STYLITES.  See PILLAR-SAINTS.

STYMPHALIAN BIRDS, fabulous birds with brazen claws, wings, and beaks, that used their feathers as arrows, ate human flesh, and infested Arcadia; Hercules startled them with a rattle, and with his arrows either shot them or drove them off.

STYRIA (1,281), a central duchy of Austria, stretching in a semicircle from Upper Austria and Salzburg on the NW. to Croatia and Slavonia on the SE., and flanked by Hungary on the E.; a mountainous region crossed by various eastern ranges of the Alpine system, and drained by the Drave, Save, Inn, and other rivers; more than half lies under forest; agriculture flourishes, but mineral products, iron, salt, coal, &c., constitute the chief wealth.  The principal manufactures are connected therewith; was joined to the Austrian crown in 1192.

STYX, name (from the Greek verb signifying “to abhor”) of the principal river of the nether world, which it flows sluggishly round seven times; is properly the river of death, which all must cross to enter the unseen world, and of which, in the Greek mythology, Charon was the ferryman.  In their solemn engagements it was by this river the gods took oath to signify that they would forego their godhood if they swore falsely.  The Styx was a branch of the Great Ocean which girds the universe.  See OCEANUS.

SUAKIN or SAWAKIN (11), a seaport under Egyptian control, and since the Mahdi’s revolt garrisoned by the English, on the Nubian coast of the Red Sea; stands on a rocky islet, and is connected with El Keff on the mainland by a causeway; is the starting-point of caravans to Berber and Khartoum, and as such has a large transit trade, exporting silver ornaments, ivory, gums, hides, gold, &c.; here African pilgrims to Mecca embark to the number of 6000 or 7000 annually.

SUAREZ, FRANCISCO, scholastic philosopher, born at Grenada; after joining the Jesuit body became professor of Theology at Coimbra, attempted to reconcile realism with nominalism, and adopted in theology a system called “Congruism,” being a modification of Molinism; wrote a “Defence of the Catholic Faith against the Errors of the Anglican Sect” at the instance of the Pope against the claims of James I. in his oath of allegiance (1548-1617).

SUBAHDAR, a title given to governors of provinces in the times of the Mogul dynasty, now bestowed upon native officers in the Indian army holding rank equivalent to an English captaincy.

SUBIACO (7), an ancient and interesting town of Central Italy; occupies a pleasant site amid encircling hills on the Teverone, 32 m.  E. by N. of Rome; has a quaint, mediaeval appearance, and is overlooked by an old castle, a former residence of the Popes; there are two Benedictine monasteries dating from the 6th century, and in a grotto near St. Benedictine lived, in his youth, a hermit life for three years.

SUBJECTIVE, THE, that, in contrast to objective, which rests on the sole authority of consciousness, and has no higher warrant.