of Dia the daughter of Deioneus. Some make him son of Dia by Jupiter,
who assumed the shape of a horse whenever he paid his addresses to
his mistress. He was king of the Lapithæ, and, as an ambitious prince,
he wished to become acquainted with Theseus, king of Athens, of whose
fame and exploits he had heard so many reports. To see him, and at
the same time to be a witness of his valour, he resolved to invade
his territories with an army. Theseus immediately met him on the
borders of Attica, but at the sight of one another the two enemies
did not begin the engagement, but, struck with the appearance of
each other, they stepped between the hostile armies. Their meeting
was like that of the most cordial friends, and Pirithous, by giving
Theseus his hand as a pledge of his sincerity, promised to repair all
the damages which his hostilities in Attica might have occasioned.
From that time, therefore, the two monarchs became the most intimate
and the most attached of friends, so much, that their friendship,
like that of Orestes and Pylades, is become proverbial. Pirithous
some time after married Hippodamia, and invited not only the heroes
of his age, but also the gods themselves, and his neighbours the
Centaurs, to celebrate his nuptials. Mars was the only one of the
gods who was not invited, and to punish this neglect, the god of
war was determined to raise a quarrel among the guests, and to
disturb the festivity of the entertainment. Eurythion, captivated
with the beauty of Hippodamia, and intoxicated with wine, attempted
to offer violence to the bride, but he was prevented by Theseus,
and immediately killed. This irritated the rest of the Centaurs;
the contest became general, but the valour of Theseus, Pirithous,
Hercules, and the rest of the Lapithæ, triumphed over their enemies.
Many of the Centaurs were slain, and the rest saved their lives
by flight. _See:_ Lapithus. The death of Hippodamia left Pirithous
very disconsolate, and he resolved with his friend Theseus, who had
likewise lost his wife, never to marry again, except to a goddess, or
one of the daughters of the gods. This determination occasioned the
rape of Helen by the two friends; the lot was drawn, and it fell to
the share of Theseus to have the beautiful prize. Pirithous upon this
undertook with his friend to carry away Proserpine and to marry her.
They descended into the infernal regions, but Pluto, who was apprised
of their machinations to disturb his conjugal peace, stopped the two
friends and confined them there. Pirithous was tied to his father’s
wheel, or, according to Hyginus, he was delivered to the furies to be
continually tormented. His punishment, however, was short, and when
Hercules visited the kingdom of Pluto, he obtained from Proserpine
the pardon of Pirithous, and brought him back to his kingdom safe
and unhurt. Some suppose that he was torn to pieces by the dog
Cerberus. _See:_ Theseus. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, fable 4
& 5.――_Hesiod_, _Shield of Heracles_.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 10.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 8; bk. 2, ch.
5.――_Hyginus_, fables 14, 79, 155.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4.――_Plutarch_,
_Theseus_.――_Horace_, bk. 4, ode 7.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7,
li. 304.――_Martial_, bk. 7, ltr. 23.
=Pirus=, a captain of the Thracians during the Trojan war, killed by
Thoas king of Ætolia. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 4.
=Pirustæ=, a people of Illyricum. _Livy_, bk. 45, ch. 26.
=Pisa=, a town of Elis, on the Alpheus at the west of the Peloponnesus,
founded by Pisus the son of Perieres, and grandson of Æolus. Its
inhabitants accompanied Nestor to the Trojan war, and they enjoyed
long the privilege of presiding at the Olympic games, which were
celebrated near their city. This honourable appointment was envied by
the people of Elis, who made war against the Piseans, and after many
bloody battles took their city and totally demolished it. It was at
Pisa that Œnomaus murdered the suitors of his daughter, and that he
himself was conquered by Pelops. The inhabitants were called _Pisæi_.
Some have doubted the existence of such a place as Pisa; but this
doubt originates from Pisa’s having been destroyed in so remote an
age. The horses of Pisa were famous. The year on which the Olympic
games were celebrated, was often called _Pisæus annus_, and the
victory which was obtained there was called _Pisææ ramus olivæ_.
_See:_ Olympia. _Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Ovid_, _Tristia_, bk. 2, li. 386;
bk. 4, poem 10, li. 95.――_Mela_, bk. 2.――_Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 3,
li. 180.――_Statius_, _Thebaid_, bk. 7, li. 417.――_Pausanias_, bk. 6,
ch. 22.
