and made a shameful treaty. He is the first of that noble family,
of whom mention is made. _Florus_, bk. 2, ch. 18.――――Cneus, a Roman
general, who made war against the Marsi, and triumphed over the
Piceni. He declared himself against Cinna and Marius, and supported
the interest of the republic. He was surnamed _Strabo_, because he
squinted. While he was marching against Marius, a plague broke out in
his army, and raged with such violence, that it carried away 11,000
men in a few days. He was killed by a flash of lightning, and as he
had behaved with cruelty while in power, the people dragged his body
through the streets of Rome with an iron hook, and threw it into the
Tiber. _Paterculus_, bk. 2.――_Plutarch_, _Pompey_.―――― Rufus, a Roman
consul with Sylla. He was sent to finish the Marsian war, but the
army mutinied at the instigation of Pompeius Strabo, whom he was to
succeed in command, and he was assassinated by some of the soldiers.
_Appian_, _Civil Wars_, bk. 1.――――A general who succeeded Metellus
in Spain, and was the occasion of a war with Numantia.――――Another
general, taken prisoner by Mithridates.――――Sextus, a governor of
Spain, who cured himself of the gout by placing himself in corn above
the knee. _Pliny_, bk. 22, ch. 25.――――Rufus, a grandson of Sylla.
――――A tribune of the soldiers in Nero’s reign, deprived of his office
when Piso’s conspiracy was discovered. _Tacitus._――――A consul praised
for his learning and abilities. _Ovid_, _ex Ponto_, bk. 4, poem 1.
――――A son of Theophanes of Mitylene, famous for his intimacy with
Pompey the Great, and for his writings. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 6.
――――A tribune of a pretorian cohort under Galba.――――A Roman knight,
put to death by the emperor Claudius for his adultery with Messalina.
_Tacitus_, bk. 11, _Annals_.――――Cneus, surnamed _Magnus_, from the
greatness of his exploits, was son of Pompeius Strabo and Lucilia.
He early distinguished himself in the field of battle, and fought
with success and bravery under his father, whose courage and military
prudence he imitated. He began his career with great popularity;
the beauty and elegance of his person gained him admirers, and by
pleading at the bar he displayed his eloquence, and received the
most unbounded applause. In the disturbances which agitated Rome,
by the ambition and avarice of Marius and Sylla, Pompey followed the
interest of the latter, and by levying three legions for his service
he gained his friendship and his protection. In the 26th year of
his age, he conquered Sicily, which was in the power of Marius and
his adherents, and in 40 days he regained all the territories of
Africa, which had forsaken the interest of Sylla. This rapid success
astonished the Romans, and Sylla, who admired and dreaded the rising
power of Pompey, recalled him to Rome. Pompey immediately obeyed,
and the dictator, by saluting him with the appellation of the Great,
showed to the world what expectations he formed from the maturer age
of his victorious lieutenant. This sounding title was not sufficient
to gratify the ambition of Pompey; he demanded a triumph, and when
Sylla refused to grant it, he emphatically exclaimed, that the
sun shone with more ardour at his rising than at his setting. His
assurance gained what petitions and entreaties could not obtain,
and he was the first Roman knight who, without an office under the
appointment of the senate, marched in triumphal procession through
the streets of Rome. He now appeared, not as a ♦dependent, but
as a rival, of the dictator, and his opposition to his measures
totally excluded him from his will. After the death of Sylla, Pompey
supported himself against the remains of the Marian faction, which
was headed by Lepidus. He defeated them, put an end to the war which
the revolt of Sertorius in Spain had occasioned, and obtained a
second triumph, though still a private citizen, about 73 years before
the christian era. He was soon after made consul, and in that office
he restored the tribunitial power to its original dignity, and in
40 days removed the pirates from the Mediterranean, where they had
reigned for many years, and by their continual plunder and audacity,
almost destroyed the whole naval power of Rome. While he prosecuted
the piratical war, and extirpated these maritime robbers in their
obscure retreat in Cilicia, Pompey was called to greater undertakings,
and by the influence of his friends at Rome, and of the tribune
Manilius, he was empowered to finish the war against two of the most
powerful monarchs of Asia――Mithridates king of Pontus, and Tigranes
king of Armenia. In this expedition Pompey showed himself no ways
inferior to Lucullus, who was then at the head of the Roman armies,
and who resigned with reluctance an office which would have made
him the conqueror of Mithridates and the master of all Asia. His
operations against the king of Pontus were bold and vigorous, and
in a general engagement the Romans so totally defeated the enemy,
that the Asiatic monarch escaped with difficulty from the field of
battle. _See:_ Mithridaticum bellum. Pompey did not lose sight of the
advantages which despatch would ensure; he entered Armenia, received
the submission of king Tigranes, and after he had conquered the
Albanians and Iberians, visited countries which were scarce known
to the Romans, and, like a master of the world, disposed of kingdoms
