wife, that he threw himself upon her burning pile. _Valerius Maximus_,
bk. 4, ch. 6.――――Caius, a consul sent against the Privernates, &c.
――――Aulus, a governor of Britain who obtained an ovation for the
conquests he had gained there over the barbarians.――――One of Otho’s
friends. He dissuaded him from killing himself.――――Lateranus, an
adulterer of Messalina, who conspired against Nero, and was capitally
condemned.――――Aulus, a general who defeated the Umbrians and the
Etrurians.――――Caius, another general, defeated in Lusitania.――――A man
put to death by order of Caracalla.――――Marcus Sylvanus, a tribune,
who made a law to prevent seditions in the public assemblies.
――――Rubellius, a man accused before Nero, and sent to Asia, where he
was assassinated.
=Marcus Accius Plautus=, a comic poet, born at Sarsina, in Umbria.
Fortune proved unkind to him, and, from competence, he was reduced
to the meanest poverty, by engaging in a commercial line. To maintain
himself, he entered into the family of a baker as a common servant,
and while he was employed in grinding corn, he sometimes dedicated
a few moments to the comic muse. Some, however, confute this account
as false, and support that Plautus was never obliged to the laborious
employments of a bakehouse for his maintenance. He wrote 25 comedies,
of which only 20 are extant. He died about 184 years before the
christian era; and Varro, his learned countryman, wrote this stanza,
which deserved to be engraved on his tomb:
_Postquam morte captus est Plautus,
Comœdia luget, scena est deserta;
Deinde risus, ludus, jocusque, & numeri
Innumeri simul omnes collacrymârunt._
The plays of Plautus were ♦universally esteemed at Rome, and the
purity, the energy, and the elegance of his language were, by
other writers, considered as objects of imitation; and Varro, whose
judgment is great, and generally decisive, declares, that if the
Muses were willing to speak Latin, they would speak in the language
of Plautus. In the Augustan age, however, when the Roman language
became more pure and refined, the comedies of Plautus did not
appear free from inaccuracy. The poet, when compared to the more
elegant expressions of a Terence, was censured for his negligence
in versification, his low wit, execrable puns, and disgusting
obscenities. Yet, however censured as to language or sentiments,
Plautus continued to be a favourite on the stage. If his expressions
were not choice or delicate, it was ♦universally admitted that he was
more happy than other comic writers in his pictures; the incidents of
his plays were more varied, the acts more interesting, the characters
more truly displayed, and the catastrophe more natural. In the
reign of the emperor Diocletian, his comedies were still acted on
the public theatres; and no greater compliment can be paid to his
abilities as a comic writer, and no greater censure can be passed
upon his successors in dramatic composition, than to observe, that
for 500 years, with all the disadvantages of obsolete language and
diction, in spite of the change of manners, and the revolutions of
government, he commanded and received that applause which no other
writer dared to dispute with him. The best editions of Plautus
are that of Gronovius, 8vo, Leiden, 1664; that of Barbou, 12mo, in
3 vols., Paris, 1759; that of Ernesti, 2 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb, 1760;
and that of Glasgow, 3 vols., 12mo, 1763. _Varro_ on _Quintilian_, bk.
10, ch. 1.――_Cicero_, _de Officiis_, bk. 1, &c.; _On Oratory_, bk. 3,
&c.――_Horace_, bk. 2, ltr. 1, lis. 58, 170; _Art of Poetry_, lis. 54
& 270.――――Ælianus, a high priest, who consecrated the capitol in the
reign of Vespasian. _Tacitus_, _Histories_, bk. 4, ch. 53.
♦ ‘univerally’ replaced with ‘universally’
=Plēiădes=, or =Vergĭliæ=, a name given to seven of the daughters of
Atlas by Pleione or Æthra, one of the Oceanides. They were placed
in the heavens after death, where they formed a constellation called
Pleiades, near the back of the bull in the Zodiac. Their names were
Alcyone, Merope, Maia, Electra, Taygeta, Sterope, and Celeno. They
all, except Merope, who married Sisyphus king of Corinth, had some
of the immortal gods for their suitors. On that account, therefore,
Merope’s star is dim and obscure among the rest of her sisters,
because she married a mortal. The name of the Pleiades is derived
from the Greek word πλεειν, _to sail_, because that constellation
shows the time most favourable to navigators, which is in the spring.
