No More Learning

Theso consist of ten books, and were published by
himself. From the first to the ninth book inclusive,
we have letters addressed to individuals of all descrip-
tions. The tenth book contains the letters and reports
lent by Pliny to Trajan, together with some answers
of that prince. The Letters of Pliny are valuable to
us, as all original letters of other times must be, be-
cause they necessarily throw much light on the period
at which they were written. But many of tbein are
ridiculously studied, and leave the impression, so fatal
to our interest in the perusal of such compositions,
that they were written for the express purpose of pub-
lication. Among the letters of Pliny that have ob-
tained the greatest celebrity, are the two in which he
gives an account of the elder Pliny's mode of life, and
of the circumstances connected with his death; two
others, whicli contain a description of villas of his own;
and one in whicli he gives an account of his proceed-
ings against the Christians, and to which we have al-
ready referred. The authenticity of this last mention-
ed letter has been attacked by Seinler, an eminent
German divine (Histories Ecclesiastical Select* Capi-
ta, Hat. , 1/67, 3 vols. 8vo. --Xeue Versuche dii Kirch-
cn-Iliitorie der erslen Jahrhunderte ms. hr aufziikla-
ren, Leipz. , 1787, 8vo). This critic maintains that
the letter in question was forged by Tertullian; but
his arguments, if they deserve the name, would inval-
idate the authority of almost every literary monument
of ancient times. This same letter of Pliny's gave
rise to an absurd legend at a later date, according to
which, Pliny having met, in the island of Crete, with
Titus, the disciple of St. Paul, was converted by him,
and afterward suffered martyrdom. --The design of
writing a history, which Pliny at one time entertained,
he never carried into execution. (Kpist. , 5, 8. ) The
work "IM Viris lllwtribua" has been erroneously
ascribed to him, as has also the dialogue " De Caus'is
cmrupta eloquentia. " (Masson, Vit. Plin. -- SchOll,
Hit. IM. Htm. , vol. 2, p. 408, seqq. --Bdhr, Gesch.
Itom. IM. , vol. 1, p. 56G, seq. )--The best edition of
Pliny is that of Lemaire, Paris, 1823, 2 vols. 8vo.
It is the edition of Gesner, improved by Schaeffer
(Lips. , 1803, 8vo), with additions by Lemaire.
Pusthenes, a son of Atreus, king of Argos, fa-
ther of Menelaus and Agamemnon. (Vid. Agamem-
non, and Atrida). )
Pi-otinopolis, a city of Thrace, to the south of
Hanrianopolis, founded and named in honor of the
Empress Plotina. On its site, at a later period, ap-
peared the city of Didymotichos, now Demotion, (/tin.
Ant. , 322. --Procop. , de ^Ed. , 4, 11. )
? ? PlotT. vus, a philosopher of the New-Platonic school,
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? PLUTARCHUS.
PLUTARCHUS.
ute the decline of national literature, bui which was
mora than once rendered illustrious at Rome by great
talents and the effects of persecution. It is well
known, that, under the bad emperors, and amid the
universal slavery that then prevailed, philosophy was
the only asylum to which liberty fled when banished
from the forum and the ser. atc. Philosophy, in earlier
days, had effected the ruin of the republic; it was
then only a vain scepticism, abused to their own bad
purposes by the ambitious and the corrupting. Adopt-
ing a better vocation, it became, at a later period, a
? pecies of religion, embraced by men of resolute spirit;
they needed a wisdom that might teach them how to
escape, by death, the cruelty of the oppressor, and they
called, for this purpose, stoicism to their aid. Plutarch,
the most constant and the most contemptuous opposer
of the Epicurean doctrines; Plutarch, the admirer of
Plato, and a disciple of his in the belief of the soul's
immortality, of divine justice, and of moral good,
taught his hearers truths, less pure, indeed, than those
of Christianity, but which, nevertheless, in some de-
gree adapted themselves to the pressing wants of he-
roic and elevated minds. --It is not known whether
Plutarch prolonged his stay in Italy until that period
when Domitian, by a public decree, banished all phi-
losophers from that country. Some critics have sup-
posed that he made many visits to Rome, but none
after the reign of this emperor. One thing, however,
appears well ascertained, that he returned, when still.
young, to his native country, and that he remained
there for the rest of his days. During this his long
sojourn in tbe land of his fathers, Plutarch was con-
tinually occupied with plans for the benefit of his
countrymen; and, to give but a single instance of his
xeal in the public service, be not only filled the of-
fice of archon, the chief dignity in his native city,
but even discharged with great exactness, and without
the least reluctance, the duties of an inferior office, that
of inspector of public works, which compelled him, he
tells us, to measure tile, and keep a register of the
loads of stone that were brought to him. AH this ac-
cords but ill with the statement of Suidas, that Plu-
tarch was honoured with the consulship by Trajan.
