One of his per- PINA'RIA GENS, one of the most ancient
formances was a very singular one, namely, in- patrician gentes at Rome, traced its origin to a
1
## p.
formances was a very singular one, namely, in- patrician gentes at Rome, traced its origin to a
1
## p.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
Med.
831; Pind.
Ol.
xi.
100; Ov.
banius, about B.
C.
45 (Cic.
ad Att.
xiii.
31), is
Trist. v. 3. 10; Cic. De Nat. Deor. iii. 21. ) (L. S. ] supposed by some to have been her father, but this
PI'ERUS (Niepos). 1. A son of Magnes of is quite uncertain. The Q. Pilius, who went to
Thrace, father of Hyacinthus, by the Muse Clio. Caesar in Gaul in B. C. 54 (ad Att. iv. 17), was un-
(Apollod. i. 3. $ 3. )
doubtedly her brother; and he must be the same as
2. An autochthon, king of Emathia (Mace the Pilius who accused M. Servilius of repetundae
donia), begot by Euippe or Antiope nine daugh- in B. c. 51 (Cael. ad Fam. viii. 8). His full name
ters, to whom he gave the names of the nine was Q. Pilius Celer; for the Q. Celer, whose
Muses. They afterwards entered into a contest speech against M. Servilius Cicero asks Atticus
with the Muses, and being conquered, they were to send him in B. C. 50 (Cic. ad Att. vi. 3. $ 10),
metamorphosed into birds called Colyan bas, Iyngs, must have been the same person as the one already
Cenchris, Cissa, Chloris, Acalanthis, Nessa, Pipo, mentioned, as Drumann has observed, and not
and Dracontis. (Anton. Lib. 9; Paus. ix. 29. Q. Metellus Celer, as the commentators have
§ 2 ; Ov. Met. v. 295, &c. )
(L. S. ] stated, since the latter had died as early as B. C.
PIETAS, a personification of faithful attach- 59. With the exception, bowever of the M. Pi-
ment, love, and veneration among the Romans, lius and Q. Pilius, whom we have spoken of, no
where at first she had a small sanctuary, but in other person of this name occurs.
B. c. 191 a larger one was built (Plin. H. N. vii. Pilia was married to Atticus on the 12th of
36 ; Val. Max. v. 4. & 7; Liv. xl. 34). She is February, B. C. 56 (Cic. ad Q. Fr. ii. 3. & 7), and
seen represented on Roman coins, as a matron in the summer of the following year, she bore her
throwing incense upon an altar, and her attributes husband a daughter (ad Att. v. 19, vi. 1. $ 22)
are a stork and children. Pietas was sometimes who subsequently married Vipsanius Agrippa.
represented as a female figure offering her breast to This appears to have been the only child that she
an aged parent. (Val. Max. l. c. ; Zumpt, in the had. Cicero, in his letters to Atticus, frequently
Class. Mus. vol. iii. p. 452. )
(L. S. ] speaks of Pilia ; and from the terms in which he
PIETAS, a surname of L. Antonius, consul mentions her, it is evident that the marriage was
B. C. 41. (ANTONIUS, No. 14. ]
a happy one, and that Atticus was sincerely at-
PIGRES (Niyons), historical. 1. A Carian, tached to her. From her frequent indisposition,
the son of Seldomus, the commander of a detach. to which Cicero alludes, it appears that her health
ment of ships in the armament of Xerxes. (Herod. was not good. She is not mentioned by Cornelius
vii. 98. )
Nepos in his life of Atticus. (Cic. ad Att. iv. 16,
2. Á Paeonian, who, with his brother Mantyas 46, v. 11, vii. 5, xvi. 7; Drumann's Rom. vol. v.
and his sister, came to Sardes, where Dareius was pp. 87, 88. )
at the time, hoping that by the favour of Dareius, PILITUS, OTACI'LIUS. (OTACILIUS, P.
he and his brother might be established as tyrants 64. b. ]
over the Paeoniang. Dareius, however, was so PI'LIUS. [Pilia. )
pleased with the exhibition of industry and dex- PILUMNUS (PICUMNUS. ]
terity which he saw in their sister, that he sent PIMPLE'IS (Humanis), or Pimplea, a sur-
orders to Megabazus to transport the whole race name of the Muses, derived from Mount Pimplias
into Asia. (Herod. v. 12, &c. )
in Pieria, which was sacred to them. Some place
3. An interpreter in the service of Cyrus the this mountain in Boeotia, and call Mount Helicon
Younger, mentioned on several occasions by Xe Hurlelas Kom. (Strah. x. p. 471; Schol. ad
nophon (Anab. i. 2. § 17, &c. ). [C. P. M. ] Apollon. Rhod, i. 25; Lycoph. 275 ; Horat. Carm.
