Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/389

Rh PISTIUS. Piso was tliirty-one at the time of his death, and enjoyed a reputation for the strictest integrity, uprightness, and morality. (Tac. J list. i. 14, 13, 34, 43, 48 ; Dion Cass. Ixiv. 5, 6 ; Suet. Gulb. 17 ; Plut. GalL 23, 28 ; Plin. Ep. ii. 20.) 32. Piso, consul with Julianus a. d. 175 in the reign of Commodus (Lamprid. Commod. 12). 33. Piso, one of the Thirty Tyrants, who as- sumed the imperial purple after the capture of Valerian, A. D. 260. He traced his descent from the ancient family of the same name, and was a man of unblemished character. After the capture of Valerian, he was sent by Macrianus with orders for the death of Valens, proconsul of Achaia ; but upon learning that the latter in anticipation of the danger had assumed the purple, he withdrew into Thessaly, and was there himself saluted emperor by a small body of supporters, who bestowed on Hm the title of Thessalicus. His career was soon, Aowever, brought to a close by Valens, who, in giving orders for his death, did not scruple to pay a tribute to his conspicuous merit. The proceed- ings in the senate, when intelligence arrived of the death of both Piso and Valens, as chronicled by Pollio, are scarce credible, although he pro- fesses to give the very words of the first speaker. (Trebell. Pollio, Trig. Tyr. 20.) The two following coins of the republican period cannot be referred with certainty to any of the Pisones that have been mentioned above. The former bears on the obverse the head of Terminus, and on the reverse a patera, with the legend M. PISO M. (f.) frugi: the latter has on the obverse a bearded head with the legend piso caepio q., and on the reverse two men seated, with an ear of corn on each side of them, and the legend ad frv. EMV. KX s. c, that is, Piso., Caepio., Quaestores ad frumeiitum emundum ex senatusconsulto. (Eckhel, vol. V. pp. 159, IGO.) PITHON. 377 coin of PISO AND CAEPIO, QUAESTORS. PISON (niVajj/), a statuary of Calaureia, in the territory of Troezen, was the pupil of Amphion. He made one of the statues in the great group which the Athenians dedicated at Delphi in memory of the battle of Aegospotami, namely, the statue of the seer Abas, who predicted the victory to Lysander. He therefore flourished at the end of the fifth century b. c. (Pans. vi. 3. § 2, x. 9. %'2.) [P.S.] Pl'STIUS (nio-Tios), i.e. the god of faith and fidelity, occurs as a surname of Zeus, and, accord- ing to some, answers to the Latin Fidius or Medim Fidius. (Dionys. ii. 49 ; Eurip. Med. 170.) [L. S.] PISTON, a statuary, who added the iigure of a woman to the biga made by Tisicrates. (Plin. H.N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. § 32.) "Tisicrates flourished about B. c. 300, and Piston of course lived about the same time or later. He also made statues of Mars and Mercury, which, in Pliny's time, stood in the temple of Concord. (Plin. /. c.) [P. S.] PISTOK, that is, the baker, a surname of Jupiter at Rome, where its origin was thus related : when the Gauls were besieging Rome, the god suggested to the besieged the idea of throwing loaves of bread among the enemies, to make them believe that the Romans had plenty of provisions, and thus cause them to give up the siege. (Ov. Fast. vi. 350, 394 ; Lactant. i. 20.) This surname shows that there existed a connection between Jupiter, Vesta, and the Penates, for an altar had been dedicated to Jupiter Pistor on the very day which was sacred to Vesta. [L. S.] PISTO'XENUS, a vase-maker, known by a single vase found atCeri,and now in the possession of M. Capranesi at Rome, bearing the inscription PI5TO-H5EN02 EFOIE^EN. (R. Rochette, Let- ire a M. Schorn, p. 56, 2d ed.) [P. S.] PITAN A'TIS {UiTavaris), a surname of Arte- mis, derived from the little town of Pitana in La- conia, where she had a temple. (Callim. Hymn, in Dian. 172 ; Paus. iii. 16. § 9 ; Eurip. Troad. 1101.) [L.S.] PITANE (njTai/T?), a daughter of the river god Eurotas, became by Poseidon the mother of Evadne. From her the town of Pitana had its name. (Pind. 01. vi. 46.) [L. S.] PITHOLA'US, or PEITHOLA'US, or PY- THOLA'US (nei0oAaos, YIvQ6Ko.os was one of the three brothers-in-law and murderers of Alex ander of Pherae. In b. c. 352 Peitholaus and his brother Lycophron were expelled from Pherae by Philip of Macedou [Lycophron, No. 5] ; but Peitholaus re-established himself in the tyranny, and was again driven out by Philip in B. c. 349 (Diod. xvi. 52). He was honoured at one time with the Athenian franchise, but was afterwards deprived of it on the ground that it had been ob- tained by false pretences. (Dera. c. Neaer. p. 1376.) For Peitholaus, see also Arist. i?/«e^. iii. 9. § 8, 10. § 7 ; Plut. Amat. 23. [E. E.] PITHOLA'US, OTACFLIUS. [Otacilius, p. 64, b.] PITHON (liieuv). Great confusion exists in the MSS. editions of various authors between the different forms, Tl^iQwv, liiQwv, and TlvQwv, and it is frequently impossible to say which is the more correct form. (See Ellen dt ad Arr. Anab. vi. 7. H-) ... 1. Son of Agenor, a Macedonian officer in the service of Alexander the Great. It is not easy to distinguish the services rendered by him from those of his namesake, the son of Crateuas ; but it is re- markable that no mention occurs of either, until the campaigns in India, though they then appear as holding important commands, and playing a pro- minent part. It is apparently the son of Agenor who is mentioned as commanding one division of the 7ref€Ta7jpoj, or foot-guards, in the campaign against the Malli, b. c. 327 (Arr. Anab. vi. 6. § 1, 7, 8), and it was certainly to him that Alexander shortly after confided the government of part of tho