) "Mount Pentelicus,"
observes
Hobhouse, "at
this day culied Pendcle, and sometimes Mcndcle, must
be, I should think, one third higher than Hymettus,
and its height is the more apparent, as it rises with
a peaked summit into the clouds.
this day culied Pendcle, and sometimes Mcndcle, must
be, I should think, one third higher than Hymettus,
and its height is the more apparent, as it rises with
a peaked summit into the clouds.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
) The ori-
gin, therefore, of the name Peloponnesus still remains
open to investigation. It is possible that Pelops, in-
stead of having actually existed, may be merely a sym-
bol represi nting an old race by the name of Pelopes,
according to the analogy which we find in the national
appellators of the Dryopes, Meropes, Dolopes, and
others. The Peloponnesus, then, will have derived
its name from this old race, and the very term Pelopes
(Pel-opes) itself will receive something like confirma-
tion from the ingenious remarks of Buttmann relative
to the early population along the shores of the Medi-
terranean. ( Vid. Apia, and Opici. ) After the line of
the mythic Pelops had become celebrated in epic poe-
try as the lords of all Argos and of many islands, the
name of Peloponnesus would appear to have come into
general use, and, by a common error, to have been
transferred from the race or nation of the Pelopes to
their fabulous leader. (Vid. Pelops. )--Peloponnesus,
-hough inferior in extent to the northern portion of
Greece, may be looked upon, says Slrabo, as the acrop-
olis of Hellas, both from its position, and the power
and celebrity of the different people by which it was
inhabited. In shape it resembled the leaf of a plane-
tree, being indented by numerous bays oti all sides.
tS/raA. , 335-- Plin. , 4, 5. --Dionys. Per. , 403. ) It
is frain this circumstance that the modern name of Mo-
nk is doubtlessly derived, that word signifying a mul-
berry leaf. --Strabo estimates the breadth of the penin-
tsii at 1400 stadia from Cape Chelonatas, now Cape
Tornese, its westernmost point, to the isthmus, being
nearly equal to its length from Cape Malea, now Cape
St. Angela, to jEgium, now Vostizza, in Achaia. Po-
tybius reckons its periphery, setting aside the sinuosities
of the coast, at 4000 stadia, and Artemidorus at 4400;
but, if these are included, the number of stadia must
be increased to 5G00. Pliny says that "Isidorus com-
puted its circumference at 563 miles, and as much
? gain if all the gulfs were taken into the account. The
narrow stem from which it expands is called the isth-
mus. At this point the vEgean and Ionian seas, break-
ing in from opposite quarters north and east, eat away
all its widtb, till a narrow neck of five miles in breadth
is all that connects Peloponnesus with Greece. On
one side is the Corinthian, on the other the Saronic
Gulf. Lorba? um and Cenchres are situated on oppo-
site extremities of the isthmus, a long and hazardous
circumnavigation for ships, the size of which prevents
their being carried over land in wagons. For this rea-
son various attempts have been made to cut a naviga-
ble canal across the isthmus by King Demetrius, Ju-
lius Caesar, Caligula, and Nero, but in every insta'ice
without success. " (Plin. , 4, 5. )--On the north ihe
Peloponncsm is bounded by the Ionian Sea, on the
? vest by ihat ;f Sicily, to the south and southear by
? ? that of Libya and Crete, and to the northeast by the
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? PEl. OPS.
PEL
riiirtoen bad already lost their lives when Pelopa
tame. In the dead of the night, says Pindar, Pelopa
went down to the margin of the sea, and invoked the
god who rules it. On a sudden Neptune stood at his
feet, and Pelops conjured him, by the memory of bis
former affection, to grant him the means of obtaining
the lovely daughter of CEnomaiis. Neptune heard bis
prayer, and bestowed upon him a golden chariot, and
hones of winged speed. Pelops then went to Pisa
to contend for the prize. He bribed Myrtilus, son of
Mercury, the charioteer of CEnomatis, to leave out the
linchpins of the wheels of his chariot, or, as others
say, to put in waxen ones instead of iron. In the
race, therefore, the chariot of CEnomatis broke down,
and he fell out and was killed, and thus Hippodamia
became the bride of Pelops. (Sehol. ad Find. , 01. ,
1, Wi. --Hygin. , fab. , 84. --Pmd. , 01. , I, 114, seqq.
--Apolt. Rhod. , 1, 752. -- Schoi, ad loc. --Tzetx. ad
Lueophr. , 156. ) Pelops is said to hare promised
Myrtilus, for his aid, one half of his kingdom, or, as
other accounts have it, to have made a most dishon-
ourable agreement of another nature with him. Un-
willing, however, to keep his promise, he took an op-
portunity, as they were driving along a cliff, to throw
Myrtilus into the sea, where he was drowned. To
the vengeance of Mercury for the death of his son
were ascribed all the future woes of the line of Pelops.
(Soph. , Electr. , 504, seqq. ) Hippodamia bore to Pe-
lops five sons, Atreus, Thyestes, Copreus, Alcathoiis,
and Pittheus, and two daughters, Nicippe and Lysid-
ice, who married Sthenelus and Mestor, sons of Per-
seus. --The question as to the personality of Pelops
has been considered in a previous article {vid. Pelo-
ponnesus), and the opinion has there been advanced
which makes him to have been meroly the symbol of
an ancient race called Pelopes. To those, however,
who are inclined to regard Pelops aa an actual per-
sonage, the following remarks of Mr. Thirlwall may
Dot prove uninteresting: "According to a tradition,
which appears to be sanctioned by the authority of
Thucydides, Pelops passed over from Asia to Greece
with treasures, which, in a poor country, afforded him
the means of founding a new dynasty. His descend-
ants sat for three generations on the throne of Argos:
their power was generally acknowledged throughout
Greece; and, in the historian's opinion, united the
Grecian states in the expedition against Troy. The
fnown of their ancestor was transmitted to posterity
l>y the name of the southern peninsula, called after
him Peloponnesus, or the isle of Pelops. Most au-
thors, however, fix his native seat in the Lydian town
of Sipylus, where his father Tantalus waa fabica >>:
have reigned in more than mortal prosperity, till he
abused the favour of the gods, and provoked them to
destroy him. The poetical legends variod as to the
marvellous causes through which the abode of Pelops
was transferred from Sipylus to Pisa, where he won
the daughter and the crown of the bloodthirsty tyrant
CEnomatis as the prize of his victory in the chariot-
race. The authors who, like Thucydides, saw no-
thing in the story but a political transaction, related that
Pelops had been driven from his native land by an in-
vasion of Ilus, king of Troy (Pittuan. , 2, 22, 3); and
hence it haa very naturally been inferred, that, in
leading the Greeks againat Troy, Agamemnon was
merely avenging the wrongs of his ancestor. (Kruse,
Hellas, vol. 1, p. 485. ) On the other hand, it has
? ? been observed that, far from giving any countenance
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? PEN
western Branch of that river, now called Askltlehai,
out '? ? rnierly Glaucus. (Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 2,
p. 21 -Manntrt, Gcogr. , vol. 6, pt. 3, p. 104. --Com-
pare llcniuU's Geography oj Western Asia, vol. 2, p.
