Podarge, one of the Harpies, mother of two of the horses of Achilles by the Zephyrs. The word intimates the swiftness of her feet.

Podargus, a charioteer of Hector. Homer.

Pœas, son of Thaumacus, was among the Argonauts.——The father of Philoctetes. The son is often called Pœantia proles, on account of his father. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, li. 45.

Pœcĭle, a celebrated portico at Athens, which received its name from the variety (ποικιλος) of paintings which it contained. It was there that Zeno kept his school, and the stoics also received their lessons there, whence their name (à στοα, a porch). The Pœcile was adorned with pictures of gods and benefactors, and among many others were those of the siege and sacking of Troy, the battle of Theseus against the Amazons, the fight between the Lacedæmonians and Athenians at Œnoe in Argolis, and of Atticus the great friend of Athens. The only reward which Miltiades obtained after the battle of Marathon, was to have his picture drawn more conspicuous than that of the rest of the officers that fought with him, in the representation which was made of the engagement, which was hung up in the Pœcile, in commemoration of that celebrated victory. Cornelius Nepos, Miltiades & Atticus, ch. 3.—Pausanias, bk. 1.—Pliny, bk. 35.

Pœni, a name given to the Carthaginians. It seems to be a corruption of the word Phœni or Phœnices, as the Carthaginians were of Phœnician origin. Servius, on Virgil, bk. 1, li. 302.

Pœon. See: Pæon.

Pœonia, a part of Macedonia. See: Pæonia.

Pœus, a part of mount Pindus.

Pogon, a harbour of the Trœzenians on the coast of the Peloponnesus. It received this name on account of its appearing to come forward before the town of Trœzene, as the beard (πωγων) does from the chin. Strabo, bk. 1.—Mela, bk. 2.

Pola, a city of Istria, founded by the Colchians, and afterwards made a Roman colony, and called Pietas Julia. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 9.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Strabo, bks. 1 & 5.

Polemarchus. See: Archon.——The assassin of Polydorus king of Sparta. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 3.

Polemocratia, a queen of Thrace, who fled to Brutus after the murder of Cæsar. She retired from her kingdom because her subjects had lately murdered her husband.

Pŏlĕmon, a youth of Athens, son of Philostratus. He was much given to debauchery and extravagance, and spent the greatest part of his life in riot and drunkenness. He once, when intoxicated, entered the school of Xenocrates, while the philosopher was giving his pupils a lecture upon the effects of intemperance, and he was so struck with the eloquence of the academician, and the force of his arguments, that from that moment he renounced the dissipated life he had led, and applied himself totally to the study of philosophy. He was then in the 30th year of his age, and from that time he never drank any other liquor but water; and after the death of Xenocrates he succeeded in the school where his reformation had been affected. He died about 270 years before Christ, in an extreme old age. Diogenes Laërtius, Lives.—Horace, bk. 2, satire 3, li. 254.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 6, ch. 9.——A son of Zeno the rhetorician, made king of Pontus by Antony. He attended his patron in his expedition against Parthia. After the battle of Actium, he was received into favour by Augustus, though he had fought in the cause of Antony. He was killed some time after by the barbarians near the Palus Mæotis, against whom he had made war. Strabo.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus.——His son, of the same name, was confirmed on his father’s throne by Roman emperors, and the province of Cilicia was also added to his kingdom by Claudius.——An officer in the army of Alexander, intimate with Philotas, &c. Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 1, &c.——A rhetorician at Rome, who wrote a poem on weights and measures still extant. He was master to Perseus the celebrated satirist, and died in the age of Nero.——A sophist of Laodice in Asia Minor, in the reign of Adrian. He was often sent to the emperor with an embassy by his countrymen, which he executed with great success. He was greatly favoured by Adrian, from whom he extracted much money. In the 56th year of his age he buried himself alive, as he laboured with the gout. He wrote declamations in Greek.

Polemonium, now Vatija, a town of Pontus, at the east of the mouth of the ♦Thermodon.

♦ ‘Theomodon’ replaced with ‘Thermodon’

Polias, a surname of Minerva, as protectress of cities.

Polichna, a town of Troas on Ida. Herodotus, bk. 6, ch. 28.——Another of Crete. Thucydides, bk. 2, ch. 85.

Polieia, a festival at Thebes in honour of Apollo, who was represented there with grey hair (πολιος), contrary to the practice of all other places. The victim was a bull, but when it happened once that no bull could be found, an ox was taken from the cart and sacrificed. From that time the sacrifice of labouring oxen was deemed lawful, though before it was looked upon as a capital crime.

Poliorcētes (destroyer of cities), a surname given to Demetrius son of Antigonus. Plutarch, Demetrius.

Polisma, a town of Troas, on the Simois. Strabo, bk. 13.

Polistrătus, an Epicurean philosopher born the same day as Hippoclides, with whom he always lived in the greatest intimacy. They both died at the same hour. Diogenes Laërtius.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 1.

Polītes, a son of Priam and Hecuba, killed by Pyrrhus in his father’s presence. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 2, li. 526, &c. His son, who bore the same name, followed Æneas into Italy, and was one of the friends of young Ascanius. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 564.

Politorium, a city of the Latins destroyed by the Romans, before Christ 639. Livy, bk. 1, ch. 33.

Pollinea, a prostitute, &c. Juvenal, satire 2, li. 68.

Polla Argentaria, the wife of the poet Lucan. She assisted her husband in correcting the three first books of his Pharsalia. Statius, Sylvæ, bks. 1 & 2.

Pollentia, now Polenza, a town of Liguria in Italy, famous for wool. There was a celebrated battle fought there between the Romans and Alaric king of the Huns, about the 403rd year of the christian era, in which the former, according to some, obtained the victory. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 48.—Suetonius, Tiberius, ch. 37.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 598.—Cicero, bk. 11, Letters to his Friends, ltr. 13.——A town of Majorca. Pliny & Mela.——Of Picenum. Livy, bk. 39, ch. 44; bk. 41, ch. 27.

Polles, a Greek poet whose writings were so obscure and unintelligible that his name became proverbial. Suidas.

