Chapter M (21)

=Plutarchus=, a native of Chæronea, descended of a respectable family.
His father, whose name is unknown, was distinguished for his learning
and virtue, and his grandfather, called Lamprias, was also as
conspicuous for his eloquence and the fecundity of his genius. Under
Ammonius, a reputable teacher at Delphi, Plutarch was made acquainted
with philosophy and mathematics, and so well established was his
character, that he was appointed by his countrymen, while yet very
young, to go to the Roman proconsul, in their name, upon an affair of
the most important nature. This commission he executed with honour to
himself, and with success for his country. He afterwards travelled in
quest of knowledge, and after he had visited, like a philosopher and
an historian, the territories of Egypt and Greece, he retired to Rome,
where he opened a school. His reputation made his school frequented.
The emperor Trajan admired his abilities, and honoured him with the
office of consul, and appointed him governor of Illyricum. After
the death of his imperial benefactor, Plutarch removed from Rome to
Chæronea, where he lived in the greatest tranquillity, respected by
his fellow-citizens, and raised to all the honours which his native
town could bestow. In this peaceful and solitary retreat, Plutarch
closely applied himself to study, and wrote the greatest part of
his works, and particularly his Lives. He died in an advanced age
at Chæronea, about the 140th year of the christian era. Plutarch
had five children by his wife, called Timoxena, four sons and one
daughter. Two of the sons and the daughter died when young, and those
that survived were called Plutarch and Lamprias, and the latter did
honour to his father’s memory, by giving to the world an ♦accurate
catalogue of his writings. In his private and public character,
the historian of Chæronea was the friend of discipline. He boldly
asserted the natural right of mankind, liberty; but he recommended
obedience and submissive deference to magistrates, as necessary to
preserve the peace of society. He supported that the most violent
and dangerous public factions arose too often from private disputes
and from misunderstanding. To render himself more intelligent, he
always carried a commonplace book with him, and he preserved with
the greatest care whatever judicious observations fell in the course
of conversation. The most esteemed of his works are his lives of
illustrious men, of whom he examines and delineates the different
characters with wonderful skill and impartiality. He neither
misrepresents the virtues, nor hides the foibles of his heroes. He
writes with precision and with fidelity, and though his diction is
neither pure nor elegant, yet there is energy and animation, and
in many descriptions he is inferior to no historian. In some of his
narrations, however, he is often too circumstantial, his remarks are
often injudicious; and when he compares the heroes of Greece with
those of Rome, the candid reader can easily remember which side of
the Adriatic gave the historian birth. Some have accused him of not
knowing the genealogy of his heroes, and have censured him for his
superstition; yet for all this, he is the most entertaining, the
most instructive, and interesting of all the writers of ancient
history; and were a man of true taste and judgment asked what book
he wished to save from destruction, of all the profane compositions
of antiquity, he would perhaps without hesitation reply, the Lives
of Plutarch. In his moral treatises, Plutarch appears in a different
character, and his misguided philosophy and erroneous doctrines
render some of these inferior compositions puerile and disgusting.
They, however, contain many useful lessons and curious facts,
and though they are composed without connection, compiled without
judgment, and often abound with improbable stories and false
reasonings, yet they contain much information and many useful
reflections. The best editions of Plutarch are that of Francfort,
2 vols., folio, 1599; that of Stephens, 6 vols., 8vo, 1572; the
Lives by Reiske, 12 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb. 1775; and the Moralia,
&c., by Wyttenbach. _Plutarch._――――A native of Eretria, during the
Peloponnesian war. He was defeated by the Macedonians. _Plutarch_,
_Phocion_.

♦ ‘acurate’ replaced with ‘accurate’

=Plutia=, a town of Sicily. _Cicero_, _Against Verres_.

=Pluto=, a son of Saturn and Ops, inherited his father’s kingdom with
his brothers Jupiter and Neptune. He received as his lot the kingdom
of hell, and whatever lies under the earth, and as such he became
the god of the infernal regions, of death and funerals. From his
functions, and the place he inhabited, he received different names.
He was called _Dis_, _Hades_, or _Ades_, _Clytopolon_, _Agelastus_,
_Orcus_, &c. As the place of his residence was obscure and gloomy,
all the goddesses refused to marry him; but he determined to obtain
by force what was denied to his solicitations. As he once visited
the island of Sicily, after a violent earthquake, he saw Proserpine
the daughter of Ceres gathering flowers in the plains of Enna,
with a crowd of female attendants. He became enamoured of her, and
immediately carried her away upon his chariot drawn by four horses.
To make his retreat more unknown, he opened himself a passage through
the earth, by striking it with his trident in the lake of Cyane in
Sicily, or, according, to others, on the borders of the Cephisus
in Attica. Proserpine called upon her attendants for help, but in
vain, and she became the wife of her ravisher, and the queen of hell.
Pluto is generally represented as holding a sceptre with two teeth;
he has also keys in his hand, to intimate that whoever enters his
kingdom can never return. He is looked upon as a hard-hearted and
inexorable god, with a grim and dismal countenance, and for that
reason no temples were raised to his honour, as to the rest of the
superior gods. Black victims, and particularly a bull, were the
only sacrifices which were offered to him, and their blood was
not sprinkled on the altars, or received in vessels, as at other
sacrifices, but it was permitted to run down into the earth, as if
it were to penetrate as far as the realms of the god. The Syracusans
yearly sacrificed to him black bulls, near the fountain of Cyane,
where, according to the received traditions, he had disappeared
with Proserpine. Among plants, the cypress, the narcissus, and the
maiden-hair were sacred to him, as also everything which was deemed
inauspicious, particularly the number two. According to some of the
ancients, Pluto sat on a throne of sulphur, from which issued the
rivers Lethe, Cocytus, Phlegethon, and Acheron. The dog Cerberus
watched at his feet, the Harpies hovered round him, Proserpine
sat on his left hand, and near to the goddess stood the Eumenides,
with their heads covered with snakes. The Parcæ occupied the right,
and they each held in their hands the symbols of their office, the
distaff, the spindle, and the scissors. Pluto is called by some the
father of the Eumenides. During the war of the gods and the Titans,
the Cyclops made a helmet which rendered the bearer invisible, and
gave it to Pluto. Perseus was armed with it when he conquered the
Gorgons. _Hesiod_, _Theogony_.――_Homer_, _Iliad_.――_Apollodorus_,
bk. 1, &c.――_Hyginus_, fable 155; _Poetica Astronomica_, bk. 2.
――_Statius_, _Thebaid_, bk. 8.――_Diodorus_, bk. 5.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, fable 6.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 36.
――_Orpheus_, hymn 17, &c.――_Cicero_, _de Natura Deorum_, bk. 2,
ch. 26.――_Plato_, _The Republic_.――_Euripides_, _Medea_; _Hippolytus_.
――_Aeschylus_, _Persians_; _Prometheus Bound_.――_Varro_, _de Lingua
Latina_, bk. 4.――_Catullus_, poem 3.――_Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 4,
li. 502; _Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 273; bk. 8, li. 296.――_Lucan_, bk. 6,
li. 715.――_Horace_, bk. 2, odes 3 & 18.――_Seneca_, _Hercules Furens_.

