Pomponius
Secundus, of whom he after-
3.
3.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
ap.
Schol.
ad loc.
; separate command of some of the Illyrian tribes, is
Plut. Per. 22, Nic. 28 ; Diod. xiii. 106. ) (CLE- uncertain, but the last supposition seems the most
ANDRIDAS ; PERICLES. ] In the last-mentioned probable. Livy, in one passage (xxvi. 24), calls
year he marched with an army into Arcadin, him a Thracian prince, but this seems to be cer-
where he released the Parthasians from their winly a mistake. His name was included, together
dependence on Mantinein, and destroyed the with that of Scerdiluïdas in the treaty of alliance
fortress which the Mantineans had built, to com- concluded by M. Valerius Laevinus with the
mand Laconia, at a place called Cypsela on the Aetolians, B. C. 211, and the two were associated
borders. (Thuc. v. 33) In B. C. 418 he set forth together on several occasions during the war with
At the head of the old men and boys to the Philip, as well as in the peace concluded by P.
assistance of his colleague, Agis II. ; but, on his Sempronius with that monarch in B. C. 204. (Liv.
arrival at Tegea, he heard of the victory which xxvi. 24, xxvii. 30, xxviii. 5, xxix. 12 ; Polyb
Agis had just won at Mantineia, and, finding that x. 41. ) But after this period that of Pleuratus
his presence was not required, he returned to appears alone, and he seems to have become sole
Sparia. (Thuc. v. 75. ) He died in B. c. 408, ruler. On the renewal of the war with Macedonia
after a reign of 50 years, and was succeeded by by the Romans (B. C. 201) he hastened to offer his
his son Pausanias. (Diod. xiii. 75; Wess, ad loc. ; assistance to the consul Sulpicius, but his services
comp. Clint. F. H. vol. ii. App. iii. ) One saying were declined for the moment, and were not sub-
of Pleistoanax is found in Plutarch's collection sequently called for. But though he rendered no
(Apoph. Lac. ), but it is hardly brilliant enough to active assistance, his fidelity to the Roman cause
deserve being recorded.
[E. E. ) was rewarded by Flamininus at the peace of 196,
Q. PLEMI'NIUS, propraetor and legatus of by the addition to his territories of Lychnidus and
Scipio Africanus, was sent in B. C. 205 against the Parthini, which had been previously subject to
the town of Locri, in southern Italy, which still Macedonia. (Liv. xxxi. 28, xxxiii. 34 ; Polyb.
continued to be in the possession of the Cartha- xviii. 30, xxi. 9, xxii. 4. ) During the war of M.
ginians. He succeeded in taking the town, of Fulvius in Aetolia, B. C. 189, he again came to the
which he was left governor by Scipio ; but he assistance of the Romans with a fleet of 60 ships,
treated the inhabitants with the greatest cruelty, with which he laid waste the coasts of Aetolia,
and not contented with robbing them of their bui did not effect any thing of moment. (Liv.
private property, plundered even the temple of xxxviii. 7. ). The date of his death is unknown,
Proserpine. The Locrians accordingly sent an but it must have occurred previous to B. c. 180, at
embassy to Rome to complain of his conduct; and which time we find his son Gentius already on the
the senate, upon hearing their complaints, com- throue. (Id. xl. 42. )
manded Pleminius to be hrought back to Rome, 3. A brother of Gentius, and son of the pre-
where he was thrown into prison, B. C. 204, but ceding, who is called PLATOR by Livy, but Pleu-
died before his trial came on. According to ratus by Polybius. He was put to death by Gen-
another account preserved by Clodius Licinius, tius, in order that the king might himself marry a
Pleminius endeavoured to set the city on fire, but daughter of Monunius who had been betrothed to
being detected was put to death in prison by his brother. (Polyb. xxix. 5 ; Liv. xliv. 30. )
command of the senate. (Liv. xxix, 6–9, 16- 4. A son of Gentius, king of Illyria, who was
22, xxxiv. 44 ; Val. Max. i. 1, § 21 ; Dion Cass. taken prisoner, together with his father, and car-
Frag. 64, ed. Reimar. ; Appian, Annib. 55. ) ried captive to Rome. (Liv. xliv. 32. )
PLEMNAEUS ( manuvaios), a son of Peratus 5. An Illyrian exile, of whose services Perseus,
in Aegialeia, was the father of Orthopolis whom king of Macedonia, availed himself on his embassies
Demeter reared, all the other children of Plemnaeus to Gentius, king of Illyria, in B. c. 169. (Liv.
having died immediately after their birth. He xliii. 19, 20; Polyb. xxviii. 8, 9. ) We after-
afterwards showed his gratitude by building a wards find him mentioned as levying a force of
temple to her. (Paus. ii. 5. § 5, 11. $ 2) (L. S. ] Illyrian auxiliaries for the service of Perseus.
PLE'NNIUS, one of the chief legates of Sex. (Liv. xliv. 11. )
[E. H. B. )
Pompeius in the war of the year B. C. 36, which PLEURON (Acupar), a son of Aetolus and
ended in the defeat of the latter. Plennius was Pronoe, and brother of Calydon, was married to
stationed near Lilybaeum to oppose Lepidus. (Ap- Xanthippe, by whom he became the father of Agenor,
pian, B. C. v. 97, &c. , 122. )
Sterope, Stratonice, and Laophonte. He is said to
PLESI'MACHUS (nanoiuaxos), the writer have founded the town of Pleuron in Aetolia, but
of Nooto! (Plut. de Fluv. 18), is probably a false he had a heroum at Sparta. (A pollod. i, 7. $ 7;
reading for Lysimachus, as the ancients frequently Paus. iii. 13. $ 5. )
(L. S. )
mention the NÓStol of the latter (LYSIMACHUS, PLEXAURE (111nfaúpn), a daughter of Ocea-
literary, No. 5), and the name of Plesimachus nus and Tethys (Hes. Theog. 353), or, according to
does not occur elsewhere.
others, of Nereus and Doris. (Apollod. i. 2. §
PLETHO or GEMISTUS GEORGIUS. 7. )
[L. S. )
[GEMISTUS. )
PLEXIPPUs (Πληξιππος). 1. A son of
## p. 414 (#430) ############################################
414
PLINIUS.
