Pleiades, The (Plei′ades). Seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Their names were Electra, Alcyone, Celaeno, Maia, Sterope, Taygete, and Merope. They were made a constellation, but as there are only six stars to be seen, the ancients believed that one of the sisters, Merope, married a mortal, and was ashamed to show herself among her sisters, who had all been married to gods.
“... The gray
Dawn and the Pleiades before him danced.
Shedding sweet influence.”
Milton.
Pluto (Plu′to). King of the infernal regions. He was a son of Saturn and Ops, and husband of Proserpine, daughter of Ceres. He is sometimes referred to under the name Dis, and he personifies hell. His principal attendant was the three-headed dog Cerberus, and about his throne were the Eumenides, the Harpies, and the Furies.
“With equal foot, rich friend, impartial fate
Knocks at the cottage and the palace gate.
. . . . .
Night soon will seize, and you must go below,
To story’d ghosts and Pluto’s house below.”
Creech.
Plutus (Plu′tus), the god of riches, was son of Jasion or Iasius and Ceres (Demeter), the goddess of corn. He is described as being blind and lame; blind because he so often injudiciously bestows his riches, and lame because fortunes come so slowly.
Pluvius (Plu′vius). A name of Jupiter, because he had the rain in his control.
Podalirius (Podalir′ius). A famous surgeon, a son of Aesculapius and Epione. His skill in medicine made him very serviceable among the soldiers in the Trojan war.
Poet, see Parnassus.
Poetry, see Apollo, Calliope, The Muses.
Poisonous Herbs, see Circe.