=Pisæ=, a town of Etruria, built by a colony from Pisa in the
Peloponnesus. The inhabitants were called _Pisani_. Dionysius of
Halicarnassus affirms that it existed before the Trojan war, but
others support that it was built by a colony of Pisæans, who were
shipwrecked on the coast of Etruria at their return from the Trojan
war. Pisæ was once a very powerful and flourishing city, which
conquered the Baleares, together with Sardinia and Corsica. The
sea on the neighbouring coast was called the bay of Pisæ. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 179.――_Strabo_, bk. 5.――_Lucan_, bk. 2, li. 401.
――_Livy_, bk. 39, ch. 2; bk. 45, ch. 13.――_Pliny_, bk. 2, ch. 103.
=Pisæus=, a surname of Jupiter at Pisa.
=Pisander=, a son of Bellerophon, killed by the Solymi.――――A Trojan
chief, killed by Menelaus. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 13, li. 601.――――One
of Penelope’s suitors, son of Polyctor. _Ovid_, _Heroides_, poem 1.
――――A son of Antimachus, killed by Agamemnon during the Trojan war.
He had had recourse to entreaties and promises, but in vain, as
the Grecian wished to resent the advice of Antimachus, who opposed
the restoration of Helen. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 11, li. 123.――――An
admiral of the Spartan fleet during the Peloponnesian war. He
abolished the democracy at Athens, and established the aristocratical
government of the 400 tyrants. He was killed in a naval battle by
Conon the Athenian general near Cnidus, in which the Spartans lost
50 galleys, B.C. 394. _Diodorus._――――A poet of Rhodes, who composed
a poem called _Heraclea_, in which he gave an account of all the
labours and all the exploits of Hercules. He was the first who ever
represented his hero armed with a club. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 22.
=Pisātes=, or =Pisæi=, the inhabitants of Pisa in the Peloponnesus.
=Pisaurus=, now _Poglia_, a river of Picenum, with a town called
_Pisaurum_, now _Pesaro_, which became a Roman colony in the
consulship of Claudius Pulcher. The town was destroyed by an
earthquake in the beginning of the reign of Augustus. _Mela_, bk. 2,
ch. 4.――_Catullus_, poem 82.――_Pliny_, bk. 3.――_Livy_, bk. 39, ch. 44;
bk. 41, ch. 27.
=Pisēnor=, a son of Ixion and the cloud.――――One of the ♦ancestors of
the nurse of Ulysses. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 1.
♦ ‘ancestor’ replaced with ‘ancestors’
=Piseus=, a king of ♦Etruria, about 260 years before the foundation of
Rome. _Pliny_, bk. 7, ch. 26.
♦ ‘Etrura’ replaced with ‘Etruria’
=Pisias=, a general of the Argives in the age of Epaminondas.――――A
statuary at Athens, celebrated for his pieces. _Pausanias._
=Pĭsĭdia=, an inland country of Asia Minor, between Phrygia, Pamphylia,
Galatia, and Isauria. It was rich and fertile. The inhabitants were
called _Pisidæ_. _Cicero_, _de Divinatione_, bk. 1, ch. 1.――_Mela_,
bk. 1, ch. 2.――_Strabo_, bk. 12.――_Livy_, bk. 37, chs. 54 & 56.
=Pisidĭce=, a daughter of Æolus, who married Myrmidon.――――A daughter
of Nestor.――――A daughter of Pelias.――――The daughter of a king of
Methymna in Lesbos. She became enamoured of Achilles when he invaded
her father’s kingdom, and she promised to deliver the city into his
hands if he would marry her. Achilles agreed to the proposal, but
when he became master of Methymna, he ordered Pisidice to be stoned
to death for her perfidy. _Parthenius_, _Narrationes Amatoriæ_,
ch. 21.
=Pisis=, a native of Thespia, who gained uncommon influence among
the Thebans, and behaved with great courage in the defence of their
liberties. He was taken prisoner by Demetrius, who made him governor
of Thespia.
=Pisistrătĭdæ=, the descendants of Pisistratus tyrant of Athens. _See:_
Pisistratus.
=Pisistrătĭdes=, a man sent as ambassador to the satraps of the king of
Persia, by the Spartans.
=Pisistrătus=, an Athenian, son of Hippocrates, who early distinguished
himself by his valour in the field, and by his address and eloquence
at home. After he had rendered himself the favourite of the populace
by his liberality, and by the intrepidity with which he had fought
their battles, particularly near Salamis, he resolved to make himself
master of his country. Everything seemed favourable to his views;
but Solon alone, who was then at the head of affairs, and who had
lately instituted his celebrated laws, opposed him, and discovered
his duplicity and artful behaviour before the public assembly.
