Pleiōne, one of the Oceanides, who married Atlas king of Mauritania, by whom she had 12 daughters, and a son called Hyas. Seven of the daughters were changed into a constellation called Pleiades, and the rest into another called Hyades. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 5, li. 84.
Plemmy̆rium, now Massa Oliveri, a promontory with a small castle of that name, in the bay of Syracuse. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 693.
Plemneus, a king of Sicyon, son of Peratus. His children always died as soon as born, till Ceres, pitying his misfortune, offered herself as a nurse to his wife as she was going to be brought to bed. The child lived by the care and protection of the goddess, and Plemneus was no sooner acquainted with the dignity of his nurse, than he raised her a temple. Pausanias, bk. 2, chs. 5 & 11.
Pleumosii, a people of Belgium, the inhabitants of modern Tournay. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 5, ch. 38.
Pleurātus, a king of Illyricum. Livy, bk. 26, ch. 24.
Pleuron, a son of Ætolus, who married Xantippe the daughter of Dorus, by whom he had Agenor. He founded a city in Ætolia on the Evenus, which bore his name. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 7.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 2.—Silius Italicus, bk. 15, li. 310.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 13.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 7, li. 382.
Plexaure, one of the Oceanides. Hesiod.
Plexippus, a son of Thestius, brother to Althæa the wife of Œneus. He was killed by his nephew Meleager, in hunting the Calydonian boar. His brother Toxeus shared his fate. See: [Althæa] and Meleager.——A son of Phineus and Cleopatra, brother to Pandion king of Athens. Apollodorus.
Caius Plinius Secundus, surnamed the Elder, was born at Verona, of a noble family. He distinguished himself in the field, and, after he had been made one of the augurs at Rome, he was appointed governor of Spain. In his public character he did not neglect the pleasures of literature; the day was employed in the administration of the affairs of his province, and the night was dedicated to study. Every moment of time was precious to him; at his meals one of his servants read to him books valuable for their information, and from them he immediately made copious extracts, in a memorandum book. Even while he dressed himself after bathing, his attention was called away from surrounding objects, and he was either employed in listening to another, or in dictating himself. To a mind so earnestly dedicated to learning, nothing appeared too laborious, no undertaking too troublesome. He deemed every moment lost which was not devoted to study, and from these reasons he never appeared at Rome but in a chariot, and wherever he went, he was always accompanied by his amanuensis. He even censured his nephew, Pliny the younger, because he had indulged himself with a walk, and sternly observed, that he might have employed those moments to better advantage. But if his literary pursuits made him forget the public affairs, his prudence, his abilities, and the purity and innocence of his character, made him known and respected. He was courted and admired by the emperors Titus and Vespasian, and he received from them all the favours which a virtuous prince could offer, and an honest subject receive. As he was at Misenum, where he commanded the fleet, which was then stationed there, Pliny was surprised at the sudden appearance of a cloud of dust and ashes. He was then ignorant of the cause which produced it, and he immediately set sail in a small vessel for mount Vesuvius, which he at last discovered to have made a dreadful eruption. The sight of a number of boats that fled from the coast to avoid the danger, might have deterred another, but the curiosity of Pliny excited him to advance with more boldness, and though his vessel was often covered with stones and ashes, that were continually thrown up by the mountain, yet he landed on the coast. The place was deserted by the inhabitants, but Pliny remained there during the night, the better to observe the mountain, which, during the obscurity, appeared to be one continual blaze. He was soon disturbed by a dreadful earthquake, and the contrary wind on the morrow prevented him from returning to Misenum. The eruption of the volcano increased, and at last the fire approached the place where the philosopher made his observations. Pliny endeavoured to fly before it, but though he was supported by two of his servants, he was unable to escape. He soon fell down, suffocated by the thick vapours that surrounded him, and the insupportable stench of sulphureous matter. His body was found three days after, and decently buried by his nephew, who was then at Misenum with the fleet. This memorable event happened in the 79th year of the christian era, and the philosopher who perished by the eruptions of the volcano, has been called by some the martyr of nature. He was then in the 56th year of his age. Of the works which he composed, none are extant but his natural history in 37 books. It is a work, as Pliny the younger says, full of erudition, and as varied as nature itself. It treats of the stars, the heavens, wind, rain, hail, minerals, trees, flowers, and plants, besides an account of all living animals, birds, fishes, and beasts; a geographical description of every place on the globe, and a history of every art and science, of commerce and navigation, with their rise, progress, and several improvements. He is happy in his descriptions as a naturalist; he writes with force and energy, and though many of his ideas and conjectures are sometimes ill-founded, yet he possesses that fecundity of imagination, and vivacity of expression, which are requisite to treat a subject with propriety, and to render a history of nature pleasing, interesting, and, above all, instructive. His style possesses not the graces of the Augustan age; he has neither its purity and elegance, nor its simplicity, but it is rather cramped, obscure, and sometimes unintelligible. Yet for all this it has ever been admired and esteemed, and it may be called a compilation of everything which had been written before his age