and provinces, and received homage from 12 crowned heads at once; he
entered Syria, and pushed his conquests as far as the Red sea. Part
of Arabia was subdued, Judea became a Roman province, and when he had
now nothing to fear from Mithridates, who had voluntarily destroyed
himself, Pompey returned to Italy with all the pomp and majesty of
an eastern conqueror. The Romans dreaded his approach; they knew his
power and his influence among his troops, and they feared the return
of another tyrannical Sylla. Pompey, however, banished their fears;
he disbanded his army, and the conqueror of Asia entered Rome like
a private citizen. This modest and prudent behaviour gained him
more friends and adherents than the most unbounded power, aided with
profusion and liberality. He was honoured with a triumph, and the
Romans, for three successive days, gazed with astonishment on the
riches and the spoils which their conquests had acquired in the east,
and expressed their raptures at the sight of the different nations,
habits, and treasures which preceded the conqueror’s chariot. But
it was not this alone which gratified the ambition, and flattered
the pride of the Romans; the advantages of their conquests were more
lasting than an empty show, and when 20,000 talents were brought
into the public treasury, and when the revenues of the republic were
raised from 50 to 85 millions of drachmæ, Pompey became more powerful,
more flattered, and more envied. To strengthen himself, and to
triumph over his enemies, Pompey soon after united his interest
with that of Cæsar and Crassus, and formed the first triumvirate,
by solemnly swearing that their attachment should be mutual, their
cause common, and their union permanent. The agreement was completed
by the marriage of Pompey with Julia the daughter of Cæsar, and
the provinces of the republic were arbitrarily divided among the
triumvirs. Pompey was allotted Africa and the two Spains, while
Crassus repaired to Syria, to add Parthia to the empire of Rome,
and Cæsar remained satisfied with the rest, and the continuation of
his power as governor of Gaul for five additional years. But this
powerful confederacy was soon broken; the sudden death of Julia,
and the total defeat of Crassus in Syria, shattered the political
bands which held the jarring interest of Cæsar and Pompey united.
Pompey dreaded his father-in-law, and yet he affected to despise
him; and by suffering anarchy to prevail in Rome, he convinced his
fellow-citizens of the necessity of investing him with dictatorial
power. But while the conqueror of Mithridates was as a sovereign
at Rome, the adherents of Cæsar were not silent. They demanded that
either the consulship should be given to him, or that he should be
continued in the government of Gaul. This just demand would perhaps
have been granted, but Cato opposed it, and when Pompey sent for the
two legions which he had lent to Cæsar, the breach became more wide,
and a civil war inevitable. Cæsar was privately preparing to meet
his enemies, while Pompey remained indolent, and gratified his pride
in seeing all Italy celebrate his recovery from an indisposition by
universal rejoicings. But he was soon roused from his inactivity, and
it was now time to find his friends, if anything could be obtained
from the caprice and the fickleness of a people which he had once
delighted and amused, by the exhibition of games and spectacles
in a theatre which could contain 20,000 spectators. Cæsar was now
near Rome, he had crossed the Rubicon, which was a declaration of
hostilities, and Pompey, who had once boasted that he could raise
legions to his assistance by stamping on the ground with his foot,
fled from the city with precipitation, and retired to Brundusium
with the consuls and part of the senators. His cause, indeed, was
popular; he had been invested with discretionary power, the senate
had entreated him to protect the republic against the usurpation and
tyranny of Cæsar, and Cato, by embracing his cause, and appearing in
his camp, seemed to indicate that he was the friend of the republic,
and the assertor of Roman liberty and independence. But Cæsar was
now master of Rome, and in 60 days all Italy acknowledged his power,
and the conqueror hastened to Spain, there to defeat the interest
of Pompey, and to alienate the hearts of his soldiers. He was too
successful, and when he had gained to his cause the western parts of
the Roman empire, Cæsar crossed Italy and arrived in Greece, where
Pompey had retired, supported by all the power of the east, the
wishes of the republican Romans, and a numerous and well-disciplined
army. Though superior in numbers, he refused to give the enemy battle,
while Cæsar continually harassed him, and even attacked his camp.
Pompey repelled him with great success, and he might have decided the
war, if he had continued to pursue the enemy, while their confusion
was great, and their escape almost impossible. Want of provisions
obliged Cæsar to advance towards Thessaly; Pompey pursued him,
and in the plains of Pharsalia the two armies engaged. The whole
was conducted against the advice and approbation of Pompey; and
by suffering his troops to wait for the approach of the enemy, he
deprived his soldiers of that advantage which the army of Cæsar
obtained by running to the charge with spirit, vigour, and animation.