Pollio Caius Asinius, a Roman consul under the reign of Augustus, who distinguished himself as much by his eloquence and writings as by his exploits in the field. He defeated the Dalmatians, and favoured the cause of Antony against Augustus. He patronized, with great liberality, the poets Virgil and Horace, who have immortalized him in their writings. He was the first who raised a public library at Rome, and indeed his example was afterwards followed by many of the emperors. In his library were placed the statues of all the learned men of every age, and Varro was the only person who was honoured there during his lifetime. He was with Julius Cæsar when he crossed the Rubicon. He was greatly esteemed by Augustus, when he had become one of his adherents, after the ruin of Antony. Pollio wrote some tragedies, orations, and a history, which was divided into 17 books. All those compositions are lost, and nothing remains of his writings except a few letters to Cicero. He died in the 80th year of his age, A.D. 4. He is the person in whose honour Virgil has inscribed his fourth eclogue, Pollio, as a reconciliation was effected between Augustus and Antony during his consulship. The poet, it is supposed by some, makes mention of a son of the consul born about this time, and is lavish in his excursions into futurity, and his predictions of approaching prosperity. Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 86.—Horace, bk. 2, ode 1; satire 10, bk. 1.—Virgil, Eclogues, poems 3 & 4.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 13.—Quintilian, bk. 10.——Annius, a man accused of sedition before Tiberius, and acquitted. He afterwards conspired against Nero, &c. Tacitus, ♦Annals, bk. 6, ch. 9; bk. 15, ch. 56.——Vedius, one of the friends of Augustus, who used to feed his fishes with human flesh. This cruelty was discovered when one of his servants broke a glass in the presence of Augustus, who had been invited to a feast. The master ordered the servant to be seized; but he threw himself at the feet of the emperor, and begged him to interfere, and not to suffer him to be devoured by fishes. Upon this the causes of his apprehension were examined, and Augustus, astonished at the barbarity of his favourite, caused his servant to be dismissed, all the fish-ponds to be filled up, and the crystal glasses of Pollio to be broken to pieces.——A man who poisoned Britannicus, at the instigation of Nero.——An historian in the age of Constantine the Great.——A sophist in the age of Pompey the Great.——A friend of the emperor Vespasian.

♦ Book title omitted in text

Pollis, a commander of the Lacedæmonian fleet defeated at Naxos, B.C. 377. Diodorus.

Pollius Felix, a friend of the poet Statius, to whom he dedicated his second Sylva.

Pollupex, now Final, a town of Genoa.

Pollutia, a daughter of Lucius Vetus, put to death after her husband Rubellius Plautus, by order of Nero, &c. Tacitus, bk. 16, Annals, chs. 10 & 11.

Pollux, a son of Jupiter by Leda the wife of Tyndarus. He was brother to Castor. See: Castor.——A Greek writer, who flourished A.D. 186, in the reign of Commodus, and died in the 58th year of his age. He was born at Naucratis, and taught rhetoric at Athens, and wrote a useful work called Onomasticon, of which the best edition is that of Hemsterhusius, 2 vols., folio, Amsterdam, 1706.

Poltis, a king of Thrace, in the time of the Trojan war.

Polus, a celebrated Grecian actor.——A sophist of Agrigentum.

Polusca, a town of Latium, formerly the capital of the Volsci. The inhabitants were called Pollustini. Livy, bk. 2, ch. 39.

Polyænus, a native of Macedonia, who wrote eight books in Greek of stratagems, which he dedicated to the emperors Antoninus and Verus, while they were making war against the Parthians. He wrote also other books which have been lost, among which was a history, with a description of the city of Thebes. The best editions of his stratagems are those of Masvicius, 8vo, Leiden, 1690, and of Mursinna, 12mo, Berlin, 1756.——A friend of Philopœmen.——An orator in the age of Julius Cæsar. He wrote in three books an account of Antony’s expedition in Parthia, and likewise published orations.——A mathematician, who afterwards followed the tenets of Epicurus, and disregarded geometry as a false and useless study. Cicero, Academicæ Quæstiones, bk. 4.

Polyānus, a mountain of Macedonia, near Pindus. Strabo.

Polyarchus, the brother of a queen of Cyrene, &c. Polyænus, bk. 8.

Polybidas, a general after the death of Agesipolis the Lacedæmonian. He reduced Olynthus.

Polybius, or Poly̆bus, a king of Corinth, who married Peribœa, whom some have called Merope. He was son of Mercury by Chthonophyle, the daughter of Sicyon king of Sicyon. He permitted his wife, who had no children, to adopt and educate as her own son, Œdipus, who had been found by his shepherds exposed in the woods. He had a daughter called Lysianassa, whom he gave in marriage to Talaus son of Bias king of Argos. As he had no male child, he left his kingdom to Adrastus, who had been banished from his throne, and who had fled to Corinth for protection. Hyginus, fable 66.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 6.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 5.—Seneca, Œdipus, li. 812.

Polybius, a native of Megalopolis in Peloponnesus, son of Lycortas. He was early initiated in the duties, and made acquainted with the qualifications, of a statesman, by his father, who was a strong supporter of the Achæan league, and under him Philopœmen was taught the art of war. In Macedonia he distinguished himself by his valour against the Romans, and when Perseus had been conquered, he was carried to the capital of Italy as a prisoner of war. But he was not long buried in the obscurity of a dungeon. Scipio and Fabius were acquainted with his uncommon abilities as a warrior and as a man of learning, and they made him their friend by kindness and attention. Polybius was not insensible to their merit; he accompanied Scipio in his expeditions, and was present at the taking of Carthage and Numantia. In the midst of his prosperity, however, he felt the distresses of his country, which had been reduced into a Roman province, and, like a true patriot, he relieved its wants, and eased its servitude by making use of the influence which he had acquired by his acquaintance with the most powerful Romans. After the death of his friend and benefactor Scipio, he retired from Rome, and passed the rest of his days at Megalopolis, where he enjoyed the comforts and honours which every good man can receive from the gratitude of his citizens, and from the self-satisfaction which attends a humane and benevolent heart. He died in the 82nd year of his age, about 124 years before Christ, of a wound which he had received by a fall from his horse. He wrote a universal history in Greek, divided into 40 books, which began with the wars of Rome with the Carthaginians, and finished with the conquest of Macedonia by Paulus. The greatest part of this valuable history is lost; the five first books are extant, and of the 12 following the fragments are numerous. The history of Polybius is admired for its authenticity, and he is, perhaps, the only historian among the Greeks who was experimentally and professedly acquainted with the military operations and the political measures of which he makes mention. He has been recommended in every age and country as the best master in the art of war, and nothing can more effectually prove the esteem in which he was held among the Romans, than to mention that Brutus the murderer of Cæsar perused his history with the greatest attention, epitomized it, and often retired from the field where he had drawn his sword against Octavius and Antony, to read the instructive pages which describe the great actions of his ancestors. Polybius, however great and entertaining, is sometimes censured for his unnecessary digressions, for his uncouth and ill-digested narrations, for his negligence, and the inaccurate arrangement of his words. But everywhere there is instruction to be found, information to be collected, and curious facts to be obtained, and it reflects not much honour upon Livy for calling the historian, from whom he has copied whole books almost word for word, without gratitude or acknowledgment, haudquaquam spernendus auctor. Dionysius also, of Halicarnassus, is one of his most violent accusers; but the historian has rather exposed his ignorance of true criticism, than discovered inaccuracy or inelegance. The best editions of Polybius are those of Gronovius, 3 vols., 8vo, Amsterdam, 1670; of Ernesti, 3 vols., 8vo, 1764; and of Schweighæuser, 7 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb, 1785. Plutarch, Philopœmen, preface.—Livy, bk. 30, ch. 45.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 30.——A freedman of Augustus. Suetonius.——A physician, disciple, and successor of Hippocrates.——A soothsayer of Corinth, who foretold to his sons the fate that attended them in the Trojan war.