=Plutonium=, a temple of Pluto in Lydia. _Cicero_, _De Divinatione_,
bk. 1, ch. 36.

=Plutus=, a son of Jasion, or Jasius, by Ceres the goddess of corn,
has been confounded by many of the mythologists with Pluto, though
plainly distinguished from him as being the god of riches. He was
brought up by the goddess of peace, and on that account, Pax was
represented at Athens as holding the god of wealth in her lap. The
Greeks spoke of him as of a fickle divinity. They represented him
as blind, because he distributed riches indiscriminately; he was
lame, because he came slow and gradually; but had wings, to intimate
that he flew away with more velocity than he approached mankind.
_Lucian_, _Timon_.――_Pausanias_, bk. 9, chs. 16 & 26.――_Hyginus_,
_Poetica Astronomica_.――_Aristophanes_, _Plutus_.――_Diodorus_, bk. 5.
――_Hesoid_, _Theogony_, li. 970.――_Dionysius of Halicarnassus_, bk. 1,
ch. 53.

=Pluvius=, a surname of Jupiter as god of _rain_. He was invoked by
that name among the Romans, whenever the earth was parched up with
continual heat, and was in want of refreshing showers. He had an
altar in the temple on the capitol. _Tibullus_, bk. 1, poem 7, li. 26.

=Plynteria=, a festival among the Greeks, in honour of Aglauros, or
rather of Minerva, who received from the daughter Cecrops the name
of Aglauros. The word seems to be derived from πλυνειν, _lavare_,
because, during the solemnity, they undressed the statue of the
goddess and _washed_ it. The day on which it was observed was
universally looked upon as unfortunate and inauspicious, and on
that account no person was permitted to appear in the temples, as
they were purposely surrounded with ropes. The arrival of Alcibiades
in Athens that day, was deemed very unfortunate; but, however, the
success that ever after attended him, proved it to be otherwise. It
was customary at this festival to bear in procession a cluster of
figs, which intimated the progress of civilization among the first
inhabitants of the earth, as figs served them for food after they had
found a dislike for acorns. _Pollux._

=Pnigeus=, a village of Egypt, near Phœnicia. _Strabo_, bk. 16.

=Pnyx=, a place of Athens, set apart by Solon for holding assemblies.
_Cornelius Nepos_, _Atticus_, ch. 3.――_Plutarch_, _Theseus_ &
_Themistocles_.

=Poblicius=, a lieutenant of Pompey in Spain.

=Podalirius=, a son of Æsculapius and Epione. He was one of the pupils
of the Centaur Chiron, and he made himself under him such a master
of medicine, that, during the Trojan war, the Greeks invited him to
their camp, to stop a pestilence which had baffled the skill of all
their physicians. Some, however, suppose that he went to the Trojan
war not in the capacity of a physician in the Grecian army, but as a
warrior, attended by his brother Machaon, in 30 ships, with soldiers
from Œchalia, Ithome, and Trica. At his return from the Trojan war,
Podalirius was shipwrecked on the coast of Caria, where he ♦was cured
of the falling sickness and married a daughter of Damœtas the king
of the place. He fixed his habitation there, and built two towns,
one of which he called Syrna, by the name of his wife. The Carians,
after his death, built him a temple, and paid him divine honours.
_Dictys Cretensis._――_Quintus Smyrnæus_, bks. 6 & 9.――_Ovid_ _de
Ars Amatoria_, bk. 2; _Tristia_, poem 6.――_Pausanias_, bk. 3.――――A
Rutulian engaged in the wars of Æneas and Turnus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 12, li. 304.

♦ omitted word ‘was’ inserted

=Podarce=, a daughter of Danaus. _Apollodorus._

=Podarces=, a son of Iphiclus of Thessaly, who went to the Trojan war.
――――The first name of Priam. When Troy was taken by Hercules, he was
redeemed from slavery by his sister Hesione, and from thence received
the name of Priam. _See:_ Priamus.

=Podares=, a general of Mantinea, in the age of Epaminondas.
_Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 9.

=Podarge=, one of the Harpies, mother of two of the horses of Achilles
by the Zephyrs. The word intimates the _swiftness_ of her _feet_.

=Podargus=, a charioteer of Hector. _Homer._

=Pœas=, son of Thaumacus, was among the Argonauts.――――The father of
Philoctetes. The son is often called _Pœantia proles_, on account of
his father. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 13, li. 45.

=Pœcĭle=, a celebrated portico at Athens, which received its name from
the _variety_ (ποικιλος) of paintings which it contained. It was
there that Zeno kept his school, and the stoics also received their
lessons there, whence their name (_à_ στοα, _a porch_). The Pœcile
was adorned with pictures of gods and benefactors, and among many
others were those of the siege and sacking of Troy, the battle of
Theseus against the Amazons, the fight between the Lacedæmonians and
Athenians at Œnoe in Argolis, and of Atticus the great friend of
Athens. The only reward which Miltiades obtained after the battle of
Marathon, was to have his picture drawn more conspicuous than that of
the rest of the officers that fought with him, in the representation
which was made of the engagement, which was hung up in the Pœcile,
in commemoration of that celebrated victory. _Cornelius Nepos_,
_Miltiades_ & _Atticus_, ch. 3.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1.――_Pliny_, bk. 35.

=Pœni=, a name given to the Carthaginians. It seems to be a corruption
of the word _Phœni_ or _Phœnices_, as the Carthaginians were of
Phœnician origin. _Servius_, _on Virgil_, bk. 1, li. 302.

=Pœon.= _See:_ Pæon.

=Pœonia=, a part of Macedonia. _See:_ Pæonia.

=Pœus=, a part of mount Pindus.

=Pogon=, a harbour of the Trœzenians on the coast of the Peloponnesus.
It received this name on account of its appearing to come forward
before the town of Trœzene, as the _beard_ (πωγων) does from the chin.
_Strabo_, bk. 1.――_Mela_, bk. 2.

=Pola=, a city of Istria, founded by the Colchians, and afterwards
made a Roman colony, and called _Pietas Julia_. _Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 9.
――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 3.――_Strabo_, bks. 1 & 5.

