Procrustes, a famous robber of Attica, killed by Theseus near the Cephisus. He tied travellers on a bed, and if their length exceeded that of the bed, he used to cut it off, but if they were shorter, he had them stretched to make their length equal to it. He is called by some Damastes and Polypemon. Ovid, Heroides, poem 2, li. 69; Metamorphoses, bk. 9, li. 43.—Plutarch, Theseus.

Procŭla, a prostitute in Juvenal’s age, satire 2, li. 68.

Procūleius, a Roman knight, very intimate with Augustus. He is celebrated for his humanity and paternal kindness to his brothers Muræna and Scipio, with whom he divided his possessions, after they had forfeited their estates, and incurred the displeasure of Augustus for siding with young Pompey. He was sent by Augustus to Cleopatra, to endeavour to bring her alive into his presence, but to no purpose. He destroyed himself when labouring under a heavy disease. Horace, bk. 2, ode 2.—Plutarch, Antonius.—Pliny, bk. 36, ch. 24.——A debauchee in Nero’s reign. Juvenal, satire 1, li. 40.

Procŭlus Julius, a Roman who, after the death of Romulus, declared that he had seen him in his appearance more than human, and that he had ordered him to bid the Romans to offer him sacrifices under the name of Quirinus, and to rest assured that Rome was destined by the gods to become the capital of the world. Plutarch, Romulus.—Livy, bk. 1, ch. 16.——Geganius, a Roman consul.——Placitius, a Roman who conquered the Hernici.——A friend of Vitellius.——A consul under Nerva.——A man accused of extortion.——An African in the age of Aurelius. He published a book entitled de regionibus, or religionibus, on foreign countries, &c.——An officer who proclaimed himself emperor in Gaul, in the reign of Probus. He was soon after defeated, and exposed on a gibbet. He was very debauched and licentious in his manners, and had acquired riches by piratical excursions.

Procyon, a star near Sirius, or the dog-star, before which it generally rises in July. Cicero calls it Anticanis, which is of the same signification (προ κυων). Horace, bk. 3, ode 29.—Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 2, ch. 44.

Prodĭcus, a sophist and rhetorician of Cos, about 396 years before Christ. He was sent as ambassador by his countrymen to Athens, where he publicly taught, and had among his pupils Euripides, Socrates, Theramenes, and Isocrates. He travelled from town to town in Greece, to procure admirers and get money. He made his auditors pay to hear him harangue, which has given occasion to some of the ancients to speak of the orations of Prodicus for 50 drachmas. In his writings, which were numerous, he composed a beautiful episode, in which virtue and pleasure were introduced, as attempting to make Hercules one of their votaries. The hero at last yielded to the charms of virtue and rejected pleasure. This has been imitated by Lucian. Prodicus was at last put to death by the Athenians on pretence that he corrupted the morals of their youth. Xenophon, Memorabilia.

Proerna, a town of Phthiotis. Livy, bk. 63, ch. 14.

Prœrosia, a surname of Ceres. Her festivals, celebrated at Athens and Eleusis before the sowing of corn, bore the same name. Meursius, Eleusinia.

Prœtĭdes, the daughters of Prœtus king of Argolis, were three in number, Lysippe, Iphinoe, and Iphianassa. They became insane for neglecting the worship of Bacchus, or, according to others, for preferring themselves to Juno, and they ran about the fields, believing themselves to be cows, and flying away not to be harnessed to the plough or to the chariot. Prœtus applied to Melampus to cure his daughters of their insanity, but he refused to employ him when he demanded the third part of his kingdom as a reward. This neglect of Prœtus was punished, the insanity became contagious, and the monarch at last promised Melampus two parts of his kingdom and one of his daughters, if he would restore them and the Argian women to their senses. Melampus consented, and after he had wrought the cure, he married the most beautiful of the Prœtides. Some have called them Lysippe, Ipponoe, and Cyrianassa. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 2.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 6, li. 48.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 15.—Lactantius [Placidus] on Statius, Thebaid, bks. 1 & 3.

Prœtus, a king of Argos, son of Abas and Ocalea. He was twin brother to Acrisius, with whom he quarrelled even before their birth. This dissension between the two brothers increased with their years. After their father’s death, they both tried to obtain the kingdom of Argos; but the claims of Acrisius prevailed, and Prœtus left Peloponnesus and retired to the court of Jobates king of Lycia, where he married Stenobœa, called by some Antea or Antiope. He afterwards returned to Argolis, and by means of his father-in-law he made himself master of Tirynthus. Stenobœa had accompanied her husband to Greece, and she became by him mother of the Prœtides, and of a son called Megapenthes, who after his father’s death succeeded on the throne of Tirynthus. See: Stenobœa. Homer, Iliad, bk. 6, li. 160.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 2.

Progne, a daughter of Pandion king of Athens by Zeuxippe. She married Tereus king of Thrace, by whom she had a son called Itylus or Itys. See: Philomela.

Prolăus, a native of Elis, father to Philanthus and Lampus by Lysippe. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 2.

Promăchus, one of the Epigoni, son of Parthenopæus. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 20.——A son of Psophis daughter of Eryx king of Sicily. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 34.——An athlete of Pallene.——A son of Æson, killed by Pelias. Apollodorus.

Promathĭdas, an historian of Heraclea.

Promathion, a man who wrote a history of Italy. Plutarch, Romulus.

Promĕdon, a native of the island of Naxos, &c.

Promenæa, one of the priestesses of the temple of Dodona. It was from her that Herodotus received the tradition that two doves had flown from Thebes in Egypt, one to Dodona, and the other to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, where they gave oracles.—Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 55.

Promethei jugum and antrum, a place on the top of mount Caucasus, in Albania.

Promētheus, a son of Iapetus by Clymene, one of the Oceanides. He was brother to Atlas, Menœtius, and Epimetheus, and surpassed all mankind in cunning and fraud. He ridiculed the gods, and deceived Jupiter himself. He sacrificed two bulls, and filled their skins, one with the flesh and the other with the bones, and asked the father of the gods which of the two he preferred as an offering. Jupiter became the dupe of his artifice, and chose the bones, and from that time the priests of the temples were ever after ordered to burn the whole victims on the altars, the flesh and the bones altogether. To punish Prometheus and the rest of mankind, Jupiter took fire away from the earth, but the son of Iapetus outwitted the father of the gods. He climbed the heavens by the assistance of Minerva, and stole fire from the chariot of the sun, which he brought down upon the earth at the end of a ferula. This provoked Jupiter the more; he ordered Vulcan to make a woman of clay, and after he had given her life, he sent her to Prometheus, with a box of the richest and most valuable presents which she had received from the gods. See: Pandora. Prometheus, who suspected Jupiter, took no notice of Pandora or her box, but he made his brother Epimetheus marry her, and the god, now more irritated, ordered Mercury, or Vulcan, according to Æschylus, to carry this artful mortal to mount Caucasus, and there tie him to a rock, where for 30,000 years a vulture was to feed upon his liver, which was never diminished, though continually devoured. He was delivered from this painful confinement about 30 years afterwards by Hercules, who killed the bird of prey. The vulture, or, according to others, the eagle which devoured the liver of Prometheus, was born from Typhon and Echidna. According to Apollodorus, Prometheus made the first man and woman that ever were upon the earth with clay, which he animated by means of the fire which he had stolen from heaven. On this account, therefore, the Athenians raised him an altar in the grove of Academus, where they yearly celebrated games to his honour. During these games there was a race, and he who carried a burning torch in his hand without extinguishing it obtained the prize. Prometheus, as it is universally credited, had received the gift of prophecy; and all the gods, and even Jupiter himself, consulted him as a most infallible oracle. To him mankind are indebted for the invention of many of the useful arts; he taught them the use of plants, with their physical power, and from him they received the knowledge of taming horses and different animals, either to cultivate the ground, or for the purposes of luxury. Hesiod, Theogony, lis. 510 & 550.—Apollodorus, bks. 1 & 2.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 30; bk. 5, ch. 11.—Hyginus, fable 144.—Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 6.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 82.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 3.—Seneca, Medea, li. 823.