141, sequ. , in notis)
PiLuelcx, an important city of Egypt, at the en-
trance of the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile, and about
SO stadia from the sea. It was surrounded by marsh-
es, and wa3 with truth regarded as TMe key of Egypt
in this quarter. An Arabian horde might indeed trav-
aise the desert on this side without approaching Pe-
lusium; but an invading army would be utterly una-
ble to pass through this sandy waste, where water
completely failed. The route of the latter would have
to ot> more to the north, and here they would encoun-
ter Pelusium, surrounded with lakes and marshes, and
which extended from the walls of the city down to
the very -oast. Hence it was that the Persian force
tent agaii. st King Kectanebis did not venture to at-
tack the city, but sailed into the Mendesian mouth
with their vessels. (Diod. Sic, 15, 42. ) Subse-
quently, however, the Persians diverted the course of
that arm of the Nile on which the city stood, and suc-
ceeded in throwing down the walls and taking the
place. Pelusium, after this, was again more than
once taken/and gradually sank in importance. Ptol-
emy docs not even name it as the capital of a Nome.
In the reign of Augustus, however, it berame the
chief city of the newly-erected province of Augustam-
nica. The name of this city is evidently of Grecian
origin, and is derived from the term ;r))Wr, mud, in
allusion to its peculiar situation. It would seem to
have received this name at a very early period, since
Herodotus gives it as the usual one, without alluding
to any oliei term. Most probably the appellation was
first giv-jn under the latter Pharaohs, and a short time
prev! 7Ji> to the Persian sway, since about this time
the Greeks were first allowed to have any regular
Commercial intercourse with the ports of Egypt. To
jive a more reputable explanation of the Grecian
name than that immediately suggested by its root, the
mythologists fabled that Peleus, the father of Achilles,
esme to this quarter, for the purpose of purifying him-
self, from the murder of his brother Phocus, in the lake
that af'. erward washed the walls of Pelusium, being
ordered so to do by the gods; and that he became
the founder of the city. (Amm. Marccll. , 22, 16. )--
As soon as the easternmost or Pelusiac mouth of the
Nile was diverted from its usual course, Pelusium, as
has already been remarked, began to sink in impor-
tance, and soon lost all its consequence as a frontier
town, and even as a place of trade. It fell back
eventually to its primitive mire and earth, the mate-
rials of which it was built having been merely burned
bricks; and hence, among the ruins of Pelusium at
the present day, there are no remains of stone edifices,
no large temples; the ground is merely covered with
heaps of earth and rubbish. Near the ruins stands a
dilapidated castle or fortress named Tineh, the Arabic
term for "mire. "
Penates, a name given to a certain class of house-
hold deities among the Romans, who were worshipped
in the innermost part of their dwellings. For the
? points of distinction between them and the Lares, con-
sult the latter article.
PeselSpe, a princess of Greece, daughter of Ica-
rius, brother of Tyndarus king of Sparta, and of Po-
lycaste or Perib-u. She became the wife of Ulysses,
? ? monarch of Ithaca, and her marriage was celebrated
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? PEN
PER
Pcntus and the beautiful Titaresius, which he says do
not mix their streams, the latter flowing like oil on the
? ilver waters of the former. Strabo, in complete con-
tradiction to the meaning of Homer, asserts that the
Pcneus is clear, and the Titaresius muddy. Pliny has
committed the same error. The mud of the Peneus is
of a light colour, for which reason Homer gives it the
? pithet of silvery. The Titaresius, and other smaller
streams, which are rolled from Olympus and Ossa, are
so extremely clear, that their waters are distinguished
from those of the Peneus to a considerable distance
from the point of their confluence. Barthclemy has
fallowed Strabo and Pliny, and has given an interpre-
tation to the descriptive lines of Homer which the ori-
ginal was never intended to convey. The same effect
u seen when muddy rivers of considerable volume
mingle with the sea or any other clear water. " (Tour,
rol. 2, p. 110. )--II. A river of Elis, now the Igliaco,
falling into the -sea a short distance below the promon-
tory of Chelonalas. Modern travellers describe it as
a broad and rapid stream. (Itin. of the Morca, p. 32. )
The city of Elis was situate in the upper part of its
course. (Strab. , 337. -- Cramer'* Arte. Greece, vol.
>>, p. 86. )
1'svMx. t Alpes, a part of the chain of the Alps,
extending from the Great St. Bernard to the source
if the Rhone and Rhino. The name is derived from
the Celtic Perm, a summit. (Vid. Alpes. )
Pkntapolis, I. a town of India, placed by Manner!
in the northeastern angle of the Sinus Ci angelic us, or
Bay of Bengal. --II. A name given to Cyrenaica in
Africa, from its five cities. (Vid. Cyrenaica. )--III.
A part of Palestine, containing tho five cities of Ga-
la, Galh, Ascalon, Azotus, and Ekron. --IV. A name
applied to Dons in Asia Minor, after Halicarnassus
had been excluded from the Doric confederacy. ( Vid.
Doris. )
PbntelIcos, a mountain of Attica, containing quar-
ries of beautiful maaWe. According to Dod well (Tour,
>>ol. 1, p. 498), it il separated from the northern foot
? f Hymettus, which in the narrowest part is about
three miles broad. It shoots up into a pointed sum-
mit; but the outline is beautifully varied, and the great-
er part is either mantled with woods or variegated with
? hribs. Several villages and some monasteries and
churches are seen near its base. --According to Sir
W. Gel! , the great quarry, is forty-one minutes dis-
tant from the monastery of Pentcli, and affords a most
extensive prospect from Cithacron to Sunium. (Itin. ,
p. 64.