PLINIUS.
)
Thestius, and brother of Althaea, was killed by | Africa, though in what capacity, or at what period,
Meleager. (Apollod. i. 7. 8 10 ; MELEAGER. ) we are not informed (H. N. vii. 3). At the age
2. son of Phineus, by Cleopatra. (Apollod. of about 23 he went to Germaniy, where he served
iii. 15. & 3 ; Schol. ad Soph. Antig. 980. )
under L.
Pomponius Secundus, of whom he after-
3. One of the sons of Aegyptus (Hygin. Fab. wards wrote a memoir (Plin. Jun. Ep. jii. 5), and
170. )
(L. S. ) was appointed to the command of a troop of cavalry
C. PLI'NIUS SECUNDUS, the celebrated (prar fectus alue) (Plin. Jun. l. c. ). It appears
author of the Historia Naturalis, was born A. D. 23, from notices of his own that he travelled over most
having reached the age of 56 at the time of his of the frontier of Germany, having visited the
death, which took place in A. D. 79. (Plin. Jun. Cauci, the sources of the Danube, &c. It was pro-
Epist. iii. 5. ) The question as to the place of his bably in Belgium that he became acquainted with
birth has been the subject of a voluminous and ra. Cornelius Tacitus (not the historian of that name,
ther angry discussion between the champions of H. N. vii. 16). It was in the intervals snatched
Verona and those of Novum Comum (the modern from his military duties that he composed his
Como). That he was born at one or other of these treatise de Jaculatione equestri. (Plin. Jun. l. c. )
two towns seems pretty certain ; Hardouin's no- At the same time he commenced a history of the
tion, that he was born at Rome, has nothing to Germanic wars, being led to do so by a dream in
support it. The claim of Comum seems to be, on which he fancied himself commissioned to under-
the whole, the better founded of the two. In the take the task by Drusus Nero. This work he
life of Pliny ascribed to Suetonius, and by Euse- afterwards completed in twenty books.
bius, or his translator Jerome, he is styled Novo- Pliny returned to Rome with Pomponius (A. D.
comensis. Another anonymous life of Pliny (ap 52), and applied himself to the study of jurispru-
parently of late origin and of no authority) calls dence. He practised for some time as a pleader,
him a native of Verona ; and it has been thought but does not seem to have distinguished himself
that the claim of Verona to be considered as his very greatly in that capacity. The greater part of
birth-place is confirmed by the fact that Pliny the reign of Nero he spent in retirement, chiefly,
himself (Praef. init. ) calls Catullus, who was a no doubt, at his native place. It may have been
natire of Verona, his conterraneus. On the other with a view to the education of his nephew that he
hand, it has been urged with more discerning cri- composed the work entitled Studiosus, an extensive
ticism, that as the two towns were both situated treatise in three books, occupying six volumes, in
beyond the Padus in Gallia Cisalpina, and at no which he marked out the course that should be
very great distance from each other, this somewhat pursued in the training of a young orator, from the
barbarous word is much better adapted to intimate cradle to the completion of his education and his
that Catullus was a fellow-countryman of Pliny, entrance into public life. (Plin. Jun. l. c. ;
than that he was a fellow-townsman. In a similar Quintil. iii. 1. $ 21. ) Towards the end of the
manner the younger Pliny, who was undoubtedly reign of Nero he wrote a grammatical work in
born at Novum Comum, speaks of Veronenses nostri eight books, entitled Dubius Sermo, confutations of
(Epist. vi. ult. ). Of two Veronese inscriptions which were promised by various professed gram-
which have been adduced, one appears to be spu- marians, Stoics, dialecticians, &c. ; though ten
rious. The other, which is admitted to be genuine, years afterwards, when the Historia Naturalis was
is too mutilated for its tenour to be ascertained. published, they had not appeared. (Plin. H. N.
It appears to have been set up by a Plinius Se- i. Praef. $ 22. ) It was towards the close of the
cundus, but whether the author of the Natural reign of Nero that Pliny was appointed procurator
History or not, there is nothing to show. Nor in Spain. He was here in A. D. 71, when his
would it in any case be decisive as to the birth brother-in-law died, leaving his son, the younger
place of Pliny. "That the family of the Plinii be- Pliny, to the guardianship of his uncle, who, on
jonged to Novum Comum is clear from the facts account of his absence, was obliged to entrust the
that the estates of the elder Pliny were situated care of him to Virginius Rufus. Pliny returned
there, and that the younger Pliny was born there, to Rome in the reign of Vespasian, shortly before
and from several inscriptions found in the neigh- A. D. 73, when he adopted his nephew. He had
bourhood relating to various members of the family known Vespasian in the Germanic wars, and the
Of the particular events in the life of Pliny we emperor received him into the number of his most
know but little ; but for the absence of such mate- intimate friends. For the assertion that Pliny
rials for biography we are in some degree compen- served with Titus in Judaea there is no authority.
