Syrus, Publius, a slave brought to Rome, and on account of his wit manumitted by his master; made his mark by composing memoirs and a collection of pithy sayings that appear to have been used as a school-book; flourished in 45 B.C.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Syrtis, Major and Minor * Système de la Nature