) "Mount Pentelicus," observes Hobhouse, "at
this day culied Pendcle, and sometimes Mcndcle, must
be, I should think, one third higher than Hymettus,
and its height is the more apparent, as it rises with
a peaked summit into the clouds. The range of Pen-
telicus runs from about northwest to southeast, at no
great distance from the eastern shore of Attica over-
hanging the plain of Marathon, and mixing impercept-
ibly, at its northern extremity, with the hills of Bri-
lessus, now called, as well as part of Mount Panics,
Ozca. " (Hobhouse, Journey, vol. 1, p. 235, scqq. )--
Interesting accounts of visits to the quarries are given
by Dodwell and Hobhouse. .
Penthesilea, a celebrated queen of the Amazons,
daughter of Mars, who came to the aid of Priam in the
last year of the Trojan war, and was slain by Achilles
after having displayed great acts of valour. Accord-
ing to Tzetzes, Achilles, after he had slain Pei. thcsilea,
? ? admiring the prowess which she had exhibited, and
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? PERDICCAS.
PEK
<<. ch>>, end begin with the dynasty of the Teir. cnkl. T.
(Compare Clinton, Fait. Hell. , vol. 1, p. 221. ) Little
u known of the reign of Perdiccas. On his deathbed
he is said to have given directions to his t>un and suc-
cessor Argasus, where he wished his remains to be in-
terred; and to have told him also, that, as long as the
remains of the Macedonian kings should be deposited
in the same place, so long the crown would remain in
his fuuiily. (Justin, 7,2. -- Vid. Edessa II. )--II. The
would of the name, was son of Alexander I. of Ma-
ceden, and succeeded his father about 463 B. C. He
was a fickle and dishonourable prince, who took an ac-
tive part in the Pcloponnesian war, and alternately as-
sisted Athens and Sparta, as his interests or policy
diclated. (Thucyd. , 1, 57, seqq. -- Id. , 4, 79. -- Id. ,
2, 99, &c. ) There is great uncertainty about the be-
ginning and the length of this monarch's reign. Dod-
well makes it commence within B. C. 454; but Alex-
ander I. lived at leaat to B. C. 463, when Cimon re-
covered Thasos. (Plul. , Vit. Cim. , 14. ) Mr. Clin-
ton makes the last year of Perdiccas to have been the
third of the 91st Olympiad, or B. C. 414. {Fast. Hell. ,
vol. 1, p. 223. )--III. The third of the name, who suc-
ceeded Alexander II. , after having cut off Ptolemy
Alorites, who was acting as regint, but who had
abused his trust. Perdiccas, aftet a reign of live
years, fell in battle against the Illyrians, B. C. 359.
(Diod. Sic, 16, 2. -- Clinton, Fast. Hell. , vol. 1, p.
227. )--IV. Son of Orontes, was on. ? of the generals of
Alexander the Great, to whom that conqueror, on his
deathbed, delivered his royal signet, thus apparently
intending to designate him as protector or regent nf his
vast empire. Alexander's wife Koxana was then far
advanced in pregnancy, and his other wife, Statira, the
daughter of Darius, was supposed to be in the same
situation. In the mean time, the Macedonian generals
agreed to recognise as king, Aridaeus, a natural son of
Philip, a youth of weak intellects, with the understand-
ing that, if the child of Koxana should prove a son, he
should be associated in the thro le with Aridaius. Per-
diccas contented himself wit1) the command of the
household troops which guarded the person of King
Aridasus; but in that capacity he was in reality the
guardian of the weak king and the minister of the whole
empire. He distributed among the chief generals the
government of the various provinces, or, rather, king-
doms, subject to Alexander's sway. Koxana being
coon after delivered of a son, who was called Alexan-
der, became jealous of Statira, from fear that the child
she was pregnant with might prove a rival to her own
son; and, in order to remove her apprehensions, Per-
diccas did not scruple to put Statira to death. He en-
deavoured to strengthen himself by an alliance with
Antipater, whose daughter he asked in marriage, while,
at the same time, he was aspiring to the hand of Cle-
opatra, Alexander'a sister. Olympian, Alexander's
mother, who hated Antipater, favoured this last alli-
ance. Antipatcr, having discovered this intrigue, re-
fused to give his daughter to Perdiccas, who, in the
end, obtained neither. The other generals, who had
become satraps of extensive countries, considered
themselves independent, and refused to submit to Per-
diccas and his puppet-king. Perdiccas, above all, fear-
ing Antigonus as the one most likely to thwart his
viexs, sought to destroy him; but Antigonus escaped
to Antipater in Macedonia, and represented to him the
necessity of uniting against the ambitious views of Per*
? ? diccaa. An'-ipater, having just brought to a success-
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? PERGAML'3.