sated by the valuable account which his nephew He was, however, on intimate terms with Titus, to
has left us of his habits of life. He came to Rome whom he dedicated his great work. Nor is there
while still young, and being descended from a any evidence that he was ever created senator by
family of wealth and distinction, he had the means Vespasian. It was doubtless at this period of his
at his disposal for availing himself of the instruction life that he wrote a continuation of the history of
of the best teachers to be found in the imperial Aufidius Bassus, in 31 books, carrying the narrative
city. In one passage of his work (ix. 58) he down to his own times (H. N. praef. $ 19). Of
speaks of the enormous quantity of jewellery which his manner of life at this period an interesting
he had seen worn by Lollia Paulina. That must account has been preserved by his nephew (Epist.
have been before A. D. 40, in which year Caligula iii. 5). It was his practice to begin to spend a
married Cesonia. It does not appear necessary to portion of the night in studying by candle-light, at
suppose that at that early age Pliny had already the festival of the Vulcanalia (towards the end of
been introduced at the court of Caligula. The August), at first at a late hour of the night, in
strange animals exhibited by the emperors and winter at one or two o'clock in the morning.
wealthy Romans in spectacles and combats, seem Before it was light he betook himself to the emperor
early to have attracted his attention (comp. H. N. Vespasian, and after executing such commissions
ix. 5). He was for some time on the coast of | as he might be charged with, returned home and
## p. 415 (#431) ############################################
PLINIUS.
416
PLINIUS.
devoted the time which he still had remaining to ships at Retina, who had just escaped from the
study. After a slender meal be would, in the imminent danger, urged him to turn back. He
summer time, lie in the sunshine while some one resolved, however, to proceed, and in the hope of
read to him, he himself making notes and extracts. rendering assistance to those who were in peril,
He never read anything without making extracts ordered the ships to be launched, and proceeded
in this way, for he used to say that there was no to the point of danger, retaining calmness and
book so bad but that some good might be got out self-possession enough to observe and have noted
of it. He would then take a cold bath, and, after down the various forms which the cloud assumed.
a slight repast, sleep a very little, and then pursue Hot cinders and pumice stones now fell thickly
his studies till the time of the coena. During this upon the vessels, and they were in danger of
meal some book was read to, and commented on by being left aground by a sudden retreat of the sea.
him. At table, as might be supposed, he spent He hesitated for an instant whether to proceed or
but a short time. Such was his mode of life when not ; but quoting the maxim of Terence, forics
in the midst of the bustle and confusion of the city. fortuna adjurat, directed the steersman to conduct
When in retirement in the country, the time spent him to Pomponianus, who was at Stabiae, and whom
in the bath was nearly the only interval not allotted he found preparing to set snil. Pliny did his best
to study, and that he reduced to the narrowest to restore his courage, and ordered a bath to be
limits ; for during all the process of scraping and prepared for himself. He then, with a cheerful
rubbing he had some book read to hirn, or himself countenance, presented himself at the dinner-table,
dictated. When on a journey he had a secretary endeavouring to induce his friend to believe that
by his side with a book and tablets, and in the the flames which burst out with increased violence
winter season made him wear gloves that his were only those of some villages which the pea-
writing might not be impeded by the cold. He sants had abandoned, and afterwards retired to
once found fault with his nephew for walking, as rest, and slept soundly. But, as the court of the
by so doing he lost a good deal of time that might house was becoming fast filled with cinders, so
have been employed in study. By this incessant that egress would in a short time have become
application, persevered in throughout his lifetime, impossible, he was roused, and joined Pompo-
he amassed an enormous amount of materials, and nianus. As the house, from the frequent and
at his death left to his nephew 160 volumina of violent shocks, was in momentary danger of fall-
notes (electorum commentarii), written extremely ing, it appeared the safer plan to betake themselves
small on both sides. While procurator in Spain, into the open fields, which they did, tying pillows
when the number of them was considerably less, upon their heads to protect them from the falling
he had been offered 400,000 sesterces for them, by stones and ashes. Though it was already day,
one Largius Licinius. With some reason might the darkness was profound. They went to the
his nephew say that, when compared with Pliny, shore to see if it were possible to embark, but
those who had spent their whole lives in literary found the sea too tempestuous to allow them to do
pursuits seemed as if they had spent them in so. Pliny then lay down on a sail which was
nothing else than sleep and idleness. When we spread for him. Alarmed by the approach of
consider the multiplicity of his engagements, both flames, preceded by a smell of sulphur, his com-
public and private, the time occupied in military panions took to flight. His slaves assisted him
services, in the discharge of the duties of the to rise, but he almost immediately dropped down
offices which he held, in his forensic studies and again, suffocated, as his nephew conjectures, by
practice, in visits to the emperor, and the per- the vapours, for he had naturally weak lungs.
formance of the miscellaneous commissions en- His body was afterwards found unhurt, even his
trusted to him by the latter, the extent of his clothes not being disordered, and his attitude that
acquisitions is indeed astonishing. From the ma- of one asleep rather than that of a corpse.
terials which he had in this way collected he com- It may easily be supposed that Pliny, with his
piled his celebrated Historia Naturalis, which he inordinate appetite for accumulating knowledge
dedicated to Titus, and published, as appears from out of books, was not the man to produce a
the titles given to Titus in the preface, about A. D. scientific work of any value. He had no genius,
77.
