Posidonius, a philosopher of Apamea. He lived at Rhodes for some time, and afterwards came to Rome, where, after cultivating the friendship of Pompey and Cicero, he died in his 84th year. He wrote a treatise on the nature of the gods, and also attempted to measure the circumference of the earth; he accounted for the tides from the motion of the moon, and calculated the height of the atmosphere to be 400 stadia, nearly agreeing with the ideas of the moderns. Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 5, ch. 37.—Strabo, bk. 14.——Another philosopher, born at Alexandria in Egypt.
Posio, a native of Magnesia, who wrote a history of the Amazons.
Posthumia, a vestal virgin, accused of adultery and acquitted.——The wife of Servius Sulpicius. Cicero, Epistles.——A daughter of Sylla.
Posthumius Albīnus, a man who suffered himself to be bribed by Jugurtha, against whom he had been sent with an army.——A writer at Rome whom Cato ridiculed for composing a history in Greek, and afterwards offering apologies for the inaccuracy and inelegance of his expressions.——Tubero, a master of horse to the dictator Æmilius Mamercus. He was himself made dictator in the war which the Romans waged against the Volsci, and he punished his son with death for fighting against his orders, A.U.C. 312. Livy, bk. 4, ch. 23.——Spurius, a consul sent against the Samnites. He was taken in an ambush by Pontius, the enemy’s general, and obliged to pass under the yoke with all his army. He saved his life by a shameful treaty, and when he returned to Rome he persuaded the Romans not to reckon as valid the engagements he had made with the enemy, as it was without their advice. He was given up to the enemy because he could not perform his engagements; but he was released by Pontius for his generous and patriotic behaviour.——Aulus, a dictator who defeated the Latins and the Volsci.——Tubertus, another dictator, who defeated the Æqui and Volsci.——Lucius, a consul sent against the Samnites.——A general who defeated the Sabines, and who was the first who obtained an ovation.——A man poisoned by his wife.——A general who conquered the Æqui, and who was stoned by the army, because he refused to divide the promised spoils. Florus, bk. 22.——Lucius, a Roman consul who was defeated by the Boii. He was left among the slain, and his head was cut off from his body, and carried in triumph by the barbarians into their temples, where they made with the skull a sacred vessel to offer libations to their gods.——Marcus Crassus Latianus, an officer proclaimed emperor in Gaul, A.D. 260. He reigned with great popularity, and gained the affection of his subjects by his humanity and moderation. He took his son of the same name as a colleague on the throne. They were both assassinated by their soldiers, after a reign of six years.——Megilthus, a consul against the Samnites and Tarentines.——Quintus, a man put to death by Antony.——A soothsayer in the age of Sylla.——Spurius, an enemy of Tiberius Gracchus.——Albus, a Roman decemvir, sent to Athens to collect the most salutary laws of Solon, &c. Livy, bk. 3, ch. 31.——Sylvius, a son of Æneas and Sylvia.
Postverta, a goddess at Rome, who presided over the painful travails of women. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 1, li. 633.
Postumia via, a Roman road about the town of Hostilia.
Postumius. See: [Posthumius].
Potamĭdes, nymphs who presided over rivers and fountains, as their name (ποταμος, fluvius) implies.
Potamon, a philosopher of Alexandria, in the age of Augustus. He wrote several treatises, and confined himself to the doctrines of no particular sect of philosophers.
Potamos, a town of Attica, near Sunium. Strabo, bk. 9.