SEVEN WISE MASTERS, THE, a cycle of stories of Oriental origin. A Roman emperor causes his son to be educated away from the court in the seven liberal arts by seven wise masters. On his return to court his stepmother the empress seeks to seduce him. To avert some danger presaged by the stars he is bound over to a week’s silence. During this time the empress accuses him to her husband, and seeks to bring about his death by seven stories which she relates to the emperor; but her narrative is each time confuted by tales of the craft of women related by the sages. Finally the prince’s lips are unsealed, the truth exposed, and the wicked empress is executed.
The cycle of stories, which appears in many European languages, is of Eastern origin. An analogous collection occurs in Sanskrit, but the Indian original is unknown. Travelling from the east by way of Arabic, Persian, Syriac and Greek, it was known as the book of Sindibâd, and was translated from Greek into Latin in the 12th century by Jean de Hauteseille (Joannes de Alta Silva), a monk of the abbey of Haute-Seille near Toul, with the title of Dolopathos (ed. H. Oesterley, Strassburg, 1873). This was translated into French about 1210 by a trouvère named Herbers as Li Romans di Dolopathos; another French version, Li Romans des sept sages, was based on a different Latin original. The German, English, French and Spanish chap-books of the cycle are generally based on a Latin original differing from these. Three metrical romances probably based on the French, and dating from the 14th century, exist in English. The most important of these is The Sevyn Sages by John Rolland of Dalkeith edited for the Bannatyne Club (Edinburgh, 1837).
The Latin romance was frequently printed in the 15th century, and Wynkyn de Worde printed an English version about 1515. See G. Paris, Deux Rédactions du roman des sept sages de Rome (Paris, 1876, Soc. des. anc. textes fr.); Büchner, Historia septum sapientium . . . (Erlangen, 1889); K. Campbell, A Study of the Romance of the Seven Sages with special reference to the middle English versions (Baltimore, 1898); D. Comparetti, Researches respecting the Book of Sindibâd (Folk-Lore Soc., 1882).
SEVEN WISE MEN OF GREECE, THE, a collective name for
certain sages who flourished c. 620–550 B.C. The generally
accepted list is Bias, Chilon, Cleobulus, Periander, Pittacus,
Solon, Thales (see separate articles), although ancient authorities
differ as to names and number. They obtained great influence
in their respective cities as legislators and advisers, and a reputation
throughout the Greek world. Their rules of life were
embodied in poems and short sayings in common use.
See O. Bernhardt, Die sieben Weisen Griechenlands (1864); F. Bohren, De septem sapientibus (1867); “Septem sapientium carmina et apophthegmata,” with short biographies in F. Mullach, Fragmenta philosophorum Graecorum, i. (1860); H. Wulf in Dissertationes philologicae Halenses, xiii. (1896).
SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD, the name conferred
on a select group of ancient works of art which had obtained
pre-eminence among the sight-seers of the Alexandrian era.
The earliest extant list, doubtless compiled from the numerous
guide books then current in the Greek world, is that of the
epigrammatist Antipater of Sidon (2nd century B.C.). A second
and slightly divergent list from the hand of a Byzantine rhetorician
has been incorporated in the works of Philo of Byzantium.
The monuments are as follows: (1) the pyramids of Egypt,
(2) the gardens of Semiramis at Babylon, (3) the statue of Zeus
at Olympia (see Pheidias), (4) the temple of Artemis at Ephesus,
(5) the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (see Mausoleum), (6) the
Colossus at Rhodes, (7) the Pharos (lighthouse) of Alexandria,
or the Walls of Babylon.
See “Philo” De septem mundi miraculis (ed. Hercher, Paris, 1858).
