Chapter M (25)

=Punĭcum bellum.= The first Punic war was undertaken by the Romans
against Carthage, B.C. 264. The ambition of Rome was the origin of
this war. For upwards of 240 years, the two nations had beheld with
secret jealousy each other’s power, but they had totally eradicated
every cause of contention, by settling, in three different treaties,
the boundaries of their respective territories, the number of their
allies, and how far one nation might sail in the Mediterranean
without giving offence to the other. Sicily, an island of the highest
consequence to the Carthaginians as a commercial nation, was the
seat of the first dissensions. The Mamertini, a body of Italian
mercenaries, were appointed by the king of Syracuse to guard the
town of Messana, but this tumultuous tribe, instead of protecting the
citizens, basely massacred them, and seized their possessions. This
act of cruelty raised the indignation of all the Sicilians, and Hiero
king of Syracuse, who had employed them, prepared to punish their
perfidy; and the Mamertini, besieged in Messana, and without friends
or resources, resolved to throw themselves for protection into the
hands of the first power that could relieve them. They were, however,
divided in their sentiments, and while some implored the assistance
of Carthage, others called upon the Romans for protection. Without
hesitation or delay, the Carthaginians entered Messana, and the
Romans also hastened to give to the Mamertini that aid which had been
claimed from them with as much eagerness as from the Carthaginians.
At the approach of the Roman troops, the Mamertini, who had implored
their assistance, took up arms, and forced the Carthaginians to
evacuate Messana. Fresh forces were poured in on every side, and
though Carthage seemed superior in arms and in resources, yet the
valour and intrepidity of the Romans daily appeared more formidable,
and Hiero, the Syracusan king, who hitherto had embraced the interest
of the Carthaginians, became the most faithful ally of the republic.
From a private quarrel the war became general. The Romans obtained
a victory in Sicily, but as their enemies were masters at sea, the
advantages which they gained were small and inconsiderable. To make
themselves equal to their adversaries, they aspired to the dominion
of the sea, and in 60 days timber was cut down, and a fleet of 120
galleys completely manned and provisioned. The successes they met
with at sea were trivial, and little advantages could be gained over
an enemy that were sailors by actual practice and long experience.
♦Duillius at last obtained a victory, and he was the first Roman who
ever received a triumph after a naval battle. The losses which they
had already sustained induced the Carthaginians to sue for peace, and
the Romans, whom an unsuccessful descent upon Africa, under Regulus
[_See:_ Regulus], had rendered diffident, listened to the proposal,
and the first Punic war was concluded B.C. 241, on the following
terms:――The Carthaginians pledged themselves to pay to the Romans,
within 20 years, the sum of 3000 Euboic talents; they promised to
release all the Roman captives without ransom, to evacuate Sicily,
and the other islands in the Mediterranean, and not to molest Hiero
king of Syracuse, or his allies. After this treaty, the Carthaginians,
who had lost the dominion of Sardinia and Sicily, made new conquests
in Spain, and soon began to repair their losses by industry and
labour. They planted colonies, and secretly prepared to revenge
themselves upon their powerful rivals. The Romans were not insensible
of their successes in Spain, and to stop their progress towards Italy,
they made stipulations with the Carthaginians, by which they were
not permitted to cross the Iberus, or to molest the cities of their
allies the Saguntines. This was for some time observed, but when
Annibal succeeded to the command of the Carthaginian armies in Spain,
he spurned the boundaries which the jealousy of Rome had set to his
arms, and he immediately formed the siege of Saguntum. The Romans
were apprised of the hostilities which had been begun against their
allies, but Saguntum was in the hands of the active enemy before
they had taken any steps to oppose him. Complaints were carried
to Carthage, and war was determined on by the influence of Annibal
in the Carthaginian senate. Without delay or diffidence, B.C. 218,
Annibal marched a numerous army of 90,000 foot and 12,000 horse
towards Italy, resolved to carry on the war to the gates of Rome.
He crossed the Rhone, the Alps, and the Apennines, with uncommon
celerity, and the Roman consuls who were stationed to stop his
progress were severally defeated. The battles of Trebia, of Ticinus,
and of the lake of Thrasymenus, threw Rome into the greatest
apprehensions, but the prudence and the dilatory measures of the
dictator Fabius soon taught them to hope for better times. Yet the
conduct of Fabius was universally censured as cowardice, and the two
consuls who succeeded him in the command, by pursuing a different
plan of operations, soon brought on a decisive action at Cannæ, in
which 45,000 Romans were left in the field of battle. This bloody
victory caused so much consternation at Rome, that some authors have
declared that if Annibal had immediately marched from the plains of
Cannæ to the city, he would have met with no resistance, but would
have terminated a long and dangerous war with glory to himself,
and the most inestimable advantages to his country. This celebrated
victory at Cannæ left the conqueror master of two camps, and of
an immense booty; and the cities which had hitherto observed a
neutrality, no sooner saw the defeat of the Romans, than they eagerly
embraced the interest of Carthage. The news of this victory was
carried to Carthage by Mago, and the Carthaginians refused to believe
it till three bushels of golden rings were spread before them, which
had been taken from the Roman knights in the field of battle. After
this Annibal called his brother Asdrubal from Spain with a large
reinforcement; but the march of Asdrubal was intercepted by the
Romans, his army was defeated, and himself slain. Affairs now had
taken a different turn, and Marcellus, who had the command of the
Roman legions in Italy, soon taught his countrymen that Annibal was
not invincible in the field. In different parts of the world the
Romans were making very rapid conquests, and if the sudden arrival of
a Carthaginian army in Italy at first raised fears and apprehensions,
they were soon enabled to dispute with their enemies for the
sovereignty of Spain and the dominion of the sea. Annibal no longer
appeared formidable in Italy; if he conquered towns in Campania or
Magna Græcia, he remained master of them only while his army hovered
in the neighbourhood, and if he marched towards Rome the alarm he
occasioned was but momentary; the Romans were prepared to oppose him,
and his retreat was therefore the more dishonourable. The conquests
of young Scipio in Spain had now raised the expectations of the
Romans, and he had no sooner returned to Rome than he proposed to
remove Annibal from the capital of Italy by carrying the war to
the gates of Carthage. This was a bold and hazardous enterprise,
but though Fabius opposed it, it was universally approved by the
Roman senate, and young Scipio was empowered to sail to Africa. The
conquests of the young Roman were as rapid in Africa as in Spain,
and the Carthaginians, apprehensive for the fate of their capital,
recalled Annibal from Italy, and preferred their safety at home
to the maintaining of a long and expensive war in another quarter
of the globe. Annibal received their orders with indignation, and
with tears in his eyes he left Italy, where for 16 years he had
known no superior in the field of battle. At his arrival in Africa,
the Carthaginian general soon collected a large army, and met his
exulting adversary in the plains of Zama. The battle was long and
bloody, and though one nation fought for glory, and the other for the
dearer sake of liberty, the Romans obtained the victory, and Annibal,
who had sworn eternal enmity to the gods of Rome, fled from Carthage
after he had advised his countrymen to accept the terms of the
conqueror. This battle of Zama was decisive, the Carthaginians sued
