A complete dictionary of the Greek and Roman antiquities explaining the obscure places in classic authors and ancient historians relating to the religion, mythology, history, geography and chronology of the ancient Greeks and Romans, their ... rites and customs, laws, polity, arts and engines of war : also an account of their navigations, arts and sciences and the inventors of them : with the lives and opinions of their philosophers / compiled originally in French ... by Monsieur Danet ; made English, with the addition of very useful mapps.

P. (Book p)

P Is a Consonant, and the 15th Letter in the Alphabet, being a Numeral Letter that signifies 100, according to Ʋgution; but Baronius believes it signifies a Septenary Number: When a little dash is put over it, it stands for 400000. The P and B are so like one another, that Quint••ran declares, that in the Word obtinuit, his Reason required him to put a b, but that his Ears could hear nothing but a p, optinuit: For which Rea∣son we see in ancient Inscriptions and old Glosses that these two Letters have been often confound∣ed, as apsens for absens, obtimus for optimus, pleps for plebs, poplicus for publicus, &c. Hence also we have suppono for subpono, and oppono for obpono, still in use. Several Nations also often pronounce one of these Letters for the other, as the Ger∣mans particularly, who say ponum vinum for bo∣num vinum. The Greeks often put them for one another; and Plutarch says, that 'twas usual with those of Delphos, to say 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: And so among the Latins, as often as an s followed, the b was changed into a p, as scribo, scripsi: These two Letters have also this in common, that they often slip into Words, where there is no need of them, as Absporto for Asporto.

PACTOLUS;

a River in Lydia, that rises in Mount Tmolus; it brings Golden Sands down with it: The Poets feigned this Gold-Sand pro∣ceeded from Midas his having washed himself therein, and that he left there the Gift which he had received from Bacchus to change all Things into Gold.

PAEAN;

a Song of Rejoycing, sung in Ho∣nour of Apollo. Io Paean, the Original of this Word was this: Apollo being grown up, be∣thought himself of the Injury which his Mother had received from the Serpent Python, and so engaging with her in a Fight, he slew her with his Arrows: During the Combat, these Words were heard repeated, Io Paean; from hence it be∣came a Custom to sing the same at the Publick Games, at Triumphs and Victories both in Rome and Greece: This Song was also made use of af∣ter a Victory, in Honour of Mars; as it was like∣wise for the Curing of some Sickness, wherewith any were afflicted; and then they addressed themselves to Apollo the God of Physick.

PAEON,

Endymion's Son, and the Brother of Epeus, who in a Race being out-done by him, resigned the Kingdom to him, according to A∣greement: Then he retired towards the River Axus, and gave Name to that Part of the Coun∣try of Macedon, which was called Paeonia. There was another Person of this Name, who had great Skill in Physick, and who cured Pluto of the

grievous Wounds he had received from Her∣cules.

PALAEMON,

the Son of Athamas and Ino, called before Melicertus, but took upon him this Greek Name of Palaemon, when that being thrown into the Sea with his Mother Ino, they were both deified by Neptune, and reckoned amongst the Gods of the Sea: The Latins gave him the Name of Portumnus, because that they commit∣ted the Care of Ports and Havens unto him. Theseus instituted Plays in Honour of him, called the Isthian Games, where the Victors were crowned with Branches of Pine.

PALAESTRA;

was a publick Building a∣mong the Greeks, for the Performing of all sorts of Exercises, as well of Body as Mind, as consist∣ing of a College and an Academy, in the Sence wherein the Words are modernly taken: Tho' the greatest part of Authors take Palaestra to be but as an Academy for bodily Exercises, accord∣ing to the Etymology of the Word, which comes from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that in Greek signifies Wrestling, which was one of the most famous Exercises a∣mong the Ancients: This was one of the Diver∣sions at the Olympick Games, and there was a Prize assign'd for it. Foyls are Slights in Wrest∣ling. Philostratus made a Picture of the Palae∣stra, which is represented like a young Nymph full of Vigour and Strength, and he would have her to be Mercury's Daughter, who invented this sort of Exercise in Arcadia.

PALAMEDES;

the Son of Nauplius, King of the Isle of Eubaea, and an irreconcilable Ene∣my to Ʋlysses; be added Four Letters to the Greek Alphabet, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. He also inven∣ted Weights and Measures: He appointed the Watch-word to be given in Armies, and the Way to form a Battallion according to the Fly∣ing of Cranes, which for that Reason were cal∣led Palamedes his Birds. They make him to be a great Astrologer, he having regulated the Years according to the Course of the Sun, and the Months according to that of the Moon: He was stoned to Death by the Grecians, being falsly accused of holding intelligence with Priamus by Ʋlysses.

PALATINUS;

Mount Palatine; one of the Seven Hills of Rome, and so called either from the Palantes, who came and dwelt there with Evander, or from Palantia, Latinus his Wife, or from Pales the Goddess of Shepherds. The King's Palace stood upon this Mountain, and from hence King's Courts came to be cal∣led Palatia. Romulus was brought up on this Mount.

PALES;

the Goddess of Shepherds, who was beloved of Apollo: There was a Feast celebra∣ted in Honour of Apollo, April 20 or 21, by of∣fering Sacrifices, and making great Fires of Straw of H••y, which were kindled with great Rejoy∣cings, and by Sound of Drums and Trumpets; the Country People leaped over these Fires, and purified their Cattle therewith, in order to keep them from the Mange, and other Distem∣pers. See Palilia.

PALILIA;

they were Feasts, and Publick Rejoycings made as well in the City as Country, April 20th, in Honour of Pales the Goddess of Flocks, to intreat her to make them fruitful, and preserve them from the usual Diseases. Fires were kindled both in City and Country, such as are at this Day used in Popish Territories on St. John's Eve: And the same were made with Bean-straw, Horse-blood and Calves-Ashes, which Calf they took out of the Cow's Belly, that they sacrificed on the Day of the Fordicidia, at what time the Chief of the Vestal Virgins burnt those Calves, and gathering the Ashes very carefully up, they reserved the same for a Per∣fume on the Day of the Palilia, that so the Peo∣ple and their Cattle might be purified there∣with: 'Twas to her that they went to fetch those Ashes, which afterwards they threw in∣to the Fire, as Ovid tells us, Fast. L. 4. V. 731.

I, pete virgineâ populus suffimen ab arâ: Vesta dabit, Vestae numine purus eris. Sanguis equi suffimen erit, vitulique favilla. Tertia res, durae culmen in ane fabae.

The People danced about the Fire, and purified themselves thus: In the Country they lighted a great Fire in the Morning, made of the Branch∣es of Olive, Pine and Lawrel, and threw some Brimstone upon it, then went to fetch their Cattle, which they drove round it, and drew in the Smell that came therefrom: This Cere∣mony Ovid describes at large:

Pastor oves saturas ad prima crepuscula lustret. Ʋda priùs spargat, virgaque verrat humum. Frondibus & fixis decorentur ovilia ramis, Et tegat ornatas longa corona fores. Caerulei fiant puro de sulfure fumi, Tactaque sumanti sulfure balet ovis. Ʋre mares oleas, tedamque, herbasque Sabinas, Et crepet in mediis laurus adusta focis.

They afterwards offered Sacrifice to the Goddess which consisted of Milk, boiled Wine and Mil∣let, the same being accompanied with Vows and Prayers for the Fruitfulness and Preservation of their Flocks, then they fell to eat and divert themselves, leaping over the Fire which they had kindled with Straw or Bean-straw. These Feasts were also performed in Honour of Rome's Original, which was on that Day founded by Romulus.

PALICI;

they were Gods famous in Sici∣ly: Diodorus Siculus says, the Temple of these Deities was much reverenced and very ancient: In it there were two very deep Basons of boil∣ing and sulphurous Water, which were always full without ever running over: In this Temple it was that they took the most solemn Oaths, and Perjuries were there presently punished with some terrible Punishment. Some lost their Eye∣sight, insomuch that those Oaths determined the most intricate Causes: This Temple was also used as an Asylum, for such Slaves as were opprest by their Masters; the Masters not da∣ring to break the Oath they took there, that they would use them more kindly. Silius Itali∣cus in a Line and an half has exprest all that Diodorus says,

Et qui praesenti domitant perjura Palici Pectora supplicio.

Macrobius observes very well that the River Sy∣metus being in Sicily, the Temple of the Palici was there also, according to Virgil;

Symetia circum Flumina, pinguis ubi & placabilis ara Palici.

He adds, that the first Poet that mentioned it was Esquilus, a Sicilian; he relates a Fable out of him, concerning a Nymph whom Jupiter had ravished, and who for fear of Juno hid her self in the Earth: At the Time of her Delivery, she brought forth Two Brothers, which were called Palici, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as being such as had entred into the Earth, and came out again. The Word Palici comes from the Hebrew Pali∣chin, that signifies venerabiles, colendi; and from Pelach, colere, venerari. And Esquilus himself seems to intimate as much by this Sentence; Summus Pa∣licos Jupiter venerabiles voluit vocari. Hesychius says, that the Father of these two Brothers was Adra∣nus, which Name comes from the Hebrew Adir, which is one of God's Eulogies, signifying, Glori∣ous and Illustrious. The Two Basons where the Oaths were taken, were called Delli, and from whence Divine Vengeance broke out upon the Perjured, as Macrobius says, and Callias after him; but this is an Arabick Word, and in all likelihood was Phoenician; for Dalla in Arabick signifies as much as indicare; perhaps, it might come from the Hebrew Daal, i. e. haurire; for Aristotle assures us, that he who swore writ his Oath upon a Note, which he threw into the Wa∣ter, the Note swam upon the Surface. If he swore what was true, otherwise it disappeared. Ovid gives a natural Description enough of these two Lakes, in his Met. Lib. 5. V. 405.

Perque lacus altos & olentia sulphure fertur Stagna Palicorum, ruptâ ferventia terrâ.

PALILIA.

see next after Pales.

PALINURUS;

a Companion of Aeneas, who being overcome with Sleep, fell with his Helm over-board into the Sea, and being carried as far as Port Velino, the Inhabitants rifled him and cast him to the Sea again: But a little after they were afflicted with a severe Plague, which made them go and consult the Oracle of Apollo; who answered that they must appease the Ghost of Palinurus, in Pursuance of which Advice, they consecrated a Grove to him, and erected a Tomb for him upon the next Promontory, which obtained the Name of Palinurus.

PALLA,

a sort of Garment long in Ʋse both by Men and Women, which the Kings and ancient Romans wore; and even those who ap∣peared upon the Stage were wont to wear this long Robe, as Plautus says.

PALLADIUM;

the Palladium was a Sta∣tue of Pallas, which fell down from Heaven, in the keeping of which consisted the Fate of Troy, Ʋlysses and Diomedes creeping through the Gut∣ters into the Temple that was in Troy, took a∣way the Palladium: Diomedes after the Destru∣ction of Troy, going into Italy, gave the Palla∣dium to Aeneas, in Pursuance to the Commands of the Gods: Aeneas deposited the same at Lavi∣nium, where it continued. It was afterwards carried to Rome into the Temple of Vesta; ne∣vertheless, Appian in his History of the Mithri∣datick War, says, that when Fimbria ruined Ili∣um he boasted he had there found the Palladium whole among the Ruines: Dionysius of Hali∣carnassus is of Opinion, there were Two of these Statues of Pallas one of which was taken away by Ʋlysses and Diomedes during the Seige of Troy, and another that was left there. Others assure us, that the Trojans made another Palladium ex∣actly like the true one, and that it was the false one which the Grecians took away: Dionysius of Halicarnassus his Words are these:

The Oracle having assured them the Town would be im∣pregnable, and the Kingdom remain unshaken, as long as those sacred Pledges were there: The Romans in all Likelihood feigned that there were Two Palladiums, or that there was one made like unto the other, that they might not be oblig'd to confess that they had lost the Pledge of the Eternity of their Empire.

PALLAS,

a Goddess who came out of Jupiter's Brain compleatly armed, by the Help of Vulcan, who cleft his Head with a very sharp Ax; she was brought up near the Lake Triton, from whence she was called by the Poets Trito∣nia, they made her to be the Goddess of Arts and Sciences. See Minerva.

PALLIUM;

there were Three sorts of Garments called by this Name, one which the Romans used to tie about their Heads, when they were not well; another was a fourcorner∣ed Robe or Mantle after the manner of the

Greeks, and the Roman Women, also were a long Robe called by this Name.

PALLOR,

Paleness; the Ancients made a Deity of it, to which they offered Sacrifice, according to Clemens Alexandrinus: Romani Her∣culi rauscarum depulsori, & Febri ac Pavori sacri∣ficant. La••••••••tius says, that Tullius Hostilius intro∣duced the Worship of Fear and Paleness among them.

PALMUS,

a span, a Measure taken from the Length of the Hand, when it was extended as much as it could be; for what we vulgarly now call the Palm of the Hand, was formerly called Palmus. There were in former Times Two sorts of them, to wit, the great and little Palm or Span, that divided a Foot unto Two unequal Parts; the Greater consisting of 12 Fingers, and the Lesser of Four.

PALUDAMENTUM;

a Garment were by the Romans in Time of War; being the Coat of Arms of their principal Men, who for that Reason were called Paludati; whereas the Soldiers had nothing but short Coats, and were therefore named Sagati: this Garment was open on the Sides with short Sleeves, like unto An∣gels Wings and came down no lower than the Navel. It was white or red, and Valerius Maxi∣mus says, it was an ill Omen to Crassus when he was going to make War against the Parthians, that they gave him a black Paludamentum: Pul∣lum ei traditum est paludamentum, cùm in praelium euntibus album aut purpureum dari soleret.

PAN;

an Egyptian God who was worship∣ped under the Shape of a Goat, they called him also Mendes, because that Word signified an He-goat in the Egyptian Language. Eusebius gives us the Opinion and Words of Porphyrie concern∣ing him, who says, that Pan was one of the good Genii, engaged in the Service of Bacchus, who shew'd himself sometimes to labouring Men, and put them into such terrible Frights, that many of them died thereof, from whence these Frights came to be called Panick Fears. Euse∣bius very discreetly takes Notice of the Contra∣dictions of the said Philosophers, that would have Pan to be a good Genius, and yet made it cost them their Lives to whom he appeared: Its true that Pan was honoured in Egypt under the Form of an He-goat, and that the Damons very often took upon them the Shape of the said Animal: The Daemons in Scripture are often termed Pilosi, He goats: The Hebrew Word Sebirim signifies an He goat, Pilosi, Hirci: This sort of Idolatry was common even in Moses his Time, seeing the same had crept in among the Israelites: Non sacrificabunt ampliùs sacrificia sua Pilosis, post quos fornicari sunt.

Herodotus says, that the People of the Pro∣vince of Mendes placed Pan among the Gods who were before the 12. that he was represent∣ed with a She-goat's Head and the Legs of an He-goat; tho' he were believed to be really like unto other Gods, Lastly, that at Mendes it is a common Name to Pan, to an He-goat, and to a Town, there was kept a sacred He-goat, upon whose Death, all the Country went in Mourning, as others did upon the Death of Ayl or Mnevis. Plutarch reckons that the Pans and Satyrs hapning first to know of the Death of Osiris, who was killed by his Brother Typhon, and having spread the News of it, put the People into so great a Consternation, that that was after∣wards called Panich Fears: The Word Pan in Hebrew signifies Terror: Diodorus Siculus says, the Egyptian Priests first consecrated themselves to Pan, and that in their Temples they dedi∣cated the Images of their Pans in the Form of an He-goat; pretending the same was no more than to give Thanks unto the Gods for the Fer∣tility of Nature and of their Nation.

The Greeks, if we believe Herodotus, came late to know the History of Pan; that Historian says, it was not above 800 Years before his Time, and that the Greeks made him to be Mercury and Penelope's Son: In general he declares, that the Greeks came but by Degrees to the Knowledge of the Egyptian Deities, and that they formed their Genealogy according to the Time they came to be acquainted with them: And so they did not know Pan till after the Trojan War, be∣cause they make Penelope to be his Mother; and Lncian in his Dialogues of the Gods explains the Matter, where he brings in Pan and Mercury speaking thus.

Pan,

Good-morrow, Father.

Merc.

Good-morrow, Son, but who are you that call me so? for to look upon you, you are more like unto an He-goat than a God.

Pan,

You reflect upon your self more than I, in saying so; Do you no longer remember that pretty Woman whom you ravish'd in Arca∣dia? What makes you bite your Fingers? It was Penelope the Daughter of Icarus.

Merc.

And how comes it to pass that you are become horned, with a Beard, Tail, and Goat's Feet.

Pan,

It is because you were then transformed into the Shape of an He-goat that you might surprize her.

Merc.

I remember it, but I am asham'd to own it. Pan: I will not disgrace you at all, for besides that I am worshipped in Arcadia, where I possess 1000 Flocks, I am famous for my Skill in Musick, and have shewed my Valour in the Battle of Marathon, insomuch that the Athenians for my Reward have given me a Grot under their Cittadel, whether if you will ever come, you shall see how I am honoured there.

Pausanias says, that it was in the Reign of Pandion the Second at Athens, that those Plays and Combats called Lupercalia Lycoea, were insti∣tuted in Arcadia by Lycaon, who was King of the

Country, near unto the Temple of Pan, tho' they were consecrated to Jupiter Lycaeus. When Evander went from Arcadia into Italy, he car∣ried the Celebration of the Lupercalia in Honour of Pan thither; and Dionysius of Hallicarnassus gives a Description thereof, as of a Custom which was still in Force in his Time. Pausanias tells us, that Lycaon consecrated these Plays to Jupiter Lycaeus, but Dionysius of Hallicarnassus says, they were consecrated to Pan; which gives occasion to believe that the Arcadians confound∣ed Jupiter with Pan, of which the said Historian gives also a convincing Proof, when he says else∣where, that the greatest and most ancient of the Arcadian Gods was Pan: As Arcadia was a mountainous and woody Country, Its not strange they should make the God of the Mountains and Woods to be the greatest of all the Gods: montes & nemora Pani dicari. Ovid himself in his Fasti testifies, that Pan's Chief Priest was na∣med Flamen Dialis, as well as Jupiters. And this is clear, that they have either put the Name of Pan upon Jupiter himself, or invested Pan with the Majesty of Jupiter. Those who would make the ancient Fables to be a kind of Philosophy, which under those Disguises conceal the greatest Secrets of Nature, take Pan which in Greek signifies All, for the Universe, as Plutarch says in his Treatise of Osiris: That Part of Pan which has Humane Shape from the Wast upwards re∣presents Heaven and that Intelligent Being, whereby all the World is govern'd. His red and fiery Face denotes the Region of Elemen∣tary Fire: His Wrinkles and stern Looks the various Changes of the Air and Seasons: His Hairs are the Beams of the Sun; and his Horns denote the Moon which receives all the Influ∣ences of the Coelestial Bodies, and disperses the same again over the Earth: His lower Part is rough and hairy, which denotes the Earth with the Forests, Herbs and Plants growing thereon, his Two Legs are the Two Hemisphears that compose the World; his Belly is the Sea; and his Horn feet denote the Stability of the Earth. The Panther's Skin which he carries upon his Shoulders, the which is full of round Spots, represents the Firmament full of Stars, says Probus the Grammarian upon Virgil's Georgicks: The Seven Reed-pipes joined together denote the Seven Planets and their Spears; the Har∣mony of the Seven Tones, that of their Courses and Revolutions, says Cicero in his Somnium Sci∣••••••••is; the Breath wherewith he makes them sound is the Spirit of Life which is in these Stars. He holds a crooked Staff in his Hand that signi∣fies the Year; his amourous Complexion, and the Laciviousness wherewith he pursues the Nymphs is the Desire of Generation which spreads it self thro' all the Beings of this World, who attract Matter proper for that End from the Moisture which is represented by the Nymphs.

PANATHENAEA;

Feasts celebrated at Athens in Honour of Minerva, which were insti∣tuted by Theseus, when he brought all the Peo∣ple of Attica to coalesce into one Body: The La∣tins called these Feasts Quinquatri•••• Wrestling was one of the Exercises practised here, they also danced the Pyrrhick Dance upon the Thea∣ter, which was done with Arms, and was insti∣tuted by Pyrrhus. These Games were of two sorts, the great ones which were performed e∣very Five Years, and the lesser ones annually. See Quinquatria.

PANES,

the Satyrs, of whom Pan was the Chief, and who for that Reason were often con∣founded with Pan, which is justified by this Verse of Ausonius.

Capripedes agitat cùm laeta protervia Panes.

They were the Gods of Woods, Fields and of Hunting, and often were taken for a Symbol of Impudence and Unchastity.

PANDORA,

whom Hesiod says, was the first Woman in the World, was made by Vulcan of a little moistned Earth, afterwards animated by all the Gods, and endued with their Perfections: For Venus gave her her Beauty; Pallas her Wisdom; Mercury his Eloquence; Apollo his Musick, and Juno her Riches; and this made her to be named Pandora from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which signifies All Cift. Jupiter being angry with Prometheus because he had made a Man and stolen Fire from Heaven, gave Pando∣ra a Box wherein he enclosed all sorts of Evils, with Order she should carry it to Epimetheus, the Brother of Prometheus, who upon the recei∣ving thereof, rashly opened it, when all the said Evils flew abroad into the Earth, and there was only Hope left in the Bottom which he kept.

