RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Sennacherib Sequence
proceed with rigor against the Christians. Naturally the emperor, with his strict conception of law, did not hinder such partial persecution, which took place in Egypt and the Thebaid, as well as in proconsular Africa and the East. Christian martyrs were numerous in Alexandria (cf. Clement, Strom., ii. 20; Eusebius, Hist, eccl., V., xxvi., VI., i. sqq.). No less severe were the persecutions in Africa, which seem to have begun in 197 or 198 (cf. Tertullian's Ad martyr es), and included the Christians known in the Roman martyrology as the martyrs of Madaura. Probably in 202 or 203 Felicitas and Perpetua (q.v.) suffered for their faith. Persecution again raged for a short time under the proconsul Scapula in 211, especially in Numidia and Mauritania. Later accounts of a Gallic persecution, especially at Lyons, are legendary. In general it may thus be said that the position of the Christians under Septimius Severus was the same as under the Antonines; but the law of this emperor at least shows clearly that the rescript of Trajan had failed to execute its purpose. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Sources are: The history of Dio Cassius, chaps, lxxiv.— lxxvi., lxxx. ; the work on Severus by Spartianus; Lapridius's Alexander Severus; and Herodian, Historia, books v.— vi. Consult further: C. Fuchs, Geschichte des Kaisers L. Septimius Severus, Vienna, 1884; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chaps, v.-vi.; G. Uhlhorn, Der Kampf des Christenthums, pp. 284 sqq., Stuttgart, 1875; B. Aube, Hist, des persecutions de I'eglise, pp. 53 sqq., Paris, 1875; H. Schiller, Geschichte der romischen Kaiserzeit, i. 2, pp. 705 sqq., Gotha, 1883; J. Reville, La Religion a Rome sous les Severes, Paris, 1885; P. Allard, Hist, des persecutions pendant la premiere moitii du Hi. siecle, ib. 1886; K. J. Neumann, Der romische Staat und die allgemeine Kirche, i. 95 sqq., Leipsic, 1890; A. Linsenmayer, Die Bekampfung des Christentums durch den romischen Staat, 109 sqq., 117 sqq., Munich, 1905.
SEPTUAGESIMA. See Church Year; and Lent. SEPTUAGINT. See Bible Versions, A, I., 1. SEPULCHER, HOLY. See Holy Sepulcher.
SEQUENCE: A hymn or chant sung on certain days in the mass after the gradual and before the Gospel. The term was originally a musical one, applied to the series of tones sung after (hence its name) the last syllable of the Hallelujah belonging to the versicle between the epistle and Origin and the Gospel, and it probably translated
Develop- the Greek akolouthia, the word by ment. which Byzantine writers on music denoted the heirmos ("melody"). For the Hallelujah see Liturgics, III. The melodies of the sequences, the oldest extant choir-books of which date from the tenth century, gave rise to one of the most important discoveries both for religious and for secular song and poetry. Notker (q.v.), a monk of St. Gall, was inspired to reduce these melodies to a system by a West-Frankish antiphonary, brought from Jumieges (near Rouen) when the Normans devastated that monastery (apparently in 862). In this antiphonary some verses were modulated in accordance with the sequences, and they possessed sufficient charm for him to imitate them, and he succeeded in producing regular sequences with double versicles of equal length, though the simple sequences without the response are the older form. In all this acquaintance with Greek
hymnody was also undoubtedly a factor. Greek hymns had been translated into Latin during the reign of Charlemagne, and traces of such work have been preserved at St. Gall. But although Notker was unquestionably the discoverer of the sequence, the extent of his activity is entirely unknown. In France the composition of sequences proceeded along the lines laid down at St. Gall. Side by side with the old ways that admitted of no alteration, other hallelujah melodies and musical motifs gave rise to new sequence melodies. Rhythm became a conscious aim, and the words were adapted to the melody, syllable for syllable. The sequences of Limoges differed from those of St. Gall by the final assonance of the versicles in -a (under the influence of the word hallelujah); rhythm within the verse made steady progress; and finally the old verses of most unequal length developed into rhythmical and riming lines, from which, in the twelfth century, Adam of St. Victor made a selection, which he combined in strophes and thus helped to become predominant over the rest. In the St. Gall sequences the syllabic system is, in general, strictly followed, and elision is rare, while the lines are of unequal length; in Adam of St. Victor all this is changed, and melody and text are entirely independent. The spirit in which sequences were composed is indicated by Gottschalk of Limpurg, who declared that he drew his words from Jerome (the Bible) and his melody from Gregory (the Sacramentary) .
Though in liturgical books the sequences are usually given without their authors' names, a number of such composers are known: besides Notker and Adam, Ekkehart I. and II., Fulbert (author of the "Sonent regi nato"), Waltramm, Berno, Hermannus Contractus, Henricus Monachus (author of the "Ave prseclara maris stella"), Wipo Names of (author of the "Victimae paschali"),
Composers Gottschalk of Limpurg, Innocent III. and (author of the " Veni Sancte Spiritus "),
Sequences, and Thomas Aquinas (author of the "Lauda Sion salvatorem"). Later the sequence lost many of its characteristic features, especially under the influence of the hymn, from which it always differed, however, in that its melody was continuous, even though its strophes might be metrically or rhythmically equal. The text frequently contained a refrain, due to the fact that the same cadence was repeated at the close of the versicles. In the older manuscripts the melodies are denoted by "neumes," which passed through various stages of development until they were superseded by the system of staff notation. The older sequence melodies also have distinct names, many of which are of uncertain meaning. Here belong the beginning of the hallelujah Psalm verse generally sung on a particular feast, as the "Dies sanctificatus" for Christmas; names of musical instruments, Organa, Fidicula, Symphonia, Tuba; loan-words or translations from the Greek, Grceca, Hypodiaconissa, Romana, Hieronyma; and probably allusions to older melodies, Puella turbata, Planctus sterilis, Berta vetula, Vaga, etc.
The composition of sequences reached its climax with Adam of St. Victor (q.v.). He, like Notker, probably adopted to some extent popular melodies
Sequence Sergius