=Polemarchus.= _See:_ Archon.――――The assassin of Polydorus king of
Sparta. _Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 3.

=Polemocratia=, a queen of Thrace, who fled to Brutus after the murder
of Cæsar. She retired from her kingdom because her subjects had
lately murdered her husband.

=Pŏlĕmon=, a youth of Athens, son of Philostratus. He was much given
to debauchery and extravagance, and spent the greatest part of his
life in riot and drunkenness. He once, when intoxicated, entered the
school of Xenocrates, while the philosopher was giving his pupils a
lecture upon the effects of intemperance, and he was so struck with
the eloquence of the academician, and the force of his arguments,
that from that moment he renounced the dissipated life he had led,
and applied himself totally to the study of philosophy. He was
then in the 30th year of his age, and from that time he never drank
any other liquor but water; and after the death of Xenocrates he
succeeded in the school where his reformation had been affected. He
died about 270 years before Christ, in an extreme old age. _Diogenes
Laërtius_, _Lives_.――_Horace_, bk. 2, satire 3, li. 254.――_Valerius
Maximus_, bk. 6, ch. 9.――――A son of Zeno the rhetorician, made king
of Pontus by Antony. He attended his patron in his expedition against
Parthia. After the battle of Actium, he was received into favour by
Augustus, though he had fought in the cause of Antony. He was killed
some time after by the barbarians near the Palus Mæotis, against
whom he had made war. _Strabo._――_Dionysius of Halicarnassus._――――His
son, of the same name, was confirmed on his father’s throne by Roman
emperors, and the province of Cilicia was also added to his kingdom
by Claudius.――――An officer in the army of Alexander, intimate with
Philotas, &c. _Curtius_, bk. 7, ch. 1, &c.――――A rhetorician at Rome,
who wrote a poem on weights and measures still extant. He was master
to Perseus the celebrated satirist, and died in the age of Nero.――――A
sophist of Laodice in Asia Minor, in the reign of Adrian. He was
often sent to the emperor with an embassy by his countrymen, which he
executed with great success. He was greatly favoured by Adrian, from
whom he extracted much money. In the 56th year of his age he buried
himself alive, as he laboured with the gout. He wrote declamations in
Greek.

=Polemonium=, now _Vatija_, a town of Pontus, at the east of the mouth
of the ♦Thermodon.

♦ ‘Theomodon’ replaced with ‘Thermodon’

=Polias=, a surname of Minerva, as protectress of cities.

=Polichna=, a town of Troas on Ida. _Herodotus_, bk. 6, ch. 28.
――――Another of Crete. _Thucydides_, bk. 2, ch. 85.

=Polieia=, a festival at Thebes in honour of Apollo, who was
represented there with _grey hair_ (πολιος), contrary to the practice
of all other places. The victim was a bull, but when it happened
once that no bull could be found, an ox was taken from the cart and
sacrificed. From that time the sacrifice of labouring oxen was deemed
lawful, though before it was looked upon as a capital crime.

=Poliorcētes= (_destroyer of cities_), a surname given to Demetrius son
of Antigonus. _Plutarch_, _Demetrius_.

=Polisma=, a town of Troas, on the Simois. _Strabo_, bk. 13.

=Polistrătus=, an Epicurean philosopher born the same day as
Hippoclides, with whom he always lived in the greatest intimacy. They
both died at the same hour. _Diogenes Laërtius._――_Valerius Maximus_,
bk. 1.

=Polītes=, a son of Priam and Hecuba, killed by Pyrrhus in his father’s
presence. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 2, li. 526, &c. His son, who bore
the same name, followed Æneas into Italy, and was one of the friends
of young Ascanius. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 5, li. 564.

=Politorium=, a city of the Latins destroyed by the Romans, before
Christ 639. _Livy_, bk. 1, ch. 33.

=Pollinea=, a prostitute, &c. _Juvenal_, satire 2, li. 68.

=Polla Argentaria=, the wife of the poet Lucan. She assisted her
husband in correcting the three first books of his Pharsalia.
_Statius_, _Sylvæ_, bks. 1 & 2.

=Pollentia=, now _Polenza_, a town of Liguria in Italy, famous for wool.
There was a celebrated battle fought there between the Romans and
Alaric king of the Huns, about the 403rd year of the christian era,
in which the former, according to some, obtained the victory. _Mela_,
bk. 2, ch. 7.――_Pliny_, bk. 8, ch. 48.――_Suetonius_, _Tiberius_, ch.
37.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 8, li. 598.――_Cicero_, bk. 11, _Letters
to his Friends_, ltr. 13.――――A town of Majorca. _Pliny_ & _Mela_.
――――Of Picenum. _Livy_, bk. 39, ch. 44; bk. 41, ch. 27.

=Polles=, a Greek poet whose writings were so obscure and unintelligible
that his name became proverbial. _Suidas._

=Pollio Caius Asinius=, a Roman consul under the reign of Augustus,
who distinguished himself as much by his eloquence and writings as by
his exploits in the field. He defeated the Dalmatians, and favoured
the cause of Antony against Augustus. He patronized, with great
liberality, the poets Virgil and Horace, who have immortalized him
in their writings. He was the first who raised a public library at
Rome, and indeed his example was afterwards followed by many of the
emperors. In his library were placed the statues of all the learned
men of every age, and Varro was the only person who was honoured
there during his lifetime. He was with Julius Cæsar when he crossed
the Rubicon. He was greatly esteemed by Augustus, when he had become
one of his adherents, after the ruin of Antony. Pollio wrote some
tragedies, orations, and a history, which was divided into 17 books.
All those compositions are lost, and nothing remains of his writings
except a few letters to Cicero. He died in the 80th year of his age,
A.D. 4. He is the person in whose honour Virgil has inscribed his
fourth eclogue, _Pollio_, as a reconciliation was effected between
Augustus and Antony during his consulship. The poet, it is supposed
by some, makes mention of a son of the consul born about this time,
and is lavish in his excursions into futurity, and his predictions
of approaching prosperity. _Paterculus_, bk. 2, ch. 86.――_Horace_,
bk. 2, ode 1; satire 10, bk. 1.――_Virgil_, _Eclogues_, poems 3 & 4.
――_Valerius Maximus_, bk. 8, ch. 13.――_Quintilian_, bk. 10.――――Annius,
a man accused of sedition before Tiberius, and acquitted. He
afterwards conspired against Nero, &c. _Tacitus_, ♦_Annals_, bk. 6,
ch. 9; bk. 15, ch. 56.――――Vedius, one of the friends of Augustus, who
used to feed his fishes with human flesh. This cruelty was discovered
when one of his servants broke a glass in the presence of Augustus,
who had been invited to a feast. The master ordered the servant to be
seized; but he threw himself at the feet of the emperor, and begged
him to interfere, and not to suffer him to be devoured by fishes.
Upon this the causes of his apprehension were examined, and Augustus,
astonished at the barbarity of his favourite, caused his servant to
be dismissed, all the fish-ponds to be filled up, and the crystal
glasses of Pollio to be broken to pieces.――――A man who poisoned
Britannicus, at the instigation of Nero.――――An historian in the age
of Constantine the Great.――――A sophist in the age of Pompey the Great.
――――A friend of the emperor Vespasian.