PIGRES (Niyons), literary. A native of Ha- i. 26. 9; Anthol. Palat. v. 206. ) (L. S. )
licarnassus, either the brother or the son of the PINA'RIA. 1. The daughter of Publius, a
celebrated Artemisia, queen of Caria. He is spoken Vestal virgin in the reign of Tarquinius Priscus,
of by Suidas (s. v. where, however, he makes the was put to death for violating her vow of chastity.
mistake of calling Artemisia the wife of Mausolus) (Dionys. iii. 67. )
as the author of the Margites, and the Batracho- 2. The first wife of the celebrated tribune P. Clo-
myomachia. The latter poem is also attributed dius. That Clodius married a wife of this name
to him by Plutarch (de Herod. malign. 43. p. 873, has been shown under Natta, No. 2.
f. ), and was probably his work.
One of his per- PINA'RIA GENS, one of the most ancient
formances was a very singular one, namely, in- patrician gentes at Rome, traced its origin to a
1
## p. 367 (#383) ############################################
PINARIUS
PINDARUS.
367
time long previous to the foundation of the city. | wards served in the army of the triumvirs in the
The legend related that when Hercules came into war against Brutus and Cassius. (Suet. Caes. 83 ;
Italy he was hospitably received on the spot, where Appian, B. C. iii. 22, iv. 107. )
Rome was afterwards built, by the Potitii and the 6. PINARIUS, a Roman eques, whom Augustus
Pinarii, two of the most distinguished families in ordered to be put to death upon a certain occasion.
the country. The hero, in return, taught them the (Suet. Aug. 27. )
way in which he was to be worshipped ; but as PI'NDARUS (Tlvoapos), the greatest lyric
the Pinarii were not at hand when the sacrificial poet of Greece, according to the universal testimony
banquet was ready, and did not come till the of the ancients. Just as Homer was called simply
entrails of the victim were eaten, Hercules, in Ó months, Aristophanes o nwulkós, and Thucydides
anger, determined that the Pinarii should in all d orgypapeús, in like manner Pindar was distin-
future time be excluded from partaking of the guished above all other lyric poets by the title of
entrails of the victims, and that in all matters re- . Aupikós. Our information however respecting
lating to his worship they should be inferior to his life is very scanty and meagre, being almost
the Potitii. These two families continued to be entirely derived from some ancient biographies of
the hereditary priests of Hercules till the censor- uncertain value and authority. Of these we pos-
ship of App. Claudius (B. C. 312), who purchased sess five ; one prefixed by Thomas Magister to
from the Potitii the knowledge of the sacred rites, his Scholia on the poet ; a second in Suidas ; a
and entrusted them to public slaves, as is related third usually called the metrical life, because it is
elsewhere. [POTITIA Gens. ] The Pinarii did not written in thirty-five hexameter lines ; a fourth
share in the guilt of communicating the sacred first published by Schneider in his edition of Ni-
knowledge, and therefore did not receive the same cander, and subsequently reprinted by Böckh along
punishment as the Potitii, but continued in ex- with the three other preceding lives in his edition
istence to the latest times. (Dionys. i. 40; Serv. of Pindar ; and a fifth by Eustathius, which was
ad Virg. Aen. viii. 268 ; Festus, p. 237, ed. Mül- published for the first time by Tafel in his edition
ler ; Macrob. Suturn. iii. 6; Liv. i. 7; Hartung, of the Opuscula of Eustathius, Frankfort, 1832.
