SYMPLEGADES. —SYRACUSE.

are acknowledged by all Christians; therefore to theconfessions, so called, which contain the essentialpoints of the belief of the various sects. The HolyScriptures remain the true foundation of faith and therule of the faithful ; but the symbolic confessionsare intended to give a shorf sketch of the opinions ofall the members of each religious sect, respecting thetruths to be acknowledged as the essential doctrines ofthe Bible, and to prevent arbitrary interpretations of it.Symbols, in this sense, are not put upon an equal footingwith the Bible ; but because, according to the opi-nions of the sect, they contain the sense of the Bible,every one must profess his belief in them, who wishesto be acknowledged as a member of the particulardenomination.

Symplegades. The name of several small rockyislands at the mouth of the Thracian Bosphorus,which were fabled to strike together, and destroyships, as they passed. Juno conducted the Argo-nauts safely through them, and Orpheus renderedthem immovable by his lyre. They were also calledCyanean islands or rocks, from their blue appear-ance.

Synagogue. The place in which the Jews assem-ble on the Sabbath (Saturday) to offer prayers, andlisten to the reading of the Old Testament, and toreligious instruction. They were first introducedafter the Babylonish captivity, and were originallyapplied to purposes of instruction ; but after thedestruction of the temple by the Romans, religiousservices were performed in them. Each synagoguehas a rabbi or president, several elders, a reader,door-keeper, and a receiver of alms. The liturgy ofthe modern Jews, of which there are copies inHebrew and the modern languages, is not very dif-ferent from the Christian liturgies, w hich were formedin imitation of it. It comprises prayers for the Sab-bath, and for the fast and festival days. The date ofits composition is uncertain. The nineteen dailyprayers are recited every day, either in public at thesynagogue, or wherever the person may happen to be.In the time of our Saviour, any person could con-duct the services ; but this duty is now usually dis-charged by a rabbi. The prayers are repeated aloudby the whole assembly.

Syncretism. The attempt to reconcile discordantviews, particularly religious views. There are variousderivations of the word. Plutarch derives it from thename of the island of Crete; the tribes of which, hesays, endeavoured to protect themselves by compactsamong themselves against internal feuds and attacksfrom without. The protestant parties were earlycalled upon to unite, like the Cretans, against theRoman see ; for instance, by professor Pareus,of Heidelberg, towards the end of the sixteenth andthe beginning of the seventeenth century.

In the sixteenth century, when the study of ancientliterature was revived in Italy, and Plato came inrepute, in addition to the general favourite Aristotle,some scholars, as Francis Pico, Bessarion, and others,who honoured Plato much, but were unwilling to giveup Aristotle entirely, were called syncretists. Inthe same way the term syncretism was applied tothe union of the academicians and peripatetics. It wasparticularly used in the Alexandrian school. Thisword came into general use in Germany after thebeginning of the seventeenth century, when GeorgeCalixtus, professor of theology at Helmstadt, havingacquired liberal opinions far in advance of his age,

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attempted a union of the various religious parties.Syncretist then became a word of great odium.

Synonymes, or words having the same significa-tion, strictly speaking, do not exist in any language.Different dialects of the same language may indeedhave different words of the same meaning; but assoon as these pass from the dialect into theliterary or generally adopted language, they eithertake the place of some other word of the same sig-nification, or receive themselves a new shade ofmeaning, and are then added to the others. It is truethat the similarity in the meaning of words is often sogreat that much discrimination is required to ascer-tain the different shade of each word; and an abund-ance of such synonymes proves great discriminationin a language. The languages of the East, so rich inmetaphors and imagery, manifest the vivid imagin-ation of its inhabitants, while most of the languagesof Western Europe, by their numerous synonymes,demonstrate the acuteness of those who speak them.The Arabian language, equally distinguished for thecopiousness of its imagery, and the number of its sy-nonymes, strikingly exhibits the wit, imagination, anddiscrimination of this people. The more a nation ad-vances in civilisation, the more it classifies ideas, unitesthe various species under the genus, and the moresynonymes are required, as they are words which, witha general resemblance, have characteristic differences,as cruelty and atrocity, riches and treasures. Syno-nymes form an important subject of philological study,and one which requires much knowledge of the ety-mology and history of the language investigated. ..

Syracuse. Anciently the chief city of Sicily, andone of the most magnificent cities in the world. Theancient city was of a triangular form, twenty-twomiles in circuit, and consisted of four parts, sur-rounded by distinct walls, namely, Ortygia, betweenthe two harbours; Acradina, extending along theseaside; Tyche, so called from its containing a templeof Fortune, an inland division; and Neapolis, formingthe western part. At present, the only part inhabitedis the south-east corner, containing Ortygia and apart of Acradina. It is insulated, walled, and enteredby draw-bridges. The streets are regular, but narrow,and the houses tolerably built. It contains an hos-pital, and a number of churches and convents. Thecathedral ia the ancient temple of Minerva. Thepapyrus is found in the neighbourhood. Syracuse wasfounded by a colony of Corinthians, b.c. 736. It soonbecame the largest and most wealthy city in Sicily,and, according to Thucydides, possessed a greaterpopulation than Athens or any other Grecian city.It was at one time governed as a republic, at anotherby Gelon, Hiero, Dionysius, and other rulers. It wasbesieged, b.c. 414, by the Athenians; and again,b.c. 215, by the Romans, under Marcellus and Appius.It was defended near three years by the genius andenterprise of Archimedes, but at last fell into thehands of the Romans, and continued in their pos-session till the downfall of their empire.

Here are remains of the ancient amphitheatre, ofan oval form, 300 feet in length and 200 in breadth :the arena, seats, and passages of communication, werecut out of the rock. The catacombs still exist, andform a remarkable feature of Syracuse. (They areonly seven or eight feet high; but their extent is suchthat they form a kind of subterranean city, with anumber of narrow' streets, some of'which are saidto be a mile long, and contain tombs and sepulchral