The name of Vergiliæ they derive from _ver_, _the spring_. They are
sometimes called _Atlantides_, from their father, or _Hesperides_,
from the gardens of that name, which belonged to Atlas. _Hyginus_,
fable 192; _Poetica Astronomica_, bk. 2, ch. 21.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 13, li. 293; _Fasti_, bk. 5, lis. 106 & 170;
_Hesiod_, _Works and Days_.――_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 5.――_Horace_,
bk. 4, ode 14.――_Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 1, li. 138; bk. 4, li. 233.
――――Seven poets, who, from their number, have received the name of
Pleiades, near the age of Philadelphus Ptolemy king of Egypt. Their
names were Lycophron, Theocritus, Aratus, Nicander, Apollonius,
Philicus, and Homerus the younger.
=Pleiōne=, one of the Oceanides, who married Atlas king of Mauritania,
by whom she had 12 daughters, and a son called Hyas. Seven of the
daughters were changed into a constellation called _Pleiades_, and
the rest into another called _Hyades_. _Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 5, li. 84.
=Plemmy̆rium=, now _Massa Oliveri_, a promontory with a small castle of
that name, in the bay of Syracuse. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 693.
=Plemneus=, a king of Sicyon, son of Peratus. His children always died
as soon as born, till Ceres, pitying his misfortune, offered herself
as a nurse to his wife as she was going to be brought to bed. The
child lived by the care and protection of the goddess, and Plemneus
was no sooner acquainted with the dignity of his nurse, than he
raised her a temple. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, chs. 5 & 11.
=Pleumosii=, a people of Belgium, the inhabitants of modern Tournay.
_Cæsar_, _Gallic War_, bk. 5, ch. 38.
=Pleurātus=, a king of Illyricum. _Livy_, bk. 26, ch. 24.
=Pleuron=, a son of Ætolus, who married Xantippe the daughter of Dorus,
by whom he had Agenor. He founded a city in Ætolia on the Evenus,
which bore his name. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 7.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch.
2.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 15, li. 310.――_Pausanias_, bk. 7, ch. 13.
――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 7, li. 382.
=Plexaure=, one of the Oceanides. _Hesiod._
=Plexippus=, a son of Thestius, brother to Althæa the wife of Œneus.
He was killed by his nephew Meleager, in hunting the Calydonian boar.
His brother Toxeus shared his fate. _See:_ Althæa and Meleager.――――A
son of Phineus and Cleopatra, brother to Pandion king of Athens.
_Apollodorus._
=Caius Plinius Secundus=, surnamed the _Elder_, was born at Verona, of
a noble family. He distinguished himself in the field, and, after he
had been made one of the augurs at Rome, he was appointed governor
of Spain. In his public character he did not neglect the pleasures
of literature; the day was employed in the administration of the
affairs of his province, and the night was dedicated to study. Every
moment of time was precious to him; at his meals one of his servants
read to him books valuable for their information, and from them he
immediately made copious extracts, in a memorandum book. Even while
he dressed himself after bathing, his attention was called away
from surrounding objects, and he was either employed in listening to
another, or in dictating himself. To a mind so earnestly dedicated
to learning, nothing appeared too laborious, no undertaking too
troublesome. He deemed every moment lost which was not devoted to
study, and from these reasons he never appeared at Rome but in a
chariot, and wherever he went, he was always accompanied by his
amanuensis. He even censured his nephew, Pliny the younger, because
he had indulged himself with a walk, and sternly observed, that he
might have employed those moments to better advantage. But if his
literary pursuits made him forget the public affairs, his prudence,
his abilities, and the purity and innocence of his character, made
him known and respected. He was courted and admired by the emperors
Titus and Vespasian, and he received from them all the favours which
a virtuous prince could offer, and an honest subject receive. As he
was at Misenum, where he commanded the fleet, which was then
stationed there, Pliny was surprised at the sudden appearance of
a cloud of dust and ashes. He was then ignorant of the cause which
produced it, and he immediately set sail in a small vessel for
mount Vesuvius, which he at last discovered to have made a dreadful
eruption. The sight of a number of boats that fled from the coast
to avoid the danger, might have deterred another, but the curiosity
of Pliny excited him to advance with more boldness, and though his
vessel was often covered with stones and ashes, that were continually
thrown up by the mountain, yet he landed on the coast. The place
was deserted by the inhabitants, but Pliny remained there during
the night, the better to observe the mountain, which, during the
obscurity, appeared to be one continual blaze. He was soon disturbed
by a dreadful earthquake, and the contrary wind on the morrow
prevented him from returning to Misenum. The eruption of the volcano
increased, and at last the fire approached the place where the
philosopher made his observations. Pliny endeavoured to fly before
it, but though he was supported by two of his servants, he was unable
to escape. He soon fell down, suffocated by the thick vapours that
surrounded him, and the insupportable stench of sulphureous matter.