Pisistratus was not disheartened by the measures of his relation
Solon, but he had recourse to artifice. In returning from his country
house, he cut himself in various places, and after he had exposed his
mangled body to the eyes of the populace, deplored his misfortunes,
and accused his enemies of attempts upon his life, because he was
the friend of the people, the guardian of the poor, and the reliever
of the oppressed; he claimed a chosen body of 50 men from the
populace to defend his person in future from the malevolence and the
cruelty of his enemies. The unsuspecting people unanimously granted
his request, though Solon opposed it with all his influence; and
Pisistratus had no sooner received an armed band, on whose fidelity
and attachment he could rely, than he seized the citadel of Athens,
and made himself absolute. The people too late perceived their
credulity; yet, though the tyrant was popular, two of the citizens,
Megacles and Lycurgus, conspired together against him, and by their
means he was forcibly ejected from the city. His house and all his
effects were exposed to sale, but there was found in Athens only one
man who would buy them. The private dissensions of the friends of
liberty proved favourable to the expelled tyrant, and Megacles, who
was jealous of Lycurgus, secretly promised to restore Pisistratus
to all his rights and privileges in Athens, if he would marry
his daughter. Pisistratus consented, and, by the assistance of
his father-in-law, he was soon enabled to expel Lycurgus, and to
re-establish himself. By means of a woman called Phya, whose shape
was tall, and whose features were noble and commanding, he imposed
upon the people, and created himself adherents even among his enemies.
Phya was conducted through the streets of the city, and, showing
herself subservient to the artifice of Pisistratus, she was announced
as Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and the patroness of Athens, who
was come down from heaven to re-establish her favourite Pisistratus,
in a power which was sanctioned by the will of the gods, and favoured
by the affection of the people. In the midst of his triumph, however,
Pisistratus felt himself unsupported, and some time after, when
he repudiated the daughter of Megacles, he found that not only the
citizens, but even his very troops, were alienated from him by the
influence, the intrigues, and the bribery of his father-in-law.
He fled from Athens, where he could no longer maintain his power,
and retired to Eubœa. Eleven years after, he was drawn from his
obscure retreat, by means of his son Hippias, and he was a third
time received by the people of Athens as their master and sovereign.
Upon this he sacrificed to his resentment the friends of Megacles,
but he did not lose sight of the public good; and while he sought
the aggrandizement of his family, he did not neglect the dignity and
the honour of the Athenian name. He died about 527 years before the
christian era, after he had enjoyed the sovereign power at Athens for
33 years, including the years of his banishment, and he was succeeded
by his son Hipparchus. Pisistratus claims our admiration for his
justice, his liberality, and his moderation. If he was dreaded and
detested as a tyrant, the Athenians loved and respected his private
virtues and his patriotism as a fellow-citizen; and the opprobrium
which generally falls on his head may be attributed not to the
severity of his administration, but to the republican principles of
the Athenians, who hated and exclaimed against the moderation and
equity of the mildest sovereign, while they flattered the pride
and gratified the guilty desires of the most tyrannical of their
fellow-subjects. Pisistratus often refused to punish the insolence
of his enemies; and when he had one day been violently accused of
murder, rather than inflict immediate punishment upon the man who
had criminated him, he went to the Areopagus, and there convinced the
Athenians that the accusations of his enemies were groundless, and
that his life was irreproachable. It is to his labours that we are
indebted for the preservation of the poems of Homer, and he was the
first, according to Cicero, who introduced them at Athens, in the
order in which they now stand. He also established a public library
at Athens; and the valuable books which he had diligently collected,
were carried into Persia when Xerxes made himself master of the
capital of Attica. Hipparchus and Hippias, the sons of Pisistratus,
who have received the name of _Pisistratidæ_, rendered themselves
as illustrious as their father; but the flames of liberty were too
powerful to be extinguished. The Pisistratidæ governed with great
moderation, yet the name of tyrant or sovereign was insupportable to
the Athenians. Two of the most respectable of the citizens, called
Harmodius and Aristogiton, conspired against them, and Hipparchus
was dispatched in a public assembly. This murder was not, however,
attended with any advantage, and though the two leaders of the
conspiracy, who have been celebrated through every age for their
patriotism, were supported by the people, yet Hippias quelled
the tumult by his uncommon firmness and prudence, and for a while
preserved that peace in Athens which his father had often been
unable to command. This was not long to continue, Hippias was at
last expelled by the united efforts of the Athenians and of their
allies of Peloponnesus; and he left Attica, when he found himself
unable to maintain his power and independence. The rest of the family
of Pisistratus followed him in his banishment, and after they had
refused to accept the liberal offers of the princes of Thessaly, and
the king of Macedonia, who wished them to settle in their respective
territories, the Pisistratidæ retired to Sigæum, which their father
had, in the summit of his power, conquered and bequeathed to his
posterity. After the banishment of the Pisistratidæ, the Athenians
became more than commonly jealous of their liberty, and often
sacrificed the most powerful of their citizens, apprehensive of
the influence which popularity and a well-directed liberality might
gain among the fickle and unsettled populace. The Pisistratidæ were
banished from Athens about 18 years after the death of Pisistratus,
B.C. 510. _Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 13, ch. 14.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 7, ch. 26.――_Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 59; bk. 6, ch. 103.――_Cicero_,
_On Oratory_, bk. 3.――_Valerius Maximus_, bk. 1, ch. 2.――――A son of
Nestor. _Apollodorus._――――A king of Orchomenos, who rendered himself
odious by his cruelty towards his nobles. He was put to death by
them; and they carried away his body from the public assembly, by
hiding each a piece of his flesh under their garments, to prevent
a discovery from the people, of whom he was a great favourite.