Such a supposition is contradicted both by the silence
of history and the usuages of the Romans. Another
and more recent tradition, which makes Plutarch to
have been the preceptor of Trajan, appears to rest on
:io better foundation, and can derive no support what-
ever from any of the genuine works of the philosopher.
An employment, however, which Plutarch does seem
to have filled, was that of priest of Apollo, which con-
nected him with the sacerdotal corporation at Delphi.
The period of his death is not known; but the proba-
bility is that he lived and philosophized until an advan-
ced age, as would appear both from the tone of some
of his writings and various anecdotes that arc related
of him. --The several productions of this writer will
now be briefly examined. The work to which he owes
his chief celebrity ia that which bears the title of Bioi
? rrapu? . Ai/? . ot {"Parallel law"). In this he gives bi-
ographical sketches of forty-four individuals, distin-
guished for their virtues, their talents, and their ad-
ventures, some Greek, others Roman, and gives them
>n such a way that a Roman is always compared with
a Greek. Five other biographies are isolated ones;
twelve or fourteen are lost. The five isolated lives
are those of Artaxerxea Mnemon, Aratus, Galba, Otbo,
? ? and Homer, though this last is probably not Plutarch's.
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? PLUTARCHUS
PLTJ
biographical ske ches of Plutarch, though our limits
jrbid our entering on the detail. It may be said, in
* few words, that Plutarch, in the composition of his
Liven, consulted all the existing historians; that he
did rot, however, blindly follow them, but weighed
their respective statements in the balance of justice,
and, when their accounts were contradictory, adopted
such as seemed to him most probable. --'ljic other
historical works of Plutarch are the following: 1. 'Vu-
uatxa, y Atrial 'PuuaiKai (" Roman Questions'\
These are researches on certain Roman usages: for
example, Why, in the ceremony of marriage, the bride
is required to touch water and fire 1 Why, in the same
ceremony, they light five tapers 7 Why travellers, who,
having been considered dead, return eventually home,
cannot enter into their houses by the door, but must
descend through the roof, &c. --2. 'EMt/vtKu, 7 Ai-
riai 'EM. nviKai (" Hellenica, or Grecian Qius-
Horn"). We have here similar discourses on points of
Grecian antiquity. --3. lb pi rtapaMJi'Kuv 'EUijvi-
k<jv koI 'PupatKuv (" Parallels drawn from Grecian
and Roman History"). In order to show that certain
events in Grecian history, which appear fabulous, are
entitled to full confidence. Plutarch opposes to them
certain analogous events from Roman history. This
production is unworthy of Plutarch, and very probably
supposititious. It possesses no other merit thai that
of having preserved a large number of fragments of
Greek historians, who are either otherwise unknown,
or whose works have not come down to us. --4. Ilcpt
ttjs Tu/iaiuv rixnc (" Of the Fortune of the Ro-
mans"). --5. and 6. Two discourses -. Tcpl rfjc 'AXef-
dvfpov TVXVC V aptrijc (" On the Fortune or Valour
of Alexander"). In one of these Plutarch undertakes
*. o chow that Alexander owed his success to himself,
not to Fortune. In the other, he attempts to prove, that
bis virtues were not the offspring of a blind and capri-
cious Fortune, and that his talents and the resources of
his intellect cannot be regarded as favours bestowed
by this same Fortune. These two discourses are pre-
ceded by one (No. 4) which shows the true object of
the others. Plutarch, in this, endeavours to prove,
that the Roman exploits are less the effect of valour
and wisdom, than the result of the influence of For-
tune; and, among the favours-conferred by this god-
dess, he enumerates the unexpected death of Alexan-
der, at the very time that he was menacing Italy with
his victorious arms. In all this we clearly see the
jealousy and vanity of the Greeks, who, from the time
that they first fell under the Roman yoke, lever ceased
detracting from the glory of this republic, and ascribing
its rapid progress to some blind and unknown cause.
One of the motives that induced Polybius, moreover,
to write his history, was to undeceive his countrymen
on this point, and prove to them that the prosperity of
Rome was owing, not to the caprices of Fortune, but
to good conduct and^valour. --7. Tlorepov 'ABr/valo.