PANTHEA, or SIGNA PAN∣THEA;

Panthean Statues, they were ancient Statues that by the different Figures that were upon them represented all the Gods, or at least a great Part of the most considerable of them. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in Greek signifies All, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 God. And so they called the Temples wherein all the Gods were worshipped together, Panthea, and where∣in all their Representations might be seen. Of this sort was the famous Pantheum at Rome, built by Agrippa, and dedicated to Jupiter Vindex, according to Pliny: It was afterwards conse∣crated by Boniface 3. to the Virgin Mary and all the Saints. It was of a round Form, and is at this Day called Santa Maria della Rotonda: There was one at Athens which Pausanias calls the com∣mon Temple of the Gods, and these sorts of Temples might be seen in many other Cities: Lucian says, that he had observed the Statue of a Goddess in Syria, which indeed was made for Juno, but that it had something in it of Pallas,

Venus, Luna, Rhea, Diana, Nemesis, and the Destinies. Ruffinus in his Ecclesiastical History writes, that there was still at Alexandria, in Theodosius his Reign, an Idol of Serapis made of all sorts of Mettles, and all kinds of Deities: The Ancients therefore made Statues, which by their different Figures denoted all the Gods. There were Panthean Inscriptions, Panthean Gravings and Panthean Feasts.

PANTHEON,

the Pantheon, or a Tem∣ple built by M. Agrippa, Augustus Caesar's Son in Law, of a round Form in Honour of all the Gods; it was made of Brick on the Out-side and within was adorned with Marble of various Co∣lours: There were Niches in the Walls where∣in were placed the Statues of the Gods, espe∣cially that of Minerva which was made of Ivory by Phidias the Statuary, and that of Venus at whose Ears hung a very rich Pearl of Queen Cleopatra's, which Augustus ordered to be cut in two, because it could not be matched, which the said Queen at a Feast with Mark Antony caused to be dissolved and drunk it up: It weighed Half an Ounce, and was valued at 10000000 Sesterces, which in English Money amounts to a∣bout 76390 l. 11 s. The Gates of that Temple were made of Brass, the Beams covered with guilt Brass, and the Roof made of Silver Plates, which Constantine carried to Constantinpole. It was dedicated to Jupiter Vindex. The Emperor Adrian built one like it at Athens in Honour of all the Gods, which he enriched with 26 Columns of Thrygian Marble, and there he erected a Li∣brary and an Academy called by his Name, which he adorned with 100 Pillars of Lybian Marble.

PANTOMIMUS;

a Mimick, who among the Ancrents appeared upon the Stage, and by his Signs and Gestures represented all sorts of Actions. A Mimick, says Lucian, ought to have the Art to express the Passions and Motions of the Soul, which Rhetorick teaches us, and should borrow the various Postures and Faces of Men from Paintings and Sculpture, &c. And a little farther; as the Oracle of Apollo said, he should make the Spectators to understand with∣out speaking, in the same manner as if one had spoke. This is that which Demetrius the Cy∣nic Philosopher confesses, who condemned it; but then a celebrated Mimick in Nero's Time desired him not to condemn him, before he saw him; and having ordered the Vocal and Instrumental Musick to cease, he represented before him the Adultery of Mars and Venus, wherein he repre∣sented the Sun that discovered them, Vulcan who spread his Nets for them, the Gods who ran to see the Sight, Venus all in Confusion, Mars a∣stonished and supplicant, and the rest of the Fable with so much Artifice, that the Philoso∣pher cried out, he thought he saw the Thing it self and not a Representation of it, and that this Man's Body and Hands spoke: But as it are fallen upon this Subject, I'll give you under one, the Testimony of a Barbarian of th••se Times concerning it; for a Prince of Po••tus be∣ing come to Nero's Court upon some 〈◊〉〈◊〉 seeing this famous Farce-Dancer dance with so much Address, tho' he understood not a Worf of what he sung, yet understood all, and desired the Emperor in raking his Leave of him, to make him a Present of this Man; and as Nero was amazed at his Request, he said,

This it is to have Barbarians to my Neighbours, among whom not one understands the Language, and this Person will serve them as an Interpreter, and by his Gestures make them to understand what he means.

The Perfection therefore of this Art is to counterfeit so exactly the Part one acts, so as to make neither a Gesture nor Posture that hath not some Reference to the Thing that is represented.

PAPILIO;

a Butterfly; the Symbol of the Soul, a Bas-relievo of Marble might be seen in a Manuscript of the late M. de Bag••ris, where∣in was represented a young Man extended upon a Bed, and a Butterfly which flew away that seemed to come out of the Mouth of the De∣ceased, because the Ancients did believe, as some of the common People do now, that the Soul came out at the Mouth; which made Homer in his 9th Illiaed say, That when the Soul has once passed the Barrier of the Teeth, it cannot re∣turn.

PARANYMPHUS;

he anciently was the Manager of Nuptial Solemnities.

PARASANGA,

was an old Persian Mea∣sure, esteemed to be 30 Furlongs, according to the common Consent of the best Authors, both Ancient and Modern; they had, indeed, some Parasangae that were much greater, and others again far less. Strabo, L. 2. says, That the Pa∣rasanga of the Persians, was accounted by some to be 60 Furlongs, by others 40, and again by some 30. Agathias in his Gothick Wars makes it to be but 21, which makes me say, that there were Parasangae from 20 to 60 Furlongs. But each Furlong contained 125 Paces.

PARCAE;

the Destinies, the Daughters of Erebus and the Night, they were called Parcae by way of Antiphrasis, quod nemini parcant, because they spare no Body. The Ancients made them Three in Number, viz. Clotho, Lachesis and A∣tropos, because all Things under the Sun, have their Beginning, Progress and End. At Megara, says Plutarch, in the Temple of Jupiter Olympius, might be seen his Statue, made of Gold and Ivo∣ry by Theoseomus, who upon his Head carried the Destinies and the Hours, says Eschylus, that had as well a Command over the Gods as Men, and whose Orders are inviolable. The Birth, Growth, and Death of Mankind is attributed to them, which doubtless gave occasion to the Poets

Fiction; who tell us, That they spun Mens Lives; that Clotho held the Distaff and spun the Thread, Lachesis turned the Wheel, and that Atropos cut it. Hyginus attributes unto them the Invention of these Greek Letters, A, B, H, T, Y, which made Martianus Capella call them the Secretaries and Guardians of the Library of Heaven, and that they keep the Archives thereof. Plato in∣forms us, that the Three Destinies represented unto us All sorts of Times; Clotho, that which is past, Lachesis the Time present, and Atropos that which is to come; and he places them in Heaven, each of them sitting upon a Throne, clad in White, with Crowns upon their Heads, and singing the Syrens Song, that is, the Muses's, or that of the Eight Spheres, which they repre∣sent: That Lathesis is the Firmament, the Stars whereof preside over the Actions of Men, and the Productions of the Earth; Clotho represents the Planets, which denote the Destinies; and Atropos is Saturn, who by his slow Motion, strengthens them.

The Ancients have represented the Destinies divers ways. Lucian sets them out in the Shape of Three poor old Women, having large Locks of Wool mixed with Daffodils on their Heads, one of which held a Distaff, the other a Wheel, and the third a Pair of Scissars, wherewith she cut off the Thread of Man's Life. Others have given us another sort of an Idea of them, Clo∣tho appearing in a long Robe of divers Colours, wearing a Crown upon her Head, adorned with Seven Stars, and holding a Distaff in her Hand; Lachesis in a Robe full of Stars, with several Spindles in her Hands; and Atropos clad in Black, cutting the Thread with large Scissars. Pausa∣nias in his Elegiacs, says, there was at Olympus an Altar called Megaretes, that is, the Conductor of the Destinies; and in Apollo's. Temple there were Two Statues of the Destinies, Jupiter ma∣king the Third. What Plutarch adds concern∣ing the Destinies, is not, perhaps, ill grounded; for, there was a Destiny which the Ancients placed in the Stars, and which might have a good Meaning, since 'tis not to be doubted, but all natural Causes form one Concatenation, from whence it comes that all Consequences and Ef∣fects prove necessary and inevitable: This Au∣thor says, that there is one of the Three Desti∣nies influenced by the Sun, and gives Birth to all Things, that the Second follows the Moon, and that 'tis she which unites and sustains the Pro∣ductions of the other: Lastly, that the Third is more like unto the Earth, and 'tis she also that is most concerned with Fortune: Clemens A∣lexandrinus say, there were some who confined Destiny so much to the Moon, that they said, if there were Three of them, it was because of the Three most remarkable Days of the Moon: Parcas allegorice dici partes Lunae, tri∣gesimam, quintam decimam & novam lunam, ideo & candidatas dici ab Orpheo, qua fuit partes lucis.

Varro says, and we ought to believe him, that formerly they used Parta, instead of Parca: This Word answers the Greek 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and comes a Par∣tiendo, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to divide; because 'tis Fate that makes a Division and Lot for every Body: But in respect to that Universal Chain of all natural Causes, which produce all sensible Effects, and form, as I may say, the Fate of our Bodies; the Moon without doubt is one of the most consi∣derable and efficatiousof any, as she is also nearest to the Earth. The Moon was one of the Desti∣nies in the Opinion of those who gave this Qua∣lity to Ilithyia, which is known to be the Moon, and to preside over Nativities. Pausanias tells us, that Venus Ʋrania was also accounted one of the Destinies, and that she was even the Eldest of the Three Sisters: Epigramma verò indicat Vene∣rem Caelestem, earum quae Parcae vocantur, natu maximam.

PARENTALIA;

they were Solemnities and Banquets made by the Ancients, at the Obsequies of their Relations and Friends.

PARIS;

the Son of Priamus, King of Troy, and of Hecuba: His Mother being with Child of him, saw in her Dream that she was brought to Bed of a Burning-torch, which would set all Asia on fire: And having consulted the Augurs there∣upon; they made answer, That that Child one Day should be the Cause of the Ruine of his Country. Priamus being informed of it, exposed him to be destroy'd, but his Wife Hecuba being touch'd with Compassion, delivered him pri∣vately to the King's Shepherds, to bring him up on Mount Ida, in Phrygia, where he grew up, and became Valiant and expert at all bodily Exercises, wherein he exceeded Hector, whom he threw in Wrestling. Dares the Phrygian, who had seen Paris, gives us an Account of his Per∣son, in his Book, concerning the Destruction of Troy; where he says, He was tall, and well pro∣portioned, of a fair Complexion, had very good Eyes, and a sweet Voice; that he was Bold, Couragious, Forward and Ambitious: And this is confirmed by Dion Chrysostom and Cornelius Nepos, in their Translation of Dares into Verse. Hector upbraids him for his very Beauty, as if he were fitter for Love than War. Homer gives him the Title of being Valiant, and among o∣thers names Diomedes and Machaon's being wounded by him; to which Dares adds Menelaus and Palamedes, Antilochus and Achilles, whom he slew. Hyginus relates the Fight he had with his Brethren, whom he overcame, while he was a Shepherd. As to the Contest between the Three Goddesses, viz. Juno, Venus and Pallas, to know which was the fairest of them; Dares in his Poem concerning the Destruction of Troy, re∣cites the Words which they spoke to Paris, in

order to engage him to give Sentence in their Favour, as well as Lucian does in his Dialogue concerning the Judgment of Paris: Venus want∣ed not Reasons to gain the Opinion of amorous Paris, and to oblige him to declare in her Fa∣vour; for, as his Reward, she promised him one of the finest Women in the World, which was Helen, Menelaus his Wife; and she was so con∣stant to her Word, that she favoured him to carry her off; which occasioned the fatal War made by the Grecians against the Trojans.

Some Commentators upon Homer, and Spon∣danus among others, believe this pretended Sen∣tence of Paris was not known to Homer. Plu∣tarch himself favours this Conjecture, when he maintains that the 3 Verses of the 24th Iliad, where he speaks of it, are Supposititious, and in∣serted by some other; and that 'tis an unbeco∣ming thing to believe the Gods were judged by Men, and that Homer making no mention there∣of any other where, there was Reason to be∣lieve these Lines were foisted in: But a Medal of Antoninus Pius gives us to understand, that this Action was believed to be true by the An∣cients; and we may farther oppose against Plu∣tarch, the ancient Statue of Paris done by Eupbra∣nor, whereby, as Pliny says, it might be known, that he was a Judge between the Goddesses, the Lover of Helen, and the Person that killed A∣ahilles. Other Authors have thought that Paris himself feigned his having been a Judge be∣tween the Goddesses, and that he did this in Opposition to Hercules, who renounced Vice in favour of Vertue, how difficult soever it appear∣ed, since Paris despised the Riches and Honours promised him by Juno, and the Knowledge prof∣ferred him by Pallas, and abandoned himself to his Pleasures. Eusebius treats of the History, and not the Fabulous: part; for he writes, that the City of Troy was destroy'd for the Rape of Helen, one of the Three Grecian Ladies that contended for Beauty.

PARNASSUS;

a Mountain in Phocis, con∣secrated to Apollo and the Muses; whence arise the Fountains of Custalins, Hippocrene, and A∣ganippe, so famous in the Poets. At the Foot of this Mountain stood the City of Cyrrha, and the Temple of Apollo of Delphos: The Muses took their Epithers from these Places; for in the Poets they are called Parnassides, and Ca∣stalides.

PARRICIDA;

a Parricide, the Murder∣er of his Father or Mother. The Romans made no Law against Parricides, because they did not think there could be a Man so wicked as to kill his Parents. L. Ostius was the first that killed his Father, 500 Years after Numa's Death, even after the Time of Hannibal: And then the Pom∣peian Law was made, which ordained, that the Person who was convicted of this Crime, after he had been first whipped till the Blood came, should be tied up in a Leathern Sack, together with a Dog, an Ape, a Cock and a Viper, and so thrown into the Sea, or next River.

PARTUNDA;

a Goddess that assisted at Child-bearing.

PASIPHAE;

the Daughter of the Sun, and Wife to Minos, King of Creet: The Fable tells us, she fell in Love with a Bull, whom she enjoy'd by Daedalus his Contrivance, who by his Skill made a Cow, wherein Pasiphae being inclo∣sed, she conceived by this Bull a Creature that was half Man half Bull, which was shut up in the Labyrinth, and with the Assistance of Ariadne killed by Theseus. Servius informs us, that this Taurus was one of Minos his Captains, who by the Procurement of Daedalus enjoy'd Pasiphae, and because the Child she bore was like unto Taurus and Minos, he was called Minotaurus. Lucian says, that Pasiphae hearing Daedalus dis∣coursing of the Coelestial Sign Taurus, she became in Love with his Doctrine, which she learnt from him, and this gave the Poets occasion to feign that she fell in Love with a Bull.

PASSUS;

a Pace; a Measure taken from the Space that is between the two Feet of an Ani∣mal; the common Pace is that Space we gain in walking; the Geometrical is double to the com∣mon Pace: The Common consists of two Feet and an half, the Geometrical of five Feet; and this Geometrical Pace is the most common Mea∣sure, the exactest and most certain of all, both among the Ancients and Moderns.

PASTOPHORIUM

and PASTO∣PHORI; the Pastophori were those whose Bu∣siness it was at Solemn Festivals to carry the Shrine of the Deity, when they were to pray to him for Rain, fair Weather, or some such like Miracle. Its observable that the Greeks had a College of this Order of Priests, in Sylla's Time, and 'tis certain they carried about the Shrines of the Gods when some Solemn Processions were made, and there were certain Persons appoint∣ed for this Office: And hence it may be conclu∣ded, that the Pastophorium signifies an House, wherein dwelt the Priests who were appointed for this Charge, and which were usually near the Temple, M. le Moine agrees, that the Pasio∣phorium was a Cell, and little House adjacent to the Temple; but he gives the Word another Origin, pretending it was borrowed from the Flags, which were usually put before these little Tabernacles.

PATAICI DII;

these Gods, according to Herodotus, were much like unto the Dii Ca∣biri, or Samothracian Gods, at leastwise, as to their Figures; for they were little Pigmy Images, with which the Phaenicians adorned the Prows of their Ships. Herodotus, perhaps, was mistaken when he put these Gods upon the Prow; others place them on the Poop, and Perseus says it was the Custom.

Ingentes è puppe Dii.

The Origin of this Word is clearly Hebrew, ac∣cording to Scaliger; for Patach in that Language is the same as insculpere. Bochartus thinks it may be derived from the Hebrew Word Batac, i. e. considere; for those Idolaters trusted in these Gods. Selden has treated of these Pataick Gods, and believes all the Phoenician Gods bore the same Name.

PATER-PATRATUS;

was the first and principal Person of the Heralds College, that made as it were a Council of War to examine the Differences which arose between Neighbour∣ing People, and who endeavoured amicably to accommodate the same; they themselves going to the People to induce them to restore what they had taken, and to redress the Injury com∣plained of.

PATERA;

an ancient Vessel wherein they received the Blood of the Victim. Patera fili∣cata, was a Cup adorned with Fern-leaves. Pa∣tera hederata, was such as was adorned with Ivy. Patera pampinata, Cups on which Vine-Leaves or Branches were carved.

PATRES CONSCRIPTI,

were the Senators of Rome, who at first were only called Patres, but afterwards thus named when their Number was increased. Plutarch says, that Ro∣mulus having chosen and established Ten Orders of Senators, writ down their Names on Tables of Gold in the Peoples Presence; and this gave them the Appellation of Patres Conscripti: Those who were chose from among the Knights to be Senators, were called Patres allecti.

PATRICIUS;

a Patrician; one descend∣ed from the Senators, and first Founders of the Republick of Rome.

PATRONUS;

a Patron; the Person un∣der whose Protection one puts himself; it was also used in respect to a Master who had made his Slave free: The Law of the Twelve Ta∣bles entituled the Patrons to the Estates of their Freed-men, who died without lawful Issue, born after their Enfranchisement, and also intestate; for, tho' by this Manumission or Enfranchisement, the Slaves not only obtained their Liberty, but also the Right of Citizens, and so were made Ci∣tizens of Rome, and consequently capable to ac∣quire and possess all sorts of Estates, and had Power to dispose of them, yet they were very far from the Condition of the Ingenui, who were born free; for the Law subjected them to shew great Respect, and to perform considerable Ser∣vices and Devoirs to their Patrons; to the Ob∣servation of which they were so rigorously tied, that when they failed therein, they might not only be made liable to pecuniary Mulcts, and subjected to lose part of their Estates, but also be chastised with Corporal Punishments, and sometimes be even recalled to their former State of Servitude, according to the Hainousness of their Ingratitude, as 'tis fully set forth under the Title of Jus Patronatûs. But besides these Rights which the Patron exercised over the Per∣son of Freed-men while living, he had also ano∣ther over their Goods after their decease, being priviledged to inherit when the Freed-man died without having Children born him after his be∣ing made free, and intestate: And there were but Two sorts of Persons that could exclude the Patron, viz. Children lawfully begotten after his Manumission, and the Heir by Will, whom the Law preferred before the Patron: But as it was an easie thing for the Freed-men to deprive their Patrons of the Benefit of Inheriting; and that many times those who had no Children of their own, got some by Adoption, or else by Will disposed of their Estates in favour of Stran∣gers; the Praetor by his Edict introduced a Re∣medy for this, by giving the Patrons Possession of half of the Estates of their Freed-men, in op∣position to adopted Children and Stranger-Heirs: And forasmuch as by this Edict one law∣fully begotten Child of the Freed-man, coming to succeed his Father, entirely excluded the Pa∣tron; the Papian Law made an Addition to the Praetor's Edict, and enlarged the Right of the Patron, by enjoining, that if the Freed-man had a considerable Estate even to 100000 Sesterces, and less than Three Children, the Patron should have a Share equal to one of the Chil∣dren's, which he could not be deprived of by a Will.

PAVENTIA;

a Deity of the Ancients, mentioned by St. Augustine, L. 4. de Civ. Dei, which diverted Childrens Fears.

PAVIMENTUM;

a Pavement, of which there were divers sorts: Pliny says, that those Pavements which were painted and wrought by Art were brought out of Greece, and among o∣thers that of Pergamus, called Asarotcs, which was not swept; and this Name was given it, because the Crumbs and Offals which fell from the Table were so well represented in this sort of Pavement, that they seemed to have been real, and the Servants had no need to take care of sweeping the Rooms: Then came the Mosaick Pavements in Fashion, which the Greeks called Lithostrota, and were used at Rome in Sylla's Time, about 170 Years before Christ's Coming: It was a Pavement made of small Stones joined, and as it were united together by Cement, and by the Ordering, and variety of their Colours representing different Figures. See Musea. Vi∣truvius speaks of Pavements, which he calls Pa∣vimenta sectilia, or Pavements of pieces made like one another, which he distinguishes from Mosaick Pavements.

PAVO;

a Peacock; a Bird by the Heathens consecrated to Jupiter; they feigned that Argus his Eyes were put into the Peacock's Tail. Lucian has left us an Account of him thus:

The Pea∣cock, says he, at the Beginning of the Spring, when the Flowers first peep out, spreads abroad his Golden and Azure Feathers in a most mag∣nificent manner, and contends with the Spring which of them shall produce the most beautiful Things; he spreads himself, turns and admires his own Beauty, whose Splendor is doubly in∣creased by that of the Light, which does not only embellish the Colours, but multiplies them: This particularly happens to those Golden Circles, which crown the Enamel of his Tail, and each of them resemble a Rain∣bow that changes its Colour according to the divers Reflections of Light.

