Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/383

Rh PISO. bnn seems to h;ive fallen into the same mistake. (Trebell. Pol. (.'allien, duo, c. 3 ; Aurel. Vict, de Cues, xxxiii., EpiL xxxiii. ; Tillemont, Ilistoire des Empereurs, not. vi. ; Zonar. xii. 5.) [W. R.] PIRITHOUS [Peirithous.] PISANDER. [Peisander.] PI'SIAS or PEISIAS {Ueiaias), an Athenian sculptor, apparently of the Daedalian period, who made the wooden statue of Zeus Boulaeus, and the statue of Apollo, which stood in the senate house of the Five Plundred at Athens. (Paus. i. 3. § J. s. 5.) [P. S.] PISISTRATUS. [Peisistratus.] PISO, the name of the most distinguished family of the plebeian Calpurnia gens. This name, like many other Roman cognomens, is connected with agriculture, the noblest and most honourable pursuit of the ancient Romans : it comes from the verb pisere or pinsere, and refers to the pounding or grinding of corn. Thus the author of the poem addressed to Piso, ascribed by Wernsdorf to Saleius Bassus [BassusI, says (16,17):- " Claraqiie Pisonis tulerit cognomina prima, Humida callosa cum pinseret hordea dextra." (Comp. Plin. //. N. xviii. 3.) Many of the Pisoues bore this cognomen alone, but others were distinguished by the surnames of Caesoninus and Frugi respectively. The family first rose from obscurity during the second Punic war, and from that time it became one of the most distinguished families in the Roman state. It preserved its celebrity under the empire, and during the first century of the Christian era was second to the im- perial family alone. The following sterama contains a list of all the Pisones mentioned in history, and will serve as an index to the following account. Of most of them it is impossible to ascertain the descent. I. Calpurnius Piso, was taken prisoner at the buttle of Cannae, B.C. 216, and is said to have been sent with two others to Rome to negotiate the release of the prisoners, which proposition the senate refused to entertain. He was praetor urbanus in B.C. 211, and on the expiration of his year of office was sent as pro- praetor into Etruria b, c. 210. From thence he was commanded by the dictator, Q. Fulvius Flaccus, to take tlie command of the army at Capua ; but next year (b. c. 209) the senate again en- trusted Etruria to him. (Liv. xxii. 61, xxv. 41, xxvi. 10, 15, 21, 28, xxvii. 6, 7, 21.) Piso in his praetorship proposed to the senate, that the Ludi ApoUinares, which had been exhibited for the first time in the preceding year (b.c. 212), should be repeated, and should be celebrated in future annually. The senate passed a decree to this eifect. (Liv. xxvi. 23 ; Macrob. Sat. i. 13 ; PISO. STEMMA PISONUM. 1. C. Calpurnius Piso, praetor, b. c. 211. 371 COIN' HKFERIIIXG TO C.PISO, PRAETOR B.C. 211. 2. C. Piso, 3. L. Piso, cos. B.C. 180. B.c. 198. Pisones wiili the Agnomen Caesoninus. 4. L. Piso Caesoninus, cos. b. c. 148. 5. L. Piso Caesoninus, cos. b. c. 112. 6. L. Piso Caesoninus, mar. Calventia. 7. L. Piso Caesoninus, cos. b. c. 58. I . I 8. L. Piso Caesoninus, Calpurnia, cos. B. c. 1 5, m. the dictator m. Licinia. Caesar. [Cal- I PURNIA, No. 2.] Two sons to whom Horace addressed his De Arte Foitica. Pisones with the Agnomen Frugi. 9. L. Piso Frugi, the annalist, cos. b. c. 133. 10. L. Piso Frugi, pr. about b. c. 113. 11. L. Piso Frugi, pr. b. c. 74. 12. C. Piso Frugi, qu. b. c. 58, married TuUia, the daugh- ter of Cicero. Pisones without an Agnomen. 13. Cn. Piso, COS. b. c. 139. 14. Q. Piso, COS. B. c. J 35. 15. Piso, pr. about B.C. 135. 16. Piso, about B.C. 104. 17. C. Piso, COS. B. c. 67. 18. M. Pupius Piso, COS. B. c, 61 19. M. Piso, pr. B.C. 44. 20. Cn. Piso, the conspirator, b. c. GG. 21. Cn. Piso, proqu. b. c. 67. 22. Cn. Piso, cos. b. c. 23. 23. Cn. Piso, cos. b. c. 7; married Plancina, died A. d. 20. I 1 I 24. L. Piso, cos. A. D. 17. 25. M. Piso. I 26. L. Piso, cos. A. D. 57. 27. L. Piso, cos. B. c. 1. 28. L. Piso, accused and died, A. D. 24. 29. L. Piso, pr. a. d. 25. 30. C. Piso, the conspirator against Nero, a. d. 65. Calpurnius Galerianua, killed by Mucianus, a. d. 70. 31. Piso Licinianus, adopted by Galba, a. d. GQ. 32. Piso, A. D. 175. 33. Piso, one of the Thirty Tyrants, A. d. 260. B B tj