_Fasti_, bk. 6, li. 192.――――Aurelia, a gate at Rome, which received
its name from Aurelius, a consul who made a road which led to Pisæ,
all along the coast of Etruria.――――Asinaria led to mount Cœlius.
It received its name from the family of the Asinii.――――Carmentalis
was at the foot of the capitol, built by Romulus. It was afterwards
called _Scelerata_, because the 300 Fabii marched through when they
went to fight an enemy, and were killed near the river Cremera.
――――Janualis was near the temple of Janus.――――Esquilina was also
called _Metia_, _Taurica_, or _Libitinensis_, and all criminals
who were going to be executed generally passed through, as also
dead bodies which were carried to be burnt on mount Esquilinus.
――――Flaminia, called also _Flumentana_, was situate between the
capitol and mount Quirinalis, and through it the Flaminian road
passed.――――Fontinalis led to the Campus Martius. It received its name
from the great number of fountains that were near it.――――Navalis was
situate near the place where the ships came from Ostia.――――Viminalis
was near mount Viminalis.――――Trigemina, called also _Ostiensis_,
led to the town of Ostia.――――Catularia was near the Carmentalis
Porta, at the foot of mount Viminalis.――――Collatina received its name
from its leading to Collatia.――――Collina, called also _Quirinalis_,
_Agonensis_, and _Salaria_, was near Quirinalis Mons. Annibal rode up
to this gate and threw a spear into the city. It is to be observed,
that at the death of Romulus there were only three or four gates at
Rome, but the number was increased, and in the time of Pliny there
were 37, when the circumference of the walls was 13 miles and 200
paces.
=Portia= and =Portius=. _See:_ Porcia and Porcius.
=Portmos=, a town of Eubœa. _Demosthenes._――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 5.
=Portumnalia=, festivals of Portumnus at Rome, celebrated on the 17th
of August, in a very solemn and lugubrious manner, on the borders
of the Tiber. _Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 6, li. 547.――_Varro_, _de Lingua
Latina_, bk. 5, ch. 3.
=Portumnus=, a sea deity. _See:_ Melicerta.
=Porus=, the god of plenty at Rome. He was son of Metis or Prudence.
_Plato._――――A king of India, when Alexander invaded Asia. The
conqueror of Darius ordered him to come and pay homage to him, as a
dependent prince. Porus scorned his commands, and declared he would
go and meet him on the frontiers of his kingdom sword in hand, and
immediately he marched a large army to the banks of the Hydaspes.
The stream of the river was rapid; but Alexander crossed it in the
obscurity of the night, and defeated one of the sons of the Indian
monarch. Porus himself renewed the battle, but the valour of the
Macedonians prevailed, and the Indian prince retired covered with
wounds, on the back of one of his elephants. Alexander sent one of
the kings of India to demand him to surrender, but Porus killed the
messenger, exclaiming, “Is not this the voice of the wretch who has
abandoned his country?” and when he at last was prevailed upon to
come before the conqueror, he approached him as an equal. Alexander
demanded of him how he wished to be treated. “Like a king,” replied
the Indian monarch. This magnanimous answer so pleased the Macedonian
conqueror, that he not only restored him his dominions, but he
increased his kingdom by the conquest of new provinces; and Porus, in
acknowledgment of such generosity and benevolence, became one of the
most faithful and attached friends of Alexander, and never violated
the assurances of peace which he had given him. Porus is represented
as a man of uncommon stature, great strength, and proportionable
dignity. _Plutarch_, _Alexander_.――_Philostratus_, bk. 2, ch. 10.
――_Curtius_, bk. 8, ch. 8, &c.――_Claudianus_, _De Consulatu Honorii_,
ch. 4.――――Another king of India in the reign of Alexander.――――A king
of Babylon.
=Pŏsīdes=, a eunuch and freedman of the emperor Claudius, who rose to
honours by the favour of his master. _Juvenal_, satire 14, li. 94.
=Posidēum=, a promontory and town of Ionia, where Neptune had a temple.
_Strabo_, bk. 14.――――A town of Syria below Libanus. _Pliny_, bk. 5,
ch. 20.――――A town near the Strymon, on the borders of Macedonia.