Die Religion der Römer, vol. ii. p. 30. ) It has Pindar was a native of Boeotia, but the ancient
been remarked, with justice, that the worship of biographies leave it uncertain whether he was born
Hercules by the Potitii and Pinarii was a sacrum at Thebes or at Cynoscephalae, a village in the
gentilitium belonging to these gentes, and that in territory of Thebes. All the ancient biographies
the time of App. Claudius these sacra privata were agree that his parents belonged to Cynoscephalae ;
made sacra publica. (Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, but they might easily have resided at Thebes, just
vol. i. p. 88; Göttling, Gesch. der Röm. Staatsverf. as in Attica an Acharnian or a Salaminian might
p. 178. )
have lived at Athens or Eleusis. The name of
The Pinarii are mentioned in the kingly period Pindar's parents is also differently stated. His
[PINARIA, No. l; PINARIUS, No. 1], and were father is variously called Daiphantus, Pagondas,
elevated to the consulship soon after the com- or Scopelinus, his mother Cleidice, Cleodice or
mencement of the republic. The first member of Myrto ; but some of these persons, such as Scope-
the gens, who obtained this dignity, was P. Pina- linus and Myrto, were probably only his teachers
rius Mamercinus Rufus in B. c. 489. At this early in music and poetry ; and it is most likely that
time, MAMERCINUS is the name of the only family the names of his real parents were Daiphantus and
that is mentioned : at a subsequent period, we find Cleidice, which are alone mentioned in the “ Me-
families of the name of Natta, Posca, Rusca, trical Life” of Pindar already referred to. The
and SCARPUS, but no members of them obtained year of his birth is likewise a disputed point. He
the consulship. On coins, Natta and Scarpus are was born, as we know from his own testimony
the only cognomens that occur. The few Pinarii, (Fragm. 102, ed. Dissen), during the celebration
who occur without a surname, are given below. of the Pythian games. Clinton places his birth in
PINA'RIUS. 1. Mentioned in the reign of OL. 65. 3, B. c. 518, Böckh in Ol. 64. 3, B. c. 522,
Tarquinius Superbus (Plut. Comp. Lyc. c. Num. 3. ) but neither of these dates is certain, though the
2. L. PINARIUS, the commander of the Roman latter is perhaps the most probable. He probably
garrison at Enna in the second Punic war, B. C. died in his 80th year, though other accounts make
214, suppressed with vigour an attempt at insur-him much younger at the time of his death. If
rection which the inhabitants made. (Liv. xxiv. he was born in B. c. 522, his death would fall in
37-39. )
B. C. 442. He was in the prime of life at the
3. T. PINArius, is only known from his having battles of Marathon and Salamis, and was nearly
been ridiculed by the orator C. Julius Caesar Strabo, of the same age as the poet Aeschylus ; but, as
who was curule aedile, B. C. 90. (Cic. de Or. ii. 66. ). K. O. Müller has well remarked, the causes which
4. T. PINARIUS, a friend of Cicero, who men- determined Pindar's poetical character are to be
tions him three or four times (ad Att. vi. 1. & 23, sought in a period previous to the Persian war,
viii. 15, ad Fam. xii. 24). În one passage (ad and in the Doric and Aeolic parts of Greece rather
Q. Fr. iii. 1. & 6), Cicero speaks of his brother, than in Athens ; and thus we may separate Pin-
who was probably the same as the following per- dar from his contemporary Aeschylus, by placing
son (No. 5].
the former at the close of the early period, the
5. L. PINARIUS, the great-nephew of the dic- latter at the head of the new period of literature.
tator C. Julius Caesar, being the grandson of Julia, One of the ancient biographies mentions that Pin-
Caesar's eldest sister. In the will of the dictator, dar married Megacleia, the daughter of Lysitheus
Pinarius was named one of his heirs along with and Callina ; another gives Timoxena as the name
his two other great-nephews, C. Octavius and L. of his wife, but he may have married each in
Pinarius, Octavius obtaining three-fourths of the succession. He had a son, Daiphantus, and two
property, and the remaining fourth being divided daughters, Eumetis and Protomacha.
between Pinarius and Pedius. Pinarius after- The family of Pindar ranked among the noblest
## p. 368 (#384) ############################################
868
PINDARUS.