The cavalry of Pompey soon gave way, and the general retired to his
camp, overwhelmed with grief and shame. But here there was no safety;
the conqueror pushed on every side, and Pompey disguised himself, and
fled to the sea-coast, whence he passed to Egypt, where he hoped to
find a safe asylum, till better and more favourable moments returned,
in the court of Ptolemy, a prince whom he had once protected and
ensured on his throne. When Ptolemy was told that Pompey claimed
his protection, he consulted his ministers, and had the baseness to
betray and to deceive him. A boat was sent to fetch him on shore,
and the Roman general left his galley, after an affectionate and
tender parting with his wife Cornelia. The Egyptian sailors sat in
sullen silence in the boat, and when Pompey disembarked, Achillas
and Septimius assassinated him. His wife, who had followed him with
her eyes to the shore, was a spectator of the bloody scene, and she
hastened away from the bay of Alexandria, not to share his miserable
fate. He died B.C. 48, in the 58th or 59th year of his age, the
day after his birthday. His head was cut off and sent to Cæsar, who
turned away from it with horror, and shed a flood of tears. The body
was left for some time naked on the sea-shore, till the humanity
of Philip, one of his freedmen, and an old soldier who had often
followed his standard to victory, raised a burning pile, and
deposited his ashes under a mound of earth. Cæsar erected a monument
on his remains, and the emperor Adrian, two centuries after, when
he visited Egypt, ordered it to be repaired at his own expense,
and paid particular honour to the memory of a great and good man.
The character of Pompey is that of an intriguing and artful general,
and the _oris probi_ and _animo inverecundo_ of Sallust, short
and laconic as it may appear, is the best and most descriptive
picture of his character. He wished it to appear that he obtained
all his honours and dignity from merit alone, and as the free and
unprejudiced favour of the Romans, while he secretly claimed them by
faction and intrigue; and he who wished to appear the patron and an
example of true discipline and ancient simplicity, was not ashamed
publicly to bribe the populace to gain an election, or support his
favourites. Yet amidst all this dissimulation, which was perhaps but
congenial with the age, we perceive many other striking features;
Pompey was kind and clement to the conquered, and generous to his
captives, and he buried at his own expense Mithridates, with all the
pomp and solemnity which the greatness of his power and the extent
of his dominions seemed to claim. He was an enemy to flattery, and
when his character was impeached by the malevolence of party, he
condescended, though consul, to appear before the censorial tribunal,
and to show that his actions and measures were not subversive of the
peace and the independence of the people. In his private character
he was as remarkable; he lived with great temperance and moderation,
and his house was small, and not ostentatiously furnished. He
destroyed with great prudence the papers which were found in the
camp of Sertorius, lest mischievous curiosity should find causes to
accuse the innocent, and to meditate their destruction. With great
disinterestedness he refused the presents which princes and monarchs
offered to him, and he ordered them to be added to the public revenue.
He might have seen a better fate, and terminated his days with more
glory, if he had not acted with such imprudence when the flames of
civil war were first kindled; and he reflected with remorse, after
the battle of Pharsalia, upon his want of usual sagacity and military
prudence, in fighting at such a distance from the sea, and in leaving
the fortified places of Dyrrachium, to meet in the open plain an
enemy, without provisions, without friends, and without resources.
The misfortunes which attended him after the conquest of Mithridates,
are attributed by christian writers to his impiety in profaning the
temple of the Jews, and in entering with the insolence of a conqueror
the Holy of Holies, where even the sacred person of the high priest
of the nation was not admitted but upon the most solemn occasions.
His duplicity of behaviour in regard to Cicero is deservedly censured,
and he should not have violently sacrificed to party and sedition a
Roman whom he had ever found his firmest friend and adherent. In his
meeting with Lucullus he cannot but be taxed with pride, and he might
have paid more deference and more honour to a general who was as able
and more entitled than himself to finish the Mithridatic war. Pompey
married four different times. His first matrimonial connection was
with Antistia the daughter of the pretor Antistius, whom he divorced,
with great reluctance, to marry Æmylia the daughter-in-law of Sylla.
Æmylia died in child-bed; and Pompey’s marriage with Julia the
daughter of Cæsar was a step more of policy than affection. Yet Julia
loved Pompey with great tenderness, and her death in child-bed was
the signal of war between her husband and her father. He afterwards
married Cornelia the daughter of Metellus Scipio, a woman commended
for her virtues, beauty, and accomplishments. _Plutarch_, _Lives_.
――_Florus_, bk. 4.――_Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 29.――_Dio Cassius._
――_Lucan._――_Appian._――_Cæsar_, _Civil War_.――_Cicero_, _Orator_, ch.