Promēthis and Promethīdes, a patronymic applied to the children of Prometheus, as to Deucalion, &c. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 10, li. 390.

Promethus and Damasichthon, two sons of Codrus, who conducted colonies into Asia Minor. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 3.

Promŭlus, a Trojan killed by Turnus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 574.

Pronapĭdes, an ancient Greek poet of Athens, who was, according to some, preceptor to Homer. It is said that he first taught the Greeks how to write from the left to the right, contrary to the custom of writing from the right to the left, which is still observed by some of the eastern nations. Diodorus, bk. 3.

Pronax, a brother of Adrastus king of Argos, son of Talaus and Lysimache. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 18.

Pronoe, a daughter of Phorbas, mother of Pleuron and Calydon by Æolus.

Pronŏmus, a Theban who played so skilfully on the lute, that the invention of that musical instrument is attributed to him. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 12.—Athenæus, bk. 14, ch. 7.

Pronous, a son of Phlegeas, killed by the sons of Alcmæon.

Pronŭba, a surname of Juno, because she presided over marriages. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 4, li. 166.

Propertius Sextus Aurelius, a Latin poet born at Mevania, in Umbria. His father was a Roman knight, whom Augustus proscribed, because he had followed the interest of Antony. He came to Rome, where his genius and poetical talents soon recommended him to the notice of the great and powerful. Mecænas, Gallus, and Virgil became his friends, and Augustus his patron. Mecænas wished him to attempt an epic poem, of which he proposed the emperor for hero; but Propertius refused, observing that his abilities were unequal to the task. He died about 19 years before Christ, in the 40th year of his age. His works consist of four books of elegies, which are written with so much spirit, vivacity, and energy, that many authors call him the prince of the elegiac poets among the Latins. His poetry, though elegant, is not free from faults, and the many lascivious expressions which he uses deservedly expose him to censure. Cynthia, who is the heroine of all his elegies, was a Roman lady, whose real name was Hostia, or Hostilia, of whom the poet was deeply enamoured. Though Mevania is more generally supposed to be the place of his birth, yet four other cities of Umbria have disputed the honour of it; Hespillus, Ameria, Perusia, and Assisium. The best edition is that of Santenius, 4to, Utrecht, 1780; and when published together with Catullus and Tibullus, those of Grævius, 8vo, Utrecht, 1680, and of Vulpius, 4 vols., Patavii, 1737, 1749, 1755, and the edition of Barbou, 12mo, Paris, 1754. Ovid, Tristia, bk. 2, li. 465; bk. 4, poem 10, li. 55; De Ars Amatoria, bk. 3, li. 333.—Martial, bk. 8, ltr. 73; bk. 14, ltr. 189.—Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 1.—Pliny, bk. 6, Letters; bk. 9, ltr. 22.

Propœtĭdes, some women of Cyprus, severely punished by Venus, whose divinity they had despised. They sent their daughters to the sea-shore, where they prostituted themselves to strangers. The poets have feigned that they were changed into stones, on account of their insensibility to every virtuous sentiment. Justin, bk. 18, ch. 5.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 10, li. 238.

Propontis, a sea which has a communication with the Euxine, by the Thracian Bosphorus, and with the Ægean by the Hellespont, now called the sea of Marmora. It is about 175 miles long and 62 broad, and it received its name from its vicinity to Pontus. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 19.—Strabo, bk. 2.—Ovid, bk. 1; Tristia, bk. 9, li. 29.—Propertius, bk. 3, poem 22.

Propylea, a surname of Diana. She had a temple at Eleusis in Attica.

Proselystius, a surname of Neptune among the Greeks. Pausanias, bk. 2.

Proserpĭna, a daughter of Ceres by Jupiter, called by the Greeks Persephone. She was so beautiful, that the father of the gods himself became enamoured of her, and deceived her by changing himself into a serpent, and folding her in his wreaths. Proserpine made Sicily the place of her residence, and delighted herself with the beautiful views, the flowery meadows, and limpid streams, which surrounded the plains of Enna. In this solitary retreat, as she amused herself with her female attendants in gathering flowers, Pluto carried her away into the infernal regions, of which she became the queen. See: Pluto. Ceres was so disconsolate at the loss of her daughter, that she travelled all over the world, but her inquiries were in vain, and she never could have discovered whither she had been carried, had not she found the girdle of Proserpine on the surface of the waters of the fountain Cyane, near which the ravisher had opened himself a passage to his kingdom by striking the earth with his trident. Ceres soon learned from the nymph Arethusa that her daughter had been carried away by Pluto, and immediately she repaired to Jupiter, and demanded of him to punish the ravisher. Jupiter in vain attempted to persuade the mother that Pluto was not unworthy of her daughter, and when he saw that she was inflexible for the restitution of Proserpine, he said that she might return on earth, if she had not taken any aliments in the infernal regions. Her return, however, was impossible. Proserpine, as she walked in the Elysian fields, had gathered a pomegranate from a tree and eaten it, and Ascalaphus was the only one who saw it, and for his discovery the goddess instantly turned him into an owl. Jupiter, to appease the resentment of Ceres, and soothe her grief, permitted that Proserpine should remain six months with Pluto in the infernal regions, and that she should spend the rest of the year with her mother on earth. As queen of hell, and wife of Pluto, Proserpine presided over the death of mankind, and, according to the opinion of the ancients, no one could die, if the goddess herself, or Atropos her minister, did not cut off one of the hairs from the head. From this superstitious belief, it was usual to cut off some of the hair of the deceased, and to strew it at the door of the house, as an offering for Proserpine. The Sicilians were very particular in their worship to Proserpine, and as they believed that the fountain Cyane had risen from the earth at the very place where Pluto had opened himself a passage, they annually sacrificed there a bull, of which they suffered the blood to run into the water. Proserpine was universally worshipped by the ancients, and she was known by the different names of Core, Theogamia, Libitina, Hecate, Juno inferna, Anthesphoria, Cotyto, Deois, Libera, &c. Plutarch, Lucullus.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 37; bk. 9, ch. 31.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, fable 6; Fasti, bk. 4, li. 417.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 4, li. 698; bk. 6, li. 138.—Strabo, bk. 7.—Diodorus, bk. 5.—Cicero, Against Verres, bk. 4.—Hyginus, fable 146.—Hesiod, Theogony.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 3.—Orpheus, Hymn 28.—Claudian, de Raptu Proserpinæ.