PAVOR;

Fear, whom the Romans made to be a Deity. Pausanias, in his Corinthiaca, says, That Mermerus and Pheres, Medea's Children being stoned by the Corinthians, the Ghosts of them did so frighten young Children, that they died therewith: The Oracle commanded they should offer Sacrifice to them every Year, and set up Two Statues, one to Fear and the other to Paleness.

PAX;

Peace; a Deity adored by the Hea∣thens. Pausanias says, that the Statue of Peace was worshipped at Athens, under the Form of a Woman, who held Plutus the God of Riches by the Hand: The Emperor Claudius began to build her a Temple at Rome, but 'twas not fi∣nished and adorned till Vespasian did it, after the Conquest of Judea, and the Destruction of Jeru∣salem, as the Gold, Silver, and Brass Money which he coined do testifie, whereon Peace is graven, holding a lighted Torch in one Hand, wherewith she sets some broken Arms on fire, and in the other an Olive-branch, with this De∣vice, Paci Orbis Terrarum: She is also represent∣ed unto us with an Olive-branch, and Mercury's Caduceus. Titus his Son and Successor in the Em∣pire, has given us the Figure of Peace, repre∣sented like a Goddess, holding a Palm in one Hand, and Scepter in the other, with this In∣scription, Pax Aeterna.

PECULATUS;

it was a Crime in a Per∣son that robbed the Publick Treasure, or con∣verted it to his own use, who was the Disposer, Keeper, or Receiver of it; there are divers sorts of it, all mentioned under Lex Julia.

PECULIUM;

this is the Money or Estate of one who is under the Power of another, which a Son under a Father or a Slave, may get by his own Industry, without any Furtherance or As∣sistance from his Father, or Master, but only his Leave.

PECUNIA;

Money; to whom the Romans offered Sacrifice to induce her to make them rich.

PEDANI, or PEDARII SENA∣TORES;

young Senators who followed the Opinion proposed by the Older, and were al∣ways of their side: And hence is that Saying of Cicero, Ire pedibus in sententiam alicuyus, to espouse the Opinion of a Person.

PEGASUS.

The Horse Pegasus, whom the Poets feigned to have Wings, and who with the Impression of his Hoof made the Fountain Hip∣pocrene spring out of Mount Helicon; it was up∣on this Horse Bellerophon was mounted, when he fought Chimera; its said he flew up to Hea∣ven, and placed himself amongst the Stars: Its also a Coelestial Constellation in the Northern Hemisphere, consisting of 20 Stars. Keepler makes it to have 23. Pontanus says, when it rises, it makes a Man a Poet and Ingenious, a Lover of Glory and of Arms; and Firmicius says, that if it set with Mars, the Man will perish by Fire.

PELION;

Mount Pelion in Thessaly, which was formerly joined to Mount Oeta, and separa∣ted from it by an Earthquake.

PELOPS;

the Son of Tantalus, King of Phrygia, and of Taygete, whom his Father Tanta∣lus cut in pieces, and boiled to feast the Gods withal; there was none but Ceres that eat there∣of: The other Gods perceiving it, abhorred the Action, and restored Pelops to Life; for they gathered all his Members together, and sent Mercury to fetch his Soul out of Hell. As Ceres had eaten some of the Shoulder, they gave him an Ivory one in lieu of it, which healed many Diseases: He was much beloved of Neptune, who gave him immortal Horses, with which he ran against Oenomaüs, for the beautiful Hippodamis his Daughter, became Conqueror, and so Pos∣sessor of that admirable Creature. Pelops was for his Beauty, according to Lucian, admitted to eat with the Gods.

PELORIS and PELORUS;

one of the Three Capes of Sicily, which is in the North Part of that Island: It was so called from a Pilot whom Hannibal slew, as supposing he betray'd him; but coming afterwards to know his Mi∣stake, he erected a Statue for him in an high Place, near the Sea-side in Sicily, which he called Peloris, according to his Name.

PENATES;

a Name given to all the Houshold-Gods, which the Ancients worshipped in their Habitations: There Gods were the Souls or Genti of deceased Persons, to whom their particular Families paid some sort of Ado∣ration. These Gods were honoured within Doors, by burning in the nature of First-fruits some of that which was served to the Table, or publickly sacrificing a Sow to them, as to those who pre∣sided over the Streets and High-ways: They had also the publick Penates of the City or Em∣pire, which Aeneas brought from Troy, and whom Varro believed to have been brought be∣fore

from Samothracis to Troy. Dionysius of Ha∣licarnassus, after having said that the Greeks in order to express in their Language what the Ro∣mans meant by their Penates at Rome, called them 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: And after having assured us, that they were first brought by Aeneas from Troy to Lavinium, from whence they were carried to Alba, and thence to Rome; he at last asks, what was the Nature and Shape of those Gods, to which he answers that Timeus wrote, that they were Iron and Brass Caduceus's, and Earthen Ware made at Troy; Ca∣duceaferrea & aerea, Trojanamque testam sictilens; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. He replies in the 2d place, that we must restrain our Curiosity, and out of respect abstain from penetrating too far into the Mysteries of Religion; and in the last place he adds, that they were the same Gods as those of Samothracia; that Dardanus brought them to Troy, from whence Aeneas carried them into Italy, viz. the Shapes of those great Gods, and the Image of Minerva; sacrae magnorum Deorum, & effigies Minervae: This Image of Minerva was twofold. Ʋlysses and Diomedes took one away from Troy, during the Siege, and the other re∣mained there: Others say, that the Trojans had made another Palladium very like unto the true one, and that it was the Copy, and not the O∣riginal which the Grecians took away.

Virgil brings the Houshold-Gods giving their Assistance at the Battle of Actium, where Au∣gustus defeated Antony and Cleopatra:

Hinc Augustus agens Italos in praelia Caesar, Cum Patribus, populoque, Penatibus & magnis Diu.

Hereby Virgil acknowledges, that Empires, Ci∣ties, particular Houses, and King's Palaces, were as so many Temples, where the Houshold-Gods were present; where a continual Fire was burnt, and where they were honoured by frequent Li∣bations and Incenses upon all occanons. Lucan observes, that in time of Peace, the Arms were fixed in the Place appertaining to the Houshold-Gods, as being entrufted to their keeping,

Diripiunt sacris affixa Penatibus arma, Quae pax longa dabat.

And that it was esteemed to be abominable Sa∣crilege to commit Murder in the Presence of Vesta, that is in the Entry, and before the per∣pecual Fire of the Houshold-Gods.

PENELOPE,

the Daughter of Icarus, the Iacedamonian, and of Periboea: Its said this Name was given her from certain Birds called Penelopes or Turkeys, and that she was named Arnea, i. e. disowned and rejected, from the Verb 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to Reject: For her Father understanding by the Oracle, that his Wife Periboea should bear a Daughter, which should one Day be a Shame to her Sex, he caused her to be exposed upon the Water, shut up in a Chest; but the said Birds hearing the Cries made by the Infant, they drove the Chest ashoar with their Wings; and having opened it with their Beaks, they fed her for some time: She was Ʋlysses his Wife, and a Model of Chastity and Faithfulness to her Hus∣band; for Ʋlysses having been absent Twenty Years, she was courted by several Princes who were taken with her Beauty; but she to dis∣engage her self from their Importunities, put off her second Marriage till such time as she had finished a piece of Linnen-Cloth, which she had begun, and she cunningly undid in the Night what she wrought in the Day; and so she con∣tinued in this State till Ʋlysses his Return, who entring into his own House, disguised like a Pea∣sant, killed them all. Hereupon you may ob∣serve the different Opinions that have been en∣tertained of Penelope: Some, that is to say, Ho∣mer and many others, who followed him, have represented her as a Model of Chastity; while others, the Chief of whom are Duris the Sa∣mian, Tzetzes, Pausanias and Horace, have ta∣ken her for a loose Woman, and a Prostitute. However, the same Pausanias in his Laconica says, that her Father Icarus erected a Statue of Cha∣stity Thirty Spartan Stadia's high, in memory of the Conjugal Chastity of his Daughter Penelope, who had rather, being left to her Choice, to follow her Husband to Ithaca, than to tarry with her Father at La••aedemon.

PENTHEUS,

the Son of Echion and Agave, who, because he ridiculed the Festivals of Bac∣chus, called Orgia, and would have them repu∣ted Follies and ••xtravagancies, was cut in pieces upon Mount Citheron by his own Mother and Sister, who being transported with Bacchick Fary took him for a wild Boar.

PERILLUS.

See Phalaris.

PERIPATE

••ICI; Peripateticks, they were Athenian Philosophers, and the Followers of Aristotle, who disputed walking in the Li∣caeum; they were so called from the Greek 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which signifies to walk; but after∣wards they took the same of Academicks, be∣cause they studied in the Academy.

PERITIUS,

(Mensis is understood) the Peritian Month was a Month among the Mace∣donians, that answered that of February, and such as was adopted by the Syrians, in Memory of Alexander the Great, or rather the Macedo∣nians introduced it amongst them after they had been conquered by them, insomuch that they gave the greatest part of the Cities and Ri∣vers of Syria, the Names of the Cities and Ri∣vers of Macedon.

PERMESSUS;

a River in Boeocia, that rises in Mount Helicon, which was consecrated to Apollo and the Muses.

PERSAE;

the Persians, the People of the famous Empire of Persia, who adored the Sun, and to whom they erected Altars under the Name of Mithra, which was a kind of Dress for the Head, like a Bishop's Miter, Soli Invicto Mithrae, and Numini Invicto soli Mithrae, as you may read in ancient Inscriptions: They also wor∣shipped the Moon, Venus, Fire, Earth, Water and Wind, yet without any Temples; Statues, or Altars, and offered Sacrifices to them upon some Hillock, or high Place, as believing them∣selves hereby to be nearer unto their Gods. When the Lacedaemonians beat the Persians in the Battle of Platea, they erected Statues in Persian Dresses, to support the Weight of the Galleries and Porticoes which they built, as a perpetual Mark of their Servitude.

PERSEUS;

the Son of Jupiter and Danae, the Daughter of Acrisius, King of Argos, who coming to know by the Oracle, that the Child his Daughter should bring forth, would one Day kill him, took a Resolution to shut up his Daugh∣ter in a Brass Tower, that hereby she might have nothing to do with Men: But this Precau∣tion signified nothing, for Jupiter who loved her, went to see her, and for that End being trans∣formed into a Golden Shower, he begat Perseus upon her. Acrisius coming to the Knowledge hereof, shut up both Mother and Child in a Cof∣fer, and commanded them to be thrown into the Sea; but they were saved by some Fishermen, who found the said Chest floating upon the Wa∣ter, near the Isle of Seriphus, where Perseus was brought up by Dictis, the Brother of Polydectes, King of that Island. Perseus being grown up, was much beloved of the Gods; Minerva made him a Present of her Miror, to serve him for a Shield, and Mercury gave him the Wings which he wore at his Head and Feet, and a Cymeter which Vul∣can had forged for him, and with which he did great Exploits:

For by the Help of this Shield, wherein as in a Miror he saw the Picture of Medusa sleeping, with the Gorgons her Sisters, he catched hold of her by the Hair, and cut∣ting off her Head, afterwards made his Escape; but in his return, upon the Coast of Ethiopia, seeing Andromede ready to be devoured by a Sea-monster; and being struck with a compas∣sionate Love for that unfortunately fair Crea∣ture, whom the Nereides, who were incensed at her Mother's having despised their Beauty, had tied to a Rock; he turned the Monster in∣to a Stone, with one of the Looks of Medusa, after he had first stumned him with a Blow with his Sword.

Perseus was not only skilful in Arms, but he also made learning to Flourish in his Time, having founded a publick School upon Mount Helicon, where Youth were instructed in good Literature; and hence the Poets and A∣strologers took occasion to place him among the Stars.

We have in the Person of Perseus the Idea of a great Captain; for the Arms we have spoken of, are as so many Hieroglyphicks of the ex∣traordinary Qualifications, that are necessary for a Person, to form great Designs, and to succeed therein; Prudence is figured out unto us by Minerva's Miror, that served him instead of a Shield; Strength and Greatness of Courage joined with a Forwardness, that must engage him to the Execution of his Design, was represented by the Sword forged by Vulcan, and what has been said concerning Medusae's Head, which turn∣ed Men into Stones with her Looks, imports so much, that the very Looks of a Person who is indued with so many Accomplishments, strikes a Dread and Terror into others, and stops them so as if they were Stone-statues.

PERSEPHONE.

See Proserpina.

PERSIUS;

a Latin Satyrical Poet, who has left Satyrs behind him that are very ob∣scure: He flourish'd under Nero, and died at 29 Years of Age.

PERTINAX,

named Publius Helvius, sur∣named the Wheel of Fortune because he experi∣enced the Inconstancy thereof. He was a Ro∣man Emperor the Son of a Freed-man named Helvius who kept a Shop of small Wares. His Father brought him up in good Literature, which afterwards he taught at Rome, but as his Inclinations carried him more unto Arms than unto Letters, he quitted his Profession, and fol∣lowed the Military Art, wherein he signalized himself in divers Wars, which made the Empe∣ror Marcus Aurelius give him the Government of Asia and Syria; after whose Death his Suc∣cessor Commodus banished him from Rome, but he recalled him some time after and made him Governour of the City. Upon the Death of Commodus, Aelius Laetus Captain of the Guard went to Pertinax his Lodging, and made him a Tender of the Empire, and obliged him to go to the Camp where he was proclaimed Impe∣rator Augustus, and the same was joyfully con∣firmed by the Senate and People. At his Ac∣cession to the Imperial Throne he went about to reform the Extorsions and Violences practised by the Praetorian Bands over the poor Citizens, but this drew their Hatred so far upon him, that they adventured to kill him in the Middle of his Palace, after he had reigned Three Months. By the Medals which we have of his, it may be ob∣served that he had a fortunate Countenance, a handsom Head, large Forehead, curled Hair, a long and venerable Beard; that he was tale, burly, and pretty big-belly'd, as may be known by his Medals and the Paintings of Capitolinus. All this seemed to promise him a healthful Con∣stitution, a large Capacity with the Respect of

the People, which his venerable Air must gain him. But his Empire was so short, that he had not an Opportunity to make his Inclinations known. However, he shewed much of an in∣trepid Spirit in the Sedition, wherein he lost his Life; for when he saw the Mutineers enter into his Palace, he went to meet them, and uncon∣cernedly spoke to them, with much Courage and Gravity, insomuch that they were all appea∣sed, save one who stirred up the Soldiers anew, and brought his Companions to cut off so good a Prince.

PETRONIUS;

lived in Nero's Time; tho' that Emperor loved this Poet very well, yet he was put to Death by his Command, as Corne∣lius Tacitus says.

PHAEDRA.

the Daughter of Minos King of Creet, who fell in Love with Hippolytus her Son in Law; she discovered her Passion to her Nurse that was her Confident, who attempted to engage Hippolytus his Consent several times, but to no purpose: Phaedra out of Shame and Despair hanged her self, having first tied to her Cloaths some Letters wherein she charged Hip∣polytus with a Crime, of which she her self only was guilty.

PHAEDRUS,

a Latin Poet and the Freed-man of Augustus, who turned the Fables of Esop and several other Things into Jambick Verse.

PHAETON,

the Son of Sol and the Nymph Clymene, or of Cephalus and Aurora; Lucian in a Dialogue between Jupiter and Sol ex∣plains the Fable to us.

Jupit.

Wretch, what have you done, to leave your Chariot to be guided by a young Fool, who has burnt one Half of the World, and froze up the other, insomuch that had not I struck him down to the Ground with a Thunder-bolt, there had been an End of Mankind.

Sun.

I confess, Jupiter, I was mistaken, that I could not manage my Son, nor endure the Tears of a Mistress; but I did not think so much Mischief would have come of it.

Jupit.

Did not you know the Fury of your Horses, and that if they turned never so little out of the Way, an universal Ruine followed.

Sun.

I know it very well, and therefore I put Phaeton into the Chariot my self, and gave him all necessary Instructions, but the Horses not finding their Conductor with them, took head, and he became dazzled with the Splendor of the Light, and frightned with the Abyss he saw be∣neath him. But he has been sufficiently punish∣ed, and I also in his Punishment.

Jupit.

In the mean time, give Phaeton's Si∣sters Order to bury him on the Banks of the Eridanus, where he fell, and as a Recompense, I will change them into Poplar-trees, from which Amber shall distil, as a Symbol of their Tears.

The same Lucian in his Judicial Astrology seems to refute this Fable, saying, that Phaeton busied himself in observing the Sun's Course, and the various Influences thereof, and that he left this Art imperfect by his Death, adding that whatever is said of him is not likely at all.

PHAETUSA,

Phaeton's Sister and one of the Heliades, who according to the Fable, was changed into a Poplar.

PHALANX,

a great square Battalion formed by the Ancients, which was so compact that the Soldiers had their Feet set close to one another, with their Shields joined and Pikes turned cross-ways, insomuch that it was almost impossible to break them: It consisted of 5000 Men. Livy says, that this sort of Battalion was invented by the Macedonians, from whence came the common Epithet given it of Macedo∣nian Phalanx.

PHALARIS,

says Lucian, was born of a noble Family in the City of Agrigentum in Sicily; after he had been brought up in all the genteel Exercises of his Time, and such as were suit∣able to his Condition, he was admitted into the Government, as others were, where he behaved himself so well that there was never any Com∣plaints made of his Administration: But as he understood that his Enemies and such as envy∣ed his Prosperity, had laid secret Ambushes for him, and sought all manner of Ways how they might make away with him, he was constrained for his own Safety to make himself Master of the State, and to exercise. Justice very rigorously upon those who would have destroyed him: One Perillus devised with himself, he could not do him more acceptable Service than to invent some new sort of Punishment, and as he was an excel∣lent Statuary he made a brazen Bull so very arti∣ficially, that Phalaris cried out as soon as he saw it, that it was a Present fit for Apollo. But Perillus taking him up, said,

If you did but know what I made it for, you would not talk at that rate. Shut up a Criminal within it; and put Fire un∣derneath, you shall hear the Bull bellow, which is the only Thing it wants to imitate Nature to Perfection.

Upon which Words Phalaris who detested so abominable an Invention, caused him himself to be shut up in his Bull, to make a Trial thereof, and having again taken him out alive, that by his Death he might not pollute a Pre∣sent which he had a mind to consecrate to the Gods, he gave it to Apollo, and caused this Story to be graven upon it. Suidas represents Phalaris to us as a very cruel Prince, and will have it, that his Subjects shut him up and tormented him to Death in the same Bull, wherein he had inclo∣sed and put so many others to Death.

PHALERUS,

an ancient Gate of the City of Athens where Altars were erected to the unknown Gods, of whom St. Paul speaks,

Go∣ing along, said that Apostle, and contempla∣ting your Devotions, I found an Altar on which

was this Inscription, To the unknown God; I therefore declare him unto you, whom you worship without knowing of him.

The Inscripti∣on was not barely the same as St. Paul relates it; for it was, to the Gods of Asia, Europe and Affrica, strong and unknown Gods: But be∣cause the Apostle had nothing to do with many unknown Deities, and that no more than one unknown God was for his Purpose, he makes use of the singular Number. Meursius assures us, That the People of Athens being converted to the Christian Faith, consecrated the Temple, where this Altar had been erected, to the un∣known God. Its certain, that Pausanias, Philo∣stratus and Suidas make use of the Plural Num∣ber, when they speak of the Inscription upon this Altar, and Diogenes Laeertius attributes the Building of Altars without a Name to Epime∣nides: But 'tis to Spimenides that they commonly attribute the Erecting of the Altar of the unknown Gods. But yet it is true, that Lucian, Theophi∣lact, Isidorus Pelusiota, Occumenius and St. Chryso∣stom make use of the singular Number, when they speak of this Altar.

PHAROS;

it was a famous Tower in A∣lexandria, on the Top of which they lighted Fires in the Night to guide Ships that came near the Shoar: The Colossus of Rhodes served in∣stead of a Pharos.

PHEGOR;

is as much as Priapus in He∣brew, according to St. Hierom; from whence came the Word Beelphegor, which signifies the Idol of Priapus.

PHILOCTETES;

the Son of Pae••, to whom Hercules at his Death upon Mount Octa, gave his Bow and Arrows, which were dipp'd in Hydra's Gall, after he had engaged him by Oath, to discover his Grave to no Body: But when they were to go to the Trojan War, and that the Oracle gave an Answer, the Town was impregnable, without they had the Ashes and Arrows of Hercules with them; he was forced to shew the Place where he had hid them; and that he might not violate his Oath, he pointed at them only with his Feet, for which he was severely punished: For being on his Journey, one of the said Arrows wounded him in the Foot, wherewith he had discovered Hercules his Ashes: His Wound stunk so, that it was not to be endu∣red, which made the Grecians leave him in the Isle of Lemnos; however finding that the Siege of Troy advanced but little, they caused him to be brought thither, and he was cured by Macaon the Son of Aesculapius.