68, _Letters to Atticus_, bk. 7, ltr. 25; _Letters to his Friends_,
bk. 13, ltr. 19.――_Eutropius._――――The two sons of Pompey the Great,
called _Cneus_ and _Sextus_, were masters of a powerful army, when
the death of their father was known. They prepared to oppose the
conqueror, but Cæsar pursued them with his usual vigour and success,
and at the battle of Munda they were defeated, and Cneus was left
among the slain. Sextus fled to Sicily, where he for some time
supported himself; but the murder of Cæsar gave rise to new events,
and if Pompey had been as prudent and as sagacious as his father, he
might have become, perhaps, as great and as formidable. He treated
with the triumvirs as an equal, and when Augustus and Antony had the
imprudence to trust themselves without arms and without attendants
in his ship, Pompey, by following the advice of his friend Menas,
who wished him to cut off the illustrious persons who were masters of
the world, and now in his power, might have made himself as absolute
as Cæsar; but he refused, and observed it was unbecoming the son of
Pompey to act with such duplicity. This friendly meeting of Pompey
with two of the triumvirs was not productive of advantages to him;
he wished to have no superior, and hostilities began. Pompey was at
the head of 350 ships, and appeared so formidable to his enemies, and
so confident of success in himself, that he called himself the son of
Neptune, and the lord of the sea. He was, however, soon defeated in
a naval engagement by Octavius and Lepidus, and of all his numerous
fleet, only 17 sail accompanied his flight into Asia. Here for a
moment he raised seditions, but Antony ordered him to be seized and
put to death about 35 years before the christian era. _Plutarch_,
_Antonius_, &c.――_Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 55, &c.――_Florus_, bk. 4,
ch. 2, &c.――――Trogus. _See:_ Trogus.――――Sextus Festus, a Latin
grammarian, of whose treatise _de verborum significatione_, the best
edition is in 4to, Amsterdam, 1699.
♦ ‘dependant’ replaced with ‘dependent’
=Pompelon=, a town of Spain, now _Pompeluna_, the capital of Navarre.
_Pliny_, bk. 1, ch. 3.
=Pompĭlius Numa=, the second king of Rome. _See:_ Numa. The descendants
of the monarch were called _Pompilius Sanguis_, an expression applied
by Horace to the Pisos. _Art of Poetry_, li. 292.――――Andronicus, a
grammarian of Syria, who opened a school at Rome, and had Cicero and
Cæsar among his pupils. _Suetonius._
=Pompĭlia=, a daughter of Numa Pompilius. She married Numa Martius, by
whom she had Ancus Martius the fourth king of Rome.
=Pompīlus=, a fisherman of Ionia. He carried into Miletus Ocyroe the
daughter of Chesias, of whom Apollo was enamoured; but before he had
reached the shore, the god changed the boat into a rock, Pompilus
into a fish of the same name, and carried away Ocyroe. _Pliny_, bk. 6,
ch. 29; bk. 9, ch. 15; bk. 32, ch. 11.
=Pompiscus=, an Arcadian. _Polyænus_, bk. 5.
=Pompōnia=, the wife of Quintus Cicero, sister to Pomponius Atticus.
She punished with the greatest cruelty Philologus, the slave who had
betrayed her husband to Antony, and she ordered him to cut his flesh
by piecemeal, and afterwards to boil it and eat it in her presence.
――――A daughter of Pomponius Græcinus, in the age of Augustus, &c.
――――Another matron, banished from Rome by Domitian, and recalled by
Nerva.
=Pompōnius=, the father of Numa, advised his son to accept the regal
dignity which the Roman ambassadors offered to him.――――A celebrated
Roman intimate with Cicero. He was surnamed Atticus from his long
residence at Athens. _See:_ Atticus.――――Flaccus, a man appointed
governor of Mœsia and Syria by Tiberius, because he had continued
drinking and eating with him for two days without intermission.
_Suetonius_, _Tiberius_, ch. 42.――――A tribune of the people in the
time of Servilius Ahala the consul.――――Labeo, a governor of Mœsia,
accused of ill management in his province. He destroyed himself by
opening his veins. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 6, li. 29.――――Mela, a
Spaniard, who wrote a book on geography. _See:_ Mela.――――A proconsul
of Africa, accused by the inhabitants of his province, and acquitted,
&c.――――A Roman who accused Manlius the dictator of cruelty. He
triumphed over Sardinia, of which he was made governor. He escaped
from Rome, and the tyranny of the triumvirs, by assuming the habit of
a pretor, and by travelling with his servants disguised in the dress
of lictors with their fasces.――――Secundus, an officer in Germany in
the age of Nero. He was honoured with a triumph for a victory over
the barbarians of Germany. He wrote some poems greatly celebrated
by the ancients for their beauty and elegance. They are lost.――――A
friend of Caius Gracchus. He was killed in attempting to defend him.
