It has been disputed
whether he was a Christian or not.
whether he was a Christian or not.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
Smyrn.
, 15, 226.
)
Priapos, I. a deity introduced at a comparatively
it'e per sd into the Grecian mythology. He was a ru-
ral god, worshipped by the people of Lampsacus, a
:ity on tho Hellespont famous for its vineyards. Pri-
ipus was not, as is supposed, from the employment
usually assigned him by the Romans after they had
adopted his worship, merely the god of gardens, but of
fruitfulness in general. "This god," says Pausanias,
"is honoured elsewhere by those who keep sheep and
goats, or stocks of bees, calling him the son of Bac-
chus and Venus. " (Pausan. , 9, 31. ) Fishermen also
made offerings to him, as the deity presiding over the
fisheries (Anthol. , 6, 33,190,192); and in the Anthol-
ogy, Priapus of the haven (Ai/zfvirac) is introduced,
giving a pleasing description of the spring, and inviting
the mariners to put to sea. It was fabled that Priapus
was the son of Venus by Bacchus, whom she met on
his return from his Indian expedition at the Lampsa-
cene town Apamis. Owing to the malignity of Juno,
he was born so deformed that his mother was struck
with horror and renounced (annpvetTo) him. (Sehol.
ad ApoU. Rhoit , 1, 932. ) Others said that he was the
son of Bacchus by Chione, or a Naiad (Sehol. ad
Theoer. , 1, 21); others, that he had a long-eared fa-
ther, Pan or a satyr, perhaps, or it may be his own
sacred beast, the ass. (A/ran. , ap. Macrob. , Sat. , 6,
5-- (Hid, Fast. , 1,391. --Id. ib. , 6, 345); others gave
? ? him Mercury or Adonis (Hygin. , fab. , 160. --Eudocia,
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? PRI
PRO
llic first sixteen books, which are commonly >>tyl id
"the Great Priscian," real of the eight parts of
speech; the last two, generally called "the Little Pris-
cian," are occupied with the Syntax. {Putsch. , p.
992. ) This is not, however, the only grammatical
work of Priscian; we have also from liim treatises
on accents; on the declension of nouns; on comic me-
tres , on numbers, rules, and measures (" De figuris
U nomimbus numerorum, el de normis ac ponderi-
but"), dec. He is probably, too, the author of three
potim, erroneously ascribed to Khamnius Farmius.
One of these is a version of the Itinerary of Diony-
tfius of Charax. the second is on weights and meas-
ures, and the third on the stars. The first of these
poems, entitled Periegesis e Diony. no, or De situ or-
bis terra, is an imitation rather than strict version
of the Greek original, and consists of 1087 verses.
Priscian follows, in general, the author's train of ideas;
but he makes, at the same time, certain alterations
which he deems necessary, especially in substituting
Christian ideas for what related in the original to the
worship of the heathen gods. To the description of
places he adds various remarkable particulars, gener-
ally obtained from Solinus. The object being the in-
struction of the young, to whom he wished to present
a general summary of geography, he writes in a very
clear and simple style, without even venturing on any
flight of poetry. The poem on weights and measures
is incomplete; we have only 162 verses. In the first
55, the author treats briefly of weights, probably be-
cause he had already discussed this branch of his sub-
ject more fully in his prose work already mentioned.
Ho enters, however, into very full details respecting
the measures of liquids and fruits, to which the rest of
the poem is entirely devoted. The third poem of
Priscian's contains no more than 200 verses; it is a
dry nomenclature of the stars and planets, and is en-
titled " Epitome phanomendn," or "De Sidcribus. "
These three poems arc given in the fifth volume of
Weri:sdorrf 's l'oetx Latini Minores, and the third also
in Burmann's Anthology (vol. 2, p. 333). The gram-
matical works of Priscian are given by Putschius
among the Grammatiei Latini, 1605. The latest edi-
tion of the Grammatical Commentaries is that of
Krehl, Lips. , 1819. 2 vols. 8vo; and of the minor
works, that of Lindemann, Lugd. Hat. , 1818. (Schbll,
Hist. Lit. Rom. , vol. 3, p. 113, 329. -- Bohr, Gesch.
Rom. Lit. , p. 541. )
Pkiveksum, a city of Latium, in the territory of the
Volsci; the ancient name of which is but partially lost
in that of the modern Piperno, which marks its situa-
tion. Virgil makes it the birthplace of Camilla (Mn. ,
11, 539). We have the authority of the same poet
(/. c. ) for ascribing it to the Volsci; but Strabo (231)
would seem to consider the Privemates as a distinct
people from the Volsci, for he particularizes them
among the petty nations conquered by the Romans
and incorporated in Latium. The same geographer
elsewhere points out the situation of Privernum be-
tween the Latin and Appian Ways. (Strabo, 237. )
This apparently insignificant place, trusting, as it would
seem, to its natural strength and remote situation, pre-
sumed to brave the vengeance of Rome by making
incursions on the neighbouring colonies of Setia and
Norba. (Liv. , 7, 15. ) A consul was immediately
despatched to chastise the offenders, and in the sub-
mission of the town obtained the honours of a triumph.
? ? The Privernates again, however, renewed their hostile
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? PRO
j-roclus.
fired . tears were exposed to the archers; and a hun-
dred lions, transfixed by the javelins of the hunters,
lay stretched between Isaurian robbers and Blemmyan
captive*; of the latter tradition tells us, perhaps from
some peculiarity in their armour, that they were head-
less, and that their eyes and mouths were seated in
(heir breasts. --It was the favourite maxim of Probus,
ifter he had secured peace by his victories, that in a
ihort time soldiers would be unnecessary. With the
wisdom of a statesman and the policy of a general, he
employed them, during the intervals of war, in the
construction of bridges and aqueducts, and in the
planting of Mount Alma, at Sirmium, with vines.