Prosopītis, an island in one of the mouths of the Nile. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 4.

Prosper, one of the fathers who died A.D. 466. His works have been edited by Mangeant, folio, Paris, 1711.

Prosymna, a part of Argolis, where Juno was worshipped. It received its name from a nymph of the same name, daughter of Asterion, who nursed Juno. Pausanias, bk. 2.

Protagŏras, a Greek philosopher of Abdera in Thrace, who was originally a porter. He became one of the disciples of Democritus, when that philosopher had seen him carrying faggots on his head, poised in a proper equilibrium. He soon rendered himself ridiculous by his doctrines, and in a book which he published, he denied the existence of a Supreme Being. This doctrine he supported by observing, that his doubts arose from the uncertainty of the existence of a Supreme Power, and from the shortness of human life. This book was publicly burnt at Athens, and the philosopher banished from the city, as a worthless and contemptible being. Protagoras visited from Athens different islands in the Mediterranean, and died in Sicily in a very advanced age, about 400 years before the christian era. He generally reasoned by dilemmas, and always left the mind in suspense about all the questions which he proposed. Some suppose that he was drowned. Diogenes Laërtius, bk. 9.—♦Plato, Protagoras.——A king of Cyprus, tributary to the court of Persia.——Another.

♦ ‘Plutarch’ replaced with ‘Plato’

Protagorĭdes, an historian of Cyzicus, who wrote a treatise on the games of Daphne, celebrated at Antioch.

Protei columnæ, a place in the remotest parts of Egypt. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 262.

Protesilai turris, the monument of Protesilaus, on the Hellespont. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 11.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 2.

Prōtĕsĭlāus, a king of part of Thessaly, son of Iphiclus, originally called Iolaus, grandson of Phylacus, and brother to Alcimede the mother of Jason. He married Laodamia the daughter of Acastus, and some time after he departed with the rest of the Greeks for the Trojan war with 40 sail. He was the first of the Greeks who set foot on the Trojan shore, and as such he was doomed by the oracle to perish, therefore he was killed as soon as he had leaped from his ship, by Æneas or Hector. Homer has not mentioned the person who killed him. His wife Laodamia destroyed herself when she heard of his death. See: Laodamia. Protesilaus has received the patronymic of Phylacides either because he was descended from Phylace, or because he was a native of Phylace. He was buried on the Trojan shore, and, according to Pliny, there were near his tomb certain trees which grew to an extraordinary height, which, as soon as they could be discovered and seen from Troy, immediately withered and decayed, and afterwards grew up again to their former height, and suffered the same vicissitude. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2, li. 205.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, fable 1; Heroides, poem 13, li. 17.—Propertius, bk. 1, poem 19.—Hyginus, fable 103, &c.

Proteus, a sea deity, son of Oceanus and Tethys, or, according to some, of Neptune and Phœnice. He had received the gift of prophecy from Neptune because he had tended the monsters of the sea, and from his knowledge of futurity mankind received the greatest services. He usually resided in the Carpathian sea, and, like the rest of the gods, he reposed himself on the sea-shore, where such as wished to consult him generally resorted. He was difficult of access, and when consulted he refused to give answers, by immediately assuming different shapes, and if not properly secured in fetters, eluding the grasp in the form of a tiger, or a lion, or disappearing in a flame of fire, a whirlwind, or a rushing stream. Aristæus and Menelaus were in the number of those who consulted him, as also Hercules. Some suppose that he was originally king of Egypt, known among his subjects by the name of Cetes, and they assert that he had two sons, Telegonus and Polygonus, who were both killed by Hercules. He had also some daughters, among whom were Cabira, Eidothea, and Rhetia. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 4, li. 360.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, fable 10; Amores, poem 12, li. 36.—Hesiod, Theogony, li. 243.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 4, li. 387.—Hyginus, fable 118.—Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 112.—Diodorus, bk. 1.

Prothēnor, a Bœotian who went to the Trojan war. Homer, Iliad, bk. 2.

Protheus, a Greek at the Trojan war.——A Spartan who endeavoured to prevent a war with the Thebans.

Prothous, a son of Lycaon of Arcadia. Apollodorus.——A son of Agrius.

Proto, one of the Nereides. Apollodorus.

Protogenēa, a daughter of Calydon, by Æolia the daughter of Amythaon. She had a son called Oxylus by Mars. Apollodorus, bk. 1.

Protogĕnes, a painter of Rhodes, who flourished about 328 years before Christ. He was originally so poor that he painted ships to maintain himself. His countrymen were ignorant of his ingenuity before Apelles came to Rhodes, and offered to buy all his pieces. This opened the eyes of the Rhodians; they became sensible of the merit of their countrymen, and liberally rewarded him. Protogenes was employed for seven years in finishing a picture of Jalysus, a celebrated huntsman, supposed to have been the son of Apollo, and the founder of Rhodes. During all this time the painter lived upon lupines and water, thinking that such aliments would leave him greater flights of fancy; but all this did not seem to make him more successful in the perfection of his picture. He was to represent in the piece a dog panting, and with froth at his mouth, but this he never could do with satisfaction to himself; and when all his labours seemed to be without success, he threw his sponge upon the piece in a fit of anger. Chance alone brought to perfection what the utmost labours of art could not do; the fall of the sponge upon the picture represented the froth of the mouth of the dog in the most perfect and natural manner, and the piece was universally admired. Protogenes was very exact in his representations, and copied nature with the greatest nicety, but this was blamed as a fault by his friend Apelles. When Demetrius besieged Rhodes he refused to set fire to a part of the city which might have made him master of the whole, because he knew that Protogenes was then working in that quarter. When the town was taken, the painter was found closely employed in a garden in finishing a picture; and when the conqueror asked him why he showed not more concern at the general calamity, he replied, that Demetrius made war against the Rhodians, and not against the fine arts. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 3.—Pliny, bk. 35, ch. 10.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 12.—Juvenal, satire 3, li. 120.—Plutarch, Demetrius.——One of Caligula’s favourites, famous for his cruelty and extravagance.

Protogenīa, a daughter of Deucalion and Pyrrha. She was beloved by Jupiter, by whom she had Æthlius the father of Endymion. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 7.—Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 1.—Hyginus, fable 155.——Another. See: Protogenea.

Protomedūsa, one of the Nereides, called Protomelia by Hesiod. Theogony, li. 245.

Proxĕnus, a Bœotian of great authority at Thebes, in the age of Xenophon. Polyænus.——A writer who published historical accounts of Sparta. Athenæus.

Prudentius Aurelius Clemens, a Latin poet who flourished A.D. 392, and was successively a soldier, an advocate, and a judge. His poems are numerous, and all theological, devoid of the elegance and purity of the Augustan age, and yet greatly valued. The best editions are the Delphin, 4to, Paris, 1687; that of Cellarius, 12mo, Halæ, 1703; and that of Parma, 2 vols., 4to, 1788.

Prumnides, a king of Corinth.

Prusa, a town of Bithynia, built by king Prusias, from whom it received its name. Strabo, bk. 12.—Pliny, bk. 10, ltr. 16.

Prusæus Dion, flourished A.D. 105.