_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 10.
=Posīdon=, the name of Neptune among the Greeks.
=Posidonia=, a town of Lucania, better known by the name of Pæstum.
_See:_ Pæstum.
=Posidonium=, a town or temple of Neptune, near Cænis in Italy, where
the straits of Sicily are narrowest, and scarce a mile distant from
the opposite shore.
=Posidonius=, a philosopher of Apamea. He lived at Rhodes for some
time, and afterwards came to Rome, where, after cultivating the
friendship of Pompey and Cicero, he died in his 84th year. He wrote
a treatise on the nature of the gods, and also attempted to measure
the circumference of the earth; he accounted for the tides from the
motion of the moon, and calculated the height of the atmosphere to be
400 stadia, nearly agreeing with the ideas of the moderns. _Cicero_,
_Tusculanæ Disputationes_, bk. 5, ch. 37.――_Strabo_, bk. 14.
――――Another philosopher, born at Alexandria in Egypt.
=Posio=, a native of Magnesia, who wrote a history of the Amazons.
=Posthumia=, a vestal virgin, accused of adultery and acquitted.――――The
wife of Servius Sulpicius. _Cicero_, _Epistles_.――――A daughter of
Sylla.
=Posthumius Albīnus=, a man who suffered himself to be bribed by
Jugurtha, against whom he had been sent with an army.――――A writer
at Rome whom Cato ridiculed for composing a history in Greek, and
afterwards offering apologies for the inaccuracy and inelegance of
his expressions.――――Tubero, a master of horse to the dictator Æmilius
Mamercus. He was himself made dictator in the war which the Romans
waged against the Volsci, and he punished his son with death for
fighting against his orders, A.U.C. 312. _Livy_, bk. 4, ch. 23.
――――Spurius, a consul sent against the Samnites. He was taken in an
ambush by Pontius, the enemy’s general, and obliged to pass under
the yoke with all his army. He saved his life by a shameful treaty,
and when he returned to Rome he persuaded the Romans not to reckon as
valid the engagements he had made with the enemy, as it was without
their advice. He was given up to the enemy because he could not
perform his engagements; but he was released by Pontius for his
generous and patriotic behaviour.――――Aulus, a dictator who defeated
the Latins and the Volsci.――――Tubertus, another dictator, who
defeated the Æqui and Volsci.――――Lucius, a consul sent against the
Samnites.――――A general who defeated the Sabines, and who was the
first who obtained an ovation.――――A man poisoned by his wife.――――A
general who conquered the Æqui, and who was stoned by the army,
because he refused to divide the promised spoils. _Florus_, bk. 22.
――――Lucius, a Roman consul who was defeated by the Boii. He was left
among the slain, and his head was cut off from his body, and carried
in triumph by the barbarians into their temples, where they made with
the skull a sacred vessel to offer libations to their gods.――――Marcus
Crassus Latianus, an officer proclaimed emperor in Gaul, A.D. 260.
He reigned with great popularity, and gained the affection of his
subjects by his humanity and moderation. He took his son of the same
name as a colleague on the throne. They were both assassinated by
their soldiers, after a reign of six years.――――Megilthus, a consul
against the Samnites and Tarentines.――――Quintus, a man put to death
by Antony.――――A soothsayer in the age of Sylla.――――Spurius, an enemy
of Tiberius Gracchus.――――Albus, a Roman decemvir, sent to Athens to
collect the most salutary laws of Solon, &c. _Livy_, bk. 3, ch. 31.
――――Sylvius, a son of Æneas and Sylvia.
=Postverta=, a goddess at Rome, who presided over the painful travails
of women. _Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 1, li. 633.
=Postumia via=, a Roman road about the town of Hostilia.
=Postumius.= _See:_ Posthumius.
=Potamĭdes=, nymphs who presided over rivers and fountains, as their
name (ποταμος, _fluvius_) implies.
=Potamon=, a philosopher of Alexandria, in the age of Augustus. He
wrote several treatises, and confined himself to the doctrines of no
particular sect of philosophers.