_Plutarch_, _Parallela minora_.――――A Theban attached to the Roman
interest while the consul Flaminius was in Greece. He assassinated
the pretor of Bœotia, for which he was put to death, &c.
=Piso=, a celebrated family at Rome, which was a branch of the
Calpurnians, descended from Calpus the son of Numa. Before the death
of Augustus, 11 of this family had obtained the consulship, and
many had been honoured with triumphs, on account of their victories
in the different provinces of the Roman empire. Of this family the
most famous were――――Lucius Calpurnius, who was tribune of the people
about 149 years before Christ, and afterwards consul. His frugality
procured him the surname of _Frugi_, and he gained the greatest
honours as an orator, a lawyer, a statesman, and an historian. He
made a successful campaign in Sicily, and rewarded his son, who
had behaved with great valour during the war, with a crown of gold,
which weighed 20 pounds. He composed some annals and harangues, which
were lost in the age of Cicero. His style was obscure and inelegant.
――――Caius, a Roman consul, A.U.C. 687 who supported the consular
dignity against the tumults of the tribunes, and the clamours of
the people. He made a law to restrain the cabals which generally
prevailed at the election of the chief magistrates.――――Cneus, another
consul under Augustus. He was one of the favourites of Tiberius, by
whom he was appointed governor of Syria, where he rendered himself
odious by his cruelty. He was accused of having poisoned Germanicus;
and when he saw that he was shunned and despised by his friends, he
destroyed himself, A.D. 20.――――Lucius, a governor of Spain, who was
assassinated by a peasant, as he was travelling through the country;
the murderer was seized and tortured, but he refused to confess
the causes of the murder.――――Lucius, a private man accused of
having uttered seditious words against the emperor Tiberius. He
was condemned, but a natural death saved him from the hands of the
executioner.――――Lucius, a governor of Rome for 20 years, an office
which he discharged with the greatest justice and credit. He was
greatly honoured by the friendship of Augustus, as well as of his
successor, a distinction he deserved, both as a faithful citizen
and a man of learning. Some, however, say that Tiberius made him
governor of Rome, because he had continued drinking with him a
night and two days, or two days and two nights, according to Pliny.
Horace dedicated his poem, _De Arte Poeticâ_, to his two sons, whose
partiality for literature had distinguished them among the rest of
the Romans, and who were fond of cultivating ♦poetry in their leisure
hours. _Plutarch_, _Cæsar_.――_Pliny_, bk. 18, ch. 3.――――Cneus, a
factious and turbulent youth, who conspired against his country with
Catiline. He was among the friends of Julius Cæsar.――――Caius, a Roman
who was at the head of a celebrated conspiracy against the emperor
Nero. He had rendered himself a favourite of the people by his
private as well as public virtues, by the generosity of his behaviour,
his fondness of pleasure with the voluptuous, and his austerity with
the grave and the reserved. He had been marked by some as a proper
person to succeed the emperor; but the discovery of the plot by a
freed man who was among the conspirators, soon cut him off, with
all his partisans. He refused to court the affections of the people
and of the army, when the whole had been made public; and instead of
taking proper measures for his preservation, either by proclaiming
himself emperor, as his friends advised, or by seeking a retreat in
the distant provinces of the empire, he retired to his own house,
where he opened the veins of both his arms, and bled to death.
――――Lucius, a senator who followed the emperor Valerian into Persia.
