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859 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA sennaoherib $eqnanoe proceed with rigor against the Christians. Natu rally 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 pro consular Africa and the East. Christian martyrs were numerous in Alexandria (cf. Clement, Strom., ii. 20; Eusebius, Hist. ecct., 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 martyres), and included the Christians known in the Roman martyrology as the martyrs of Ma. daura. Probably in 202 or 203 Felicitas and Per petua (q.v.) suffered for their faith. Persecution again raged for a short time under the proconsul Scapula in 211, especially in Numidia and Mauri tania. Later accounts of a Gallic persecution, especially at Lyons, are legendary. In general it may thus be said that the position of the Chris tians under Septimius Severus was the same asunder the Antonines; but the law of this emperor at least shows clearly that the rescript of Trajan had failed to execute its purpose. (A. HAucg.) BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sources are: The history of Die Cassius, chaps. lasiv.-huvi., lux.; the work on Severus by Spar tianus; Lapridius a Alexander Severue: and Herodian, Hidoria, books v.-vi. Consult further: C. Fuchs, Ge achichte dea Kaisers L. Septimius Seeerua, Vienna, 1884; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chaps. v.-vi.; G. Uhihorn, Der Kampf dea Christenthuma, pp. 284 sqq., Stuttgart, 1875; B. Aubl;, Hist. den ptra6cutions de 1'Epliae, pp. 53 sqq., Paris, 1875; H. Schiller, Geschichte der romisehen Kaiser seit, i. 2, pp. 705 sqq., Goths, 1883; J. Reville, La Re ligion h Rome sous lee Sh&es, Paris, 1885; P. Allard, Hist. den persioutiona pendant la yremidre moitill du iii. siacie, ib. 1888; K. J. Neumann, Der r6miache Staat and die allpe fieine Kirche, i. 95 sqq., Leip®ie, 1890; A. Lineenmayer. Die Bekampfunp den Chriatentums durch den rdmiwhen Staat, 109 sqq., 117 sqq.. Munich, 1905. SEPTUAGESIMA. See CHuxcH YEAR; and LENT. SEPTUAGINT. See BIBLE VEBSIONs, A, L, 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
meat. which Byzantine writers on music
denoted the heirmos ("melody"). For
the Hallelujah see LrruRGICS, 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 antipho
nary, brought from Jumtes (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 Se
quences 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
"Laude 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 versicIes. 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, Organs, Fidicula, Symphonia, Tuba; loan-words or translations from the Greek, Ormca, Hypodiaconissa, Romans, Hieronyma; and probably allusions to older melodies, Puelta turbata, Planctzta sterilis, Berta roetula, 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