Polybœa, a daughter of Amyclas and Diomede, sister to Hyacinthus. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 19.

Polybœtes. See: Polypœtes.

Polybōtes, one of the giants who made war against Jupiter. He was killed by Neptune, who crushed him under a part of the island of Cos, as he was walking across the Ægean. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 2.—Hyginus, preface to fables.

Polybus, a king of Thebes in Egypt in the time of the Trojan war. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 22, li. 284.——One of Penelope’s suitors. Ovid, Heroides, poem 1.——A king of Sicyon.——A king of Corinth. See: Polybius.

Polycāon, a son of Lelex, who succeeded his brother Myles. He received divine honours after death, with his wife Messene, at Lacedæmon, where he had reigned. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 1, &c.——A son of Butes, who married a daughter of Hyllus.

Polycarpus, a famous Greek writer, born at Smyrna, and educated at the expense of a rich but pious lady. Some suppose that he was St. John’s disciple. He became bishop of Smyrna, and went to Rome to settle the festival of Easter, but to no purpose. He was condemned to be burnt at Smyrna, A.D. 167. His epistle to the Philippians is simple and modest, yet replete with useful precepts and rules for the conduct of life. The best edition of Polycarp’s epistle is that of Oxford, 8vo, 1708, being annexed to the works of Ignatius.

Polycaste, the youngest of the daughters of Nestor. According to some authors she married Telemachus, when he visited her father’s court in quest of Ulysses.

Polychăres, a rich Messenian, said to have been the cause of the war which was kindled between the Spartans and his countrymen, which was called the first Messenian war.

Polyclēa, the mother of Thessalus, &c.

Poly̆cles, an Athenian in the time of Demetrius, &c. Polyænus, bk. 5.——A famous athlete, often crowned at the four solemn games of the Greeks. He had a statue in Jupiter’s grove at Olympia. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 1.

Polyclētus, a celebrated statuary of Sicyon, about 232 years before Christ. He was universally reckoned the most skilful artist of his profession among the ancients, and the second rank was given to Phidias. One of his pieces, in which he had represented a body-guard of the king of Persia, was so happily executed, and so nice and exact in all its proportions, that it was looked upon as a most perfect model, and accordingly called the Rule. He was acquainted with architecture. Pausanias, bks. 2 & 6.—Quintilian, bk. 12, ch. 10.——Another, who lived about 30 years after.——A favourite of the emperor Nero, put to death by Galba.

Polyclītus, an historian of Larissa. Athenæus, bk. 12.—Ælian, bk. 16, ch. 41.

Polycrătes, a tyrant of Samos, well known for the continual flow of good fortune which attended him. He became very powerful, and made himself master, not only of the neighbouring islands, but also of some cities on the coast of Asia. He had a fleet of 100 ships of war, and was so universally respected, that Amasis the king of Egypt made a treaty of alliance with him. The Egyptian monarch, however, terrified by his continued prosperity, advised him to chequer his enjoyments, by relinquishing some of his most favourite objects. Polycrates complied, and threw into the sea a beautiful seal, the most valuable of his jewels. The voluntary loss of so precious a seal afflicted him for some time, but in a few days after, he received as a present a large fish, in whose belly the jewel was found. Amasis no sooner heard this, than he rejected all alliance with the tyrant of Samos, and observed, that sooner or later his good fortune would vanish. Some time after Polycrates visited Magnesia on the Mæander, where he had been invited by Orœtes the governor. He was shamefully put to death, 522 years before Christ, merely because the governor wished to terminate the prosperity of Polycrates. The daughter of Polycrates had dissuaded her father from going to the house of Orœtes, on account of the bad dreams which she had had, but her advice was disregarded. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 14.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 22, &c.——A sophist of Athens, who, to engage the public attention, wrote a panegyric on Busiris and Clytemnestra. Quintilian, bk. 2, ch. 17.——An ancient statuary.

Polycrēta, or Polycrīta, a young woman of Naxos, who became the wife of Diognetus the general of the Erythreans, &c. Polyænus, bk. 8.——Another woman of Naxos, who died through the excess of joy. Plutarch, de Mulierum virtutes.

Polycrĭtus, a man who wrote the life of Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily.—Diogenes Laërtius.

Polyctor, the husband of Stygna, one of the Danaides. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 1.——The father of Pisander, one of Penelope’s suitors.——An athlete of Elis. It is said that he obtained a victory at Olympia by bribing his adversary Sosander, who was superior to him in strength and courage. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 21.

Polydæmon, an Assyrian prince killed by Perseus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 3.

Polydămas, a Trojan, son of Antenor by Theano the sister of Hecuba. He married Lycaste, a natural daughter of Priam. He is accused by some of having betrayed his country to the Greeks. Dares Phrygius.——A son of Panthous, born the same night as Hector. He was inferior in valour to none of the Trojans, except Hector, and his prudence, the wisdom of his counsels, and the firmness of his mind, claimed equal admiration, and proved most salutary to his unfortunate and misguided countrymen. He was at last killed by Ajax, after he had slaughtered a great number of the enemy. Dictys Cretensis, bk. 1, &c.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 12, &c.——A celebrated athlete, son of Nicias, who imitated Hercules in whatever he did. He killed a lion with his fist, and it is said that he could stop with his hand a chariot in its most rapid course. He was one day with some of his friends in a cave, when on a sudden a large piece of rock came tumbling down; and while all fled away, he attempted to receive the fallen fragment in his arms. His prodigious strength, however, was insufficient, and he was instantly crushed to pieces under the rock. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 5.——One of Alexander’s officers, intimate with Parmenio. Curtius, bk. 4, ch. 15.

Polydamna, a wife of Thonis king of Egypt. It is said that she gave Helen a certain powder, which had the wonderful power of driving away care and melancholy. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 4, li. 228.

Polydectes, a king of Sparta, of the family of the Proclidæ. He was son of Eunomus. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 7.——A son of Magnes, king of the island of Seriphos. He received with great kindness Danae and her son Perseus, who had been exposed on the sea by Acrisius. See: Perseus. He took particular care of the education of Perseus; but when he became enamoured of Danae, he removed him from his kingdom, apprehensive of his resentment. Some time after he paid his addresses to Danae, and when she rejected him, he prepared to offer her violence. Danae fled to the altar of Minerva for protection, and Dictys the brother of Polydectes, who had himself saved her from the sea-waters, opposed her ravisher and armed himself in her defence. At this critical moment, Perseus arrived, and with Medusa’s head he turned into stones Polydectes, with the associates of his guilt. The crown of Seriphos was given to Dictys, who had shown himself so active in the cause of innocence. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 242.—Hyginus, fable 63, &c.——A sculptor of Greece. Pliny.

