Chapter M (16)

=Perĭander=, a tyrant of Corinth, son of Cypselus. The first years of
his government were mild and popular, but he soon learnt to become
oppressive, when he had consulted the tyrant of Sicily, about the
surest way of reigning. He received no other answer but whatever
explanation he wished to place on the Sicilian tyrant’s having, in
the presence of his messenger, plucked, in a field, all the ears
of corn which seemed to tower above the rest. Periander understood
the meaning of this answer. He immediately surrounded himself with
a numerous guard, and put to death the richest and most powerful
citizens of Corinth. He was not only cruel to his subjects, but his
family also were objects of his vengeance. He committed incest with
his mother, and put to death his wife Melissa, upon false accusation.
He also banished his son Lycophron to the island of Corcyra, because
the youth pitied and wept at the miserable end of his mother, and
detested the barbarities of his father. Periander died about 585
years before the christian era, in his 80th year, and by the meanness
of his flatterers, he was reckoned one of the seven wise men of
Greece. Though he was tyrannical, yet he patronized the fine arts; he
was fond of peace, and he showed himself the friend and the protector
of genius and of learning. He used to say that a man ought solemnly
to keep his word, but not to hesitate to break it if ever it clashed
with his interest. He said also, that not only crimes ought to be
punished, but also every wicked and corrupt thought. _Diogenes
Laërtius_ in _Lives_.――_Aristotle_, bk. 5, _Politics_.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 2.――――A tyrant of Ambracia, whom some rank with the seven wise
men of Greece, and not the tyrant of Corinth.――――A man distinguished
as a physician, but contemptible as a poet. _Plutarch._――_Lucan._

=Periarchus=, a naval commander of Sparta, conquered by Conon.
_Diodorus._

=Peribœa=, the second wife of Œneus king of Calydon, was daughter
of Hipponous. She became mother of Tydeus. Some suppose that Œneus
debauched her, and afterwards married her. _Hyginus_, fable 69.――――A
daughter of Alcathous, sold by her father on suspicion that she
was courted by Telamon, son of Æacus king of Ægina. She was carried
to Cyprus, where Telamon the founder of Salamis married her, and
she became mother of Ajax. She also married Theseus, according to
some. She is also called Eribœa. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, chs. 17 & 42.
――_Hyginus_, fable 97.――――The wife of Polybus king of Corinth, who
educated Œdipus as her own child.――――A daughter of Eurymedon, who
became mother of Nausithous by Neptune.――――The mother of Penelope,
according to some authors.

=Peribomius=, a noted debauchee, &c. _Juvenal_, satire 2, li. 16.

=Perĭcles=, an Athenian of a noble family, son of Xanthippus and
Agariste. He was naturally endowed with great powers, which he
improved by attending the lectures of Damon, of Zeno, and of
Anaxagoras. Under these celebrated masters, he became a commander,
a statesman, and an orator, and gained the affections of the people
by his uncommon address and well-directed liberality. When he took
a share in the administration of public affairs, he rendered himself
popular by opposing Cimon, who was the favourite of the nobility;
and to remove every obstacle which stood in the way of his ambition,
he lessened the dignity and the power of the court of the Areopagus,
which the people had been taught for ages to respect and to venerate.
He also attacked Cimon, and caused him to be banished by the
ostracism. Thucydides also, who had succeeded Cimon on his banishment,
shared the same fate, and Pericles remained for 15 years the sole
minister, and, as it may be said, the absolute sovereign of a
republic which always showed itself so jealous of her liberties,
and which distrusted so much the honesty of her magistrates. In
his ministerial capacity Pericles did not enrich himself, but the
prosperity of Athens was the object of his administration. He made
war against the Lacedæmonians, and restored the temple of Delphi to
the care of the Phocians, who had been illegally deprived of that
honourable trust. He obtained a victory over the Sicyonians near
Nemæa, and waged a successful war against the inhabitants of Samos,
at the request of his favourite mistress, Aspasia. The Peloponnesian
war was fomented by his ambitious views [_See:_ Peloponnesiacum
bellum], and when he had warmly represented the flourishing state,
the opulence, and actual power of his country, the Athenians did not
hesitate a moment to undertake a war against the most powerful
republics of Greece, a war which continued for 27 years, and which
was concluded by the destruction of their empire, and the demolition
of their walls. The arms of the Athenians were for some time crowned
with success; but an unfortunate expedition raised clamours against
Pericles, and the enraged populace attributed all their losses to
him, and to make atonement for their ill success, they condemned
him to pay 50 talents. This loss of popular favour by republican
caprice, did not so much affect Pericles as the recent death of
all his children; and when the tide of unpopularity was passed by,
he condescended to come into the public assembly, and to view with
secret pride the contrition of his fellow-citizens, who universally
begged his forgiveness for the violence which they had offered to his
ministerial character. He was again restored to all his honours, and
if possible invested with more power and more authority than before;
but the dreadful pestilence which had diminished the number of his
family proved fatal to him, and about 429 years before Christ in his
70th year, he fell a sacrifice to that terrible malady which robbed
Athens of so many of her citizens. Pericles was for 40 years at the
head of the administration, 25 with others, and 15 alone; and the
flourishing state of the empire during his government gave occasion
to the Athenians publicly to lament his loss, and venerate his
memory. As he was expiring, and seemingly senseless, his friends
that stood around his bed expatiated with warmth on the most glorious
actions of his life, and the victories which he had won, when he
suddenly interrupted their tears and conversation, by saying that,
in mentioning the exploits that he had achieved, and which were
common to him with all generals, they had forgotten to mention a
circumstance which reflected far greater glory upon him as a minister,
a general, and above all, as a man. “It is,” says he, “that not a
citizen in Athens has been obliged to put on mourning on my account.”
The Athenians were so pleased with his eloquence that they compared
it to thunder and lightning, and, as to another father of the gods,
they gave him the surname of Olympian. The poets, his flatterers,
said that the goddess of persuasion, with all her charms and
attractions, dwelt upon his tongue. When he marched at the head
of the Athenian armies, Pericles observed that he had the command
of a free nation that were Greeks, and citizens of Athens. He also
declared, that not only the hand of a magistrate, but also his eyes
and his tongue, should be pure and undefiled. Yet great and venerable
as his character may appear, we must not forget the follies of
Pericles. His vicious partiality for the celebrated courtesan Aspasia
subjected him to the ridicule and the censure of his fellow-citizens;
but if he triumphed over satire and malevolent remarks, the Athenians
had occasion to execrate the memory of a man who by his example
corrupted the purity and innocence of their morals, and who made
licentiousness respectable, and the indulgence of every impure desire
the qualification of the soldier as well as of the senator. Pericles
lost all his legitimate children by the pestilence, and to call a
natural son by his own name he was obliged to repeal a law which he
had made against spurious children, and which he had enforced with
great severity. This son, called Pericles, became one ♦of the 10
generals who succeeded Alcibiades in the administration of affairs,
and, like his colleagues, he was condemned to death by the Athenians,
after the unfortunate battle of Arginusæ. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 25.
――_Plutarch_, _Lives_.――_Quintilian_, bk. 12, ch. 9.――_Cicero_,
_On Oratory_, bk. 3.――_Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 4, ch. 10.
――_Xenophon_, _Hellenica_.――_Thucydides._