PHILOMELA;

the Daughter of Pandi∣on, King of Athens, who was ravish'd by Tereus, King of Thrace, who had married her Sister Pregno. He cut out her Tongue, and shut her up in Prison, that he might enjoy her at his Pleasure: But she had the Ingenuity to let her Sister know her Misfortune, by drawing the same upon Tapistry: Progne deferred to take Revenge upon her Incestuous Husband, till the Festival of Bacchus, when with a Company of the Bacchantes, she went to set her Sister at Li∣berty, and laying hold of Itys, Tereus his Son, she drest his Flesh for him to eat; which he per∣ceiving, endeavoured to kill his Wife; but the Gods changed Tereus into a Lapwing, Progne to a Swallow, Philomela to a Nightingale, and Itys into a Pheasant. Ovid. Metam. Lib. 6.

PHILOSOPIA.

Philosophy. The Study of Nature and Morality, grounded upon Rea∣soning and Experience: Its said of the Ancient Philosophy, that it became impious under Dia∣goras, Vicious under Epicurus, Hipocritical un∣der Zeno, Impudent under Diogenes, Interested under Demochares, Voluptuous under Metrodo∣rus, Fantastical under Crates, Buffoonry under Menippus, Libertinism under Pyrrho, Litigious under Cleanthes, and Restless under Arcesilus: The Ancient Philosophers were of divers Sects, viz. Epicureans, Storcks, Platonicks, Peripareticks, Pyrrhonians, &c. Lucian in his Dialogue of Fu∣gitives brings in Philosophy, speaking to Jupiter in this manner;

Father, see if I have not cause to complain, when you saw the World full of Error and Unjustice, you had Pitty upon it, and you lent me to bring Men to change their beastly Lives for a better, for if you do remem∣ber, you told me, My Daughter, thou seest what a Condition Men are brought to by their Ignorance and Malice, go to them, for thou art alone capable to undeceive and cure them. I did not go at first to Greece, but I began with the most difficult Work, which was that of the Barbarians; afterwards I went towards the Indians who are a great People, and whom I brought down from their Elephants Backs to hear me; the whole Nation of the Brachmanes, who are Neighbours to the Necreans and Oxy∣draci, received my Doctrine and live still ac∣cording to my Laws: From the Indians I went into Ethiopia, thence to Egypt where I taught the Egyptian Priests and Prophets the Worship of the Gods, afterwards I passed to Babilon to instruct the Caldeans and Magi, then to Scythiae; from whence returning by the Way of Thrace I conversed with Eumolpus and Orpheus, and sent them before me into Greece, with Orders that the first should instruct the Greeks in my My∣steries, and the other teach them Musick: I delay'd not to follow them and they received me there neither well nor ill: However in time I won over the Seven wise Men.

PHINEUS,

the Son of Agenor King of Ploenicia, who first married Harpalyce, the Sister of Calais and Zethes the Children of Boreas; but he was divorced from her and took to Wife Idea the Daughter of Dardanus King of Scythia, who falsly accused Phineus his Children by the first Venter for attempting to ravish her. Phinens

believed her, and put his Sons Eyes out, but the Gods revenged the Crime upon the Father himself, whom they also struck blind, and tor¦mented him cruelly with Hunger, for as of∣ten as he went to eat, the Harpies took away part of his Victuals, and defiled the rest. O∣thers say, that Phineus having lost his Sight, and his Sons being dead, the Harpies his Daughters wasted his Estate, till Zethes and Calais his Cousins, the Sons of Boreas drove those Women out of the City, and reinvested him in the Pos∣session of his Estate, which occasioned the Fable.

PHLEGETHON,

one of the Rivers of Hell according to fabulous Antiquity, being de∣rived from the Greek Word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, I burn.

PHLEGYAS,

the Son of Mars and King of the Lapithae in Thessaly, who to be revenged of Apollo, that had debauched his Daughter, burnt the Temple of that God at Delphos: But he was punish'd for it; for Apollo killed him with his Arrows and thrust him headlong into Hell, where he is in continual Fear of the falling of a Rock which hangs over his Head. There was another of this Name who governed a certain People in Thessaly, that were drowned by Nep∣tune, as a Punishment for their Contempt of the Gods. Virg. Eneids L. 9.

PHOBETOR;

the Son of the God Sleep, who represented to the Imagination all sorts and species of Animals.

PHOCI.

Neptune's Sea-Calves, whose Keep∣er Protheus was.

PHOEBAS;

Apollo's Priestess at Delphos, that delivered Oracles, to such as consulted her, upon a Tripod.

PHOEBE;

the Moon which borrows its Light from Phoebus her Brother.

PHOEBUS,

the Sun or Apollo, the Son of Jupiter, and Diana's Brother, born at the same Time with Latona: He is the God of Parnassus and the Muses; being thus called by the Greeks from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that is, the Light of Life: He was also the God of Divination, some remains where∣of are still retained, in that upon Twelfth-Night, when they are about to chuse King and Queen, they cry in some Countries Phoebe Domine, Who shall be King?

PHOENIX,

a Bird taken by the Moderns to be fabulous, and concerning which the Anci∣ents have spoken much, they would have it, that there is but one of the Kind, and that it lives several Ages. They say 'tis as big as an Eagle, with a golden Neck, the Wings of a Fire Colour, intermix'd with Azure, a white Tail in∣terspersed with Carnation Feathers, and having a twinkling Star upon its Head. She erects her own Funeral-Pile of Wood and Aromatick Gums, claps it with her Wings, in order to set it on fire, and so burns her self: From its Ashes arises a Worm, and from this Worm another Phoenix. In the Consulship of Paulus Fabius, and Lucius Vitellius, the Phoenix after a long Series of Years, appear'd in Egypt, and gave ample Occasion to the fine Wits of Greece and Asia to Discourse up∣on this Wonder: I'll here recount what is re∣ceiv'd for Truth; but I shall also add such Things as are proper to be known, tho' they are not so well attested. Those who have described this Bird, set her out different from others, both in Form and Colour, and say she was consecrated to the Sun. As for the Length of her Life, the most common Opinion is, That she lives 500 Years, but some have stretched it out even to 14 Ages. They add, There is never but one of them at a time in the World, and that the first appear'd in the Reign of Sesostris, the second in that of Amasis, and third under Ptolomy, one of Alexander's Successors, and the third of the Ma∣cedonian Race, who reigned in Egypt: They say also, that she came to Heliopolis, or the City of the Sun, accompanied by a vast Multitude of o∣ther Birds, who admired the Strangeness of her Feathers: There was not 250 Years from Pto∣lomy to Tiberius; and therefore some believe, that this same was not the Phoenix of Arabia, nor the true one, since it had not the Marks attributed to the others; for 'tis said, that the Phoenix, when she is grown very old, and sees her End draw near, builds a Nest in her own Country, to which she communicates some se∣cret Principle of Life; insomuch that another Phoenix arises therefrom, whose first Care is to give unto its Parent the Honours of Burial: For which End she makes choice of a great Quantity of Perfumes, which she carries by little and little, because of their great distance from the Place, and then bears away the Deceased's Body, and goes to burn it upon the Altar of the Sun: This is uncertain, and intermixed with Fables, but for the rest, 'tis not doubted, but this Bird has been sometime seen in Egypt.

PHORBAS;

the Chief of the Phlegyae; a cruel Man, and a Robber, who having seized on an Avenue, by which they went over Land to the Temple of Apollo at Delphos, forced all Pas∣sengers to fight him, in order to exercise them, said he, that they might act their Part, the bet∣ter at the Pythian Games: And when he had overcome, he put them to a cruel Death, by tying them by their Heads to Trees; but Apollo to punish this wicked Fellow, encountring him, knocked him down with his Fist.

PHORCUS and PHORCYS;

a Son of Neptune and the Earth (according to Hesiod) King of Sardinia; who having been overcome in a Fight by Sea, the Poets said he was a Sea-God, and the Father of the Gorgones.

PHOSPHORUS,

the Planet of Venus; its a Greek Word, which the Latins turned into that of Lucifer, the Shepherds Star.

PHRIXUS,

the Son of Athamas, who to avoid the Anger of Ino his cruel Mother-in-Law, that would have killed him, fled away with his Sister Helle upon a Ram, who had a Golden Fleece, and arrived at Colchos, where he offer∣ed the Ram in Sacrifice to Jupiter, or as some will have it, to Mars, who placed him among the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac: As for the Gol∣den Fleece, he left it to the King of the Coun∣try, who hung it up in a Temple, consecrated to Mars, under the Keeping of a Dragon.

PICTURA;

Painting: Its not to be doubt∣ed, but Painting is as ancient as Sculpture, but 'tis very hard to know the real Time and Place where it first appear'd; the Egyptians and the Greeks, who make themselves to be the Inven∣tors of the best Arts, have not failed to assume the Glory of their being the first Painters also: In the mean time, as 'tis very difficult to see clearly into a Matter that is obscured with the Revolution of so many Years, which conceal its Original, we ought to be content to know in respect to Painting; that after it had had like unto other Things, its faint Beginnings, it was brought to Perfection among the Greeks, and the principal Schools for this illustrious Art were at Sicyone, Rhodes, and Athens: From Greece it was brought into Italy, where it was in great Request in the Time of the Republick, and un∣der the first Emperors, till at last Luxury and Wars having ruined the Roman Empire, it lay quite buried as well as other Arts and Sciences, and began not to revive in Italy till Cimabue fell to work, and retrieved out of the Hands of some Greeks the deplorable Remains of it: Some Flo∣rentines having seconded him, were those who first appear'd and brought it into Reputation; however it was a long time before any one came to excel in it.

Chirlandaio, Michael Angelo's Master, acqui∣red the greatest Reputation, tho' his Manner was very dry and Gothick; but Michael Angelo his Scholar coming up in the Reign of Julius the 2d, obscured all that went before, set up a School at Florence, and educated several. Pietro Perugino had also Raphaele d'Ʋrbino for his Scholar, who excelled his Master very much, and even Michael Angelo himself: He erected a School at Rome composed of the most excellent Painters. At the same time that in Lombardy was set up, and grew famous under Giorgione and Ti∣tian, whose first Master was Giov Belini: There were also other particular Schools in Italy under different Masters, as that of Leonardo da Vinci at Milan: But the first Three are reckoned the most Famous, from whence the rest sprung. Be∣sides these there were Painters on this side the Alps, who had no Correspondence with those in Italy, such as Albert Durer in Germany, Hol∣bens in Switzerland, Lucas Van Leiden in Hol∣land, and many others, who painted in France and Flanders, after different Manners: But Italy and Rome were the principal Places where this Art flourish'd in its greatest Perfection, and where excellent Artists were brought up from time to time: Raphael's School was succeeded by that of the Carachii, which has continued almost to this time in its Perfection.

Before a Painter in Flanders called John Van-Eyck, but better known by the Name of John de Bruges, had found out the Secret of painting in Oil, all the Painters wrought in Fresco and Distemper or Water-Colours; and the Invention of Painting in Oil was not known to the An∣cients; the Secret not being found out till the Beginning of the 14th Century. We may say that Painting did then receive great Assistance, and an admirable Advantage: For hereby the Colours of a Picture hold a long time, and re∣ceive a Lustre and Union, which the Ancients could not give to their Works, what Varnish so∣ever they used to lay on for that Purpose: This Secret which lay hid so long, consists of nothing else but the grinding of the Colours with Nut or Linseed Oil.

PICUS,

King of the Latins, the Son of Sa∣turn, and Father to Faunus, who reigned 57 Years: He married Canens, the Daughter of Janus and Venilia, according to Ovid: But his Sentiments do not at all agree with Chronology herein; for Canens would have been above 500 Years old, if she had lived in the Time of Picus: The same Poet tells us, that Picus was be∣loved of Circe, and that not conforming himself to comply with her Love, she transformed him into a Bird of the same Name, which is a Wood-Pecker.

PIERIDES;

an Epithet given to the Muses, upon the Account of their having been born in that part of the Country of Macedon which was called Pieria.

PIETAS;

Piety, whom the Romans wor∣shipp'd for a Goddess. Antoninus Pius caused her to be represented in the Dress of a Roman La∣dy, holding a little Incense Box, named Acerra, in her Hand, and standing before an Altar where there was a Fire lighted, to offer Incense upon it. She may be also seen graven upon the Mo∣ney of the said Emperor, holding Two Children in her Arms, and with Two more, one on each side: We have also Piety represented divers ways, upon the Medals of Marcus Aurelius, Do∣mitian, and Sabina, Adrian's Wife. She appears in the Dress of a Roman Lady, in a sitting Po∣sture, holding a Javelin without any Spear to it in one Hand, and having little Children at her Feet, which she seems to instruct. As also under the Picture of Marcus Herennius, who carried his Father upon his Shoulders, and of Ae∣neas, who did the same by his Father, whom he pulled out of the Flames of Troy. By the Mo∣ney which Titus the Son of Vespatian coined, Piety

appears bringing the Two Brothers Titus and Domitian together, and making them give one another the Right-hand: She was also exprest holding Two Children in her Arms, with a Stork that carries her Parents about in their old Age, and feeds them, which is a Symbol of Piety. At Rome there was a Temple dedicated to Piety by Attilius, in the Place where that Daughter lived, who sustain'd her Father in Prison with the Milk of her Breasts.

PILADES;

take what Lucian has writ of him in his Praise of an House:

After this comes an illustrious Example of Friendship, which seems to have been taken out of Sophocles and Euripides; Pilades and Orestes who were thought to be dead, hid themselves behind Agamen∣non's Palace, they secretly stole in, and killed Aegystus, for Clytemnestra was already dead, and laid out upon the Bed half naked: You may imagine how astonished the whole Court was at this Assassination, some wept, others cried a∣loud or seemed to do so, these same endeavour∣ed to make their Escape, the others resisted in vain; but the Painter has artfully passed o∣ver what was most criminal, and would not re∣present the Son killing his Mother, but drew him killing the Adulterer and his Father's Mur∣derer.

PINARII,

the Pinarians; they were Her∣cules his Priests and Sacrificers, who offered Sa∣crifice to that God Morning and Evening; but the Pinarians happening to come last and at the End of the Sacrifice, Hercules ordered they should serve the Potitii when they sacrificed, to him; and thence comes their Name, quasi 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, à fame.

PINDUS,

a Mountain in Thessaly consecra∣ted to Apollo and the Muses.

PIRAEUS,

a very fine Port at Athens, ca∣pable to contain 400 Ships, it was joyned to the City by a Wall 2000 Paces long, and by a great many Buildings that made it the finest Part of Athens; the Piraeus had been fortified divers Times, and they built Porticoes and Temples to the Gods there.

PIRENE,

a Fountain rising from the Foot of Mount Acrocorinthus consecrated to the Mu∣ses, whose Waters are very clear and exceed∣ing pleasant to the Taste.

PIRITHOUS;

the Son of Ixion King of the Lapithae a People of Thessaly, who entred into strict Ties of Friendship with Theseus. He se∣verely punished the Centaurs, who had injured the Lapithae at a Feast whereunto they had been invited on the Day of his Friend's Marriage with Hippodamia: He also assisted him to take a∣way Helen, and the other in his turn helped him to fetch Proserpina back from Pluto, but this Undertaking met with bad Success, for Pluto seized them: Some will have it, that Pirithous was devoured by the Dog Cerberus, others, that he was condemned to endure the same Punish∣ment as Ixion, and that Theseus by the means of Hercules set him free, when he went into Hell to bring away Cerberus according to Eury∣steus his Command.

PISISTRATUS,

Hippocrates his Son, who in the Absence of Solon seized upon the Govern∣ment of Athens, by the Favour of the People whom he won to his Interest by his Liberality to them. He made very good Laws which he ad∣ded to those of Solon; he was a very great Lover of Learning and learned Men, being the first who erected a Library at Athens, which Xerxes, when he took that City, carried into Peraia; he imployed Aristarchus to put Homer's Books in order, which were before all in Confusion.

PISONES,

the Piso's, an illustrious Fami∣ly of Rome, so called from Pease, which the first of that Family had taken the Pains to sow.

PITHIA;

Apollo's Priestess, who delivered the Responses of that Deity to those that consul∣ted him.

PITHO;

the Goddess of Eloquence or Perswasion, being derived from the Greek Word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to perswade. The Romans called her Swa∣dela or Swada.

PLATO;

a famous Philosopher and the Chief of the Academicks: He was called Aristo∣cles, and named Plato from his great Forehead and broad Shoulders: He was the most famous of all Socrates his Disciples, and ecclipsed the rest with the Splendor of his great Reputation; he was of a good Family in Athens, and greatly excelled all his Companions in the Vastness of his Understanding; however, not thinking that was enough to make him perfect in the Study of Philosophy, he resolved to travel and went to all Places where he thought he might improve in any thing, and so he learnt what was most rare and curious among the Egyptians, and from thence went into Italy where the Pythagoreans were in great Esteem; he heard the most Learn∣ed amongst them, and easily apprehended what was most valuable in their Doctrine. He divi∣ded his Philosophy into Three Parts, viz. Moral, which consisted principally in Action, Physicks, that related to Speculation, and Logick which served to distinguish Truth from Falshood. Of all the Philosophers his Doctrine comes nearest of any to Christianity: It will surprize you when you read that Plato had Sentiments of God so conformable to the Truth of our Religion, from whence some have thought that in his Travels to Egypt, he was a Hearer of the Prophet Jeremy, or that he had read the Books of the Prophets,

And I my self, says St. Augustine, have follow∣ed this Opinion in some of my Works; but af∣terwards I came to understand by Cronology, that Plato was not born till about 100 Years after the Prophecies of Jeremy, and that the Greek Version of the Septuagint was not done

by Ptolomy King of Egypt's Order till near 60 Years after Plato's Death; insomuch that he could neither see Jeremy who was dead so long before, nor read the Scriptures which were not yet translated into the Greek Tongue, unless you will have it said that he took care to be in∣structed therein, as he did in the Egyptian Books not by getting them translated, but by con∣versing with the Jews viva voce.

What fa∣vours this Conjecture is that the Book of Gene∣sis begins thus. In the Beginning God created Hea∣ven and Earth, but the Earth was without Form, and void, and Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters. And Plato in his Timeus where he speaks of the Creation of the World, says,

That God did first join the Fire and Earth to∣gether: It's clear that by Fire he meant Hea∣ven.

But what fully perswades me, continues the same St. Augustine,

That Plato had some Knowledge of our Books, is that Moses asking the Angel the Name of him who commanded him to go and deliver the Hebrews, he recei∣ved this Answer, I am that I am, thou shalt tell the Children of Israel, I am hath sent me to you:

But this is that which Plato firmly establishes in his Works, and I do not know it is to be found in any Book older than Plato, except the holy Scriptures. His Writings are almost all divided into Dialogues, in which he introduces his Master Socrates. He died of the Morbus Pe∣dicularis and was burried in the Academy of A∣thens where he had taught Philosophy.

PLAUTUS,

a Comick Poet, admired by all the Ancients for the Eloquence of his Stile, he bore the Name of M. Accius, with that of Plautus, because of his splay Feet, as Sextus Pom∣peius says. He was born in a little Town of Ʋm∣bria called Sarcinas: He was much in Esteem at Rome for the Stage, at the same time that Pub∣lius Scipio and Marcus Cato were in great Repu∣tation for their Politeness; his Comedies are full of Jests and witty Railleries, for which Ci∣cero commends him, and Varro assures us, that if the Muses would have spoke Latin, they had spoke like Plautus, and Aulus Gellius in his Noctes Atticae calls him the Father and Prince of the Latin Eloquence: He imitated the Greek Au∣thors in his Comedies, and amongst others Di∣philus, Epicharmus and Menander. Horace says, he made Money of his Comedies, and when he had got a good deal, he with that turn'd Mer∣chant, but proving unsuccessful that Way, he was necessitated to turn a Mill, and grind Corn to serve a Bakehouse: He died during the Consulship of Publius Claudius and Lucius Portius, while Cato was Censor, in the 119 Olympaid, and the Year of Rome 565.

PLEIADES,

they were the Seven Daugh∣ters of Atlas and the Nymph Pleione, who find∣ing themselves pursued by Orion that would have ravished them, they prayed to the Gods to pre¦serve them from his Insults, which they did by changing them into Stars, and placing them in Heaven: 'Tis a Constellation formed of Se∣ven Stars, which are near together towards the 18th Degree of Taurus. They are rainy and stormy Stars, and very frightful to Mariners; they call them in Latin Vergiliae, à vere, because they rise about the Vernal Equinox, and set in Autumn.

PLEIONE,

the Daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and Atlas his Wife, by whom he had Se∣ven Daughters called Pleiades.

PLINIUS;

Pliny the Elder, born at Vero∣na, was a Minister of State under the Emperor Vespatian, he had a very great Knowledge of natural Things, of which he wrote extraordi∣nary Books, but wherein divers Matters are to be met with that are false, which he had by hear∣say, and took from the Relation of others; he was suffocated by the Flames of Mount Vesuvi∣us, as he approached too near it to observe that Wonder.

PLINY

the Younger, his Nephew, wrote a Book of Epistles, a Treatise about illustrious Men, and a Panegyrick dedicated to Trajan.

PLUTARCHUS,

Plutarch of Cheronea flourished under the Emperor Trajan and gain'd great Reputation by his Books: The Lives of illustrious Men both among the Greeks and Ro∣mans, which he compares with one another, are the best of his Works and deserve Commenda∣tion above the rest. Tho' he is every where agreeably instructive and shews he had a gene∣ral Knowledge in all Things.