Polydeucēa, a fountain of Laconia, near Therapne. Strabo, bk. 9.

Polydōra, a daughter of Peleus king of Thessaly, by Antigone the daughter of Eurytion. She married the river Sperchius, by whom she had Mnestheus. Apollodorus.——One of the Oceanides. Hesiod.——A daughter of Meleager king of Calydon, who married Protesilaus. She killed herself when she heard that her husband was dead. The wife of Protesilaus is more commonly called Laodamia. See: Protesilaus. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 2.——A daughter of Perieres.——An island of the Propontis near Cyzicus.

Polydōrus, a son of Alcamenes king of Sparta. He put an end to the war which had been carried on during 20 years, between Messenia and his subjects; and during his reign, the Lacedæmonians planted two colonies, one at Crotona, and the other at Locri. He was universally respected. He was assassinated by a nobleman, called Polemarchus. His son Eurycrates succeeded him 724 years before Christ. Pausanias, bk. 3.—Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 204.——A celebrated carver of Rhodes, who with one stone made the famous statue of Laocoon and his children. Pliny, bk. 34, ch. 8.——A son of Hippomedon, who went with the Epigoni to the second Theban war. Pausanias, bk. 2.——A son of Cadmus and Hermione, who married Nycteis, by whom he had Labdacus the father of Laius. He had succeeded to the throne of Thebes, when his father had gone to Illyricum. Apollodorus, bk. 3.——A brother of Jason of Pheræ, who killed his brother and seized upon his possessions. Diodorus, bk. 15.——A son of Priam killed by Achilles.——Another son of Priam by Hecuba, or, according to others, by Laothoe the daughter of Altes king of Pedasus. As he was young and inexperienced when Troy was besieged by the Greeks, his father removed him to the court of Polymnestor king of Thrace, and also entrusted to the care of the monarch a large sum of money, and the greatest part of his treasures, till his country was freed from foreign invasion. No sooner was the death of Priam known in Thrace, than Polymnestor made himself master of the riches which were in his possession; and to ensure them the better, he assassinated young Polydorus, and threw his body into the sea, where it was found by Hecuba. See: Hecuba. According to Virgil, the body of Polydorus was buried near the shore by his assassin, and there grew on his grave a myrtle, whose boughs dropped blood, when Æneas, going to Italy, attempted to tear them from the tree. See: Polymnestor. Virgil, Æneid, bks. 3, 21, &c.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 12.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3, li. 432.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 20.—Dictys Cretensis, bk. 2, ch. 18.

Polygius, a surname of Mercury. Pausanias.

Polygnōtus, a celebrated painter of Thasos, about 422 years before the christian era. His father’s name was Aglaophon. He adorned one of the public porticoes of Athens with his paintings, in which he had represented the most striking events of the Trojan war. He particularly excelled in giving grace, liveliness, and expression to his pieces. The Athenians were so pleased with him, that they offered to reward his labours with whatever he pleased to accept. He declined this generous offer, and the Amphictyonic council, which was composed of the representatives of the principal cities of Greece, ordered that Polygnotus should be maintained at the public expense ♦wherever he went.—Quintilian, bk. 12, ch. 10.—Pliny, bks. 33 & 34.—Plutarch, Cimon.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 25, &c.——A statuary. Pliny, bk. 34.

♦ ‘whereever’ replaced with ‘wherever’

Polygŏnus and Telegonus, sons of Proteus and Coronis, were killed by Hercules. Apollodorus.

Polyhymnia and Polymnia, one of the Muses, daughter of Jupiter and Mnemosyne. She presided over singing and rhetoric, and was deemed the inventress of harmony. She was represented veiled in white, holding a sceptre in her left hand, and with her right raised up, as if ready to harangue. She had a crown of jewels on her head. Hesiod, Theogony, lis. 75 & 915.—Plutarch, Convivium Septem Sapientium.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 1.—Ovid Fasti, bk. 5, lis. 9 & 53.

Polyidus, a physician who brought back to life Glaucus the son of Minos, by applying to his body a certain herb, with which he had seen a serpent restore life to another which was dead. See: Glaucus. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 3.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 43.——A son of Hercules by one of the daughters of Thestius. Apollodorus.——A Corinthian soothsayer, called also Polybius.——A dithyrambic poet, painter, and musician.

Polylāus, a son of Hercules and Crathe, daughter of Thespius.

Polymĕnes, an officer appointed to take care of Egypt after it had been conquered by Alexander. Curtius, bk. 4, ch. 8.

Polymēde, a daughter of Autolycus, who married Æson, by whom she had Jason. She survived her husband only a few days. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 13.

Polymedon, one of Priam’s illegitimate children.

Polymēla, one of Diana’s companions. She was daughter of Phylas, and had a son by Mercury. Homer, Iliad, bk. 16.——A daughter of Æolus, seduced by Ulysses.——A daughter of Actor. She was the first wife of Peleus the father of Achilles.

Polymnestes, a Greek poet of Colophon. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 14.——A native of Thera, father of Battus, or Aristotle, by Phronima the daughter of Etearchus king of Oaxus. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 150.

Polymnestor, a king of the Thracian Chersonesus, who married Ilione, the eldest of Priam’s daughters. When the Greeks besieged Troy, Priam sent the greatest part of his treasures, together with Polydorus, the youngest of his sons, to Thrace, where they were entrusted to the care of Polymnestor. The Thracian monarch paid every attention to his brother-in-law; but when he was informed that Priam was dead, he murdered him to become master of the riches which were in his possession. At that time, the Greeks were returning victorious from Troy, followed by all the captives, among whom was Hecuba the mother of Polydorus. The fleet stopped on the coast of Thrace, where one of the female captives discovered on the shore the body of Polydorus, whom Polymnestor had thrown into the sea. The dreadful intelligence was immediately communicated to the mother, and Hecuba, who recollected the frightful dreams which she had had on the preceding night, did not doubt but Polymnestor was the cruel assassin. She resolved to revenge her son’s death, and immediately she called out Polymnestor, as if wishing to impart to him a matter of the most important nature. The tyrant was drawn into the snare, and was no sooner introduced into the apartments of the Trojan princess, than the female captives rushed upon him and put out his eyes with their pins, while Hecuba murdered his two children who had accompanied him. According to Euripides, the Greeks condemned Polymnestor to be banished into a distant island for his perfidy. Hyginus, however, relates the whole differently, and observes, that when Polydorus was sent to Thrace, Ilione his sister took him instead of her son Deiphilus, who was of the same age, apprehensive of her husband’s cruelty. The monarch was unacquainted with the imposition; he looked upon Polydorus as his own son, and treated Deiphilus as the brother of Ilione. After the destruction of Troy, the conquerors, who wished the house and family of Priam to be totally extirpated, offered Electra the daughter of Agamemnon to Polymnestor, if he would destroy Ilione and Polydorus. The monarch accepted the offer, and immediately despatched his own son Deiphilus, whom he had been taught to regard as Polydorus. Polydorus, who passed as the son of Polymnestor, consulted the oracle after the murder of Deiphilus, and when he was informed that his father was dead, his mother a captive in the hands of the Greeks, and his country in ruins, he communicated the answer of the god to Ilione, whom he had always regarded as his mother. Ilione told him the measures she had pursued to save his life, and upon this he avenged the perfidy of Polymnestor by putting out his eyes. Euripides, Hecuba.—Hyginus, fable 102.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 45, &c.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, li. 430, &c.——A king of Arcadia, succeeded on the throne by Ecmis. Pausanias, bk. 8.——A young Milesian who took a hare in running, and afterwards obtained a prize at the Olympic games.