PER
ftrfnist," but with no very great success. Consult re-
marks under the article Meaembria. --Eichltuff, Parol'
Me des Langucs, p. 348. --Kaltschmidt, Vergleichung
der Sprachen, p. 238. )--II. or Pekgamum (Ilepyafioc
or llcpya/tov), the moat important city in Mysia, situate
in the southern part of that country, in a plain watered
by two small rivers, the Selinus and Cetius, which af-
terward joined the Ca'icus. " This celebrated city is
mentioned for the first time in Xenophon'a Anabasis
'7, 84). Xenophon remained here for some time as
tl e guest of Gorgion and Gongyius, who appear to have
been the possessors of the place. (Compare lint. Gr. ,
3, 1, 4. ) It would seem to have been at first a for-
tress of considerable natural strength, situate on the
top of a conical hill, and, when the city began to be
formed around the base of this hill, the fortress served
as a citadel. In consequence of the strength of the
place, it was selected by Lysimachus, Alexander's
general, as a place of security for the reception and
preservation of bis great wealth, said to amount to the
enormous sum of 9000 talents. The care of this treas-
ure was confided to Philetserus of Tium in Bithynia,
in whom he placed the greatest confidence. Philette-
rus remained for a long time faithful to his charge; but,
having been injuriously treated by Arsinoe, the wife of
Lysimachus, who sought to prejudice the mind of her
husband against him, he was induced to withdraw his
allegiance from that prince, and declare himself inde-
pendent. The misfortunes of Lysimachus prevented
him from taking vengeance on the offender, and thus
Philctxrus remained in undisturbed possession of th>>
town and treasure for twenty years, having contrived,
by dexterous management and wise measures, to re-
main at peace with all the neighbouring powers. He
transmitted the possession of his principality to Eu-
menes, his r. cphew. An account of the reign of this
monarch, and of the other kings of Pergamus, has been
already given. (Vid. Kuinencs II. , III. ; Attalus I. ,
II. , III. )--After the death of Attalus III. , who left his
dominions by will to the Romans, Aristonicus, a nat-
ural son of Eumenes, the father of Attalus, opposed
this arrangement, and endeavoured to establish him-
self on the throne; but he was vanquished and made
prisoner, and the Romans finally took possession of the
kingdom, which henceforth became a province of the
empire under the name of Asia. (Slrab. , G24, 646. )
Pergamus continued to flourish and prosper as a Ro-
man city, so that Pliny (5, 32) does not scruple to
style it "lunge clarissimum Asia Pergamum. " To
(he Christian the history of Pergamus affords an ad-
ditional interest, since it is one of the seven churches
of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelations. Though
condemnation is passed upon it as one of the churches
infected by the Nicola'itan heresy, its faithful servants,
more especially the martyr Antipas, are noticed as
holding fast the name of Christ. {Rev. 2, 12, seqq. )
--Pergamus was famed for its library, which yielded
, only to that of Alexandre! in extent and value. (Slrab. ,
624. --Alhentzus, 1, 8. ) It was founded by Eumenes
II. , and consisted of no less than 200,000 volumes.
This noble collection waa afterward given by Antony
In Cleopatra, who transported it to Alexandres, where
it formed part of the splendid library in the latter city.
(Plut, Vit. Ant. , 68. ) It was from their being first
used for writing in tM>> library that parchment skins
WBre ceiled "Pergirmnce ckartat" (Varro, ap. Plm. ,
13, 11), but it is <*rroneons to say that parchment was
? ? invented at Pergamus. What drove Eumenes to em-
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? PERICLES
rERICLES.
Zeno the Eleatic; and, most especially, of the subtlo
and profound Anaxagoras. Plutarch's account shows
that he acquired from Anaxagoras moral as well as
physical truths; and that, while he learned enough of
astronomy to raise him above vulgar errors, the same
teachers supplied him with those notions of the order-
ly arrangement of society which were afterward so
much the object of his public life. But all these stud-
ies bad a political end; and the same activity and
acuteness which led him into physical inquiries, gave
hra the will and the power to become ruler of Athens,
ii his youth, old men traced a likeness to Pisis-
trutus, which, joined to the obvious advantages with
which he would have entered public life, excited dis-
trust, and actually seems to have retarded his appear-
ance on tho stage of politics. However, about the
year 469, two years after the ostracism of Themis-
tocles, and about the time when Ariatides died, Per-
icles came forward in a public capacity, and before
long became head of a party opposed to that of Cimon
the son of Miltiadcs. Plutarch accuses Pericles of
taking the democratic side because Cimon headed that
of the nobles. A popular era usually strengthens the
bands of the executive, and is therefore unfavourable
to public liberty; and the Persian war seems to have
been emphatically so to Athens, as at its termination
she found herself under the guidance of a statesman
who partook more of the character of a general than
sf the prime minister. (Hceren't Polit. Antiq. of
Greece. ) Cimon's character was in itself a guarantee
? gainst aggrandizement, either on his own part or oth-
ers; but we may perhaps give Pericles credit for see-
ing the danger of so much power in less scrupulous
hands than Cimon's. Be this as it may, Pericles took
the popular aide, and, as such, became the opponent
of Cimon. About the time when Cimon was prose-
cuted and fined (B. C. 461), Pericles began his first
attack on the aristocracy through the side of the Are-
opagus; and in spite of Cimon, and of an advocate
yet more powerful (the poet jEschylus), succeeded in
depriving the Areopagus of its judicial powers, except
in certain inconsiderable cases. This triumph pre-
ceded, if it did not produce, the ostracism of Cimon
(B. C. 461). From this time until Cimon'a recall,
which Mr. Thirlwall places, though doubtfully, in the
year 453, we find Pericles acting as a military com-
mander, and by his valour at Tanagra preventing the
regret which Cimon's absence would otherwise un-
doubtedly have created. What caused him to bring
about the recall of Cimon ia doubtful; perhaps, as
Mr. Thirlwall suggests, to strengthen himself against
his most virulent opponents by conciliating the more
moderate of them, such as their great leader him-
self. After the death of Cimon, Thucydidcs took his
place, and for some time stood at the bead of the
stationary party. He was a better rhetorician than
Cimon; in fact, more statesman than warrior; but
the influence of Pericles was irresistible; and in 444
Thucydidea waa ostracized, which period we may con-
aider as the turning point of Pericles' power, and after
which it waa wellnigh absolute. We are unable to
trace the exact steps by which Athens rose from the
situction of chief among allies to that of mistress
over tributaries; but it seems pretty clear that Per-
icles aided in the change, and increased their contri-
bjtions nearly one third. His finishing blow to the
independence of the allies waa the conquest of Samos
? ? and Byzantium, a transaction belonging rather to his-
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? PER CLES.
rm
rai and oiographere have said of him. The form in
which the great orator and statesman has imbodied
his lofty conceptions, is beauty chastened and eleva-
ted by a noble severity- Athens and Athenians are
ibe objects which his ambition seeks to immortalize,
and the whole world is the theatre and the witness of
her glorious exploits. His philosophy teaches that life
it a thing to be enjoyed; death a thing not to be fear-
ad. The plague at Athens soon followed, and its de- ?
nilitating effects made restraint less irksome to the
people; but, while it damped their activity, it increased
their impatience of war. In spite of another harangue,
in which he represented most forcibly how absurd it
would be to allow circumstances like a plague to in-
terfere with his well-laid plans, he was brought to trial
ind fined, but his influence returned when the fit was
*ver. In the third year of the war, having lost his
(wo legitimate sons, his sister, and many of his best
friends, he fell ill, and, after a lingering sickness, died.
