distinguished himself, like his father, by his enmity to the Romans,
and when he had made sufficient preparations, he declared war
against them. His operations, however, were slow and injudicious;
he wanted courage and resolution, and though he at first obtained
some advantage over the Roman armies, yet his avarice and his
timidity proved destructive to his cause. When Paulus was appointed
to the command of the Roman armies in Macedonia, Perseus showed his
inferiority by his imprudent encampments, and when he had at last
yielded to the advice of his officers, who recommended a general
engagement, and drawn up his forces near the walls of Pydna, B.C. 168,
he was the first who ruined his own cause, and, by flying as soon as
the battle was begun, he left the enemy masters of the field. From
♦Pydna, Perseus fled to Samothrace, but he was soon discovered in his
obscure retreat, and brought into the presence of the Roman conqueror,
where the meanness of his behaviour exposed him to ridicule, and
not to mercy. He was carried to Rome, and dragged along the streets
of the city to adorn the triumph of the conqueror. His family was
also exposed to the sight of the Roman populace, who shed tears on
viewing in their streets, dragged like a slave, a monarch who had
once defeated their armies, and spread alarm all over Italy, by the
greatness of his military preparations, and by his bold undertakings.
Perseus died in prison, or, according to some, he was put to a
shameful death the first year of his captivity. He had two sons,
Philip and Alexander, and one daughter, whose name is not known.
Alexander, the younger of these, was hired to a Roman carpenter, and
led the greatest part of his life in obscurity, till his ingenuity
raised him to notice. He was afterwards made secretary to the senate.
_Livy_, bk. 40, &c.――_Justin_, bk. 33, ch. 1, &c.――_Plutarch_,
_Æmilius Paulus_.――_Florus_, bk. 2, ch. 12.――_Propertius_, bk. 4,
poem 12, li. 39.
♦ ‘Pydua’ replaced with ‘Pydna’
=Persia=, a celebrated kingdom of Asia, which, in its ancient state,
extended from the Hellespont to the Indus, above 2800 miles, and
from Pontus to the shores of Arabia, above 2000 miles. As a province,
Persia was but small, and according to the description of Ptolemy,
it was bounded on the north by Media, west by Susiana, south by the
Persian gulf, and east by Carmania. The empire of Persia, or the
Persian monarchy, was first founded by Cyrus the Great, about 559
years before the christian era, and under the succeeding monarchs
it became one of the most considerable and powerful kingdoms of the
earth. The kings of Persia began to reign in the following order:
Cyrus, B.C. 559; Cambyses 529; and, after the usurpation of Smerdis
for seven months, Darius, 521; Xerxes the Great, 485; Artabanus seven
months, and Artaxerxes Longimanus, 464; Xerxes II., 425; Sogdianus
seven months, 424; Darius II., or Nothus, 423; Artaxerxes II., or
Memnon, 404; Artaxerxes III., or Ochus, 358; Arses, or Arogus, 337;
and Darius III., or Codomanus, 335, who was conquered by Alexander
the Great, 331. The destruction of the Persian monarchy by the
Macedonians was easily effected, and from that time Persia became
tributary to the Greeks. After the death of Alexander, when the
Macedonian empire was divided among the officers of the deceased
conqueror, Seleucus Nicanor made himself master of the Persian
provinces, till the revolt of the Parthians introduced new
revolutions in the east. Persia was partly reconquered from the
Greeks, and remained tributary to the Parthians for near 500 years.
After this the sovereignty was again placed into the hands of the
Persians, by the revolt of Artaxerxes, a common soldier, A.D. 229,
who became the founder of the second Persian monarchy, which proved
so inimical to the power of the Roman emperors. In their national
character, the Persians were warlike, they were early taught to
ride, and to handle the bow, and by the manly exercises of hunting,
they were inured to bear the toils and fatigues of a military life.