PLUTUS;

the God of Riches; Aristopha∣nes in a Comedy thus cailed, says, that this God having at first a good Eye-sight, stuck to no Bo∣dy but to the Just. But Jupiter taking his Sight from him, Riches afterwards fell indifferently to the Share of the Good and Bad: They formed a Design for the recovering of Plutus his Sight, but Penia, which is Poverty, opposed it, and made it appear that Poverty was the Mistress of Arts, Sciences and Vertues which would be in Danger of being lost if all Men were rich: They gave her no Credit, or seemed not to believe her, so that Plutus recovered his Sight in Aeseulapius his Temple, and from thence forward the Tem∣ples and Altars of other Gods, and those of Jupiter himself were abandoned, every Body sacrificing to no other than to God Plutus. Lu∣cian in Timon or Misanthropos brings Jupiter and Plutus talking together thus.

Jup.

I am amazed to find you angry, because you are left at Liberty, seeing you former∣ly complain'd of Usurers, who shut you up under Lock and Key, without letting you as much as see the Light, and made you endure a Thousand Torments. You said, that 'twas it which made you pale and disfigured and was the

Cause that you did endeavour to make your E∣scape. You also blamed the Covetous, who died for Love of you, and in the mean time durst not enjoy you, like the Dog in the Fable, who being tied to the Rock, could not himself eat Hay, and would not suffer the Horse to do it: You said, that they were jealous, and debarred themselves of all Recreations, without consider∣ing that what they loved would one Day be the Prey of a Thief or some unworthy Heir: Are not you ashamed thus to swerve from your old Maxims.

Plutus.

If you will hear me, you shall find I have Reason for what I do. For some let me go through Negligence, and others spare me through Stupidity, for want of knowing that if they used me not I should be of no Benefit to them, and that they will be forced to leave me, before they are advantaged by me.

Jupit.

They are sufficiently punished for their Fault, without your troubling of me to punish them, seeing the one like Tantalus die of Thirst in the midst of the Waters, and the other like Phineus see Harpies carrying away their Victuals, before they have tasted of it.

Mercury.

Let us go, why do you halt? Are you lame as well as blind?

Plutus.

I go always in this manner, when I am sent to any Body and there I come very late, and many times when there is nothing for me to do; but when the Business of my Return is in Agitation, I go as fast as the Wind, and they are much astonished that they cannot see me more.

Mercury.

That is not always true, for there are some People who grow rich while they sleep.

Plutus.

I do not go then upon my Feet, but I am carried; and 'tis not Jupiter that sends me, but Pluto who is also the God of Riches, as his Name imports; for he on a sudden makes great Riches to pass from one Person to ano∣ther, &c.....

Mercury.

That happens frequently, but when you go alone, how can you find the Way seeing you are blind?

Plutus.

I mistake also sometimes and often take one for another.

Mercury.

I believe it, but what do you do then?

Plutus.

I turn up and down, to the Right and Left, till I find some Body that seizes me by the Collar, and who goes to render you Thanks for his good Fortune, or some other God that shall never think of it.

Mercury.

Was not Jupiter therefore mistaken, when he thought you did enrich Men of Merit.

Plutus.

How could he think that one blind as I am, could find out a meritorious Person which is so rare a Thing? But as the Wicked are very numerous, I meet with them sooner than others.

Mercury.

Why is it that you run so fast in your Return, since you do not know the Way?

Plutus.

They said I never saw well but then, and that Fate gave me Legs for no other End than to flee away.

Mercury.

Tell me farther, why it is, since you are blind, pale, meager and lame, that you have so many Admirers who die for Love of you, and who place their Happiness in the Enjoyment of you.

Plutus.

'Tis because Love hinders them to see my Deformity, and that they are blinded with the Lustre which does surround me.

PLUTO,

Sanchoniathon makes him to be Saturn and Rhea's Son: He adds that he was at first called Mouth, which in the Phoenician and Hebrew Tongue signified Death, that they made a Deity of him after his Death, and that the Phoenicians named him sometimes Death and some∣times Pluto, as Eusebius says, Nec multò post Sa∣turnus alterum ex Rhea filium, nomine Mouth, vitâ functum consecrat; quem Phoenices modò Mortem, modò Plutonem nominant. Diodorus Siculus seems to give a Reason why they gave the Name of Death to Pluto, and that was because he was the first that had instituted Funeral Solemnities for the Dead, Plutonem verò funerum & sepulturae ac parentationis ritus ostendisse ferunt. The Greeks made a Pluto of a King of the Molossi, whose Name was Aidoneus or Orcus, who was the Person that stole Proserpina, and whose Dog named Cerberus devoured Pirithous, and had done the same by Theseus, if Hercules had not come to his Relief. The Greeks called this God Pluto, because all manner of Riches are at length swallowed up by the Earth from whence they came. Lactantius says, that Pluto was not only called Orcus, but also Diespiter, being as much as to say Dis pater. And that they surnamed him Agesilaus, because all Laughter is banished out of Hell.

PODIUM,

Balisters which were set round about the Temples of the Ancients.

POESIS,

Poetry. Cicero confesses that Poetry is an heavenly Gift and the Influence of a Divine Spirit, that Mankind is satisfied of this Truth, and that 'tis agreed that the same is no other than a Divine Rapture which transports Man's Spirit and raises him above himself, but yet so as that we are not indeed obliged to give the Name of Poetry to such Pieces as are writ in Verse, but yet in reality are nothing but Prose, for want of this Divine Spirit: 'Tis the Opinion of Horace in his Satyrs.

...... Neque enim concludere versum Dixerim esse satis...... Ingenium eui sit, cui mens divinior, atque os Magna sonaturum, des nominis hujus honorem.

Plato will have Poetry to be a Divine Gift and Inspiration, and that the Poets were not only

Historians and Philosophers, but Divines in An∣cient Times: St. Hierom informs us, that several of the Books of Scripture had been writ in Verse and tho' it were no other in it self than Prose, the Air, the Turn, the Fire and Majesty of Poetry that is to be met with there, may well allow us to say, that it was Poetry: 'Tis not on∣ly the Measures of Feet that make Poetry, but lively Expressions, bold and surprizing Figures, and rich Descriptions: Such sort of Poems there were among the Greeks and Romans, which are no other than short Prose, but had such a great and majestick Air of Poetry as was now men∣tioned.

POETAE,

Poets, they were formerly cour∣ted by and lived with great Princes, as their Di∣vines, Philosophers, Historians and Privy Coun∣sellers. Elian upon the Reputation of Plato de∣clares, that Hipparchus, Prince of the Athenians, sent a Gally to fetch Anacreon to him: Hiero of Syracuse, got Pindar and Simonides to live with him. Elian assures us, that Ptolomy Philopator, King of Egypt having built a Temple to Homer, he set him therein upon a Throne, and pictured all the Cities round about him that contended for his Nativity. Lastly, He says, that Galato represented Homer with a Stream running out of his Mouth, whither the rest of the Poets came to fetch Water. Plutarch informs us, that Alex∣ander had always Homer's Iliads at his Bed's Head, with his Dagger, saying, it was instru∣ctive to him in the Military Art. The Romans had a particular Esteem for the Poets, Scipio A∣fricanus had Ennius always with him: Cicero speaks of many great Roman Commanders who made use of Poets either to write their History, or with their Verses to adorn the Temples and other sacred Monuments which they dedicated to the Glory of the Gods. When the Govern∣ment of the Republick fell into the Hands of the Emperors, the famous Latin Poets were much more familiar with them than the Greek Poets had ever been with their Kings. And in what Favour Virgil and Horace were with Augustus is well known.

There were Poets in the Land of Canaan be∣fore Moses, for Bochart has very well observed, that Moses in the Book of Numbers hath inserted a victorious Song of a Canaanitish Poet, after he had gained the Victory over the Moabites and Ammonites: There is no doubt but that there were Poets in the East, and that there the Spring-head was, from whence came all the Greek Poe∣try. The less civilized Nations of the West had also Poets, who very often had the Manage∣ment of their Philosophical and Theological Schools. Homer lived above 300 Years before Rome was built, and there were no Poets at Rome till 400 Years after the building thereof; so that Poetry began not to be cultivated in that City till 700 Years after Homer.

Plutarch assures us, that in the most Ancient Times, Men never exprest great and divine Things any otherwise than in Poetry, making use even of Verse for their History and Philo∣sophy it self; for the Poets, for 6 or 700 Years before the Philosophers, were the Preser∣vers of all the Religion and Morality of the Hea∣thens. St. Augustine himself does not deny to the ancient Greek Poets the Title of Divines, and Lactantius is of Opinion, that whereas the Poets, as being more ancient than the ancientest Historians, Orators or Philosophers, writ so much Theological Truth, it has proceeded from their collecting together the Stories that went abroad in the World, which arose from an In∣tercourse with the Children of Israel, and their Prophets.

POLLUX,

the Son of Jupiter and Leda, and the Brother of Castor and Helen. Lucian ex∣plains the Story of Castor and Pollux in a Dia∣logue, between Apollo and Mercury.

Apollo.

Will not you teach me to know Castor from Pollux; for I am continually mistaken be∣cause of their Likeness to one another?

Mercury.

He who was Yesterday with us was Castor, and this is Pollux.

Apol.

How can one distinguish them, seeing they are so like?

Merc.

Pollux has his Face disfigured with the Blows he received in Wrestling, and especially from Bebrix, in the Expedition of the Argo∣nauts; the other is a handsome Fac'd Fellow, without ever a Scar.

Apol.

You have obliged me to let me know the Particulars of it; for seeing each of them has his half Shell, his white Horse, Dart and Star, I always mistake them; but tell me, why are not they both at the same time with us.

Merc.

It is, because it was decreed concerning Leda's Two Sons, that one should be mortal, and the other immortal, they divided the Good and the Evil between them like good Brothers, and so lived and died by turns, and their Business is to assist Mariners in a Storm.

Men swore by Pollux in this manner. Aede-Pol, that is, per aedem Pollucis; and the Women by Castor, Ecaestor or Mecastor. The Romans more particularly profest to give them Honour, because of the Assistance they believed to have received from them, in the Battle they fought near the Lake of Regillus, against the Latins, and therefore they erected a very fine Temple for them. They performed a great many fa∣mous Actions, as their delivering their Sister Helen out of the Hands of Theseus, who had stole her, and clearing the Seas of Pyrates; they sa∣crificed pure white Lambs to them; they were translated to Heaven, and made one of the Signs of the Zodiac, which is represented by Two Boys. Its the Third from Aries, and in May the Sun en∣ters into it. Pollux and Helen were the Children

of Jupiter and Leda; Caestor was the Son of Leda, and her Husband Tindarus; it was pretended they proceeded from an Egg, because they were nursed in the uppermost Room in the House, which they called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

Diodorus Siculus relates, that the Argonauts being overtaken with a great Storm, Orpheus made a Vow to the Samothracian Gods, there∣upon the Storm ceased, and Two Coelestial Fires appear'd upon the Heads of Castor and Pollux, who were of the Number of the Argonauts; from whence came the Custom of invoking the Samothracian Gods in a Storm, and giving those Two Coelestial Fires the Name of Castor and Pollux. Lucian in a Dialogue between Apollo and Mercury, observes, that these Two Brothers were also invoked in Storms, because they them∣selves had used the Seas; as being in the Com∣pany of the Argonauts. Cicero relates a won∣derful Piece of Revenge taken upon one Scopas, for speaking irreverently of those Two Brothers, called Dioscorides also, he having been crushed to pieces by the Fall of his Chamber, while Si∣monides who had made their Elogy, was called out by Two unknown Persons: The Greek and Roman Histories are full of the wonderful Appa∣ritions of these Two Brothers, either to gain a Victory, or to give News thereof, after the ob∣taining of it. But Cicero himself in another place tells us, how we are to entertain these Relations: He says, that Homer himself, who lived a little after these Two Brothers, affirmed, that they were buried at Lacedaemon, and conse∣quently that they could not come and acquaint Vatienus of the Gaining of the Victory; that they should rather have communicated the News to Cato, than to such an insignificant Fellow: lastly, That we should believe the Souls of such great Men to be Divine and Eternal Spirits, but that after their Bodies had been burnt and re∣duced to Ashes, they could neither ride on Horses, nor engage in Battle.

POLYHYMNIA, or POLYMNIA;

One of the Nine Muses, who presided over the Hymns and Songs that were play'd upon the Lute and Harp. Hesiod attributes the Art of Geometry to her, and Plutarch History.

POLYNICES,

the Son of Oedipus, King of Thebes, and Brother of Eteocles; Eteocles af∣ter the Death of Oedipus, deprived his Brother Polynices of the Kingdom of Thebes, tho' they had agreed to reign by turns; Polynices retired to Argos, married there the Daughter of King A••rastus, and afterwards marched with a formi∣dable Army against Eteocles, to call him to an Account for what he did. Jocasta their Mother endeavoured in vain to reconcile them, so both sides made themselves ready to give Battle: The Prophet Tiresias declared, the Thebans would get the Victory, if they sacrificed Menoeceus the Son of Creon to Mars; Creon denied his Son, but Menoeceus offered himself, then the Battle began, wherein Eteocles and Polynices killed one another, and Jocasta finding them to be dead, also slew her self.

POLYPHEMUS;

one of the Cyclops, the Son of Neptune, and the Nymph Thoosa, accord∣ing to Homer. Lucian gives a Description of him in his Dialogues of Sea-Gods, where he in∣troduces Doris and Galatea speaking thus.

Doris.

They say, Galatea, that Polyphemus is in Love with you; you have a fine Lover of him.

Galatea.

Doris do not jear, as mean as you think him to be, he is Neptune's Son.

Dor.

What, tho' he were Jupiter's Son; he is as hairy as a Bear, and has but one Eye.

Galat.

Hair is a sign of Strength, and his Eye looks very graceful in the middle of his Fore∣head; so that he looks as well as if he had had two.

Dor.

It seems to me as if you were enamou∣red on him, and not he on you.

Galat.

Not in the least; but I cannot endure your, nor your Companions Jealousie; for while he was feeding his Flocks in the Shade upon Mount Aetna, as we were playing on the River side, he found me more beautiful than you, and that I suppose makes you ready to burst for Spight.

Dor.

You have Vanity enough to believe that any Body will be jealous of you; what is there in you worth taking notice of, but your clear Skin, from whence you have obtained the Name of Galatea: He took you to be handsome, be∣cause your Complexion is just like his Butter and Cheese.

Galat.

But for all that, I have got one of Nep∣tune's Sons to be my Lover: Besides, he is an excellent Musician.

Dor.

Galatea, pray never talk of his Musick, we heard him the other Day, when he drew near you to sing. Good God, a strange Musici∣an indeed! A pleasant Harp made of a Deer's Skull, whose Horns served for Pins to it! As great an Imitatrix as Eccho is, she was ashamed to answer him, for his Voice and Instrument never agreed; and this fine Spark to make him appear the better, carried in his Bosom, a little Bear like himself: I do not envy you upon the Account of this stinking one-eyed Cyclops, who devours his Guests.

As Polyphemus one Evening was gathering his Flock together, he found Ʋlysses and his Com∣panions in a Grott, and taking them to be Rob∣bers, he closed up the Mouth of it with a Rock; but then discerning some of them by the glim∣mering of the Fire, which they concealed, he de∣voured them; hereupon Ʋlysses to avoid the like Usage, gave him some Wine, which he had no sooner drank, but he thought the Cave turn'd upside down; and Ʋlysses taking Advantage over

this his Giddiness, put out his Eye with a Fire-brand, and saved himself under the Belly of a Beast, as he was driving them to Pasture.

POMONA;

a Nymph of Latium, reckon∣ed to be the Goddess of Gardens and Fruits.

POMPEIUS;

Pompey, the Son of Strabo, whom Historians compare with Alexander; he was surnamed the Great, from his great Actions and excellent Endowments: He built a stand∣ing Theater at Rome; for before they erected none but as there was occasion for them: Dio accuses him of boundless Ambition, and Envy mixed with Vanity, since he envyed those Ho∣nours to Caesar, which he had acquired: He was defeated by Caesar in the Plains of Pharsalia, and fleeing into Egypt to King Ptolomy, he was assas∣sinated and killed in a Bark as he was going a∣shoar, his Head was sent to Caesar, who shed Tears at the sight thereof.

PONDUS;

Weights, wherewith liquid and dry Things are weighed. As the Weights of the Romans and Greeks agreed very much with their Money, you may see under the Word Mo∣neta, or under each particular Coin, what has been said concerning them.

PONTES,

Bridges. There were Eight of them in Rome: The Sublician Bridge, which was a Bridge of Wood: For the Word Sublicae signified Wooden Piles which were driven under the Water: It was the first that was built upon the Tiber; Ancus Martius made it of Pieces of Timber set together without Iron or Nails, it stood at the Foot of Mount Aventine, and join∣ed the Janiculum to the City: 'Twas that which Horatius Cocles defended against the Tuscan Ar∣my, but being ruined through length of Time, it was rebuilt of Stone by Emilius Lepidus, and called after his Name: The Emperor Tiberius rebuilt it in his Time, it being destroyed by the frequent Inundations of the Tiber: Happening afterwards to fall down again, Antoninus built it all of Marble, and 'twas called Pons Marmora∣tus; Malefactors, Vagabonds and the Argian Images were thrown off of this Bridge into the Water. 2. That called the Triumphal otherwise Vatican Bridge, that stood upon the Middle of the Tiber, over which those that triumphed pas∣sed, and is now ruined. 3. Tons Palatinus, which was near Mount Palatine, and otherwise named Senatorius. M. Fulvius made the Piles thereof, and L. Mummius finish'd the Arches during the Time of his Censorship. 4. Pons Fabricius, which was divided into two, when the Island of the Tiber was made, it being so called from him who built it, when he was chief Surveyor of the high Ways. It joined the Island to the City, and it is at this Day named Di qua∣tro capi, from the Four Marble Figures, each of which have Four Heads standing at the End of the Bridge in the Island, or the Jews Bridge, because they live near it: Others called it Pons Cestius or Equilinus, the Equiline Bridge. 5. Pons Janiculensis and Aurelius built of Marble by Antoninus Pius; and coming to be ruined, was rebuilt by Pope Sextus IV. and called after his Name di ponte Sixto. 6. Pons Elius, so called from the Emperor Elius Adrianus who built it, the same is called at this Day, Ponto S. Angelo 7. Pons Milvius, now Milvio, which Elius Scaurus built: It was upon this Bridge that Cicero seized the Ambassadors of the Allobroges, with Letters about them, whereby Catiline's Conspi∣racy was discovered, and it was near unto this Bridge that Constantine defeated the Emperor Maxentius.

At Three Miles Distance from Rome stands Salaro Bridge under which runs the Teveron or Anio.

PONTIFEX;

Authors differ about the Etymology of this Word, some deriving it from posse facere, i. e. from the Authority which the Pontiffs had to sacrifice; others, as Varro, from Pons, because they built the Sublician Bridge that they might go and offer Sacrifice on the other Side of the Tiber. Pontifices à ponte arbi∣tror dictos; nam ab iis Sublicius est factus & re∣stitutus saepè, cùm ideò sacra & uls & cis Tiberim ritu fiant.

Numa instituted Four Pontiffs of Patrician Families which continued to the Year 454. when in the Consulship of Apuleius Pansa and Valerius Corvus, they created Four more of Plebeian Race at the Importunity of the Tri∣bunes of the People, as Livy says. This Num∣ber of Eight lasted till the Dictatorship of Sylla, who added Seven more, and so the Colledge came to consist of 15 Pontiffs, but with this Di∣stinction that the first Eight were more honour∣able, and called Pontifices Majores, whereas the others took the Title of Pontifices Minores.

There was a sovereign Pontiff called Pontifex Maximus instituted by Numa, who was the chief Person and sovereign Judge in Matters of Reli∣gion, and to whose Care the Direction of all Ce∣remonies both Publick and Private and all the Articles of their Faith was wholly committed; he prescribed the Ceremonies and particular Worship wherewith each God was to be honour∣ed, after the same by a Decree of the Senate had been received at Rome, and to him belonged the Composing of the Rituals or Books of Ceremo∣nies: It was he that approved of the Vestal Vir∣gins, and appointed them their Habits, that corrected, chastised and condemned them to be buried alive, when they violated their Vow of Chastity: All the Orders of Priests and Sacri∣ficers were under his Inspection. Anciently he took upon him to perform the Functions of an Augur, but C. Servilius, the great Pontiff, be∣ing one Day about to solemnize the Inaugurati∣on of Cornelius Dolabelia, a Storm fell suddenly and broke up the Assembly, and thereupon as an

Effect of their Superstition, it was ordered that the great Pontiff should not any more inter∣meddle with the Business of Inauguration, un∣less he were Augur and grand Pontiff both: He blest and consecrated the Images and Statues of the Gods, before they were set up in the Tem∣ples to be adored; he also blest the Resemblances of some of Jupiter's Thunder-bolts, in order to preserve them from Storms: Besides these things that related to Religion, it was his Business to digest the Annals or Histories that were kept for every Year, as Festus says, Annales maximi non magnitudine; sed quòd eos Pontisex Maximus con∣fecisset.