PINDARUS.
.
in Thebes. It was sprung from the ancient race still she herself is said to have contended with him
of the Aegids, who claimed descent from the Cad-five times, and on each occasion to have gained the
mids, who settled at Thebes and Sparta, whence prize. Pausanias indeed does not speak (ix. 22.
part emigrated to Thera und Cyrene at the com3) of more than one victory, and mentions a
mand of Apollo. (Pind. Pyth. v. 72, &c. ) We picture which he saw at Tanagra, in which Co-
also learn from the biography by Eustathius, that rinna was represented binding her hair with a
Pindar wrote the dapindupinoy doua for his son fillet in token of her victory, which he attributes
Daiphantus, when he was elected daphnephorus to as much to her benuty and to the circumstance that
conduct the festival of the daphnephoria ; a fact she wrote in the Acolic dialect as to her poetical
which proves the dignity of the family, since only talents.
youths of the most distinguished families at Thebes Pindar commenced his professional career as a
were eligible to this office. (Paus. ix. 10. $ 4. ) poet at an early age, and acquired 60 great a re-
The family seems to have been celebrated for its putation, that he was soon einployed by different
skill in music ; though there is no authority for states and princes in all parts of the llellenic world
stating, as Böckh and Müller have done, that they to compose for them choral songs for special occa-
were hereditary flute-players, and exercised their sions. · Ile received money and presents for his
profession regularly at certain great religious fes- works ; but he never degenerated into a common
tivals. The ancient biographies relate that the mercenary poet, and he continued to preserve to
father or uncle of Pindar was a flute-player, and his latest days the respect of all parts of Greece.
we are told that Pindar at an early age received His earliest poem which has come down to us (the
instruction in the art from the flute-player Scope 20th Pythian) he composed at the age of twenty.
linus. But the youth soon gave indications of a It is an Epinican ode in honour of Hippocles, a
genius for poetry, which induced his father to Thessalian youth belonging to the powerful Aleuad
send him to Athens to receive more perfect in- family, who had gained the prize at the Pythian
struction in the art ; for it must be recollected that games. Supposing Pindar to have been born in
lyric poetry among the Greeks was so intimately B. c. 522, this ode was composed in B. c. 502. The
connected with music, dancing, and the whole next ode of Pindar in point of time is the 6th
training of the chorus that the lyric poet required Pythian, which he wrote in his twenty-seventh
no small amount of education to fit him for the year, B. C. 494, in honour of Xenocrates of Agri-
exercise of his profession. Later writers tell us gentum, who had gained the prize at the chariot-
that his future glory as a poet was miraculously race at the Pythian games, by means of his son
foreshadowed by a swarm of bees which rested | Thrasybulus. It would be tedious to relate at
upon his lips while he was asleep, and that this length the different occasions on which he composed
miracle first led him to compose poetry. (Comp. his other odes. It may suffice to mention that he
Paus. ix. 23. & 2; Aelian, y. H. xii. 45. ) At composed poems for Hieron, tyrant of Syracuse,
Athens Pindar became the pupil of Lasus of Her Alexander, son of Amyntas, king of Macedonia,
mione, the founder of the Athenian school of dithy. Theron, tyrant of Agrigentum, Arcesilaus, king of
rambic poetry, and who was at that time residing Cyrene, as well as for many other free states and
at Athens under the patronage of Hipparchus. private persons. He was courted especially by Aler-
Lasus was well skilled in the different kinds of ander, king of Macedonia, and Hieron, tyrant of Sy-
music, and from him Pindar probably gained con- racuse; and the praises which he bestowed upon the
siderable knowledge in the theory of his art. former are said to have been the chief reason which
Pindar also received instruction at Athens from led his descendant, Alexander, the son of Philip, to
Agathocles and Apollodorus, and one of them spare the house of the poet, when he destroyed the
allowed him to instruct the cyclic choruses, though rest of Thebes (Dion Chrysost. Orat. de Regno, ii.
he was still a mere youth. He returned to Thebes p. 25). About B. c. 473, Pindar visited the court
before he had completed his twentieth year, and is of Hieron, in consequence of the pressing invitation
said to have received instruction there from Myrtis of the monarch ; but it appears that he did not re-
and Corinna of Tanagra, two poetesses, who then main more than four years at Syracuse, as he loved
enjoyed great celebrity in Boeotia.
