A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

PRISCIANUS. PRISCIJS. 5205
are placed as a distinct work, under the title De author, in his preface, speaks against the learned
Constructione. Priscianus made good use of the and wordy disputes held by physicians at the bedworks of preceding grammarians, but the writers side of the patient, and also their putting their
whom he mainly followed were Apollonius Dysco- whole reliance upon foreign remedies in preference
lus (Apollonius, cl.i]s auctoritatem in omnibus se- to those which were indigenous. Several of the
quendam putavi, xiv. 1, vol. i. p. 581, ed. Krehl) medicines which he mentions himself are absurd
and Herodianus (ii. 6, vol. i. p. 76, ed. Krehl). The and superstitious; the style and language of the
treatise of Priscianus soon became the standard work are bad; and altogether it is of little interest
work on Latin grammar, and in the epitome of and value. It was first published in 1532, in
Rabanus Maurus obtained an extensive circula- which year two editions appeared, one at Strastion. One feature of value about it is the large burg, fol., and the other at Basel, 4to. Of these
number of quotations which it contains both from the latter is more correct than the other, but not
Latin and Greek writers, of whom nothing would so complete, as the whole of the fourth book is
otherwise have remained. His acquaintance with wanting, and also several chapters of the first and
Greek as well as Latin enabled him to carry on a second books. It is also to be found in Kraut's
parallel between the two languages. Experimentarius Medicinae, Argent., fol., 1544, and
Besides the systematic grammatical work of Pris- in the Aldine Collection of Medici Antiqui Latini,
cianus there are still extant the following writings: 1547, fol., Venet. A new edition was commenced
-1. A grammatical catechism on twelve lines of by J. M. Bernhold, of which only the first volume
the Aeneid, manifestly intended as a school book. was ever published (1791, 8vo. Ansbach), con2. A treatise on accents. 3. A treatise on the tamining the first book and part of the second. A
symbols used to denote numbers and weights, and work " on Diet," which is sometimes attributed
on coins and numbers. 4. On the metres of Te- to Theodorus Priscianus, is noticed under THEOrence. 5. A translation of the npouyz-rre'ay./ara DORUS. (See Sprengel, lIist. de la Mid.; Chou(Praeexercitamenta) of Hermogenes. The trans- lant, Handb. der Biic/lerkunde fiir die Aeltere Me]ation is however very far from being literal. The dicin.) [W. A. G.]
Greek original was discovered and published by PRISCILLA, CASSIA, a Roman female artist,
Heeren in 1791. This and the two preceding whose name appears, with the addition offecit, on
pieces are addressed to Symmachus. 6. On the a bas-relief, in the Borgia collection, at Velletri, redeclensions of nouns. 7. A poem on the emperor presenting Hercules and Omphale. (Millin, Galer.
Anastasius in 312 hexameters, with a preface in Myth. pl. cxvii. n. 453; Muratori, Tizes. vol. i.
22 iambic lines. 8. A piece De Ponderibus et p. xcv. 1; R. Rochette, Lettre a ill. Schorn, p.
l'lenzsuris, in verse. (Wrernsdorf, Poet. Lat. Min. 393.) [P. S.]
vol. v. p. 212, &c. 235, &c. 494, &c.) This piece L. PRISCILLIA'NUS, acquired unenviable
has been attributed by some to the grammarian celebrity as an informer, under Caracalla, by
Rhemnius Farlnius Palaemon, by others to one whom he was made praefect of Achaia. He was
Remus Favinus, but the authorship of Priscianus celebrated also for his gladiatorial skill in wild
seems well established. 9. An Epitolme phaeno- beast fights, and eventually was banished to an
veen6n, or De Sides-ibus, in verse. (Wernsdorf I. c. island, during the reign of Macrinus, at the inv. pt. i. p. 239.) This and the two preceding stance of the senate, whose hatred he had incurred
pieces have been edited separately by Endlicher by procuring the destruction of several members of
(Viennl. 1828), with a preliminary dissertation. their body. ()ion Cass. lxxviii. 21.) [W. R.]
10. A free translation of the Periegesis of Diony- PRISCI'NUS, PEDUCAEUS. [PEDUCAENUs,
sius in 1427 lines, manifestly made for the in- Nos. 7 and 8.]
struction of youth. It follows the order of the PRISCUS, artists. 1. ATTIuS, a Roman painGreek on the whole, but contains many variations ter, who lived under the Flavian emperors (about
from the original. In particular Priscianus has A. D. 70), and was one of the best artists of the
taken pains to substitute for the heathen allusions a period. In conjrunction with Cornelius Pinus, ihe
phraseology better adapted for Christian times. adorned with paintings the temple of Honos et
i 1. A couple of epigrams. (.4nth. Lat. v. 47, 139.) Virtus, when it was restored by Vespasian. Of
To Priscianrrs also are usually attributed the acros- these two artists Priscus approached nearest to the
tichs prefixed to the plays of Plautus, and de- ancients. ('lin. II. N. xxxv. 10. s. 37.)
scribing the plot. 2. Of Nicolnedia, all architect and military enThe best edition of Priscianus is that by Krehl, gineer, who lived under Septimius Severus. (Dion
which contains all but a few of the shorter poems Cass. lxxiv. 11, lxxv. 11.) [P. S.]
(above, Nos. 7, 8, 9, 11). [C. P. M.] PRISCUS (npLaKos,), one of the earliest and
PRISCIA'NUS, THEODO'RUS, a physician, most important Byzantine historians, was surwho was a pupil of Vindicianus (Rier. /led. iv. named PANITEs, because he was a native of Papraef. p. 81. ed. Argent.), and who therefore niim irn Thrace. We know little of his life in
lived in the fourth century after Christ. He is general, but much of a short, though highly illsupposed to have lived at the court of Constan- terestinlg and important period of it, viz. froll.s. D.
tinople, and to have attained the dignity of Arch- 44 5-447, when he was ambassador of lheodosius
iater. He belonged to the medical sect of the the Younger at the court of Attila. The embassy
Empirici, but not without a certain mixture of the consisted of several persons. In later years he
doctrines of the Methodici, and even of the Dog- and one Maximinus transacted diplomatic business
matici. He is the author of a Latin work, entitled, for the emperor Marcian, in Egypt and Arabia.
" Rerum Medicarum Libri Quatuor," which is He died in or about A. n. 471. Niebuhr thinks
sometimes attributed to a person named Octav;irs he was a heathen. Priscus wrote an account of
Horatianus. The first book treats of external dis- his embassy to Attila, enriched by digressions on
eases, the second of internal, the third of female the life rand reign of that kinlg, the Greek title of
diseases, and the fourth of physiology, &c. The which is'Iorvpgtia B?IWTrnc7) reul KIC-and'ATT'-AJV,
0 11