The Choice of a chief Pontiff was at first in the Power of the other Pontiffs, who elected him out of their own Body; but Cn. Domitius Tri∣bune of the People deprived them of that Right, and transferred it to the People, because they would not confer this Dignity upon him in his Father's Place that was dead, and this Suetonius informs us in Nero's Life: Cn. Domitius in Tri∣bunatu Pontificibus offensior, quòd alium quàm se in patris sui locum cooptassent, jus sacerdotum subro∣gandorum à collegiis ad populum transtulit: There are some who believe with more Likelihood, that the chief Pontiff had been always created in an Assembly of the People held by the Tri∣bune: It being that which Cicero seems to say in the Agrarian Law. But if the People present∣ed, the Colledge of the Pontiffs had a Right to examine him, whether he were fitly qualified for that Dignity, viz. that he were of an un∣blameable Life, had never shed Blood, and skil∣led in both the Civil and Divine Law.

His Consecration was performed with extra∣ordinary Ceremonies, they made him go down into a Pit made in the Earth, clad in his Ponti∣fical Habit, and laid a Wooden Trap-door that was full of Holes over him, whereon the Sacrifi∣cers killed a Bull, whose Blood dropping like Dew through the said Holes, wetted the Pontiff all over; he rubbed his Face, Eyes, Mouth, and even his Tongue therewith: That being done, they took up the Trap-door, and the Flamines lifted the grand Pontiff out thence, all besmeared with Blood, and in this State they saluted him with these Words, Salve, Pontifex Maxime, and con∣ducted him to his House where he treated them splendidly: This Prudentius tells us in the Mar∣tyrdom of St. Romanus towards the latter End. Summus Sacerdos nempè sub terram scrobe actâ in profundum consecrandus mergitur mirè infulatus: He was the Chief of all the Priests, and to him appertained the sovereign Jurisdiction of Reli∣gion, and Conferring of such Offices as did be∣long to the Worship of the Gods. He was car∣ried in a Chair which they called Sella Curulis, and his Door was adorned with Lawrel like the Emperor's Palace: They carried him in a Litter to the Capitol: He was not obliged to give any Body an Account of his Actions, and this was the Rea∣son that the Emperors themselves from Julius Caesar took the Office of chief Pontiff upon them, till Gratian, who of himself laid it down. The other Pontiffs looked after Matters of Religion in Conjunction with the chief Pontiff, and they consulted them as the Interpreters of the Gods and Divine Mysteries, in Marriages and Adopti∣ons; and Tacitus tells us, that Nero consulted the Pontiffs in order to know whether he might marry a Woman who was with Child, before she were delivered; Consulti per ludibrium Ponti∣fices an concepto ne dum edito partu ritè nuberet.

POPAE;

were such Persons as attended the Sacrifices, whose Business it was to provide Vi∣ctims, and to kill them after they had knocked them down: They were half naked, their Shoul∣ders, Arms, and upper Part of their Bodies be∣ing uncovered as far as their Navels, and the rest covered to the Mid-leg with a Linnen A∣pron, or the Skins of the Sacrifices, wearing a Crown upon their Heads which was usually made of Lawrel: Thus they were represented on Tra∣jan's Column: But in the mean time there are other ancient Figures which represent them with a Priest's Albe reaching down from their Arm∣pits and tucked up, to which their sacrificing Knife was fastned: This Apron was called Limus, because at the lower End of it, it had a Purple Welt which was sowed in such a manner as repre∣sented a Serpent. And this Servius tells us upon that Verse in the 12th Eneid of Virgil.

Velati limo & verbenâ tempora vincti.

Limus, says he, vestis est quâ ab umbilico usque ad pedes teguntur pudibunda Poparum: haec autem vestis in extremo sui purpuram limam id est flexuo∣sam habet: unde & nomen accepit, nam limum obli∣quum dicimus.

POPLIFUGIUM;

the Flight of the People, which happened according to some Au∣thors, when Romulus was killed as he was haran∣ging the People, and that an horrible Clap of Thunder made them fly up and down for Fear, or when after the Desolation of the City oc∣casioned by the Gauls, the Romans were put to Flight by the Tuscans, according to Macrobius Sa∣turn. L. 3. C. 2.

PORRICERE;

('twas a Term used at ancient Sacrifices) which signified to throw the Entrails of the Victim into the Fire of the Sa∣crifice, after they had been inspected, in order to observe good or bad Omens from them.

Inter caesa & porrecta; between the cutting of the Victim's Throat and inspecting his Entrails; the same being a Latin Proverb to denote any Accident which may happen when we are just finishing of a Thing, and hinders the Compleat∣ing of it.

PORTA;

a Gate, Pliny says, that in his Time there were 37 Gates belonging to the Ci∣ty of Rome: There are still 9 of the ancient Gates in being besides that on the other Side of the Tiber and the Vatican. 1. The first and prin∣cipal was of Old called Flumentana or Flaminia, now del Populo, upon the Banks of the Tiber, to∣wards the Winter-west, according to Marlian's Description L. 1. C. 8. 2. Was called Collati∣na being on the Right-hand, leading towards the Hill of Gardens and through which they went to Collatia a City of the Sabines, and the great Road was called via Collatina. 3. Quirinalis, be∣cause through it they went to Mount Quirinal; it is now called porta Salara, because through it they bring Salt into the City. 4. Viminalis, be∣cause of Mount Viminal, the same being now cal∣led Momentane, or St. Angelo. 5. Esquilina, or Taurina and Tiburtina, because they went thro' it to go to Tibur. 6. Porta Coelimontana, thro' which they went to Mount Coelius. 7. Porta Latina or Ferentina, which lead to the Country of the Latins. 8. Capena and Fontinalis at the Foot of Mount Aventine, and near the Tiber, and there they had divers Fountains, which made Juvenal call it Madida Capena. By this Gate they entred into the great Road called via Appia; and 'twas through it that such as trium∣phed and the whole Cavalcade that attended them, entred, and so they called it also Triumpha∣lis. 9. Ostiensis and Trigemina, because of the Three Horatii who killed the Three Curatii, that entred at it.

There were Three Gates in Trans-Tiberina, 1. Ripa, where the Barks that came from Ostia and the Sea landed, and the same was formerly called Portuensis and Navalis. 2. Stood on the Top of the Janiculum, and was formerly called Aurelia, being so named from the Road, which one Aurelius a Man of Consular Dignity paved: Through this Gate they went along by the Tus∣can Sea as far as Pisa. 3. Septimiana which stood at the Foot of the Janiculum, and was so called from Septimius Severus who built it.

PORTICUS,

a Portico or Gallery, joined to private or publick Buildings: The Magnifi∣cence and Beauty of their Portico's was some∣thing extraordinary among the Romans. They had private ones for the Conveniency of private Houses, and the publick ones served for an Or∣nament to their Theaters and publick Buildings. These Portico's were sometimes covered and sometimes open: The covered ones consisted of long Galleries supported usually by one or more Rows of Marble Pillars, and within side inrich∣ed with Statues, Painting, and other Orna∣ments, with stately and magnificent Arches. On the Sides were several. Windows shut with a precious Stone, (which was more transparent than our Glass.) In Winter time they opened them towards the South to let in the Sun, and in Summer on the North-side: These covered Portico's served for People to walk under, and to recreate themselves without being exposed to the Injuries of the Weather: They were called Stadiatae Portici.

The open Portico's which were called Subdiales Ambulationes, served for Places to wrestle in: Of all the Portico's built at Rome, the most con∣siderable were those of Pompey, Augustus and Nero: Pompey built his before his Court, and it was the pleasantest Walk in all the City and the coolest in Summer, and this made the Poets by way of Excellency call it Pompeia umbra, as O∣via does,

Tu modò Pompeiâ lentus spatiare sub umbrâ, Cum Sol Herculei terga Leonis adit.

Augustus's served for an Ornament to his Palace and Library: The Pillars were of Numi∣dian Marble, and there were the Statues of Da∣naus his 50 Daughters, ranged in their proper Order. Nero adorned his Palace with Three Portico's each of 3000 Paces long, and for that Reason they were called Porticus milliariae.

The Athenians were also very curious in Por∣tico's, and therein it was that their Philosophers kept their Schools: The most famous was that which they called Poecile, where they had a Brass Statue of Mercury and the finest Paintings that could be seen, and among the rest that which represented the Battle of Marathon: There it was Zeno kept his School, for which Reason he was called the Stoick, and those of his Sect Stoicks, from the Greek Word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that signifieth a Portico.

The Ancients had also Subterranean Portico's built like arched Galleries, to cool themselves in in Summer time; they called them Subterraneae porticus, or crypto-porticus,

PORTORIUM,

Custom or Impost laid upon the Importation and Exportation of Goods.

PORTUMNUS;

a Sea-God called Meli∣certus and Palaemon by the Greeks, the Son of Ino who was looked upon as a Deity presiding over Ports, there were Games celebrated in Honour of him and certain Combats in Greece called Portumnales and Isthmian Games, because they were performed in the Isthmus of Corinth.

POST-SCENIUM,

the back Part of the Theater, whither the Actors retired and undrest themselves.

POST-VORTA;

a Goddess worshipped by the Romans, because she foresaw what was to come.

POTITII,

the Potitians, they were Her∣cules his Priests consecrated by Evander, who were present at the Sacrifice offered by Hercules after he had found his Oxen which the Thief Cacus had stole: He invited Two considerable Families to this Sacrifice, to wit, the Potitians

and Pinarians. This Priestly Office was after∣wards transferred into the Hands of the publick Slaves, which happened in the Year of Rome 441. when Appius Claudius having corrupted the Po∣titians with Money they lost this Office which had been appropriated to their Family by E∣vander. These Priests were clad with the Skins of Beasts.

PRAECIAE

and PRAECLAMITATO∣RES, Criers; being Officers that went along the Streets of Rome before the Flamen dialis, to cause all People to give over their Work on pub∣lick Holy-days, for if they saw any one at Work, the Service of the Gods could not be performed.

PRAECO;

the Publick Crier, he was an Officer whose Business it was in the Assemblies of the People to call the Classes and Centuries according to their Order, and to cause Silence to be kept in the Temples during the Time of Sacrificing.

PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO;

he was the chief Commander of the Praetorian Bands, and may be called Collonel of the Guards. The Institution of this Office is attributed to Augustus who according to Dio established Two of them out of the Order of the Knights: Tiberius made but one, viz. Sejanus his Favou∣rite, who perswaded him to keep all the Com∣panies of the Guards together, (they being be∣fore dispersed up and down the City and in the neighbouring Parts) in a Place near unto the Walls, towards Porta Viminalis, which was cal∣led Castra Praetorianorum: His Pretence for it was, that the Soldiers being dispersed in that manner must necessarily be debauched; and if any sudden Accident happened, they would be now more in Readiness to give their Assistance. These Companies of the Guards made 10000 effective Men at first, and in time amounted to a compleat Army, which made them formidable to Rome. The Emperor Commodus made Three Praefecti praetorio, according to Lampridius, but afterwards other Emperors made but Two, and this lasted till Constantine's Time. These Pre¦fects at first were taken out of the Order of Knights only, and 'twas a fundamental Law that could not be dispenced with; whence it was that Mark Antony according to the Relation of Julius Capitolinus, exprest his Displeasure that he was not able to make Pertinax, who was his Succes∣sor, Praefectus praetorto, because he was a Senator. Doluit Marcus, quòd cùm Senator esset, Praefectus praetorio a se fierinon posset. The Emperor Com∣modus being afraid to confer this Office upon Paternus, dexterously disappointed him of it by conferring upon him the Honour of the Laticla∣vium and making him a Senator, as Causabon explains that Passage, Per Lati-clavi bonorem à praefecturae administratione snbmovit: Heliogabalus conferred this Charge upon his Juglers, ac∣cording to Lampridius, and Alexander Severus made use of Senators, which was never practised before, says the same Author in his Life, or at least very seldom; for except Titus the Son of Vespasian, who was a Senator and a Man of Con∣sular Dignity, that was constituted Praefectus praetorio under his Father, as Suetonius says, or Cremerus Aretinus, according to Tacitus, we do not find in History that any Senator enjoy'd it till this Emperor's Time.

When the Emperor instituted this Officer, he made a short Speech concerning the Dignity of the Charge, and the Duties of the Person en∣trusted with it, then he presented him with a Sword and Belt, and sometimes put a naked Sword into his Hand, saying as Trajan did to Licinius Sura,

Receive this Sword, and imploy it for my Service, if I govern well, but if o∣therwise, make use of it against me.

This Dion Cassius informs us in Trajan's Life: This Officer was degraded by divesting him of the Sword and Belt, as Galba did by Tigillinus and Sabinus who were Praefecti praetorio, as we read in Philo∣stratus. These Officers commanded the Guards and all the Armies and administred Justice, the Emperors leaving to them the Management of all Affairs: They may be compared with the ancient Mayors of the Palace in France, who were the second Persons in the Kingdom, and to whose sole Management the Kings of the first Line left all Things; they thinking it enough to shew themselves once a Year to the People. But Constantine the Great did a little moderate the Power of the Praefectus praetorio, for to punish him that had declared himself in Favour of the Tyrant Maxentius and demolished the Cittadel at Rome which Sejanus had caused to be built; and having divided the Empire into Four Go∣vernments, he constituted Four General Go∣vernours or Praefecti praetorio over them, each bearing the Name of their particular Govern∣ment. These Governments were those of Gaul, Sclavonia called Illiricum, Italy and the East, so that there was a Praefectus praetorio Gallia∣rum, or a Praetorian Prefect of the Gauls, one of Italy, another of East Sclavonia, called Illiricum Orientale, who had his Residence at Thessalonica, and the Fourth of the East, that resided in Syria. These Two last had all the East under their Go∣vernment, which was divided into 60 Provinces; and the first Two all the West divided into 58. They had Lieutenants under them, whom they commanded in an absolute manner, and they were called Vicarii. When Constantine had established these Four Governours, he de∣prived them of the Command of the Army which originally did belong to them, and re∣quired every one of them to administer Justice within his Government with supream Po∣wer. There are other Authors who attri∣bute this Change to the Emperors Valenti∣nian,

Gratian, and Theodosius, but Zozimus does it to Constantine.

They had a Tribunal where they administred Justice, and they passed Sentence by Word of Mouth and not in Writing as other subordinate Magistrates did, Non pronuntiabant ex tabellâ, sed verbo. They had the Priviledge of the Sword which they wore by their Sides, that is, to pass a final Sentence of Death without further Appeal. In the Place where they administred Justice there stood a Table covered over with Scarlet Tapistry and Gold Fringe round it, up∣on which there was a Book shut, on the Cover whereof was the Emperor's Picture, and on each Side Two gilded Candlesticks with lighted Wax-Candles; 'twas in this manner he administred Justice, that so a greater Solemnity might be added to the Majesty of the Roman Empire. This Book was that which the Emperors gave to these Governours, when he sent them into their Governments, and therein was contained the Duties of their Office. Lazius tells us that the Marks of the Praetorian Praefect's Digni∣ty, were the Priviledge of the Sword, the Rods, the Curule-Chair, the Scepter or Ivory-Staff, the Pretext-Robe, the Laticlavium and the Trabea; also the Insula or Mitre to wear on their Heads, and a Company of Archers for a Guard: When these Praefects went from Rome to their Governments, they left their Children with the Emperors as a Security of their Fidelity.

PRAEFECTUS URBIS;

The Prefect or Governour of the City; he was formerly one of the chief Magistrates of Rome, who governed it in the Absence of the Consuls and Emperors. His Business was to look after the Provision, Ci∣vil Government, Buildings and Navigation: His Power extended to a 1000 Stones Throw without Rome, according to Dion: He was the proper Judge in the Causes of Slaves, Patrons, and Freed-men: He convened the Senate, jud∣ged the Senators, and defended their Rights and Prerogatives, as Cassiodorus will have it: He was obliged on the first Day of the Year to go and make the Emperor a Present in the Name of all the People, of some Gold Cups, with Five Pieces of Money, as Symmachus says, Vobis solemnes pateras cum quinis solidis ut Numi∣nibus integritatis offerimus.

PRAEFERICULUM,

a Vase used at the Sacrifices of old, that had a prominent Mouth, like unto some Vessels now used.

PRAEFICAE MULIERES:

They were a sort of mourning Women, who at Funeral So∣lemnities praised the Deceased, made a Lamen∣tation, beat their Breasts, and ditorted their Faces to incite others to mourn. See Funus and Exequiae.

PRAENOMEN;

it was that which was put before the general Name, and signified as much as our proper Name which serves to di∣stinguish Brothers one from another, as Peter, John, James. This Praenomen was not brought in use till long after the Name; and therefore it was a Custom among the Romans to give to their Children the Name of the Family, on the the 9th Day after their Birth, if they were Boys, and on the 8th to Girls, according to Festus and Plutarch, and these Days they called Dies Lu∣strici, because it was a Ceremony whereby they acknowledged them for their lawful Children: Whereas the Praenomen was not given till they took upon them the Virile Robe, that is, a∣bout the Age of 17, as appears by the Epitome of the 10th Book attributed to Valerius Maxi∣mus: This also is manifest by Cicero's Epistles, where his Children are always called Ciceronis pueri till that Age, after which they were called Marcus filius, Quintus filius. And whereas Cicero in his last Epistle of L. 6. calls his Nephew Quin∣tum Ciceronem puerum; its very likely that he misapplies the Word puer, either to distinguish him from his Father, who was also called Quin∣tus, or perhaps, because it was but a very short time since he had taken the Virile Robe upon him. There was usually Care taken in confer∣ring this Praenomen, to give that of the Father to the Eldest Son, and that of the Grand-father and Ancestors to the Second, and so on.

PRAEPOSITUS

sacri cubiculi; this Name may be given with us to the Lord Chamber∣lain, who marched, at the Performance of any Ceremonies, after the Master of the Horse-Guards; as you have it in the last Law of the Code, and in the Law Penul. eodem, where his Charge is inserted, which was to keep himself in the Emperor's Chamber, and to take care of his Bed and Cloathing. See Panciroli, Notitia Imperii, & Bollanger, L. 3. C. 13.

PRAETEXTA;

a Robe so called, which was a long and white Vest, edged with a Purple Border, the Sons of Persons of Quality wore it at Rome till the Age of Fifteen; and their Daughters till they were married: The Magi∣strates, Augurs, Priests and Senators were it on solemn Days, as Authors inform us.

PRAETEXTATI,

were such Children as still wore the Robe called Praetexta.

Praetextata verba, and Praetextatus sermo; they were lascivious and wanton Expressions used by Children, when a young Woman was married.

Praetextata Comoedia; a Comedy, wherein Kings and Magistrates, who had a Right to wear the Robe edged with the Purple Border, were represented upon the Stage.

Praetextatae actiones, were such Things as ap∣pertained to the Actions of Kings and Magi∣strates.

PRAETOR;

a great Magistrate in Rome, At first all the Magistrates were called Praetors: But afterwards the Generals of the Army, and even the Emperors themselves were called Prae∣tors.

Afterwards they constituted Praetors to ad∣minister Justice to the Citizens, and others to Strangers: And lastly, there were Praetors made for the Government of Provinces. His Power was very great, for the Praetor could alter Laws, repeal them, and make new ones; from whence you have in the Law mention made often of the Praetor's Edict.

For the better understanding the Dignity of the Praetors, it will be proper fully to examine the Reason of their Name, Institution, Num∣ber, Dignity, and what their Power and Charge was. The Word Praetor was peculiarly applied to this new Magistrate, for before it belonged to the Consuls, and all Persons in Authority, whether in Civil or Sacred Things; hence it is that we read in some ancient Epitaphs, Praetor Sacrorum, Praetor Juventutis: Which is confirm'd by Asconius Pedianus; Non solùm veteres omnem Magistratum, cui pareret exercitus, Praetorem ap∣pellarunt: Sed quemcunque in re profanâ sive etiam sacrâ praefectum; The Ancients not only called those Praetors who commanded the Armies, but also such as had the Charge either of Sacred or Civil Things. The Occasion of creating this Magistrate, was a Multiplicity of Business upon the Consul's Hands (and this was Anno 388,) and the Necessity the Republick found it self un∣der of granting to the People a Consul of their own Order; for the Senate did not allow it but upon Condition that a new Magistrate should be created, that is, the Praetor, who was taken out of the Patrician Order: But in the Year 416, Q. Philo, a Plebeian, got himself advanced to the Office of Praetor, notwithstanding the Oppositi∣on made by the Consul Sulpicius against him.