Kara. rraKeuov $ ncord ooipiav kvio? 6repoi; (" Wheth-
er the Athenians are more renowned for War or for
(he Sciences"). The commencement and conclusion
are wanting. The text of what remains of this piece
is very corrupt. --8. Hepi 'laidoc not 'Ooiptdoc (" Of
Isis and Osiris"). This treatise contains a number
of very curious remarks on the Egyptian mythology,
but it is, at the same time, that very one of the works
of Plutarch in which his want of critical skill is most
? pparent. His object was to give the mythological
? ? traditions of the Egyptians a philosophical sense, in
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? PLU10.
FL u
plant which bears her name. (Sthoi. td Nicand. , Al-
oe , 374. -- Oppian, Hal. , 3, 486. -- Ovid, Met. , 10,
730. )--Pluto, Homer tells us. was once wounded in
the shoulder by the arrows of Hercules ; but, from the
ambiguity of the phrase used by the poet (h miXy,
//. , 5, 395), it is difficult to determine the scene of the
conflict. Some say that it was at the gate of the
nether world, when the hero was sent to drag the dog
cf Hades to the realms of day. (Schol. ad 11. . I. c. --
Heyne ad II. , 1. c--Schol. ad Od , 11,605 ) Others
maintain tha* it was in Pylos, where the god was aid-
ing his worsh. ppers against the son of Jupiter. (Apol-
lod , 2, 7, 3-- Pausan. . 6, 25. --Find. , 01. , 9, 50. --
Schol. ad Find. , I. c. ) Heyne, Miiller, and Buttmann
are in favour of this sense of the phrase. --The region
over which Pluto presided is represented in the Iliad
and in the Theogony as being within the earth. {II. ,
3, 278. --74. , 9, 668. --lb. , 20, 61-- lb. , 23, 100 --
Theog. , 455, 767. ) In the Odyssey it is placed in
the dark region beyond the stream of Ocean. (Od. ,
10,508. --lb. , 11, 1. ) Its name is Erebus, with which
the appellation Hades became afterward synonymous.
The poets everywhere describe it as dreary, dark, and
cheerless. The dead, without distinction of good or
evil, age or rank, wander there, conversing about their
former stale on earth: they are unhappy, and they feel
their wretched state acutely. They have no strength,
or power of mind or body. Some few, enemies of
the gods, such as Sisyphus, Tityus, Tantalus, are pun-
ished for their crimes, but not apart from the rest of
the dead. Nothing can be more gloomy and com-
fortless than the whole aspect of the realm of Hades
as pictured by Homer. -- In process of time, when
communication with Egypt and Asia had enlarged the
sphere of the ideas of the Greeks, the nether world
underwent a total change. It was now divided into
two separate regions: Tartarus, which, in the time
of Homer and Hesiod, was thought to lie far beneath
, and to be the prison of the Titans, became one of
these regions, and the place of punishment for wick-
ed men; and Elysium, which lay on the shore of
the stream of Ocean, the retreat of the children and
relatives of the king of the gods, was moved down
thither to form the place of reward for good men. A
stream encompassed the domains of Hades, over which
the dead, on paying their passage-money (vavXov),
were ferried by Charon. The three-headed dog Cer-
berus guarded the entrance ; and the three judges, Mi-
nos, ^Eacus, and Rhadamanthus, allotted his place of
bliss or of pain to each of the dead who was brought
before their tribunal. This idea is probably founded
on the passage in the Odyssey (11, 568) where the
hero says he saw Minos judging in Erebus; but, ac-
cording to the earlier belief, he only judged there as
Orion hunted; in other words, he pursued the same
occupation as on earth. According to the fine myth
in Plato (Gorgias, p.
623), /Cacus and Rhadaman-
thus sit at the point in the mead where the path branch-
es ofTto the Islands of the Blessed and to Tartarus (com-
pare Virg. , JEn. , 6, 540); the former judging the
dead from Europe, the latter those from Asia. If any
case proves too difficult for them, it is reserved for
the decision of Minos. --The River of Oblivion (6 rije
\yib\c irorauoc) was added to those of Homer's trans-
Oceanic region (Acheron, Pyriphlegethon, and Oocy-
tus), and the dead were led to drink of its waters pre-
vious to their returning to animate other bodies on
? ? earth. In the sixth book of Virgil's . Kncid will be
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? r od
POL
? oil, besides, corrupted both good and bad with his
gifts. The fable is borrowed, with some slight alter-
ation, from the Greek. (Phadr. , fab. , 4, IS. )
I'i. uvius, a surname of Jupiter, as god of rain. He
was invoked by that name among the Romans, when-
ever the earth was parched up by continual heat, and
was in want of refreshing showers. (Tibull. , 1,8, 26. )
1'nvi, the place of public assembly at Athens, es-
pecially during electa js, so called from the crowds ac-
customed to assemble therein (afro rov ircrvKvucOai).