SEVEN YEARS' WAR (1756–1763), the name given to the European war which arose from the formation of a coalition between Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and Saxony against Prussia, with the object of destroying, or at least crippling, the power of Frederick the Great. Prussia was joined by England, and between England and France, as usual, a maritime and colonial war broke out at the first pretext; this war laid the
foundations of the British empire, for ere the seven campaigns had been fought in Europe, the French dominion in Canada and the French influence in India, in spite of Dupleix, Lally and Montcalm, had been entirely overthrown by the victories of Clive,
Amherst and Wolfe. Great as was the effect of these victories on the history of the world, however, it is at least questionable whether the steadfast resistance of Prussia, almost single-handed as she was-the resistance which laid the solid, if then unseen,
foundations of modern Germany—is not as important a phenomenon, and from the technical military standpoint Rossbach and Leuthen, Zorndorf and Kunersdorf possess an interest which it would be possible perhaps to claim for Plassy and for Quebec, but not for border conflicts in Canada and India. It is not only battles, the distinct and tangible military events, that make
up the story of Frederick’s defence. There are countless marches and manœuvres, devoid of interest as regards their details; but, as indications of the equilibrium of forces in 18th-century warfare,
indispensable to a study of military history as a whole.
Learning of the existence and intentions of the coalition, Frederick determined to strike first, and to that end, during the months preceding the outbreak of hostilities, he concentrated his 150,000 men as follows:—11,000 men in Pomerania to watch the Swedes, 26,000 on the Russian frontier, 37,000 men under Field Marshal Schwerin in Silesia, andPirna. a main body of 70,000 in three columns ready to advance into Saxony at a moment’s notice, the king being in chief command. On the 29th of August 1756 the Saxon frontier was crossed; Dresden was occupied on the 10th of September, the Saxon army, about 14,000 strong, falling back before the invaders to the entrenched camp of Pirna, an almost inaccessible plateau parallel to the Elbe and close to the Bohemian frontier. The secret of the Prussian intentions had been so well kept that the Austrians were still widely disseminated in Bohemia and Moravia. 32,000 men under Field Marshal Browne were at Kolin, and 22,000 under Piccolomini at Olmütz, when on the 31st of August the news of the invasion arrived, and such was their unreadiness that Browne could not advance till the 6th of September, Piccolomini until the 9th. Meanwhile the Prussians, leaving detachments to watch the exits from Pirna, moved up the Elbe and took post at Aussig to cover the investment of the Saxons. Learning of Browne’s approach on the 28th of September, the king, assuming the command of the covering force, advanced yet farther up the Elbe to meet him, and the two armies met at Lobositz (opposite Leitmeritz) on the morning of the 1st of October. The battle began in a thick fog, rendering dispositions very difficult, and victory fell to the Prussians, principally owing to the tenacity displayed by their infantry in a series of disconnected local engagements. The nature of the ground rendered pursuit impossible, and the losses on both sides were approximately equal—viz. 3000 men—but the result sealed the fate of the Saxons, who after a few half-hearted attempts to escape from their entrenchments, surrendered on the 14th of October, and were taken over bodily into the Prussian service. Prussian administrators were appointed to govern the captured country and the troops took up winter quarters.
Campaign of 1757.—The Coalition had undertaken to provide 500,000 men against Prussia, but at the beginning of the year only 132,000 Austrians stood ready for action in northern Bohemia. Against these the king was organizing some 250,000, 45,000 of whom were paid for by British subsidies and disposed to cover Hanover from a Battle of Prague.French attack. After leaving detachments to guard his other frontiers, Frederick was able to take the field with nearly 150,000 men, but these also were scattered to guard a frontier some 200 m. in length—the left wing in Silesia under Schwerin and the duke of Brunswick-Bevern, the centre and right under the king. In April the operations began. Schwerin and Bevern crossed the mountains into Bohemia and united at Jung Bunzlau, the Austrians falling back before them and surrendering their magazines. The king marched from Pirna and Prince Maurice of Dessau from Zwickau on Prague, at which point the various Austrian commands were ordered to concentrate. On the morning of the 5th the whole army, except a column under Field Marshal Daun, was united here under Prince Charles of Lorraine, and the king, realizing the impossibility of