=Potamos=, a town of Attica, near Sunium. _Strabo_, bk. 9.
=Potentia=, a town of Picenum. _Livy_, bk. 39, ch. 44.
=Pothīnus=, a eunuch, tutor to Ptolemy king of Egypt. He advised the
monarch to murder Pompey, when he claimed his protection after the
battle of Pharsalia. He stirred up commotions in Alexandria, when
Cæsar came there, upon which the conqueror ordered him to be put to
death. _Lucan_, bk. 8, li. 483; bk. 10, li. 95.
=Pothos=, one of the deities of the Samothracians. _Pliny_, bk. 36,
ch. 5.
=Potidæa=, a town of Macedonia, situate in the peninsula of Pallene.
It was founded by a Corinthian colony, and became tributary to the
Athenians, from whom Philip of Macedonia took it. The conqueror gave
it to the Olynthians, to render them more attached to his interest.
Cassander repaired and enlarged it, and called it _Cassandria_, a
name which it still preserves, and which has given occasion to Livy
to say, that Cassander was the original founder of that city. _Livy_,
bk. 44, ch. 11.――_Demosthenes_, _Olynthiac_.――_Strabo_, bk. 7.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 23.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 2.
=Potidania=, a town of Ætolia. _Livy_, bk. 28, ch. 8.
=Potīna=, a goddess at Rome, who presided over children’s potions.
_Varro._
=Potitius.= _See:_ Pinarius.
=Potniæ=, a town of Bœotia, where Bacchus had a temple. The Potnians,
having once murdered the priest of the god, were ordered by the
oracle, to appease his resentment, yearly to offer on his altars
a young man. This unnatural sacrifice was continued for some years,
till Bacchus himself substituted a goat, from which circumstance he
received the appellation of _Ægobolus_ and _Ægophagus_. There was
here a fountain whose waters made horses run mad as soon as they were
touched. There were also here certain goddesses called _Potniades_,
on whose altars, in a grove sacred to Ceres and Proserpine, victims
were sacrificed. It was also usual, at a certain season of the year,
to conduct into the grove young pigs, which were found the following
year in the groves of Dodona. The mares of Potniæ destroyed their
master Glaucus son of Sisyphus. _See:_ Glaucus. _Pausanias_, bk. 9,
ch. 8.――_Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 3, li. 267.――_Ælian_, _Varia
Historia_, bk. 15, ch. 25.――――A town of Magnesia, whose pastures gave
madness to asses, according to Pliny.
=Practium=, a town and a small river of Asia Minor, on the Hellespont.
=Præcia=, a courtesan at Rome, who influenced Cethegus, and procured
Asia as a consular province for Lucullus. _Plutarch_, _Lucullus_.
=Præneste=, a town of Latium, about 21 miles from Rome, built by
Telegonus son of Ulysses and Circe, or, according to others, by
Cæculus the son of Vulcan. There was a celebrated temple of Fortune
there, with two famous images, as also an oracle, which was long in
great repute. _Cicero_, _De Divinatione_, bk. 2, ch. 41.――_Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 7, li. 680.――_Horace_, bk. 3, ode 4.――_Statius_, bk. 1,
_Sylvæ_, poem 3, li. 80.
=Præsos=, a small town of Crete, destroyed in a civil war by one of the
neighbouring cities.
=Præsti=, a nation of India. _Curtius_, bk. 9, ch. 8.
=Prætōria=, a town of Dacia, now _Cronstadt_.――――Another, now _Aoust_,
in Piedmont.
=Prætorius=, a name ironically applied to As. Sempronius Rufus, because
he was disappointed in his solicitations for the pretorship, as being
too dissolute and luxurious in his manners. He was the first who had
a stork brought to his table. _Horace_, bk. 2, satire 2, li. 50.
=Prætutium=, a town of Picenum. _Silius Italicus_, bk. 15, li. 568.
――_Livy_, bk. 22, ch. 9; bk. 27, ch. 43.
=Prasiane=, now _Verdant_, a large island at the mouth of the Indus.
_Pliny_, bk. 6, ch. 20.
=Prasias=, a lake between Macedonia and Thrace, where were silver mines.