The Pnyx was situate on a low hill, sloping down to
the north, at the western verge of the city, and at a
quarter of a mile to the west of the Acropolis. It waa
a large semicircular area, of which the southern aide,
or diameter, was formed by a long line of limestone
rock, hewn so aa to present the appearance of a verti-
cal wall, in the centre of which, and projecting from
it, was a solid pedestal, carved out of the living rock,
ascended by steps, and based upon seats of the same
material. This was the celebrated Eema, f:om which
the orators addressed the people. The lowest or most
torthern part of the semicircular curve was supported
by a terrace wall of polygonal blocks. (Wordsworth's
Greece, p. 160. --Aris'. oph. , Acharn. , 20. --Jul. Poll. ,
9, 10. )
Podaliril's, son of -Esculapius and Epione, and a
celebrated physician of antiquity. Xenophon calls
Sim and his brother Macbaon pupils of Chiron the
rentaur (Cyneget. , 1, 14), an assertion which Aris-
tides takes the unnecessary trouble of refuting. (Oral,
in Aielepiad. , vol. 1, p. 76, ed. Cant. ) The two
Brothers were also distinguished for eloquence, and for
their acquaintance with the military art. (Xcn. , I. e. )
According to Quintus Calaber, Machaon was the elder,
ind also instructed Podalirius. (Paralipom. , Horn. ,
i, 60. ) They were both present at the eiege of Troy,
and made themselves so conspicuous by '. heir valour,
that Homer ranks them among the fi-st of the Gre-
cian heroes. Their skill in the heiling art was also
highly serviceable to the wounded, and (hey were at
last excused from the fight, >>. nd from all the fatigues
jf war, in order to liava r-. ore time to attend to those
who were injured. 0*: his return from Troy, Poda-
irius was driven by a tempest to the coast of Caria,
>>here he cither scttl'-d in, or founded, the city of Syr-
na, calLd by "Orne Syrus. (Pausan. , 3, 26. --Stebe-
>>*, <JL loc. ) The more common account is in favour
if h. i i b'. vwg founded the place, and he is said to have
. ailed it after Syrna, the daughter of Damoetas, king
jf the country. He had cured her, it seems, of the
-Ficts of a fall from the roof of a mansion, by bleeding
'ier in both arms at the moment when her life waa
despaired of; end he received her in marriage, to-
gether with the sovereignty of the Carian Chersonese.
(Steph. Byz. , s. v. Siyiea. ) This story furnishes the
first instance of a physician's having practised bleed-
ing, at least among the Greeks. (Sprcngcl, Hist, de
la Med. , vol. 1, p. 131. ) Another account makes
Podalirius to have, been assassinated on the coast of
Ausonia, in the territory of the Daunians, in Italy, and
to have been worshipped after death under the name
of vbauv aKearr/c, "healer of diseases. " (Lyeophr. ,
1046, seqq. ) Strabo, moreover, says, that the tomb
of Podalirius was to be seen at the distance of 100
stadia from the sea, in the country of the Daunians.
(Strab. , 436. )
Poiiabcks, I. the first name of Priam. When Troy
? ? was taken by Hercules, he was redeemed from slavery
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? TOLEMON
POL
k> much s I'cngth of argument and energy o' lan-
guage, that Polemon was constrained to yield to the
farce of conviction. Instead of turning Xenocrates
and his doctrine to ridicule, he became sensible of
'. he folly of his former conduct, was heartily ashamed
tf the contemptible figure which he made in so re-
spectable an assembly, took his garland from his head,
:oncealed his naked arm under his cloak, assumed a
? edate and thoughtful aspect, and, in short, resolved
from that hour to relinquish his licentious pleasures,
and to devote himself to the pursuit of wisdom. Thus
was this young man, by the powerful energy of truth
and eloquence, converted from an infamous libe. --
tine to a respectable philosopher. In such a sudden
change of character, it is difficult to avoid parsing
from one extreme to another. Polemon, after his ref-
ormation, in order to brace up his mind to t>. e lone of
rigid virtue, constantly practised the severest austerity
and most hardy fortitude. From the thirtieth year of
nis age to his death he drank nothing but water.