for peace, which the haughty conquerors granted with difficulty.
The conditions were these: Carthage was permitted to hold all
the possessions which she had in Africa before the war, and to be
governed by her own laws and institutions. She was ordered to make
restitution of all the ships and other effects which had been taken
in violation of a truce that had been agreed upon by both nations.
She was to surrender the whole of her fleet, except 10 galleys;
she was to release and deliver up all the captives, deserters, or
fugitives, taken or received during the war; to indemnify Masinissa
for all the losses which he had sustained; to deliver up all her
elephants, and for the future never more to tame or break any more
of these animals. She was not to make war upon any nation whatever
without the consent of the Romans, and she was to reimburse the
Romans, to pay the sum of 10,000 talents, at the rate of 200 talents
a year for 50 years, and she was to give up hostages from the noblest
families for the performance of these several articles; and till the
ratification of the treaty, to supply the Roman forces with money
and provisions. These humiliating conditions were accepted 201 B.C.,
and immediately 4000 Roman captives were released, 500 galleys were
delivered and burnt on the spot, but the immediate exaction of 200
talents was more severely felt, and many of the Carthaginian senators
burst into tears. During the 50 years which followed the conclusion
of the second Punic war, the Carthaginians were employed in repairing
their losses by unwearied application and industry; but they found
still in the Romans a jealous rival and a haughty conqueror, and
in Masinissa the ally of Rome an intriguing and ambitious monarch.
The king of Numidia made himself master of one of their provinces;
but as they were unable to make war without the consent of Rome,
the Carthaginians sought relief by embassies, and made continual
complaints in the Roman senate of the tyranny and oppression of
Masinissa. Commissioners were appointed to examine the cause of their
complaints; but as Masinissa was the ally of Rome, the interest of
the Carthaginians was neglected, and whatever seemed to depress their
republic was agreeable to the Romans. Cato, who was in the number of
the commissioners, examined the capital of Africa with a jealous eye;
he saw it with concern, rising as it were from its ruins; and when
he returned to Rome he declared, in full senate, that the peace of
Italy would never be established while Carthage was in being. The
senators, however, were not guided by his opinion, and the _delenda
est Carthago_ of Cato did not prevent the Romans from acting with
moderation. But while the senate were debating about the existence of
Carthage, and while they considered it as a dependent power, and not
as an ally, the wrongs of Africa were without redress, and Masinissa
continued his depredations. Upon this the Carthaginians resolved to
do their cause that justice which the Romans had denied them; they
entered the field against the Numidians, but they were defeated in
a bloody battle by Masinissa, who was then 90 years old. In this
bold measure they had broken the peace; and as their late defeat had
rendered them desperate, they hastened with all possible speed to
the capital of Italy to justify their proceedings, and to implore
the forgiveness of the Roman senate. The news of Masinissa’s victory
had already reached Italy, and immediately some forces were sent to
Sicily, and from thence ordered to pass into Africa. The ambassadors
of Carthage received evasive and unsatisfactory answers from the
senate; and when they saw the Romans landed at Utica, they resolved
to purchase peace by the most submissive terms which even the most
abject slaves could offer. The Romans acted with the deepest policy;
no declaration of war had been made, though hostilities appeared
inevitable; and in answer to the submissive offers of Carthage,
the consuls replied, that to prevent every cause of quarrel, the
Carthaginians must deliver into their hands 300 hostages, all
children of senators, and of the most noble and respectable families.
The demand was great and alarming, but it was no sooner granted,
than the Romans made another demand, and the Carthaginians were told
that peace could not continue, if they refused to deliver up all
their ships, their arms, engines of war, with all their naval and
military stores. The Carthaginians complied, and immediately 40,000
suits of armour, 20,000 large engines of war, with a plentiful store
of ammunition and missile weapons, were surrendered. After this
duplicity had succeeded, the Romans laid open the final resolutions
of the senate, and the Carthaginians were then told that, to avoid
hostilities, they must leave their ancient habitations and retire
into the inland parts of Africa, and found another city, at the
distance of not less than 10 miles from the sea. This was heard with
horror and indignation; the Romans were fixed and inexorable, and
Carthage was filled with tears and lamentations. But the spirit of
liberty and independence was not yet extinguished in the capital of
Africa, and the Carthaginians determined to sacrifice their lives for
the protection of their gods, the tombs of their forefathers, and the
place which had given them birth. Before the Roman army approached
the city, preparations to support a siege were made, and the ramparts
of Carthage were covered with stones, to compensate for the weapons
and instruments of war which they had ignorantly betrayed to the
duplicity of their enemies. Asdrubal, whom the despair of his
countrymen had banished on account of the unsuccessful expedition
against Masinissa, was immediately recalled; and, in the moment of
danger, Carthage seemed to have possessed more spirit and more vigour
than when Annibal was victorious at the gates of Rome. The town was
blocked up by the Romans, and a regular siege begun. Two years were
spent in useless operations, and Carthage seemed still able to rise
from its ruins, to dispute for the empire of the world; when Scipio,
the descendant of the great Scipio, who finished the second Punic
war, was sent to conduct the siege. The vigour of his operations
soon baffled the efforts and the bold resistance of the besieged;
the communications which they had with the land were cut off, and the
city, which was 20 miles in circumference, was completely surrounded
on all sides by the enemy. Despair and famine now raged in the city,
and Scipio gained access to the city walls, where the battlements
were low and unguarded. His entrance into the streets was disputed
with uncommon fury, the houses as he advanced were set on fire to
stop his progress; but when a body of 50,000 persons of either sex
had claimed quarter, the rest of the inhabitants were disheartened,
and such as disdained to be prisoners of war perished in the flames,
which gradually destroyed their habitations, 147 B.C., after a
continuation of hostilities for three years. During 17 days Carthage
was in flames; and the soldiers were permitted to redeem from the
fire whatever possession they could. But while others profited from
the destruction of Carthage, the philosophic general, struck by the
melancholy aspect of the scene, repeated two lines from Homer, which
contained a prophecy concerning the fall of Troy. He was asked by
the historian Polybius to what he then applied his prediction. “To
my country,” replied Scipio; “for her too I dread the vicissitude
of human affairs, and in her turn she may exhibit another flaming
Carthage.” This remarkable event happened about the year of Rome
606. The news of this victory caused the greatest rejoicings at Rome;
and immediately commissioners were appointed by the Roman senate,
not only to raze the walls of Carthage, but even to demolish and
burn the very materials with which they were made: and in a few days,
that city which had been once the seat of commerce, the model of
magnificence, the common store of the wealth of nations, and one
of the most powerful states of the world, left behind no traces of
its splendour, of its power, or even of its existence. _Polybius._
――_Orosius._――_Appian_, _Punic Wars_, &c.――_Florus._――_Plutarch_,
_Cato_, &c.――_Strabo._――_Livy_, _Epitaph_.――_Diodorus._