Their national valour, however, soon degenerated, and their want of
employment at home soon rendered them unfit for war. In the reign of
Xerxes, when the empire of Persia was in its most flourishing state,
a small number of Greeks were enabled repeatedly to repel for three
successive days an almost innumerable army. This celebrated action,
which happened at Thermopylæ, shows in a strong light the superiority
of the Grecian soldiers over the Persians, and the battles that
before, and a short time after, were fought between the two nations
at Marathon, Salamis, Platæa, and Mycale, are again an incontestible
proof that these Asiatics had more reliance upon their numbers and
upon the splendour and richness of their arms, than upon the valour
and the discipline of their troops. Their custom, too prevalent among
the eastern nations, of introducing luxury into the camp, proved
also in some measure destructive to their military reputation, and
the view which the ancients give us of the army of Xerxes, of his
cooks, stage-dancers, concubines, musicians, and perfumers, is no
very favourable sign of the sagacity of a monarch, who, by his nod,
could command millions of men to flock to his standard. In their
religion the Persians were very superstitious; they paid the greatest
veneration to the sun, the moon, and the stars, and they offered
sacrifices to fire, but the supreme Deity was never represented by
statues among them. They permitted polygamy, and it was no incest
among them to marry a sister or a mother. In their punishments they
were extremely severe, even to barbarity. The monarch always appeared
with the greatest pomp and dignity; his person was attended by a
guard of 15,000 men, and he had besides a body of 10,000 chosen
horsemen, called _immortal_. He styled himself, like the rest
of the eastern monarchs, the king of kings, as expressive of his
greatness and his power. The Persians were formerly called _Cephenes_,
_Achæmenians_, and _Artæi_, and they are often confounded with the
Parthians by the ancient poets. They received the name of Persians
from Perses the son of Perseus and Andromeda, who is supposed to
have settled among them. Persepolis was the capital of the country.
_Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 14; bk. 5, ch. 3.――_Plutarch_, _Artaxerxes_,
_Alexander_, &c.――_Mela_, bk. 1, &c.――_Strabo_, bk. 2, ch. 15.
――_Xenophon_, _Cyropædia_.――_Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 125, &c.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2.――_Marcellinus_, ch. 23.
=Persĭcum mare=, or =Persicus sinus=, a part of the Indian ocean on the
coast of Persia and Arabia, now called the gulf of _Balgora_.
=Persis=, a province of Persia, bounded by Media, Carmania, Susiana,
and the Persian gulf. It is often taken for Persia itself.
=Aulus Persius Flaccus=, a Latin poet of Volaterræ. He was of an
equestrian family, and he made himself known by his intimacy with
the most illustrious Romans of the age. The early part of his life
was spent in his native town, and at the age of 16 he was removed
to Rome, where he studied philosophy under Cornutus the celebrated
stoic. He also received the instructions of Palemon the grammarian,
and Virginius the rhetorician. Naturally of a mild disposition,
his character was unimpeached, his modesty remarkable, and his
benevolence universally admired. He distinguished himself by his
satirical humour, and made the faults of the orators and poets of his
age, the subject of his poems. He did not even spare Nero, and the
more effectually to expose the emperor to ridicule, he introduced
into his satires some of his verses. The _torva mimalloneis implerunt
cornua bombis_, with the three following verses, are Nero’s,
according to some. But though he was so severe upon the vicious
and ignorant, he did not forget his friendship for Cornutus, and he
showed his regard for his character and abilities by making mention
of his name with great propriety in his satires. It was by the advice
of his learned preceptor that he corrected one of his poems in which
he had compared Nero to Midas, and at his representation he altered
the words _Auriculas asini Mida rex habet_, into _Auriculas asini
quis non habet_? Persius died in the 30th year of his age, A.D. 62,
and left all his books, which consisted of 700 volumes, and a large
sum of money, to his preceptor; but Cornutus only accepted the
books, and returned the money to the sisters and friends of the
deceased. The satires of Persius are six in number, blamed by some
for obscurity of style and of language. But though they may appear
almost unintelligible to some, it ought to be remembered that they
were read with pleasure and with avidity by his contemporaries, and
that the only difficulties which now appear to the moderns, arise
from their not knowing the various characters which they described,
the vices which they lashed, and the errors which they censured. The
satires of Persius are generally printed with those of Juvenal, the
best editions of which will be found to be by Hennin, 4to, Leiden,
1695, and by Hawkey, 12mo, Dublin, 1746. The best edition of Persius,
separate, is that of Meric Casaubon, 12mo, London, 1647. _Martial._
――_Quintilian_, bk. 10, ch. 1.――_Augustine_, _de Magistro_, ch. 9.