as indeed might have been inferred from the bent
The circumstances of the death of Pliny were of his mind. He was not even an original ob-
remarkable. The details are given in a letter of server. The materials which he worked up into
the younger Pliny to Tacitus (Ep. vi. 16). Pliny his huge encyclopaedic compilation were almost
had been appointed admiral by Vespasian, and in all derived at second-hand, though doubtless he
A. D. 79 was stationed with the fleet at Misenum, has incorporated the results of his own observation
when the celebrated eruption of Vesuvius took in a larger number of instances than those in
place, which overwbelmed Herculaneum and Pom- , which he indicates such to be the case. Nor did
peii. On the 24th August, while he was, as he, as a compiler, show either judgment or dis
usual, engaged in study, his attention was called crimination in the selection of his materials, so
by his sister to a cloud of unusual size and shape, that in his accounts the true and the false are
rising to a great height, in the form of a pine found intermixed in nearly equal proportion,-
tree, from Vesuvius (as was afterwards disco- the latter, if any thing, predominating, even with
vered), sometimes white, sometimes blackish and regard to subjects on which more accurate inform-
spotted, according as the smoke was more or less ation might have been obtained ; for, as he wrote
mixed with cinders and earth. He immediately on a multiplicity of subjects with which he had no
went to a spot from which he could get a better scientiñc acquaintance, he was entirely at the
view of the phaenomenon ; but, desiring to ex- mercy of those from whose writings he borrowed
amine it still more closely, he ordered a light his information, being incapable of correcting their
vessel to be got ready, in which he embarked, errors, or, as may be seen even from what he has
taking his tablets with him. The sailors of the borrowed from Aristotle, of determining the relar
## p. 416 (#432) ############################################
416
PLINIUS.
PLINIUS.
He was,
1
a
tive importance of the facts which he selects and skill or the products of human faculties. Pliny,
those which he passes over.
His love of the however, has not kept within even these extensive
marvellous, and his contempt for human nature, limits. He has broken in upon the plan implied
lead him constantly to introduce what is strange by the title of the work, by considerable digres-
or wonderful, or adapted to illustrate the wicked- sions on human inventions and institutions (book
ness of man, and the unsatisfactory arrangements vii. ), and on the history of the fine arts (xxxv. -
of Providence,
as Cuvier remarks, xxxvii. ). Minor digressions on similar topics are
(Biograph. Univ. art. Pline, vol. xxxv. ), “an also interspersed in various parts of the work, the
author without critical judgment, who, after hav- arrangement of which in other respects exhibits
ing spent a great deal of time in making extracts, but little scientific discrimination. The younger
has ranged them under certain chapters, to which | Pliny fairly enough describes it as opus diffusum,
he has added reflections which have no relation to eruditum, nec minus vurium quam ipsa Natura
science properly so called, but display alternately (Epist. iii. 5). It comprises, as Pliny says in the
either the most superstitious credulity, or the preface ($ 17), within the compass of thirty-six
declamations of a discontented philosophy, which books, 20,000 matters of importance, drawn from
finds fault continually with mankind, with nature, about 2000 volumes, the works of one hundred
and with the gods themselves. " His work is of authors of authority, the greater part of which
course valuable to us from the vast number of were not read even by those of professedly literary
Bubjects treated of, with regard to many of which habits, together with a large number of additional
we have no other sources of information, But matters not known by the authorities from which
what he tells us is often unintelligible, from his he drew. Hardouin has drawn up a catalogue of
retailing accounts of things with which he was the authors quoted by Pliny in the first book, or
himself personally unacquainted, and of which he in the body of the work itself, amounting to be-
in consequence gives no satisfactory idea to the tween 400 and 500. When it is remembered
reader. Though a writer on zoology, botany, and that this work was not the result of the undis-
mineralogy, he has no pretensions to be called a tracted labour of a life, but written in the hours of
naturalist. His compilations exhibit scarcely a leisure secured from active pursuits, interrupted
trace of scientific arrangement; and frequently it occasionally by ill health (Praef. $ 18), and that
can be shown that he does not give the true sense too by the author of other extensive works, it is,
of the authors whom he quotes and translates, to say the least, a wonderful monument of human
giving not uncommonly wrong Latin names to industry. Some idea of its nature may be formed
the objects spoken of by his Greek authorities. from a brief outline of its contents.
That repeated contradictions should occur in such a The Historia Naturalis is divided into 37 books,
work is not to be wondered at. It would not, of the first of which consists of a dedicatory epistle to
course, be fair to try him by the standard of Titus, followed by a table of contents of the other
modern times ; yet we need but place bim for an books. It is curious that ancient writers should
instant by the side of a man like Aristotle, whose not more generally have adopted this usage. No
learning was even more varied, while it was in Roman writer before Pliny had drawn out such a
comparably more profound, to see how great was table, except Valerius Soranus, whose priority in
his inferiority as a man of science and reflection. the idea Pliny frankly confesses. (Praef. § 26. )
Still it is but just to him to add, that he occa- Pliny has also adopted a plan in every way worthy
sionally displays a vigour of thought and express of imitation. After the table of the subject-matter
sion which shows that he might have attained a of each book he has appended a list of the authors
much higher rank as an author, if his mental from whom his materials were derived ; an act of
energies had not been weighed down beneath the honesty rare enough in ancient as well as modern
mass of unorganized materials with which his times, and for which in his prefatory epistle (SS
memory and his note-tablets were overloaded. In 16, 17) he deservedly takes credit. It may be
private life his character seems to have been esti- noticed too, as indicating the pleasure which he
mable in a high degree, and his work abounds took in the quantity of the materials which he ac-
with grave and noble sentiments, exhibiting a cumulated, that he very commonly adds the exact
love of virtue and honour, and the most unmi- number of facts, accounts, and observations which
tigated contempt for the luxury, profligacy, and the book contains.
meanness which by his time had so deeply stained The second book treats of the mundane system,
the Roman people. To philosophical speculation the sun, moon, planets, fixed stars, comets, meteoric
on religious, moral, or metaphysical subjects he prodigies, the rainbow, clouds, rain, &c. , eclipses,
does not seem to have been much addicted. All the seasons, winds, thunder and lightning, the
that is very distinctive of his views on such shape of the earth, changes in its surface, earth-
matters is that he was a decided pantheist. quakes, the seas, rivers, fountains, &c. He makes
With the exception of some minute quotations no attempt to distinguish between astronomy and
from his grammatical treatise (Lersch, Sprach- meteorology, but jumbles both together in utter con-
philosophie der Alten, vol.