Trist. v. 3. 10; Cic. De Nat. Deor. iii. 21. ) (L. S. ] supposed by some to have been her father, but this
PI'ERUS (Niepos). 1. A son of Magnes of is quite uncertain. The Q. Pilius, who went to
Thrace, father of Hyacinthus, by the Muse Clio. Caesar in Gaul in B. C. 54 (ad Att. iv. 17), was un-
(Apollod. i. 3. $ 3. )
doubtedly her brother; and he must be the same as
2. An autochthon, king of Emathia (Mace the Pilius who accused M. Servilius of repetundae
donia), begot by Euippe or Antiope nine daugh- in B. c. 51 (Cael. ad Fam. viii. 8). His full name
ters, to whom he gave the names of the nine was Q. Pilius Celer; for the Q. Celer, whose
Muses. They afterwards entered into a contest speech against M. Servilius Cicero asks Atticus
with the Muses, and being conquered, they were to send him in B. C. 50 (Cic. ad Att. vi. 3. $ 10),
metamorphosed into birds called Colyan bas, Iyngs, must have been the same person as the one already
Cenchris, Cissa, Chloris, Acalanthis, Nessa, Pipo, mentioned, as Drumann has observed, and not
and Dracontis. (Anton. Lib. 9; Paus. ix. 29. Q. Metellus Celer, as the commentators have
§ 2 ; Ov. Met. v. 295, &c. )
(L. S. ] stated, since the latter had died as early as B. C.
PIETAS, a personification of faithful attach- 59. With the exception, bowever of the M. Pi-
ment, love, and veneration among the Romans, lius and Q. Pilius, whom we have spoken of, no
where at first she had a small sanctuary, but in other person of this name occurs.
B. c. 191 a larger one was built (Plin. H. N. vii. Pilia was married to Atticus on the 12th of
36 ; Val. Max. v. 4. & 7; Liv. xl. 34). She is February, B. C. 56 (Cic. ad Q. Fr. ii. 3. & 7), and
seen represented on Roman coins, as a matron in the summer of the following year, she bore her
throwing incense upon an altar, and her attributes husband a daughter (ad Att. v. 19, vi. 1. $ 22)
are a stork and children. Pietas was sometimes who subsequently married Vipsanius Agrippa.
represented as a female figure offering her breast to This appears to have been the only child that she
an aged parent. (Val. Max. l. c. ; Zumpt, in the had. Cicero, in his letters to Atticus, frequently
Class. Mus. vol. iii. p. 452. )
(L. S. ] speaks of Pilia ; and from the terms in which he
PIETAS, a surname of L. Antonius, consul mentions her, it is evident that the marriage was
B. C. 41. (ANTONIUS, No. 14. ]
a happy one, and that Atticus was sincerely at-
PIGRES (Niyons), historical. 1. A Carian, tached to her. From her frequent indisposition,
the son of Seldomus, the commander of a detach. to which Cicero alludes, it appears that her health
ment of ships in the armament of Xerxes. (Herod. was not good. She is not mentioned by Cornelius
vii. 98. )
Nepos in his life of Atticus. (Cic. ad Att. iv. 16,
2. Á Paeonian, who, with his brother Mantyas 46, v. 11, vii. 5, xvi. 7; Drumann's Rom. vol. v.
and his sister, came to Sardes, where Dareius was pp. 87, 88. )
at the time, hoping that by the favour of Dareius, PILITUS, OTACI'LIUS. (OTACILIUS, P.
he and his brother might be established as tyrants 64. b. ]
over the Paeoniang. Dareius, however, was so PI'LIUS. [Pilia. )
pleased with the exhibition of industry and dex- PILUMNUS (PICUMNUS. ]
terity which he saw in their sister, that he sent PIMPLE'IS (Humanis), or Pimplea, a sur-
orders to Megabazus to transport the whole race name of the Muses, derived from Mount Pimplias
into Asia. (Herod. v. 12, &c. )
in Pieria, which was sacred to them. Some place
3. An interpreter in the service of Cyrus the this mountain in Boeotia, and call Mount Helicon
Younger, mentioned on several occasions by Xe Hurlelas Kom. (Strah. x. p. 471; Schol. ad
nophon (Anab. i. 2. § 17, &c. ). [C. P. M. ] Apollon. Rhod, i. 25; Lycoph. 275 ; Horat. Carm.
