SIRICIUS  ,

pope from December 384 to November 399, successor of Damasus . Siricius was averse from countenancing the influence of the monks, and did not treat Jerome with the favour with which he had been honoured by preceding popes, with the result that Jerome left Rome and settled at Bethlehem . Some years later, however, Siricius condemned the anti-ascetic doctrines of Jovinianus . Several of the decretal letters of Siricius are extant, in which, at the request of certain groups of Western bishops, he sets forth the rules of ecclesiastical discipline . It was under his pontificate that a general council was convened at Capua in 391, at which various Eastern affairs were brought forward . Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, at the request of Siricius, had two important disputes settled by two councils held in 393 at Caesarea and Contantinople, relating respectively to the sees of Antioch and Bostra . The council of Capua, inspired by the pope, deferred to the council of Macedonia the affair of Bonosus, bishop of Sardinia, who had been accused of heresy . TO safeguard the authority of the Holy See over the bishops of Illyricum, Siricius entrusted his powers to the bishop of Thessalonica, who was henceforth the vicar of the pope in those provinces . In 386 Siricius had protested against the attitude of Bishop Ithacius, the accuser of Priscillian, and this protest he resolutely maintained, although he disapproved of the doctrines other game, with which they abound . The climate of Sirmur varies with the elevation; the northern extremity has very little rain; but large and excellent crops are everywhere to be obtained by irrigation . The population in 1901 was 135,687, showing an increase of 9% in the decade . Estimated gross revenue, £40,000 .

The

chief, whose title is raja, is a Rajput of high lineage . The raja Shamsher Perkash, G.C.S.I., who died in 1898, ruled with remarkable ability and success . A younger son commanded the Imperial Service sappers in the Tirah campaign of 1896-97, and was rewarded with the rank of honorary captain in the Indian army and the distinction of C.I.E . Attempts have been made to establish an iron foundry, and to develop mines of slate and mica . The town of Nahan is situated about 40 M . S. of Simla, 3057 ft. above the sea-level . The palace of the raja and several other houses are built of stone in European style . It had a population in 1901 of 6256 .