♦ Book title omitted in text

=Pollis=, a commander of the Lacedæmonian fleet defeated at Naxos, B.C.
377. _Diodorus._

=Pollius Felix=, a friend of the poet Statius, to whom he dedicated his
second Sylva.

=Pollupex=, now _Final_, a town of Genoa.

=Pollutia=, a daughter of Lucius Vetus, put to death after her husband
Rubellius Plautus, by order of Nero, &c. _Tacitus_, bk. 16, _Annals_,
chs. 10 & 11.

=Pollux=, a son of Jupiter by Leda the wife of Tyndarus. He was brother
to Castor. _See:_ Castor.――――A Greek writer, who flourished A.D. 186,
in the reign of Commodus, and died in the 58th year of his age. He
was born at Naucratis, and taught rhetoric at Athens, and wrote a
useful work called _Onomasticon_, of which the best edition is that
of Hemsterhusius, 2 vols., folio, Amsterdam, 1706.

=Poltis=, a king of Thrace, in the time of the Trojan war.

=Polus=, a celebrated Grecian actor.――――A sophist of Agrigentum.

=Polusca=, a town of Latium, formerly the capital of the Volsci. The
inhabitants were called _Pollustini_. _Livy_, bk. 2, ch. 39.

=Polyænus=, a native of Macedonia, who wrote eight books in Greek of
stratagems, which he dedicated to the emperors Antoninus and Verus,
while they were making war against the Parthians. He wrote also
other books which have been lost, among which was a history, with
a description of the city of Thebes. The best editions of his
stratagems are those of Masvicius, 8vo, Leiden, 1690, and of Mursinna,
12mo, Berlin, 1756.――――A friend of Philopœmen.――――An orator in the
age of Julius Cæsar. He wrote in three books an account of Antony’s
expedition in Parthia, and likewise published orations.――――A
mathematician, who afterwards followed the tenets of Epicurus,
and disregarded geometry as a false and useless study. _Cicero_,
_Academicæ Quæstiones_, bk. 4.

=Polyānus=, a mountain of Macedonia, near Pindus. _Strabo._

=Polyarchus=, the brother of a queen of Cyrene, &c. _Polyænus_, bk. 8.

=Polybidas=, a general after the death of Agesipolis the Lacedæmonian.
He reduced Olynthus.

=Polybius=, or =Poly̆bus=, a king of Corinth, who married Peribœa, whom
some have called Merope. He was son of Mercury by Chthonophyle, the
daughter of Sicyon king of Sicyon. He permitted his wife, who had no
children, to adopt and educate as her own son, Œdipus, who had been
found by his shepherds exposed in the woods. He had a daughter called
Lysianassa, whom he gave in marriage to Talaus son of Bias king of
Argos. As he had no male child, he left his kingdom to Adrastus,
who had been banished from his throne, and who had fled to Corinth
for protection. _Hyginus_, fable 66.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 6.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 5.――_Seneca_, _Œdipus_, li. 812.

=Polybius=, a native of Megalopolis in Peloponnesus, son of Lycortas.
He was early initiated in the duties, and made acquainted with the
qualifications, of a statesman, by his father, who was a strong
supporter of the Achæan league, and under him Philopœmen was taught
the art of war. In Macedonia he distinguished himself by his valour
against the Romans, and when Perseus had been conquered, he was
carried to the capital of Italy as a prisoner of war. But he was not
long buried in the obscurity of a dungeon. Scipio and Fabius were
acquainted with his uncommon abilities as a warrior and as a man of
learning, and they made him their friend by kindness and attention.
Polybius was not insensible to their merit; he accompanied Scipio
in his expeditions, and was present at the taking of Carthage and
Numantia. In the midst of his prosperity, however, he felt the
distresses of his country, which had been reduced into a Roman
province, and, like a true patriot, he relieved its wants, and eased
its servitude by making use of the influence which he had acquired
by his acquaintance with the most powerful Romans. After the death
of his friend and benefactor Scipio, he retired from Rome, and passed
the rest of his days at Megalopolis, where he enjoyed the comforts
and honours which every good man can receive from the gratitude of
his citizens, and from the self-satisfaction which attends a humane
and benevolent heart. He died in the 82nd year of his age, about 124
years before Christ, of a wound which he had received by a fall from
his horse. He wrote a universal history in Greek, divided into 40
books, which began with the wars of Rome with the Carthaginians, and
finished with the conquest of Macedonia by Paulus. The greatest part
of this valuable history is lost; the five first books are extant,
and of the 12 following the fragments are numerous. The history
of Polybius is admired for its authenticity, and he is, perhaps,
the only historian among the Greeks who was experimentally and
professedly acquainted with the military operations and the political
measures of which he makes mention. He has been recommended in every
age and country as the best master in the art of war, and nothing
can more effectually prove the esteem in which he was held among the
Romans, than to mention that Brutus the murderer of Cæsar perused
his history with the greatest attention, epitomized it, and often
retired from the field where he had drawn his sword against Octavius
and Antony, to read the instructive pages which describe the great
actions of his ancestors. Polybius, however great and entertaining,
is sometimes censured for his unnecessary digressions, for his
uncouth and ill-digested narrations, for his negligence, and
the inaccurate arrangement of his words. But everywhere there is
instruction to be found, information to be collected, and curious
facts to be obtained, and it reflects not much honour upon Livy for
calling the historian, from whom he has copied whole books almost
word for word, without gratitude or acknowledgment, _haudquaquam
spernendus auctor_. Dionysius also, of Halicarnassus, is one of
his most violent accusers; but the historian has rather exposed his
ignorance of true criticism, than discovered inaccuracy or inelegance.
The best editions of Polybius are those of Gronovius, 3 vols., 8vo,
Amsterdam, 1670; of Ernesti, 3 vols., 8vo, 1764; and of Schweighæuser,
7 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb, 1785. _Plutarch_, _Philopœmen_, preface.
――_Livy_, bk. 30, ch. 45.――_Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 30.――――A freedman
of Augustus. _Suetonius._――――A physician, disciple, and successor of
Hippocrates.――――A soothsayer of Corinth, who foretold to his sons the
fate that attended them in the Trojan war.