♦ duplicate ‘of’ removed

=Periclymĕnus=, one of the 12 sons of Neleus, brother to Nestor, killed
by Hercules. He was one of the Argonauts, and had received from
Neptune his grandfather the power of changing himself into whatever
shape he pleased. _Apollodorus._――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12,
li. 556.

=Peridia=, a Theban woman, whose son was killed by Turnus in the
Rutulian war. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 12, li. 515.

=Periegētes Dionysius=, a poet. _See:_ Dionysius.

=Periēres=, a son of Æolus, or, according to others, of Cynortas.
_Apollodorus._――――The charioteer of Menœceus. _Apollodorus._

=Perigĕnes=, an officer of Ptolemy, &c.

=Perigŏne=, a woman who had a son called Melanippus by Theseus. She
was daughter of Synnis the famous robber, whom Theseus killed.
She married Deioneus the son of Eurytus, by consent of Theseus.
_Plutarch_, _Theseus_.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 25.

=Perilāus=, an officer in the army of Alexander the Great. _Curtius_,
bk. 10.――――A tyrant of Argos.

=Perilēus=, a son of Icarius and Peribœa.

=Perilla=, a daughter of Ovid the poet. She was extremely fond of
poetry and literature. _Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 3, poem 7, li. 1.

=Perillus=, an ingenious artist at Athens, who made a brazen bull
for Phalaris tyrant of Agrigentum. This machine was fabricated to
put criminals to death by burning them alive, and it was such that
their cries were like the roaring of a bull. When Perillus gave it
to Phalaris, the tyrant made the first experiment upon the donor,
and cruelly put him to death by lighting a slow fire under the belly
of the bull. _Pliny_, bk. 34, ch. 8.――_Ovid_, _Ars Amatoria_, bk. 1,
li. 653; _Ibis_, li. 439.――――A lawyer and usurer in the age of Horace.
_Horace_, bk. 2, satire 3, li. 75.

=Perimēde=, a daughter of Æolus, who married Achelous.――――The wife
of Licymnius.――――A woman skilled in the knowledge of herbs and of
enchantments. _Theocritus_, poem 2.

=Perimēla=, a daughter of Hippodamus, thrown into the sea for receiving
the addresses of the Achelous. She was changed into an island in the
Ionian sea, and became one of the Echinades. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_,
bk. 8, li. 690.

=Perinthia=, a play of Menander’s. _Terence_, _Andria_, prologue, li. 9.

=Pĕrinthus=, a town of Thrace, on the Propontis, anciently surnamed
_Mygdonica_. It was afterwards called _Heraclea_, in honour of
Hercules, and now _Erekli_. _Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 2.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 1, ch. 29.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 11.――_Livy_, bk. 33, ch. 30.

=Peripatetĭci=, a sect of philosophers at Athens, disciples to
Aristotle. They derived this name from the place where they were
taught, called _Peripaton_, in the Lyceum, or because they received
the philosopher’s lectures as they _walked_ (περιπατουντες). The
Peripatetics acknowledged the dignity of human nature, and placed
their _summum bonum_, not in the pleasures of passive sensation,
but in the due exercise of the moral and intellectual faculties.
The habit of this exercise, when guided by reason, constituted the
highest excellence of man. The philosopher contended that our own
happiness chiefly depends upon ourselves, and though he did not
require in his followers that self-command to which others pretended,
yet he allowed a moderate degree of perturbation, as becoming human
nature, and he considered a certain sensibility of passion totally
necessary, as by resentment we are enabled to repel injuries, and
the smart which past calamities have inflicted renders us careful to
avoid the repetition. _Cicero_, _Academica_, bk. 2, &c.

=Perĭphas=, a man who attempted, with Pyrrhus, Priam’s palace, &c.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 2, li. 476.――――A son of Ægyptus, who married
Actæa. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 1.――――One of the Lapithæ. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, li. 449.――――One of the first kings of Attica,
before the age of Cecrops, according to some authors.

=Periphēmus=, an ancient hero of Greece, to whom Solon sacrificed at
Salamis, by order of the oracle.

♦=Periphētes=, a robber of Attica, son of Vulcan, destroyed by Theseus.
He is also called Corynetes. _Hyginus_, fable 38.――_Diodorus_, bk. 5.

♦ ‘Periphātes’ replaced with ‘Periphētes’
Resorted in alphebetical order.

=Perisades=, a people of Illyricum.

=Peristhĕnes=, a son of Ægyptus, who married Electra. _Apollodorus._

=Peritanus=, an Arcadian who enjoyed the company of Helen after her
elopement with Paris. The offended lover punished the crime by
mutilation, whence mutilated persons were called Peritani in Arcadia.
_Ptolemy Hephæstion_, bk. 1, near the beginning.

=Peritas=, a favourite dog of Alexander the Great, in whose honour the
monarch built a city.

=Peritonium=, a town of Egypt, on the western side of the Nile,
esteemed of great importance, as being one of the keys of the country.
Antony was defeated there by Caius Gallus the lieutenant of Augustus.

=Permessus=, a river of Bœotia, rising in mount Helicon, and flowing
all round it. It received its name from Permessus, the father of a
nymph called Aganippe, who also gave her name to one of the fountains
of Helicon. The river Permessus, as well as the fountain Aganippe,
were sacred to the Muses. _Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Propertius_, bk. 2,
poem 8.