PIGRES (Niyons), literary. A native of Ha- i. 26. 9; Anthol. Palat. v. 206. ) (L. S. )
licarnassus, either the brother or the son of the PINA'RIA. 1. The daughter of Publius, a
celebrated Artemisia, queen of Caria. He is spoken Vestal virgin in the reign of Tarquinius Priscus,
of by Suidas (s. v. where, however, he makes the was put to death for violating her vow of chastity.
mistake of calling Artemisia the wife of Mausolus) (Dionys. iii. 67. )
as the author of the Margites, and the Batracho- 2. The first wife of the celebrated tribune P. Clo-
myomachia. The latter poem is also attributed dius. That Clodius married a wife of this name
to him by Plutarch (de Herod. malign. 43. p. 873, has been shown under Natta, No. 2.
f. ), and was probably his work.
One of his per- PINA'RIA GENS, one of the most ancient
formances was a very singular one, namely, in- patrician gentes at Rome, traced its origin to a
1
## p. 367 (#383) ############################################
PINARIUS
PINDARUS.
367
time long previous to the foundation of the city. | wards served in the army of the triumvirs in the
The legend related that when Hercules came into war against Brutus and Cassius. (Suet. Caes. 83 ;
Italy he was hospitably received on the spot, where Appian, B. C. iii. 22, iv. 107. )
Rome was afterwards built, by the Potitii and the 6. PINARIUS, a Roman eques, whom Augustus
Pinarii, two of the most distinguished families in ordered to be put to death upon a certain occasion.
the country. The hero, in return, taught them the (Suet. Aug. 27. )
way in which he was to be worshipped ; but as PI'NDARUS (Tlvoapos), the greatest lyric
the Pinarii were not at hand when the sacrificial poet of Greece, according to the universal testimony
banquet was ready, and did not come till the of the ancients. Just as Homer was called simply
entrails of the victim were eaten, Hercules, in Ó months, Aristophanes o nwulkós, and Thucydides
anger, determined that the Pinarii should in all d orgypapeús, in like manner Pindar was distin-
future time be excluded from partaking of the guished above all other lyric poets by the title of
entrails of the victims, and that in all matters re- . Aupikós. Our information however respecting
lating to his worship they should be inferior to his life is very scanty and meagre, being almost
the Potitii. These two families continued to be entirely derived from some ancient biographies of
the hereditary priests of Hercules till the censor- uncertain value and authority. Of these we pos-
ship of App. Claudius (B. C. 312), who purchased sess five ; one prefixed by Thomas Magister to
from the Potitii the knowledge of the sacred rites, his Scholia on the poet ; a second in Suidas ; a
and entrusted them to public slaves, as is related third usually called the metrical life, because it is
elsewhere. [POTITIA Gens. ] The Pinarii did not written in thirty-five hexameter lines ; a fourth
share in the guilt of communicating the sacred first published by Schneider in his edition of Ni-
knowledge, and therefore did not receive the same cander, and subsequently reprinted by Böckh along
punishment as the Potitii, but continued in ex- with the three other preceding lives in his edition
istence to the latest times. (Dionys. i. 40; Serv. of Pindar ; and a fifth by Eustathius, which was
ad Virg. Aen. viii. 268 ; Festus, p. 237, ed. Mül- published for the first time by Tafel in his edition
ler ; Macrob. Suturn. iii. 6; Liv. i. 7; Hartung, of the Opuscula of Eustathius, Frankfort, 1832.