Poly̆nīces, a son of Œdipus king of Thebes by Jocasta. He inherited his father’s throne with his brother Eteocles, and it was mutually agreed between the two brothers, that they should reign each a year alternately. Eteocles first ascended the throne by right of seniority; but when the year was expired, he refused to resign the crown to his brother. Polynices, upon this, fled to Argos, where he married Argia, the daughter of Adrastus the king of the country, and levied a large army, at the head of which he marched to Thebes. The command of this army was divided among seven celebrated chiefs, who were to attack the seven gates of the city of Thebes. The battle was decided by a single combat between the two brothers, who both killed one another. See: Eteocles. Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes.—Euripides, Phoenician Women.—Seneca, Œdipus.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Hyginus, fable 68, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 20; bk. 9, ch. 5.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 5.

Polynoe, one of the Nereides. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 2.

Polypēmon, a famous thief, called also Procrustes, who plundered all the travellers about the Cephisus, and near Eleusis in Attica. He was killed by Theseus. Ovid calls him father of Procrustes, and Apollodorus of Sinus. See: Procrustes. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 38.—Ovid, Ibis, li. 409.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Plutarch, Theseus.

Polyperchon, or Polysperchon, one of the officers of Alexander. Antipater, at his death, appointed him governor of the kingdom of Macedonia, in preference to his own son Cassander. Polyperchon, though old, and a man of experience, showed great ignorance in the administration of the government. He became cruel, not only to the Greeks, or such as opposed his ambitious views, but even to the helpless and innocent children and friends of Alexander, to whom he was indebted for his rise and military reputation. He was killed in a battle 309 B.C. Curtius.—Diodorus, bk. 17, &c.—Justin, bk. 13.

Polyphēmus, a celebrated Cyclops, king of all the Cyclops in Sicily, and son of Neptune and Thoosa the daughter of Phorcys. He is represented as a monster of strength, of tall stature, and one eye in the middle of the forehead. He fed upon human flesh, and kept his flocks on the coasts of Sicily, when Ulysses, at his return from the Trojan war, was driven there. The Grecian prince, with 12 of his companions, visited the coast, and were seized by the Cyclops, who confined them in his cave, and daily devoured two of them. Ulysses would have shared the fate of his companions, had he not intoxicated the Cyclops, and put out his eye with a firebrand while he was asleep. Polyphemus was awaked by the sudden pain; he stopped the entrance of his cave, but Ulysses made his escape by creeping between the legs of the rams of the Cyclops, as they were led out to feed on the mountains. Polyphemus became enamoured of Galatæa, but his addresses were disregarded, and the nymph shunned his presence. The Cyclops was more earnest, and when he saw Galatæa surrender herself to the pleasures of Acis, he crushed his rival with a piece of a broken rock. Theocritus, poem 1.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, li. 772.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 19.—Euripides, Cyclops.—Hyginus, fable 125.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 619, &c.——One of the Argonauts, son of Elatus and Hippea. Hyginus, fable 14.

Polyphonta, one of Diana’s nymphs, daughter of Hipponus and Thraosa.

Polyphontes, one of the Heraclidæ, who killed Cresphontes king of Messenia, and usurped his crown. Hyginus, fable 137.——One of the Theban generals, under Eteocles. Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes.

Polypœtes, a son of Pirithous and Hippodamia, at the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 26.——A son of Apollo by Pythia.——One of the Trojans whom Æneas saw when he visited the infernal regions. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 484.

Polysperchon. See: Polyperchon.

Polystrātus, a Macedonian soldier, who found Darius after he had been stabbed by Bessus, and gave him water to drink, and carried the last injunctions of the dying monarch to Alexander. Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 13.——An epicurean philosopher who flourished B.C. 238.

Polytecnus, an artist of Colophon, who married Ædon the daughter of Pandarus.

Polytion, a friend of Alcibiades, with whom he profaned the mysteries of Ceres. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 2.

Polytimētus, a river of Sogdiana. Curtius, bk. 6, ch. 4.

Polyphron, a prince killed by his nephew Alexander the tyrant of Pheræ.

Polytrŏpus, a man sent by the Lacedæmonians with an army against the Arcadians. He was killed at Orchomenus. Diodorus, bk. 15.

Polyxĕna, a daughter of Priam and Hecuba, celebrated for her beauty and accomplishments. Achilles became enamoured of her, and solicited her hand, and their marriage would have been consummated, had not Hector her brother opposed it. Polyxena, according to some authors, accompanied her father when he went to the tent of Achilles to redeem the body of his son Hector. Some time after, the Grecian hero came into the temple of Apollo to obtain a sight of the Trojan princess, but he was murdered there by Paris; and Polyxena, who had returned his affection, was so afflicted at his death, that she went and sacrificed herself on his tomb. Some, however, suppose that that sacrifice was not voluntary, but that the manes of Achilles appeared to the Greeks as they were going to embark, and demanded of them the sacrifice of Polyxena. The princess, who was in the number of the captives, was upon this dragged to her lover’s tomb, and there immolated by Neoptolemus the son of Achilles. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, fable 5, &c.—Dictys Cretensis, bks. 3 & 5.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 321.—Catullus, poem 65.—Hyginus, fable 90.

Polyxenĭdas, a Syrian general, who flourished B.C. 192.

Polyxĕnus, one of the Greek princes during the Trojan war. His father’s name was Agasthenes. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.—Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 3.——A son of Medea by Jason.——A young Athenian who became blind, &c. Plutarch, Parallela minora.——A general of Dionysius, from whom he revolted.