=Pero=, or =Perone=, a daughter of Neleus king of Pylos by Chloris.
Her beauty drew many admirers, but she married Bias son of Amythaon,
because he had by the assistance of his brother Melampus [_See:_
Melampus], and according to her father’s desire, recovered some oxen
which Hercules had stolen away; and she became mother of Talaus.
_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 11, li. 284.――_Propertius_, bk. 2, poem 2, li.
17.――_Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 36.――――A daughter of Cimon, remarkable
for her filial affection. When her father had been sent to prison,
where his judges had condemned him to starve, she supported his life
by giving him the milk of her breasts, as to her own child. _Valerius
Maximus_, bk. 5, ch. 4.

=Peroe=, a fountain of Bœotia, called after Peroe, a daughter of the
Asopus. _Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 4.

=Perola=, a Roman who meditated the death of Hannibal in Italy. His
father Pacuvius dissuaded him from assassinating the Carthaginian
general.

=Perpenna Marcus=, a Roman who conquered Aristonicus in Asia, and took
him prisoner. He died B.C. 130.――――Another, who joined the rebellion
of Sertorius, and opposed Pompey. He was defeated by Metellus,
and some time after he had the meanness to assassinate Sertorius,
whom he had invited to his house. He fell into the hands of Pompey,
who ordered him to be put to death. _Plutarch_, _Sertorius_.
――_Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 30.――――A Greek who obtained the consulship
at Rome. _Valerius Maximus_, bk. 3, ch. 4.

=Perperēne=, a place of Phrygia, where, as some suppose, Paris adjudged
the prize of beauty to Venus. _Strabo_, bk. 5.

=Perranthes=, a hill of Epirus, near Ambracia. _Livy_, bk. 38, ch. 4.

=Perrhæbia=, a part of Thessaly situate on the borders of the Peneus,
extending between the town of Atrax and the vale of Tempe. The
inhabitants were driven from their possessions by the Lapithæ, and
retired into Ætolia, where part of the country received the name of
_Perrhæbia_. _Propertius_, bk. 2, poem 5, li. 33――_Strabo_, bk. 9.
――_Livy_, bk. 33, ch. 34; bk. 39, ch. 34.

=Persa=, or =Perseis=, one of the Oceanides, mother of Æetes, Circe,
and Pasiphae by Apollo. _Hesiod_, _Theogony_.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3.

=Persæ=, the inhabitants of Persia. _See:_ Persia.

=Persæus=, a philosopher intimate with Antigonus, by whom he was
appointed over the Acrocorinth. He flourished B.C. 274. _Diogenes
Laërtius_, _Zeno of Citium_.

=Persēe=, a fountain near Mycenæ, in Peloponnesus. _Pausanias_, bk. 2,
ch. 16.

=Persēis=, one of the Oceanides.――――A patronymic of Hecate, as daughter
of Perses. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 7, li. 69.

=Persĕphŏne=, a daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, called also Proserpine.
_See:_ Proserpina.――――The mother of Amphion by Jasus.

=Persĕpŏlis=, a celebrated city, the capital of the Persian empire.
It was laid in ruins by Alexander after the conquest of Darius.
The reason of this is unknown. Diodorus says that the sight of
about 800 Greeks, whom the Persians had shamefully mutilated, so
irritated Alexander, that he resolved to punish the barbarity of
the inhabitants of Persepolis, and of the neighbouring country, by
permitting his soldiers to plunder their capital. Others suppose
that Alexander set it on fire at the instigation of Thias, one of his
courtesans, when he had passed the day in drinking and in riot and
debauchery. The ruins of Persepolis, now _Estakar_, or _Tehel-Minar_,
still astonish the modern traveller by their grandeur and
magnificence. _Curtius_, bk. 5, ch. 7.――_Diodorus_, bk. 17, &c.
――_Arrian._――_Plutarch_, _Alexander_.――_Justin_, bk. 11, ch. 14.

=Perses=, a son of Perseus and Andromeda. From him the Persians, who
were originally called _Cephenes_, received their name. _Herodotus_,
bk. 7, ch. 61.――――A king of Macedonia. _See:_ Perseus.