――_Lactantius._――――A man whose quarrel with Rupilius is mentioned in
a ridiculous manner by Horace, satire 7. He is called _Hybrida_, as
being son of a Greek by a Roman woman.
=Pertĭnax Publius Helvius=, a Roman emperor after the death of Commodus.
He was descended from an obscure family, and, like his father, who
was either a slave or the son of a manumitted slave, he for some
time followed the mean employment of drying wood and making charcoal.
His indigence, however, did not prevent him from receiving a liberal
education, and indeed he was for some time employed in teaching a
number of pupils the Greek and the Roman languages in Etruria. He
left this laborious profession for a military life, and by his valour
and intrepidity, he gradually rose to offices of the highest trust
in the army, and was made consul by Marcus Aurelius for his eminent
services. He was afterwards entrusted with the government of Mœsia,
and at last he presided over the city of Rome as governor. When
Commodus was murdered, Pertinax was universally selected to succeed
to the imperial throne, and his refusal, and the plea of old age and
increasing infirmities, did not prevent his being saluted emperor
and Augustus. He acquiesced with reluctance, but his mildness, his
economy, and the popularity of his administration, convinced the
senate and the people of the prudence and the justice of their choice.
He forbade his name to be inscribed on such places or estates as were
part of the imperial domain, and exclaimed that they belonged not to
him, but to the public. He melted all the silver statues which had
been raised to his vicious predecessor, and he exposed to public sale
all his concubines, his horses, his arms, and all the instruments of
his pleasure and extravagance. With the money raised from these he
enriched the empire, and was enabled to abolish all the taxes which
Commodus had laid on the rivers, ports, and highways through the
empire. This patriotic administration gained him the affection of the
worthiest and most discerning of his subjects, but the extravagant
and luxurious raised their clamours against him, and when Pertinax
attempted to introduce among the pretorian guards that discipline
which was so necessary to preserve the peace and tranquillity of Rome,
the flames of rebellion were kindled, and the minds of the soldiers
totally alienated. Pertinax was apprised of this mutiny, but he
refused to fly at the hour of danger. He scorned the advice of his
friends who wished him to withdraw from the impending storm, and he
unexpectedly appeared before the seditious pretorians, and without
fear or concern, boldly asked them whether they, who were bound
to defend the person of their prince and emperor, were come to
betray him and to shed his blood. His undaunted assurance and his
intrepidity would have had the desired effect, and the soldiers had
already begun to retire, when one of the most seditious advanced and
darted his javelin at the emperor’s breast, exclaiming, “The soldiers
send you this.” The rest immediately followed the example, and
Pertinax, muffling up his head, and calling upon Jupiter to avenge
his death, remained unmoved, and was instantly dispatched. His head
was cut off, and carried upon the point of a spear as in triumph
to the camp. This happened on the 28th of March, A.D. 193. Pertinax
reigned only 87 days, and his death was the more universally lamented,
as it proceeded from a seditious tumult, and robbed the Roman
empire of a wise, virtuous, and benevolent emperor. _Dio Cassius._
――_Herodian._――_Capitol._
=Pertunda=, a goddess at Rome, who presided over the consummation of
marriage. Her statue was generally placed in the bridal chamber.
_Varro_, in _Augustine_, _City of God_, bk. 6, ch. 9.