His body was found three days after, and decently buried by his
nephew, who was then at Misenum with the fleet. This memorable event
happened in the 79th year of the christian era, and the philosopher
who perished by the eruptions of the volcano, has been called by some
the martyr of nature. He was then in the 56th year of his age. Of the
works which he composed, none are extant but his natural history in
37 books. It is a work, as Pliny the younger says, full of erudition,
and as varied as nature itself. It treats of the stars, the heavens,
wind, rain, hail, minerals, trees, flowers, and plants, besides
an account of all living animals, birds, fishes, and beasts; a
geographical description of every place on the globe, and a history
of every art and science, of commerce and navigation, with their rise,
progress, and several improvements. He is happy in his descriptions
as a naturalist; he writes with force and energy, and though many of
his ideas and conjectures are sometimes ill-founded, yet he possesses
that fecundity of imagination, and vivacity of expression, which are
requisite to treat a subject with propriety, and to render a history
of nature pleasing, interesting, and, above all, instructive. His
style possesses not the graces of the Augustan age; he has neither
its purity and elegance, nor its simplicity, but it is rather cramped,
obscure, and sometimes unintelligible. Yet for all this it has ever
been admired and esteemed, and it may be called a compilation of
everything which had been written before his age on the various
subjects which he treats, and a judicious collection from the
most excellent treatises which had been composed on the various
productions of nature. Pliny was not ashamed to mention the authors
which he quoted; he speaks of them with admiration, and while he
pays the greatest compliment to their abilities, his encomiums
show, in the strongest light, the goodness, the sensibility, and
the ingenuousness of his own mind. He had written 160 volumes of
remarks and annotations on the various authors which he had read,
and so great was the opinion in his contemporaries of his erudition
and abilities, that a man called Lartius Lutinius offered to buy
his notes and observations for the enormous sum of about 3242_l._
English money. The philosopher, who was himself rich and independent,
rejected the offer, and his compilations, after his death, came into
the hands of his nephew Pliny. The best editions of Pliny are that
of Harduin, 3 vols., folio, Paris, 1723; that of Frantzius, 10 vols.,
8vo, Lipscomb, 1728; that of Brotier, 6 vols., 12mo, Paris, 1779;
and the Variorum 8vo, in 8 vols., Lipscomb, 1778 to 1789. _Tacitus_,
_Annals_, bk. 1, ch. 69; bk. 13, ch. 20; bk. 15, ch. 53.――_Pliny_,
_Epistulæ_, &c.――――Caius Cæcilius Secundus, surnamed the _Younger_,
was son of Lucius Cæcilius by the sister of Pliny the elder. He was
adopted by his uncle, whose name he assumed, and whose estates and
effects he inherited. He received the greatest part of his education
under Quintilian, and at the age of 19 he appeared at the bar,
where he distinguished himself so much by his eloquence, that he
and Tacitus were reckoned the two greatest orators of their age.
He did not make his profession an object of gain like the rest of
the Roman orators, but he refused fees from the rich as well as from
the poorest of his clients, and declared that he cheerfully employed
himself for the protection of innocence, the relief of the indigent,
and the detection of vice. He published many of his harangues and
orations, which have been lost. When Trajan was invested with the
imperial purple, Pliny was created consul by the emperor. This honour
the consul acknowledged in a celebrated panegyric, which, at the
request of the Roman senate, and in the name of the whole empire,
he pronounced on Trajan. Some time after he presided over Pontus
and Bithynia, in the office and with the power of proconsul, and by
his humanity and philanthropy the subject was freed from the burden
of partial taxes, and the persecution which had been begun against
the christians of his province was stopped, when Pliny solemnly
declared to the emperor that the followers of Christ were a meek and
inoffensive sect of men, that their morals were pure and innocent,
that they were free from all crimes, and that they voluntarily bound
themselves by the most solemn oaths to abstain from vice, and to
relinquish every sinful pursuit. If he rendered himself popular in
his province, he was not less respected at Rome. He was there the
friend of the poor, the patron of learning, great without arrogance,
affable in his behaviour, and an example of good breeding, sobriety,
temperance, and modesty. As a father and a husband his character
was amiable; as a subject he was faithful to his prince; and as a
magistrate he was candid, open, and compassionate. His native country
shared, among the rest, his unbounded benevolence; and Comum, a small
town of Insubria, which gave him birth, boasted of his liberality in
the valuable and choice library of books which he collected there. He
also contributed towards the expenses which attended the education of
his countrymen, and liberally spent part of his estate for the
advancement of literature, and for the instruction of those whom
poverty otherwise deprived of the advantages of a public education.