=Perseus=, a son of Jupiter and Danae, the daughter of Acrisius. As
Acrisius had confined his daughter in a brazen tower to prevent her
becoming a mother, because he was to perish, according to the words
of an oracle, by the hands of his daughter’s son, Perseus was no
sooner born [_See:_ Danae] than he was thrown into the sea with his
mother Danae. The hopes of Acrisius were frustrated; the slender boat
which carried Danae and her son was driven by the winds on the coasts
of the island of Seriphos, one of the Cyclades, where they were found
by a fisherman called Dictys, and carried to Polydectes the king
of the place. They were treated with great humanity, and Perseus
was entrusted to the care of the priests of Minerva’s temple. His
rising genius and manly courage, however, soon displeased Polydectes,
and the monarch, who wished to offer violence to Danae, feared
the resentment of her son. Yet Polydectes resolved to remove every
obstacle. He invited all his friends to a sumptuous entertainment,
and it was requisite that all such as came should present the monarch
with a beautiful horse. Perseus was in the number of the invited,
and the more particularly so, as Polydectes knew that he could not
receive from him the present which he expected from all the rest.
Nevertheless, Perseus, who wished not to appear inferior to the
others in magnificence, told the king that as he could not give him
a horse, he would bring him the head of Medusa, the only one of the
Gorgons who was subject to mortality. The offer was doubly agreeable
to Polydectes, as it would remove Perseus from Seriphos, and on
account of its seeming impossibility, the attempt might perhaps end
in his ruin. But the innocence of Perseus was patronized by the gods.
Pluto lent him his helmet, which had the wonderful power of making
its bearer invisible; Minerva gave him her buckler, which was as
resplendent as glass; and he received from Mercury wings and the
talaria, with a short dagger, made of diamonds, and called _herpe_.
According to some it was from Vulcan, and not from Mercury, that he
received the _herpe_, which was in form like a scythe. With these
arms Perseus began his expedition, and traversed the air, conducted
by the goddess Minerva. He went to the Graiæ, the sisters of the
Gorgons, who, according to the poets, had wings like the Gorgons, but
only one eye and one tooth between them all, of which they made use,
each in her turn. They were three in number, according to Æschylus
and Apollodorus; or only two, according to Ovid and Hesiod. With
Pluto’s helmet, which rendered him invisible, Perseus was enabled
to steal their eye and their tooth while they were asleep, and he
returned them only when they had informed him where their sisters the
Gorgons resided. When he had received every necessary information,
Perseus flew to the habitation of the Gorgons, which was situate
beyond the western ocean, according to Hesiod and Apollodorus; or
in Libya, according to Ovid and Lucan; or in the deserts of Asiatic
Scythia, according to Æschylus. He found these monsters asleep;
and as he knew that if he fixed his eyes upon them, he should be
instantly changed into a stone, he continually looked on his shield,
which reflected all the objects as clearly as the best of glasses.
He approached them, and with a courage which the goddess Minerva
supported, he cut off Medusa’s head with one blow. The noise awoke
the two immortal sisters, but Pluto’s helmet rendered Perseus
invisible, and the attempts of the Gorgons to revenge Medusa’s death
proved fruitless; the conqueror made his way through the air, and
from the blood which dropped from Medusa’s head sprang all those
innumerable serpents which have ever since infested the sandy deserts
of Libya. Chrysaor also, with the golden sword, sprung from these
drops of blood, as well as the horse Pegasus, which immediately flew
through the air, and stopped on mount Helicon, where he became the
favourite of the Muses. Meantime Perseus had continued his journey
across the deserts of Libya; but the approach of night obliged him
to alight in the territories of Atlas king of Mauritania. He went
to the monarch’s palace, where he hoped to find a kind reception
by announcing himself as the son of Jupiter, but in this he was
disappointed. Atlas recollected that, according to an ancient oracle,
his gardens were to be robbed of their fruit by one of the sons of
Jupiter, and therefore he not only refused Perseus the hospitality
which he demanded, but he even offered violence to his person.
Perseus, finding himself inferior to his powerful enemy, showed him
Medusa’s head, and instantly Atlas was changed into a large mountain
which bore the same name in the deserts of Africa. On the morrow
Perseus continued his flight, and as he passed across the territories
of Libya, he discovered, on the coasts of Æthiopia, the naked
Andromeda, exposed to a sea monster. He was struck at the sight,
and offered her father Cepheus to deliver her from instant death,
if he obtained her in marriage as a reward of his labours. Cepheus
consented, and immediately Perseus raised himself in the air, flew
towards the monster, which was advancing to devour Andromeda, and
he plunged his dagger in ♦its right shoulder, and destroyed it.
This happy event was attended with the greatest rejoicings. Perseus
raised three altars to Mercury, Jupiter, and Pallas, and after he
had offered the sacrifice of a calf, a bullock, and a heifer, the
nuptials were celebrated with the greatest festivity. The universal
joy, however, was soon disturbed. Phineus, Andromeda’s uncle, entered
the palace with a number of armed men, and attempted to carry away
the bride, whom he had courted and admired long before the arrival of
Perseus. The father and mother of Andromeda interfered, but in vain;
a bloody battle ensued, and Perseus must have fallen a victim to the
rage of Phineus, had not he defended himself at last with the same
arms which proved fatal to Atlas. He showed the Gorgon’s head to his
adversaries, and they were instantly turned to stone, each in the
posture and attitude in which he then stood. The friends of Cepheus,
and such as supported Perseus, shared not the fate of Phineus, as the
hero had previously warned them of the power of Medusa’s head, and
of the services which he received from it. Soon after this memorable
adventure Perseus retired to Seriphos, at the very moment that his
mother Danae fled to the altar of Minerva, to avoid the pursuit
of Polydectes, who attempted to offer her violence. Dictys, who
had saved her from the sea, and who, as some say, was the brother
of Polydectes, defended her against the attempts of her enemies,
and therefore Perseus, sensible of his merit, and of his humanity,
placed him on the throne of Seriphos, after he had with Medusa’s head
turned into stones the wicked Polydectes, and the officers who were
the associates of his guilt. He afterwards restored to Mercury his
talaria and his wings, to Pluto his helmet, to Vulcan his sword, and
to Minerva her shield; but as he was more particularly indebted to
the goddess of wisdom for her assistance and protection, he placed
the Gorgon’s head on her shield, or rather, according to the more
received opinion, on her ægis. After he had finished these celebrated
exploits, Perseus expressed a wish to return to his native country;
and accordingly he embarked for the Peloponnesus, with his mother and
Andromeda. When he reached the Peloponnesian coasts he was informed
that Teutamias king of Larissa was then celebrating funeral games
in honour of his father. This intelligence drew him to Larissa to
signalize himself in throwing the quoit, of which, according to some,
he was the inventor. But here he was attended by an evil fate, and
had the misfortune to kill a man with a quoit which he had thrown in
the air. This was no other than his grandfather Acrisius, who, on the
first intelligence that his grandson had reached the Peloponnesus,
fled from his kingdom of Argos to the court of his friend and ally
Teutamias, to prevent the fulfilling of the oracle which had obliged
him to treat his daughter with so much barbarity. Some suppose, with
Pausanias, that Acrisius had gone to Larissa to be reconciled to
his grandson, whose fame had been spread in every city of Greece;
and Ovid maintains that the grandfather was under the strongest
obligations to his son-in-law, as through him he had received his
kingdom, from which he had been forcibly driven by the sons of his
brother Prœtus. This unfortunate murder greatly depressed the spirits
of Perseus: by the death of Acrisius he was entitled to the throne
of Argos, but he refused to reign there; and to remove himself from a
place which reminded him of the parricide which he had unfortunately
committed, he exchanged his kingdom for that of Tirynthus, and the
maritime coast of Argolis, where Megapenthes the son of Prœtus then
reigned. When he had finally settled in this part of the Peloponnesus,
he determined to lay the foundations of a new city, which he made
the capital of his dominions, and which he called _Mycenæ_, because
the pommel of his sword, called by the Greeks _myces_, had fallen
there. The time of his death is unknown, yet it is universally agreed
that he received divine honours like the rest of the ancient heroes.
He had statues at Mycenæ, and in the island of Seriphos, and the
Athenians raised him a temple, in which they consecrated an altar in
honour of Dictys, who had treated Danae and her infant son with so
much paternal tenderness. The Egyptians also paid particular honour
to his memory, and asserted that he often appeared among them wearing
shoes two cubits long, which was always interpreted as a sign of
fertility. Perseus had by Andromeda, Alceus, Sthenelus, Nestor,
Electryon, and Gorgophone, and after death, according to some
mythologists, he became a constellation in the heavens. _Herodotus_,
bk. 2, ch. 91.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 4, &c.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 2, chs. 16 & 18; bk. 3, ch. 17, &c.――_Apollonius_, _Argonautica_,
bk. 4, li. 1509.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 9, li. 442.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 4, fable 16; bk. 5, fable 1, &c.――_Lucan_,
bk. 9, li. 668.――_Hyginus_, fable 64.――_Hesiod_, _Theogony_, li. 270,
& _Shield of Heracles_.――_Pindar_, _Pythian_, li. 7, & _Olympian_,
bk. 3.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 9.――_Propertius_, bk. 2.――_Athenæus_,
bk. 13.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 14.――_Tzetzes_, on _Lycophron_, ch. 17.
――――A son of Nestor and Anaxibia. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――――A
writer who published a treatise on the republic of Sparta.――――A
philosopher, disciple to Zeno. _See:_ Persæus.

