ve, the
first eight lines rhymed abbaabba, and a sestet, the concluding six lines
arranged variously on a three-rhyme scheme.

SONS OF THE PROPHETS. See NEBIIM.

SONTAG, HENRIETTA, a German singer, born at Coblenz; made her
_debut_ at 15; had a brilliant career twice over (1806-1854).

SOOCHOO (500), a large city in China, 50 m. NW. of Shanghai; is
intersected by canals, walled all round, and manufactures fine silk.

SOPHERIM, THE, the name by which the SCRIBES (q. v.) are
designated in Jewish literature.

SOPHIA, ELECTRESS OF HANOVER, youngest daughter of ELIZABETH,
QUEEN OF BOHEMIA (q. v.), and mother of George I. (1630-1714).

SOPHIA, ST., the personification of the Divine wisdom, to whom, as
to a saint, many churches have been dedicated, especially the Church of
Constantinople.

SOPHIE CHARLOTTE, wife of Friedrich I. of Prussia, born in Hanover,
daughter of Electress Sophia; famous in her day both as a lady and a
queen; was, with her mother, of a philosophic turn; "persuaded," says
Carlyle, "that there was some nobleness for man beyond what the tailor
imparts to him, and even very eager to discover it had she known how";
she had the philosopher Leibnitz often with her, "eagerly desirous to
draw water from that deep well--a wet rope with cobwebs sticking to it
often all she got--endless rope, and the bucket never coming to view"
(1668-1705).

SOPHISTS, a sect of thinkers that arose in Greece, and whose radical
principle it was that we have only a subjective knowledge of things, and
that we have no knowledge at all of objective reality, that things are as
they seem to us, and that we have no knowledge of what they are in
themselves; "on this field," says SCHWEGLER, "they disported,
enjoying with boyish exuberance the exercise of the power of
subjectivity, and destroying, by means of a subjective dialectic, all
that had been ever objectively established," such as "the laws of the
State, inherited custom, religious tradition, and popular belief.... They
form, in short, the German AUFKLAeRUNG (q. v.), the Greek
Illumination (q. v.). They acknowledged only _private_ judgment and
ignored the existence of a judgment that is not private, and has absolute
rights irrespective of the sentiments of the individual."

SOPHOCLES, Athenian tragic poet, born at Colonos, a suburb of
Athens; when but 16, such was his musical talent, he was selected to lead
the choir that sang the song of triumph over the vi