=Perŭsia=, now _Perugia_, an ancient town of Etruria on the Tiber,
built by Ocnus. Lucius Antonius was besieged there by Augustus,
and obliged to surrender. _Strabo_, bk. 5.――_Lucan_, bk. 1, li. 41.
――_Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 74.――_Livy_, bk. 9, ch. 37; bk. 10, chs.
30 & 37.
=Pescennius.= _See:_ Niger.――――A man intimate with Cicero.
=Pessīnus= (untis), a town of Phrygia, where Atys, as some suppose, was
buried. It is particularly famous for a temple and a statue of the
goddess Cybele, who was from thence called _Pessinuntia_. _Strabo_,
bk. 12.――_Pausanias_, bk. 7, ch. 17.――_Livy_, bk. 29, chs. 10 & 11.
=Petălia=, a town of Eubœa.
=Petălus=, a man killed by Perseus at the court of Cepheus. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, li. 115.
=Petelia=, or =Petellia=, a town. _See:_ Petilia.
=Petelīnus lacus=, a lake near one of the gates of Rome. _Livy_, bk. 6,
ch. 20.
=Peteon=, a town of Bœotia. _Statius_, _Thebaid_, bk. 7, li. 333.
――_Strabo_, bk. 9.
=Peteus=, a son of Orneus, and grandson of Erechtheus. He reigned in
Attica, and became father of Menestheus, who went with the Greeks
to the Trojan war. He is represented by some of the ancients as a
monster, half a man and half a beast. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 10.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 35.
=Petilia=, now _Strongoli_, a town of Magna Græcia, the capital of
Lucania, built or perhaps only repaired by Philoctetes, who, after
his return from the Trojan war, left his country Melibœa, because his
subjects had revolted. _Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 4.――_Livy_, bk. 23, ch. 20.
――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 402.――_Strabo_, bk. 6.
=Petilia lex=, was enacted by Petilius the tribune to make an inquiry
and know how much money had been obtained from the conquests over
king Antiochus.
=Petilii=, two tribunes who accused Scipio Africanus of extortion. He
was acquitted.
=Petīlius=, a pretor who persuaded the people of Rome to burn the books
which had been found in Numa’s tomb, about 400 years after his death.
His advice was followed. _Plutarch_, _Numa_.――――A plebeian decemvir,
&c.――――A governor of the capitol, who stole away the treasures
entrusted to his care. He was accused, but, though guilty, he was
acquitted, as being the friend of Augustus. _Horace_, bk. 1, satire 4,
li. 94.
=Petosīrīs=, a celebrated mathematician of Egypt. _Juvenal_, satire 6,
li. 580.
=Petra=, the capital town of Arabia Petræa. _Strabo_, bk. 16.――――A town
of Sicily, near Hybla, whose inhabitants are called _Petrini_ and
_Petrenses_.――――A town of Thrace. _Livy_, bk. 40, ch. 22.――――Another
of Pieria in Macedonia. _Livy_, bk. 39, ch. 26.――_Cicero_, _Against
Verres_, bk. 1, ch. 39.――――An elevated place near Dyrrachium, _Lucan_,
bk. 6, lis. 16 & 70.――_Cæsar_, _Civil War_, bk. 3, ch. 40.――――Another
in Elis.――――Another near Corinth.
=Petræa=, one of the Oceanides. _Hesiod_, _Theogony_.――――A part of
Arabia, which has Syria at the east, Egypt on the west, Palestine
on the north, and Arabia Felix at the south. This part of Arabia was
rocky, whence it has received its name. It was for the most part also
covered with barren sands, and was interspersed with some fruitful
spots. Its capital was called Petra.
=Petreius=, a Roman soldier who killed his tribune during the Cimbrian
wars, because he hesitated to attack the enemy. He was rewarded
for his valour with a crown of grass. _Pliny_, bk. 22, ch. 6.――――A
lieutenant of Caius Antonius, who defeated the troops of Catiline.