♦ ‘his’ replaced with ‘its’

=Perseus=, or =Perses=, a son of Philip king of Macedonia. He
distinguished himself, like his father, by his enmity to the Romans,
and when he had made sufficient preparations, he declared war
against them. His operations, however, were slow and injudicious;
he wanted courage and resolution, and though he at first obtained
some advantage over the Roman armies, yet his avarice and his
timidity proved destructive to his cause. When Paulus was appointed
to the command of the Roman armies in Macedonia, Perseus showed his
inferiority by his imprudent encampments, and when he had at last
yielded to the advice of his officers, who recommended a general
engagement, and drawn up his forces near the walls of Pydna, B.C. 168,
he was the first who ruined his own cause, and, by flying as soon as
the battle was begun, he left the enemy masters of the field. From
♦Pydna, Perseus fled to Samothrace, but he was soon discovered in his
obscure retreat, and brought into the presence of the Roman conqueror,
where the meanness of his behaviour exposed him to ridicule, and
not to mercy. He was carried to Rome, and dragged along the streets
of the city to adorn the triumph of the conqueror. His family was
also exposed to the sight of the Roman populace, who shed tears on
viewing in their streets, dragged like a slave, a monarch who had
once defeated their armies, and spread alarm all over Italy, by the
greatness of his military preparations, and by his bold undertakings.
Perseus died in prison, or, according to some, he was put to a
shameful death the first year of his captivity. He had two sons,
Philip and Alexander, and one daughter, whose name is not known.
Alexander, the younger of these, was hired to a Roman carpenter, and
led the greatest part of his life in obscurity, till his ingenuity
raised him to notice. He was afterwards made secretary to the senate.
_Livy_, bk. 40, &c.――_Justin_, bk. 33, ch. 1, &c.――_Plutarch_,
_Æmilius Paulus_.――_Florus_, bk. 2, ch. 12.――_Propertius_, bk. 4,
poem 12, li. 39.

♦ ‘Pydua’ replaced with ‘Pydna’

=Persia=, a celebrated kingdom of Asia, which, in its ancient state,
extended from the Hellespont to the Indus, above 2800 miles, and
from Pontus to the shores of Arabia, above 2000 miles. As a province,
Persia was but small, and according to the description of Ptolemy,
it was bounded on the north by Media, west by Susiana, south by the
Persian gulf, and east by Carmania. The empire of Persia, or the
Persian monarchy, was first founded by Cyrus the Great, about 559
years before the christian era, and under the succeeding monarchs
it became one of the most considerable and powerful kingdoms of the
earth. The kings of Persia began to reign in the following order:
Cyrus, B.C. 559; Cambyses 529; and, after the usurpation of Smerdis
for seven months, Darius, 521; Xerxes the Great, 485; Artabanus seven
months, and Artaxerxes Longimanus, 464; Xerxes II., 425; Sogdianus
seven months, 424; Darius II., or Nothus, 423; Artaxerxes II., or
Memnon, 404; Artaxerxes III., or Ochus, 358; Arses, or Arogus, 337;
and Darius III., or Codomanus, 335, who was conquered by Alexander
the Great, 331. The destruction of the Persian monarchy by the
Macedonians was easily effected, and from that time Persia became
tributary to the Greeks. After the death of Alexander, when the
Macedonian empire was divided among the officers of the deceased
conqueror, Seleucus Nicanor made himself master of the Persian
provinces, till the revolt of the Parthians introduced new
revolutions in the east. Persia was partly reconquered from the
Greeks, and remained tributary to the Parthians for near 500 years.
After this the sovereignty was again placed into the hands of the
Persians, by the revolt of Artaxerxes, a common soldier, A.D. 229,
who became the founder of the second Persian monarchy, which proved
so inimical to the power of the Roman emperors. In their national
character, the Persians were warlike, they were early taught to
ride, and to handle the bow, and by the manly exercises of hunting,
they were inured to bear the toils and fatigues of a military life.
Their national valour, however, soon degenerated, and their want of
employment at home soon rendered them unfit for war. In the reign of
Xerxes, when the empire of Persia was in its most flourishing state,
a small number of Greeks were enabled repeatedly to repel for three
successive days an almost innumerable army. This celebrated action,
which happened at Thermopylæ, shows in a strong light the superiority
of the Grecian soldiers over the Persians, and the battles that
before, and a short time after, were fought between the two nations
at Marathon, Salamis, Platæa, and Mycale, are again an incontestible
proof that these Asiatics had more reliance upon their numbers and
upon the splendour and richness of their arms, than upon the valour
and the discipline of their troops. Their custom, too prevalent among
the eastern nations, of introducing luxury into the camp, proved
also in some measure destructive to their military reputation, and
the view which the ancients give us of the army of Xerxes, of his
cooks, stage-dancers, concubines, musicians, and perfumers, is no
very favourable sign of the sagacity of a monarch, who, by his nod,
could command millions of men to flock to his standard. In their
religion the Persians were very superstitious; they paid the greatest
veneration to the sun, the moon, and the stars, and they offered
sacrifices to fire, but the supreme Deity was never represented by
statues among them. They permitted polygamy, and it was no incest
among them to marry a sister or a mother. In their punishments they
were extremely severe, even to barbarity. The monarch always appeared
with the greatest pomp and dignity; his person was attended by a
guard of 15,000 men, and he had besides a body of 10,000 chosen
horsemen, called _immortal_. He styled himself, like the rest
of the eastern monarchs, the king of kings, as expressive of his
greatness and his power. The Persians were formerly called _Cephenes_,
_Achæmenians_, and _Artæi_, and they are often confounded with the
Parthians by the ancient poets. They received the name of Persians
from Perses the son of Perseus and Andromeda, who is supposed to
have settled among them. Persepolis was the capital of the country.
_Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 14; bk. 5, ch. 3.――_Plutarch_, _Artaxerxes_,
_Alexander_, &c.――_Mela_, bk. 1, &c.――_Strabo_, bk. 2, ch. 15.
――_Xenophon_, _Cyropædia_.――_Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 125, &c.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2.――_Marcellinus_, ch. 23.