=Polybœa=, a daughter of Amyclas and Diomede, sister to Hyacinthus.
_Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 19.

=Polybœtes.= _See:_ Polypœtes.

=Polybōtes=, one of the giants who made war against Jupiter. He was
killed by Neptune, who crushed him under a part of the island of
Cos, as he was walking across the Ægean. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 2.
――_Hyginus_, preface to fables.

=Polybus=, a king of Thebes in Egypt in the time of the Trojan war.
_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 22, li. 284.――――One of Penelope’s suitors.
_Ovid_, _Heroides_, poem 1.――――A king of Sicyon.――――A king of Corinth.
_See:_ Polybius.

=Polycāon=, a son of Lelex, who succeeded his brother Myles. He
received divine honours after death, with his wife Messene, at
Lacedæmon, where he had reigned. _Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 1, &c.――――A
son of Butes, who married a daughter of Hyllus.

=Polycarpus=, a famous Greek writer, born at Smyrna, and educated at
the expense of a rich but pious lady. Some suppose that he was St.
John’s disciple. He became bishop of Smyrna, and went to Rome to
settle the festival of Easter, but to no purpose. He was condemned
to be burnt at Smyrna, A.D. 167. His epistle to the Philippians is
simple and modest, yet replete with useful precepts and rules for the
conduct of life. The best edition of Polycarp’s epistle is that of
Oxford, 8vo, 1708, being annexed to the works of Ignatius.

=Polycaste=, the youngest of the daughters of Nestor. According to some
authors she married Telemachus, when he visited her father’s court in
quest of Ulysses.

=Polychăres=, a rich Messenian, said to have been the cause of the war
which was kindled between the Spartans and his countrymen, which was
called the first Messenian war.

=Polyclēa=, the mother of Thessalus, &c.

=Poly̆cles=, an Athenian in the time of Demetrius, &c. _Polyænus_, bk. 5.
――――A famous athlete, often crowned at the four solemn games of the
Greeks. He had a statue in Jupiter’s grove at Olympia. _Pausanias_,
bk. 6, ch. 1.

=Polyclētus=, a celebrated statuary of Sicyon, about 232 years before
Christ. He was universally reckoned the most skilful artist of his
profession among the ancients, and the second rank was given to
Phidias. One of his pieces, in which he had represented a body-guard
of the king of Persia, was so happily executed, and so nice and exact
in all its proportions, that it was looked upon as a most perfect
model, and accordingly called _the Rule_. He was acquainted with
architecture. _Pausanias_, bks. 2 & 6.――_Quintilian_, bk. 12, ch. 10.
――――Another, who lived about 30 years after.――――A favourite of the
emperor Nero, put to death by Galba.

=Polyclītus=, an historian of Larissa. _Athenæus_, bk. 12.――_Ælian_,
bk. 16, ch. 41.

=Polycrătes=, a tyrant of Samos, well known for the continual flow of
good fortune which attended him. He became very powerful, and made
himself master, not only of the neighbouring islands, but also of
some cities on the coast of Asia. He had a fleet of 100 ships of
war, and was so universally respected, that Amasis the king of Egypt
made a treaty of alliance with him. The Egyptian monarch, however,
terrified by his continued prosperity, advised him to chequer his
enjoyments, by relinquishing some of his most favourite objects.
Polycrates complied, and threw into the sea a beautiful seal, the
most valuable of his jewels. The voluntary loss of so precious a seal
afflicted him for some time, but in a few days after, he received as
a present a large fish, in whose belly the jewel was found. Amasis
no sooner heard this, than he rejected all alliance with the tyrant
of Samos, and observed, that sooner or later his good fortune would
vanish. Some time after Polycrates visited Magnesia on the Mæander,
where he had been invited by Orœtes the governor. He was shamefully
put to death, 522 years before Christ, merely because the governor
wished to terminate the prosperity of Polycrates. The daughter
of Polycrates had dissuaded her father from going to the house
of Orœtes, on account of the bad dreams which she had had, but
her advice was disregarded. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 14.――_Strabo_,
bk. 14.――_Herodotus_, bk. 3, ch. 22, &c.――――A sophist of Athens,
who, to engage the public attention, wrote a panegyric on Busiris and
Clytemnestra. _Quintilian_, bk. 2, ch. 17.――――An ancient statuary.

=Polycrēta=, or =Polycrīta=, a young woman of Naxos, who became the
wife of Diognetus the general of the Erythreans, &c. _Polyænus_,
bk. 8.――――Another woman of Naxos, who died through the excess of joy.
_Plutarch_, _de Mulierum virtutes_.

=Polycrĭtus=, a man who wrote the life of Dionysius the tyrant of
Sicily.――_Diogenes Laërtius._

=Polyctor=, the husband of Stygna, one of the Danaides. _Apollodorus_,
bk. 2, ch. 1.――――The father of Pisander, one of Penelope’s suitors.
――――An athlete of Elis. It is said that he obtained a victory at
Olympia by bribing his adversary Sosander, who was superior to him in
strength and courage. _Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 21.

=Polydæmon=, an Assyrian prince killed by Perseus. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, fable 3.

=Polydămas=, a Trojan, son of Antenor by Theano the sister of Hecuba.
He married Lycaste, a natural daughter of Priam. He is accused by
some of having betrayed his country to the Greeks. _Dares Phrygius._
――――A son of Panthous, born the same night as Hector. He was
inferior in valour to none of the Trojans, except Hector, and his
prudence, the wisdom of his counsels, and the firmness of his mind,
claimed equal admiration, and proved most salutary to his unfortunate
and misguided countrymen. He was at last killed by Ajax, after he had
slaughtered a great number of the enemy. _Dictys Cretensis_, bk. 1,
&c.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 12, &c.――――A celebrated athlete, son of
Nicias, who imitated Hercules in whatever he did. He killed a lion
with his fist, and it is said that he could stop with his hand a
chariot in its most rapid course. He was one day with some of his
friends in a cave, when on a sudden a large piece of rock came
tumbling down; and while all fled away, he attempted to receive the
fallen fragment in his arms. His prodigious strength, however, was
insufficient, and he was instantly crushed to pieces under the rock.
_Pausanias_, bk. 6, ch. 5.――――One of Alexander’s officers, intimate
with Parmenio. _Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 15.

=Polydamna=, a wife of Thonis king of Egypt. It is said that she gave
Helen a certain powder, which had the wonderful power of driving away
care and melancholy. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 4, li. 228.