He took the part of Pompey against Julius Cæsar. When Cæsar had been
victorious in every part of the world, Petreius, who had retired
into Africa, attempted to destroy himself by fighting with his friend
king Juba in single combat. Juba was killed first, and Petreius
obliged one of his slaves to run him through. _Sallust_, _Catilinæ
Coniuratio_.――_Appian._――_Cæsar_, bk. 1, _Civil War_.――――A centurion
in Cæsar’s army in Gaul, &c. Some read Petronius.
=Petrĭnum=, a town of Campania. _Horace_, bk. 1, ltr. 5, li. 5.
=Petrocorii=, the inhabitants of the modern town of Perigord in France.
_Cæsar_, bk. 7, _Gallic War_, ch. 75.
=Petronia=, the wife of Vitellius. _Tacitus_, _Histories_, bk. 2,
ch. 64.
=Petrōnius=, a governor of Egypt, appointed to succeed Gallus. He
behaved with great humanity to the Jews, and made war against Candace
queen of Æthiopia. _Strabo_, bk. 17.――――A favourite of Nero, put
to death by Galba.――――A governor of Britain.――――A tribune killed in
Parthia with Crassus.――――A man banished by Nero to the Cyclades, when
Piso’s conspiracy was discovered. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 15.――――A
governor of Britain in Nero’s reign. He was put to death by Galba’s
orders.――――Maximus, a Roman emperor. _See:_ Maximus.――――Arbiter,
a favourite of the emperor Nero, and one of the ministers and
associates of all his pleasures and his debauchery. He was naturally
fond of pleasure and effeminate, and he passed his whole nights in
revels and the days in sleep. He indulged himself in all the delights
and gaieties of life; but though he was the most voluptuous of the
age, yet he moderated his pleasures, and wished to appear curious
and refined in luxury and extravagance. Whatever he did seemed to
be performed with an air of unconcern and negligence; he was affable
in his behaviour, and his witticisms and satirical remarks appeared
artless and natural. He was appointed proconsul of Bithynia, and
afterwards he was rewarded with the consulship; in both of which
honourable employments he behaved with all the dignity which became
one of the successors of a Brutus or a Scipio. With his office he
laid down his artificial gravity, and gave himself up to the pursuit
of pleasure; the emperor became more attached to him, and seemed
fonder of his company; but he did not long enjoy the imperial favours.
Tigellinus, likewise one of Nero’s favourites, jealous of his fame,
accused him of conspiring against the emperor’s life. The accusation
was credited, and Petronius immediately resolved to withdraw himself
from Nero’s punishment by a voluntary death. This was performed in a
manner altogether unprecedented, A.D. 66. Petronius ordered his veins
to be opened; but without the eagerness of terminating his agonies,
he had them closed at intervals. Some time after they were opened,
and as if he wished to die in the same careless and unconcerned
manner as he had lived, he passed his time in discoursing with
his friends upon trifles, and listened with the greatest avidity
to love verses, amusing stories, or laughable epigrams. Sometimes
he manumitted his slaves or punished them with stripes. In this
ludicrous manner he spent his last moments, till nature was exhausted;
and before he expired he wrote an epistle to the emperor, in which he
had described with a masterly hand his nocturnal extravagances, and
the daily impurities of his actions. This letter was carefully sealed,
and after he had conveyed it privately to the emperor, Petronius
broke his signet, that it might not after his death become a snare
to the innocent. Petronius distinguished himself by his writings, as
well as by his luxury and voluptuousness. He is the author of many
elegant but obscene compositions still extant, among which is a poem
on the civil wars of Pompey and Cæsar, superior in some respects to
the Pharsalia of Lucan. There is also the feast of _Trimalcion_, in
which he paints with too much licentiousness the pleasures and the
debaucheries of a corrupted court and of an extravagant monarch;
reflections on the instability of human life; a poem on the vanity of
dreams; another on the education of the Roman youth; two treatises,
&c. The best editions of Petronius are those of Burman, 4to, Utrecht,
1709, and Reinesius, 8vo, 1731.
=Pettius=, a friend of Horace, to whom the poet addressed his eleventh
epode.