♦ ‘Duilius’ replaced with ‘Duillius’

=Pupia lex=, _de senatu_, required that the senate should not be
assembled from the 18th of the calends of February to the calends of
the same month, and that before the embassies were either accepted or
rejected, the senate should be held on no account.

=Pupiēnus Marcus Claudius Maximus=, a man of an obscure family, who
raised himself by his merit to the highest offices in the Roman
armies, and gradually became a pretor, consul, prefect of Rome, and
a governor of the provinces. His father was a blacksmith. After the
death of the Gordians, Pupienus was elected with Balbinus to the
imperial throne, and to rid the world of the usurpation and tyranny
of the Maximini, he immediately marched against these tyrants; but
he was soon informed that they had been sacrificed to the fury and
resentment of their own soldiers; and therefore he retired to Rome
to enjoy the tranquillity which his merit claimed. He soon after
prepared to make war against the Persians, who insulted the majesty
of Rome, but in this he was prevented, and massacred A.D. 236, by
the pretorian guards. Balbinus shared his fate. Pupienus is sometimes
called Maximus. In his private character he appeared always grave
and serious; he was the constant friend of justice, moderation, and
clemency, and no greater encomium can be passed upon his virtues than
to say that he was invested with the purple without soliciting for
it, and that the Roman senate said that they had selected him from
thousands because they knew no person more worthy or better qualified
to support the dignity of an emperor.