_Herodotus_, bk. 5, ch. 17.
=Prasii=, a nation of India in Alexander’s age. _Curtius_, bk. 9, ch. 2.
=Pratellia lex=, was enacted by Pratellius the tribune, A.U.C. 398, to
curb and check the ambitious views of men who were lately advanced in
the state. _Livy_, bk. 7, ch. 15.
=Pratinas=, a Greek poet of Phlius, contemporary with Æschylus. He
was the first among the Greeks who composed satires, which were
represented as farces. Of these 32 were acted, as also 18 of his
tragedies, one of which only obtained the poetical prize. Some of his
verses are extant, quoted by Athenæus. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 13.
=Praxagŏras=, an Athenian writer, who published a history of the kings
of his own country. He was then only 19 years old, and, three years
after, he wrote the life of Constantine the Great. He had also
written the life of Alexander, all now lost.
=Praxias=, a celebrated statuary of Athens. _Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 18.
=Praxidămas=, a famous athlete of Ægina. _Pausanias_, bk. 6, ch. 18.
=Praxidĭce=, a goddess among the Greeks, who presided over the
execution of enterprises, and who punished all evil actions.
_Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 33.
=Praxĭla=, a lyric poetess of Sicyon, who flourished about 492 years
before Christ. _Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 13.
=Praxiphănes=, a Rhodian, who wrote a learned commentary on the obscure
passages of Sophocles.――――An historian. _Diogenes Laërtius._
=Praxis=, a surname of Venus at Megara. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 43.
=Praxitĕles=, a famous sculptor of Magna Græcia, who flourished about
324 years before the christian era. He chiefly worked on Parian
marble, on account of its beautiful whiteness. He carried his art to
the greatest perfection, and was so happy in copying nature, that his
statues seemed to be animated. The most famous of his pieces was a
Cupid which he gave to Phryne. This celebrated courtesan, who wished
to have the best of all the statues of Praxiteles, and who could not
depend upon her own judgment in the choice, alarmed the sculptor,
by telling him his house was on fire. Praxiteles upon this showed
his eagerness to save his Cupid from the flames, above all his other
pieces; but Phryne restrained his fears, and, by discovering her
artifice, obtained the favourite statue. The sculptor employed his
chisel in making a statue of this beautiful courtesan, which was
dedicated in the temple of Delphi, and placed between the statues of
Archidamus king of Sparta, and Philip king of Macedon. He also made
a statue of Venus, at the request of the people of Cos, and gave them
their choice of the goddess, either naked or veiled. The former was
superior to the other in beauty and perfection, but the inhabitants
of Cos preferred the latter. The ♦Cnidians, who did not wish to
patronize modesty and decorum with the same eagerness as the people
of Cos, bought the naked Venus, and it was so universally esteemed,
that Nicomedes king of Bithynia offered the Cnidians to pay an
enormous debt under which they laboured, if they would give him
their favourite statue. This offer was not accepted. The famous Cupid
was bought of the Thespians by Caius Cæsar and carried to Rome, but
Claudius restored it to them, and Nero afterwards obtained possession
of it. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 40; bk. 8, ch. 9.――_Pliny_, bk. 7, chs.
34 & 36.
♦ ‘Cnidans’ replaced with ‘Cnidians’
=Praxithea=, a daughter of Phrasimus and Diogenea. She married
Erechtheus king of Athens, by whom she had Cecrops, Pandarus, and
Metion, and four daughters, Procris, Creusa, Chthonia, and Orithyia.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 15.――――A daughter of Thestius, mother of
some children by Hercules. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――――A daughter
of Erechtheus, sacrificed by order of the oracle.
=Prelius=, a lake of Tuscany, now _Castiglione_. _Cicero_, _For Milo_,
ch. 27.――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 5.
=Presbon=, a son of Phryxus, father of Clymenus.――――A son of Clytodora
and Minyas also bore the same name. _Pausanias_, bk. 9, chs. 34 & 37.
=Pretor=, one of the chief magistrates at Rome. The office of pretor
was first instituted A.U.C. 388, by the senators, who wished by some
new honour to compensate for the loss of the consulship, of which
the plebeians had claimed a share. The pretor received his name a
_præeundo_. Only one was originally elected, and another A.U.C. 501.