=Petus=, an architect. _See:_ Satyrus.
=Peuce=, a small island at the mouth of the Danube. The inhabitants
are called _Peucæ_ and _Peucini_. _Strabo_, bk. 7.――_Lucan_, bk. 3,
li. 202.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 12.
=Peucestes=, a Macedonian set over Egypt by Alexander. He received
Persia at the general division of the Macedonian empire at the king’s
death. He behaved with great cowardice after he had joined himself
to Eumenes. _Cornelius Nepos_, _Eumenes_.――_Plutarch._――_Curtius_,
bk. 4, ch. 8.――――An island which was visited by the Argonauts at
their return from the conquest of the golden fleece.
=Peucĕtia=, a part of Magna Græcia in Italy, at the north of the bay
of Tarentum, between the Apennines and Lucania, called also _Mesapia_
and _Calabria_. It received its name from Peucetus the son of Lycaon,
of Arcadia. _Strabo_, bk. 6.――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 11.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 14, li. 513.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 13.
=Peucīni=, a nation of Germany, called also _Basternæ_. _Tacitus_,
_Germania_, ch. 46.
=Peucolāus=, an officer who conspired with Dymnus against Alexander’s
life. _Curtius_, bk. 6.――――Another, set over Sogdiana. _Curtius_,
bk. 7.
=Pexodōrus=, a governor of Caria, who offered to give his daughter in
marriage to Aridæus the illegitimate son of Philip. _Plutarch._
=Phacium=, a town of Thessaly. _Livy_, bk. 32, ch. 13; bk. 36, ch. 13.
=Phacūsa=, a town of Egypt on the eastern mouth of the Nile.
=Phæa=, a celebrated sow which infested the neighbourhood of Cromyon.
It was destroyed by Theseus as he was travelling from Trœzene to
Athens to make himself known to his father. Some suppose that the
boar of Calydon sprung from this sow. Phæa, according to some authors,
was no other than a woman who prostituted herself to strangers,
whom she murdered and afterwards plundered. _Plutarch_, _Theseus_.
――_Strabo_, bk. 8.
=Phæācia=, an island of the Ionian sea, near the coast of Epirus,
anciently called _Scheria_, and afterwards _Corcyra_. The inhabitants,
called _Phæaces_, were a luxurious and dissolute people, from which
reason a glutton was generally stigmatized by the epithet of _Phæax_.
When Ulysses was shipwrecked on the coast of Phæacia, Alcinous was
then king of the island, whose gardens have been greatly celebrated.
_Horace_, bk. 1, ltr. 15, li. 24.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 13,
li. 719.――_Strabo_, bks. 6 & 7.――_Propertius_, bk. 3, poem 2, li. 13.
=Phæax=, an inhabitant of the island of Phæacia. _See:_ Phæacia.――――A
man who sailed with Theseus to Crete.――――An Athenian who opposed
Alcibiades in his administration.
=Phæcasia=, one of the Sporades in the Ægean. _Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 12.
=Phædĭmus=, one of Niobe’s children. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 5.――――A
Macedonian general who betrayed Eumenes to Antigonus.――――A celebrated
courier of Greece. _Statius_, bk. 6.
=Phædon=, an Athenian put to death by the 30 tyrants. His daughters, to
escape the oppressors and preserve their chastity, threw themselves
together into a well.――――A disciple of Socrates. He had been seized
by pirates in his younger days, and the philosopher, who seemed to
discover something uncommon and promising in his countenance, bought
his liberty for a sum of money, and ever after esteemed him. Phædon,
after the death of Socrates, returned to Elis his native country,
where he founded a sect of philosophers called _Elean_. The name
of Phædon is affixed to one of the dialogues of Plato. _Macrobius_,
_Saturnalia_, bk. 1, ch. 11.――_Diogenes Laërtius._――――An archon at
Athens, when the Athenians were directed by the oracle to remove the
bones of Theseus to Attica. _Plutarch_, _Theseus_.