_Plutarch_, _Tiberius Gracchus_.――――An officer taken prisoner by
Mithridates.――――A dissolute youth, &c. _Horace_, bk. 1, satire 4,
li. 52.――――Sextus, a lawyer, disciple to Papinian, &c.
=Pomposiānus=, a Roman put to death by Domitian. He had before been
made consul by Vespasian.
=Pomptina.= _See:_ Pontina.
=Caius Pomptinus=, a Roman officer, who conquered the Allobroges after
the defeat of Catiline. _Cicero_ bk. 4, _Letters to Atticus_, ltr. 16;
bk. 6, ltr. 3.
=Pompus=, a king of Arcadia. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 5.
=Pons Ælius=, was built by the emperor Adrian at Rome. It was the
second bridge of Rome in following the current of the Tiber. It is
still to be seen, the largest and most beautiful in Rome.――――Æmylius,
an ancient bridge at Rome, originally called _Sublicius_, because
built with wood (_sublicæ_). It was raised by Ancus Martius, and
dedicated with great pomp and solemnity by the Roman priests. It was
rebuilt with stones by Æmylius Lepidus, whose name it assumed. It
was much injured by the overflowing of the river, and the emperor
Antoninus, who repaired it, made it all with white marble. It was the
last of all the bridges of Rome, in following the course of the river,
and some vestiges of it may still be seen.――――Aniensis was built
across the river Anio, about three miles from Rome. It was rebuilt
by the eunuch Narses, and called after him when destroyed by the
Goths.――――Cestus was built in the reign of Tiberius, by a Roman
called Cestius Gallus, from whom it received its name, and carried
back from an island of the Tiber, to which the Fabricius conducted.
――――Aurelianus was built with marble by the emperor ♦Antoninus.
――――Armoniensis was built by Augustus, to join the Flaminian to the
Æmylian road.――――Bajanus was built at Baiæ in the sea by Caligula.
It was supported by boats, and measured about six miles in length.
――――Janicularis received its name from its vicinity to mount
Janiculum. It is still standing.――――Milvius was about one mile
from Rome. It was built by the censor Ælius Scaurus. It was near
it that Constantine defeated Maxentius.――――Fabricius was built by
Fabricius, and carried to an island of the Tiber.――――Gardius was
built by Agrippa.――――Palatinus, near mount Palatine, was also called
_Senatorius_, because the senators walked over it in procession when
they went to consult the Sibylline books. It was begun by Marcus
Fulvius, and finished in the censorship of Lucius Mummius, and some
remains of it are still visible.――――Trajani was built by Trajan
across the Danube, celebrated for its bigness and magnificence. The
emperor built it to assist more expeditiously the provinces against
the barbarians, but his successor destroyed it, as he supposed that
it would be rather an inducement for the barbarians to invade the
empire. It was raised on 20 piers of hewn stones, 150 feet from the
foundation, 60 feet broad, and 170 feet distant one from the other,
extending in length above a mile. Some of the pillars are still
standing.――――Another was built by Trajan over the Tagus, part of
which still remains. Of temporary bridges, that of Cæsar over the
Rhine was the most famous.――――The largest single-arched bridge known
is over the river Elaver in France, called _Pons Veteris Brivatis_.
The pillars stand on two rocks, at the distance of 195 feet. The
arch is 84 feet high above the water.――――Suffragiorum was built in
the Campus Martius, and received its name, because the populace were
obliged to pass over it whenever they delivered their suffrages at
the elections of magistrates and officers of the state.――――Tirensis,
a bridge of Latium between Arpinum and Minturnæ.――――Triumphalis was
on the way to the capitol, and passed over by those who triumphed.
――――Narniensis joined two mountains near Narnia, built by Augustus,
of stupendous height, 60 miles from Rome; one arch of it remains,
about 100 feet high.
♦ ‘Antonnius’ replaced with ‘Antoninus’
=Pontia=, a Roman matron who committed adultery with Sagitta, &c.
_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 12.――――A mother infamous for her cruelty.
_Martial_, bk. 1, ltr. 34.――――A surname of Venus at Hermione.
_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 34.――――A woman condemned by Nero as guilty
of a conspiracy. She killed herself by opening her veins. She was
daughter of Petronius and wife of Bolanus. _Juvenal_, satire 6, li.
637.――――An island in the Tyrrhene sea, where Pilate, surnamed Pontius,
is supposed to have lived. _Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 6.――_Ptolemy_, bk. 3,
ch. 1. _See:_ Œnotrides.