=Pupius=, a centurion of Pompey’s army, seized by Cæsar’s soldiers, &c.
_Cæsar_, _Gallic War_, bk. 1, ch. 13.

=Puppius=, a tragic poet in the age of Julius Cæsar. His tragedies were
so pathetic, that when they were represented on the Roman stage, the
audience melted into tears, from which circumstance Horace calls them
_lacrymosa_, bk. 1, ltr. 1, li. 67.

=Purpurăriæ=, two islands of the Atlantic on the African coast, now
_Lancarota_ and _Fortaventura_. _Pliny_, bk. 6, ch. 31; bk. 35, ch. 6.

=Puteŏli=, a maritime town of Campania, between Baiæ and Naples,
founded by a colony from Cumæ. It was originally called Dicæarchia,
and afterwards _Puteoli_, from the great number of _wells_ that
were in the neighbourhood. It was much frequented by the Romans, on
account of its mineral waters and hot baths, and near it Cicero had a
villa called _Puteolanum_. It is now called _Puzzoli_, and contains,
instead of its ancient magnificence, not more than 10,000 inhabitants.
_Silius Italicus_, bk. 13, li. 385.――_Strabo_, bk. 5.――_Varro_, _de
Lingua Latina_, bk. 4, ch. 5.――_Cicero_, _Philippics_, bk. 8, ch. 3;
_Letters to his Friends_, bk. 15, ltr. 5.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 4.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 7.

=Puticŭlæ=, a place near the Esquiline gate, where the meanest of the
Roman populace were buried. Part of it was converted into a garden by
Mecænas, who received it as a present from Augustus. _Horace_, bk. 1,
satire 8, li. 8.――_Varro_, _de Lingua Latina_, bk. 4, ch. 5.

=Pyanepsia=, an Athenian festival celebrated in honour of Theseus
and his companions; who, after their return from Crete, were
entertained with all manner of fruits, and particularly pulse. From
this circumstance, the Pyanepsia was ever after commemorated by
the _boiling of pulse_, ἀπο του ἑψειν πυανα. Some, however, suppose
that it was observed in commemoration of the Heraclidæ, who were
entertained with pulse by the Athenians.

=Pydna=, a town of Macedonia, originally called _Citron_, situate
between the mouth of the rivers Aliacmon and Lydius. It was in this
city that Cassander massacred Olympias the mother of Alexander the
Great, his wife Roxane, and his son Alexander. Pydna is famous for a
battle which was fought there, on the 22nd of June, B.C. 168, between
the Romans under Paulus, and king Perseus, in which the latter was
conquered, and Macedonia soon after reduced to the form of a Roman
province. _Justin_, bk. 14, ch. 6.――_Florus._――_Plutarch_, _Æmilius
Paulus_.――_Livy_, bk. 44, ch. 10.

=Pygela=, a seaport town of Ionia. _Livy_, bk. 37, ch. 11.

=Pygmæi=, a nation of dwarfs, in the extremest parts of India, or,
according to others, in Æthiopia. Some authors affirm that they were
no more than one foot high, and that they built their houses with
egg-shells. Aristotle says that they lived in holes under the earth,
and that they came out in the harvest time with hatchets to cut down
the corn as if to fell a forest. They went on goats and lambs of
proportionable stature to themselves, to make war against certain
birds, whom some call cranes, which came there yearly from Scythia
to plunder them. They were originally governed by Gerana, a princess
who was changed into a crane, for boasting herself fairer than Juno.
_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 6, li. 90.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 3.
――_Strabo_, bk. 7.――_Aristotle_, _History of Animals_, bk. 8, ch. 12.
――_Juvenal_, satire 13, li. 186.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, &c.――_Mela_, bk. 3,
ch. 8.――_Suetonius_, _Augustus_, ch. 83.――_Philostratus_, _Imagines_,
bk. 2, ch. 22, mentions that Hercules once fell asleep in the deserts
of Africa, after he had conquered Antæus, and that he was suddenly
awakened by an attack which had been made upon his body by an army of
these Liliputians, who discharged their arrows with great fury upon
his arms and legs. The hero, pleased with their courage, wrapped the
greatest number of them in the skin of the Nemæan lion, and carried
them to Eurystheus.

=Pygmæon=, a surname of Adonis in Cyprus. _Hesychius._

=Pygmălion=, a king of Tyre, son of Belus, and brother to the
celebrated Dido, who founded Carthage. At the death of his father,
he ascended the vacant throne, and soon became odious by his cruelty
and avarice. He sacrificed everything to the gratification of his
predominant passions, and he did not even spare the life of Sichæus,
Dido’s husband, because he was the most powerful and opulent of
all the Phœnicians. This murder he committed in a temple, of which
Sichæus was the priest; but instead of obtaining the riches which he
desired, Pygmalion was shunned by his subjects, and Dido, to avoid
further acts of cruelty, fled away with her husband’s treasures, and
a large colony, to the coast of Africa, where she founded a city.
Pygmalion died in the 56th year of his age, and in the 47th of his
reign. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 347, &c.――_Justin_, bk. 18, ch.
5.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 1.――――A celebrated
statuary of the island of Cyprus. The debauchery of the females of
Amathus, to which he was a witness, created in him such an aversion
for the fair sex, that he resolved never to marry. The affection
which he had denied to the other sex, he liberally bestowed upon the
works of his own hands. He became enamoured of a beautiful statue
of marble which he had made, and at his earnest request and prayers,
according to the mythologists, the goddess of beauty changed the
favourite statue into a woman, whom the artist married, and by whom
he had a son called Paphus, who founded the city of that name in
Cyprus. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 10, fable 9.