When he suffered violent pain, he showed no exter-
nal sign of anguish. In order to preserve his mind
undisturbed by passion, he habit'. ated himself to speak
in a uniform tone of voice, without elevation or de-
pression. The austerity of his manners, however,
was tempered with urbanity and generosity. He was
fond of solitude, and passed much of his time in a
garden near his school. He died at sn advanced
age, of consumption. Of the tenets of Polemon lit-
tle is said by the ancients, because he strictly adhered
to the doctrine of Plato. The direction of the Acad-
emy devolved upon him after the death of Xenocrates.
He is said 'o have taught that the world is God; but
this was, doubtless, according to the Platonic system,
which made the soul of the world an inferior divinity.
{Diog. Laerl. , 4, 19. --Suid. , s. v. --Vol. Max. , 6, 9.
--Ctc. , de Fin. , 4, 6. --Alhenaus, 2, p. 44. -- Slob. ,
Eclog. Phys. , 1, 3. --Enfield's Hist, of Philos. , vol.
I, p. 847, >>eq. )--II. A son of Zeno of Apamea, made
king of Pontus by Antony, after the latter bad de-
posed Darius, son of Pbarnaces. (Appian, Bell. Civ. ,
ft, 75. ) This person, who had the art to ingratiate
himself alike with Aiitony, Augustus, and Agrippa,
was made king of tliat eastern part of Pontus, named
Poiemoniacus after him He was killed in an expe-
dition against some barbarians of Sindice, near the
Palus Maeotis; but his widow, Pylhodoris, was reign-
ing in his stead at the time that Strabo wrote his Ge-
ography. 'ilrab. , 656, 578. --Dio Case. , 53, 35. --
Id. , 54, V )--III. Son and successor of the pre-
ceding, wa i placed on the throne by Caligula, and
had his dominions afterward enlarged by Claudius
with a portion of Cilicia. Nero eventually converted
Pontus into a Roman province. (Suet. , Vil. Ner. , 18.
--Crusius, ad loc. )--IV. Antonius, a celebrated soph-
ist and public speaker, in the second century of our
era. He was a native of Laodicea on the Lycus, and
of a consular family, and was held in high esteem by
Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius. Polemon spent
the greater part of his life in Smyrna, where he opened
a school of rhetoric, and was sent on several occasions
is ambassador to Hadrian. He accumulated a large
fortune by his oratorical talents, but made many ene-
mies by his excessive haughtiness. He became a
freat sufferer by the gout, and at the age of fifty-six
rears, having become disgusted with life on account
of the tortures to which his complaint subjected him,
? ? he returned to his native city, entered the tomb of his
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? POL
ion was consecrated to the worship of the goddess;
j. id the western, including the northern and southern
porticoes, was sacred to the deified daughter of Ce-
crops, the nymph Pandrosus. On the same site had
previously stood the temple of Erechtheus; and from
this circumstance, as well as from the fact that his
altar still remained, the entire building retained the
name of the Erechtheum. Within the sacred enclo-
? ure were preserved the holiest objects of Athenian
veneration, among which the most precious were the
alive of Minerva and the fountain of Neptune, both
Of which sprung up at the bidding of those divinities,
when there was contention among the gods concerning
the guardianship of Athens. Here, too, was the old-
est and most deeply-venerated of the statues of the
Athenian goddess; a figure carved in olive-wood, but
of which the legend affirmed that it had fallen from
heaven. (Wordsworth's Greece, p. 144. -- Stuart's
Antiquities of Athens, p. 37, Land. , 1827, 12ino. )
Miilier has written an interesting work on the Temple
and Worship of Minerva Polias, under the following
title: "Minerva Poliadis Sacra el Mdem in arce
Athenarum illustravit C. O. Midler," Gotting. , 1820,
4to.
Poliorcetes (JlokiopKnrfic), "the besieger of cit-
ies," a surname given to Demetrius, son of Antigonus.
(Vid. Demetrius I. )
PoLiTgs, I. a son of Priam and Hecuba, killed by
Pyrrhus in his father's presence. (Virg, Mn. , 2,
626. )--II. His son, who bore the same name, fol-
lowed . <Eneas into Italy, and was one of the friends of
young Ascanius. (Virg. , 5, 664 )
Poixa Argentakia, the wife of the poet Lucan.
{Vid. I,ncamis. )
Pollsntia, a town of Liguria, southeast of Alba
Pompeia. It was a municipium, and is chierly cel-
jbrated for its wool. (Plin. , 8, 48.