Comic Mask. (Statue of Davus in British Museum.)
PES (ποῦς), a foot, the standard measure of length among the Greeks and Romans, as well as among nearly all other nations, both ancient and modern. The Romans applied the uncial division [[As]] to the foot, which thus contained 12 unciae, whence our inches; and many of the words used to express certain numbers of unciae are applied to the parts of the foot. It was also divided into 16 digiti (finger-breadths): this mode of division was used especially by architects and land-surveyors, and is found on all the foot-measures that have come down to us. From the analogy of the as, we have also dupondium for 2 feet, and pes sestertius for 2½ feet. The probable value of the Roman foot is 11.6496 inches English. (See [Tables] at the end.)
PESSI. [[Latrunculi].]
PESSŬLUS. [[Janua].]
PĔTĂLISMUS. [[Exsilium].]
PĔTĂSUS. [[Pileus].]
PĔTĪTOR. [[Actor].]
PĔTAURISTAE. [[Petaurum].]
PĔTAURUM (πέταυρον, πέτευρον), used in the Roman games, seems to have been a board moving up and down, with a person at each end, and supported in the middle, something like our see-saw; only it appears to have been much longer, and consequently went to a greater height than is common amongst us. The persons who took part in this game, were called Petauristae or Petauristarii.
PĔTORRĬTUM, a four-wheeled carriage, which, like the [Essedum], was adopted by the Romans in imitation of the Gauls. It differed from the [Harmamaxa] in being uncovered. Its name is compounded of petor, four, and rit, a wheel.