on the various subjects which he treats, and a judicious collection from the most excellent treatises which had been composed on the various productions of nature. Pliny was not ashamed to mention the authors which he quoted; he speaks of them with admiration, and while he pays the greatest compliment to their abilities, his encomiums show, in the strongest light, the goodness, the sensibility, and the ingenuousness of his own mind. He had written 160 volumes of remarks and annotations on the various authors which he had read, and so great was the opinion in his contemporaries of his erudition and abilities, that a man called Lartius Lutinius offered to buy his notes and observations for the enormous sum of about 3242l. English money. The philosopher, who was himself rich and independent, rejected the offer, and his compilations, after his death, came into the hands of his nephew Pliny. The best editions of Pliny are that of Harduin, 3 vols., folio, Paris, 1723; that of Frantzius, 10 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb, 1728; that of Brotier, 6 vols., 12mo, Paris, 1779; and the Variorum 8vo, in 8 vols., Lipscomb, 1778 to 1789. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 1, ch. 69; bk. 13, ch. 20; bk. 15, ch. 53.—Pliny, Epistulæ, &c.——Caius Cæcilius Secundus, surnamed the Younger, was son of Lucius Cæcilius by the sister of Pliny the elder. He was adopted by his uncle, whose name he assumed, and whose estates and effects he inherited. He received the greatest part of his education under Quintilian, and at the age of 19 he appeared at the bar, where he distinguished himself so much by his eloquence, that he and Tacitus were reckoned the two greatest orators of their age. He did not make his profession an object of gain like the rest of the Roman orators, but he refused fees from the rich as well as from the poorest of his clients, and declared that he cheerfully employed himself for the protection of innocence, the relief of the indigent, and the detection of vice. He published many of his harangues and orations, which have been lost. When Trajan was invested with the imperial purple, Pliny was created consul by the emperor. This honour the consul acknowledged in a celebrated panegyric, which, at the request of the Roman senate, and in the name of the whole empire, he pronounced on Trajan. Some time after he presided over Pontus and Bithynia, in the office and with the power of proconsul, and by his humanity and philanthropy the subject was freed from the burden of partial taxes, and the persecution which had been begun against the christians of his province was stopped, when Pliny solemnly declared to the emperor that the followers of Christ were a meek and inoffensive sect of men, that their morals were pure and innocent, that they were free from all crimes, and that they voluntarily bound themselves by the most solemn oaths to abstain from vice, and to relinquish every sinful pursuit. If he rendered himself popular in his province, he was not less respected at Rome. He was there the friend of the poor, the patron of learning, great without arrogance, affable in his behaviour, and an example of good breeding, sobriety, temperance, and modesty. As a father and a husband his character was amiable; as a subject he was faithful to his prince; and as a magistrate he was candid, open, and compassionate. His native country shared, among the rest, his unbounded benevolence; and Comum, a small town of Insubria, which gave him birth, boasted of his liberality in the valuable and choice library of books which he collected there. He also contributed towards the expenses which attended the education of his countrymen, and liberally spent part of his estate for the advancement of literature, and for the instruction of those whom poverty otherwise deprived of the advantages of a public education. He made his preceptor Quintilian and the poet Martial objects of his benevolence, and when the daughter of the former was married, Pliny wrote to the father with the greatest civility; and while he observed that he was rich in the possession of learning, though poor in the goods of fortune, he begged of him to accept, as a dowry for his beloved daughter, 50,000 sesterces, about 300l. “I would not,” continued he, “be so moderate, were I not assured, from your modesty and disinterestedness, that the smallness of the present will render it acceptable.” He died in the 52nd year of his age, A.D. 113. He had written a history of his own times, which is lost. It is said that Tacitus did not begin his history till he had found it impossible to persuade Pliny to undertake that laborious task; and, indeed, what could not have been expected from the panegyrist of Trajan, if Tacitus acknowledged himself inferior to him in delineating the character of the times? Some suppose, but falsely, that Pliny wrote the lives of illustrious men, universally ascribed to Cornelius Nepos. He also wrote poetry, but his verses have all perished, and nothing of his learned work remains, but his panegyric on the emperor Trajan, and 10 books of letters, which he himself collected and prepared for the public, from a numerous and respectable correspondence. These letters contain many curious and interesting facts; they abound with many anecdotes of the generosity and the humane sentiments of the writer. They are written with elegance and great purity, and the reader everywhere discovers that affability, that condescension and philanthropy, which so egregiously marked the advocate of the christians. These letters are esteemed by some equal to the voluminous epistles of Cicero. In his panegyric, Pliny’s style is florid and brilliant; he has used, to the greatest advantage, the liberties of the panegyrist, and the eloquence of the courtier. His ideas are new and refined, but his diction is distinguished by that affectation and pomposity which marked the reign of Trajan. The best editions of Pliny are those of Gesner, 8vo, Lipscomb, 1770, and of Lallemand, 12mo, Paris apud Barbou; and of the panegyric separate, that of Schwartz, 4to, 1746, and of the epistles, the Variorum, Leiden, 1669, 8vo. Pliny, Epistulæ.—Vossius.—Sidonius.
Plinthīne, a town of Egypt on the Mediterranean.