=Persĭcum mare=, or =Persicus sinus=, a part of the Indian ocean on the
coast of Persia and Arabia, now called the gulf of _Balgora_.

=Persis=, a province of Persia, bounded by Media, Carmania, Susiana,
and the Persian gulf. It is often taken for Persia itself.

=Aulus Persius Flaccus=, a Latin poet of Volaterræ. He was of an
equestrian family, and he made himself known by his intimacy with
the most illustrious Romans of the age. The early part of his life
was spent in his native town, and at the age of 16 he was removed
to Rome, where he studied philosophy under Cornutus the celebrated
stoic. He also received the instructions of Palemon the grammarian,
and Virginius the rhetorician. Naturally of a mild disposition,
his character was unimpeached, his modesty remarkable, and his
benevolence universally admired. He distinguished himself by his
satirical humour, and made the faults of the orators and poets of his
age, the subject of his poems. He did not even spare Nero, and the
more effectually to expose the emperor to ridicule, he introduced
into his satires some of his verses. The _torva mimalloneis implerunt
cornua bombis_, with the three following verses, are Nero’s,
according to some. But though he was so severe upon the vicious
and ignorant, he did not forget his friendship for Cornutus, and he
showed his regard for his character and abilities by making mention
of his name with great propriety in his satires. It was by the advice
of his learned preceptor that he corrected one of his poems in which
he had compared Nero to Midas, and at his representation he altered
the words _Auriculas asini Mida rex habet_, into _Auriculas asini
quis non habet_? Persius died in the 30th year of his age, A.D. 62,
and left all his books, which consisted of 700 volumes, and a large
sum of money, to his preceptor; but Cornutus only accepted the
books, and returned the money to the sisters and friends of the
deceased. The satires of Persius are six in number, blamed by some
for obscurity of style and of language. But though they may appear
almost unintelligible to some, it ought to be remembered that they
were read with pleasure and with avidity by his contemporaries, and
that the only difficulties which now appear to the moderns, arise
from their not knowing the various characters which they described,
the vices which they lashed, and the errors which they censured. The
satires of Persius are generally printed with those of Juvenal, the
best editions of which will be found to be by Hennin, 4to, Leiden,
1695, and by Hawkey, 12mo, Dublin, 1746. The best edition of Persius,
separate, is that of Meric Casaubon, 12mo, London, 1647. _Martial._
――_Quintilian_, bk. 10, ch. 1.――_Augustine_, _de Magistro_, ch. 9.
――_Lactantius._――――A man whose quarrel with Rupilius is mentioned in
a ridiculous manner by Horace, satire 7. He is called _Hybrida_, as
being son of a Greek by a Roman woman.

=Pertĭnax Publius Helvius=, a Roman emperor after the death of Commodus.
He was descended from an obscure family, and, like his father, who
was either a slave or the son of a manumitted slave, he for some
time followed the mean employment of drying wood and making charcoal.
His indigence, however, did not prevent him from receiving a liberal
education, and indeed he was for some time employed in teaching a
number of pupils the Greek and the Roman languages in Etruria. He
left this laborious profession for a military life, and by his valour
and intrepidity, he gradually rose to offices of the highest trust
in the army, and was made consul by Marcus Aurelius for his eminent
services. He was afterwards entrusted with the government of Mœsia,
and at last he presided over the city of Rome as governor. When
Commodus was murdered, Pertinax was universally selected to succeed
to the imperial throne, and his refusal, and the plea of old age and
increasing infirmities, did not prevent his being saluted emperor
and Augustus. He acquiesced with reluctance, but his mildness, his
economy, and the popularity of his administration, convinced the
senate and the people of the prudence and the justice of their choice.
He forbade his name to be inscribed on such places or estates as were
part of the imperial domain, and exclaimed that they belonged not to
him, but to the public. He melted all the silver statues which had
been raised to his vicious predecessor, and he exposed to public sale
all his concubines, his horses, his arms, and all the instruments of
his pleasure and extravagance. With the money raised from these he
enriched the empire, and was enabled to abolish all the taxes which
Commodus had laid on the rivers, ports, and highways through the
empire. This patriotic administration gained him the affection of the
worthiest and most discerning of his subjects, but the extravagant
and luxurious raised their clamours against him, and when Pertinax
attempted to introduce among the pretorian guards that discipline
which was so necessary to preserve the peace and tranquillity of Rome,
the flames of rebellion were kindled, and the minds of the soldiers
totally alienated. Pertinax was apprised of this mutiny, but he
refused to fly at the hour of danger. He scorned the advice of his
friends who wished him to withdraw from the impending storm, and he
unexpectedly appeared before the seditious pretorians, and without
fear or concern, boldly asked them whether they, who were bound
to defend the person of their prince and emperor, were come to
betray him and to shed his blood. His undaunted assurance and his
intrepidity would have had the desired effect, and the soldiers had
already begun to retire, when one of the most seditious advanced and
darted his javelin at the emperor’s breast, exclaiming, “The soldiers
send you this.” The rest immediately followed the example, and
Pertinax, muffling up his head, and calling upon Jupiter to avenge
his death, remained unmoved, and was instantly dispatched. His head
was cut off, and carried upon the point of a spear as in triumph
to the camp. This happened on the 28th of March, A.D. 193. Pertinax
reigned only 87 days, and his death was the more universally lamented,
as it proceeded from a seditious tumult, and robbed the Roman
empire of a wise, virtuous, and benevolent emperor. _Dio Cassius._
――_Herodian._――_Capitol._

=Pertunda=, a goddess at Rome, who presided over the consummation of
marriage. Her statue was generally placed in the bridal chamber.
_Varro_, in _Augustine_, _City of God_, bk. 6, ch. 9.