=Polydectes=, a king of Sparta, of the family of the Proclidæ. He was
son of Eunomus. _Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 7.――――A son of Magnes, king
of the island of Seriphos. He received with great kindness Danae and
her son Perseus, who had been exposed on the sea by Acrisius. _See:_
Perseus. He took particular care of the education of Perseus; but
when he became enamoured of Danae, he removed him from his kingdom,
apprehensive of his resentment. Some time after he paid his addresses
to Danae, and when she rejected him, he prepared to offer her
violence. Danae fled to the altar of Minerva for protection, and
Dictys the brother of Polydectes, who had himself saved her from the
sea-waters, opposed her ravisher and armed himself in her defence.
At this critical moment, Perseus arrived, and with Medusa’s head
he turned into stones Polydectes, with the associates of his guilt.
The crown of Seriphos was given to Dictys, who had shown himself so
active in the cause of innocence. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5,
li. 242.――_Hyginus_, fable 63, &c.――――A sculptor of Greece. _Pliny._

=Polydeucēa=, a fountain of Laconia, near Therapne. _Strabo_, bk. 9.

=Polydōra=, a daughter of Peleus king of Thessaly, by Antigone the
daughter of Eurytion. She married the river Sperchius, by whom she
had Mnestheus. _Apollodorus._――――One of the Oceanides. _Hesiod._――――A
daughter of Meleager king of Calydon, who married Protesilaus. She
killed herself when she heard that her husband was dead. The wife
of Protesilaus is more commonly called Laodamia. _See:_ Protesilaus.
_Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 2.――――A daughter of Perieres.――――An island of
the Propontis near Cyzicus.

=Polydōrus=, a son of Alcamenes king of Sparta. He put an end to the
war which had been carried on during 20 years, between Messenia and
his subjects; and during his reign, the Lacedæmonians planted two
colonies, one at Crotona, and the other at Locri. He was universally
respected. He was assassinated by a nobleman, called Polemarchus. His
son Eurycrates succeeded him 724 years before Christ. _Pausanias_,
bk. 3.――_Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 204.――――A celebrated carver of Rhodes,
who with one stone made the famous statue of Laocoon and his children.
_Pliny_, bk. 34, ch. 8.――――A son of Hippomedon, who went with the
Epigoni to the second Theban war. _Pausanias_, bk. 2.――――A son of
Cadmus and Hermione, who married Nycteis, by whom he had Labdacus
the father of Laius. He had succeeded to the throne of Thebes,
when his father had gone to Illyricum. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3.――――A
brother of Jason of Pheræ, who killed his brother and seized upon his
possessions. _Diodorus_, bk. 15.――――A son of Priam killed by Achilles.
――――Another son of Priam by Hecuba, or, according to others, by
Laothoe the daughter of Altes king of Pedasus. As he was young
and inexperienced when Troy was besieged by the Greeks, his father
removed him to the court of Polymnestor king of Thrace, and also
entrusted to the care of the monarch a large sum of money, and the
greatest part of his treasures, till his country was freed from
foreign invasion. No sooner was the death of Priam known in Thrace,
than Polymnestor made himself master of the riches which were in
his possession; and to ensure them the better, he assassinated young
Polydorus, and threw his body into the sea, where it was found by
Hecuba. _See:_ Hecuba. According to Virgil, the body of Polydorus was
buried near the shore by his assassin, and there grew on his grave
a myrtle, whose boughs dropped blood, when Æneas, going to Italy,
attempted to tear them from the tree. _See:_ Polymnestor. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bks. 3, 21, &c.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 12.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 3, li. 432.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 20.――_Dictys
Cretensis_, bk. 2, ch. 18.

=Polygius=, a surname of Mercury. _Pausanias._

=Polygnōtus=, a celebrated painter of Thasos, about 422 years before
the christian era. His father’s name was Aglaophon. He adorned
one of the public porticoes of Athens with his paintings, in which
he had represented the most striking events of the Trojan war. He
particularly excelled in giving grace, liveliness, and expression to
his pieces. The Athenians were so pleased with him, that they offered
to reward his labours with whatever he pleased to accept. He declined
this generous offer, and the Amphictyonic council, which was composed
of the representatives of the principal cities of Greece, ordered
that Polygnotus should be maintained at the public expense ♦wherever
he went.――_Quintilian_, bk. 12, ch. 10.――_Pliny_, bks. 33 & 34.
――_Plutarch_, _Cimon_.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 25, &c.――――A
statuary. _Pliny_, bk. 34.

♦ ‘whereever’ replaced with ‘wherever’

=Polygŏnus= and =Telegonus=, sons of Proteus and Coronis, were killed
by Hercules. _Apollodorus._

=Polyhymnia= and =Polymnia=, one of the Muses, daughter of Jupiter and
Mnemosyne. She presided over singing and rhetoric, and was deemed the
inventress of harmony. She was represented veiled in white, holding
a sceptre in her left hand, and with her right raised up, as if
ready to harangue. She had a crown of jewels on her head. _Hesiod_,
_Theogony_, lis. 75 & 915.――_Plutarch_, _Convivium Septem Sapientium_.
――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 1.――_Ovid_ _Fasti_, bk. 5, lis. 9 & 53.

=Polyidus=, a physician who brought back to life Glaucus the son of
Minos, by applying to his body a certain herb, with which he had seen
a serpent restore life to another which was dead. _See:_ Glaucus.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 3.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 43.――――A son
of Hercules by one of the daughters of Thestius. _Apollodorus._――――A
Corinthian soothsayer, called also _Polybius_.――――A dithyrambic poet,
painter, and musician.

=Polylāus=, a son of Hercules and Crathe, daughter of Thespius.

=Polymĕnes=, an officer appointed to take care of Egypt after it had
been conquered by Alexander. _Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 8.

=Polymēde=, a daughter of Autolycus, who married Æson, by whom she had
Jason. She survived her husband only a few days. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1,
ch. 13.

=Polymedon=, one of Priam’s illegitimate children.

=Polymēla=, one of Diana’s companions. She was daughter of Phylas,
and had a son by Mercury. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 16.――――A daughter of
Æolus, seduced by Ulysses.――――A daughter of Actor. She was the first
wife of Peleus the father of Achilles.

=Polymnestes=, a Greek poet of Colophon. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 14.
――――A native of Thera, father of Battus, or Aristotle, by Phronima
the daughter of Etearchus king of Oaxus. _Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 150.

