Pătăra (orum), now Patera, a town of Lycia, situate on the eastern side of the mouth of the river Xanthus, with a capacious harbour, a temple, and an oracle of Apollo, surnamed Patareus, where was preserved and shown, in the age of Pausanias, a brazen cap, which had been made by the hands of Vulcan, and presented by the god to Telephus. The god was supposed by some to reside for the six winter months at Patara, and the rest of the year at Delphi. The city was greatly embellished by Ptolemy Philadelphus, who attempted in vain to change its original name into that of his wife Arsinoe. Livy, bk. 37, ch. 15.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 41.—Horace, bk. 3, ode 14, li. 64.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 516.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 15.
Pătăvium, a city of Italy, at the north of the Po, on the shores of the Adriatic, now called Padua, and once said to be capable of sending 20,000 men into the field. See: [Padua]. It is the birthplace of Livy, from which reason some writers have denominated Patavinity those peculiar expressions and provincial dialect, which they seem to discover in the historian’s style, not strictly agreeable to the purity and refined language of the Roman authors who flourished in or near the Augustan age. Martial, bk. 11, ltr. 17, li. 8.—Quintilian, bk. 1, chs. 5, 56; bk. 8, ch. 13.—Livy, bk. 10, ch. 2; bk. 41, ch. 27.—Strabo, bk. 5.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.
Patercŭlus, a Roman, whose daughter Sulpicia was pronounced the chastest matron at Rome. Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 35.——Velleius, an historian. See: [Velleius].
Patizithes, one of the Persian Magi, who raised his brother to the throne because he resembled Smerdis the brother of Cambyses, &c. Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 61.
Patmos, one of the Cyclades, with a small town of the same name, situate at the south of Icaria, and measuring 30 miles in circumference, according to Pliny, or only 18, according to modern travellers. It has a large harbour, near which are some broken columns, the most ancient in that part of Greece. The Romans generally banished their culprits there. It is now called Palmosa. Strabo.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.
Patræ, an ancient town at the north-west of Peloponnesus, anciently called Aroe. Diana had there a temple, and a famous statue of gold and ivory. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 6.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, li. 417.—Livy, bk. 27, ch. 29.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.
Patro, a daughter of Thestius. Apollodorus.——An epicurean philosopher intimate with Cicero. Cicero, Letters to his Friends, bk. 13, ch. 1.
Pātrōcles, an officer of the fleet of Seleucus and Antiochus. He discovered several countries, and it is said that he wrote a history of the world. Strabo.—Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 17.
Patrocli, a small island on the coast of Attica. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 5.
Pātrōclus, one of the Grecian chiefs during the Trojan war, son of Menœtius by Sthenele, whom some call Philomela, or Polymela. The accidental murder of Clysonymus the son of Amphidamus, in the time of his youth, obliged him to fly from Opus, where his father reigned. He retired to the court of Peleus king of Phthia, where he was kindly received, and where he contracted the most intimate friendship with Achilles the monarch’s son. When the Greeks went to the Trojan war, Patroclus also accompanied them at the express command of his father, who had visited the court of Peleus, and he embarked with 10 ships from Phthia. He was the constant companion of Achilles, and he lodged in the same tent; and when his friend refused to appear in the field of battle, because he had been offended by Agamemnon, Patroclus imitated his example, and by his absence was the cause of the overthrow of the Greeks. But at last Nestor prevailed upon him to return to the war, and Achilles permitted him to appear in his armour. The valour of Patroclus, together with the terror which the sight of the arms of Achilles inspired, soon routed the victorious armies of the Trojans, and obliged them to fly within their walls for safety. He would have broken down the walls of the city; but Apollo, who interested himself for the Trojans, placed himself to oppose him, and Hector, at the instigation of the god, dismounted from his chariot to attack him, as he attempted to strip one of the Trojans whom he had slain. The engagement was obstinate, but at last Patroclus was overpowered by the valour of Hector, and the interposition of Apollo. His arms became the property of the conqueror, and Hector would have severed his head from his body had not Ajax and Menelaus intervened. His body was at last recovered and carried to the Grecian camp, where Achilles received it with the bitterest lamentations. His funeral was observed with the greatest solemnity. Achilles sacrificed near the burning pile 12 young Trojans, besides four of his horses, and two of his dogs, and the whole was concluded by the exhibition of funeral games, in which the conquerors were liberally rewarded by Achilles. The death of Patroclus, as it is described by Homer, gave rise to new events; Achilles forgot his resentment against Agamemnon, and entered the field to avenge the fall of his friend, and his anger was gratified only by the slaughter of Hector, who had more powerfully kindled his wrath by appearing at the head of the Trojan armies in the armour which had been taken from the body of Patroclus. The patronymic of Actorides is often applied to Patroclus, because Actor was father to Menœtius. Dictys Cretensis, bk. 1, &c.—Homer, bk. 9, Iliad, &c.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 13.—Hyginus, fables 97 & 275.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, li. 273.——A son of Hercules. Apollodorus.——An officer of Ptolemy Philadelphus.