SYMMES'S HOLE 
 
 
vate citizens fell in this massacre, and all 
their goods were distributed among his 
own partisans. Sylla was now called 
"Perpetual Dictator," but in two years 
retired into private life, and died the year 
following (B.C. 78). 
   Jouy has a good tragedy in French 
 called Sylla (1822), and the character of 
 "Sylla" was a favorite one with Talma, 
 the French   actor.  In  1594, Thomas 
 Lodge produced his historical play called 
 Wounds of Civil War, lively set forth in the 
 True Tragedies of Marius and Sylla. 
 
   Sylli (Signor), an Italian exquisite, who 
walks fantastically, talks affectedly, and 
,thinks himself irresistible. He makes love 
to Cami'ola, "the maid of honor," and fan- 
cies, by posturing, grimaces, and affecta- 
tion, to "make her dote on him." He says 
to her, "In singing, I am a Siren," in 
dancing, a Terpsich6re. "He could tune 
a ditty lovely well," and prided himself 
"on his pretty spider fingers, and the 
twinkling of his two eyes." Of course, 
Cami~Sla sees no charms in these effemi- 
nacies; but the conceited puppy says he 
"is not so sorry for himself as he is for 
her" that she rejects him. Signor Sylli is 
the silliest of all the Syllis.-Massinger, 
The Maid of Honor (1637). (See TAP- 
PERTIT.) 
 
  Sylvia, daughter of Justice Balance, 
and an heiress. She is in love with Cap- 
tain Plume, but promised her father not 
to "dispose of herself to any man without 
his consent." As her father feared Plume 
was too much a libertine to make a steady 
husband, he sent Sylvia into the country to 
withdraw her from his society; but she 
dressed in her brother's military suit, as- 
sumed the name of Jack Wilful, alias 
Pinch, and enlisted. When the names 
were called over by the justices, and that 
 
 
of "Pinch" was brought forward, Justice 
Balance " gave his consent for the recruit 
to dispose of [himself] to Captain Plume," 
and the permission was kept to the letter, 
though not in its intent. However, the 
matter had gone too far to be revoked, 
and the father made up his mind to bear 
with grace what without disgrace he could 
not prevent.-G. Farquhar, The Recruiting 
Officer (1705). 
  I am troubled neither with spleen, colic, nor 
vapors, I need no salts for my stomach, no harts" 
horn for my head, nor any wash for my com- 
plexion. I can gallop all the morning after the 
hunting-horn, and all the evening after a fiddle. 
-Act i. 2. 
 
   Sylvio de Rosalva (Don), the hero 
and title of a novel by C. M. Wieland 
(1733-1813). Don Sylvio, a quixotic be- 
liever in fairyism, is gradually converted 
to common sense by the extravagant de- 
mands which are made on his belief, as- 
sisted by the charms of a mortal beauty. 
The object of this romance is a crusade 
against the sentimentalism and religious 
foolery of the period. 
 
  Symkyn (Symond), nicknamed "Dis- 
dainful," a miller, living at Trompington, 
near Cambridge. His face was round, his 
nose flat, and his skull "pilled as an 
ape's." He was a thief of corn and meal, 
but stole craftily. His wife was the vil- 
lage parson's daughter, very proud and 
arrogant. He tried to outwit Aleyn and 
John, two Cambridge scholars, but was 
himself outwitted, and most roughly han- 
dled  also. - Chaucer, Canterbury  Tales 
("The Reeve's Tale," 1388). 
 
  Symmes's Hole. Captain John Cleve 
Symmes maintained that there was, at 
820 N. lat., an enormous opening through 
the crust of the earth into the globe. The 
place to which it led he asserted to be well 
                                   IV 
 
 
SYLLA 
 
 
65