He made his preceptor Quintilian and the poet Martial objects of his
benevolence, and when the daughter of the former was married, Pliny
wrote to the father with the greatest civility; and while he observed
that he was rich in the possession of learning, though poor in the
goods of fortune, he begged of him to accept, as a dowry for his
beloved daughter, 50,000 sesterces, about 300_l._ “I would not,”
continued he, “be so moderate, were I not assured, from your modesty
and disinterestedness, that the smallness of the present will render
it acceptable.” He died in the 52nd year of his age, A.D. 113. He had
written a history of his own times, which is lost. It is said that
Tacitus did not begin his history till he had found it impossible
to persuade Pliny to undertake that laborious task; and, indeed,
what could not have been expected from the panegyrist of Trajan,
if Tacitus acknowledged himself inferior to him in delineating the
character of the times? Some suppose, but falsely, that Pliny wrote
the lives of illustrious men, universally ascribed to Cornelius Nepos.
He also wrote poetry, but his verses have all perished, and nothing
of his learned work remains, but his panegyric on the emperor Trajan,
and 10 books of letters, which he himself collected and prepared for
the public, from a numerous and respectable correspondence. These
letters contain many curious and interesting facts; they abound with
many anecdotes of the generosity and the humane sentiments of the
writer. They are written with elegance and great purity, and the
reader everywhere discovers that affability, that condescension
and philanthropy, which so egregiously marked the advocate of
the christians. These letters are esteemed by some equal to the
voluminous epistles of Cicero. In his panegyric, Pliny’s style is
florid and brilliant; he has used, to the greatest advantage, the
liberties of the panegyrist, and the eloquence of the courtier. His
ideas are new and refined, but his diction is distinguished by that
affectation and pomposity which marked the reign of Trajan. The best
editions of Pliny are those of Gesner, 8vo, Lipscomb, 1770, and of
Lallemand, 12mo, Paris apud Barbou; and of the panegyric separate,
that of Schwartz, 4to, 1746, and of the epistles, the Variorum,
Leiden, 1669, 8vo. _Pliny_, _Epistulæ_.――_Vossius._――_Sidonius._
=Plinthīne=, a town of Egypt on the Mediterranean.
=Plistarchus=, son of Leonidas, of the family of the Eurysthenidæ,
succeeded on the Spartan throne at the death of Cleombrotus.
_Herodotus_, bk. 9, ch. 10.――――A brother of Cassander.
=Plisthanus=, a philosopher of Elis, who succeeded in the school of
Phædon. _Diogenes Laërtius._
=Plisthĕnes=, a son of Atreus king of Argos, father of Menelaus and
Agamemnon, according to Hesiod and others. Homer, however, calls
Menelaus and Agamemnon sons of Atreus, though they were in reality
the children of Plisthenes. The father died very young, and the two
children were left in the house of their grandfather, who took care
of them and instructed them. From his attention to them, therefore,
it seems probable that Atreus was universally acknowledged their
protector and father, and thence their surname of _Atridæ_. _Ovid_,
_Remedia Amoris_, li. 778.――_Dictys Cretensis_, bk. 1.――_Homer_,
_Iliad_.
=Plistīnus=, a brother of Faustulus the shepherd, who saved the life of
Romulus and Remus. He was killed in a scuffle which happened between
the two brothers.