Die Religion der Römer, vol. ii. p. 30. ) It has Pindar was a native of Boeotia, but the ancient
been remarked, with justice, that the worship of biographies leave it uncertain whether he was born
Hercules by the Potitii and Pinarii was a sacrum at Thebes or at Cynoscephalae, a village in the
gentilitium belonging to these gentes, and that in territory of Thebes. All the ancient biographies
the time of App. Claudius these sacra privata were agree that his parents belonged to Cynoscephalae ;
made sacra publica. (Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, but they might easily have resided at Thebes, just
vol. i. p. 88; Göttling, Gesch. der Röm. Staatsverf. as in Attica an Acharnian or a Salaminian might
p. 178. )
have lived at Athens or Eleusis. The name of
The Pinarii are mentioned in the kingly period Pindar's parents is also differently stated. His
[PINARIA, No. l; PINARIUS, No. 1], and were father is variously called Daiphantus, Pagondas,
elevated to the consulship soon after the com- or Scopelinus, his mother Cleidice, Cleodice or
mencement of the republic. The first member of Myrto ; but some of these persons, such as Scope-
the gens, who obtained this dignity, was P. Pina- linus and Myrto, were probably only his teachers
rius Mamercinus Rufus in B. c. 489. At this early in music and poetry ; and it is most likely that
time, MAMERCINUS is the name of the only family the names of his real parents were Daiphantus and
that is mentioned : at a subsequent period, we find Cleidice, which are alone mentioned in the “ Me-
families of the name of Natta, Posca, Rusca, trical Life” of Pindar already referred to. The
and SCARPUS, but no members of them obtained year of his birth is likewise a disputed point. He
the consulship. On coins, Natta and Scarpus are was born, as we know from his own testimony
the only cognomens that occur. The few Pinarii, (Fragm. 102, ed. Dissen), during the celebration
who occur without a surname, are given below. of the Pythian games. Clinton places his birth in
PINA'RIUS. 1. Mentioned in the reign of OL. 65. 3, B. c. 518, Böckh in Ol. 64. 3, B. c. 522,
Tarquinius Superbus (Plut. Comp. Lyc. c. Num. 3. ) but neither of these dates is certain, though the
2. L. PINARIUS, the commander of the Roman latter is perhaps the most probable. He probably
garrison at Enna in the second Punic war, B. C. died in his 80th year, though other accounts make
214, suppressed with vigour an attempt at insur-him much younger at the time of his death. If
rection which the inhabitants made. (Liv. xxiv. he was born in B. c. 522, his death would fall in
37-39. )
B. C. 442. He was in the prime of life at the
3. T. PINArius, is only known from his having battles of Marathon and Salamis, and was nearly
been ridiculed by the orator C. Julius Caesar Strabo, of the same age as the poet Aeschylus ; but, as
who was curule aedile, B. C. 90. (Cic. de Or. ii. 66. ). K. O. Müller has well remarked, the causes which
4. T. PINARIUS, a friend of Cicero, who men- determined Pindar's poetical character are to be
tions him three or four times (ad Att. vi. 1. & 23, sought in a period previous to the Persian war,
viii. 15, ad Fam. xii. 24). În one passage (ad and in the Doric and Aeolic parts of Greece rather
Q. Fr. iii. 1. & 6), Cicero speaks of his brother, than in Athens ; and thus we may separate Pin-
who was probably the same as the following per- dar from his contemporary Aeschylus, by placing
son (No. 5].
the former at the close of the early period, the
5. L. PINARIUS, the great-nephew of the dic- latter at the head of the new period of literature.
tator C. Julius Caesar, being the grandson of Julia, One of the ancient biographies mentions that Pin-
Caesar's eldest sister. In the will of the dictator, dar married Megacleia, the daughter of Lysitheus
Pinarius was named one of his heirs along with and Callina ; another gives Timoxena as the name
his two other great-nephews, C. Octavius and L. of his wife, but he may have married each in
Pinarius, Octavius obtaining three-fourths of the succession. He had a son, Daiphantus, and two
property, and the remaining fourth being divided daughters, Eumetis and Protomacha.
between Pinarius and Pedius. Pinarius after- The family of Pindar ranked among the noblest
## p. 368 (#384) ############################################
868
PINDARUS.
PINDARUS.