Polyxo, a priestess of Apollo’s temple in Lemnos. She was also nurse to queen Hypsipyle. It was by her advice that the Lemnian women murdered all their husbands. Apollonius, bk. 1.—Flaccus, bk. 2.—Hyginus, fable 15.——One of the Atlantides.——A native of Argos, who married Tlepolemus son of Hercules. She followed him to Rhodes, after the murder of his uncle Licymnius, and when he departed for the Trojan war with the rest of the Greek princes, she became the sole mistress of the kingdom. After the Trojan war, Helen fled from Peloponnesus to Rhodes, where Polyxo reigned. Polyxo detained her, and to punish her as being the cause of a war, in which Tlepolemus had perished, she ordered her to be hanged on a tree by her female servants, disguised in the habit of Furies. See: Helena. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 19.——The wife of Nycteus.——One of the wives of Danaus.

Polyzēlus, a Greek poet of Rhodes. He had written a poem on the origin and birth of Bacchus, Venus, the Muses, &c. Some of his verses are quoted by Athenæus. Hyginus, Poetica Astronomica, bk. 2, ch. 14.——An Athenian archon.

Pomaxæthres, a Parthian soldier, who killed Crassus, according to some. Plutarch.

Pometia, Pometii, Pometia Suessa, a town of the Volsci in Latium, totally destroyed by the Romans, because it had revolted. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 775.—Livy, bk. 2, ch. 17.

Pometīna, one of the tribes of the people at Rome.

Pomōna, a nymph at Rome, who was supposed to preside over gardens and to be the goddess of all sorts of fruit trees. She had a temple at Rome, and a regular priest called Flamen Pomonalis, who offered sacrifices to her divinity, for the preservation of fruit. She was generally represented as sitting on a basket full of flowers and fruit, and holding a bough in one hand and apples in the other. Pomona was particularly delighted with the cultivation of the earth; she disdained the toils of the field, and the fatigues of hunting. Many of the gods of the country endeavoured to gain her affection, but she received their addresses with coldness. Vertumnus was the only one who, by assuming different shapes, and introducing himself into her company, under the form of an old woman, prevailed upon her to break her vow of celibacy and to marry him. This deity was unknown among the Greeks. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 14, li. 628, &c.—Festus, Lexicon of Festus.

Pompeia, a daughter of Sextus Pompey by Scribonia. She was promised to Marcellus, as a means of procuring a reconciliation between her father and the triumvirs, but she married Scribonius Libo.——A daughter of Pompey the Great, Julius Cæsar’s third wife. She was accused of incontinence, because Clodius had introduced himself in women’s clothes into the room where she was celebrating the mysteries of Cybele. Cæsar repudiated her upon this accusation. Plutarch.——The wife of Annæus Seneca, was the daughter of Pompeius Paulinus.——There was a portico at Rome, called Pompeia, much frequented by all orders of people. Ovid, Ars Amatoria, li. 67.—Martial, bk. 11, ltr. 48.

Pompeia lex, by Pompey the Great, de ambitu, A.U.C. 701. It ordained that whatever person had been convicted of the crime of ambitus, should be pardoned, provided he could impeach two others of the same crime, and occasion the condemnation of one of them.——Another by the same, A.U.C. 701, which forbade the use of laudatores in trials, or persons who gave a good character of the prisoner then impeached.——Another by the same, A.U.C. 683. It restored to the tribunes their original power and authority, of which they had been deprived by the Cornelian law.——Another by the same, A.U.C. 701. It shortened the forms of trials, and enacted that the three first days of a trial should be employed in examining witnesses, and it allowed only one day to the parties to make their accusation and defence. The plaintiff was confined to two hours, and the defendant to three. This law had for its object the riots, which happened from the quarrels of Clodius and Milo.——Another by the same, A.U.C. 698. It required that the judges should be the richest of every century, contrary to the usual form. It was, however, requisite that they should be such as the Aurelian law prescribed.——Another of the same, A.U.C. 701. Pompey was by this empowered to continue in the government of Spain five years longer.

Pompeiānus Jupiter, a large statue of Jupiter, near Pompey’s theatre, whence it received its name. Pliny, bk. 34, ch. 7.

Pompeiānus, a Roman knight of Antioch, raised to offices of the greatest trust, under the emperor Aurelius, whose daughter Lucilla he married. He lived in great popularity at Rome, and retired from the court when Commodus succeeded to the imperial crown. He ought, according to Julian’s opinion, to have been chosen and adopted as successor by Marcus Aurelius.——A general of Maxentius, killed by Constantine.——A Roman put to death by Caracalla.

Pompeii, or Pompeium, a town of Campania, built, as some suppose, by Hercules, and so called because the hero there exhibited the long procession (pompa) of the herds of Geryon, which he had obtained by conquest. It was partly demolished by an earthquake, A.D. 63, and afterwards rebuilt. Sixteen years after it was swallowed up by another earthquake, which accompanied one of the eruptions of mount Vesuvius. Herculaneum, in its neighbourhood, shared the same fate. The people of the town were then assembled in a theatre, where public spectacles were exhibited. See: Herculaneum. Livy, bk. 9, ch. 38.—Strabo, bk. 6.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 1.—Seneca, Quæstiones Naturales, bk. 4.—Solinus, bk. 8.

Pompeiopŏlis, a town of Cilicia, formerly called Soli. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 13.——Another in Paphlagonia, originally called Eupatoria, which name was exchanged when Pompey conquered Mithridates.