The draining of a marsh, at the latter place, which
was the place of his birth, proved fatal to him. The
soldiers, impatient of their labours, aggravated by a
hot sun, rose in mutiny, and, pursuing their emperor
into an iron turret, which he had erected for the more
convenient inspection of the workmen, put him to
death, in the 50th year of his age, after a reign of six
years and four months, AD. 282. The deed was no
sooner executed than they repented. They raised a
monument to his memory, and inscribed on the mar-
ble, " Probus, emperor, a man of real probity, the con-
queror of the barbarians and the usurpers. " A weapon
or a piece of armour was the sole share which Probus
could be prevailed upon to receive of the booty of the
field. On the soldiers pressing upon him an Alan
horse, which was said to run a hundred miles in a day,
he said, " it was fitter for a runaway soldier than for
a fighting one. " The simplicity of his manners stri-
kingly contrasted with the pride and spirit of his bear-
ing as a Roman general. An embassy from the Per-
sians entered his camp with a pompous retinue, bear-
ing presents to the Emperor of Rome. They found
him seated on the grass at the hour of his repast, hard
pease and coarse bacon forming his only viand*. Look-
ing up at the astonished and half-incredulous envoy,
he spoke lightly of their presents, saying " that all their
king possessed was already his, and that he should
come for the rest whenever he chose. " Then, remo-
ving the cap which he wore, and exposing the crown
of his head, he added, " Tell your master that, if he
does not submit to Rome, I will make his kingdom as
bare as this head is bald. " The threat was believed,
and the submission was tendered. (Vopisc, Vit.
Prob. --Zosim . l,6i,seqq. -- Ellon's Hainan Empcr-
or>>, p. 181. )--II. -tmilius, a grammarian in the age
of Theodosius. The lives of excellent commanders,
written by Cornelius Nepos, have been falsely attrib-
uted to him by some authors. (Vid. Nepos. )
Pbocas, a king of Alba, after his father Aventinus.
He was father of Amulius and Numitor. (Liv. , 1, 3.
-Odd, Met. , 14. 622-- Virg , Mn. , 6, 767. )
Prochyta, an island off the coast of Campania, and
adjacent to yEnaria. It is now Procida. (Virg. ,
JEn. , 9, 714-- Sil. Ital. , 8, 642. ) The poet last
quoted makes Prochyta to have been placed on the
giant Mimas, as Inarime was on Iapetus or Typhoeus
(12, 147).
PaotLKs, a son of Aristodemus and Argia, and
twin-brother of Eurysthenes. (Kid. Eurysthenes. )
PKoci. in. ii, the descendants of Procles, who sat on
the throne of Sparta together with the Eurysthenidte.
(Vid. Eurysthenes. )
Proclus, a celebrated philosopher of the New-Pla-
tonic sect, born at Constantinople A. D. 412. He
? ? spent his srdent and enthusiastic youth at Xanthus, in
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? PRO
PRO
pertaining to the mythic and Trojan cycles, now lost.
--6. Eighteen Argument* against the Christians
('EmxelpyitaTa "I Kara Xpiemavov). In thin work
Proclus attempts to prove the eternity of the world,
that favourite thesis of Platonism. Tho treatise would
probably have been lost, had not Johannes Philoponus
written a refutation, in which he has literally inserted
the work which he attacks. --7. A Commentary on the
Timaus of Plato (Elf tov tov Tlkuruvoe Ti/iaiov
ino/ivi/uara), in five books. As these five books con-
tain no more than one third of the dialogue, it is pos-
sible that this work may not have reached us entire.
It is regarded as the best of the productions of Pro-
clus, and has, moreover, the accidental merit of having
preserved for us the work of Timeus of Locri, because,
viewing it as the source whence Plato derived his ma-
terials, he placed it at the head of his commentary. --
8. A Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato
(Eif tov XITmtuvoc rrpuTOv 'A2. Kt6iu6mi). The best
edition is that of Creuzer, Franeof, 1820, 8vo. --9.
Commentary on the Republic of Plato (Eif rjp> ITXu-
ruvoc mXtreiav), &c. (Sch'oll, Hut. Lit. Gr. , vol.
7, p. 104, seqq. )--Proclus was also the author of six
hymns, one to the Sun, another to the Muses, two to
Venus, one to Hecate and Janus, and one to Minerva.
They belong properly to the same class with the Or-
phic hymns. The latest edition of the H inns is that
of Boissonadc, Paris, 1884, 32mo.
Procnk. Vid. Philomela.
Pbocokncsds (or the Isle of Stags), at 'sland and
city of Asia Minor to the northeast of Cyzi is. It is
now Marmara, whence the modern name oi the Pro-
pontis is derived (Sea of Marmara). Protonnesus
was much celebrated for its marble quarries, which
supplied most of the public buildings in Cyzicus with
their materials. (Strabo, 588) The marble was
white, with black streaks intermixed. (Blasius, Ca-
ryoph. de Marm. Antiq. ) Aristeas, wHo wrote a po-
em on the Arimaspians, was a native of the city.
[Herod. , 4, 14. --Slrab. , 588 )
Procopios, one of tho most celebrated historians
of the Eastern empire. He was born at Caesarea in
Palestine, and exercised at Constantinople the profes-
sion of rhetorician and sophist.