=Pylădes=, a son of Strophius king of Phocis, by one of the sisters
of Agamemnon. He was educated, together with his cousin Orestes, with
whom he formed the most inviolable friendship, and whom he assisted
to revenge the murder of Agamemnon, by assassinating Clytemnestra
and Ægysthus. He also accompanied him to Taurica Chersonesus, and for
his services Orestes rewarded him by giving him his sister Electra
in marriage. Pylades had by her two sons, Medon and Strophius. The
friendship of Orestes and Pylades became proverbial. _See:_ Orestes.
_Euripides_, _Iphigeneia_.――_Æschylus_, _Agamemnon_, &c.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 1, ch. 28.――――A celebrated Greek musician, in the age of
Philopœmen. _Plutarch_, _Philopœmen_.――――A mimic in the reign of
Augustus, banished, and afterwards recalled.

=Pylæ=, a town of Asia, between Cappadocia and Cilicia. _Cicero_, bk. 5,
_Letters to Atticus_. The word _Pylæ_, which signifies _gates_, was
often applied by the Greeks to any straits or passages which opened a
communication between one country and another, such as the straits of
Thermopylæ, of Persia, Hyrcania, &c.

=Pylæmĕnes=, a Paphlagonian, son of Melius, who came to the Trojan war,
and was killed by Menelaus. His son, called Harpalion, was killed by
Meriones. _Dictys Cretensis_, bk. 2, ch. 34.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2,
li. 358.――――A king of Mæonia, who sent his sons, Mestes and Antiphus,
to the Trojan war.――――Another, son of Nicomedes, banished from
Paphlagonia by Mithridates, and restored by Pompey. _Eutropius_,
bks. 5 & 6.

=Pylagŏræ=, a name given to the Amphictyonic council, because they
always assembled at Pylæ, near the temple of Delphi.

=Pylāon=, a son of Neleus and Chloris, killed by Hercules with his
brothers. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.

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

=Pylartes=, a Trojan killed by Patroclus. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 16,
li. 695.

=Pylas=, a king of Megara. He had the misfortune accidentally to
kill his uncle Bias, for which he fled away, leaving his kingdom
to Pandion his son-in-law, who had been driven from Athens.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 15.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 39.

=Pylēne=, a town of Ætolia. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2.

=Pyleus=, a Trojan chief, killed by Achilles.――――A son of Clymenus king
of Orchomenos.

=Pylleon=, a town of Thessaly. _Livy_, bk. 42, ch. 42.

=Pylo=, a daughter of Thespius, mother of Hippotas. _Apollodorus._

=Pylos=, now _Navarin_, a town of Messenia, situate on the western
coast of the Peloponnesus, opposite the island Sphacteria in the
Ionian sea. It was also called _Coryphasion_, from the promontory
on which it was erected. It was built by Pylus, at the head of a
colony from Megara. The founder was dispossessed of it by Neleus,
and fled into Elis, where he dwelt in a small town, which he also
called Pylos.――――A town of Elis, at the mouth of the river Alpheus,
between the Peneus and the Selleis.――――Another town of Elis, called
_Triphyliacha_, from Triphylia, a province of Elis, where it was
situate. These three cities, which bore the name of Pylos, disputed
their respective right to the honour of having given birth to the
celebrated Nestor son of Neleus. The Pylos which is situated near the
Alpheus seems to win the palm, as it had in its neighbourhood a small
village called Geranus, and a river called Geron, of which Homer
makes mention. Pindar, however, calls Nestor king of Messenia, and
therefore gives the preference to the first-mentioned of these three
cities. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 19; bk. 3, ch. 15.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 1, ch. 39.――_Strabo_, bk. 9.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2, _Odyssey_,
bk. 3.

=Pylus=, a town. _See:_ Pylos.――――A son of Mars by Demonice the
daughter of Agenor. He was present at the chase of the Calydonian
boar. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1.

=Pyra=, part of mount Œta, on which the body of Hercules was burnt.
_Livy_, bk. 36, ch. 30.

=Pyracmon=, one of Vulcan’s workmen in the forges of mount Ætna. The
name is derived from two Greek words which signify _fire_ and _an
anvil_. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 8, li. 425.

=Pyracmos=, a man killed by Cæneus. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12,
li. 460.

=Pyræchmes=, a king of Eubœa.――――A king of Pæonia during the Trojan war.