Prusias, a king of Bithynia, who flourished 221 B.C.——Another, surnamed Venator, who made an alliance with the Romans when they waged war with Antiochus king of Syria. He gave a kind reception to Annibal, and by his advice he made war against Eumenes king of Pergamus, and defeated him. Eumenes, who was an ally of Rome as well as Prusias, complained before the Romans of the hostilities of the king of Bithynia. Quinctius Flaminius was sent from Rome to settle the disputes of the two monarchs, and he was no sooner arrived in Bithynia, than Prusias, to gain his favour, prepared to deliver to him, at his request, the celebrated Carthaginian, to whom he was indebted for all the advantages which he had obtained over Eumenes; but Annibal prevented it by a voluntary death. Prusias was obliged by the Roman ambassador to make a restitution of the provinces he had conquered, and by his meanness he continued to enjoy the favours of the Romans. When some time after he visited the capital of Italy, he appeared in the habit of a manumitted slave, calling himself the freedman of the Romans; and when he was introduced into the senate-house, he saluted the senators by the name of visible deities, of saviours and deliverers. Such abject behaviour rendered him contemptible not only in the eyes of the Romans, but of his subjects, and when he returned home the Bithynians revolted, and placed his son Nicomedes on the throne. The banished monarch fled to Nicomedia, where he was assassinated near the altar of Jupiter, about 149 years before Christ. Some say that his son became his murderer. Prusias, according to Polybius, was the meanest of monarchs, without honesty, without morals, virtue, or principle; he was cruel and cowardly, intemperate and voluptuous, and an enemy to all learning. He was naturally deformed, and he often appeared in public in the habit of a woman, to render his deformities more visible. Polybius.—Livy.—Justin, bk. 31, &c.—Cornelius Nepos, Hannibal.—Plutarch, Titus Flamininus, &c.

Prymno, one of the Oceanides.

Prytănes, certain magistrates at Athens who presided over the senate, and had the privilege of assembling it when they pleased, festivals excepted. They generally met in a large hall, called prytaneum, where they gave audiences, offered sacrifices, and feasted together with all those who had rendered signal service to their country. The Prytanes were elected from the senators which were in number 500, 50 of which were chosen from each tribe. When they were elected, the names of the 10 tribes of Athens were thrown into one vessel, and in another were placed nine black beans and a white one. The tribe whose name was drawn with the white bean, presided the first, and the rest in the order in which they were drawn. They presided each for 35 days, as the year was divided into 10 parts; but it is unknown what tribe presided the rest of those days which were supernumerary. When the number of tribes was increased to 12, each of the Prytanes presided one full month.——Some of the principal magistrates of Corinth were also called Prytanes.

Prytănis, a king of Sparta, of the family of the Proclidæ. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 36.——One of the friends of Æneas killed by Turnus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 767.

Psamăthe, one of the Nereides, mother of Phocus by Æacus king of Ægina. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 12.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11, li. 398.—Flaccus, ♦bk. 1, li. 364.——A daughter of Crotopus king of Argos. She became mother of Linus by Apollo, and to conceal her shame from her father, she exposed her child, which was found by dogs and torn to pieces. Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 43.——A fountain and town of Thebes. Flaccus, bk. 1, li. 364.

♦ Book reference omitted in text.

Psamathos, a town and port of Laconia. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 25.

Psammenītus, succeeded his father Amasis on the throne of Egypt. Cambyses made war against him, and as he knew that the Egyptians paid the greatest veneration to cats, the Persian monarch placed some of these animals at the head of his army, and the enemy, unable to defend themselves, and unwilling to kill those objects of adoration, were easily conquered. Psammenitus was twice beaten at Pelusium and in Memphis, and became one of the prisoners of Cambyses, who treated him with great humanity. Psammenitus, however, raised seditions against the Persian monarch; and attempted to make the Egyptians rebel, for which he was put to death by drinking bull’s blood. He had reigned about six months. He flourished about 525 years before the christian era. Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 10, &c.

Psammetĭchus, a king of Egypt. He was one of the 12 princes who shared the kingdom among themselves; but as he was more popular than the rest, he was banished from his dominions, and retired into the marshes near the sea-shore. A descent of some of the Greeks upon Egypt proved favourable to his cause: he joined the enemy, and defeated the 11 princes who had expelled him from the country. He rewarded the Greeks, by whose valour he had recovered Egypt, he allotted them some territory on the sea-coast, patronized the liberal arts, and encouraged commerce among his subjects. He made useless inquiries to find the sources of the Nile, and he stopped, by bribes and money, a large army of Scythians that were marching against him. He died 617 years before the christian era, and was buried in Minerva’s temple at Sais. During his reign there was a contention among some of the neighbouring nations about the antiquity of their language. Psammetichus took a part in the contest. He confined two young children and fed them with milk; the shepherd to whose care they were entrusted was ordered never to speak to them, but to watch diligently their articulations. After some time the shepherd observed, that whenever he entered the place of their confinement they repeatedly exclaimed Beccos, and he gave information of this to the monarch. Psammetichus made inquiries, and found that the word Beccos signified bread in the Phœnician language, and from that circumstance, therefore, it was universally concluded that the language of Phœnicia was of the greatest antiquity. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 28, &c.—Polyænus, bk. 8.—Strabo, bk. 16.——A son of Gordius, brother to Periander, who held the tyranny at Corinth for three years, B.C. 584. Aristotle, Politics, bk. 5, ch. 12.

Psammis, or Psammuthis, a king of Egypt, B.C. 376.

Psaphis, a town on the confines of Attica and Bœotia. There was there an oracle of Amphiaraus.

Psapho, a Libyan who taught a number of birds which he kept to say, “Psapho is a god,” and afterwards gave them their liberty. The birds did not forget the words which they had been taught, and the Africans paid divine honours to Psapho. Ælian.

Psecas, one of Diana’s attendant nymphs. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3.

Psophis, a town of Arcadia near the river Erymanthus, whose name it originally bore, and afterwards that of Phegia. Statius, Thebaid, bk. 4, li. 296.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 24.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 607.——A river and town of Elis.——A daughter of Eryx.——A town of Acarnania.——Another of Libya.

Psyche, a nymph whom Cupid married and carried into a place of bliss, where he long enjoyed her company. Venus put her to death because she had robbed the world of her son; but Jupiter, at the request of Cupid, granted immortality to Psyche. The word signifies the soul, and this personification of Psyche first mentioned by Apuleius is posterior to the Augustan age, though still it is connected with ancient mythology. Psyche is generally represented with the wings of a butterfly, to intimate the lightness of the soul, of which the butterfly is the symbol, and on that account, among the ancients, when a man had just expired, a butterfly appeared fluttering above, as if rising from the mouth of the deceased.

Psychrus, a river of Thrace. When sheep drank of its waters they were said always to bring forth black lambs. Aristotle.

Psylli, a people of Libya near the Syrtes, very expert in curing the venomous bite of serpents, which had no fatal effect upon them. Strabo, bk. 17.—Dio Cassius, bk. 51, ch. 14.—Lucan, bk. 9, lis. 894, 937.—Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 173.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 28.

Pteleum, a town of Thessaly on the borders of Bœotia. Lucan, bk. 6, li. 852.—Livy, bk. 35, ch. 43.