=Polymnestor=, a king of the Thracian Chersonesus, who married Ilione,
the eldest of Priam’s daughters. When the Greeks besieged Troy, Priam
sent the greatest part of his treasures, together with Polydorus,
the youngest of his sons, to Thrace, where they were entrusted to
the care of Polymnestor. The Thracian monarch paid every attention
to his brother-in-law; but when he was informed that Priam was dead,
he murdered him to become master of the riches which were in his
possession. At that time, the Greeks were returning victorious from
Troy, followed by all the captives, among whom was Hecuba the mother
of Polydorus. The fleet stopped on the coast of Thrace, where one of
the female captives discovered on the shore the body of Polydorus,
whom Polymnestor had thrown into the sea. The dreadful intelligence
was immediately communicated to the mother, and Hecuba, who
recollected the frightful dreams which she had had on the preceding
night, did not doubt but Polymnestor was the cruel assassin. She
resolved to revenge her son’s death, and immediately she called out
Polymnestor, as if wishing to impart to him a matter of the most
important nature. The tyrant was drawn into the snare, and was no
sooner introduced into the apartments of the Trojan princess, than
the female captives rushed upon him and put out his eyes with their
pins, while Hecuba murdered his two children who had accompanied
him. According to Euripides, the Greeks condemned Polymnestor to be
banished into a distant island for his perfidy. Hyginus, however,
relates the whole differently, and observes, that when Polydorus
was sent to Thrace, Ilione his sister took him instead of her son
Deiphilus, who was of the same age, apprehensive of her husband’s
cruelty. The monarch was unacquainted with the imposition; he looked
upon Polydorus as his own son, and treated Deiphilus as the brother
of Ilione. After the destruction of Troy, the conquerors, who wished
the house and family of Priam to be totally extirpated, offered
Electra the daughter of Agamemnon to Polymnestor, if he would destroy
Ilione and Polydorus. The monarch accepted the offer, and immediately
despatched his own son Deiphilus, whom he had been taught to regard
as Polydorus. Polydorus, who passed as the son of Polymnestor,
consulted the oracle after the murder of Deiphilus, and when he was
informed that his father was dead, his mother a captive in the hands
of the Greeks, and his country in ruins, he communicated the answer
of the god to Ilione, whom he had always regarded as his mother.
Ilione told him the measures she had pursued to save his life,
and upon this he avenged the perfidy of Polymnestor by putting out
his eyes. _Euripides_, _Hecuba_.――_Hyginus_, fable 102.――_Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 45, &c.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 13,
li. 430, &c.――――A king of Arcadia, succeeded on the throne by Ecmis.
_Pausanias_, bk. 8.――――A young Milesian who took a hare in running,
and afterwards obtained a prize at the Olympic games.

=Poly̆nīces=, a son of Œdipus king of Thebes by Jocasta. He inherited
his father’s throne with his brother Eteocles, and it was mutually
agreed between the two brothers, that they should reign each a year
alternately. Eteocles first ascended the throne by right of seniority;
but when the year was expired, he refused to resign the crown to his
brother. Polynices, upon this, fled to Argos, where he married Argia,
the daughter of Adrastus the king of the country, and levied a large
army, at the head of which he marched to Thebes. The command of this
army was divided among seven celebrated chiefs, who were to attack
the seven gates of the city of Thebes. The battle was decided by a
single combat between the two brothers, who both killed one another.
_See:_ Eteocles. _Aeschylus_, _Seven Against Thebes_.――_Euripides_,
_Phoenician Women_.――_Seneca_, _Œdipus_.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4.
――_Hyginus_, fable 68, &c.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 20; bk. 9, ch. 5.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 5.

=Polynoe=, one of the Nereides. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 2.

=Polypēmon=, a famous thief, called also _Procrustes_, who plundered
all the travellers about the Cephisus, and near Eleusis in Attica.
He was killed by Theseus. Ovid calls him father of Procrustes, and
Apollodorus of Sinus. _See:_ Procrustes. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 38.
――_Ovid_, _Ibis_, li. 409.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4.――_Plutarch_, _Theseus_.

=Polyperchon=, or =Polysperchon=, one of the officers of Alexander.
Antipater, at his death, appointed him governor of the kingdom of
Macedonia, in preference to his own son Cassander. Polyperchon,
though old, and a man of experience, showed great ignorance in the
administration of the government. He became cruel, not only to the
Greeks, or such as opposed his ambitious views, but even to the
helpless and innocent children and friends of Alexander, to whom he
was indebted for his rise and military reputation. He was killed in a
battle 309 B.C. _Curtius._――_Diodorus_, bk. 17, &c.――_Justin_, bk. 13.

=Polyphēmus=, a celebrated Cyclops, king of all the Cyclops in
Sicily, and son of Neptune and Thoosa the daughter of Phorcys. He
is represented as a monster of strength, of tall stature, and one
eye in the middle of the forehead. He fed upon human flesh, and kept
his flocks on the coasts of Sicily, when Ulysses, at his return from
the Trojan war, was driven there. The Grecian prince, with 12 of his
companions, visited the coast, and were seized by the Cyclops, who
confined them in his cave, and daily devoured two of them. Ulysses
would have shared the fate of his companions, had he not intoxicated
the Cyclops, and put out his eye with a firebrand while he was asleep.
Polyphemus was awaked by the sudden pain; he stopped the entrance
of his cave, but Ulysses made his escape by creeping between the
legs of the rams of the Cyclops, as they were led out to feed on the
mountains. Polyphemus became enamoured of Galatæa, but his addresses
were disregarded, and the nymph shunned his presence. The Cyclops
was more earnest, and when he saw Galatæa surrender herself to the
pleasures of Acis, he crushed his rival with a piece of a broken
rock. _Theocritus_, poem 1.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 13, li. 772.
――_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 19.――_Euripides_, _Cyclops_.――_Hyginus_,
fable 125.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 619, &c.――――One of the
Argonauts, son of Elatus and Hippea. _Hyginus_, fable 14.

=Polyphonta=, one of Diana’s nymphs, daughter of Hipponus and Thraosa.

=Polyphontes=, one of the Heraclidæ, who killed Cresphontes king of
Messenia, and usurped his crown. _Hyginus_, fable 137.――――One of the
Theban generals, under Eteocles. _Aeschylus_, _Seven Against Thebes_.

=Polypœtes=, a son of Pirithous and Hippodamia, at the Trojan war.
_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 26.――――A son
of Apollo by Pythia.――――One of the Trojans whom Æneas saw when he
visited the infernal regions. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 484.

=Polysperchon.= _See:_ Polyperchon.

=Polystrātus=, a Macedonian soldier, who found Darius after he had been
stabbed by Bessus, and gave him water to drink, and carried the last
injunctions of the dying monarch to Alexander. _Curtius_, bk. 5, ch.
13.――――An epicurean philosopher who flourished B.C. 238.

=Polytecnus=, an artist of Colophon, who married Ædon the daughter of
Pandarus.

=Polytion=, a friend of Alcibiades, with whom he profaned the mysteries
of Ceres. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 2.

=Polytimētus=, a river of Sogdiana. _Curtius_, bk. 6, ch. 4.