=Pyrămus=, a youth of Babylon, who became enamoured of Thisbe, a
beautiful virgin who dwelt in the neighbourhood. The flame was mutual,
and the two lovers, whom their parents forbade to marry, regularly
received each other’s addresses through the chink of a wall, which
separated their houses. After the most solemn vows of sincerity they
both agreed to elude the vigilance of their friends, and to meet one
another at the tomb of Ninus, under a white mulberry tree, without
the walls of Babylon. Thisbe came first to the appointed place, but
the sudden arrival of a lioness frightened her away; and as she fled
into a neighbouring cave she dropped her veil, which the lioness
found and besmeared with blood. Pyramus soon arrived; he found
Thisbe’s veil all bloody, and concluding that she had been torn to
pieces by the wild beasts of the place, he stabbed himself with his
sword. Thisbe, when her fears were vanished, returned from the cave,
and at the sight of the dying Pyramus, she fell upon the sword which
still reeked with his blood. This tragical scene happened under a
white mulberry tree, which, as the poets mention, was stained with
the blood of the lovers, and ever after bore fruit of the colour of
blood. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 4, li. 55, &c.――_Hyginus_, fable
243.――――A river of Cilicia, rising in mount Taurus, and falling into
the Pamphylian sea. _Cicero_, bk. 3, _Letters to his Friends_, ltr.
11.――_Dionysius Periegetes._

=Pyrenæa Venus=, a town of Gallia ♦Narbonensis.

♦ ‘Narbonesis’ replaced with ‘Narbonensis’

=Pyrēnæi=, a mountain, or a long ridge of high mountains, which
separate Gaul from Spain, and extend from the Atlantic to the
Mediterranean sea. They receive their name from Pyrene the daughter
of Bebrycius [_See:_ Pyrene], or from the fire (πυρ) which once raged
there for several days. This fire was originally kindled by shepherds,
and so intense was the heat which it occasioned, that all the silver
mines of the mountains were melted, and ran down in large rivulets.
This account is deemed fabulous by Strabo and others. _Diodorus_,
bk. 5.――_Strabo_, bk. 3.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 6.――_Silius Italicus_,
bk. 3, li. 415.――_Livy_, bk. 21, ch. 60.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 34.

=Pyrenæus=, a king of Thrace, who, during a shower of rain, gave
shelter in his house to the nine muses, and attempted to offer
them violence. The goddesses upon this took to their wings and flew
away. Pyrenæus, who attempted to follow them, as if he had wings,
threw himself down from the top of a tower and was killed. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, li. 274.

=Pyrēne=, a daughter of Bebrycius king of the southern parts of Spain.
Hercules offered violence to her before he went to attack Geryon,
and she brought into the world a serpent, which so terrified her,
that she fled into the woods, where she was torn to pieces by wild
beasts.――――A nymph, mother of Cycnus by Mars. _Apollodorus._――――A
fountain near Corinth.――――A small village in Celtic Gaul, near which,
according to some, the river Ister took its rise.

=Pyrgi=, an ancient town of Etruria, on the sea coast. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 184.――_Livy_, bk. 36, ch. 3.

=Pyrgion=, an historian who wrote on the laws of Crete. _Athenæus._

=Pyrgo=, the nurse of Priam’s children, who followed Æneas in his
flight from Troy. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 5, li. 645.

=Pyrgotĕles=, a celebrated engraver on gems in the age of Alexander the
Great. He had the exclusive privilege of engraving the conqueror, as
Lysippus was the only sculptor who was permitted to make statues of
him. _Pliny_, bk. 37, ch. 1.

=Pyrgrus=, a fortified place of Elis in the Peloponnesus.

=Pyrippe=, a daughter of Thespius.

=Pyro=, one of the Oceanides. _Hesiod._

=Pyrodes=, a son of Cilix, said to be the first who discovered and
applied to human purposes the fire concealed in flints. _Pliny_,
bk. 7, ch. 56.

=Pyrois=, one of the horses of the sun. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 2,
li. 153.

=Pyronia=, a surname of Diana. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 16.

=Pyrrha=, a daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, who married Deucalion
the son of Prometheus, who reigned in Thessaly. In her age all
mankind were destroyed by a deluge, and she alone, with her husband,
escaped from the general destruction, by saving themselves in a boat
which Deucalion had made by his father’s advice. When the waters
had retired from the surface of the earth, Pyrrha, with her husband,
went to the oracle of Themis, where they were directed, to repair
the loss of mankind, to throw stones behind their backs. They
obeyed, and the stones which Pyrrha threw were changed into women,
and those of Deucalion into men. _See:_ Deucalion. Pyrrha became
mother of Amphictyon, Hellen, and Protogenea by Deucalion. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 1, li. 350, &c.――_Hyginus_, fable 153.
――_Apollonius of Rhodes_, bk. 3, li. 1085.――――A daughter of Creon
king of Thebes. _Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 10.――――The name which
Achilles bore when he disguised himself in women’s clothes, at the
court of Lycomedes. _Hyginus_, fable 96.――――A town of Eubœa. _Mela_,
bk. 2, ch. 7.――――A promontory of Phthiotis, on the bay of Malia.――――A
town of Lesbos.――――A beautiful courtesan at Rome, of whom Horace was
long an admirer. _Horace_, bk. 1, ode 5.

=Pyrrheus=, a place in the city of Ambracia. _Livy_, bk. 38, ch. 5.

