ratified at a later assembly of the people at Mizpah, where the use of the lot resulted in the choice of Saul. The latter continued for a time his residence in Gibeah, accompanied by a small volunteer guard. When the Ammonites assailed Jabesh-gilead, he summoned all Israel to the
defense and utterly defeated the assailants. The kingdom was thus securely established, and Samuel retired (see Samuel).
Nearly the whole of Saul's reign was filled with wars, particularly against the Philistines who had attained such supremacy that the Israelites were not permitted to bear arms. Saul assembled an army of 3,000 men, 2,000 of whom he took with him to Michmash, and 1,000 he sent under Jonathan to Gibeah. Jonathan began the war by assaulting the garrison of the Philistines at Gibeah. When the Israelite army was assembled at Gilgal awaiting the appearance of Samuel, who was to offer the sacrifice, Samuel did not appear at the time he had set and Saul became impatient and himself offered the sacrifice. For this he was sternly rebuked by the prophet and the end of his reign foretold. Saul on this occasion for the first time showed his selfwilled character, which was incompatible with the position which the anointed of the Lord was to take in Israel. There are some difficulties in the text, no directions appearing to have issued from Samuel before I Sam. xiii. 8 to the effect that Saul was to await him (cf. I Sam. x. 8). The most likely solution is that the latter passage has been transposed in editing and properly belongs immediately before xiii. 7. The war was continued by a bold feat of arms on the part of Jonathan, which came near costing him his life because of an imprudent oath of Saul's. Another act of disobedience to the voice of God was committed by Saul in the war with the Amalekites. This war was to be a holy war of vengeance for old acts of aggression and for new insults. Saul was victorious and took Agag prisoner, whereby Num. xxiv. 7, 20 was fulfilled; but he failed to carry out the command of extermination. Samuel met him again at Gilgal and foretold the loss of his kingdom (xv. 22-23).
After this second conflict Saul's degeneration was rapid. Sanmel secretly anointed David king, and a melancholy fell upon Saul which could be dispelled only by David's playing. Driven by jealousy, Saul sought to destroy David. He refused to fulfil his promise to give him his daughter Mirab in marriage but gave him her sister Michal. David then had a narrow escape with the help of Michal from the emissaries of Saul, and Saul pursued the fugitive as far as Ramah, the home of Samuel. There, the spirit of the prophetic school that had settled in the place seized upon him as it had once before his accession to the throne. But the bitterness of Saul's spirit is shown by his slaughtering the eighty-five innocent priests of Nob. During his subsequent pursuit of David he was forced in shame to endure the latter's magnanimity, but his repentance was only transient.
Saul's end was sad. Abandoned by all good spirits, he sought out the witch of Endor to learn from the lips of the departed Samuel what his fate was to be. Hostilities had again broken out with the Philistines, and Saul learned that he and his sons were to perish the next day on the battle-field. The prophecy was fulfilled. Saul's sons were slain and he fell on his own sword. David recovered his body and buried it in the family tomb. The personality of Saul rests on the firm basis of