.
in Thebes. It was sprung from the ancient race still she herself is said to have contended with him
of the Aegids, who claimed descent from the Cad-five times, and on each occasion to have gained the
mids, who settled at Thebes and Sparta, whence prize. Pausanias indeed does not speak (ix. 22.
part emigrated to Thera und Cyrene at the com3) of more than one victory, and mentions a
mand of Apollo. (Pind. Pyth. v. 72, &c. ) We picture which he saw at Tanagra, in which Co-
also learn from the biography by Eustathius, that rinna was represented binding her hair with a
Pindar wrote the dapindupinoy doua for his son fillet in token of her victory, which he attributes
Daiphantus, when he was elected daphnephorus to as much to her benuty and to the circumstance that
conduct the festival of the daphnephoria ; a fact she wrote in the Acolic dialect as to her poetical
which proves the dignity of the family, since only talents.
youths of the most distinguished families at Thebes Pindar commenced his professional career as a
were eligible to this office. (Paus. ix. 10. $ 4. ) poet at an early age, and acquired 60 great a re-
The family seems to have been celebrated for its putation, that he was soon einployed by different
skill in music ; though there is no authority for states and princes in all parts of the llellenic world
stating, as Böckh and Müller have done, that they to compose for them choral songs for special occa-
were hereditary flute-players, and exercised their sions. · Ile received money and presents for his
profession regularly at certain great religious fes- works ; but he never degenerated into a common
tivals. The ancient biographies relate that the mercenary poet, and he continued to preserve to
father or uncle of Pindar was a flute-player, and his latest days the respect of all parts of Greece.
we are told that Pindar at an early age received His earliest poem which has come down to us (the
instruction in the art from the flute-player Scope 20th Pythian) he composed at the age of twenty.
linus. But the youth soon gave indications of a It is an Epinican ode in honour of Hippocles, a
genius for poetry, which induced his father to Thessalian youth belonging to the powerful Aleuad
send him to Athens to receive more perfect in- family, who had gained the prize at the Pythian
struction in the art ; for it must be recollected that games. Supposing Pindar to have been born in
lyric poetry among the Greeks was so intimately B. c. 522, this ode was composed in B. c. 502. The
connected with music, dancing, and the whole next ode of Pindar in point of time is the 6th
training of the chorus that the lyric poet required Pythian, which he wrote in his twenty-seventh
no small amount of education to fit him for the year, B. C. 494, in honour of Xenocrates of Agri-
exercise of his profession. Later writers tell us gentum, who had gained the prize at the chariot-
that his future glory as a poet was miraculously race at the Pythian games, by means of his son
foreshadowed by a swarm of bees which rested | Thrasybulus. It would be tedious to relate at
upon his lips while he was asleep, and that this length the different occasions on which he composed
miracle first led him to compose poetry. (Comp. his other odes. It may suffice to mention that he
Paus. ix. 23. & 2; Aelian, y. H. xii. 45. ) At composed poems for Hieron, tyrant of Syracuse,
Athens Pindar became the pupil of Lasus of Her Alexander, son of Amyntas, king of Macedonia,
mione, the founder of the Athenian school of dithy. Theron, tyrant of Agrigentum, Arcesilaus, king of
rambic poetry, and who was at that time residing Cyrene, as well as for many other free states and
at Athens under the patronage of Hipparchus. private persons. He was courted especially by Aler-
Lasus was well skilled in the different kinds of ander, king of Macedonia, and Hieron, tyrant of Sy-
music, and from him Pindar probably gained con- racuse; and the praises which he bestowed upon the
siderable knowledge in the theory of his art. former are said to have been the chief reason which
Pindar also received instruction at Athens from led his descendant, Alexander, the son of Philip, to
Agathocles and Apollodorus, and one of them spare the house of the poet, when he destroyed the
allowed him to instruct the cyclic choruses, though rest of Thebes (Dion Chrysost. Orat. de Regno, ii.
he was still a mere youth. He returned to Thebes p. 25). About B. c. 473, Pindar visited the court
before he had completed his twentieth year, and is of Hieron, in consequence of the pressing invitation
said to have received instruction there from Myrtis of the monarch ; but it appears that he did not re-
and Corinna of Tanagra, two poetesses, who then main more than four years at Syracuse, as he loved
enjoyed great celebrity in Boeotia.