=Pontĭcum mare=, the sea of Pontus, generally called the Euxine.
=Pontīcus=, a poet of Rome, contemporary with Propertius, by whom he
is compared to Homer. He wrote an account of the Theban war in heroic
verse. _Propertius_, bk. 1, poem 7.――――A man in Juvenal’s age, fond
of boasting of the antiquity and great actions of his family, yet
without possessing himself one single virtue.
=Pontīna=, or =Pomptina lacus=, a lake in the country of the Volsci,
through which the great Appian road passed. Travellers were sometimes
conveyed in a boat, drawn by a mule, in the canal that ran along
the road from Forum Appii to Tarracina. This lake is now become
so dangerous, from the exhalations of its stagnant water, that
travellers avoid passing near it. _Horace_, bk. 1, satire 5, li. 9.
――_Lucan_, bk. 3, li. 85.
=Pontīnus=, a friend of Cicero.――――A tribune of the people, who
refused to rise up when Cæsar passed in triumphal procession. He
was one of Cæsar’s murderers, and was killed at the battle of Mutina.
_Suetonius_, _Cæsar_, ch. 78.――_Cicero_, bk. 10, _Letters to his
Friends_.――――A mountain of Argolis, with a river of the same name.
_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 73.
=Pontius Aufidianus=, a Roman citizen, who, upon hearing that violence
had been offered to his daughter, punished her and her ravisher with
death. _Valerius Maximus_, bk. 6, ch. 1.――――Herennius, a general
of the Samnites, who surrounded the Roman army under the consuls
Titus Veturius and Publius Posthumius. As there was no possibility of
escaping for the Romans, Pontius consulted his father what he could
do with an army that were prisoners in his hands. The old man advised
him either to let them go untouched, or put them all to the sword.
Pontius rejected his father’s advice, and spared the lives of the
enemy, after he had obliged them to pass under the yoke with the
greatest ignominy. He was afterwards conquered, and obliged, in his
turn, to pass under the yoke. Fabius Maximus defeated him, when he
appeared again at the head of another army, and he was afterwards
shamefully put to death by the Romans, after he had adorned the
triumph of the conqueror. _Livy_, bk. 9, ch. 1, &c.――――Cominius,
a Roman who gave information to his countrymen who were besieged
in the capitol, that Camillus had obtained a victory over the Gauls.
_Plutarch._――――A Roman slave who told Sylla, in a prophetic strain,
that he brought him success from Bellona.――――One of the favourites
of Albucilla. He was degraded from the rank of a senator. _Tacitus._
――――Titus, a Roman centurion, whom Cicero _de Senectute_ mentions as
possessed of uncommon strength.
=Pontus=, a kingdom of Asia Minor, bounded on the east by Colchis, west
by the Halys, north by the Euxine sea, and south by part of Armenia.
It was divided into three parts, according to Ptolemy; Pontus
_Galaticus_, of which Amasia was the capital, Pontus _Polemoniacus_,
from its chief town Polemonium, and Pontus _Cappadocius_, of which
Trapezus was the capital. It was governed by kings, the first of whom
was Artabazes, either one of the seven Persian noblemen who murdered
the usurper Smerdis, or one of their descendants. The kingdom of
Pontus was in its most flourishing state under Mithridates the Great.
When Julius Cæsar had conquered it, it became a Roman province,
though it was often governed by monarchs who were tributary to the
power of Rome. Under the emperors a regular governor was always
appointed over it. Pontus produced castors, whose testicles were
highly valued among the ancients for their salutary qualities in
medicinal processes. _Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 1, li. 58.――_Mela_,
bk. 1, chs. 1 & 19.――_Strabo_, bk. 12.――_Cicero_, _De Legibus_.
――_Manitius._――_Appian._――_Ptolemy_, bk. 5, ch. 6.――――A part of Mysia
in Europe, on the borders of the Euxine sea, where Ovid was banished,
and from whence he wrote his four books of epistles _ex Ponto_, and
his six books _de Tristibus_. _Ovid_, _ex Ponto_.――――An ancient deity,
father of Phorcys, Thaumas, Nereus, Eurybia, and Ceto by Terra. He is
the same as Oceanus. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 2.
=Pontus Euxīnus=, a celebrated sea, situate at the west of Colchis
between Asia and Europe, at the north of Asia Minor. It is called the
_Black sea_ by the moderns. _See:_ Euxinus.
=Marcus Popilius=, a consul who was informed, as he was offering a
sacrifice, that a sedition was raised in the city against the senate.
Upon this he immediately went to the populace in his sacerdotal robes,
and quieted the multitude with a speech. He lived about the year of
Rome 404. _Livy_, bk. 9, ch. 21.――_Valerius Maximus_, bk. 7, ch. 8.