Pterelaus, a son of Taphius, presented with immortality from Neptune, provided he kept on his head a yellow lock. His daughter cut it off and he died. He reigned at Taphos in Argos, &c. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 4.

Pteria, a well-fortified town of Cappadocia. It was in the neighbourhood, according to some, that Crœsus was defeated by Cyrus. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 76.

Ptolederma, a town of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 27.

Ptolemæum, a certain place at Athens dedicated to exercise and study. Cicero, bk. 5, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum.

Ptolemæus I., surnamed Lagus, a king of Egypt, son of Arsinoe, who, when pregnant by Philip of Macedonia, married Lagus, a man of mean extraction. See: Lagus. Ptolemy was educated in the court of the king of Macedonia; he became one of the friends and associates of Alexander, and when that monarch invaded Asia, the son of Arsinoe attended him as one of his generals. During the expedition, he behaved with uncommon valour; he killed one of the Indian monarchs in single combat, and it was to his prudence and courage that Alexander was indebted for the reduction of the rock Aornus. After the conqueror’s death, in the general division of the Macedonian empire, Ptolemy obtained as his share the government of Egypt, with Libya, and part of the neighbouring territories of Arabia. In this appointment the governor soon gained the esteem of the people by acts of kindness, by benevolence, and clemency; and though he did not assume the title of independent monarch till 19 years after, yet he was so firmly established, that the attempts of Perdiccas to drive him away from his possessions proved abortive; and Ptolemy, after the murder of his rival by Grecian soldiers, might have added the kingdom of Macedonia to his Egyptian territories. He made himself master of Cœlosyria, Phœnicia, and the neighbouring coast of Syria, and when he had reduced Jerusalem, he carried about 100,000 prisoners to Egypt, to people the extensive city of Alexandria, which became the capital of his dominions. After he had rendered these prisoners the most attached and faithful of his subjects by his liberality and the grant of privileges, Ptolemy assumed the title of king of Egypt, and soon after reduced Cyprus under his power. He made war with success against Demetrius and Antigonus, who disputed his right to the provinces of Syria, and from the assistance he gave to the people of Rhodes against their common enemies, he received the name of Soter. While he extended his dominions, Ptolemy was not negligent of the advantages of his people. The bay of Alexandria being dangerous of access, he built a tower to conduct the sailors in the obscurity of the night [See: Pharos], and that his subjects might be acquainted with literature, he laid the foundation of a library, which, under the succeeding reigns, became the most celebrated in the world. He also established in the capital of his dominions a society called museum, of which the members, maintained at the public expense, were employed in philosophical researches, and in the advancement of science and the liberal arts. Ptolemy died in the 84th year of his age, after a reign of 39 years, about 284 years before Christ. He was succeeded by his son Ptolemy Philadelphus, who had been his partner on the throne the last 10 years of his reign. Ptolemy Lagus has been commended for his abilities, not only as a sovereign, but as a writer, and among the many valuable compositions which have been lost, we are to lament a history of Alexander the Great, by the king of Egypt, greatly admired and valued for elegance and authenticity. All his successors were called Ptolemies from him. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 7.—Justin, bk. 13, &c.—Polybius, bk. 2.—Arrian.—Curtius.—Plutarch, Alexander.

Ptolemæus II., son of Ptolemy I., succeeded his father on the Egyptian throne, and was called Philadelphus by antiphrasis, because he killed two of his brothers. He showed himself worthy in every respect to succeed his great father, and, conscious of the advantages which arise from an alliance with powerful nations, he sent ambassadors to Italy to solicit the friendship of the Romans, whose name and military reputation had become universally known for the victories which they had just obtained over Pyrrhus and the Tarentines. His ambassadors were received with marks of the greatest attention, and immediately after four Roman senators came to Alexandria, where they gained the admiration of the monarch and of his subjects, and, by refusing the crowns of gold and the rich presents which were offered to them, convinced the world of the virtue and of the disinterestedness of their nation. But while Ptolemy strengthened himself by alliance with foreign powers, the internal peace of his kingdom was disturbed by the revolt of Magas his brother, king of Cyrene. The sedition, however, was stopped, though kindled by Antiochus king of Syria, and the death of the rebellious prince re-established peace for some time in the family of Philadelphus. Antiochus the Syrian king married Berenice the daughter of Ptolemy, and the father, though old and infirm, conducted his daughter to her husband’s kingdom, and assisted at the nuptials. Philadelphus died in the 64th year of his age, 246 years before the christian era. He left two sons and a daughter by Arsinoe the daughter of Lysimachus. He had afterwards married his sister Arsinoe, whom he loved with uncommon tenderness, and to whose memory he began to erect a celebrated monument. See: Dinocrates. During the whole of his reign, Philadelphus was employed in exciting industry, and in encouraging the liberal arts and useful knowledge among his subjects. The inhabitants of the adjacent countries were allured by promises and presents to increase the number of the Egyptian subjects, and Ptolemy could boast of reigning over 33,339 well-peopled cities. He gave every possible encouragement to commerce, and by keeping two powerful fleets, one in the Mediterranean, and the other in the Red sea, he made Egypt the mart of the world. His army consisted of 200,000 foot, 40,000 horse, besides 300 elephants and 2000 armed chariots. With justice, therefore, he has been called the richest of all the princes and monarchs of his age, and, indeed, the remark is not false when it is observed, that at his death he left in his treasury 750,000 Egyptian talents, a sum equivalent to two hundred millions sterling. His palace was the asylum of learned men, whom he admired and patronized. He paid particular attention to Euclid, Theocritus, Callimachus, and Lycophron, and by increasing the library which his father had founded, he showed his taste for learning, and his wish to encourage genius. This celebrated library at his death contained 200,000 volumes of the best and choicest books, and it was afterwards increased to 700,000 volumes. Part of it was burnt by the flames of Cæsar’s fleet when he set it on fire to save himself, a circumstance, however, not mentioned by the general, and the whole was again magnificently repaired by Cleopatra, who added to the Egyptian library that of the kings of Pergamus. It is said that the Old Testament was translated into Greek during his reign, a translation which has been called Septuagint, because translated by the labours of 70 different persons. Eutropius.—Justin, bk. 17, ch. 2, &c.—Livy.—Plutarch.—Theocritus.—Athenæus, bk. 12.—Pliny, bk. 13, ch. 12.—Dio Cassius, bk. 42.—Aulus Gellius, bk. 6, ch. 17.

Ptolemæus III., succeeded his father Philadelphus on the Egyptian throne. He early engaged in a war against Antiochus Theus, for his unkindness to Berenice, the Egyptian king’s sister, whom he had married with the consent of Philadelphus. With the most rapid success he conquered Syria and Cilicia, and advanced as far as the Tigris, but a sedition at home stopped his progress, and he returned to Egypt loaded with the spoils of conquered nations. Among the immense riches which he brought, he had above 2500 statues of the Egyptian gods, which Cambyses had carried away into Persia when he conquered Egypt. These were restored to the temples, and the Egyptians called their sovereign Evergetes, in acknowledgment of his attention, beneficence, and religious zeal for the gods of his country. The last years of Ptolemy’s reign were passed in peace, if we except the refusal of the Jews to pay the tribute of 20 silver talents which their ancestors had always paid to the Egyptian monarchs. He also interested himself in the affairs of Greece, and assisted Cleomenes the Spartan king against the leaders of the Achæan league; but he had the mortification to see his ally defeated, and even a fugitive in Egypt. Evergetes died 221 years before Christ, after a reign of 25 years, and, like his two illustrious predecessors, he was the patron of learning, and, indeed, he is the last of the Lagides who gained popularity among his subjects by clemency, moderation and humanity, and who commanded respect even from his enemies, by valour, prudence, and reputation. It is said that he deposited 15 talents in the hands of the Athenians to be permitted to translate the original manuscripts of Æschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. Plutarch, Cleomenes, &c.—Polybius, bk. 2.—Justin, bk. 29, &c.