It has been disputed
whether he was a Christian or not. The indifference
and silence with which he passes over the religious
disputes that agitated the Church in his day have
caused him to be suspected of paganism, but it is
more than probable that he regarded these miserable
quarrels as unworthy to occupy a place in a political
history. Justin the elder assigned him to Belisarius
as his secretary and counsellor, with the charge of ac-
companying this general in his several expeditions.
This nomination took place a short time previous to
A. D. 537, the year when Justin died. Belisarius,
whom he had, in consequence of this appointment,
followed in his campaign in Africa against the Van-
dals, sent him to Syracuse, on some business relative
to tho army. In 556 he employed him usefully in his
campaign against the Goths in Italy. Subsequently
to 559 he was named a senator, and about 562 prefect
of Constantinople, a place which Justinian afterward
took from him. He died at an advanced age--In his
History of his own times (Tuv xaff avrov loroptuv
3t6? . ia OKrti), in eight books, of which the first four
bear the title of Persica, and the others that of Goth-
iea, Procopius describes the wars of the Byzantine
? ? Empire with the Persians, tho Vandals, the Moors,
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? PRO:
V RO
prompted Prodicus to open this echcol, and, indeed,
ne amassed considerable wealth bv his lectures. Phi-
lostratus also declares that Prodicus was fond of mon-
ey. He used to go from one city to another display-
ing his eloquence, and, though he did it in a merce-
nary wiiy he nevertheless had 'great honours pail to
i. ii. i in Thebes, and still greater in Lacedsmon. His
charge to a pupil was fifty drachmae. The style of
Prodirjs must have been very eloquent, since such
Humbert flocked to hear him, although he had a disa-
greeable voice. (Phiiostr. , Vit. Soph. ) It is related
that Xcnophon, when a prisoner in Bceotia, being de
sirous of hearing Prodicus, procured the requisite bail,
and went and gratified his curiosity. (Pkiloitr. , I. c. )
few pieces have been oftener referred to than that in
which Prodicus narrated what is termed "The Choice
? :f Hercules. " The original is lost; but we have the
substance of it in the Memorabilia of Xcnophon (2, 1,
21). Prodicus was at last put to death by the Athe-
nians, on the charge of corrupting their youth. Se. x-
tus Empiricus ranks him among the atheists, and Ci-
cero remarks that some of his doctrines were subver-
sive of all religion. (Cic. , N. D. , I, adfm. --Baylc,
Diet. , t. v. )
PR(ET! DES, the daughters of Pratus, king of Argo-
lis, were three in number, Lysippe, Iphinco, and Iphi-
anassa. They were seized with insanity for contemn-
ing, according to one account, the rites of Bacchus.
(Apollod. , 2, 2. -- Eustath. ad Od. , 15, p. 1746. )
Another legend made them to have been thus punished
for casting ridicule on Juno and her temple. (Schol.
ad Od. , 15, 225. ) While under the influence of their
phrensy, the Prcetides roamed over the plain? , the
woods, the wastes of Argolis and Arcadia, fancying
ibemselves changed into cows. (Virg. , Eclog. , 5, 48.
-- Sen. , ad loc. ) Pratua thereupon applied to Me-
lampus to cure his daughters; but the soothsayer, who
was the first that exercised the art of medicine, de-
manded beforehand, as a recompense, one third of the
kingdom. Pratus refused. Thereupon the madness
of the maidens increased, and even extended to the
other women, who killed their children, abandoned
their dwellings, and fled to the wilds. The reluc-
tance of Proelus was now overcome, and he offered to
comply with the terms of Melampus; but the sooth-
sayer would not now employ his art without another
third of the realm being given to his brother Bias.
Pro3tus, fearing that delay would only make him ad-
vance farther in his demand, consented, and Melam-
pus set about the cure. He took a number of the
ablest young men of the place, and made them, with
shouts and a certain inspired kind of dance, chase the
maidens from the mountains to Sicyon. In the chase,
Iphinoe, the eldest of the Prcetides, died; but the oth-
ers were restored to sanity; and Proetus gave them in
marriage to Melampus and his brother Bias. (Keight-
Icy't Mythology, p. 413. ) A fragment of Hesiod,
cited by Euslathius (/. c. ), describes the complaint of
the Prcelides ae a species of leprosy, a malady often
followed by insanity. The cure appears to have been
effected by the cutaneous transpiration brought about
by the violent exercise to which the daughters of Pree-
tus were subjected, and also to their having been
made to bathe after this in the waters of the Anigrus,
which were long after this famous for their medical
virtues in healing the leprosy. (Strabo, 533. -- Spren-
gel, Hilt, de la IHed. , vol. 1, p. 95, teq. )
? ? PROCTCIS, a king of Argos, son of Abas and Ocalea.
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? PROMETHEUS.
PRO
tame lo survey the work, h* round that the silly Epi-
metheus had abundantly furnished the inferior animals,
while man was left naked and helpless. As the day
for their emerging from the earth was at hand, Pro-
metheus was at a loss what to do. At length, as the
only remedy, he stole fire, and with it the artist-skill
of Minerva and Vulcan, and gave it to man. He was
also regarded as the creator of the human race. An-
other legend said, that all mankind having perished in
Deucalion's flood, Jupiter directed Prometheus and
Minerva to make images of clay, on which he caused
the winds to blow, and thus gave them life. (Elym.
