Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/225

Rh PETOSIRIS, cognomen that occurs. The following coin of the Petillia gens must have been struck by a Petillius Capitoliims, as the reverse is nearly the same as the obverse of the coin figured in Vol. I. p. 605, and seems to have reference to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. PETREIUS. 213 COIN OF PETILLIA GENS. PETI'LLIUS. 1,2. Q. Petillii, two tri- bunes of the plebs, B. c. 185, are said to have been instigated by Cato the Censor, to accuse Scipio Africanus the elder, of having been bribed by Antiochus to allow that monarch to .come off too leniently ; but according to other authorities it was M. Naevius and not the Petillii who brought the charge. On the death of Africanus in this year, the Petillii brought forward a bill for making an inquiry respecting the persons who had received money from Antiochus without paying it into the treasury. (Liv. xxxviii. 50, 54, 56 ; comp. Gell. iv. 18 ; Aur. Vict, de Vir. III. 49.) [Naevius, No. 4.] 3. L. Petillius, a scriba, in whose land at the foot of the Janiculus, the books of Numa were said to have been found in b. c. 181. The books were subsequently taken to the city-praetor Petil- lius Spurinus. (Liv. xl. 29.) [Numa, p. 1213, a,] 4. L. Petillius, Avas sent as ambassador in B. c. 168 with M. Perperna to the lllyrian king Gentius, and was with his colleague thrown into prison by that king, but was liberated shortly afterwards on the conquest of Gentius by the praetor Anicius. (Liv. xliv. 27, 32 ; Appian, Mac. xvi. 1.) 5. M. Petilius, a Roman eques, who carried on business at Syracuse, while Verres was go- vernor of Sicily. (Cic. Verr. ii. 29.) 6. Q. Petilius, a judex at the trial of Milo. (Cic. pro Mil. 16.) PETPLLIUS CEREA'LIS. [Cerealis.] PETI'LLIUS RUFUS. [Rufus.] PETINES (Uerlvvs), one of the generals who commanded the Persian army at the passage of the Granicus, B. c. 334. He was killed in the battle. (Arr. Jna6. i. 12. 16.) [E.H.B.] PETOSI'RIS (nero'o-jpjs), an Egyptian priest and astrologer, who is generally named along with Nechepsos, an Egyptian king. The two are said to be the founders of astrology, and of the art of casting nativities. Suidas (s. v.) states that Petosiris wrote on the right mode of worshipping the gods, astrological maxims ck twv Upuv ^ikkiuu (which are often referred to in connection with astrology), and a work on the Egyptian mysteries. But we may infer from a statement made by Vet- tius Valens, of which the substance is given by Marsham {Canon Chronicus, p. 479, ed. Lips. 1 676), that Suidas assigns to Petosiris, what others attri- bute partly to him, and partly to Nechepsos. For his "Opyaj ov "'KarpovofiiKov^ or, '*Frj^os (reATji/ia/cr), containing astrological principles for predicting the event of diseases, and for his other writings, Fabricius {Bibl. Grace. voL iv. p. 160) may be consulted. And to the list given by him may be added a translation into Latin by Bede, of the astrological letter of Petosiris to Nechepsos, entitled, De Divinatione Mortis et Vitae. (Bed. Opera, vol. ii. pp. 233, 234, ed. Col. Agripp. 1612.) His name, as connected with astrology, was in high repute early in Greece, and in Rome, in her degenerate days. This we learn from the praises bestowed on him by Manethon (v. 10), who, in- deed, in the prologue to the first and fifth books of his Apotelesmatica, professes only to expand in Greek verse the prose rules of Petosiris ; from Julius Firmicus {Mathes. iv. in praefat. «&c.), who calls Petosiris and Nechepsos, divini illi viri atque omni admiratione digni ; and, from the references of Pliny. (H. N. i. 23, vii. 49.) But the best proof is the fact, that, like our own Lilly, Petosiris became the common name for an astrologer, as we find in Aristophanes, quoted by Athenaeus (iii. p. 1 1 4, c), in the 46th epigram of Lucillius (Jacobs, Anthol. Graec. vohiii. p. 38), whence we learn the quantity, and in Juvenal, vi. 580. Marsham has a full dissertation on Nechepsos and Petosiris, in the work above quoted (pp. 474—481). [W. M. G.] PETRAEA (IleTpoio), is the name of one of the Oceanides, and also occurs as a surname of Scylla, who dwelt in or on a rock. (Hes. Theog. 357 ; Hom. Od. xii. 231.) [L. S.] PETRAEUS (ncTpoTos). 1. One of^he cen- taurs who figures at the wedding of Peirithous. (Hes. Scut. Here. 185 ; Ov. Met. xii. 330.) 2. A surname of Poseidon among the Thessa- lians, because he was believed to have separated the rocks, between which the river Peneius flows into the sea. (Pind. Fyth. iv. 246, with the Schoh) [L. S.] PETRAEUS (nerpaTos), a friend of Philip V., king of Macedonia, who was sent by that monarch to Sparta in b. c. 220, to receive the submission of the Lacedaemonians, and confirm them in their allegiance to Macedonia. We subsequently find him commanding a military force in Thessaly, where he successfully opposed the invasion of that country by the Aetolian general Dorimachus, n. c. 218. (Polyb. iv. 24, v. 17.) [E. H. B.] PETREIUS. 1. Cn. Petreius, of Atina, was a centurion primi pili in the army of Q. Ca- tulus, B. c. 1 02, in the Cimbrian war, and received a crown on account of his preserving a legion. (Plin. H. N. xxii. 6.) 2. M. Petreius, is first mentioned in B. c. 62, when he served as legatus to the proconsul C. Antonius, in his campaign against Catiline. Both Cicero and Sallust speak of Petreius as a man of great military experience, and one who possessed considerable influence with the troops. He had previously served in the army more than thirty years, either as tribune, praefectus, legatus, or praetor ; but we know nothing of his former history, nor in what year he was praetor. In consequence of the illness of Antonius, according to one statement, or his dislike to fight against his former friend, as others relate, the supreme com- mand of the army devolved upon Petreius on the day of the battle, in which Catiline perished. (Sail. Cai. 59, 60 ; Dion Cass, xxxvii. 39, 40 ; Cic. pro Sest. 5.) The name of Petreius next occurs in b. c. 59, in which year he offered to go to prison with Cato, when Caesar, the consul, threatened the latter with this punishment. (Dion Cass, xxxviii. 3.) In b. c. 55 Petreius was sent into Spain along with L. Afranius p 3