=Polyphron=, a prince killed by his nephew Alexander the tyrant of
Pheræ.

=Polytrŏpus=, a man sent by the Lacedæmonians with an army against the
Arcadians. He was killed at Orchomenus. _Diodorus_, bk. 15.

=Polyxĕna=, a daughter of Priam and Hecuba, celebrated for her beauty
and accomplishments. Achilles became enamoured of her, and solicited
her hand, and their marriage would have been consummated, had not
Hector her brother opposed it. Polyxena, according to some authors,
accompanied her father when he went to the tent of Achilles to redeem
the body of his son Hector. Some time after, the Grecian hero came
into the temple of Apollo to obtain a sight of the Trojan princess,
but he was murdered there by Paris; and Polyxena, who had returned
his affection, was so afflicted at his death, that she went and
sacrificed herself on his tomb. Some, however, suppose that that
sacrifice was not voluntary, but that the manes of Achilles appeared
to the Greeks as they were going to embark, and demanded of them
the sacrifice of Polyxena. The princess, who was in the number of
the captives, was upon this dragged to her lover’s tomb, and there
immolated by Neoptolemus the son of Achilles. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_,
bk. 13, fable 5, &c.――_Dictys Cretensis_, bks. 3 & 5.――_Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 321.――_Catullus_, poem 65.――_Hyginus_, fable 90.

=Polyxenĭdas=, a Syrian general, who flourished B.C. 192.

=Polyxĕnus=, one of the Greek princes during the Trojan war. His
father’s name was Agasthenes. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 5, ch. 3.――――A son of Medea by Jason.――――A young Athenian who
became blind, &c. _Plutarch_, _Parallela minora_.――――A general of
Dionysius, from whom he revolted.

=Polyxo=, a priestess of Apollo’s temple in Lemnos. She was also nurse
to queen Hypsipyle. It was by her advice that the Lemnian women
murdered all their husbands. _Apollonius_, bk. 1.――_Flaccus_, bk. 2.
――_Hyginus_, fable 15.――――One of the Atlantides.――――A native of Argos,
who married Tlepolemus son of Hercules. She followed him to Rhodes,
after the murder of his uncle Licymnius, and when he departed for
the Trojan war with the rest of the Greek princes, she became the
sole mistress of the kingdom. After the Trojan war, Helen fled from
Peloponnesus to Rhodes, where Polyxo reigned. Polyxo detained her,
and to punish her as being the cause of a war, in which Tlepolemus
had perished, she ordered her to be hanged on a tree by her
female servants, disguised in the habit of Furies. _See:_ Helena.
_Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 19.――――The wife of Nycteus.――――One of the
wives of Danaus.

=Polyzēlus=, a Greek poet of Rhodes. He had written a poem on the
origin and birth of Bacchus, Venus, the Muses, &c. Some of his verses
are quoted by Athenæus. _Hyginus_, _Poetica Astronomica_, bk. 2,
ch. 14.――――An Athenian archon.

=Pomaxæthres=, a Parthian soldier, who killed Crassus, according to
some. _Plutarch._

=Pometia=, =Pometii=, =Pometia Suessa=, a town of the Volsci in Latium,
totally destroyed by the Romans, because it had revolted. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 775.――_Livy_, bk. 2, ch. 17.

=Pometīna=, one of the tribes of the people at Rome.

=Pomōna=, a nymph at Rome, who was supposed to preside over gardens and
to be the goddess of all sorts of fruit trees. She had a temple at
Rome, and a regular priest called _Flamen Pomonalis_, who offered
sacrifices to her divinity, for the preservation of fruit. She was
generally represented as sitting on a basket full of flowers and
fruit, and holding a bough in one hand and apples in the other.
Pomona was particularly delighted with the cultivation of the earth;
she disdained the toils of the field, and the fatigues of hunting.
Many of the gods of the country endeavoured to gain her affection,
but she received their addresses with coldness. Vertumnus was the
only one who, by assuming different shapes, and introducing himself
into her company, under the form of an old woman, prevailed upon
her to break her vow of celibacy and to marry him. This deity was
unknown among the Greeks. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 14, li. 628,
&c.――_Festus_, _Lexicon of Festus_.

=Pompeia=, a daughter of Sextus Pompey by Scribonia. She was promised
to Marcellus, as a means of procuring a reconciliation between her
father and the triumvirs, but she married Scribonius Libo.――――A
daughter of Pompey the Great, Julius Cæsar’s third wife. She was
accused of incontinence, because Clodius had introduced himself in
women’s clothes into the room where she was celebrating the mysteries
of Cybele. Cæsar repudiated her upon this accusation. _Plutarch._
――――The wife of Annæus Seneca, was the daughter of Pompeius Paulinus.
――――There was a portico at Rome, called _Pompeia_, much frequented
by all orders of people. _Ovid_, _Ars Amatoria_, li. 67.――_Martial_,
bk. 11, ltr. 48.

=Pompeia lex=, by Pompey the Great, _de ambitu_, A.U.C. 701. It
ordained that whatever person had been convicted of the crime
of _ambitus_, should be pardoned, provided he could impeach two
others of the same crime, and occasion the condemnation of one of
them.――――Another by the same, A.U.C. 701, which forbade the use
of _laudatores_ in trials, or persons who gave a good character of
the prisoner then impeached.――――Another by the same, A.U.C. 683.
It restored to the tribunes their original power and authority, of
which they had been deprived by the Cornelian law.――――Another by
the same, A.U.C. 701. It shortened the forms of trials, and enacted
that the three first days of a trial should be employed in examining
witnesses, and it allowed only one day to the parties to make their
accusation and defence. The plaintiff was confined to two hours, and
the defendant to three. This law had for its object the riots, which
happened from the quarrels of Clodius and Milo.――――Another by the
same, A.U.C. 698. It required that the judges should be the richest
of every century, contrary to the usual form. It was, however,
requisite that they should be such as the Aurelian law prescribed.
――――Another of the same, A.U.C. 701. Pompey was by this empowered to
continue in the government of Spain five years longer.

=Pompeiānus Jupiter=, a large statue of Jupiter, near Pompey’s theatre,
whence it received its name. _Pliny_, bk. 34, ch. 7.

=Pompeiānus=, a Roman knight of Antioch, raised to offices of the
greatest trust, under the emperor Aurelius, whose daughter Lucilla
he married. He lived in great popularity at Rome, and retired from
the court when Commodus succeeded to the imperial crown. He ought,
according to Julian’s opinion, to have been chosen and adopted as
successor by Marcus Aurelius.――――A general of Maxentius, killed by
Constantine.――――A Roman put to death by Caracalla.