Some beautiful tales are told of his deathbed, all tend-
ing to show that the calm foresight and humanity for
which he was bo remarkable in life did not desert him
in death. It is an interesting question, and one which
continually presents itself to the student of history,
bow far those great men, who always appear at impor-
tant junctures for the assertion of some principle or the
carrying out of some great national object, are con-
scious of the work which is appointed for them to do.
gin, therefore, of the name Peloponnesus still remains
open to investigation. It is possible that Pelops, in-
stead of having actually existed, may be merely a sym-
bol represi nting an old race by the name of Pelopes,
according to the analogy which we find in the national
appellators of the Dryopes, Meropes, Dolopes, and
others. The Peloponnesus, then, will have derived
its name from this old race, and the very term Pelopes
(Pel-opes) itself will receive something like confirma-
tion from the ingenious remarks of Buttmann relative
to the early population along the shores of the Medi-
terranean. ( Vid. Apia, and Opici. ) After the line of
the mythic Pelops had become celebrated in epic poe-
try as the lords of all Argos and of many islands, the
name of Peloponnesus would appear to have come into
general use, and, by a common error, to have been
transferred from the race or nation of the Pelopes to
their fabulous leader. (Vid. Pelops. )--Peloponnesus,
-hough inferior in extent to the northern portion of
Greece, may be looked upon, says Slrabo, as the acrop-
olis of Hellas, both from its position, and the power
and celebrity of the different people by which it was
inhabited. In shape it resembled the leaf of a plane-
tree, being indented by numerous bays oti all sides.
tS/raA. , 335-- Plin. , 4, 5. --Dionys. Per. , 403. ) It
is frain this circumstance that the modern name of Mo-
nk is doubtlessly derived, that word signifying a mul-
berry leaf. --Strabo estimates the breadth of the penin-
tsii at 1400 stadia from Cape Chelonatas, now Cape
Tornese, its westernmost point, to the isthmus, being
nearly equal to its length from Cape Malea, now Cape
St. Angela, to jEgium, now Vostizza, in Achaia. Po-
tybius reckons its periphery, setting aside the sinuosities
of the coast, at 4000 stadia, and Artemidorus at 4400;
but, if these are included, the number of stadia must
be increased to 5G00. Pliny says that "Isidorus com-
puted its circumference at 563 miles, and as much
? gain if all the gulfs were taken into the account. The
narrow stem from which it expands is called the isth-
mus. At this point the vEgean and Ionian seas, break-
ing in from opposite quarters north and east, eat away
all its widtb, till a narrow neck of five miles in breadth
is all that connects Peloponnesus with Greece. On
one side is the Corinthian, on the other the Saronic
Gulf. Lorba? um and Cenchres are situated on oppo-
site extremities of the isthmus, a long and hazardous
circumnavigation for ships, the size of which prevents
their being carried over land in wagons. For this rea-
son various attempts have been made to cut a naviga-
ble canal across the isthmus by King Demetrius, Ju-
lius Caesar, Caligula, and Nero, but in every insta'ice
without success. " (Plin. , 4, 5. )--On the north ihe
Peloponncsm is bounded by the Ionian Sea, on the
? vest by ihat ;f Sicily, to the south and southear by
? ? that of Libya and Crete, and to the northeast by the
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? PEl. OPS.
PEL
riiirtoen bad already lost their lives when Pelopa
tame. In the dead of the night, says Pindar, Pelopa
went down to the margin of the sea, and invoked the
god who rules it. On a sudden Neptune stood at his
feet, and Pelops conjured him, by the memory of bis
former affection, to grant him the means of obtaining
the lovely daughter of CEnomaiis. Neptune heard bis
prayer, and bestowed upon him a golden chariot, and
hones of winged speed. Pelops then went to Pisa
to contend for the prize. He bribed Myrtilus, son of
Mercury, the charioteer of CEnomatis, to leave out the
linchpins of the wheels of his chariot, or, as others
say, to put in waxen ones instead of iron. In the
race, therefore, the chariot of CEnomatis broke down,
and he fell out and was killed, and thus Hippodamia
became the bride of Pelops. (Sehol. ad Find. , 01. ,
1, Wi. --Hygin. , fab. , 84. --Pmd. , 01. , I, 114, seqq.
--Apolt. Rhod. , 1, 752. -- Schoi, ad loc. --Tzetx. ad
Lueophr. , 156. ) Pelops is said to hare promised
Myrtilus, for his aid, one half of his kingdom, or, as
other accounts have it, to have made a most dishon-
ourable agreement of another nature with him. Un-
willing, however, to keep his promise, he took an op-
portunity, as they were driving along a cliff, to throw
Myrtilus into the sea, where he was drowned. To
the vengeance of Mercury for the death of his son
were ascribed all the future woes of the line of Pelops.
(Soph. , Electr. , 504, seqq. ) Hippodamia bore to Pe-
lops five sons, Atreus, Thyestes, Copreus, Alcathoiis,
and Pittheus, and two daughters, Nicippe and Lysid-
ice, who married Sthenelus and Mestor, sons of Per-
seus. --The question as to the personality of Pelops
has been considered in a previous article {vid. Pelo-
ponnesus), and the opinion has there been advanced
which makes him to have been meroly the symbol of
an ancient race called Pelopes. To those, however,
who are inclined to regard Pelops aa an actual per-
sonage, the following remarks of Mr. Thirlwall may
Dot prove uninteresting: "According to a tradition,
which appears to be sanctioned by the authority of
Thucydides, Pelops passed over from Asia to Greece
with treasures, which, in a poor country, afforded him
the means of founding a new dynasty. His descend-
ants sat for three generations on the throne of Argos:
their power was generally acknowledged throughout
Greece; and, in the historian's opinion, united the
Grecian states in the expedition against Troy. The
fnown of their ancestor was transmitted to posterity
l>y the name of the southern peninsula, called after
him Peloponnesus, or the isle of Pelops. Most au-
thors, however, fix his native seat in the Lydian town
of Sipylus, where his father Tantalus waa fabica >>:
have reigned in more than mortal prosperity, till he
abused the favour of the gods, and provoked them to
destroy him. The poetical legends variod as to the
marvellous causes through which the abode of Pelops
was transferred from Sipylus to Pisa, where he won
the daughter and the crown of the bloodthirsty tyrant
CEnomatis as the prize of his victory in the chariot-
race. The authors who, like Thucydides, saw no-
thing in the story but a political transaction, related that
Pelops had been driven from his native land by an in-
vasion of Ilus, king of Troy (Pittuan. , 2, 22, 3); and
hence it haa very naturally been inferred, that, in
leading the Greeks againat Troy, Agamemnon was
merely avenging the wrongs of his ancestor. (Kruse,
Hellas, vol. 1, p. 485. ) On the other hand, it has
? ? been observed that, far from giving any countenance
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? PEN
western Branch of that river, now called Askltlehai,
out '? ? rnierly Glaucus. (Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 2,
p. 21 -Manntrt, Gcogr. , vol. 6, pt. 3, p. 104. --Com-
pare llcniuU's Geography oj Western Asia, vol. 2, p.