=Perŭsia=, now _Perugia_, an ancient town of Etruria on the Tiber,
built by Ocnus. Lucius Antonius was besieged there by Augustus,
and obliged to surrender. _Strabo_, bk. 5.――_Lucan_, bk. 1, li. 41.
――_Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 74.――_Livy_, bk. 9, ch. 37; bk. 10, chs.
30 & 37.

=Pescennius.= _See:_ Niger.――――A man intimate with Cicero.

=Pessīnus= (untis), a town of Phrygia, where Atys, as some suppose, was
buried. It is particularly famous for a temple and a statue of the
goddess Cybele, who was from thence called _Pessinuntia_. _Strabo_,
bk. 12.――_Pausanias_, bk. 7, ch. 17.――_Livy_, bk. 29, chs. 10 & 11.

=Petălia=, a town of Eubœa.

=Petălus=, a man killed by Perseus at the court of Cepheus. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, li. 115.

=Petelia=, or =Petellia=, a town. _See:_ Petilia.

=Petelīnus lacus=, a lake near one of the gates of Rome. _Livy_, bk. 6,
ch. 20.

=Peteon=, a town of Bœotia. _Statius_, _Thebaid_, bk. 7, li. 333.
――_Strabo_, bk. 9.

=Peteus=, a son of Orneus, and grandson of Erechtheus. He reigned in
Attica, and became father of Menestheus, who went with the Greeks
to the Trojan war. He is represented by some of the ancients as a
monster, half a man and half a beast. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 10.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 35.

=Petilia=, now _Strongoli_, a town of Magna Græcia, the capital of
Lucania, built or perhaps only repaired by Philoctetes, who, after
his return from the Trojan war, left his country Melibœa, because his
subjects had revolted. _Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 4.――_Livy_, bk. 23, ch. 20.
――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 402.――_Strabo_, bk. 6.

=Petilia lex=, was enacted by Petilius the tribune to make an inquiry
and know how much money had been obtained from the conquests over
king Antiochus.

=Petilii=, two tribunes who accused Scipio Africanus of extortion. He
was acquitted.

=Petīlius=, a pretor who persuaded the people of Rome to burn the books
which had been found in Numa’s tomb, about 400 years after his death.
His advice was followed. _Plutarch_, _Numa_.――――A plebeian decemvir,
&c.――――A governor of the capitol, who stole away the treasures
entrusted to his care. He was accused, but, though guilty, he was
acquitted, as being the friend of Augustus. _Horace_, bk. 1, satire 4,
li. 94.

=Petosīrīs=, a celebrated mathematician of Egypt. _Juvenal_, satire 6,
li. 580.

=Petra=, the capital town of Arabia Petræa. _Strabo_, bk. 16.――――A town
of Sicily, near Hybla, whose inhabitants are called _Petrini_ and
_Petrenses_.――――A town of Thrace. _Livy_, bk. 40, ch. 22.――――Another
of Pieria in Macedonia. _Livy_, bk. 39, ch. 26.――_Cicero_, _Against
Verres_, bk. 1, ch. 39.――――An elevated place near Dyrrachium, _Lucan_,
bk. 6, lis. 16 & 70.――_Cæsar_, _Civil War_, bk. 3, ch. 40.――――Another
in Elis.――――Another near Corinth.

=Petræa=, one of the Oceanides. _Hesiod_, _Theogony_.――――A part of
Arabia, which has Syria at the east, Egypt on the west, Palestine
on the north, and Arabia Felix at the south. This part of Arabia was
rocky, whence it has received its name. It was for the most part also
covered with barren sands, and was interspersed with some fruitful
spots. Its capital was called Petra.

=Petreius=, a Roman soldier who killed his tribune during the Cimbrian
wars, because he hesitated to attack the enemy. He was rewarded
for his valour with a crown of grass. _Pliny_, bk. 22, ch. 6.――――A
lieutenant of Caius Antonius, who defeated the troops of Catiline.
He took the part of Pompey against Julius Cæsar. When Cæsar had been
victorious in every part of the world, Petreius, who had retired
into Africa, attempted to destroy himself by fighting with his friend
king Juba in single combat. Juba was killed first, and Petreius
obliged one of his slaves to run him through. _Sallust_, _Catilinæ
Coniuratio_.――_Appian._――_Cæsar_, bk. 1, _Civil War_.――――A centurion
in Cæsar’s army in Gaul, &c. Some read Petronius.

=Petrĭnum=, a town of Campania. _Horace_, bk. 1, ltr. 5, li. 5.

=Petrocorii=, the inhabitants of the modern town of Perigord in France.
_Cæsar_, bk. 7, _Gallic War_, ch. 75.

=Petronia=, the wife of Vitellius. _Tacitus_, _Histories_, bk. 2,
ch. 64.