Plut. Per. 22, Nic. 28 ; Diod. xiii. 106. ) (CLE- uncertain, but the last supposition seems the most
ANDRIDAS ; PERICLES. ] In the last-mentioned probable. Livy, in one passage (xxvi. 24), calls
year he marched with an army into Arcadin, him a Thracian prince, but this seems to be cer-
where he released the Parthasians from their winly a mistake. His name was included, together
dependence on Mantinein, and destroyed the with that of Scerdiluïdas in the treaty of alliance
fortress which the Mantineans had built, to com- concluded by M. Valerius Laevinus with the
mand Laconia, at a place called Cypsela on the Aetolians, B. C. 211, and the two were associated
borders. (Thuc. v. 33) In B. C. 418 he set forth together on several occasions during the war with
At the head of the old men and boys to the Philip, as well as in the peace concluded by P.
assistance of his colleague, Agis II. ; but, on his Sempronius with that monarch in B. C. 204. (Liv.
arrival at Tegea, he heard of the victory which xxvi. 24, xxvii. 30, xxviii. 5, xxix. 12 ; Polyb
Agis had just won at Mantineia, and, finding that x. 41. ) But after this period that of Pleuratus
his presence was not required, he returned to appears alone, and he seems to have become sole
Sparia. (Thuc. v. 75. ) He died in B. c. 408, ruler. On the renewal of the war with Macedonia
after a reign of 50 years, and was succeeded by by the Romans (B. C. 201) he hastened to offer his
his son Pausanias. (Diod. xiii. 75; Wess, ad loc. ; assistance to the consul Sulpicius, but his services
comp. Clint. F. H. vol. ii. App. iii. ) One saying were declined for the moment, and were not sub-
of Pleistoanax is found in Plutarch's collection sequently called for. But though he rendered no
(Apoph. Lac. ), but it is hardly brilliant enough to active assistance, his fidelity to the Roman cause
deserve being recorded.
[E. E. ) was rewarded by Flamininus at the peace of 196,
Q. PLEMI'NIUS, propraetor and legatus of by the addition to his territories of Lychnidus and
Scipio Africanus, was sent in B. C. 205 against the Parthini, which had been previously subject to
the town of Locri, in southern Italy, which still Macedonia. (Liv. xxxi. 28, xxxiii. 34 ; Polyb.
continued to be in the possession of the Cartha- xviii. 30, xxi. 9, xxii. 4. ) During the war of M.
ginians. He succeeded in taking the town, of Fulvius in Aetolia, B. C. 189, he again came to the
which he was left governor by Scipio ; but he assistance of the Romans with a fleet of 60 ships,
treated the inhabitants with the greatest cruelty, with which he laid waste the coasts of Aetolia,
and not contented with robbing them of their bui did not effect any thing of moment. (Liv.
private property, plundered even the temple of xxxviii. 7. ). The date of his death is unknown,
Proserpine. The Locrians accordingly sent an but it must have occurred previous to B. c. 180, at
embassy to Rome to complain of his conduct; and which time we find his son Gentius already on the
the senate, upon hearing their complaints, com- throue. (Id. xl. 42. )
manded Pleminius to be hrought back to Rome, 3. A brother of Gentius, and son of the pre-
where he was thrown into prison, B. C. 204, but ceding, who is called PLATOR by Livy, but Pleu-
died before his trial came on. According to ratus by Polybius. He was put to death by Gen-
another account preserved by Clodius Licinius, tius, in order that the king might himself marry a
Pleminius endeavoured to set the city on fire, but daughter of Monunius who had been betrothed to
being detected was put to death in prison by his brother. (Polyb. xxix. 5 ; Liv. xliv. 30. )
command of the senate. (Liv. xxix, 6–9, 16- 4. A son of Gentius, king of Illyria, who was
22, xxxiv. 44 ; Val. Max. i. 1, § 21 ; Dion Cass. taken prisoner, together with his father, and car-
Frag. 64, ed. Reimar. ; Appian, Annib. 55. ) ried captive to Rome. (Liv. xliv. 32. )
PLEMNAEUS ( manuvaios), a son of Peratus 5. An Illyrian exile, of whose services Perseus,
in Aegialeia, was the father of Orthopolis whom king of Macedonia, availed himself on his embassies
Demeter reared, all the other children of Plemnaeus to Gentius, king of Illyria, in B. c. 169. (Liv.
having died immediately after their birth. He xliii. 19, 20; Polyb. xxviii. 8, 9. ) We after-
afterwards showed his gratitude by building a wards find him mentioned as levying a force of
temple to her. (Paus. ii. 5. § 5, 11. $ 2) (L. S. ] Illyrian auxiliaries for the service of Perseus.
PLE'NNIUS, one of the chief legates of Sex. (Liv. xliv. 11. )
[E. H. B. )
Pompeius in the war of the year B. C. 36, which PLEURON (Acupar), a son of Aetolus and
ended in the defeat of the latter. Plennius was Pronoe, and brother of Calydon, was married to
stationed near Lilybaeum to oppose Lepidus. (Ap- Xanthippe, by whom he became the father of Agenor,
pian, B. C. v. 97, &c. , 122. )
Sterope, Stratonice, and Laophonte. He is said to
PLESI'MACHUS (nanoiuaxos), the writer have founded the town of Pleuron in Aetolia, but
of Nooto! (Plut. de Fluv. 18), is probably a false he had a heroum at Sparta. (A pollod. i, 7. $ 7;
reading for Lysimachus, as the ancients frequently Paus. iii. 13. $ 5. )
(L. S. )
mention the NÓStol of the latter (LYSIMACHUS, PLEXAURE (111nfaúpn), a daughter of Ocea-
literary, No. 5), and the name of Plesimachus nus and Tethys (Hes. Theog. 353), or, according to
does not occur elsewhere.
others, of Nereus and Doris. (Apollod. i. 2. §
PLETHO or GEMISTUS GEORGIUS. 7. )
[L. S. )
[GEMISTUS. )
PLEXIPPUs (Πληξιππος). 1. A son of
## p. 414 (#430) ############################################
414
PLINIUS.