141, sequ. , in notis)
PiLuelcx, an important city of Egypt, at the en-
trance of the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile, and about
SO stadia from the sea. It was surrounded by marsh-
es, and wa3 with truth regarded as TMe key of Egypt
in this quarter. An Arabian horde might indeed trav-
aise the desert on this side without approaching Pe-
lusium; but an invading army would be utterly una-
ble to pass through this sandy waste, where water
completely failed. The route of the latter would have
to ot> more to the north, and here they would encoun-
ter Pelusium, surrounded with lakes and marshes, and
which extended from the walls of the city down to
the very -oast. Hence it was that the Persian force
tent agaii. st King Kectanebis did not venture to at-
tack the city, but sailed into the Mendesian mouth
with their vessels. (Diod. Sic, 15, 42. ) Subse-
quently, however, the Persians diverted the course of
that arm of the Nile on which the city stood, and suc-
ceeded in throwing down the walls and taking the
place. Pelusium, after this, was again more than
once taken/and gradually sank in importance. Ptol-
emy docs not even name it as the capital of a Nome.
In the reign of Augustus, however, it berame the
chief city of the newly-erected province of Augustam-
nica. The name of this city is evidently of Grecian
origin, and is derived from the term ;r))Wr, mud, in
allusion to its peculiar situation. It would seem to
have received this name at a very early period, since
Herodotus gives it as the usual one, without alluding
to any oliei term. Most probably the appellation was
first giv-jn under the latter Pharaohs, and a short time
prev! 7Ji> to the Persian sway, since about this time
the Greeks were first allowed to have any regular
Commercial intercourse with the ports of Egypt. To
jive a more reputable explanation of the Grecian
name than that immediately suggested by its root, the
mythologists fabled that Peleus, the father of Achilles,
esme to this quarter, for the purpose of purifying him-
self, from the murder of his brother Phocus, in the lake
that af'. erward washed the walls of Pelusium, being
ordered so to do by the gods; and that he became
the founder of the city. (Amm. Marccll. , 22, 16. )--
As soon as the easternmost or Pelusiac mouth of the
Nile was diverted from its usual course, Pelusium, as
has already been remarked, began to sink in impor-
tance, and soon lost all its consequence as a frontier
town, and even as a place of trade. It fell back
eventually to its primitive mire and earth, the mate-
rials of which it was built having been merely burned
bricks; and hence, among the ruins of Pelusium at
the present day, there are no remains of stone edifices,
no large temples; the ground is merely covered with
heaps of earth and rubbish. Near the ruins stands a
dilapidated castle or fortress named Tineh, the Arabic
term for "mire. "
Penates, a name given to a certain class of house-
hold deities among the Romans, who were worshipped
in the innermost part of their dwellings. For the
? points of distinction between them and the Lares, con-
sult the latter article.
PeselSpe, a princess of Greece, daughter of Ica-
rius, brother of Tyndarus king of Sparta, and of Po-
lycaste or Perib-u. She became the wife of Ulysses,
? ? monarch of Ithaca, and her marriage was celebrated
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? PEN
PER
Pcntus and the beautiful Titaresius, which he says do
not mix their streams, the latter flowing like oil on the
? ilver waters of the former. Strabo, in complete con-
tradiction to the meaning of Homer, asserts that the
Pcneus is clear, and the Titaresius muddy. Pliny has
committed the same error. The mud of the Peneus is
of a light colour, for which reason Homer gives it the
? pithet of silvery. The Titaresius, and other smaller
streams, which are rolled from Olympus and Ossa, are
so extremely clear, that their waters are distinguished
from those of the Peneus to a considerable distance
from the point of their confluence. Barthclemy has
fallowed Strabo and Pliny, and has given an interpre-
tation to the descriptive lines of Homer which the ori-
ginal was never intended to convey. The same effect
u seen when muddy rivers of considerable volume
mingle with the sea or any other clear water. " (Tour,
rol. 2, p. 110. )--II. A river of Elis, now the Igliaco,
falling into the -sea a short distance below the promon-
tory of Chelonalas. Modern travellers describe it as
a broad and rapid stream. (Itin. of the Morca, p. 32. )
The city of Elis was situate in the upper part of its
course. (Strab. , 337. -- Cramer'* Arte. Greece, vol.
>>, p. 86. )
1'svMx. t Alpes, a part of the chain of the Alps,
extending from the Great St. Bernard to the source
if the Rhone and Rhino. The name is derived from
the Celtic Perm, a summit. (Vid. Alpes. )
Pkntapolis, I. a town of India, placed by Manner!
in the northeastern angle of the Sinus Ci angelic us, or
Bay of Bengal. --II. A name given to Cyrenaica in
Africa, from its five cities. (Vid. Cyrenaica. )--III.
A part of Palestine, containing tho five cities of Ga-
la, Galh, Ascalon, Azotus, and Ekron. --IV. A name
applied to Dons in Asia Minor, after Halicarnassus
had been excluded from the Doric confederacy. ( Vid.
Doris. )
PbntelIcos, a mountain of Attica, containing quar-
ries of beautiful maaWe. According to Dod well (Tour,
>>ol. 1, p. 498), it il separated from the northern foot
? f Hymettus, which in the narrowest part is about
three miles broad. It shoots up into a pointed sum-
mit; but the outline is beautifully varied, and the great-
er part is either mantled with woods or variegated with
? hribs. Several villages and some monasteries and
churches are seen near its base. --According to Sir
W. Gel! , the great quarry, is forty-one minutes dis-
tant from the monastery of Pentcli, and affords a most
extensive prospect from Cithacron to Sunium. (Itin. ,
p. 64.
