Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/378

Rh 366 PIGRES. legend of Picus is founded on the notion that the wood-pecker is a prophetic bird, sacred to Mars. Pomona, it is said, was beloved by him, and when Circe's love for him was not requited, she changed him into a wood-pecker, who, however, retained the prophetic powers which he had formerly pos- sessed as a man. (Virg. Aen. vii. 190 ; Ov. Met. xiv. 346 ; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 21 ; Ov. Fast. iii. 37.) [L. S.1 PIE'RIDES (n<6p^S6s), and sometimes also in the singular, Pieris, a surname of the Muses, which they derived from Pieria, near Mount Olympus, where they were first worshipped among the Thracians (Hes. TJieog. 53 ; Horat. Carm. iv. 3. 18 ; Pind, Pyth. vi. 49). Some derived the name from an ancient king Pierus, who is said to have emigrated from Thrace into Boeolia, and esta- blished their worship at Thespiae. (Pans. ix. 29. § 2 ; Eurip. Med. 831 ; Pind. 01. xi. 100 ; Ov. Trist. V. 3. 10 ; Cic. De Nat. Deor. iii. 21.) [L.S.] PI'ERUS (niepoy). 1. A son of Magnes of Thrace, father of Hyacinthus, by the Muse Clio. (Apollod. i. 3. § 3.) 2. An autochthon, king of Emathia (Mace- donia), begot by Euippe or Antiope nine daugh- ters, to whom he gave the names of the nine Muses, They afterwards entered into a contest with the Muses, and being conquered, they were metamorphosed into birds called Colymbas, lyngx, Cenchris, Cissa, Chloris, Acalanthis, Nessa, Pipo, and Dracontis. (Anton, Lib. 9 ; Paus. ix. 29. § 2 ; Ov. Met. V. 295, &c.) [L. S.] PIETAS, a personification of faithful attach- ment, love, and veneration among the Romans, where at first she had a small sanctuary, but in B. c. 191 a larger one was built (Plin. H. N. vii. 36 ; Val. Max. v. 4. § 7 ; Liv. xl. 34). She is seen represented on Roman coins, as a matron throwing incense upon an altar, and her attributes are a stork and children. Pietas was sometimes represented as a female figure offering her breast to an aged parent. (Val. Max. ^. c; Zurapt, in the Class. Mus. vol. iii. p. 452.) [L. S.] PIETAS, a surname of L. Antonius, consul B. c. 41. [Antonius, No, 14.] PIGRES (Jliypr]s historical. 1. A Carian, the son of Seldoraus, the commander of a detach- ment of ships in the aiinament of Xerxes. (Herod, vii. 98.) 2. A Paeonian, who, with his brother Mantyas and his sister, came to Sardes, where Dareius was at the time, hoping that by the favour of Dareius, he and his brother might be established as tyrants over the Paeonians. Dareius, however, was so pleased with the exhibition of industry and dex- terity which he saw in their sister, that he sent orders to Megabazus to transport the whole race into Asia. (Herod, v. 12, &c.) 3. An interpreter in the service of Cyrus the Younger, mentioned on several occasions by Xe- nophon {Anah. i. 2. § 17, &c.). [C. P. M.] PIGRES (ntypTjs), literary. A native of Ha- licarnassus, either the brother or the son of the celebrated Artemisia, queen of Caria. He is spoken of by Suidas (s. v. where, however, he makes the mistake of calling Artemisia the wife of Mausolus) as the author of the Margites, and the Batracho- myomachia. The latter poem is also attributed to him by Plutarch {de Herod, malign. 43. p. 873, f.), and was probably his work. One of his per- formances was a very singular one, namely, in- PINARIA GENS. sorting a pentameter line after each hexameter in the Iliad, thus : — Movaa yap av irdar]S Treipar' exets (ro(pir)S. Bode (Gesch. der Hellen. Dichikunst, i. p. 279) believes that the Margites, though not composed by Pigres, suffered some alterations at his hands, and in that altered shape passed down to pos- terity. Some suppose that the iambic lines, which alternated with the hexameters in the Margites, were inserted by Pigres. He was the first poet, apparentiv, who introduced the iambic trimeter. (Fabric. 7JM. Graec. i. p. 519, &c.) [C. P. M,] PI'LIA, the wife of T. Pomponius Atticus, the friend of Cicero. We know nothing of her origin, and scarcely any thing of her relations. The M. Pilius, who is said to have sold an estate to C. Al- banius, ahout B.C. 45 {VAc. ad Att. xiii. 31), is supposed by some to have been her father, but this is quite uncertain. The Q. Pilius, who went to Caesar in Gaul in b. c. 54 {ad Att. iv. 17), was un- doubtedly her brother ; and he must be the same as the Pilius who accused M. Servilius of repetundae in B. c. 51 (Cael, ad Fam. viii. 8). His full name was Q, Pilius Celer ; for the Q. Celer, whose speech against M. Servilius Cicero asks Atticus to send him in b. c. 50 (Cic. ad Att. vi. 3. § 10), must have been the s<ame person as the one already mentioned, as Drumann has observed, and not Q. Metellus Celer, as the commentators have stated, since the latter had died as early as B. c. 59. With the exception, however of the M. Pi- lius and Q. Pilius, whom we have spoken of, no other person of this name occurs. Pilia was married to Atticus on the 12th of February, b. c. BQ (Cic. ad Q. Fr. ii. 3. § 7), and in the summer of the following year, she bore hor husband a daughter {ad Att. v. 19, vi. 1. § 22) who subsequently married Vipsanius Agrippa. This appears to have been the only child that she had. Cicero, in his letters to Atticus, frequently speaks of Pilia ; and from the terms in which he mentions her, it is evident that the marriage was a happy one, and that Atticus was sincerely at- tached to her. From her frequent indisposition, to which Cicero alludes, it appears that her health was not good. She is not mentioned by Cornelius Nepos in his life of Atticus. (Cic. ad Att. iv. 1 (J, 46, V. 11, vii. 5, xvi. 7; Druraann's Rom. vol. v. pp. 87, 88.) PILITUS, OTACI'LIUS. [Otacilius, p. 64. b.] PFLIUS. [Pilia.] PILUMNUS [PicuMNUS.] PIMPLE'IS (ntjUTTATjis), or Pimplea, a sur- name of the Muses, derived from Mount Piinpli:is in Pieria, which was sacred to them. Some place this mountain in Boeotia, and call Mount Helicon UinirKiias Koirri. (Strab. x. p. 471 ; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 25 ; Lycoph. 275 ; Horat. Carm. i. 26. 9 ; Anthol. Palat. v. 206.) [L. S.] PINA'RIA. 1. The daughter of Publius, a Vestal virgin in the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, was put to death for violating her vow of chastity, (Dionys. iii. 67.) 2. The first wife of the celebrated tribune P.Clo- dius. That Clodius married a wife of this name has been shown under Natta, No. 2. PINA'RIA GENS, one of the most ancient patrician gentcs at Rome, traced its origin to a