One of them was totally employed in administering justice among
the citizens, whence he was called pretor _urbanus_; and the other
appointed judges in all causes which related to foreigners. In the
year of Rome 520, two more pretors were created to assist the consul
in the government of the provinces of Sicily and Sardinia, which had
been lately conquered, and two more when Spain was reduced into the
form of a Roman province, A.U.C. 521. Sylla the dictator added two
more, and Julius Cæsar increased the number to 10, and afterwards
to 16, and the second triumvirate to 64. After this their numbers
fluctuated, being sometimes 18, 16, or 12, till, in the decline
of the empire, their dignity decreased, and their numbers were
reduced to three. In his public capacity the pretor administered
justice, protected the rights of widows and orphans, presided at the
celebration of public festivals, and in the absence of the consul
assembled or prorogued the senate as he pleased. He also exhibited
shows to the people, and in the festivals of the Bona Dea, where
no males were permitted to appear, his wife presided over the rest
of the Roman matrons. Feasts were announced and proclaimed by him,
and he had the power to make and repeal laws, if it met with the
approbation of the senate and people. The questors were subject to
him, and in the absence of the consuls, he appeared at the head of
the armies, and in the city he kept a register of all the freedmen
of Rome, with the reasons for which they had received their freedom.
In the provinces the pretors appeared with great pomp; six lictors
with the fasces walked before them, and when the empire was increased
by conquests, they divided, like the consuls, their government, and
provinces were given them by lot. When the year of their pretorship
was elapsed, they were called _proprætors_, if they still continued
at the head of their province. At Rome the pretors appeared also with
much pomp; two lictors preceded them, they wore the _prætexta_, or
the white robe with purple borders, they sat in curule chairs, and
their tribunal was distinguished by a sword and a spear, while they
administered justice. The tribunal was called _prætorium_. When they
rode they appeared on white horses at Rome, as a mark of distinction.
The pretor who appointed judges to try foreign causes, was called
_prætor peregrinus_. The pretors _Cereales_, appointed by Julius
Cæsar, were employed in providing corn and provision for the city.
They were on that account often called _frumentarii_.
=Preugĕnes=, a son of Agenor. _Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 2; bk. 7, chs.
18 & 20.
=Prexaspes=, a Persian who put Smerdis to death, by order of king
Cambyses. _Herodotus_, bk. 3, ch. 30.
=Priamĭdes=, a patronymic applied to Paris, as being son of Priam. It
is also given to Hector, Deiphobus, and all the other children of
the Trojan monarch. _Ovid_, _Heroides_.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3,
li. 235.
=Priămus=, the last king of Troy, was son of Laomedon by Strymo, called
Placia by some. When Hercules took the city of Troy [_See:_ Laomedon],
Priam was in the number of his prisoners, but his sister Hesione
redeemed him from captivity, and he exchanged his original name of
Podarces for that of _Priam_, which signifies _bought_ or _ransomed_.
_See:_ Podarces. He was also placed on his father’s throne by
Hercules, and he employed himself with well-directed diligence in
repairing, fortifying, and embellishing the city of Troy. He had
married, by his father’s orders, Arisba, whom now he divorced for
Hecuba the daughter of Dimas, or Cisseus, a neighbouring prince.
He had by Hecuba 17 children, according to Cicero, or, according to
Homer, 19; the most celebrated of whom are Hector, Paris, Deiphobus,
Helenus, Pammon, Polites, Antiphus, Hipponous, Troilus, Creusa,
Laodice, Polyxena, and Cassandra. Besides these he had many others
by concubines. Their names, according to Apollodorus, are Melampus,
Gorgythion, Philæmon, Glaucus, Agathon, Evagoras, Hippothous,
Chersidamas, Hippodamas, Mestor, Atas, Dorcylus, Dryops, Lycaon,
Astygonus, Bias, Evander, Chromius, Telestas, Melius, Cebrion,
Laodocus, Idomeneus, Archemachus, Echephron, Hyperion, Ascanius,
Arrhetus, Democoon, Dejoptes, Echemon, Clovius, Ægioneus, Hypirychus,
Lysithous, Polymedon, Medusa, Lysimache, Medesicaste, and Aristodeme.