Quintus Pompeius, a consul who carried on war against the Numantines, and made a shameful treaty. He is the first of that noble family, of whom mention is made. Florus, bk. 2, ch. 18.——Cneus, a Roman general, who made war against the Marsi, and triumphed over the Piceni. He declared himself against Cinna and Marius, and supported the interest of the republic. He was surnamed Strabo, because he squinted. While he was marching against Marius, a plague broke out in his army, and raged with such violence, that it carried away 11,000 men in a few days. He was killed by a flash of lightning, and as he had behaved with cruelty while in power, the people dragged his body through the streets of Rome with an iron hook, and threw it into the Tiber. Paterculus, bk. 2.—Plutarch, Pompey.—— Rufus, a Roman consul with Sylla. He was sent to finish the Marsian war, but the army mutinied at the instigation of Pompeius Strabo, whom he was to succeed in command, and he was assassinated by some of the soldiers. Appian, Civil Wars, bk. 1.——A general who succeeded Metellus in Spain, and was the occasion of a war with Numantia.——Another general, taken prisoner by Mithridates.——Sextus, a governor of Spain, who cured himself of the gout by placing himself in corn above the knee. Pliny, bk. 22, ch. 25.——Rufus, a grandson of Sylla.——A tribune of the soldiers in Nero’s reign, deprived of his office when Piso’s conspiracy was discovered. Tacitus.——A consul praised for his learning and abilities. Ovid, ex Ponto, bk. 4, poem 1.——A son of Theophanes of Mitylene, famous for his intimacy with Pompey the Great, and for his writings. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 6.——A tribune of a pretorian cohort under Galba.——A Roman knight, put to death by the emperor Claudius for his adultery with Messalina. Tacitus, bk. 11, Annals.——Cneus, surnamed Magnus, from the greatness of his exploits, was son of Pompeius Strabo and Lucilia. He early distinguished himself in the field of battle, and fought with success and bravery under his father, whose courage and military prudence he imitated. He began his career with great popularity; the beauty and elegance of his person gained him admirers, and by pleading at the bar he displayed his eloquence, and received the most unbounded applause. In the disturbances which agitated Rome, by the ambition and avarice of Marius and Sylla, Pompey followed the interest of the latter, and by levying three legions for his service he gained his friendship and his protection. In the 26th year of his age, he conquered Sicily, which was in the power of Marius and his adherents, and in 40 days he regained all the territories of Africa, which had forsaken the interest of Sylla. This rapid success astonished the Romans, and Sylla, who admired and dreaded the rising power of Pompey, recalled him to Rome. Pompey immediately obeyed, and the dictator, by saluting him with the appellation of the Great, showed to the world what expectations he formed from the maturer age of his victorious lieutenant. This sounding title was not sufficient to gratify the ambition of Pompey; he demanded a triumph, and when Sylla refused to grant it, he emphatically exclaimed, that the sun shone with more ardour at his rising than at his setting. His assurance gained what petitions and entreaties could not obtain, and he was the first Roman knight who, without an office under the appointment of the senate, marched in triumphal procession through the streets of Rome. He now appeared, not as a ♦dependent, but as a rival, of the dictator, and his opposition to his measures totally excluded him from his will. After the death of Sylla, Pompey supported himself against the remains of the Marian faction, which was headed by Lepidus. He defeated them, put an end to the war which the revolt of Sertorius in Spain had occasioned, and obtained a second triumph, though still a private citizen, about 73 years before the christian era. He was soon after made consul, and in that office he restored the tribunitial power to its original dignity, and in 40 days removed the pirates from the Mediterranean, where they had reigned for many years, and by their continual plunder and audacity, almost destroyed the whole naval power of Rome. While he prosecuted the piratical war, and extirpated these maritime robbers in their obscure retreat in Cilicia, Pompey was called to greater undertakings, and by the influence of his friends at Rome, and of the tribune Manilius, he was empowered to finish the war against two of the most powerful monarchs of Asia—Mithridates king of Pontus, and Tigranes king of Armenia. In this expedition Pompey showed himself no ways inferior to Lucullus, who was then at the head of the Roman armies, and who resigned with reluctance an office which would have made him the conqueror of Mithridates and the master of all Asia. His operations against the king of Pontus were bold and vigorous, and in a general engagement the Romans so totally defeated the enemy, that the Asiatic monarch escaped with difficulty from the field of battle. See: Mithridaticum bellum. Pompey did not lose sight of the advantages which despatch would ensure; he entered Armenia, received the submission of king Tigranes, and after he had conquered the Albanians and Iberians, visited countries which were scarce known to the Romans, and, like a master of the world, disposed of kingdoms and provinces, and received homage from 12 crowned heads at once; he entered Syria, and pushed his conquests as far as the Red sea. Part of Arabia was subdued, Judea became a Roman province, and when he had now nothing to fear from Mithridates, who had voluntarily destroyed himself, Pompey returned to Italy with all the pomp and majesty of an eastern conqueror. The Romans dreaded his approach; they knew his power and his influence among his troops, and they feared the return of another tyrannical Sylla. Pompey, however, banished their fears; he disbanded his army, and the conqueror of Asia entered Rome like a private citizen. This modest and prudent behaviour gained him more friends and adherents than the most unbounded power, aided with profusion and liberality. He was honoured with a triumph, and the Romans, for three successive days, gazed with astonishment on the riches and the spoils which their conquests had acquired in the east, and expressed their raptures at the sight of the different nations, habits, and treasures which preceded the conqueror’s chariot. But it was not this alone which gratified the ambition, and flattered the pride of the Romans; the advantages of their conquests were more lasting than an empty show, and when 20,000 talents were brought into the public treasury, and when the revenues of the republic were raised from 50 to 85 millions of drachmæ, Pompey became more powerful, more flattered, and more envied. To strengthen himself, and to triumph over his enemies, Pompey soon after united his interest with that of Cæsar and Crassus, and formed the first triumvirate, by solemnly swearing that their attachment should be mutual, their cause common, and their union permanent. The agreement was completed by the marriage of Pompey with Julia the daughter of Cæsar, and the provinces of the republic were arbitrarily divided among the triumvirs. Pompey was allotted Africa and the two Spains, while Crassus repaired to Syria, to add Parthia to the empire of Rome, and Cæsar remained satisfied with the rest, and the continuation of his power as governor of Gaul for five additional years. But this powerful confederacy was soon broken; the sudden death of Julia, and the total defeat of Crassus in Syria, shattered the political bands which held the jarring interest of Cæsar and Pompey united. Pompey dreaded his father-in-law, and yet he affected to despise him; and by suffering anarchy to prevail in Rome, he convinced his fellow-citizens of the necessity of investing him with dictatorial power. But while the conqueror of Mithridates was as a sovereign at Rome, the adherents of Cæsar were not silent. They demanded that either the consulship should be given to him, or that he should be continued in the government of Gaul. This just demand would perhaps have been granted, but Cato opposed it, and when Pompey sent for the two legions which he had lent to Cæsar, the breach became more wide, and a civil war inevitable. Cæsar was privately preparing to meet his enemies, while Pompey remained indolent, and gratified his pride in seeing all Italy celebrate his recovery from an indisposition by universal rejoicings. But he was soon roused from his inactivity, and it was now time to find his friends, if anything could be obtained from the caprice and the fickleness of a people which he had once delighted and amused, by the exhibition of games and spectacles in a theatre which could contain 20,000 spectators. Cæsar was now near Rome, he had crossed the Rubicon, which was a declaration of hostilities, and Pompey, who had once boasted that he could raise legions to his assistance by stamping on