There was no more but one of them from the Year 388, till 510, according to Lipsius; but Bu∣siness coming to increase so much by reason of the great Number of Citizens and Strangers that came to live in Rome, and one being not enough, they thought it proper to constitute another, and their Business was distinct; for one admini∣stred Justice to the Citizens of Rome, and for that Reason was called Praetor urbanus; and the other took Cognizance of the Suits that happen∣ed between the Citizens and Strangers, and he was called Praetor peregrinus: The first was more honourable than the other, and so he was entit∣led, Praetor honoratus, and his Edicts named Jus honorarium, as the Lawyers say. But towards the Year 520, when Sicily and Sardinia were reduced into Provinces, they appointed Two new Praetors, whom they sent thither in the Qua∣lity of Governours and Judges; and this was likewise done, when the Spaniards were conquer∣ed, as Livy informs us, who says they made Six Praetors for that Year; sex Praetores eo anno pri∣mùm creati. Sylla also encreased the Number of them with two more, but the Triumvirs in∣creased them to 64, according to Dion: How∣ever, Augustus reduced them to 12, and Tibe∣rius being sollicited to increase the Number, re∣fused it, as Tacitus says, L. 1. Tiberius after∣wards named 12 Praetors, the Number established by Augustus, and as the Senate pressed him to in∣crease them, he swore he would not do it: However he increased them to 15, in the Year 786, ac∣cording to Dion: The Emperor Claudius enlar∣ged the Number to 18; but upon the Declensi∣on of the Empire, they were reduced to 3 only, as we may see by the Laws of the Emperors Va∣lentinian and Macrinus, set forth, L. 2. C. de Off. Praet.

The Praetorship was the second Office for Dig∣nity in Rome, since 'twas conferred by the same Auspices as the Consulship, and that the Praetors were in History called Collegae Consulum, as Livy observes, L. 7. Decad 1. The exterior Ensigns of this Office were the Robe called Praetexta, the Curule Chair, and six Lictors. This Office was Annual, and he who discharged the same with Honour, and without any Disgrace, had a Right for all his Life-time to wear the Praetexta, and white Trabea, but such as were guilty of Male-Administration were forced to lay it down, as it happen'd to Bembius Pamphilus. All their Busi∣ness in general consisted in Three Things, viz. to administer Justice to Citizens and Strangers, to preside over Games, and to take Care of the Sacrifices: Justice was administred by these Three Words, Do, Dico, Addico; Do signified to receive and admit the Plaintiff to commence his Suit; Dico to summon, or give a Summons up∣on Oath, or deliver it to the Person in Possession, to dispatch Matters of Adoptions and Emancipa∣tions, and to make Edicts as a Supplement to the Civil Law; and Addico to adjudge, condemn, and pronounce Sentence: He was to oversee the Games, as Livy has it, L. 8. Decad 1. as also Martial and Juvenal: They took Care of the Sacrifices offered to the Goddess called Bona Dea, as Plutarch says in Caesar's Life, and Cicero, L. 1. Ep. 10. ad Articum.

PRAETORES CEREALES, or FRU∣MENTARII;

Praetors, whose Business it was to see that Rome was supplied with Corn; they were establish'd by Julius Caesar.

PRAETORES AERARII;

the Officers. of the Treasury or Exchequer.

PRAETORIUM;

the Place where the Praetor administred Justice; it was also his Pa∣lace, and sometimes his Pleasure-house: Besides which it signified the Tent or Pavillion of the General of the Army, where the Council of Warmet.

PRAETORIANI;

the Soldiers, who were the Emperor's Guards: Scipio Africanus was the first who established a Company of the Bravest of his Army, whom he chose for his Guards, and who did not forsake him in Battle.

PRAXITELES;

a Native of Great Greece, and honoured with the Priviledge of a Roman Citizen, an excellent Statuary, whose Works were all Master-pieces: Among others there was Cupid's Statue, which the Thespians bought for 800 Golden Minae Atticae, and was brought to Rome by Julius Caesar: But the most Conside∣rable was the Statue of Venus, which half open∣ed her Lips, as if she smiled: The Industry of the Artist overcame the Stone it self; insomuch that the Hardness of the Marble exprest the most delicate Features of so beautiful a Body: There was a Mole upon the Goddess's Thigh, which was the more conspicuous, because the rest was of white Marble finely polished. Lucian in his Dialogue of the Lovers, does also discover unto us the Cause of this Mole:

The Sacristan, he or she that officiated there, for they say, 'twas a Woman, told us somewhat that amazed us; she said that a young Man of Noble Birth, but one whose Infamy buried his Name in Oblivion, being prompted by some evil Genius, fell in Love with this Statue; wherefore he spent all his time in the Temple to contemplate her, having his Eyes always fixed upon her..... His Passion continuing; all the Temple Walls and Trees round resounded nothing but his Love: It extoll'd Praxiteles above Jupiter, and gave all that it had for an Offering to the God∣dess: It was believed at first that his Devoti∣on lead him thither, but he being at length transported with Madness, hid himself one Night in the Temple, and some Mark of the Violence of his Passion was discovered next Day, but he seen no more; and whether it were that he fell down over the Rocks, or into the Sea, is uncertain.

PRIAMUS;

the Son of Laomedon, he was with his Sister Hesione taken Prisoner by Her∣cules, and ransomed for Money; he ascended his Father's Throne, and reign'd over the Trojans, and all Asia: He married Hecuba, by whom he had several Children; and Paris amongst the rest, who going to Greece, under Pretence of demanding Hesione his Aunt's Liberty, took a∣way Helen from Menelaus, which caused the Gre∣cians to engage in that War against the Trojans, that lafted Ten Years: At last Troy was destroy'd, and Priamus killed by Pyrrbus the Son of Achilles, near unto the Altar of Jupiter Herceius.

PRIAPUS;

the Poets made him to be Venus and Bacchus's Son; he was not a Man, but the Representation of those Parts that serve for Generation, which Isis caused to be made and worshipped, when after the rest of Osiris his Body was found, which had been cut to pieces by his Enemies, there was none but this wanting, the Picture whereof he required should be adored: this Worship spread it self every∣where, and this infamous Figure was to be seen in most Temples; in Vineyards and Gardens over whom Priapus was said to preside. Diodo∣rus adds, that in order to the advancing the Credit of this Monster of Impurity, they made him to be the Son of Venus and Bacchus.

Strabo speaks of a City in Troas that bore the Name of Priapus, because he was much honour∣ed there, and that it abounded with excellent Wines: But this Author says afterwards, that the Worship of Priapus was new, that Hesiod did not know him, but that he was very like un∣to the other petty Deities of the Athenians: But this Worship could be no where new except in Greece, if according to Diodorus Siculus, it prevailed in Egypt in the Days of Isis. Strabo observes, that even before this Priapus, the Greeks were not without some other the like Represen∣tations. Some have thought, that the Image and Worship of Priapus began to obtain in the World, after Sesostris, King of Egypt had sub∣dued a great Part thereof, and left all those im∣modest Pictures, as an Instance of their Lasci∣viousness and Victories, in all the Provinces: Venus prostituting herself to Bacchus, and being ready to lie in, she retired to Lampsacus, a City in Phrygia, where she was brought to Bed of Pria∣pus, who was born with a prodigious large Geni∣tal: Venus left him in that City, where after he grew up, he was so mightily beloved of the Women, that the Lampsacians banished him out of their City; but finding themselves taken with a strange Distemper in their privy Parts, and having consulted the Oracle thereupon, they recalled him, and set up his Statue in their Or∣chards and Gardens to frighten the birds away, they represented him like a Man stark naked with disheveled Hair, holding a Sickle in one Hand, and his Genital in the other: They sa∣crificed an Ass to him, because Priapus, accord∣ing to Ovid, going about to violate the Chastity of Vesta when asleep, Silenus's Ass bray'd, awaked her and prevented her being debauched by him.

PRIMICERIUS CUBICULI;

the first Groom or first Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber.

PRIMICERIUS NOTARIORUM,

Secretary of State; who kept a general Register of the whole Empire. Tacitus in the first Book of his Annals tells us, that the Emperor Au∣gustus had made a Journal of the Empire, where∣in was contained the ••••umber of Roman Sol∣diers and Strangers that were in Service, that of the Armies, Kingdoms, Provinces, Imposts, Revenues, and at last a State of the Charge; the whole was writ by Augustus his own Hand: The Emperors at first left the keeping of this Journal to their Freed-men, which were called Procuratores ab Ephemeride, and afterwards Vir spectabilis Primicerius Notariorum, who had se∣veral Secretaries under him called Tribuni No∣tarii.

PRIMIPILUS,

chief Captain or first Cen∣turion who had Charge of the Banner; Collo∣nel of the first Legion among the Romans.

PRIMITIAE;

the first Fruits of the Earth, which were offered to the Gods upon an Altar made like a Trivet.

PROBUS,

a Roman Emperor, that suc∣ceeded Tacitus; he was a Pesant's Son of Dal∣matia, but his Valour, Spirit and other excellent Endowments supplied all the Defects of his Birth, in so advantagious a manner, that it pro∣ved to be no Impediment to him. In Gaul he took Revenge upon 400000 Germans, whom he defeated, for the Cruelties they had exercised towards those that were faithful to the Empire, in divers Irruptions made by them: God gave him a famous Victory over the Sarmatians in Il∣lyricum, and over the Goths in Thrace: Bonosus and Proculus rebelled against him, one in the Provinces near the Rhine, and the other in that Part of Gaul which is about Lyons. But they both unhappily perished: It's indeed true, that the Inroads made by the Franks into all the Pro∣vinces of the Empire, allayed the Joy of his Victories: Death put a Stop to the Triumphs which Probus hoped to have won over the Per∣sians in the Fifth Year of his Reign, according to Vopiscus, and the Beginning of his Seventh ac∣cording to Eusebius, Orosus, Cassiodorus, Aurelius, Victor and Eutropius. He was killed by his own Soldiers, fearing he should subdue all the E∣nemies of the Empire, left they should become useless.

PRO-CONSUL;

a Magistrate who was sent to govern a Province with a consulary and extraordinary Power: He had all the Ensigns of a Consul's Power conferred upon him, as the Purple-Robe, the Curule-Chair, and the Ivory-Scepter, but he had no more than Six Lictors: His Equipage was provided at the Charge of the Publick, and the same was called Viaticum, which consisted in Pavillions, Charging-Horses, Mules, Clerks, Secretaries, &c. as Cicero in his Oration against Rullus explains it, Deinde ornat apparitoribus, scribis, librariis, praeconibus: prae∣terea mulis, tabernaculis, tentoriis, supellectili, sumptum haurit ex aerario. This Office lasted no longer than one Year, but the Person many Times exercised it till the Arrival of his Suc∣cessor, and there were but 30 Days allowed him for his Return to Rome.

PROGNE;

the Daughter of Pandion, King of Athens, who was married to Tereus, King of Thrace, by whom she had a Son named Itys. Te∣reus going one Day to Athens, she desired him to bring her Sister Philomela along with him, which he did, but he ravished her by the Way, and then cutting out her Tongue, he shut her up in a dark Prison, and pretended she died by an extraordinary Accident. Philomela having found out a Way to let her Sister know the Disa∣ster that had befallen her, by writing to her an Account of it upon a Piece of Linnen with her own Blood; she dissembled her Grief till the Feast of Bacchus, where making one of the Bac∣chantes she freed her Sister, and made Tereus eat his own Son Itys, who intending to revenge the same, the Fable says, the Gods transformed Progne into a Swallow, and Philomela into a Nightingale; as for Itys, he was changed into a Pheasant, and Tereus to a Lapwing.

PROMETHEUS,

the Son of Japetus and Clymene and Deucalion's Father; Lucian in a Dia∣logue, called Prometheus or Caucasus brings in Vulcan, Mercury, and Prometheus speaking in this manner.

Merc.

There is Caucasus to which we are to tie the Criminal: Let us seek out some Rock that has no snow upon it, that so we may drive the Nails the deeper, and he be exposed every way in order to make his Punishment the more exemplary.

Vulc.

I see it; but he must not be put so low, that the Men which he has made can come and unloose him, nor so high as not to be seen. It will do very well in my Mind, upon the side of this Mountain, above that Abysm, we will tie one of his Hands to yonder Rock, and the other to that over against it. Merc. You say well, for they are both steep and unaccessible. Prom. Come hither, that you may not be forced to it, and get up presently, that you may be tied.

Prom.

Have pitty upon an unfortunate Man, who is unjustly punished.

Merc.

Do not pretend to tell us what to do? Do you think that Caucasus is not big enough for us Three to be tied to it; Or are you glad to have Companions in your Misery, which is a Com∣fort to the Unfortunate? Here, take his Right Hand, Vulcan; tie it fast; and there is the Left, we will tie it also: 'Tis very well. The Vulture will come to tear your Bowels, as a Reward for your excellent Invention.

Prom.

O Earth which hast brought me forth! And thou Saturn and Japetus, must I suffer so much for nothing?

Merc.

For nothing, Wretch! Was it nothing to deceive Jupiter at a Feast, and to give him Bones covered with Fat, that you might re∣serve the best part for your self: Besides, who re∣quired you to make a Man, that subtile and wary Animal, and especially Women; and af∣terwards to steal Fire from Heaven, which be∣longed to the Gods: Nay, after all this, you come to plead your Innocence, and to say they do you much Wrong in punishing you?

Prom.

Have you the Courage, Mercury, to persecute me in this manner, and to revile me in respect to Things for which I have deserved well: I swear by the Gods, that I was brought up at the Charge of the Publick, in the Pryta∣neum. I was concerned to see Jupiter so vexed,

and out of Humour, because he had not the best part in the Feast; he was going to sacrifice, not a meer Man, but a God, and one of his old Com∣rades, who served him in time of need....Let us now speak of the Creation of Man; and if any will say, that he ought not to be made at all, or that he should have been made after another manner; I will examine both the one and the other, and as to the first say, that the Gods have been so far from losing any thing thereby, that they have been great gainers; and that 'tis more to their Advantage that there should be Men, than if there were none at all. To carry the Matter a little higher, you must know, that at first there were none but Gods in the World, and that the Earth was no more than a vast De∣sart covered with thick Woods: Wherefore, as I have been always studious of the publick Bene∣fit and Advantage, I mixed some Earth with Water, as the Poet says, and working them to∣gether, I made a Man like unto us by Minerva's Help. This is my Crime....And now let us speak about stealing the Fire; and first did not I steal it to give it to Men, and is it not the Na∣ture of that Element to communicate it self without being lost.

The same Lucian in the following Dialogue, makes Prometheus speak to Jupiter in this man∣ner.

Prom.

Free me, Jupiter, for I cannot do it my self.

Jupit.

Villain, shall I set you at Liberty? Must I do it because you have made that Piece of Workmanship, which has occasioned so much Mischief, stole Fire from Heaven, and deceived your Master at a Feast?

Prom.

Have not I suffered enough, to have been tied so long to Caucasus, and to have mine Entrails fed upon by the Cruellest of all the Vultures.

Jupit.

That's not the Hundredth Part of what you have deserved; you ought to have been crushed to Pieces by Caucasus and not tied to it, and not only to have your Liver gnawed by 12 Vultures, but also your Eyes and Heart. So much for the Fable, now to the History.

Diodorus Siculus says, that Prometheus go∣verned part of Egypt in the Reign of Osiris: The Nile overflowing, all the Country under Pro∣metheus his Government had been drowned, if Hercules had not stopt it's Irruptions by the Ditches which he made. The Nile was former∣ly named Oceanus; but this Inundation gave it the Name of Eagle; it was called Egypt in suc∣ceeding Times, and Nilus from the Two Kings who bore that Name. Prometheus his Trouble that the River called the Eagle had spoiled his Country, gave the Poets occasion to feign, that Prometheus his Heart was tore by an Eagle, till such time as Hercules came to free him from that Punishment. Ideo poetarum nonnulli Graecorum factum hoc detorsere ad fabulam, quòd Aquilam Pro∣methei jecur depascentem Hercules confixerit. The same Historian says elsewhere, that the Reason why the Poets feigned Prometheus stole Fire from Heaven and communicated the same to Men, was because he invented Instruments to make Fire with: Ignarii repertor est instrumenti, vide∣licet quo ad eliciendum ignem utimur. Jupiter to punish the Thief put him in Chains, but Her∣cules having made his Peace with Jupiter set him free.

Lucian gives an Account of the most probable Way whereby Man was made by Prometheus, viz. that he was the first that made Statues of Earth with so much Art and Skill, which was attributed to Minerva, that those earthy Men seemed to have both Life and Motion: The Poets from hence feigned that Prometheus was the Maker of Men. Appian in his History of the Mithridatick War, relates, that Pompey when in Pontus, had the Curiosity to go and see Mount Caucasus, to which, it was said, Prometheus was tied. Arrian reports, that the Macedonians, who under Alexander conquered Asia, having entred into a Cave in the Country of Paropami∣sus, they were informed by the Inhabitants of the Neighbourhood, or invented it themselves, that 'twas the Place where Prometkeus had been chained, and where an Eagle tore his Heart, till Hercules, having shot the Eagle with his Ar∣rows, came and delivered him. This was a Story invented by Alexander's Flatterers, to transport Caucasus from Pontus to the Eastern Countries, that so they might say, Alexander had past over Caucasus. It may be said, that the Fable of Prometheus was transferred from Egypt into Pontus to Mount Caucasus, where they also feigned that a River called the Eagle over-flowing the Country, Prometheus was put in Chains by his Subjects, and at length set at Li∣berty by Hercules.

As they will have Prometheus to have been the Person who brought the Worship of the 12 Gods into Greece, it's more probable he was an Egyptian by Descent, and that the History or Fable appertaining to him, was successively car∣ried into Scythia, Pontus and Greece. Fulgentius Placiades, who wrote Three Books of Mytholo∣gy, at the Time that the Vandals conquered and ravaged Africa, says that Prometheus, that is Providence, formed the Body of a Man of Earth, that going up to Heaven with Minerva, which is Wisdom, he from thence brought Fire to the Earth, i. e. the Souls of Men. Prometheus makes a Man, and a Vulture rend his Heart, be∣cause his Mind and Heart were continually en∣gaged in the Contemplation and Love of Wis∣dom: Lastly, Prometheus formed Pandora, which is the Soul, and bears the said Name because of her being enriched with all the Gifts of Heaven: Thus it is that Bishop explains the Fable of

Prometheus, but it is too remote from the Hi∣story.

In the Protagoras of Plato, we have it related, that Prometheus having imploy'd all the Proper∣ties of Nature in the Formation of Animals, and having nothing more to make but Man, he took Knowledge from Minerva, Fire from Vulcan, and Mercury supplied him with Modesty and Justice. Simonides says, After God had made Animals, and created Man, and had nothing more to be∣stow upon Women, he borrowed the Qualities of each Animal for them: On some he conferred the Nature of a Swine, on others that of the Fox: To one he gave the Stupidity of an Ass, to another the Inclination of a Martern, or a Mare: Others he made like unto Monkeys, and on those, whom he was minded to favour, he bestowed the Nature of Bees.

PRO-PRAETOR,

a Roman Magistrate, who had all the Power of a Praetor conferred up∣on him, and all the Ensigns of Honour belong∣ing to the said Office. See Praetor.

PROSCENIUM;

was a raised Place on which the Actors play'd, like that which we call the Theater or Stage: This Proscenium consisted of Two Parts in the Theaters of the Greeks; one was the Proscenium particularly so called, where the Actors play'd: The other was the Logeion, where the Singers came to rehearse, and the Mimicks acted their Parts. The Prosce∣nium and Pulpitum were the same thing in the Theater of the Romans.

PROSERPINA,

was sometimes confound∣ed with Diana: Diodorus Siculus relates the Sto∣ry of her being stole away by Pluto, as a Thing attested not only by the Poets, but also by Hi∣storians: He alledges it was in Sicily, and near the City of Enna that Proserpina was carried a∣way, and that Ceres going to search for her lighted her Torches by the Fire of Mount Etna. Sachuniathon in the Theology of the Phoenicians informs us, that Proserpina was much earlier known in Phoenicia than in Greece or Sicily, he makes her to be Saturn's Daughter, and says, she died a Virgin and very young. From hence it's probable did arise the Fiction of the Greeks, that she was stole by Pluto: Saturnus liberos procreavit Proserpinam & Minervam, ac prior quidem virgo diem obiit.

The History of Proserpina passed from Phoeni∣cia into Greece near 200 Years after Moses his Death, if we believe St. Cyril, Arch-bishop of Alexandria, who says, that Aedoneus or Orcus, King of the Molossians stole her: Centesimo, & nonagesimo quinto anno post Mosen ferunt fuisse Proserpinam virginem raptam ab Aedoneo, id est, Orco Rege Molossorum. Eusebius also says as much in his Chronicle: And so the Fable or History of Proserpina, like all the rest of the Fables, came from the East to the West, from Phoenicia to Greece, and from Greece into Sicily: Appian of Alexandria speaking of the River Strymon, and of those fine Countries in Macedon and Thrace that were watered by it, says, it was from thence Proserpina was stole as she was gathering Flo∣wers: Ʋbi raptam dicunt Proserpinam, dum flores legeret. Macrobius says, the Ancients called the upper Hemisphear of the Earth by the Name of Venus and the lower Hemisphere by that of Proserpina.

As they are no more than different Appella∣tions, 'tis not necessary we should take the Trouble to find out the exact Rules of Genea∣logy herein. Rhea was the Mother of Ceres, and Ceres the Mother of Proserpina, and yet all the Three are no other than the Earth: So the Grandmother, Mother and Daughter are no∣thing but the same Earth. The Truths are real and natural, the Genealogies are Poetical and Figurative: Some consider the Earth in a different manner, and will have Rhea to be the whole Globe of the Earth, that Ceres is no more than the Surface which is sown and mown, and Proserpina no other than the Hemisphere of our Antipodes. 'Tis the Opinion of Vossius. But that Proserpina is the same as the Earth, we learn from the very Name thereof, for it comes from the Greek 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and of Perse∣phone they made Proserpina: Hesychius says, that Persephone comes from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, ferre utili∣tatem & fructum. Vossius very ingeniously de∣duces this Word from the Hebrew Peri, that signifies Fructus, and saphan tegere, because the Earth covers the Seeds sown in it. But as Pro∣serpina is taken for the lower Part of the Earth which is buried in Darkness, hence it is that they take her also for Hell, and the Queen of Hell, as Horace does.