――――Caius, a consul, who, when besieged by the Gauls, abandoned his
baggage to save his army. _Cicero_, _Rhetorica ad Herennium_, bk. 1,
ch. 15.――――Lænas, a Roman ambassador to Antiochus king of Syria. He
was commissioned to order the monarch to abstain from hostilities
against Ptolemy king of Egypt, who was an ally of Rome. Antiochus
wished to evade him by his answers, but Popilius, with a stick which
he had in his hand, made a circle round him on the sand, and bade
him, in the name of the Roman senate and people, not to go beyond
it before he spoke decisively. This boldness intimidated Antiochus;
he withdrew his garrisons from Egypt, and no longer meditated a war
against Ptolemy. _Valerius Maximus_, bk. 6, ch. 4.――_Livy_, bk. 45,
ch. 12.――_Paterculus_, bk. 1, ch. 10.――――A tribune of the people who
murdered Cicero, to whose eloquence he was indebted for his life when
he was accused of parricide. _Plutarch._――――A pretor who banished the
friends of Tiberius Gracchus from Italy.――――A Roman consul who made
war against the people of Numantia, on pretence that the peace had
not been firmly established. He was defeated by them.――――A senator
who alarmed the conspirators against Cæsar, by telling them that the
whole plot was discovered.――――A Roman emperor. _See:_ Nepotianus.
=Poplicŏla=, one of the first consuls. _See:_ Publicola.
=Poppæa Sabīna=, a celebrated Roman matron, daughter of Titus Ollius.
She married a Roman knight called Rufus Crispinus, by whom she had a
son. Her personal charms, and the elegance of her figure, captivated
Otho, who was then one of Nero’s favourites. He carried her away
and married her; but Nero, who had seen her, and had often heard
her accomplishments extolled, soon deprived him of her company, and
sent him out of Italy, on pretence of presiding over one of the Roman
provinces. After he had taken this step, Nero repudiated his wife
Octavia, on pretence of barrenness, and married Poppæa. The cruelty
and avarice of the emperor did not long permit Poppæa to share the
imperial dignity, and though she had already made him father of a son,
he began to despise her, and even to use her with barbarity. She died
of a blow which she received from his foot when many months advanced
in her pregnancy, about the 65th year of the christian era. Her
funeral was performed with great pomp and solemnity, and statues were
raised to her memory. It is said that she was so anxious to preserve
her beauty and the elegance of her person, that 500 asses were kept
on purpose to afford her milk in which she used daily to bathe. Even
in her banishment she was attended by 50 of these animals for the
same purpose, and from their milk she invented a kind of ointment or
pomatum, to preserve beauty, called _poppæanum_ from her. _Pliny_,
bk. 11, ch. 41.――_Dio Cassisus_, bk. 65.――_Juvenal_, satire 6.
――_Suetonius_, _Nero_ & _Otho_.――_Tacitus_, ♦_Annals_, bks. 13 & 14.
――――A beautiful woman at the court of Nero. She was mother to the
preceding. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 11, ch. 1, &c.
♦ Book title omitted in text
=Poppæus Sabīnus=, a Roman of obscure origin, who was made governor
of some of the Roman provinces. He destroyed himself, &c. _Tacitus_,
bk. 6, _Annals_, ch. 39.――――Sylvanus, a man of consular dignity, who
brought to Vespasian a body of 600 Dalmatians.――――A friend of Otho.
=Populonia=, or =Populanium=, a town of Etruria, near Pisæ, destroyed
in the civil wars of Sylla. _Strabo_, bk. 5.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 10, li. 172.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 5.――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 5.
=Porata=, a river of Dacia, now _Pruth_, falling into the Danube a
little below Axiopoli.
=Porcia=, a sister of Cato of Utica, greatly commended by Cicero.――――A
daughter of Cato of Utica, who married Bibulus, and after his death,
Brutus. She was remarkable for her prudence, philosophy, courage,
and conjugal tenderness. She gave herself a heavy wound in the thigh,
to see with what fortitude she could bear pain; and when her husband
asked her the reason of it, she said that she wished to try whether
she had courage enough to share not only his bed, but to partake of
his most hidden secrets. Brutus was astonished at her constancy, and
no longer detained from her knowledge the conspiracy which he and
many other illustrious Romans had formed against Julius Cæsar. Porcia
wished them success, and though she betrayed fear, and fell into a
swoon the day that her husband was gone to assassinate the dictator,
yet she was faithful to her promise, and dropped nothing which might
affect the situation of the conspirators. When Brutus was dead, she
refused to survive him, and attempted to end her life as a daughter
of Cato. Her friends attempted to terrify her; but when she saw that
every weapon was removed from her reach, she swallowed burning coals
and died, about 42 years before the christian era. Valerius Maximus
says that she was acquainted with her husband’s conspiracy against
Cæsar when she gave herself the wound. _Valerius Maximus_, bk. 3,
ch. 2; bk. 4, ch. 6.――_Plutarch_, _Brutus_, &c.