After he had reigned for some time in the greatest prosperity, Priam
expressed a desire to recover his sister Hesione, whom Hercules had
carried into Greece, and married to Telamon his friend. To carry
this plan into execution, Priam manned a fleet, of which he gave
the command to his son Paris, with orders to bring back Hesione.
Paris, to whom the goddess of beauty had promised the fairest woman
in the world [_See:_ Paris], neglected in some measure his father’s
injunctions, and as if to make reprisals upon the Greeks, he carried
away Helen the wife of Menelaus king of Sparta, during the absence of
her husband. Priam beheld this with satisfaction, and he countenanced
his son by receiving in his palace the wife of the king of Sparta.
This rape kindled the flames of war; all the suitors of Helen, at
the request of Menelaus [_See:_ Menelaus], assembled to revenge the
violence offered to his bed, and a fleet, according to some, of 140
ships under the command of the 69 chiefs that furnished them, set
sail for Troy. Priam might have averted the impending blow by the
restoration of Helen; but this he refused to do, when the ambassadors
of the Greeks came to him, and he immediately raised an army to
defend himself. Troy was soon besieged; frequent skirmishes took
place, in which the success was various, and the advantages on both
sides inconsiderable. The siege was continued for 10 successive years,
and Priam had the misfortune to see the greatest part of his children
massacred by the enemy. Hector, the eldest of these, was the only one
upon whom now the Trojans looked for protection and support; but he
soon fell a sacrifice to his own courage, and was killed by Achilles.
Priam severely felt his loss, and as he loved him with the greatest
tenderness, he wished to ransom his body, which was in the enemy’s
camp. The gods, according to Homer, interested themselves in favour
of old Priam. Achilles was prevailed upon by his mother, the goddess
Thetis, to restore Hector to Priam, and the king of Troy passed
through the Grecian camp conducted by Mercury the messenger of the
gods, who with his rod had made him invisible. The meeting of Priam
and Achilles was solemn and affecting; the conqueror paid to the
Trojan monarch that attention and reverence which was due to his
dignity, his years, and his misfortunes, and Priam in a suppliant
manner addressed the prince whose favours he claimed, and kissed
the hands that had robbed him of the greatest and the best of his
children. Achilles was moved by his tears and entreaties; he restored
Hector, and permitted Priam a truce of 12 days for the funeral of his
son. Some time after Troy was betrayed into the hands of the Greeks
by Antenor and Æneas, and Priam upon this resolved to die in defence
of his country. He put on his armour and advanced to meet the Greeks,
but Hecuba by her tears and entreaties detained him near an altar of
Jupiter, whither she had fled for protection. While Priam yielded to
the prayers of his wife, Polites, one of his sons, fled also to the
altar before Neoptolemus, who pursued him with fury. Polites, wounded
and overcome, fell dead at the feet of his parents, and the aged
father, fired with indignation, ventured the most bitter invectives
against the Greek, who paid no regard to the sanctity of altars and
temples, and raising his spear darted it upon him. The spear hurled
by the feeble hand of Priam touched the buckler of Neoptolemus, and
fell to the ground. This irritated the son of Achilles; he seized
Priam by his grey hairs, and without compassion or reverence for the
sanctity of the place, he plunged his dagger into his breast. His
head was cut off, ♦and the mutilated body was left among the heaps of
slain. _Dictys Cretensis_, bk. 1, &c.――_Dares Phrygius._――_Herodotus_,
bk. 2, ch. 120.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 25.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk.
22, &c.――_Euripides_, _Troades_.――_Cicero_, _Tusculanæ Disputationes_,
bk. 1, ch. 35.――_Quintus Smyrnæus_, bk. 1.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 2, li. 507, &c.――_Horace_, ode 10, li. 14.――_Hyginus_, fable 110.
――_Quintus Calaber [Smyrnæus]_, bk. 15, li. 226.
♦ ‘und’ replaced with ‘and’