Mag. , el Stcph. By:. , s. v. 'Uoviov. ) A third said,
that Prometheus had formed a man of clay, and Mi-
nerva, beholding it, offered him her aid in procuring
anything in heaven that might contribute to its per-
fection. Prometheus said, that he could not tell what
there might be in heaven suitable for his purpose, un-
less he could go thither and judge for himself. The
goddess then bore him to heaven in her sevenfold
shield, and there, seeing everything animated by the
celestial heat, he secretly applied his ferula to the
wheel of the sun's chariot, and thus stole some of the
fixe, which he then applied to the breast of his man,
and thus animated him, Jupiter, to punish Promethe-
us, bound him, and appointed a vulture lo prey upon
his liver, and the incensed gods sent fevers and oth-
er diseases among men. (Apollod , 1, 7, 1. -- Ovid,
Met. , 1, 82. --Horat. , Od. , 1, 3, 29, seq. -- Serv. ad
Virg. , Eclog. , 6, 42. ) -- On the story of Prometheus
has been founded the following very pretty fable:
When Prometheus had stolen dre from heaven for
the good of mankind, they were so ungrateful as to
betray him to Jupiter. For their treachery, they got
in reward a remedy against the evils of old age; but,
not duly considering the value of the gift, instead of
carrying it themselves, they put it on the back of an
ass, and let him trot on before them. It was sum-
mer-time, and the ass, quite overcome by thirst, went
up to a fountain to drink; but a snake forbade all ap-
proach. The ass, ready to faint, most earnestly im-
plored relief. The cunning snake, who knew the
value of the burden which the ass bore, demanded it
as the price of access to the fount. The ass was
forced to comply, and the snake obtained possession
of the gift of Jupiter, but with it, as a punishment of
his art, he got the thirst of the ass. Hence it is that
the snake, by casting his skin annually, renews his
youth, while man is borne down by the weight of the
evils of old age. The malignant snakes, moreover,
when they have an opportunity, communicate their
thirst to mankind by biting them. (/Elian, Nat. An. ,
6, 51. -- Ntcander, Ther. , 340, seq. -- Schol. , ad loc. )
--The wife of Prometheus was Pandora (Hesiod, up.
Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. , 3, 1086), or Clymene {Schol.
ad Od. , 10, 2), or Hesione (JEsch. , Prom. Vinct. ,
560), or Asia (Herod. , 4, 45). His only child was
Deucalion. (Keightlcy's Mythology, p. 288, seqq. )--
Rosenmuller sees in the fable of Prometheus a resem-
olance to the scripture account of the fall. (Rosenm. ,
ad Gen. , 3, 7. -- Schiitz, Excurs. 1, ad Prom. Vinet.
--Buttmann, Mythologus, vol. 1, p. 60. ) Others car-
ry this theory still farther, and in the combined fables
of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Pandora, discover an
analogy, not only to the fall of Adam, but also to the
promise of a Redeemer. (Compare Home's Intro-
duction, vol. 1, p. 163, Am. ed. ) Nay, some of the
? ? early fathers even proceeded to the length of tracing a
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? PROPERTIUS.
PRO
Propertitia a house in his own gardens on the
Esquiline Hill. He also procured for him the patron-
ige of Volcatius Tullus, who was consul with Augus-
tus in the year 721, and became, after the death of
Maecenas, the general protector of learning and the
<rts. It appears that the patrons of those days teased
their dependant poets with pressing solicitations to
accompany them on military expeditions and embas-
sies. An invitation of this sort from Tullus, request-
ing Properlius to attend him to Egypt and Asia Minor,
teems to have been declined (lib. 1, el. 6). But it
would appear that he at length undertook a journey
to Athens, probably as a follower of Maecenas, when
DC attended Augustus in his progress through Greece
(3, 21). Little farther is known concerning the events
if his life, and even the precise period of his death
>> uncertain. He was alive in 736, when the em-
peror promulgated a law concerning marriage, in
which severe penalties were imposed on celibacy.
His death is generally placed about the year 740,
when he had not exceeded thu age of 40. But there
seems no sufficient proof that he died earlier than 760,
<<i which time Ovid,during his banishment, wrote an el-
egy, where he speaks of him as deceased. --The whole
life of Propertius was devoted to female attachments.
He was first enticed, in early youth, by Lycinna, an
inful slave; but subsequently Cynthia became the
more permanent object of his affections. The lady
ffhoni he lias celebrated under this name was the
laughter of the poet Hostius, and her real name was
Hostia (3, 13). This fascinating object of his ruling
and permanent attachment had received an education
equal to that of the most distinguished Roman ladies
of the day. She was skilled in music, poetry, and
every other accomplishment calculated to make an im-
pression on a youthful and susceptible mind. But with
? II these advantages, she shared no small portion of the
artifice and extravagance which characterized the do-
Biestic manners of the Roman fair in the age of Au-
gustus. Hence our poet was the constant sport of the
varying humours of his Cynthia. But, notwithstand-
ing occasional jealousies and estrangements of affec-
tion, this female, until her death (which happened when
the poet was about thirty years of age), continued to
be his reigning passion, and the chief theme of his el-
egies. --These productions, which- are nearly one hun-
dred in number, are divided into four books. The
first book is almost exclusively devoted to the celebra-
tion of the poet's love for Cynthia. In the second and
third books, also, she is still his principal theme, but
his strain becomes moral and didactic. He now de-
claims against the extravagance of his age; against that
love of pomp and luxury, which, in his time, dishon-
oured the Roman fair, and which he beautifully con-
trasts with the simple manners of a distant period, con-
cluding with a pathetic prediction of the fall of Rome,
Accelerated by its own overgrown wealth, and the per-
nicious thirst of gold. The elegies of the fourth book,
which were not made public till after the death of the
poet, are entirely of a different description from those
by which they are preceded. They are chiefly hcroi-
eal and didactic, comprehending the praises of Augus-
tus, and long narrations drawn frnm Ko. nan fable and
Italian antiquities. -- In point of general composition,
the elegies of Propertius are almost pe/fect. He flour-
?