) "Mount Pentelicus," observes Hobhouse, "at
this day culied Pendcle, and sometimes Mcndcle, must
be, I should think, one third higher than Hymettus,
and its height is the more apparent, as it rises with
a peaked summit into the clouds. The range of Pen-
telicus runs from about northwest to southeast, at no
great distance from the eastern shore of Attica over-
hanging the plain of Marathon, and mixing impercept-
ibly, at its northern extremity, with the hills of Bri-
lessus, now called, as well as part of Mount Panics,
Ozca. " (Hobhouse, Journey, vol. 1, p. 235, scqq. )--
Interesting accounts of visits to the quarries are given
by Dodwell and Hobhouse. .
Penthesilea, a celebrated queen of the Amazons,
daughter of Mars, who came to the aid of Priam in the
last year of the Trojan war, and was slain by Achilles
after having displayed great acts of valour. Accord-
ing to Tzetzes, Achilles, after he had slain Pei. thcsilea,
? ? admiring the prowess which she had exhibited, and
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? PERDICCAS.
PEK
<<. ch>>, end begin with the dynasty of the Teir. cnkl. T.
(Compare Clinton, Fait. Hell. , vol. 1, p. 221. ) Little
u known of the reign of Perdiccas. On his deathbed
he is said to have given directions to his t>un and suc-
cessor Argasus, where he wished his remains to be in-
terred; and to have told him also, that, as long as the
remains of the Macedonian kings should be deposited
in the same place, so long the crown would remain in
his fuuiily. (Justin, 7,2. -- Vid. Edessa II. )--II. The
would of the name, was son of Alexander I. of Ma-
ceden, and succeeded his father about 463 B. C. He
was a fickle and dishonourable prince, who took an ac-
tive part in the Pcloponnesian war, and alternately as-
sisted Athens and Sparta, as his interests or policy
diclated. (Thucyd. , 1, 57, seqq. -- Id. , 4, 79. -- Id. ,
2, 99, &c. ) There is great uncertainty about the be-
ginning and the length of this monarch's reign. Dod-
well makes it commence within B. C. 454; but Alex-
ander I. lived at leaat to B. C. 463, when Cimon re-
covered Thasos. (Plul. , Vit. Cim. , 14. ) Mr. Clin-
ton makes the last year of Perdiccas to have been the
third of the 91st Olympiad, or B. C. 414. {Fast. Hell. ,
vol. 1, p. 223. )--III. The third of the name, who suc-
ceeded Alexander II. , after having cut off Ptolemy
Alorites, who was acting as regint, but who had
abused his trust. Perdiccas, aftet a reign of live
years, fell in battle against the Illyrians, B. C. 359.
(Diod. Sic, 16, 2. -- Clinton, Fast. Hell. , vol. 1, p.
227. )--IV. Son of Orontes, was on. ? of the generals of
Alexander the Great, to whom that conqueror, on his
deathbed, delivered his royal signet, thus apparently
intending to designate him as protector or regent nf his
vast empire. Alexander's wife Koxana was then far
advanced in pregnancy, and his other wife, Statira, the
daughter of Darius, was supposed to be in the same
situation. In the mean time, the Macedonian generals
agreed to recognise as king, Aridaeus, a natural son of
Philip, a youth of weak intellects, with the understand-
ing that, if the child of Koxana should prove a son, he
should be associated in the thro le with Aridaius. Per-
diccas contented himself wit1) the command of the
household troops which guarded the person of King
Aridasus; but in that capacity he was in reality the
guardian of the weak king and the minister of the whole
empire. He distributed among the chief generals the
government of the various provinces, or, rather, king-
doms, subject to Alexander's sway. Koxana being
coon after delivered of a son, who was called Alexan-
der, became jealous of Statira, from fear that the child
she was pregnant with might prove a rival to her own
son; and, in order to remove her apprehensions, Per-
diccas did not scruple to put Statira to death. He en-
deavoured to strengthen himself by an alliance with
Antipater, whose daughter he asked in marriage, while,
at the same time, he was aspiring to the hand of Cle-
opatra, Alexander'a sister. Olympian, Alexander's
mother, who hated Antipater, favoured this last alli-
ance. Antipatcr, having discovered this intrigue, re-
fused to give his daughter to Perdiccas, who, in the
end, obtained neither. The other generals, who had
become satraps of extensive countries, considered
themselves independent, and refused to submit to Per-
diccas and his puppet-king. Perdiccas, above all, fear-
ing Antigonus as the one most likely to thwart his
viexs, sought to destroy him; but Antigonus escaped
to Antipater in Macedonia, and represented to him the
necessity of uniting against the ambitious views of Per*
? ? diccaa. An'-ipater, having just brought to a success-
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? PERGAML'3.
PER
ftrfnist," but with no very great success. Consult re-
marks under the article Meaembria. --Eichltuff, Parol'
Me des Langucs, p. 348. --Kaltschmidt, Vergleichung
der Sprachen, p. 238. )--II. or Pekgamum (Ilepyafioc
or llcpya/tov), the moat important city in Mysia, situate
in the southern part of that country, in a plain watered
by two small rivers, the Selinus and Cetius, which af-
terward joined the Ca'icus. " This celebrated city is
mentioned for the first time in Xenophon'a Anabasis
'7, 84). Xenophon remained here for some time as
tl e guest of Gorgion and Gongyius, who appear to have
been the possessors of the place. (Compare lint. Gr. ,
3, 1, 4. ) It would seem to have been at first a for-
tress of considerable natural strength, situate on the
top of a conical hill, and, when the city began to be
formed around the base of this hill, the fortress served
as a citadel. In consequence of the strength of the
place, it was selected by Lysimachus, Alexander's
general, as a place of security for the reception and
preservation of bis great wealth, said to amount to the
enormous sum of 9000 talents. The care of this treas-
ure was confided to Philetserus of Tium in Bithynia,
in whom he placed the greatest confidence. Philette-
rus remained for a long time faithful to his charge; but,
having been injuriously treated by Arsinoe, the wife of
Lysimachus, who sought to prejudice the mind of her
husband against him, he was induced to withdraw his
allegiance from that prince, and declare himself inde-
pendent. The misfortunes of Lysimachus prevented
him from taking vengeance on the offender, and thus
Philctxrus remained in undisturbed possession of th>>
town and treasure for twenty years, having contrived,
by dexterous management and wise measures, to re-
main at peace with all the neighbouring powers. He
transmitted the possession of his principality to Eu-
menes, his r. cphew. An account of the reign of this
monarch, and of the other kings of Pergamus, has been
already given. (Vid. Kuinencs II. , III. ; Attalus I. ,
II. , III. )--After the death of Attalus III. , who left his
dominions by will to the Romans, Aristonicus, a nat-
ural son of Eumenes, the father of Attalus, opposed
this arrangement, and endeavoured to establish him-
self on the throne; but he was vanquished and made
prisoner, and the Romans finally took possession of the
kingdom, which henceforth became a province of the
empire under the name of Asia. (Slrab. , G24, 646. )
Pergamus continued to flourish and prosper as a Ro-
man city, so that Pliny (5, 32) does not scruple to
style it "lunge clarissimum Asia Pergamum. " To
(he Christian the history of Pergamus affords an ad-
ditional interest, since it is one of the seven churches
of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelations. Though
condemnation is passed upon it as one of the churches
infected by the Nicola'itan heresy, its faithful servants,
more especially the martyr Antipas, are noticed as
holding fast the name of Christ. {Rev. 2, 12, seqq. )