Ptolemæus IV., succeeded his father Evergetes on the throne of Egypt, and received the surname of Philopater by antiphrasis, because, according to some historians, he destroyed his father by poison. He began his reign with acts of the greatest cruelty, and he successively sacrificed to his avarice his own mother, his wife, his sister, and his brother. He received the name of Tiphon from his extravagance and debauchery, and that of Gallus, because he appeared in the streets of Alexandria like one of the bacchanals, and with all the gestures of the priests of Cybele. In the midst of his pleasures, Philopater was called to war against Antiochus king of Syria, and at the head of a powerful army he soon invaded his enemies’ territories, and might have added the kingdom of Syria to Egypt, if he had made a prudent use of the victories which attended his arms. In his return he visited Jerusalem, but the Jews prevented him forcibly from entering their temple, for which insolence to his majesty the monarch determined to extirpate the whole nation. He ordered an immense number of Jews to be exposed in a plain, and trodden under the feet of elephants, but, by a supernatural instinct, the generous animals turned their fury not on those that had been devoted to death, but upon the Egyptian spectators. This circumstance terrified Philopater, and he behaved with more than common kindness to a nation which he had so lately devoted to destruction. In the latter part of his reign, the Romans, whom a dangerous war with Carthage had weakened, but at the same time roused to superior activity, renewed, for political reasons, the treaty of alliance which had been made with the Egyptian monarchs. Philopater at last, weakened and enervated by intemperance and continual debauchery, died in the 37th year of his age, after a reign of 17 years, 204 years before the christian era. His death was immediately followed by the murder of the companions of his voluptuousness and extravagance, and their carcases were dragged with the greatest ignominy through the streets of Alexandria. Polybius.—Justin, bk. 30, &c.—Plutarch, Cleomenes.

Ptolemæus V., succeeded his father Philopater as king of Egypt, though only in the fourth year of his age. During the years of his minority he was under the protection of Sosibius and of Aristomenes, by whose prudent administration Antiochus was dispossessed of the provinces of Cœlosyria and Palestine, which he had conquered by war. The Romans also renewed their alliance with him after their victories over Annibal, and the conclusion of the second Punic war. This flattering embassy induced Aristomenes to offer the care of the patronage of the young monarch to the Romans, but the regent was confirmed in his honourable office, and by making a treaty of alliance with the people of Achaia, he convinced the Egyptians that he was qualified to wield the sceptre and to govern the nation. But now that Ptolemy had reached his 14th year, according to the laws and customs of Egypt, the years of his minority had expired. He received the surname of Epiphanes, or Illustrious, and was crowned at Alexandria with the greatest solemnity, and the faithful Aristomenes resigned into his hands an empire which he had governed with honour to himself and with credit to his sovereign. Young Ptolemy was no sooner delivered from the shackles of a superior, than he betrayed the same vices which had characterized his father; the counsels of Aristomenes were despised, and the minister who for 10 years had governed the kingdom with equity and moderation, was sacrificed to the caprice of the sovereign, who abhorred him for the salutary advice which his own vicious inclinations did not permit him to follow. His cruelties raised seditions among his subjects, but these were twice quelled by the prudence and the moderation of one Polycrates, the most faithful of his corrupt ministers. In the midst of his extravagance, Epiphanes did not forget his alliance with the Romans; above all others he showed himself eager to cultivate friendship with a nation from whom he could derive so many advantages, and during their war against Antiochus he offered to assist them with money against a monarch whose daughter Cleopatra he had married, but whom he hated on account of the seditions he raised in the very heart of Egypt. After a reign of 24 years, 180 years before Christ, Ptolemy was poisoned by his ministers, whom he had threatened to rob of their possessions, to carry on a war against Seleucus king of Syria. Livy, bk. 35, ch. 13, &c.—Justin, &c.

Ptolemæus VI., succeeded his father Epiphanes on the Egyptian throne, and received the surname of Philometor, on account of his hatred against his mother Cleopatra. He was in the sixth year of his age when he ascended the throne, and during his minority the kingdom was governed by his mother, and at her death by a eunuch, who was one of his favourites. He made war against Antiochus Epiphanes king of Syria, to recover the provinces of Palestine and Cœlosyria, which were part of the Egyptian dominions, and after several successes he fell into the hands of his enemy, who detained him in confinement. During the captivity of Philometor, the Egyptians raised to the throne his younger brother Ptolemy Evergetes, or Physcon, also son of Epiphanes, but he was no sooner established in his power than Antiochus turned his arms against Egypt, drove the usurper ♦out, and restored Philometor to all his rights and privileges as king of Egypt. This artful behaviour of Antiochus was soon comprehended by Philometor, and when he saw that Pelusium, the key of Egypt, had remained in the hands of his Syrian ally, he recalled his brother Physcon, and made him partner on the throne, and concerted with him how to repel their common enemy. This union of interest in the two royal brothers incensed Antiochus; he entered Egypt with a large army, but the Romans checked his progress and obliged him to retire. No sooner were they delivered from the impending war, than Philometor and Physcon, whom the fear of danger had united, began with mutual jealousy to oppose each other’s views. Physcon was at last banished by the superior power of his brother, and as he could find no support in Egypt, he immediately repaired to Rome. To excite more effectually the compassion of the Romans, and to gain their assistance, he appeared in the meanest dress, and took his residence in the most obscure corner of the city. He received an audience from the senate, and the Romans settled the dispute between the two royal brothers, by making them independent of one another, and giving the government of Libya and Cyrene to Physcon, and confirming Philometor in the possession of Egypt, and the island of Cyprus. These terms of accommodation were gladly accepted, but Physcon soon claimed the dominion of Cyprus, and in this he was supported by the Romans, who wished to aggrandize themselves by the diminution of the Egyptian power. Philometor refused to deliver up the island of Cyprus, and to call away his brother’s attention, he fomented the seeds of rebellion in Cyrene. But the death of Philometor, 145 years before the christian era, left Physcon master of Egypt and all the dependent provinces. Philometor has been commended by some historians for his clemency and moderation. Diodorus.—Livy.—Polybius.

