Sow (Hastings' Dictionary)

See Swine. SOWER, SOWING. -See AORICULTURK. SPAIN (i:iraWa).-The S.-W. peninsula of Europe 1 .nvvn to the Greeks as 'EcrTepIo or 'I^W'". t « Jitter nn?e be ng derived from the river -I^^P (tlie moder Ebro) The Roman name was //«;>«»,a^ The i- \ormation of the tJreeks .about the .oun y w s somewhat vague. «i^^>altar was one of^the Pillars of Hercules, and Herodotus (iv. 8) sp^^k SPAN SPEAK 609 of Gades (TiSapa) as lying beyond these. Spain !

iad lieen colonized In very early times by the I'hoonirians. Strabo (I. iii. 2) refers to settlements beyond the I'illars of Hercules soon after the Trojan war. The country first comes into the clear light of hi.story in connexion with its con- quest by the CarthaLjinians, a Phoenician jjeople, between B.C. 237 and 218. In the second Tunic war (li.C.

21&-2UO) the Romans conquered that portion of Spain which had been subdued by Carthage, and divided it into Ilispania cilerior and Hixpania ulterior, \\\e Ebro being the boundary between the two. The northern and western parts of the peninsula remained unsubdued, and the conquest of them proceeded only gradually.

It was greatly advanced by the operations of Pompej' and Caesar, and was finally completed under Augustus, who divided the country into three provinces, Birtica in the south, Tarraconensis in the north, and Lusitania (the modern Portugal) in the west. The first-named province was sena- torial, and the other two were imperial. The mineral wealth of Spain is greater and more varied than that of any other country in Europe.

Copper, lead, and quicksilver are abundant, an<l silver and gold are also found. It was the mines of Spain which "ave the country its chief >alue for its ancient colonists and conquerors. The river Ba:tis (Guadalquivir), and also the surrounding country, had the name Ta/jTijirffis, which was derived from that of the inhabitants {Turti) (Herod, iv. 152; Strabo, III. ii. 11 ti'.) With this locality the c-pnn of the Hebrews is generally identifieii (but see Tarshish).

The other Scripture references to Spain are few, and in all of them liravla, a form of the Roman name, takes the place of the older Greek ones. 1 Mac 8' refers to the Roman conquest, and to the acquisition of the gold and sliver mines. On his third Missionary Journey the Apostle Paul formed the purpose of extending his evangelistic labours into the lands west of Greece. In writing to the Corinthians from Macedonia he indicated his intention of preaching the gospel in ' the ii.'

uts beyond' them (2 Co 10") ; and in writing a little later from Corinth to Rome he explained his pur- pose as specially including Italy and Spain (Ko J524.211) whether he ever carried out this inten- tion as regards Spain is a matter of much disjiute, and the question is important only from its con- nexion with that of the authenticity of the Pastoral Epistles. St. Paul certainly did not visit Spain before his first Roman iniprisunment.

On the hypothesis of his liberation and second imprisonment he may have done so at a later time. The Pastoral Epistles themselves only refer to his journeyings in the eastern iiart of the Mediterranean ; but if the fact of his liberation be admitted, credence may be given to the statement of Clement of Rome (1st Ep. i. 4), that the ajiostle, before his martyrdom, preached the gosi>el ' to the extremity of the west ' {(irl t4 ripii-a t^s Suaewt).

Clement's expression naturally suggests Si)ain, and the Muratorian Canon shows that the apostle's visit to Spain was an accepted tradition of the Church before the end of the 2nd cent. It says that l.uke in the narrative of the Acts omits ' profcrtionem Pauli ab urbe ad Spaniam prolicis- centis' (see PAUL, vol. iii. p. 714'). See, further, Lightfoot, Clement, I.e., and Bihlicnl Essays, 423 11"., where the whole of the evidence is collected. Jamks Patrick. SPAN See Weights and Measures.