Priapos, I. a deity introduced at a comparatively
it'e per sd into the Grecian mythology. He was a ru-
ral god, worshipped by the people of Lampsacus, a
:ity on tho Hellespont famous for its vineyards. Pri-
ipus was not, as is supposed, from the employment
usually assigned him by the Romans after they had
adopted his worship, merely the god of gardens, but of
fruitfulness in general. "This god," says Pausanias,
"is honoured elsewhere by those who keep sheep and
goats, or stocks of bees, calling him the son of Bac-
chus and Venus. " (Pausan. , 9, 31. ) Fishermen also
made offerings to him, as the deity presiding over the
fisheries (Anthol. , 6, 33,190,192); and in the Anthol-
ogy, Priapus of the haven (Ai/zfvirac) is introduced,
giving a pleasing description of the spring, and inviting
the mariners to put to sea. It was fabled that Priapus
was the son of Venus by Bacchus, whom she met on
his return from his Indian expedition at the Lampsa-
cene town Apamis. Owing to the malignity of Juno,
he was born so deformed that his mother was struck
with horror and renounced (annpvetTo) him. (Sehol.
ad ApoU. Rhoit , 1, 932. ) Others said that he was the
son of Bacchus by Chione, or a Naiad (Sehol. ad
Theoer. , 1, 21); others, that he had a long-eared fa-
ther, Pan or a satyr, perhaps, or it may be his own
sacred beast, the ass. (A/ran. , ap. Macrob. , Sat. , 6,
5-- (Hid, Fast. , 1,391. --Id. ib. , 6, 345); others gave
? ? him Mercury or Adonis (Hygin. , fab. , 160. --Eudocia,
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? PRI
PRO
llic first sixteen books, which are commonly >>tyl id
"the Great Priscian," real of the eight parts of
speech; the last two, generally called "the Little Pris-
cian," are occupied with the Syntax. {Putsch. , p.
992. ) This is not, however, the only grammatical
work of Priscian; we have also from liim treatises
on accents; on the declension of nouns; on comic me-
tres , on numbers, rules, and measures (" De figuris
U nomimbus numerorum, el de normis ac ponderi-
but"), dec. He is probably, too, the author of three
potim, erroneously ascribed to Khamnius Farmius.
One of these is a version of the Itinerary of Diony-
tfius of Charax. the second is on weights and meas-
ures, and the third on the stars. The first of these
poems, entitled Periegesis e Diony. no, or De situ or-
bis terra, is an imitation rather than strict version
of the Greek original, and consists of 1087 verses.
Priscian follows, in general, the author's train of ideas;
but he makes, at the same time, certain alterations
which he deems necessary, especially in substituting
Christian ideas for what related in the original to the
worship of the heathen gods. To the description of
places he adds various remarkable particulars, gener-
ally obtained from Solinus. The object being the in-
struction of the young, to whom he wished to present
a general summary of geography, he writes in a very
clear and simple style, without even venturing on any
flight of poetry. The poem on weights and measures
is incomplete; we have only 162 verses. In the first
55, the author treats briefly of weights, probably be-
cause he had already discussed this branch of his sub-
ject more fully in his prose work already mentioned.
Ho enters, however, into very full details respecting
the measures of liquids and fruits, to which the rest of
the poem is entirely devoted. The third poem of
Priscian's contains no more than 200 verses; it is a
dry nomenclature of the stars and planets, and is en-
titled " Epitome phanomendn," or "De Sidcribus. "
These three poems arc given in the fifth volume of
Weri:sdorrf 's l'oetx Latini Minores, and the third also
in Burmann's Anthology (vol. 2, p. 333). The gram-
matical works of Priscian are given by Putschius
among the Grammatiei Latini, 1605. The latest edi-
tion of the Grammatical Commentaries is that of
Krehl, Lips. , 1819. 2 vols. 8vo; and of the minor
works, that of Lindemann, Lugd. Hat. , 1818. (Schbll,
Hist. Lit. Rom. , vol. 3, p. 113, 329. -- Bohr, Gesch.
Rom. Lit. , p. 541. )
Pkiveksum, a city of Latium, in the territory of the
Volsci; the ancient name of which is but partially lost
in that of the modern Piperno, which marks its situa-
tion. Virgil makes it the birthplace of Camilla (Mn. ,
11, 539). We have the authority of the same poet
(/. c. ) for ascribing it to the Volsci; but Strabo (231)
would seem to consider the Privemates as a distinct
people from the Volsci, for he particularizes them
among the petty nations conquered by the Romans
and incorporated in Latium. The same geographer
elsewhere points out the situation of Privernum be-
tween the Latin and Appian Ways. (Strabo, 237. )
This apparently insignificant place, trusting, as it would
seem, to its natural strength and remote situation, pre-
sumed to brave the vengeance of Rome by making
incursions on the neighbouring colonies of Setia and
Norba. (Liv. , 7, 15. ) A consul was immediately
despatched to chastise the offenders, and in the sub-
mission of the town obtained the honours of a triumph.
? ? The Privernates again, however, renewed their hostile
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? PRO
j-roclus.
fired . tears were exposed to the archers; and a hun-
dred lions, transfixed by the javelins of the hunters,
lay stretched between Isaurian robbers and Blemmyan
captive*; of the latter tradition tells us, perhaps from
some peculiarity in their armour, that they were head-
less, and that their eyes and mouths were seated in
(heir breasts. --It was the favourite maxim of Probus,
ifter he had secured peace by his victories, that in a
ihort time soldiers would be unnecessary. With the
wisdom of a statesman and the policy of a general, he
employed them, during the intervals of war, in the
construction of bridges and aqueducts, and in the
planting of Mount Alma, at Sirmium, with vines.