He proclaimed himself emperor after the death of Valerian, but he
was defeated and put to death a few weeks after, A.D. 261, by Valens,
&c.――――Licimanus, a senator adopted by the emperor Galba. He was put
to death by Otho’s orders.――――A son-in-law of Cicero.――――A patrician,
whose daughter married Julius Cæsar. _Horace._――_Tacitus_, _Annals_
& _Histories_.――_Valerius Maximus._――_Livy._――_Suetonius._――_Cicero_,
_de Officiis_, &c.――_Plutarch_, _Cæsar_, &c.――――One of the 30 tyrants
appointed over Athens by Lysander.
♦ ‘poety’ replaced with ‘poetry’
=Pĭsōnis villa=, a place near Baiæ in Campania, which the emperor Nero
often frequented. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 1.
=Pissirus=, a town of Thrace, near the river Nestus. _Herodius_, bk. 7,
ch. 109.
=Pistor=, a surname given to Jupiter by the Romans, signifying _baker_,
because when their city was taken by the Gauls, the god persuaded
them to throw down loaves from the Tarpeian hill where they were
besieged, that the enemy might from thence suppose that they were not
in want of provisions, though in reality they were near surrendering
through famine. This deceived the Gauls, and they soon after raised
the siege. _Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 6, lis. 350, 394, &c.
=Pistoria=, now _Pistoja_, a town of Etruria, at the foot of the
Apennines, near Florence, where ♦Catiline was defeated. _Sallust_,
_Catilinæ Coniuratio_, ch. 47.――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 4.
♦ ‘Cataline’ replaced with ‘Catiline’
=Pisus=, a son of Aphareus, or, according to others, of Perieres.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 3.――_Pausanias_, bk. 5.
=Pisuthnes=, a Persian satrap of Lydia, who revolted from Darius Nothus.
His father’s name was Hystaspes. _Plutarch_, _Artaxerxes_.
=Pităne=, a town of Æolia in Asia Minor. The inhabitants made bricks
which swam on the surface of the water. _Lucan_, bk. 3, li. 305.
――_Strabo_, bk. 13.――_Vitruvius_, bk. 2, ch. 3.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch.
18.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 7, li. 357.――――A town of Laconia.
_Pindar_, ode 6, li. 46.
=Pitarātus=, an Athenian archon, during whose magistracy Epicurus died.
_Cicero_, _De Fato_, ch. 9.
=Pithecūsa=, a small island on the coast of Etruria, anciently called
_Ænaria_ and _Enarina_, with a town of the same name, on the top of
a mountain. The frequent earthquakes to which it was subject obliged
the inhabitants to leave it. There was a volcano in the middle of
the island, which has given occasion to the ancients to say that the
giant Typhon was buried there. Some suppose that it received its name
from πιθηκοι, _monkeys_, into which the inhabitants were changed by
Jupiter. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 14, li. 90.――_Pliny_, bk. 3,
ch. 6.――_Pindar_, _Pythian_, poem 1.――_Strabo_, bk. 1.
=Pitheus.= _See:_ Pittheus.
=Pitho=, called also _Suada_, the goddess of persuasion among the
Greeks and Romans supposed to be the daughter of Mercury and Venus.
She was represented with a diadem on her head, to intimate her
influence over the hearts of men. One of her arms appears raised,
as in the attitude of an orator haranguing in a public assembly, and
with the other she holds a thunderbolt, and fetters made with flowers,
to signify the powers of reasoning and the attractions of eloquence.
A caduceus, as a symbol of persuasion, appears at her feet, with the
writings of Demosthenes and Cicero, the two most celebrated among
the ancients, who understood how to command the attention of their
audience, and to rouse and animate their various passions.――――A Roman
courtesan. She received this name on account of the allurements which
her charms possessed, and of her winning expressions.
=Pitholāus= and =Lycophron=, seized upon the sovereign power of Pheræ,
by killing Alexander. They were ejected by Philip of Macedonia.
_Diodorus_, bk. 16.
=Pīthŏleon=, an insignificant poet of Rhodes, who mingled Greek and
Latin in his compositions. He wrote some epigrams against Julius
Cæsar, and drew upon himself the ridicule of Horace, on account of
the inelegance of his style. _Suetonius_, _Lives of the Rhetoricians_.
――_Horace_, bk. 1, satire 10, li. 21.――_Macrobius_, bk. 2,
_Saturnalia_, ch. 2.
=Pithon=, one of the body-guards of Alexander, put to death by Antiochus.
=Pithys=, a nymph beloved by Pan. Boreas was also fond of her, but she
slighted his addresses, upon which he dashed her against a rock, and
she was changed into a pine tree.