PLINIUS.
)
Thestius, and brother of Althaea, was killed by | Africa, though in what capacity, or at what period,
Meleager. (Apollod. i. 7. 8 10 ; MELEAGER. ) we are not informed (H. N. vii. 3). At the age
2. son of Phineus, by Cleopatra. (Apollod. of about 23 he went to Germaniy, where he served
iii. 15. & 3 ; Schol. ad Soph. Antig. 980. )
under L.
Pomponius Secundus, of whom he after-
3. One of the sons of Aegyptus (Hygin. Fab. wards wrote a memoir (Plin. Jun. Ep. jii. 5), and
170. )
(L. S. ) was appointed to the command of a troop of cavalry
C. PLI'NIUS SECUNDUS, the celebrated (prar fectus alue) (Plin. Jun. l. c. ). It appears
author of the Historia Naturalis, was born A. D. 23, from notices of his own that he travelled over most
having reached the age of 56 at the time of his of the frontier of Germany, having visited the
death, which took place in A. D. 79. (Plin. Jun. Cauci, the sources of the Danube, &c. It was pro-
Epist. iii. 5. ) The question as to the place of his bably in Belgium that he became acquainted with
birth has been the subject of a voluminous and ra. Cornelius Tacitus (not the historian of that name,
ther angry discussion between the champions of H. N. vii. 16). It was in the intervals snatched
Verona and those of Novum Comum (the modern from his military duties that he composed his
Como). That he was born at one or other of these treatise de Jaculatione equestri. (Plin. Jun. l. c. )
two towns seems pretty certain ; Hardouin's no- At the same time he commenced a history of the
tion, that he was born at Rome, has nothing to Germanic wars, being led to do so by a dream in
support it. The claim of Comum seems to be, on which he fancied himself commissioned to under-
the whole, the better founded of the two. In the take the task by Drusus Nero. This work he
life of Pliny ascribed to Suetonius, and by Euse- afterwards completed in twenty books.
bius, or his translator Jerome, he is styled Novo- Pliny returned to Rome with Pomponius (A. D.
comensis. Another anonymous life of Pliny (ap 52), and applied himself to the study of jurispru-
parently of late origin and of no authority) calls dence. He practised for some time as a pleader,
him a native of Verona ; and it has been thought but does not seem to have distinguished himself
that the claim of Verona to be considered as his very greatly in that capacity. The greater part of
birth-place is confirmed by the fact that Pliny the reign of Nero he spent in retirement, chiefly,
himself (Praef. init. ) calls Catullus, who was a no doubt, at his native place. It may have been
natire of Verona, his conterraneus. On the other with a view to the education of his nephew that he
hand, it has been urged with more discerning cri- composed the work entitled Studiosus, an extensive
ticism, that as the two towns were both situated treatise in three books, occupying six volumes, in
beyond the Padus in Gallia Cisalpina, and at no which he marked out the course that should be
very great distance from each other, this somewhat pursued in the training of a young orator, from the
barbarous word is much better adapted to intimate cradle to the completion of his education and his
that Catullus was a fellow-countryman of Pliny, entrance into public life. (Plin. Jun. l. c. ;
than that he was a fellow-townsman. In a similar Quintil. iii. 1. $ 21. ) Towards the end of the
manner the younger Pliny, who was undoubtedly reign of Nero he wrote a grammatical work in
born at Novum Comum, speaks of Veronenses nostri eight books, entitled Dubius Sermo, confutations of
(Epist. vi. ult. ). Of two Veronese inscriptions which were promised by various professed gram-
which have been adduced, one appears to be spu- marians, Stoics, dialecticians, &c. ; though ten
rious. The other, which is admitted to be genuine, years afterwards, when the Historia Naturalis was
is too mutilated for its tenour to be ascertained. published, they had not appeared. (Plin. H. N.
It appears to have been set up by a Plinius Se- i. Praef. $ 22. ) It was towards the close of the
cundus, but whether the author of the Natural reign of Nero that Pliny was appointed procurator
History or not, there is nothing to show. Nor in Spain. He was here in A. D. 71, when his
would it in any case be decisive as to the birth brother-in-law died, leaving his son, the younger
place of Pliny. "That the family of the Plinii be- Pliny, to the guardianship of his uncle, who, on
jonged to Novum Comum is clear from the facts account of his absence, was obliged to entrust the
that the estates of the elder Pliny were situated care of him to Virginius Rufus. Pliny returned
there, and that the younger Pliny was born there, to Rome in the reign of Vespasian, shortly before
and from several inscriptions found in the neigh- A. D. 73, when he adopted his nephew. He had
bourhood relating to various members of the family known Vespasian in the Germanic wars, and the
Of the particular events in the life of Pliny we emperor received him into the number of his most
know but little ; but for the absence of such mate- intimate friends. For the assertion that Pliny
rials for biography we are in some degree compen- served with Titus in Judaea there is no authority.
sated by the valuable account which his nephew He was, however, on intimate terms with Titus, to
has left us of his habits of life. He came to Rome whom he dedicated his great work. Nor is there
while still young, and being descended from a any evidence that he was ever created senator by
family of wealth and distinction, he had the means Vespasian. It was doubtless at this period of his
at his disposal for availing himself of the instruction life that he wrote a continuation of the history of
of the best teachers to be found in the imperial Aufidius Bassus, in 31 books, carrying the narrative
city. In one passage of his work (ix. 58) he down to his own times (H. N. praef. $ 19). Of
speaks of the enormous quantity of jewellery which his manner of life at this period an interesting
he had seen worn by Lollia Paulina. That must account has been preserved by his nephew (Epist.