♦ omitted word ‘out’ inserted

Ptolemæus VII., surnamed Physcon, on account of the prominence of his belly, ascended the throne of Egypt after the death of his brother Philometer, and as he had reigned for some time conjointly with him [See: Ptolemæus VI.], his succession was approved, though the wife and the son of the deceased monarch laid claim to the crown. Cleopatra was supported in her claims by the Jews, and it was at last agreed that Physcon should marry the queen, and that her son should succeed on the throne at his death. The nuptials were accordingly celebrated, but on that very day the tyrant murdered Cleopatra’s son in her arms. He ordered himself to be called Evergetes, but the Alexandrians refused to do it, and stigmatized him with the appellation of Kakergetes, or evil-doer, a surname which he deserved by his tyranny and oppression. A series of barbarity rendered him odious, but as no one attempted to rid Egypt of her tyranny, the Alexandrians abandoned their habitations, and fled from a place which continually streamed with the blood of their massacred fellow-citizens. If their migration proved fatal to the commerce and prosperity of Alexandria, it was of the most essential service to the countries where they retired; and the numbers of Egyptians that sought a safer asylum in Greece and Asia, introduced among the inhabitants of those countries the different professions that were practised with success in the capital of Egypt. Physcon endeavoured to repeople the city which his cruelty had laid desolate; but the fear of sharing the fate of the former inhabitants, prevailed more than the promise of riches, rights, and immunities. The king at last, disgusted with Cleopatra, repudiated her, and married her daughter by Philometor, called also Cleopatra. He still continued to exercise the greatest cruelty upon his subjects, but the prudence and vigilance of his ministers kept the people in tranquillity, till all Egypt revolted when the king had basely murdered all the young men of Alexandria. Without friends or support in Egypt he fled to Cyprus, and Cleopatra the divorced queen ascended the throne. In his banishment Physcon dreaded lest the Alexandrians should also place the crown on the head of his son, by his sister Cleopatra, who was then governor of Cyrene, and under these apprehensions he sent for the young prince, called Memphitis, to Cyprus, and murdered him as soon as he reached the shore. To make the barbarity more complete he sent the limbs of Memphitis to Cleopatra, and they were received as the queen was going to celebrate her birthday. Soon after this he invaded Egypt with an army, and obtained a victory over the forces of Cleopatra, who, being left without friends or assistance, fled to her eldest daughter Cleopatra, who had married Demetrius king of Syria. This decisive blow restored Physcon to his throne, where he continued to reign for some time, hated by his subjects, and feared by his enemies. He died at Alexandria in the 67th year of his age, after a reign of 29 years, about 116 years before Christ. Some authors have extolled Physcon for his fondness for literature; they have observed, that from his extensive knowledge he was called the philologist, and that he wrote a comment upon Homer, besides a history in 24 books, admired for its elegance, and often quoted by succeeding authors whose pen was employed on the same subject. Diodorus.—Justin, bk. 38, &c.—Athenæus, bk. 2.—Porphyry.

Ptolemæus VIII., surnamed Lathyrus, from an excrescence like a pea on the nose, succeeded his father Physcon as king of Egypt. He had no sooner ascended the throne, than his mother Cleopatra, who reigned conjointly with him, expelled him to Cyprus, and placed the crown on the head of his brother Ptolemy Alexander, her favourite son. Lathyrus, banished from Egypt, became king of Cyprus; and soon after he appeared at the head of a large army, to make war against Alexander Jannæus king of Judæa, through whose assistance and intrigue he had been expelled by Cleopatra. The Jewish monarch was conquered, and 50,000 of his men were left on the field of battle. Lathyrus, after he had exercised the greatest cruelty upon the Jews, and made vain attempts to recover the kingdom of Egypt, retired to Cyprus till the death of his brother Alexander restored him to his native dominions. Some of the cities of Egypt refused to acknowledge him as their sovereign; and Thebes, for its obstinacy, was closely besieged for three successive years, and from a powerful and populous city, it was reduced to ruins. In the latter part of his reign Lathyrus was called upon to assist the Romans with a navy for the conquest of Athens; but Lucullus, who had been sent to obtain the wanted supply, though received with kingly honours, was dismissed with evasive and unsatisfactory answers, and the monarch refused to part with troops which he deemed necessary to preserve the peace of his kingdom. Lathyrus died 81 years before the christian era, after a reign of 36 years since the death of his father Physcon, 11 of which he had passed with his mother Cleopatra on the Egyptian throne, 18 in Cyprus, and seven after his mother’s death. He was succeeded by his only daughter Cleopatra, whom Alexander the son of Ptolemy Alexander, by means of the dictator Sylla, soon after married and murdered. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities.—Justin, bk. 39.—Plutarch, Lucullus.—Appian, Mithridatic Wars.

Ptolemæus IX. See: Alexander Ptolemy I.

Ptolemæus X. See: Alexander Ptolemy II.

Ptolemæus XI. See: Alexander Ptolemy III.

Ptolemæus XII., the illegitimate son of Lathyrus, ascended the throne of Egypt at the death of Alexander III. He received the surname of Auletes, because he played skilfully on the flute. His rise showed great marks of prudence and circumspection; and as his predecessor by his will had left the kingdom of Egypt to the Romans, Auletes knew that he could not be firmly established on his throne without the approbation of the Roman senate. He was successful in his applications, and Cæsar, who was then consul, and in want of money, established his succession, and granted him the alliance of the Romans, after he had received the enormous sum of about 1,162,500l. sterling. But these measures rendered him unpopular at home, and when he had suffered the Romans quietly to take possession of Cyprus, the Egyptians revolted, and Auletes was obliged to fly from his kingdom, and seek protection among the most powerful of his allies. His complaints were heard at Rome, at first with indifference, and the murder of 100 noblemen of Alexandria, whom the Egyptians had sent to justify their proceedings before the Roman senate, rendered him unpopular and suspected. Pompey, however, supported his cause, and the senators decreed to re-establish Auletes on his throne; but as they proceeded slowly in the execution of their plans, the monarch retired from Rome to Ephesus, where he lay concealed for some time in the temple of Diana. During his absence from Alexandria, his daughter Berenice had made herself absolute, and established herself on the throne by a marriage with Archelaus, a priest of Bellona’s temple at Comana; but she was soon driven from Egypt, when Gabinius, at the head of a Roman army, approached to replace Auletes on his throne. Auletes was no sooner restored to power, than he ♦sacrificed to his ambition his daughter Berenice, and behaved with the greatest ingratitude and perfidy to Rabirius, a Roman who had supplied him with money when expelled from his kingdom. Auletes died four years after his restoration, about 51 years before the christian era. He left two sons and two daughters; and by his will ordered the eldest of his sons to marry the eldest of his sisters, and to ascend with her the vacant throne. As these children were young, the dying monarch recommended them to the protection and paternal care of the Romans, and accordingly Pompey the Great was appointed by the senate to be their patron and their guardian. Their reign was as turbulent as that of their predecessors, and it is remarkable for no uncommon events, only we may observe that the young queen was the Cleopatra who soon after became so celebrated as being the mistress of Julius Cæsar, the wife of Marcus Antony, and the last of the Egyptian monarchs of the family of Lagus. Cicero, For Rabirius.—Strabo, bk. 17.—Dio Cassius, bk. 39.—Appian, Civil Wars.