the ground with his foot, fled from the city with precipitation, and retired to Brundusium with the consuls and part of the senators. His cause, indeed, was popular; he had been invested with discretionary power, the senate had entreated him to protect the republic against the usurpation and tyranny of Cæsar, and Cato, by embracing his cause, and appearing in his camp, seemed to indicate that he was the friend of the republic, and the assertor of Roman liberty and independence. But Cæsar was now master of Rome, and in 60 days all Italy acknowledged his power, and the conqueror hastened to Spain, there to defeat the interest of Pompey, and to alienate the hearts of his soldiers. He was too successful, and when he had gained to his cause the western parts of the Roman empire, Cæsar crossed Italy and arrived in Greece, where Pompey had retired, supported by all the power of the east, the wishes of the republican Romans, and a numerous and well-disciplined army. Though superior in numbers, he refused to give the enemy battle, while Cæsar continually harassed him, and even attacked his camp. Pompey repelled him with great success, and he might have decided the war, if he had continued to pursue the enemy, while their confusion was great, and their escape almost impossible. Want of provisions obliged Cæsar to advance towards Thessaly; Pompey pursued him, and in the plains of Pharsalia the two armies engaged. The whole was conducted against the advice and approbation of Pompey; and by suffering his troops to wait for the approach of the enemy, he deprived his soldiers of that advantage which the army of Cæsar obtained by running to the charge with spirit, vigour, and animation. The cavalry of Pompey soon gave way, and the general retired to his camp, overwhelmed with grief and shame. But here there was no safety; the conqueror pushed on every side, and Pompey disguised himself, and fled to the sea-coast, whence he passed to Egypt, where he hoped to find a safe asylum, till better and more favourable moments returned, in the court of Ptolemy, a prince whom he had once protected and ensured on his throne. When Ptolemy was told that Pompey claimed his protection, he consulted his ministers, and had the baseness to betray and to deceive him. A boat was sent to fetch him on shore, and the Roman general left his galley, after an affectionate and tender parting with his wife Cornelia. The Egyptian sailors sat in sullen silence in the boat, and when Pompey disembarked, Achillas and Septimius assassinated him. His wife, who had followed him with her eyes to the shore, was a spectator of the bloody scene, and she hastened away from the bay of Alexandria, not to share his miserable fate. He died B.C. 48, in the 58th or 59th year of his age, the day after his birthday. His head was cut off and sent to Cæsar, who turned away from it with horror, and shed a flood of tears. The body was left for some time naked on the sea-shore, till the humanity of Philip, one of his freedmen, and an old soldier who had often followed his standard to victory, raised a burning pile, and deposited his ashes under a mound of earth. Cæsar erected a monument on his remains, and the emperor Adrian, two centuries after, when he visited Egypt, ordered it to be repaired at his own expense, and paid particular honour to the memory of a great and good man. The character of Pompey is that of an intriguing and artful general, and the oris probi and animo inverecundo of Sallust, short and laconic as it may appear, is the best and most descriptive picture of his character. He wished it to appear that he obtained all his honours and dignity from merit alone, and as the free and unprejudiced favour of the Romans, while he secretly claimed them by faction and intrigue; and he who wished to appear the patron and an example of true discipline and ancient simplicity, was not ashamed publicly to bribe the populace to gain an election, or support his favourites. Yet amidst all this dissimulation, which was perhaps but congenial with the age, we perceive many other striking features; Pompey was kind and clement to the conquered, and generous to his captives, and he buried at his own expense Mithridates, with all the pomp and solemnity which the greatness of his power and the extent of his dominions seemed to claim. He was an enemy to flattery, and when his character was impeached by the malevolence of party, he condescended, though consul, to appear before the censorial tribunal, and to show that his actions and measures were not subversive of the peace and the independence of the people. In his private character he was as remarkable; he lived with great temperance and moderation, and his house was small, and not ostentatiously furnished. He destroyed with great prudence the papers which were found in the camp of Sertorius, lest mischievous curiosity should find causes to accuse the innocent, and to meditate their destruction. With great disinterestedness he refused the presents which princes and monarchs offered to him, and he ordered them to be added to the public revenue. He might have seen a better fate, and terminated his days with more glory, if he had not acted with such imprudence when the flames of civil war were first kindled; and he reflected with remorse, after the battle of Pharsalia, upon his want of usual sagacity and military prudence, in fighting at such a distance from the sea, and in leaving the fortified places of Dyrrachium, to meet in the open plain an enemy, without provisions, without friends, and without resources. The misfortunes which attended him after the conquest of Mithridates, are attributed by christian writers to his impiety in profaning the temple of the Jews, and in entering with the insolence of a conqueror the Holy of Holies, where even the sacred person of the high priest of the nation was not admitted but upon the most solemn occasions. His duplicity of behaviour in regard to Cicero is deservedly censured, and he should not have violently sacrificed to party and sedition a Roman whom he had ever found his firmest friend and adherent. In his meeting with Lucullus he cannot but be taxed with pride, and he might have paid more deference and more honour to a general who was as able and more entitled than himself to finish the Mithridatic war. Pompey married four different times. His first matrimonial connection was with Antistia the daughter of the pretor Antistius, whom he divorced, with great reluctance, to marry Æmylia the daughter-in-law of Sylla. Æmylia died in child-bed; and Pompey’s marriage with Julia the daughter of Cæsar was a step more of policy than affection. Yet Julia loved Pompey with great tenderness, and her death in child-bed was the signal of war between her husband and her father. He afterwards married Cornelia the daughter of Metellus Scipio, a woman commended for her virtues, beauty, and accomplishments. Plutarch, Lives.—Florus, bk. 4.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 29.—Dio Cassius.—Lucan.—Appian.—Cæsar, Civil War.—Cicero, Orator, ch. 68, Letters to Atticus, bk. 7, ltr. 25; Letters to his Friends, bk. 13, ltr. 19.—Eutropius.——The two sons of Pompey the Great, called Cneus and Sextus, were masters of a powerful army, when the death of their father was known. They prepared to oppose the conqueror, but Cæsar pursued them with his usual vigour and success, and at the battle of Munda they were defeated, and Cneus was left among the slain. Sextus fled to Sicily, where he for some time supported himself; but the murder of Cæsar gave rise to new events, and if Pompey had been as prudent and as sagacious as his father, he might have become, perhaps, as great and as formidable. He treated with the triumvirs as an equal, and when Augustus and Antony had the imprudence to trust themselves without arms and without attendants in his ship, Pompey, by following the advice of his friend Menas, who wished him to cut off the illustrious persons who were masters of the world, and now in his power, might have made himself as absolute as Cæsar; but he refused, and observed it was unbecoming the son of Pompey to act with such duplicity. This friendly meeting of Pompey with two of the triumvirs was not productive of advantages to him; he wished to have no superior, and hostilities began. Pompey was at the head of 350 ships, and appeared so formidable to his enemies, and so confident of success in himself, that he called himself the son of Neptune, and the lord of the sea. He was, however, soon defeated in a naval engagement by Octavius and Lepidus, and of all his numerous fleet, only 17 sail accompanied his flight into Asia. Here for a moment he raised seditions, but Antony ordered him to be seized and put to death about 35 years before the christian era. Plutarch, Antonius, &c.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 55, &c.—Florus, bk. 4, ch. 2, &c.——Trogus. See: Trogus.——Sextus Festus, a Latin grammarian, of whose treatise de verborum significatione, the best edition is in 4to, Amsterdam, 1699.