PAEDŎNŎMUS (παιδονόμος), a magistrate at Sparta, who had the general superintendence of the education of the boys.
PAENŬLA, a thick cloak, chiefly used by the Romans in travelling, instead of the toga, as a protection against the cold and rain. It appears to have had no sleeves, and only an opening for the head, as shown in the following figure.
Paenula, travelling cloak. (From Bartholini.)
PĀGĀNĀLĬA. [[Pagi].]
PĀGĀNI. [[Pagi].]
PĀGI were fortified places in the neighbourhood of Rome, to which the country-people might retreat in case of a hostile inroad. Each of the country tribes is said to have been divided by Numa into a certain number of pagi; which name was given to the country adjoining the fortified village, as well as to the village itself. There was a magistrate at the head of each pagus, who kept a register of the names and of the property of all persons in the pagus, raised the taxes, and summoned the people, when necessary, to war. Each pagus had its own sacred rites, and an annual festival called Paganalia. The pagani, or inhabitants of the pagi, had their regular meetings, at which they passed resolutions. The division of the country-people into pagi continued to the latest times of the Roman empire. The term Pagani is often used in opposition to milites, and is applied to all who were not soldiers, even though they did not live in the country. The Christian writers gave the name of pagani to those persons who adhered to the old Roman religion, because the latter continued to be generally believed by the country-people, after Christianity became the prevailing religion of the inhabitants of the towns.
PĂLAESTRA (παλαίστρα), properly means a place for wrestling (παλαίειν, πάλη), and appears to have originally formed a part of the gymnasium. At Athens, however, there was a considerable number of palaestrae, quite distinct from the gymnasia. It appears most probable that the palaestrae were chiefly appropriated to the exercises of wrestling and of the pancratium, and were principally intended for the athletae, who, it must be recollected, were persons that contended in the public games, and therefore needed special training. The Romans had originally no places corresponding to the Greek gymnasia and palaestrae; and when towards the close of the republic wealthy Romans, in imitation of the Greeks, began to build places for exercise in their villas, they called them indifferently gymnasia and palaestrae.
PĂLĪLIA, a festival celebrated at Rome every year on the 21st of April, in honour of Pales, the tutelary divinity of shepherds. The 21st of April was the day on which, according to the early traditions of Rome, Romulus had commenced the building of the city, so that the festival was at the same time solemnised as the dies natalitius of Rome. It was originally a shepherd-festival, and continued to be so among country people till the latest times, but in the city it lost its original character, and was only regarded as the dies natalitius of Rome. The first part of the solemnities was a public purification by fire and smoke. The things burnt in order to produce this purifying smoke were the blood of the October-horse, the ashes of the calves sacrificed at the festival of Ceres, and the shells of beans. The people were also sprinkled with water, they washed their hands in spring-water, and drank milk mixed with must. As regards the October-horse (equus October) it must be observed that in early times no bloody sacrifice was allowed to be offered at the palilia, and the blood of the October-horse mentioned above, was the blood which had dropped from the tail of the horse sacrificed in the month of October to Mars in the Campus Martius. This blood was preserved by the vestal virgins in the temple of Vesta for the purpose of being used at the palilia. The sacrifices consisted of cakes, millet, milk, and other kinds of eatables. The shepherds then offered a prayer to Pales. After these solemn rites were over, the cheerful part of the festival began: bonfires were made of heaps of hay and straw, and the festival was concluded by a feast in the open air, at which the people sat or lay upon benches of turf, and drank plentifully.
PALLĬUM, dim. PALLIŎLUM, poet. PALLA (ἱμάτιον, dim. ἱματίδιον; Ion. and poet. φᾶρος), an outer garment. The English cloak, though commonly adopted as the translation of these terms, conveys no accurate conception of the form, material, or use of that which they denoted. The article designated by them was always a rectangular piece of cloth, exactly, or at least nearly square. It was indeed used in the very form in which it was taken from the loom, being made entirely by the weaver, without any aid from the tailor, except to repair the injuries which it sustained by time. Whatever additional richness and beauty it received from the art of the dyer, was bestowed upon it before its materials were woven into cloth or even spun into thread. Most commonly it was used without having undergone any process of this kind. The raw material, such as wool, flax, or cotton, was manufactured in its natural state, and hence pallia were commonly white, although from the same cause brown, drab, and grey were also prevailing colours. As the pallium was the most common outer garment, we find it continually mentioned in conjunction with the tunica, which constituted the indutus. Such phrases as “coat and waistcoat,” or “shoes and stockings,” are not more common with us than the following expressions, which constantly occur in ancient authors: tunica palliumque, ἱμάτιον καὶ χιτών, τὸ ἱμάτιον καὶ ὁ χιτωνίσκος, φᾶρος ἠδὲ χιτών, &c. To wear the pallium without the underclothing indicated poverty or severity of manners, as in the case of Socrates. One of the most common modes of wearing the pallium was to fasten it with a brooch over the right shoulder, leaving the right arm at liberty, and to pass the middle of it either under the left arm so as to leave that arm at liberty also, or over the left shoulder so as to cover the left arm. The figure in the preceding cut is attired in the last-mentioned fashion.