♦ ‘sacrified’ replaced with ‘sacrificed’

Ptolemæus XIII., surnamed Dionysius or Bacchus, ascended the throne of Egypt conjointly with his sister Cleopatra, whom he had married, according to the directions of his father Auletes. He was under the care and protection of Pompey the Great [See: Ptolemæus XII.], but the wickedness and avarice of his ministers soon obliged him to reign independent. He was then in the 13th year of his age, when his guardian, after the fatal battle of Pharsalia, came to the shores of Egypt, and claimed his protection. He refused to grant the required assistance, and by the advice of his ministers he basely murdered Pompey, after he had brought him to shore under the mask of friendship and cordiality. To curry the favour of the conqueror of Pharsalia, Ptolemy cut off the head of Pompey; but Cæsar turned with indignation from such perfidy, and when he arrived at Alexandria, he found the king of Egypt as faithless to his cause as to that of his fallen enemy. Cæsar sat as judge to hear the various claims of the brother and sister to the throne; and to satisfy the people, he ordered the will of Auletes to be read, and confirmed Ptolemy and Cleopatra in the possession of Egypt, and appointed the two younger children masters of the island of Cyprus. This fair and candid decision might have left no room for dissatisfaction, but Ptolemy was governed by cruel and avaricious ministers, and therefore he refused to acknowledge Cæsar as a judge or a mediator. The Roman enforced his authority by arms, and three victories were obtained over the Egyptian forces. Ptolemy, who had been for some time a prisoner in the hands of Cæsar, now headed his armies; but a defeat was fatal, and as he attempted to save his life by flight, he was drowned in the Nile, about 46 years before Christ, and three years and eight months after the death of Auletes. Cleopatra, at the death of her brother, became sole mistress of Egypt; but as the Egyptians were no friends to female government, Cæsar obliged her to marry her younger brother Ptolemy, who was then in the 11th year of his age. Appian, Civil Wars.—Cæsar, Alexandrine War.—Strabo, bk. 17.—Josephus, Antiquities.—Dio Cassius.—Plutarch, Antonius, &c.—Suetonius Cæsar.

Ptolemæus Apion, king of Cyrene, was the illegitimate son of Ptolemy Physcon. After a reign of 20 years he died; and as he had no children, he made the Romans heirs of his dominions. The Romans presented his subjects with their independence. Livy, bk. 70.——Ceraunus, a son of Ptolemy Soter by Eurydice the daughter of Antipater. Unable to succeed to the throne of Egypt, Ceraunus fled to the court of Seleucus, where he was received with friendly marks of attention. Seleucus was then king of Macedonia, an empire which he had lately acquired by the death of Lysimachus in a battle in Phrygia; but his reign was short, and Ceraunus perfidiously murdered him and ascended his throne, 280 B.C. The murderer, however, could not be firmly established in Macedonia, as long as Arsinoe the widow and the children of Lysimachus were alive, and entitled to claim his kingdom as the lawful possession of their father. To remove these obstacles, Ceraunus made offers of marriage to Arsinoe, who was his own sister. The queen at first refused, but the protestations and solemn promises of the usurper at last prevailed upon her to consent. The nuptials, however, were no sooner celebrated, than Ceraunus murdered the two young princes, and confirmed his usurpation by rapine and cruelty. But now three powerful princes claimed the kingdom of Macedonia as their own: Antiochus the son of Seleucus; Antigonus the son of Demetrius; and Pyrrhus the king of Epirus. These enemies, however, were soon removed; Ceraunus conquered Antigonus in the field of battle, and stopped the hostilities of his two other rivals by promises and money. He did not long remain inactive; a barbarian army of Gauls claimed a tribute from him, and the monarch immediately marched to meet them in the field. The battle was long and bloody. The Macedonians might have obtained the victory, if Ceraunus had shown more prudence. He was thrown down from his elephant, and taken prisoner by the enemy, who immediately tore his body to pieces. Ptolemy had been king of Macedonia only 18 months. Justin, bk. 24, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 10.——An illegitimate son of Ptolemy Lathyrus king of Cyprus, of which he was tyrannically dispossessed by the Romans. Cato was at the head of the forces which were sent against Ptolemy by the senate, and the Roman general proposed to the monarch to retire from the throne, and to pass the rest of his days in the obscure office of high priest in the temple of Venus at Paphos. This offer was rejected with the indignation which it merited, and the monarch poisoned himself at the approach of the enemy. The treasures found in the island amounted to the enormous sum of 1,356,250l. sterling, which were carried to Rome by the conquerors. Plutarch, Cato.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 9.—Florus, bk. 3.——A man who attempted to make himself king of Macedonia, in opposition to Perdiccas. He was expelled by Pelopidas.——A son of Pyrrhus king of Epirus, by Antigone the daughter of Berenice. He was left governor of Epirus, when Pyrrhus went to Italy to assist the Tarentines against the Romans, where he presided with great prudence and moderation. He was killed, bravely fighting in the expedition which Pyrrhus undertook against Sparta and Argos.——A eunuch, by whose friendly assistance Mithridates the Great saved his life after a battle with Lucullus.——A king of Epirus, who died very young as he was marching an army against the Ætolians, who had seized part of his dominions. Justin, bk. 28.——A king of Chalcidica in Syria, about 30 years before Christ. He opposed Pompey when he invaded Syria, but he was defeated in the attempt, and the conqueror spared his life only upon receiving 1000 talents. Josephus, Antiquities, bk. 13.——A nephew of Antigonus, who commanded an army in the Peloponnesus. He revolted from his uncle to Cassander, and some time after he attempted to bribe the soldiers of Ptolemy Lagus king of Egypt, who had invited him to his camp. He was seized and imprisoned for his treachery, and the Egyptian monarch at last ordered him to drink hemlock.——A son of Seleucus, killed in the celebrated battle which was fought at Issus, between Darius and Alexander the Great.——A son of Juba, made king of Mauritania. He was son of Cleopatra Selene the daughter of Marcus Antony, and the celebrated Cleopatra. He was put to death by Caius Caligula. Dio Cassius.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 11.——A friend of Otho.——A favourite of Antiochus king of Syria. He was surnamed Macron.——A Jew, famous for his cruelty and avarice. He was for some time governor of Jericho, about 135 years before Christ.——A powerful Jew during the troubles which disturbed the peace of Judæa, in the reign of Augustus.——A son of Antony by Cleopatra, surnamed Philadelphus by his father, and made master of Phœnicia, Syria, and all the territories of Asia Minor, which were situated between the Ægean and the Euphrates. Plutarch, Antonius.——A general of Herod king of Judæa.——A son of Chrysermus, who visited Cleomenes king of Sparta, when imprisoned in Egypt.——A governor of Alexandria, put to death by Cleomenes.——Claudius, a celebrated geographer and astrologer in the reign of Adrian and Antoninus. He was a native of Alexandria, or, according to others, of Pelusium, and on account of his great learning, he received the name of most wise, and most divine, among the Greeks. In his system of the world, he places the earth in the centre of the universe, a doctrine universally believed and adopted till the 16th century, when it was confuted and rejected by Copernicus. His geography is valued for its learning, and the very useful information which he gives. Besides his system and his geography Ptolemy wrote other books, in one of which he gives an account of the fixed stars, of 1022 of which he mentions the certain and definite longitude and latitude. The best edition of Ptolemy’s geography is that of Bertius, folio, Amsterdam, 1618, and that of his treatise de Judiciis Astrologicis by Camerarii, 4to, 1555; and of the Harmonica, 4to, Wallis, Oxford, 1683.