Quam penè furvae Regna Proserpinae, Et judicantem vidimus Aeacum. L. 2. Od. 13.

'Tis upon the same Account that Plutarch also takes her for the Earth, and Cicero says, that the Name of Pluto, i. e. Riches, was given her by the Greeks; because the Earth is the Trea∣sury of all the Riches of Nature all comes from and returns into it. The Romans imitated the Grecians by giving the Name of Dis, which signifies Rich to Pluto. They offered Dogs, and black and barren Victimes in Sacrifice to Pro∣serpina.

PROTEUS,

a Sea-God, the Son of Ocea∣nus and Tethys, who looked after Neptune's Flocks: He was an excellent Prophet; and those who had a mind to consult him about Future Events, must surprize and bind him; for he had the Artifice to assume divers Shapes, in order to a∣void giving an Answer to such as came to con∣sult him: Lucian pretends that Proteus was no other than an excellent Dancer, who made 1000

different Postures, and whose active Body and quick Intellects knew how to counterfeit and imi∣tate every thing so admirably well, that he feemed to be the very Thing, which he imita∣ted, which was, the Occasion of the Fable.

Herodotus does not doubt but that Proteus was an Egyptian King and Deity: He says, 'twas he that received Paris and Helen with their Trea∣sures, and who kept Helen during the Seige of Troy, and restored her to Menelaus, when af∣ter the Destruction of that City the Greeks came to know that Helen had never been there. Dio∣dorus Siculus agrees with him as to the Reign of Proteus in Egypt during the Siege of Troy; but he says, that the Greek Fable concerning the Trans∣formations of Proteus, took its Origin from the different Habits which the said King affected to wear above other Kings of Egypt, he one while putting on a Lion's Skin, another while he drest himself like a Bull or Dragon, and carried Trees sometimes by way of Ornaments, sometimes Fire or Perfume, which made the Greeks say, they were so many different Shapes which he was metamorphosed into; and as this King was much addicted to Astrology, they feigned also that he foretold Things to come. Lucian in his Dialogue of the Sea-Gods, makes Proteus and Menelaus speak thus.

Menel.

I do not admire, Proteus, that a Sea-God as you are should transform your self into Water, or even into a Plant; but to become Fire, that I cannot understand; to be turned into a Lion, may be better allowed of.

Prot.

Menelaus, 'tis true.

Men.

I know it very well; for I am a Witness of it my self: But to be plain with you, I believe there is a Cheat in it, and that you are only a meer Juggler.

Prot.

What Cheat can there be in such things as are so manifest and certain?

St. Augustine by the ••xample of Proteus his Fable shews, that the Poets ought not to be re∣jected by the Lovers of true Philosophy; for the Proteus of the Poets was an excellent Repre∣sentation of Truth, which escapes from us, and disguises her self after a thousand different ways, by being concealed under false Appearances, from which it cannot be separated, without great Difficulty: But at length, after these Obstructi∣ons, she discovers unto us her Beauty and Soli∣dity, that we may afterwards relish the Sweet∣ness of her. Orpheus called him the Principle of all Things, and the Ancientest of all the Gods, and says he keeps the Keys of Nature: The Ro∣mans named him Vertumnus, because of the Va∣riety of Shapes which he assumed: He was belo∣ved by the Goddess Pomona.

PROTESILAUS;

the Son of Iphiclus, and Laodamia's Husband, a Grecian Prince, who wa∣killed by Hector at the Siege of Troy, as he was coming out of his Ship. Lucian in his Dialogues of the Dead, makes Protesilaus, Pluto, and Pro∣serpina talk after this manner:

Prot.

Ah! Pluto, and you the Daughter of Ceres, do not reject the Prayers of a Lover.

Pluto.

Who are you that talk thus?

Prot.

The Chief of the Grecians that died at the Siege of Troy.

Pluto.

And what would you have?

Prot.

Leave to go upon Earth a little while.

Pluto.

They are the same Requests as all the Dead make, but not one obtains them.

Prot.

'Tis not a Desire of Life that makes me speak, but the Passion I have to see my Mistress, whom I left in her Nuptial Chamber, and hasted away to go along with the Greeians; and was so unhappy as to be killed by Hector, as I was co∣ming ashoar: The Love which I have for that fair Creature gives me no rest, and I would de∣sire leave once more to spend a Moment with her.

Pluto.

Have not you drunk of the Waters of Lethe, as others have done?

Prot.

I have, but the Disease was too strong for the Remedy.

Pluto.

She will not be long before she comes, and so spare you the Pains of going to seek her.

Prot.

I have not Patience to tarry; Pluto, you know the Impatience of Lovers, for your self has formerly been in Love.

Plut.

What good will it do you to see her again for a Moment, and then lose her for e∣ver?

Prot.

Perhaps I may perswade her to come along with me, and so I shall thereby increase thine Empire with one Ghost more.

Pluto.

That's not just, Protesilaus, and 'tis ne∣ver granted.

Prot.

'Tis because you do not recollect your self better; for you did restore his Euridice to Orpheus, and Alcesta to Hercules who was my Re∣lation.

Pluto.

Would you appear before her in this Condition, which will make her die for very fear? And do you think that she will mind you, or be able to know you?

Proserpina.

Let us do him this Favour, Pluto, and command Mercury to carry him up, and when he comes upon the Earth, to strike him with his Rod, that he may assume his former Shape, and become such an one as he was when he went out of her ••uptial Chamber.

Pluto.

Since Proserpina will have it, I give my Consent. Mercury, take him and conduct him thither; but let him remember that there is but one Day allowed him to tarry. They sacri∣ficed to him in Chersonesus, according to the Te∣stimony of Lucian himself, in his Dialogue of the Assembly of the Gods.

PROVIDENTIA;

Providence, which the Ancients made to be a Deity, as Cicero says,

〈◊〉〈◊〉 Nat. Deor. They pictured her like a Roman Lady, holding a Scepter in one Hand, and with the o her seemed to point at a Globe that was at her Feet, intimating that she governed all the World like the good Mother of a Family. The Emperor Titus caused her to be graven with the Helm of a Ship, and a Globe in her Hands. Maxi∣mianus represented her by Two Ladies, holding Ears of Corn in their Hands, with this Inscripti∣on, Providentia Deorum, Quies Augustorum. A∣lexander Severus describes her under the Form of a Goddess, holding an Horn of Plenty, and having a Vessel full of Ears of Corn at her Feet. The Symbol of Providence was an Ant, holding Three Ear of Corn in her Mouth.

PRYTANEUM;

was a Place in Athens where the Magistrates administred Justice, and where those who had done some signal Services for the Commonwealth, were maintained at the Publick Charges.

PSECADES;

Chamber Maids, who per∣fomed their Mistresses Heads, with some Liquid Perfumes, which they poured Drop by Drop up∣on them: For the Word Psecas comes from the Greek Verb 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which signifies, to drop.

PSYCHE:

The Amours of Cupid and Psyche are known to every Body: Apuleius and Fulgen∣tius give very pleasant Descriptions of them. We have a Picture wherein this Marriage is repre∣sented, and where Cupid walks on Psyche's Right Hand, with his Head vailed, his Face uncover∣ed, and in his Hand a Turtle-Dove, which was the usual Symbol of Conjugal Love; and Psyche, who was by his Side, is vailed from Head to Foot, this being the Custom among the Ancients, for People that went to be married, and especially for those of the Female Sex: These Two Lovers are fastned together with a strong Chain, to in timate there is no stronger nor more durable Union than that of Marriage; one of them hold, the Chain in one Hand, and a Torch in the other. Petronius gives the like Account of the Nuptial Solemnities of these Lovers:

They had already, said he, vailed young Psyche's Head; the Con∣ductor already went before her with a Torch, and a Company of Women elevated with the Power of Wine, gave a Hundred joyful Accla∣mations, and made the Bed of the new married Couple ready.

Psyche has the Wings of a Butterflye fixed to her Shoulders, as all the ancient Monuments thereof shew: The Reason that may be given for this Fiction is, because the Ancients repre∣sented Nature, and the Properties of the Soul, under the Emblem of Psyche; for the Word in Greek signifies the Soul, of which the Butterflye is also a Symbol, because they looked upon the Soul to be like a Breath, which the Lightness of this little flying Insect very well expresses. We see in Hesychius that Psych: in Greek signifies as much as a Spirit, and a little flying Insect, such as the Butterfly is. Fulgentius, Bishop of Carthage, giving a Moral Explication of this Fable, says, that those Two Sisters represented the Flesh and Free∣will, that Psyche who was the youngest, signified the Soul, because it comes not thither before the Body is formed; that Concupiscence figured out by Cupid, joins it self to the Soul, in order to cor∣rupt it, and hinders it to make use of her Eyes, which are the Sences and Liberty, in order to know God, of whom she is so much beloved: But being at length illuminated by their Coun∣cels, she discovers a Flame, which was before hid in her Heart, and becomes capable of a Hundred Evils, like the Oil of the Lamp that discovers the Mystery of Love, and caused Psyche so much Trouble.

PUGILATUS;

an Exercise in use amongst the ancient Greeks and Romans, that consisted in boxing.

PUGILES;

they were those that fought with Hands and Heels, and endeavoured to throw one another down, and to tumble in the Dirt.

PULPITUM;

a Pulpit, Theater, Stage: It was a Place erected on which the Actors acted their Plays, and where Victory was represented: It was that part which we in English call the Stage, wherein we do not comprehend the Pit nor the Galleries, which are properly what the Ancients called the Theater.

PULVINARIA;

they were Cushions upon which the Statues of the Gods were laid in the Temples, at the Time that they gave Thanks for some signal Victory; whence came that Latin Expression, Ad omnia pulvinaria supplieare, to make general Processions to all the Temples of the Gods, where their Statues were taken down and laid upon Cushions.

PUTEAL LIBONIS:

Acron takes it to be a Bank that was near unto the Statue of Janus with Three Heads; Porphyry for a Bar, Tribunal, or Court of Judicature; others for a Cover, wherewith they covered Wells or Wa∣ter-Pits. Vigenere thinks it to be the Brink of a Well: 'Twas a Place much frequented by the Merchants of Rome.

PUTICULI, or PUTICULAE;

they were Ditches, or Holes in the Earth made like Wells, between Mount Esquiline, the Walls of the City, and the Street which lead to the Gate called Querquetulana, where the Poor were buried; and which infected all the Neighbour∣ing part of the City: For the removing thereof Augustus gave this Place to Macenas, who built a stately House, and made very fine Gardens there, as Horace informs us:

Huc priùs angustis eject a cadavera cellis Conservus vili portanda locabat in arcâ: Hoc miserae plebi stabat commune sepulchrum. Nunc licet Esquiliis babitare salubribus, atque Aggere in aprico spatiari, quo modò tristes Albis informem spectabant ossibus agrum.

PYGMEI;

Pigmies; they were a People that dwelt in the Mountains of the East-Indies, according to Pliny; and according to Strabo, in the utmost Parts of Affrica; the People of that Country were not above a Cubit high; and hence they gave them the Name of Pigmies: They did not live above Eight Years, and the Women were fit for Copulation at Five. As soon as their Children are born, they hid them in Caves, for fear of the Cranes, who swallow'd them down whole like small Turnips: They are very temperate, and 'tis a great deal for one of them to eat the Leg of a Lark; for usually they roast no more than two or three Bits at a time, or a little more as their Family is larger or smal∣ler: Their Spits are made of the Prickles of an Hedge-hog; but the largest sort on which they roast their Larks, are the Darts or Quills of a Porcupine: They drink out of small Cups made of Cherry-stones; and their Drink consists of two or three Drops of Rose-water; which they gather in the Spring, and keep the Liquor in Ostridge Egg-shells, which serves them instead of other Vessels: Their Plates are made of Crab-shells, the finest of which are those which are most gilt; and their Dishes consist of small Acorn-Cups. Its from this Country the Dwarf-Trees come; for all their Forests are but Bushes, which Nature has made on purpose, that they may not break their Necks in climbing up. They have also Vines growing there, which they love, because they believe they creep upon the Ground only, in Consideration of their Weak∣ness: They are well proportioned, considering their low Stature; and laugh at us upon ac∣count of the Danger we run when we fall: They are at an irreconcilable War with the Cranes, who with a Stroak of their Bills pierce to their very Brains; but they break their Legs, which are very small, and get under them in the Conffict.

PYLADES.

See Pilades.

PYLAEMENES,

whom Homer the Prince of the Greek Poets, makes mention of in the Second Book of his Iliads, was in the famous Trojan War the General of the Paphlagonians.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

The brave Pylamenes was General of the Paph∣lagonians.

He speaks of him also in the 5th Book, and says he was killed by Menelaus with his Pike. Livy and Strabo upon Homer's Authority, make him to be descended from the Heneti, a People of Paphlagonia, and say that he died under the Walls of Troy. Diclys Cretensis makes him King of Paphlagonia, the Son of Melius, and related to Priamus, boasting that he was of Agenor's Race, whose Daughter Amalixo, was married to Dardanus, from whom the Trojan Kings were descended. He adds, that this Pylaemenes was killed with a Dart by Achilles, in a Battle that was fought during the Siege of that City. This afterwards became a common Name to the Kings of Paphlagonia, since the first Pylaemenes, as that of Pcolomy obtained among the Egyptian Kings, of Arsaces among the Parthians, and of Caesar and Augustus among the Romans.

Its not to be doubted, but there were several Kings of the Name of Pylaemenes in Paphlagonia, before the Coming of the Romans into Asia; but their famous Actions having not been celebrated by any Historians that have been preserved to our Time, we find no mention of any of them before the War of the Romans against Aristonicus, the Brother of Attalus, under the Conduct of the Consul Licinius Crassus, of whom Orosus speaks; and in this War Pylaemenes, who then reigned, assisting the Romans against Aristonicus, was dis∣possest of his Kingdom by Mithridates and Ni∣comedes.

Authors do not well agree concerning the Re∣establishing of Pylaemenes upon his Throne, and the End of the Kingdom of Paphlagonia. Paulus and Rufus say the Kingdom was given him after Mithridates had been conquered and expelled; and that after his Death it was reduced into a Province: Strabo, an Author worthy of Credit, and that lived near that time, relates, that De∣jotarus, a Son of one Castor Philadelphus, was the last King of Paphlagonia; and it appears by one of Cicero's Orations, that this Castor was a Grandson of one Dejotarus, whose Cause he pleaded against the unjust Usurpations of Castor, who had dispossest his Grandfather Dejotarus of the Tretrarchy of Gatatia. Justin seems to dif∣fer from all these Authors; for he says, that Ni∣comedes and Mithridates setting forth their Pre∣tensions to Capadocia before the Senate, and the Senate discerning the Artifice of those Kings, who under false Pretences had seized upon King∣doms that of Right did not belong to them, took away Capadocia from Mithridates, and Paph∣lagonia from Nicomedes; from whence forwards Paphlagonia had no Kings: And this Strabo says also.

PYRACMON;

one of Vulcan's Smiths, who is always at the Anvil to forge the Iron; and this his Name does imply; for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in Greek signifies Fire, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 an Anvil.

PYRAMIS;

is an heap of Square Stones, always rising up in a taper manner, like a Flame; whence comes the Name, for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in Greek sig∣nifies Fire: There are some Pyramids of a vast height; and Pliny speaks of one, for the Build∣ing of which 32000 Men were imploy'd for Twenty Years: He says it took up Eight Acres of Ground. This Author informs us, that the Kings of Egypt, who put themselves to such great Expence, did it for no other End than to keep the People from Idleness, and thereby to pre∣vent the Insurrections that otherwise might have happened. See Obeliscus.

PYRAMUS;

a Babylonian, who was pas∣sionately in Love with Thysbe; these Two Lo∣vers having appointed a Meeting under a Mul∣berry-Tree, Thysbe came thither first, and was set upon by a Lion, from whom she made her Escape; but happening to let her Vail drop, the Beast tore and bloodied it; Pyramus coming and finding the Vail of his Mistress bloody, thought she had been devoured, and so in despair killed himself: Thysbe returning and finding her Lover dead, fell also upon the same Sword. Ovid. L. 4. Metam. describes their Love, and says, that their Death made the Mulberries change Colour, and turn Red from White, which Colour they bore before.

PYRRHICHA;

a kind of Dance inven∣ted by Pyrrhus, which was performed with Arms, wherewith they struck certain Shields by the Cadency and Sound of Musical Instru∣ments.

PYTHAGORAS;

a Philosopher, who intermixed some Tables, Allegories, or Enigma∣tical Expressions with his Works; wherein he imitated Numa Pompilius, the Second King of Rome. He was, indeed, both a King and Phi∣losopher, and was so very much addicted to the Doctrine which Pythagoras published to the World, that many who were g••osly ignorant of the Series of Time, took him for one of Pythago∣ras his Disciples: but Dionysius of Hallicarnassus has refuted this Error, and shewed that Numa lived Four Generations before Pythagoras, having reigned in the 16th Olympiad, whereas Pythago∣ras did not teach in Italy till after the ••iftieth: In order to let you know the Doctrine and Life of Pythagoras, I'll give you what Lucian says up∣on this Occasion, in his Dialogue of the Sects or Sale Philosophers.

Jupiter.

Let these Seats be put in order, and clean every ••lace, as long as there is an Obli∣gation to make Things ready for the Sects, that so they may come and shew themselves.

Mercury.

See, here are Buyers enough, we must not let them cool: With whom shall we begin?

Jupit.

With the Italian Sect: Let that vene∣rable Old Man with long Hairscome down.

Merc.

Ho•• Pythagoras, come down, and walk round about the Place, that you may shew your self to the People.

Jupit.

Make Proclamation.

Merc.

Here is a Coelestial and Divine Life; who will buy it? Who has a mind to be more than a Man? Who is he that would know the Harmony of the Universe, and rise again after his Death.

Merchant.

Here are great Promises, indeed, and the Person looks with a good Aspect; but what does he chiefly know?

Merc.

Arithmetick, Astronomy, Geometry, Musick, Magick, and the Knowledge of Prodi∣gies; you have an accomplish'd Prophet here.

Merchant.

May one ask him a Question?

Merc.

Why not?

Merchant.

Where were you born?

Pythagoras.

At Samos.

Merchant.

Where did you study?

Pythag.

In Egypt, amongst the Wise Men of that Country.

Merchant.

If I become a Chapman, what will you teach me?

Pythag.

I'll teach you nothing, but I'll cause you to call to mind again what you did formerly know.

Merchant.

How is that?

Pythag.

By purifying your Soul, and cleansing it from all its Dregs.

Merchant.

Suppose it be already purified; how will you instruct me?

Pythag.

By Silence: You shall continue Five Years without speaking.

Merchant.

Go and teach Craesus his Son; I'll continue to be a Man, and not become a Statue: But yet, what will you perform after so long Si∣lence?

Pythag.

I'll teach you Geometry and Mu∣sick.

Merchant.

Its very pleasant, indeed, a Man must be a Fidler before he is a Philosopher: And what will you teach me after that?

Pythag.

Arithmetick.

Merchant.

I understand that already.

Pythag.

How do you reckon?

Merchant.

One, Two, Three, Four.

Pythag.

You are mistaken; for what you take to be 4 is 10, (that is 1, 2, 3, 4, make 10.) A perfect Triangle; and the Number we swear by.

Merchant.

By the Great God Four! I never heard any Thing so strange, and so divine as this.

Pythag.

After this, you shall know that there are Four Elements, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire; and know also their Form, Qualities and Motion.

Merchant.

How! Have the Air and Fire any Form?

Pythag.

Yes, and visible enough; for, if they had no Form they could not move: Then you

shall know that God is Number and Har∣mony.

Merchant.

You tell us strange Things.

Pythag.

Again, you are another Thing than you appear to be; and there are several Men in you.

Merchant.

What say you, that I am not the same Person that speaks to you?

Pythag.

You are the same now, but you have been another formerly, and will pass again into other Persons by a perpetual Revolution.

Merchant.

I shall then at this rate be immor∣tal: But enough of these Things: What do you live upon?

Pythag.

I eat nothing that has Life in it, but every thing else, except Beans.

Merchant.

Why will not you eat Beans?

Pythag.

Because they have something that is divine in them: 1st, They resemble the Privy Parts; which you may easily observe, if you will take a green one, and pull of the Cod: Besides, if they be boiled and exposed to the Moon for some Nights, they turn to Blood; but what is most remarkable, is, that they make use of them at Athens, to chuse their Magistrates by.

PYTHICI;

the Pythian Games in Greece, instituted in Honour of Apollo, because he killed the Serpent Python with his Arrows: The Con∣querors were crowned with Fruits consecrated to Apollo.

PYTHIUS;

an Epithet given to Apollo, upon the Account of his killing the Serpent Py∣thon: His Priestesses were also called Pythiae.

PYTHON;

an horrible Serpent, that sprung from the Impurities of the Earth after the Deluge, and which Apollo shot to Death with his Arrows.