have been before A. D. 40, in which year Caligula iii. 5). It was his practice to begin to spend a
married Cesonia. It does not appear necessary to portion of the night in studying by candle-light, at
suppose that at that early age Pliny had already the festival of the Vulcanalia (towards the end of
been introduced at the court of Caligula. The August), at first at a late hour of the night, in
strange animals exhibited by the emperors and winter at one or two o'clock in the morning.
wealthy Romans in spectacles and combats, seem Before it was light he betook himself to the emperor
early to have attracted his attention (comp. H. N. Vespasian, and after executing such commissions
ix. 5). He was for some time on the coast of | as he might be charged with, returned home and
## p. 415 (#431) ############################################
PLINIUS.
416
PLINIUS.
devoted the time which he still had remaining to ships at Retina, who had just escaped from the
study. After a slender meal be would, in the imminent danger, urged him to turn back. He
summer time, lie in the sunshine while some one resolved, however, to proceed, and in the hope of
read to him, he himself making notes and extracts. rendering assistance to those who were in peril,
He never read anything without making extracts ordered the ships to be launched, and proceeded
in this way, for he used to say that there was no to the point of danger, retaining calmness and
book so bad but that some good might be got out self-possession enough to observe and have noted
of it. He would then take a cold bath, and, after down the various forms which the cloud assumed.
a slight repast, sleep a very little, and then pursue Hot cinders and pumice stones now fell thickly
his studies till the time of the coena. During this upon the vessels, and they were in danger of
meal some book was read to, and commented on by being left aground by a sudden retreat of the sea.
him. At table, as might be supposed, he spent He hesitated for an instant whether to proceed or
but a short time. Such was his mode of life when not ; but quoting the maxim of Terence, forics
in the midst of the bustle and confusion of the city. fortuna adjurat, directed the steersman to conduct
When in retirement in the country, the time spent him to Pomponianus, who was at Stabiae, and whom
in the bath was nearly the only interval not allotted he found preparing to set snil. Pliny did his best
to study, and that he reduced to the narrowest to restore his courage, and ordered a bath to be
limits ; for during all the process of scraping and prepared for himself. He then, with a cheerful
rubbing he had some book read to hirn, or himself countenance, presented himself at the dinner-table,
dictated. When on a journey he had a secretary endeavouring to induce his friend to believe that
by his side with a book and tablets, and in the the flames which burst out with increased violence
winter season made him wear gloves that his were only those of some villages which the pea-
writing might not be impeded by the cold. He sants had abandoned, and afterwards retired to
once found fault with his nephew for walking, as rest, and slept soundly. But, as the court of the
by so doing he lost a good deal of time that might house was becoming fast filled with cinders, so
have been employed in study. By this incessant that egress would in a short time have become
application, persevered in throughout his lifetime, impossible, he was roused, and joined Pompo-
he amassed an enormous amount of materials, and nianus. As the house, from the frequent and
at his death left to his nephew 160 volumina of violent shocks, was in momentary danger of fall-
notes (electorum commentarii), written extremely ing, it appeared the safer plan to betake themselves
small on both sides. While procurator in Spain, into the open fields, which they did, tying pillows
when the number of them was considerably less, upon their heads to protect them from the falling
he had been offered 400,000 sesterces for them, by stones and ashes. Though it was already day,
one Largius Licinius. With some reason might the darkness was profound. They went to the
his nephew say that, when compared with Pliny, shore to see if it were possible to embark, but
those who had spent their whole lives in literary found the sea too tempestuous to allow them to do
pursuits seemed as if they had spent them in so. Pliny then lay down on a sail which was
nothing else than sleep and idleness. When we spread for him. Alarmed by the approach of
consider the multiplicity of his engagements, both flames, preceded by a smell of sulphur, his com-
public and private, the time occupied in military panions took to flight. His slaves assisted him
services, in the discharge of the duties of the to rise, but he almost immediately dropped down
offices which he held, in his forensic studies and again, suffocated, as his nephew conjectures, by
practice, in visits to the emperor, and the per- the vapours, for he had naturally weak lungs.
formance of the miscellaneous commissions en- His body was afterwards found unhurt, even his
trusted to him by the latter, the extent of his clothes not being disordered, and his attitude that
acquisitions is indeed astonishing. From the ma- of one asleep rather than that of a corpse.
terials which he had in this way collected he com- It may easily be supposed that Pliny, with his
piled his celebrated Historia Naturalis, which he inordinate appetite for accumulating knowledge
dedicated to Titus, and published, as appears from out of books, was not the man to produce a
the titles given to Titus in the preface, about A. D. scientific work of any value. He had no genius,
77.