--Pergamus was famed for its library, which yielded
, only to that of Alexandre! in extent and value. (Slrab. ,
624. --Alhentzus, 1, 8. ) It was founded by Eumenes
II. , and consisted of no less than 200,000 volumes.
This noble collection waa afterward given by Antony
In Cleopatra, who transported it to Alexandres, where
it formed part of the splendid library in the latter city.
(Plut, Vit. Ant. , 68. ) It was from their being first
used for writing in tM>> library that parchment skins
WBre ceiled "Pergirmnce ckartat" (Varro, ap. Plm. ,
13, 11), but it is <*rroneons to say that parchment was
? ? invented at Pergamus. What drove Eumenes to em-
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? PERICLES
rERICLES.
Zeno the Eleatic; and, most especially, of the subtlo
and profound Anaxagoras. Plutarch's account shows
that he acquired from Anaxagoras moral as well as
physical truths; and that, while he learned enough of
astronomy to raise him above vulgar errors, the same
teachers supplied him with those notions of the order-
ly arrangement of society which were afterward so
much the object of his public life. But all these stud-
ies bad a political end; and the same activity and
acuteness which led him into physical inquiries, gave
hra the will and the power to become ruler of Athens,
ii his youth, old men traced a likeness to Pisis-
trutus, which, joined to the obvious advantages with
which he would have entered public life, excited dis-
trust, and actually seems to have retarded his appear-
ance on tho stage of politics. However, about the
year 469, two years after the ostracism of Themis-
tocles, and about the time when Ariatides died, Per-
icles came forward in a public capacity, and before
long became head of a party opposed to that of Cimon
the son of Miltiadcs. Plutarch accuses Pericles of
taking the democratic side because Cimon headed that
of the nobles. A popular era usually strengthens the
bands of the executive, and is therefore unfavourable
to public liberty; and the Persian war seems to have
been emphatically so to Athens, as at its termination
she found herself under the guidance of a statesman
who partook more of the character of a general than
sf the prime minister. (Hceren't Polit. Antiq. of
Greece. ) Cimon's character was in itself a guarantee
? gainst aggrandizement, either on his own part or oth-
ers; but we may perhaps give Pericles credit for see-
ing the danger of so much power in less scrupulous
hands than Cimon's. Be this as it may, Pericles took
the popular aide, and, as such, became the opponent
of Cimon. About the time when Cimon was prose-
cuted and fined (B. C. 461), Pericles began his first
attack on the aristocracy through the side of the Are-
opagus; and in spite of Cimon, and of an advocate
yet more powerful (the poet jEschylus), succeeded in
depriving the Areopagus of its judicial powers, except
in certain inconsiderable cases. This triumph pre-
ceded, if it did not produce, the ostracism of Cimon
(B. C. 461). From this time until Cimon'a recall,
which Mr. Thirlwall places, though doubtfully, in the
year 453, we find Pericles acting as a military com-
mander, and by his valour at Tanagra preventing the
regret which Cimon's absence would otherwise un-
doubtedly have created. What caused him to bring
about the recall of Cimon ia doubtful; perhaps, as
Mr. Thirlwall suggests, to strengthen himself against
his most virulent opponents by conciliating the more
moderate of them, such as their great leader him-
self. After the death of Cimon, Thucydidcs took his
place, and for some time stood at the bead of the
stationary party. He was a better rhetorician than
Cimon; in fact, more statesman than warrior; but
the influence of Pericles was irresistible; and in 444
Thucydidea waa ostracized, which period we may con-
aider as the turning point of Pericles' power, and after
which it waa wellnigh absolute. We are unable to
trace the exact steps by which Athens rose from the
situction of chief among allies to that of mistress
over tributaries; but it seems pretty clear that Per-
icles aided in the change, and increased their contri-
bjtions nearly one third. His finishing blow to the
independence of the allies waa the conquest of Samos
? ? and Byzantium, a transaction belonging rather to his-
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? PER CLES.
rm
rai and oiographere have said of him. The form in
which the great orator and statesman has imbodied
his lofty conceptions, is beauty chastened and eleva-
ted by a noble severity- Athens and Athenians are
ibe objects which his ambition seeks to immortalize,
and the whole world is the theatre and the witness of
her glorious exploits. His philosophy teaches that life
it a thing to be enjoyed; death a thing not to be fear-
ad. The plague at Athens soon followed, and its de- ?
nilitating effects made restraint less irksome to the
people; but, while it damped their activity, it increased
their impatience of war. In spite of another harangue,
in which he represented most forcibly how absurd it
would be to allow circumstances like a plague to in-
terfere with his well-laid plans, he was brought to trial
ind fined, but his influence returned when the fit was
*ver. In the third year of the war, having lost his
(wo legitimate sons, his sister, and many of his best
friends, he fell ill, and, after a lingering sickness, died.
Some beautiful tales are told of his deathbed, all tend-
ing to show that the calm foresight and humanity for
which he was bo remarkable in life did not desert him
in death. It is an interesting question, and one which
continually presents itself to the student of history,
bow far those great men, who always appear at impor-
tant junctures for the assertion of some principle or the
carrying out of some great national object, are con-
scious of the work which is appointed for them to do.