The draining of a marsh, at the latter place, which
was the place of his birth, proved fatal to him. The
soldiers, impatient of their labours, aggravated by a
hot sun, rose in mutiny, and, pursuing their emperor
into an iron turret, which he had erected for the more
convenient inspection of the workmen, put him to
death, in the 50th year of his age, after a reign of six
years and four months, AD. 282. The deed was no
sooner executed than they repented. They raised a
monument to his memory, and inscribed on the mar-
ble, " Probus, emperor, a man of real probity, the con-
queror of the barbarians and the usurpers. " A weapon
or a piece of armour was the sole share which Probus
could be prevailed upon to receive of the booty of the
field. On the soldiers pressing upon him an Alan
horse, which was said to run a hundred miles in a day,
he said, " it was fitter for a runaway soldier than for
a fighting one. " The simplicity of his manners stri-
kingly contrasted with the pride and spirit of his bear-
ing as a Roman general. An embassy from the Per-
sians entered his camp with a pompous retinue, bear-
ing presents to the Emperor of Rome. They found
him seated on the grass at the hour of his repast, hard
pease and coarse bacon forming his only viand*. Look-
ing up at the astonished and half-incredulous envoy,
he spoke lightly of their presents, saying " that all their
king possessed was already his, and that he should
come for the rest whenever he chose. " Then, remo-
ving the cap which he wore, and exposing the crown
of his head, he added, " Tell your master that, if he
does not submit to Rome, I will make his kingdom as
bare as this head is bald. " The threat was believed,
and the submission was tendered. (Vopisc, Vit.
Prob. --Zosim . l,6i,seqq. -- Ellon's Hainan Empcr-
or>>, p. 181. )--II. -tmilius, a grammarian in the age
of Theodosius. The lives of excellent commanders,
written by Cornelius Nepos, have been falsely attrib-
uted to him by some authors. (Vid. Nepos. )
Pbocas, a king of Alba, after his father Aventinus.
He was father of Amulius and Numitor. (Liv. , 1, 3.
-Odd, Met. , 14. 622-- Virg , Mn. , 6, 767. )
Prochyta, an island off the coast of Campania, and
adjacent to yEnaria. It is now Procida. (Virg. ,
JEn. , 9, 714-- Sil. Ital. , 8, 642. ) The poet last
quoted makes Prochyta to have been placed on the
giant Mimas, as Inarime was on Iapetus or Typhoeus
(12, 147).
PaotLKs, a son of Aristodemus and Argia, and
twin-brother of Eurysthenes. (Kid. Eurysthenes. )
PKoci. in. ii, the descendants of Procles, who sat on
the throne of Sparta together with the Eurysthenidte.
(Vid. Eurysthenes. )
Proclus, a celebrated philosopher of the New-Pla-
tonic sect, born at Constantinople A. D. 412. He
? ? spent his srdent and enthusiastic youth at Xanthus, in
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? PRO
PRO
pertaining to the mythic and Trojan cycles, now lost.
--6. Eighteen Argument* against the Christians
('EmxelpyitaTa "I Kara Xpiemavov). In thin work
Proclus attempts to prove the eternity of the world,
that favourite thesis of Platonism. Tho treatise would
probably have been lost, had not Johannes Philoponus
written a refutation, in which he has literally inserted
the work which he attacks. --7. A Commentary on the
Timaus of Plato (Elf tov tov Tlkuruvoe Ti/iaiov
ino/ivi/uara), in five books. As these five books con-
tain no more than one third of the dialogue, it is pos-
sible that this work may not have reached us entire.
It is regarded as the best of the productions of Pro-
clus, and has, moreover, the accidental merit of having
preserved for us the work of Timeus of Locri, because,
viewing it as the source whence Plato derived his ma-
terials, he placed it at the head of his commentary. --
8. A Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato
(Eif tov XITmtuvoc rrpuTOv 'A2. Kt6iu6mi). The best
edition is that of Creuzer, Franeof, 1820, 8vo. --9.
Commentary on the Republic of Plato (Eif rjp> ITXu-
ruvoc mXtreiav), &c. (Sch'oll, Hut. Lit. Gr. , vol.
7, p. 104, seqq. )--Proclus was also the author of six
hymns, one to the Sun, another to the Muses, two to
Venus, one to Hecate and Janus, and one to Minerva.
They belong properly to the same class with the Or-
phic hymns. The latest edition of the H inns is that
of Boissonadc, Paris, 1884, 32mo.
Procnk. Vid. Philomela.
Pbocokncsds (or the Isle of Stags), at 'sland and
city of Asia Minor to the northeast of Cyzi is. It is
now Marmara, whence the modern name oi the Pro-
pontis is derived (Sea of Marmara). Protonnesus
was much celebrated for its marble quarries, which
supplied most of the public buildings in Cyzicus with
their materials. (Strabo, 588) The marble was
white, with black streaks intermixed. (Blasius, Ca-
ryoph. de Marm. Antiq. ) Aristeas, wHo wrote a po-
em on the Arimaspians, was a native of the city.
[Herod. , 4, 14. --Slrab. , 588 )
Procopios, one of tho most celebrated historians
of the Eastern empire. He was born at Caesarea in
Palestine, and exercised at Constantinople the profes-
sion of rhetorician and sophist.
It has been disputed
whether he was a Christian or not. The indifference
and silence with which he passes over the religious
disputes that agitated the Church in his day have
caused him to be suspected of paganism, but it is
more than probable that he regarded these miserable
quarrels as unworthy to occupy a place in a political
history. Justin the elder assigned him to Belisarius
as his secretary and counsellor, with the charge of ac-
companying this general in his several expeditions.