as indeed might have been inferred from the bent
The circumstances of the death of Pliny were of his mind. He was not even an original ob-
remarkable. The details are given in a letter of server. The materials which he worked up into
the younger Pliny to Tacitus (Ep. vi. 16). Pliny his huge encyclopaedic compilation were almost
had been appointed admiral by Vespasian, and in all derived at second-hand, though doubtless he
A. D. 79 was stationed with the fleet at Misenum, has incorporated the results of his own observation
when the celebrated eruption of Vesuvius took in a larger number of instances than those in
place, which overwbelmed Herculaneum and Pom- , which he indicates such to be the case. Nor did
peii. On the 24th August, while he was, as he, as a compiler, show either judgment or dis
usual, engaged in study, his attention was called crimination in the selection of his materials, so
by his sister to a cloud of unusual size and shape, that in his accounts the true and the false are
rising to a great height, in the form of a pine found intermixed in nearly equal proportion,-
tree, from Vesuvius (as was afterwards disco- the latter, if any thing, predominating, even with
vered), sometimes white, sometimes blackish and regard to subjects on which more accurate inform-
spotted, according as the smoke was more or less ation might have been obtained ; for, as he wrote
mixed with cinders and earth. He immediately on a multiplicity of subjects with which he had no
went to a spot from which he could get a better scientiñc acquaintance, he was entirely at the
view of the phaenomenon ; but, desiring to ex- mercy of those from whose writings he borrowed
amine it still more closely, he ordered a light his information, being incapable of correcting their
vessel to be got ready, in which he embarked, errors, or, as may be seen even from what he has
taking his tablets with him. The sailors of the borrowed from Aristotle, of determining the relar
## p. 416 (#432) ############################################
416
PLINIUS.
PLINIUS.
He was,
1
a
tive importance of the facts which he selects and skill or the products of human faculties. Pliny,
those which he passes over.
His love of the however, has not kept within even these extensive
marvellous, and his contempt for human nature, limits. He has broken in upon the plan implied
lead him constantly to introduce what is strange by the title of the work, by considerable digres-
or wonderful, or adapted to illustrate the wicked- sions on human inventions and institutions (book
ness of man, and the unsatisfactory arrangements vii. ), and on the history of the fine arts (xxxv. -
of Providence,
as Cuvier remarks, xxxvii. ). Minor digressions on similar topics are
(Biograph. Univ. art. Pline, vol. xxxv. ), “an also interspersed in various parts of the work, the
author without critical judgment, who, after hav- arrangement of which in other respects exhibits
ing spent a great deal of time in making extracts, but little scientific discrimination. The younger
has ranged them under certain chapters, to which | Pliny fairly enough describes it as opus diffusum,
he has added reflections which have no relation to eruditum, nec minus vurium quam ipsa Natura
science properly so called, but display alternately (Epist. iii. 5). It comprises, as Pliny says in the
either the most superstitious credulity, or the preface ($ 17), within the compass of thirty-six
declamations of a discontented philosophy, which books, 20,000 matters of importance, drawn from
finds fault continually with mankind, with nature, about 2000 volumes, the works of one hundred
and with the gods themselves. " His work is of authors of authority, the greater part of which
course valuable to us from the vast number of were not read even by those of professedly literary
Bubjects treated of, with regard to many of which habits, together with a large number of additional
we have no other sources of information, But matters not known by the authorities from which
what he tells us is often unintelligible, from his he drew. Hardouin has drawn up a catalogue of
retailing accounts of things with which he was the authors quoted by Pliny in the first book, or
himself personally unacquainted, and of which he in the body of the work itself, amounting to be-
in consequence gives no satisfactory idea to the tween 400 and 500. When it is remembered
reader. Though a writer on zoology, botany, and that this work was not the result of the undis-
mineralogy, he has no pretensions to be called a tracted labour of a life, but written in the hours of
naturalist. His compilations exhibit scarcely a leisure secured from active pursuits, interrupted
trace of scientific arrangement; and frequently it occasionally by ill health (Praef. $ 18), and that
can be shown that he does not give the true sense too by the author of other extensive works, it is,
of the authors whom he quotes and translates, to say the least, a wonderful monument of human
giving not uncommonly wrong Latin names to industry. Some idea of its nature may be formed
the objects spoken of by his Greek authorities. from a brief outline of its contents.
That repeated contradictions should occur in such a The Historia Naturalis is divided into 37 books,
work is not to be wondered at. It would not, of the first of which consists of a dedicatory epistle to
course, be fair to try him by the standard of Titus, followed by a table of contents of the other
modern times ; yet we need but place bim for an books. It is curious that ancient writers should
instant by the side of a man like Aristotle, whose not more generally have adopted this usage. No
learning was even more varied, while it was in Roman writer before Pliny had drawn out such a
comparably more profound, to see how great was table, except Valerius Soranus, whose priority in
his inferiority as a man of science and reflection. the idea Pliny frankly confesses. (Praef. § 26. )
Still it is but just to him to add, that he occa- Pliny has also adopted a plan in every way worthy
sionally displays a vigour of thought and express of imitation. After the table of the subject-matter
sion which shows that he might have attained a of each book he has appended a list of the authors
much higher rank as an author, if his mental from whom his materials were derived ; an act of
energies had not been weighed down beneath the honesty rare enough in ancient as well as modern
mass of unorganized materials with which his times, and for which in his prefatory epistle (SS
memory and his note-tablets were overloaded. In 16, 17) he deservedly takes credit. It may be
private life his character seems to have been esti- noticed too, as indicating the pleasure which he
mable in a high degree, and his work abounds took in the quantity of the materials which he ac-
with grave and noble sentiments, exhibiting a cumulated, that he very commonly adds the exact
love of virtue and honour, and the most unmi- number of facts, accounts, and observations which
tigated contempt for the luxury, profligacy, and the book contains.
meanness which by his time had so deeply stained The second book treats of the mundane system,
the Roman people. To philosophical speculation the sun, moon, planets, fixed stars, comets, meteoric
on religious, moral, or metaphysical subjects he prodigies, the rainbow, clouds, rain, &c. , eclipses,
does not seem to have been much addicted. All the seasons, winds, thunder and lightning, the
that is very distinctive of his views on such shape of the earth, changes in its surface, earth-
matters is that he was a decided pantheist. quakes, the seas, rivers, fountains, &c. He makes
With the exception of some minute quotations no attempt to distinguish between astronomy and
from his grammatical treatise (Lersch, Sprach- meteorology, but jumbles both together in utter con-
philosophie der Alten, vol.