=Petrōnius=, a governor of Egypt, appointed to succeed Gallus. He
behaved with great humanity to the Jews, and made war against Candace
queen of Æthiopia. _Strabo_, bk. 17.――――A favourite of Nero, put
to death by Galba.――――A governor of Britain.――――A tribune killed in
Parthia with Crassus.――――A man banished by Nero to the Cyclades, when
Piso’s conspiracy was discovered. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 15.――――A
governor of Britain in Nero’s reign. He was put to death by Galba’s
orders.――――Maximus, a Roman emperor. _See:_ Maximus.――――Arbiter,
a favourite of the emperor Nero, and one of the ministers and
associates of all his pleasures and his debauchery. He was naturally
fond of pleasure and effeminate, and he passed his whole nights in
revels and the days in sleep. He indulged himself in all the delights
and gaieties of life; but though he was the most voluptuous of the
age, yet he moderated his pleasures, and wished to appear curious
and refined in luxury and extravagance. Whatever he did seemed to
be performed with an air of unconcern and negligence; he was affable
in his behaviour, and his witticisms and satirical remarks appeared
artless and natural. He was appointed proconsul of Bithynia, and
afterwards he was rewarded with the consulship; in both of which
honourable employments he behaved with all the dignity which became
one of the successors of a Brutus or a Scipio. With his office he
laid down his artificial gravity, and gave himself up to the pursuit
of pleasure; the emperor became more attached to him, and seemed
fonder of his company; but he did not long enjoy the imperial favours.
Tigellinus, likewise one of Nero’s favourites, jealous of his fame,
accused him of conspiring against the emperor’s life. The accusation
was credited, and Petronius immediately resolved to withdraw himself
from Nero’s punishment by a voluntary death. This was performed in a
manner altogether unprecedented, A.D. 66. Petronius ordered his veins
to be opened; but without the eagerness of terminating his agonies,
he had them closed at intervals. Some time after they were opened,
and as if he wished to die in the same careless and unconcerned
manner as he had lived, he passed his time in discoursing with
his friends upon trifles, and listened with the greatest avidity
to love verses, amusing stories, or laughable epigrams. Sometimes
he manumitted his slaves or punished them with stripes. In this
ludicrous manner he spent his last moments, till nature was exhausted;
and before he expired he wrote an epistle to the emperor, in which he
had described with a masterly hand his nocturnal extravagances, and
the daily impurities of his actions. This letter was carefully sealed,
and after he had conveyed it privately to the emperor, Petronius
broke his signet, that it might not after his death become a snare
to the innocent. Petronius distinguished himself by his writings, as
well as by his luxury and voluptuousness. He is the author of many
elegant but obscene compositions still extant, among which is a poem
on the civil wars of Pompey and Cæsar, superior in some respects to
the Pharsalia of Lucan. There is also the feast of _Trimalcion_, in
which he paints with too much licentiousness the pleasures and the
debaucheries of a corrupted court and of an extravagant monarch;
reflections on the instability of human life; a poem on the vanity of
dreams; another on the education of the Roman youth; two treatises,
&c. The best editions of Petronius are those of Burman, 4to, Utrecht,
1709, and Reinesius, 8vo, 1731.

=Pettius=, a friend of Horace, to whom the poet addressed his eleventh
epode.

=Petus=, an architect. _See:_ Satyrus.

=Peuce=, a small island at the mouth of the Danube. The inhabitants
are called _Peucæ_ and _Peucini_. _Strabo_, bk. 7.――_Lucan_, bk. 3,
li. 202.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 12.

=Peucestes=, a Macedonian set over Egypt by Alexander. He received
Persia at the general division of the Macedonian empire at the king’s
death. He behaved with great cowardice after he had joined himself
to Eumenes. _Cornelius Nepos_, _Eumenes_.――_Plutarch._――_Curtius_,
bk. 4, ch. 8.――――An island which was visited by the Argonauts at
their return from the conquest of the golden fleece.

=Peucĕtia=, a part of Magna Græcia in Italy, at the north of the bay
of Tarentum, between the Apennines and Lucania, called also _Mesapia_
and _Calabria_. It received its name from Peucetus the son of Lycaon,
of Arcadia. _Strabo_, bk. 6.――_Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 11.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 14, li. 513.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 13.

=Peucīni=, a nation of Germany, called also _Basternæ_. _Tacitus_,
_Germania_, ch. 46.

=Peucolāus=, an officer who conspired with Dymnus against Alexander’s
life. _Curtius_, bk. 6.――――Another, set over Sogdiana. _Curtius_,
bk. 7.

=Pexodōrus=, a governor of Caria, who offered to give his daughter in
marriage to Aridæus the illegitimate son of Philip. _Plutarch._

=Phacium=, a town of Thessaly. _Livy_, bk. 32, ch. 13; bk. 36, ch. 13.

=Phacūsa=, a town of Egypt on the eastern mouth of the Nile.

=Phæa=, a celebrated sow which infested the neighbourhood of Cromyon.
It was destroyed by Theseus as he was travelling from Trœzene to
Athens to make himself known to his father. Some suppose that the
boar of Calydon sprung from this sow. Phæa, according to some authors,
was no other than a woman who prostituted herself to strangers,
whom she murdered and afterwards plundered. _Plutarch_, _Theseus_.
――_Strabo_, bk. 8.

=Phæācia=, an island of the Ionian sea, near the coast of Epirus,
anciently called _Scheria_, and afterwards _Corcyra_. The inhabitants,
called _Phæaces_, were a luxurious and dissolute people, from which
reason a glutton was generally stigmatized by the epithet of _Phæax_.
When Ulysses was shipwrecked on the coast of Phæacia, Alcinous was
then king of the island, whose gardens have been greatly celebrated.
_Horace_, bk. 1, ltr. 15, li. 24.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 13,
li. 719.――_Strabo_, bks. 6 & 7.――_Propertius_, bk. 3, poem 2, li. 13.

=Phæax=, an inhabitant of the island of Phæacia. _See:_ Phæacia.――――A
man who sailed with Theseus to Crete.――――An Athenian who opposed
Alcibiades in his administration.

=Phæcasia=, one of the Sporades in the Ægean. _Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 12.

=Phædĭmus=, one of Niobe’s children. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 5.――――A
Macedonian general who betrayed Eumenes to Antigonus.――――A celebrated
courier of Greece. _Statius_, bk. 6.

=Phædon=, an Athenian put to death by the 30 tyrants. His daughters, to
escape the oppressors and preserve their chastity, threw themselves
together into a well.――――A disciple of Socrates. He had been seized
by pirates in his younger days, and the philosopher, who seemed to
discover something uncommon and promising in his countenance, bought
his liberty for a sum of money, and ever after esteemed him. Phædon,
after the death of Socrates, returned to Elis his native country,
where he founded a sect of philosophers called _Elean_. The name
of Phædon is affixed to one of the dialogues of Plato. _Macrobius_,
_Saturnalia_, bk. 1, ch. 11.――_Diogenes Laërtius._――――An archon at
Athens, when the Athenians were directed by the oracle to remove the
bones of Theseus to Attica. _Plutarch_, _Theseus_.