Padinum, now Bondeno, a town on the Po, where it begins to branch into different channels. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 15.
Pădua, a town called also Patavium, in the country of the Venetians, founded by Antenor immediately after the Trojan war. It was the native place of the historian Livy. The inhabitants were once so powerful, that they could levy an army of 20,000 men. Strabo, bk. 5.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 1, li. 251.
Padus (now called the Po), a river in Italy, known also by the name of Eridanus, which forms the northern boundary of the territories of Italy. It rises in mount Vesulus, one of the highest mountains of the Alps, and after it has collected in its course the waters of above 30 rivers, discharges itself in an eastern direction into the Adriatic sea by seven mouths, two of which only, the Plana or Volano, and the Padusa, were formed by nature. It was formerly said that it rolled gold dust in its sand, which was carefully searched by the inhabitants. The consuls Caius Flaminius Nepos and Publius Furius Philus were the first Roman generals who crossed it. The Po is famous for the death of Phaeton, who, as the poets mention, was thrown down there by the thunderbolts of Jupiter. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 258, &c.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Lucan, bk. 2, &c.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 680.—Strabo, bk. 5.—Pliny, bk. 37, ch. 2.
Padūsa, the most southern mouth of the Po, considered by some writers as the Po itself. See: [Padus]. It was said to abound in swans, and from it there was a cut to the town of Ravenna. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 455.
Pæan, a surname of Apollo, derived from the word pæan, a hymn which was sung in his honour, because he had killed the serpent Python, which had given cause to the people to exclaim Io Pæan! The exclamation of Io Pæan! was made use of in speaking to the other gods, as it often was a demonstration of joy. Juvenal, satire 6, li. 171.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 358; bk. 14, li. 720.—Lucan, bk. 1, &c.—Strabo, bk. 18.
Pædaretus, a Spartan who, on not being elected in the number of the 300 sent on an expedition, &c., declared that, instead of being mortified, he rejoiced that 300 men better than himself could be found in Sparta. Plutarch, Lycurgus.
Pædius, a lieutenant of Julius Cæsar in Spain, who proposed a law to punish with death all such as were concerned in the murder of his patron, &c.
Pæmāni, a people of Belgic Gaul, supposed to have dwelt in the country at the west of Luxemburg. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 2, ch. 4.
Pæon, a Greek historian. Plutarch, Theseus.——A celebrated physician who cured the wounds which the gods received during the Trojan war. From him, physicians are sometimes called Pæonii, and herbs serviceable in medicinal processes, Pæoniæ herbæ. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 769.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 15, li. 535.
Pæŏnes, a people of Macedonia, who inhabited a small part of the country called Pæonia. Some believe that they were descended from a Trojan colony. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 1.—Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 13, &c.