=Plistoănax= and =Plistōnax=, son of Pausanias, was general of the
Lacedæmonian armies in the Peloponnesian war. He was banished from
his kingdom of Sparta for 19 years, and was afterwards recalled by
order of the oracle of Delphi. He reigned 58 years. He had succeeded
Plistarchus. _Thucydides._
=Plistus=, a river of Phocis falling into the bay of Corinth. _Strabo_,
bk. 9.
=Plotæ=, small islands on the coast of Ætolia, called also Strophades.
=Plotīna Pompeia=, a Roman lady who married Trajan while he was yet a
private man. She entered Rome in the procession with her husband when
he was saluted emperor, and distinguished herself by the affability
of her behaviour, her humanity, and liberal offices to the poor and
friendless. She accompanied Trajan in the east, and at his death she
brought back his ashes to Rome, and still enjoyed all the honours
and titles of a Roman empress under Adrian, who by her means had
succeeded to the vacant throne. At her death, A.D. 122, she was
ranked among the gods, and received divine honours, which, according
to the superstition of the times, she seemed to deserve, from her
regard for the good and prosperity of the Roman empire, and for her
private virtues. _Dionysius of Halicarnassus._
=Plotinopŏlis=, a town of Thrace, built by the emperor Trajan, and
called after Plotina, the founder’s wife.――――Another in Dacia.
=Plotīnus=, a Platonic philosopher of Lycopolis in Egypt. He was
for eleven years a pupil of Ammonius the philosopher, and after he
had profited by all the instructions of his learned preceptor, he
determined to improve his knowledge, and to visit the territories
of India and Persia to receive information. He accompanied Gordian
in his expedition into the east, but the day which proved fatal to
the emperor, nearly terminated the life of the philosopher. He saved
himself by flight, and the following year he retired to Rome, where
he publicly taught philosophy. His school was frequented by people
of every sex, age, and quality; by senators as well as plebeians, and
so great was the opinion of the public of his honesty and candour,
that many, on their death-bed, left all their possessions to his care,
and entrusted their children to him, as a superior being. He was the
favourite of all the Romans; and while he charmed the populace by the
force of his eloquence, and the senate by his doctrines, the emperor
Gallienus courted him, and admired the extent of his learning. It
is even said that the emperor and the empress Salonina intended to
rebuild a decayed city of Campania, and to appoint the philosopher
over it, that there he might experimentally know, while he presided
over a colony of philosophers, the validity and the use of the ideal
laws of the republic of Plato. This plan was not executed, through
the envy and malice of the enemies of Plotinus. The philosopher,
at last become helpless and infirm, returned to Campania, where the
liberality of his friends for a while maintained him. He died A.D.
270, in the 66th year of his age, and as he expired, he declared
that he made his last and most violent efforts to give up what there
was most divine in him and in the rest of the universe. Amidst the
great qualities of the philosopher, we discover some ridiculous
singularities. Plotinus never permitted his picture to be taken,
and he observed, that to see a painting of himself in the following
age, was beneath the notice of an enlightened mind. These reasons
also induced him to conceal the day, the hour, and the place of
his birth. He never made use of medicines, and though his body was
often debilitated by abstinence or too much study, he despised to
have recourse to a physician, and thought that it would degrade the
gravity of a philosopher. His writings have been collected by his
pupil Porphyry. They consist of 54 different treatises divided into
six equal parts, written with great spirit and vivacity; but the
reasonings are abstruse, and the subjects metaphysical. The best
edition is that of Picinus, folio, Basil, 1580.
=Plotius Crispīnus=, a stoic philosopher and poet, whose verses were
very inelegant, and whose disposition was morose, for which he has
been ridiculed by Horace, and called _Aretalogus_. _Horace_, bk. 1,
satire 1, li. 4.――――Gallus, a native of Lugdunum, who taught grammar
at Rome, and had Cicero among his pupils. _Cicero_, _On Oratory_.
――――Griphus, a man made senator by Vespasian. _Tacitus_, _Histories_,
bk. 3.――――A centurion in Cæsar’s army. _Cæsar_, _Gallic War_, bk. 3,
ch. 19.――――Tucca, a friend of Horace and of Virgil, who made him his
heir. He was selected by Augustus, with Varius, to review the Æneid
of Virgil. _Horace_, bk. 1, satire 5, li. 40.――――Lucius, a poet in
the age of the great Marius, whose exploits he celebrated in his
verses.
=Plusios=, a surname of Jupiter at Sparta, expressive of his power to
grant riches. _Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 19.