=Pyrrhi castra=, a place of Lucania. _Livy_, bk. 35, ch. 27.

=Pyrrhias=, a boatman of Ithaca, remarkable for his humanity. He
delivered from slavery an old man who had been taken by pirates, and
robbed of some pots full of pitch. The old man was so grateful for
his kindness, that he gave the pots to his deliverer, after he had
told him that they contained gold under the pitch. Pyrrhias, upon
this, offered the sacrifice of a bull to the old man, and retained
him in his house, with every act of kindness and attention, till the
time of his death. _Plutarch_, _Quæstiones Græcæ_.――――A general of
the Ætolians, defeated by Philip, king of Macedonia.

=Pyrrhicha=, a kind of dance, said to be invented and introduced into
Greece by Pyrrhus the son of Achilles. The dancers were generally
armed. _Pliny_, bk. 7, ch. 56.

=Pyrrhicus=, a free town of Laconia. _Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 21.
――_Athenæus_, bk. 14.

=Pyrrhidæ=, a patronymic given to the successors of Neoptolemus in
Epirus.

=Pyrrho=, a philosopher of Elis, disciple to Anaxarchus, and originally
a painter. His father’s name was Plistarchus, or Pistocrates. He was
in continual suspense of judgment; he doubted of everything, never
made any conclusions, and when he had carefully examined a subject,
and investigated all its parts, he concluded by still doubting of its
evidence. This manner of doubting in the philosopher has been called
_Pyrrhonism_, and his disciples have received the appellation of
sceptics, inquisitors, examiners, &c. He pretended to have acquired
an uncommon dominion over opinion and passions. The former of these
virtues he called _ataraxia_, and the latter _matriopathia_, and so
far did he carry his want of common feeling and sympathy, that he
passed with unconcern near a ditch in which his master Anaxarchus
had fallen, and where he nearly perished. He was once in a storm,
and when all hopes were vanished, and destruction certain, the
philosopher remained unconcerned; and while the rest of the crew were
lost in lamentations, he plainly told them to look at a pig which
was then feeding himself on board the vessel, exclaiming, “This is
a true model for a wise man.” As he showed so much indifference in
everything, and declared that life and death were the same thing,
some of his disciples asked him why he did not hurry himself out of
the world. “Because,” says he, “there is no difference between life
and death.” When he walked in the streets he never looked behind,
or moved from the road for a chariot, even in its most rapid course;
and, indeed, as some authors remark, this indifference for his safety
often exposed him to the greatest and most imminent dangers, from
which he was saved by the interference of his friends who followed
him. He flourished B.C. 304, and died at the advanced age of 90.
He left no writings behind him. His countrymen were so partial
to him that they raised statues to his memory, and exempted all
the philosophers of Elis from taxes. _Diogenes Laërtius_, bk. 9.
――_Cicero_, _On Oratory_, bk. 3, ch. 17.――_Aulus Gellius_, bk. 11,
ch. 5.――_Pausanias_, bk. 6, ch. 24.