This nomination took place a short time previous to
A. D. 537, the year when Justin died. Belisarius,
whom he had, in consequence of this appointment,
followed in his campaign in Africa against the Van-
dals, sent him to Syracuse, on some business relative
to tho army. In 556 he employed him usefully in his
campaign against the Goths in Italy. Subsequently
to 559 he was named a senator, and about 562 prefect
of Constantinople, a place which Justinian afterward
took from him. He died at an advanced age--In his
History of his own times (Tuv xaff avrov loroptuv
3t6? . ia OKrti), in eight books, of which the first four
bear the title of Persica, and the others that of Goth-
iea, Procopius describes the wars of the Byzantine
? ? Empire with the Persians, tho Vandals, the Moors,
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? PRO:
V RO
prompted Prodicus to open this echcol, and, indeed,
ne amassed considerable wealth bv his lectures. Phi-
lostratus also declares that Prodicus was fond of mon-
ey. He used to go from one city to another display-
ing his eloquence, and, though he did it in a merce-
nary wiiy he nevertheless had 'great honours pail to
i. ii. i in Thebes, and still greater in Lacedsmon. His
charge to a pupil was fifty drachmae. The style of
Prodirjs must have been very eloquent, since such
Humbert flocked to hear him, although he had a disa-
greeable voice. (Phiiostr. , Vit. Soph. ) It is related
that Xcnophon, when a prisoner in Bceotia, being de
sirous of hearing Prodicus, procured the requisite bail,
and went and gratified his curiosity. (Pkiloitr. , I. c. )
few pieces have been oftener referred to than that in
which Prodicus narrated what is termed "The Choice
? :f Hercules. " The original is lost; but we have the
substance of it in the Memorabilia of Xcnophon (2, 1,
21). Prodicus was at last put to death by the Athe-
nians, on the charge of corrupting their youth. Se. x-
tus Empiricus ranks him among the atheists, and Ci-
cero remarks that some of his doctrines were subver-
sive of all religion. (Cic. , N. D. , I, adfm. --Baylc,
Diet. , t. v. )
PR(ET! DES, the daughters of Pratus, king of Argo-
lis, were three in number, Lysippe, Iphinco, and Iphi-
anassa. They were seized with insanity for contemn-
ing, according to one account, the rites of Bacchus.
(Apollod. , 2, 2. -- Eustath. ad Od. , 15, p. 1746. )
Another legend made them to have been thus punished
for casting ridicule on Juno and her temple. (Schol.
ad Od. , 15, 225. ) While under the influence of their
phrensy, the Prcetides roamed over the plain? , the
woods, the wastes of Argolis and Arcadia, fancying
ibemselves changed into cows. (Virg. , Eclog. , 5, 48.
-- Sen. , ad loc. ) Pratua thereupon applied to Me-
lampus to cure his daughters; but the soothsayer, who
was the first that exercised the art of medicine, de-
manded beforehand, as a recompense, one third of the
kingdom. Pratus refused. Thereupon the madness
of the maidens increased, and even extended to the
other women, who killed their children, abandoned
their dwellings, and fled to the wilds. The reluc-
tance of Proelus was now overcome, and he offered to
comply with the terms of Melampus; but the sooth-
sayer would not now employ his art without another
third of the realm being given to his brother Bias.
Pro3tus, fearing that delay would only make him ad-
vance farther in his demand, consented, and Melam-
pus set about the cure. He took a number of the
ablest young men of the place, and made them, with
shouts and a certain inspired kind of dance, chase the
maidens from the mountains to Sicyon. In the chase,
Iphinoe, the eldest of the Prcetides, died; but the oth-
ers were restored to sanity; and Proetus gave them in
marriage to Melampus and his brother Bias. (Keight-
Icy't Mythology, p. 413. ) A fragment of Hesiod,
cited by Euslathius (/. c. ), describes the complaint of
the Prcelides ae a species of leprosy, a malady often
followed by insanity. The cure appears to have been
effected by the cutaneous transpiration brought about
by the violent exercise to which the daughters of Pree-
tus were subjected, and also to their having been
made to bathe after this in the waters of the Anigrus,
which were long after this famous for their medical
virtues in healing the leprosy. (Strabo, 533. -- Spren-
gel, Hilt, de la IHed. , vol. 1, p. 95, teq. )
? ? PROCTCIS, a king of Argos, son of Abas and Ocalea.
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? PROMETHEUS.
PRO
tame lo survey the work, h* round that the silly Epi-
metheus had abundantly furnished the inferior animals,
while man was left naked and helpless. As the day
for their emerging from the earth was at hand, Pro-
metheus was at a loss what to do. At length, as the
only remedy, he stole fire, and with it the artist-skill
of Minerva and Vulcan, and gave it to man. He was
also regarded as the creator of the human race. An-
other legend said, that all mankind having perished in
Deucalion's flood, Jupiter directed Prometheus and
Minerva to make images of clay, on which he caused
the winds to blow, and thus gave them life. (Elym.