=Porcia lex=, _de civitate_, by Marcus Porcius the tribune, A.U.C. 453.
It ordained that no magistrate should punish with death, or scourge
with rods, a Roman citizen when condemned, but only permit him to
go into exile. _Sallust_, _Catilinae Coniuratio_.――_Livy_, bk. 10.
――_Cicero_, _For Rabirius Postumus_.
=Porcina=, a surname of the orator Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, who lived a
little before Cicero’s age, and was distinguished for his abilities.
_Cicero_, _Rhetorica ad Herennium_, bk. 4, ch. 5.
=Marcus Porcius Latro=, a celebrated orator who killed himself when
labouring under a quartan ague, A.U.C. 750.――――Licinius, a Latin poet
during the time of the third Punic war, commended for the elegance,
the graceful ease, and happy wit of his epigrams.――――A Roman senator
who joined the conspiracy of Catiline.――――A son of Cato of Utica,
given much to drinking.
=Poredorax=, one of the 40 Gauls whom Mithridates ordered to be put
to death, and to remain unburied for conspiring against him. His
mistress at Pergamus buried him against the orders of the monarch.
_Plutarch_, _Mulierum Virtutes_.
=Porīna=, a river of Peloponnesus. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 85.
=Poroselēne=, an island near Lesbos. _Strabo_, bk. 13.――_Pliny_, bk. 5,
ch. 31.
=Porphyrion=, a son of Cœlus and Terra, one of the giants who made war
against Jupiter. He was so formidable, that Jupiter, to conquer him,
inspired him with love for Juno, and while the giant endeavoured to
obtain his wishes, he, with the assistance of Hercules, overpowered
him. _Horace_, bk. 3, ode 4.――_Martial_, bk. 13, ltr. 78.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 6.
=Porphy̆ris=, a name of the island Cythera.
=Porphyrius=, a Platonic philosopher of Tyre. He studied eloquence
at Athens under Longinus, and afterwards retired to Rome, where he
perfected himself under Plotinus. Porphyry was a man of universal
information, and, according to the testimony of the ancients, he
excelled his contemporaries in the knowledge of history, mathematics,
music, and philosophy. He expressed his sentiments with elegance and
with dignity, and while other philosophers studied obscurity in their
language, his style was remarkable for its simplicity and grace. He
applied himself to the study of magic, which he called a theourgic
or divine operation. The books that he wrote were numerous, and
some of his smaller treatises are still extant. His most celebrated
work, which is now lost, was against the religion of Christ, and in
this theological contest he appeared so formidable, that most of the
fathers of the church have been employed in confuting his arguments,
and developing the falsehood of his assertions. He has been
universally called the greatest enemy which the christian religion
had, and, indeed, his doctrines were so pernicious, that a copy
of his book was publicly burnt by order of Theodosius, A.D. 388.
Porphyry resided for some time in Sicily, and died at the advanced
age of 71, A.D. 304. The best edition of his life of Pythagoras is
that of Kuster, 4to, Amsterdam, 1707, that of his treatise, _De
Abstinentiâ_, is De Rhoer, Utrecht, 8vo, 1767, and that _De Antro
Nympharum_, in 8vo, Utrecht, 1765.――――A Latin poet in the reign of
Constantine the Great.
=Porrima=, one of the attendants of Carmente when she came from Arcadia.
_Ovid_, bk. 1, _Fasti_, li. 633.
=Porsenna=, or =Porsĕna=, a king of Etruria, who declared war against
the Romans because they refused to restore Tarquin to his throne and
to his royal privileges. He was at first successful; the Romans were
defeated, and Porsenna would have entered the gates of Rome, had not
Cocles stood at the head of a bridge, and supported the fury of the
whole Etrurian army, while his companions behind were cutting off the
communication with the opposite shore. This act of bravery astonished
Porsenna; but when he had seen Mutius Scævola enter his camp with
an intention to murder him, and when he had seen him burn his hand
without emotion to convince him of his fortitude and intrepidity,
he no longer dared to make head against a people so brave and so
generous. He made a peace with the Romans, and never after supported
the claims of Tarquin. The generosity of Porsenna’s behaviour to
the captives was admired by the Romans, and to reward his humanity
they raised a brazen statue to his honour. _Livy_, bk. 2, ch. 9, &c.
――_Plutarch_, _Publicola_.――_Florus_, bk. 1, ch. 10.――_Horace_, epode
16.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 8, li. 646.