Politorium, a city of the Latins destroyed by the Romans, before Christ 639. Livy, bk. 1, ch. 33.
Pollinea, a prostitute, &c. Juvenal, satire 2, li. 68.
Polla Argentaria, the wife of the poet Lucan. She assisted her husband in correcting the three first books of his Pharsalia. Statius, Sylvæ, bks. 1 & 2.
Pollentia, now Polenza, a town of Liguria in Italy, famous for wool. There was a celebrated battle fought there between the Romans and Alaric king of the Huns, about the 403rd year of the christian era, in which the former, according to some, obtained the victory. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 48.—Suetonius, Tiberius, ch. 37.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 598.—Cicero, bk. 11, Letters to his Friends, ltr. 13.——A town of Majorca. Pliny & Mela.——Of Picenum. Livy, bk. 39, ch. 44; bk. 41, ch. 27.
Polles, a Greek poet whose writings were so obscure and unintelligible that his name became proverbial. Suidas.
Pollio Caius Asinius, a Roman consul under the reign of Augustus, who distinguished himself as much by his eloquence and writings as by his exploits in the field. He defeated the Dalmatians, and favoured the cause of Antony against Augustus. He patronized, with great liberality, the poets Virgil and Horace, who have immortalized him in their writings. He was the first who raised a public library at Rome, and indeed his example was afterwards followed by many of the emperors. In his library were placed the statues of all the learned men of every age, and Varro was the only person who was honoured there during his lifetime. He was with Julius Cæsar when he crossed the Rubicon. He was greatly esteemed by Augustus, when he had become one of his adherents, after the ruin of Antony. Pollio wrote some tragedies, orations, and a history, which was divided into 17 books. All those compositions are lost, and nothing remains of his writings except a few letters to Cicero. He died in the 80th year of his age, A.D. 4. He is the person in whose honour Virgil has inscribed his fourth eclogue, Pollio, as a reconciliation was effected between Augustus and Antony during his consulship. The poet, it is supposed by some, makes mention of a son of the consul born about this time, and is lavish in his excursions into futurity, and his predictions of approaching prosperity. Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 86.—Horace, bk. 2, ode 1; satire 10, bk. 1.—Virgil, Eclogues, poems 3 & 4.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 13.—Quintilian, bk. 10.——Annius, a man accused of sedition before Tiberius, and acquitted. He afterwards conspired against Nero, &c. Tacitus, [♦]Annals, bk. 6, ch. 9; bk. 15, ch. 56.——Vedius, one of the friends of Augustus, who used to feed his fishes with human flesh. This cruelty was discovered when one of his servants broke a glass in the presence of Augustus, who had been invited to a feast. The master ordered the servant to be seized; but he threw himself at the feet of the emperor, and begged him to interfere, and not to suffer him to be devoured by fishes. Upon this the causes of his apprehension were examined, and Augustus, astonished at the barbarity of his favourite, caused his servant to be dismissed, all the fish-ponds to be filled up, and the crystal glasses of Pollio to be broken to pieces.——A man who poisoned Britannicus, at the instigation of Nero.——An historian in the age of Constantine the Great.——A sophist in the age of Pompey the Great.——A friend of the emperor Vespasian.
[♦] Book title omitted in text
Pollis, a commander of the Lacedæmonian fleet defeated at Naxos, B.C. 377. Diodorus.
Pollius Felix, a friend of the poet Statius, to whom he dedicated his second Sylva.
Pollupex, now Final, a town of Genoa.