Mag. , el Stcph. By:. , s. v. 'Uoviov. ) A third said,
that Prometheus had formed a man of clay, and Mi-
nerva, beholding it, offered him her aid in procuring
anything in heaven that might contribute to its per-
fection. Prometheus said, that he could not tell what
there might be in heaven suitable for his purpose, un-
less he could go thither and judge for himself. The
goddess then bore him to heaven in her sevenfold
shield, and there, seeing everything animated by the
celestial heat, he secretly applied his ferula to the
wheel of the sun's chariot, and thus stole some of the
fixe, which he then applied to the breast of his man,
and thus animated him, Jupiter, to punish Promethe-
us, bound him, and appointed a vulture lo prey upon
his liver, and the incensed gods sent fevers and oth-
er diseases among men. (Apollod , 1, 7, 1. -- Ovid,
Met. , 1, 82. --Horat. , Od. , 1, 3, 29, seq. -- Serv. ad
Virg. , Eclog. , 6, 42. ) -- On the story of Prometheus
has been founded the following very pretty fable:
When Prometheus had stolen dre from heaven for
the good of mankind, they were so ungrateful as to
betray him to Jupiter. For their treachery, they got
in reward a remedy against the evils of old age; but,
not duly considering the value of the gift, instead of
carrying it themselves, they put it on the back of an
ass, and let him trot on before them. It was sum-
mer-time, and the ass, quite overcome by thirst, went
up to a fountain to drink; but a snake forbade all ap-
proach. The ass, ready to faint, most earnestly im-
plored relief. The cunning snake, who knew the
value of the burden which the ass bore, demanded it
as the price of access to the fount. The ass was
forced to comply, and the snake obtained possession
of the gift of Jupiter, but with it, as a punishment of
his art, he got the thirst of the ass. Hence it is that
the snake, by casting his skin annually, renews his
youth, while man is borne down by the weight of the
evils of old age. The malignant snakes, moreover,
when they have an opportunity, communicate their
thirst to mankind by biting them. (/Elian, Nat. An. ,
6, 51. -- Ntcander, Ther. , 340, seq. -- Schol. , ad loc. )
--The wife of Prometheus was Pandora (Hesiod, up.
Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. , 3, 1086), or Clymene {Schol.
ad Od. , 10, 2), or Hesione (JEsch. , Prom. Vinct. ,
560), or Asia (Herod. , 4, 45). His only child was
Deucalion. (Keightlcy's Mythology, p. 288, seqq. )--
Rosenmuller sees in the fable of Prometheus a resem-
olance to the scripture account of the fall. (Rosenm. ,
ad Gen. , 3, 7. -- Schiitz, Excurs. 1, ad Prom. Vinet.
--Buttmann, Mythologus, vol. 1, p. 60. ) Others car-
ry this theory still farther, and in the combined fables
of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Pandora, discover an
analogy, not only to the fall of Adam, but also to the
promise of a Redeemer. (Compare Home's Intro-
duction, vol. 1, p. 163, Am. ed. ) Nay, some of the
? ? early fathers even proceeded to the length of tracing a
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? PROPERTIUS.
PRO
Propertitia a house in his own gardens on the
Esquiline Hill. He also procured for him the patron-
ige of Volcatius Tullus, who was consul with Augus-
tus in the year 721, and became, after the death of
Maecenas, the general protector of learning and the
<rts. It appears that the patrons of those days teased
their dependant poets with pressing solicitations to
accompany them on military expeditions and embas-
sies. An invitation of this sort from Tullus, request-
ing Properlius to attend him to Egypt and Asia Minor,
teems to have been declined (lib. 1, el. 6). But it
would appear that he at length undertook a journey
to Athens, probably as a follower of Maecenas, when
DC attended Augustus in his progress through Greece
(3, 21). Little farther is known concerning the events
if his life, and even the precise period of his death
>> uncertain. He was alive in 736, when the em-
peror promulgated a law concerning marriage, in
which severe penalties were imposed on celibacy.
His death is generally placed about the year 740,
when he had not exceeded thu age of 40. But there
seems no sufficient proof that he died earlier than 760,
<<i which time Ovid,during his banishment, wrote an el-
egy, where he speaks of him as deceased. --The whole
life of Propertius was devoted to female attachments.
He was first enticed, in early youth, by Lycinna, an
inful slave; but subsequently Cynthia became the
more permanent object of his affections. The lady
ffhoni he lias celebrated under this name was the
laughter of the poet Hostius, and her real name was
Hostia (3, 13). This fascinating object of his ruling
and permanent attachment had received an education
equal to that of the most distinguished Roman ladies
of the day. She was skilled in music, poetry, and
every other accomplishment calculated to make an im-
pression on a youthful and susceptible mind. But with
? II these advantages, she shared no small portion of the
artifice and extravagance which characterized the do-
Biestic manners of the Roman fair in the age of Au-
gustus. Hence our poet was the constant sport of the
varying humours of his Cynthia. But, notwithstand-
ing occasional jealousies and estrangements of affec-
tion, this female, until her death (which happened when
the poet was about thirty years of age), continued to
be his reigning passion, and the chief theme of his el-
egies. --These productions, which- are nearly one hun-
dred in number, are divided into four books. The
first book is almost exclusively devoted to the celebra-
tion of the poet's love for Cynthia. In the second and
third books, also, she is still his principal theme, but
his strain becomes moral and didactic. He now de-
claims against the extravagance of his age; against that
love of pomp and luxury, which, in his time, dishon-
oured the Roman fair, and which he beautifully con-
trasts with the simple manners of a distant period, con-
cluding with a pathetic prediction of the fall of Rome,
Accelerated by its own overgrown wealth, and the per-
nicious thirst of gold. The elegies of the fourth book,
which were not made public till after the death of the
poet, are entirely of a different description from those
by which they are preceded. They are chiefly hcroi-
eal and didactic, comprehending the praises of Augus-
tus, and long narrations drawn frnm Ko. nan fable and
Italian antiquities. -- In point of general composition,
the elegies of Propertius are almost pe/fect. He flour-
?