=Pyrrhus=, a son of Achilles and Deidamia the daughter of king
Lycomedes, who received this name from the _yellowness_ of his hair.
He was also called Neoptolemus, or _new warrior_, because he came
to the Trojan war in the last year of the celebrated siege of the
capital of Troas. _See:_ Neoptolemus.――――A king of Epirus, descended
from Achilles by the side of his mother, and from Hercules by that
of his father, and son of Æacides and Phthia. He was saved when an
infant, by the fidelity of his servants, from the pursuits of the
enemies of his father, who had been banished from his kingdom, and he
was carried to the court of Glautias king of Illyricum, who educated
him with great tenderness. Cassander king of Macedonia wished to
despatch him, as he had so much to dread from him; but Glautias
not only refused to deliver him up into the hands of his enemy but
he even went with an army and placed him on the throne of Epirus,
though only 12 years of age. About five years after, the absence of
Pyrrhus, to attend the nuptials of one of the daughters of ♦Glautias,
raised new commotions. The monarch was expelled from his throne by
Neoptolemus, who had usurped it after the death of Æacides; and being
still without resources, he applied to his brother-in-law Demetrius
for assistance. He accompanied Demetrius at the battle of Ipsus, and
fought there with all the prudence and intrepidity of an experienced
general. He afterwards passed into Egypt, where, by his marriage
with Antigone the daughter of Berenice, he soon obtained a sufficient
force to attempt the recovery of his throne. He was successful in
the undertaking, but to remove all causes of quarrel, he took the
usurper to share with him the royalty, and some time after he put him
to death under pretence that he had attempted to poison him. In the
subsequent years of his reign, Pyrrhus engaged in the quarrels which
disturbed the peace of the Macedonian monarchy; he marched against
Demetrius, and gave the Macedonian soldiers fresh proofs of his
valour and activity. By dissimulation he ingratiated himself in the
minds of his enemy’s subjects, and when Demetrius laboured under
a momentary illness, Pyrrhus made an attempt upon the crown of
Macedonia, which, if not then successful, soon after rendered him
master of the kingdom. This he shared with Lysimachus for seven
months, till the jealousy of the Macedonians, and the ambition
of his colleague, obliged him to retire. Pyrrhus was meditating
new conquests, when the Tarentines invited him to Italy to assist
them against the encroaching power of Rome. He gladly accepted the
invitation, but his passage across the Adriatic proved nearly fatal,
and he reached the shores of Italy, after the loss of the greatest
part of his troops in a storm. At his entrance into Tarentum, B.C.
280, he began to reform the manners of the inhabitants, and by
introducing the strictest discipline among their troops, to accustom
them to bear fatigue and to despise dangers. In the first battle
which he fought with the Romans, he obtained the victory, but for
this he was more particularly indebted to his elephants, whose bulk
and uncommon appearance astonished the Romans and terrified their
cavalry. The number of the slain was equal on both sides, and the
conqueror said that such another victory would totally ruin him. He
also sent Cineas, his chief minister, to Rome, and though victorious,
he sued for peace. These offers of peace were refused, and when
Pyrrhus questioned Cineas about the manners and the character of
the Romans, the sagacious minister replied, that their senate was a
venerable assembly of kings, and that to fight against them, was to
attack another Hydra. A second battle was fought near Asculum, but
the slaughter was so great, and the valour so conspicuous on both
sides, that the Romans and their enemies reciprocally claimed the
victory as their own. Pyrrhus still continued the war in favour of
the Tarentines, when he was invited into Sicily by the inhabitants,
who laboured under the yoke of Carthage, and the cruelty of their own
petty tyrants. His fondness of novelty soon determined him to quit
Italy; he left a garrison at Tarentum, and crossed over to Sicily,
where he obtained two victories over the Carthaginians, and took many
of their towns. He was for a while successful, and formed the project
of invading Africa; but soon his popularity vanished, his troops
became insolent, and he behaved with haughtiness, and showed himself
oppressive, so that his return to Italy was deemed a fortunate event
for all Sicily. He had no sooner arrived at Tarentum than he renewed
hostilities with the Romans with great acrimony, but when his army of
80,000 men had been defeated by 20,000 of the enemy, under Curius, he
left Italy with precipitation, B.C. 274, ashamed of the enterprise,
and mortified by the victories which had been obtained over one
of the descendants of Achilles. In Epirus he began to repair his
military character by attacking Antigonus, who was then on the
Macedonian throne. He gained some advantages over his enemy, and was
at last restored to the throne of Macedonia. He afterwards marched
against Sparta, at the request of Cleonymus, but when all his
vigorous operations were insufficient to take the capital of Laconia,
he retired to Argos, where the treachery of Aristeus invited him. The
Argives desired him to retire, and not to interfere in the affairs of
their republic, which were confounded by the ambition of two of their
nobles. He complied with their wishes, but in the night he marched
his forces into the town, and might have made himself master of
the place had he not retarded his progress by entering it with his
elephants. The combat that ensued was obstinate and bloody, and the
monarch, to fight with more boldness, and to encounter dangers with
more facility, exchanged his dress. He was attacked by one of the
enemy, but as he was going to run him through in his own defence,
the mother of the Argive, who saw her son’s danger from the top of
a house, threw down a tile and brought Pyrrhus to the ground. His
head was cut off, and carried to Antigonus, who gave his remains a
magnificent funeral, and presented his ashes to his son Helenus, 272
years before the christian era. Pyrrhus has been deservedly commended
for his talents as a general; and not only his friends, but also
his enemies, have been warm in extolling him; and Annibal declared,
that for experience and sagacity the king of Epirus was the first
of commanders. He had chosen Alexander the Great for a model, and in
everything he wished not only to imitate, but to surpass him. In the
art of war none were superior to him; he not only made it his study
as a general, but even he wrote many books on encampments, and the
different ways of training up an army, and whatever he did was by
principle and rule. His uncommon understanding and his penetration
are also admired; but the general is severely censured, who has
no sooner conquered a country, than he looks for other victories,
without regarding or securing what he has already obtained, by
measures and regulations honourable to himself, and advantageous to
his subjects. The Romans passed great encomiums upon him, and Pyrrhus
was no less struck with their magnanimity and valour; so much indeed,
that he exclaimed that if he had soldiers like the Romans, or if
the Romans had him for a general, he would leave no corner of the
earth unseen, and no nation unconquered. Pyrrhus married many wives,
and all for political reasons; besides Antigone, he had Lanassa the
daughter of Agathocles, as also a daughter of Autoleon king of Pæonia.
His children, as his biographer observes, derived a warlike spirit
from their father, and when he was asked by one to which of them he
should leave the kingdom of Epirus, he replied, to him who has the
sharpest sword. _Ælian_, _De Natura Animalium_, bk. 10.――_Plutarch_,
_Lives_.――_Justin_, bk. 17, &c.――_Livy_, bks. 13 & 14.――_Horace_, bk.
3, ode 6.――――A king of Epirus, son of Ptolemy, murdered by the people
of Ambracia. His daughter, called Laudamia, or Deidamia, succeeded
him. _Pausanias._――――A son of Dædalus.

♦ ‘Glautius’ replaced with ‘Glautias’

=Pyste=, the wife of Seleucus, taken prisoner by the Gauls, &c.
_Polyænus_, bk. 2.