Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/448

Rh 436 POLITES. Christ, as he is mentioned by Origen {Cont. Cels. i. 33. p.351, ed. Bened.), and from his style hecan- not be supposed to have lived much earlier than this time. His work, which appears to have suffered much from the ignorance of transcribers, consists of two books : in the first, which contains twenty- three chapters, after proving the utility of phy- siognomy, he lays down the general principles of the science ; he speaks of the shape of the head, the colour of the hair, of the forehead, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the manner of breathing, the sound of the voice, &c. ; in the second book, which consists of twenty-seven chapters, he goes on to apply the principles he had before laid down, and describes in a few words the characters of the courageous man, the timid, the impudent, the passionate, the talkative, &c. It was first pub- lished in Greek by Camillas Peruscus, with Aelian's "Varia Historia," and other works, at Rome, 1545, 4to. It was translated into Latin by Nicolaus Petreius, and published with Me- letius " De Natura Hominis," and other works, at Venice, 1552, 4to. The last and best edition is that by J. G. F. Franz in his " Scriptores Phy- siognomoniae Veteres," Altenburg. 1780. 8vo. in Greek and Latin, with a Preface and Notes. It was translated into Arabic, and is still extant in that language. [Philemon]. (See Franz's Preface to his " Script. Physiogn. Vety and Penny Cyclopaedia.) [W. A. G.] PO'LEMON, of Alexandria, a painter men- tioned by Pliny among those who were non igno- hiles quidem, in transcursu tamen dicendi (H.N. XXXV. 11. 8. 40. § 42). [P.S.] PO'LIAS (UoKids), i. e. " the goddess protect- ing the city," a surname of Athena at Athens, where she was especially worshipped as the pro- tecting divinity of the acropolis. (Paus. i. 27. § 1 ; Arnob. adv. Gent. vi. 193.) [L. S.] PO'LICHUS, artist. [Ptolichus.] POLIEUS (noAieus), "the protector of the city," a surname of Zeus, under which he had an altar on the acropolis at Athens. Upon this altar barley and wheat were strewed, which were con- sumed by the bull about to be sacrificed to the god. The priest who killed the victim, threw away the axe as soon as he had struck the fatal blow, and the axe was then brought before a court of justice. (Paus.i. 24. §4, 28. § 11.) [L.S.] POLI'OCHUS (noAioxos), an Athenian comic poet, of uncertain age, of whom two fragments only occur in Athenaeus (vii. p. 313, c. ii. p. 60, c), the one from his KopiuOiaaTris., and the other from a play, of which the title is not mentioned. ( Mei- neke^ Frag. Com. Graec. vol. i. p. 498, vol. iv. pp. 589,590.) [P.S.] POLIORCE'TES, DEME'TRIUS. [Deme- trius, p. 962.] POLIS, a statuary, mentioned by Pliny among those who made athletas et armatos et venatores sa- crificantesque {H. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. § 34). [P.S.] POLI'TES (noAiTT/s). 1. A son of Priam and Hecabe, and father of Priam the younger, was a valiant warrior, but was slain by Pyrrhus. (Horn. //. ii. 791, xiii. 533, xxiv. 250 ; Virg. Aen. ii. 526, V. 564.) 2. A companion of Odysseus, who is said to have been worshipped as a hero at Temesa in Italy. (Hom. Od. X. 224 ; Strab. vi. p. 255.) 3. One of the companions of Menelaus. (Paus. X. 25. § 2.) [L. S.] POLLIO. POLIU'CHOS (UoAiodxos), i.e. "protecting the city," occurs :is a surname of several divinities, such as Athena Chalcioecus at Sparta. (Paus. iii. 17. § 2), and of Athena at Athens. (Comp. Athena.) [L. S.] POLLA, the name of several Roman females, was merely another form of PauUa, like Clodius of Claudius. 1. The wife of D. Brutus, one of the murderers of Caesar. Cicero calls her simply Polla (ad Fain. xi. 8), but we learn from a letter of Caelius (ad Fain. viii. 7) that her full name was PauUa Valeria. She was a sister of the C. Valerius Triarius, who was tribune of the plebs B. c. 51, and who subsequently served in the civil war in Pompey's fleet. She divorced her husband, whose name is not mentioned, in B. c. 50, without being able to give any reason for so doing, and then married D. Brutus (ad Fam. viii. 7). 2. The mother of L. Gellius Publicola. (Dion Cass, xlvii. 24, where the manuscripts have Palla.) 3. The sister of M. Agrippa. (Dion Cass. Iv. 8.) 4. AcERRONiA Polla, the friend of Agrippina, is spoken of under Acerronia. 5. Vespasia Polla, the daughter of Vespasius Pollio, and the mother of the emperor Vespasian. (Suet. Vesp. 1.) 6. Argentaria Polla, the wife of the poet Lucan. (Stat. Silv. ii. 7. 62, &c. ; Martial, vii. 21, 23, X. 64.) POLLE'NIUS SEBENNUS, lived in the reign of Alexander Severus (Dion Cass. Ixxvi. 9.) POLLES(noArjs). Suidas mentions {s.v. Me- AajUTTous), that Melampus and Polles had acquired such celebrity as diviners, that there was a current proverb, " It needs a Melampus or a Polles to divine it." He was a native of Aegae in Asia Minor, and wrote copiously on the subject of divination in all its forms ; as on the prognostications to be derived from the objects that met a traveller on his way ; from what occurred at home ; regarding the result of diseases ; and similar subjects, for which see Suidas {s.vv. ''Oiwvkttiki^u, 116t]s). [W. M. G.] POLLEX, one of Cicero's slaves. (Cic. ad Fam. xiv. 6, ad Att. viii. 5, xiii. 46, 47.) POLLIA'NUS (IIwAAiavos), an epigrammatic poet, five of whose pieces are preserved in the Gi'eek Anthology. From the first of these epigrame it is probable that he was a grammarian ; the third is addressed to a poet named Florus, wiio is pos- sibly the Florus who lived under Hadrian ; but there is no other indication of the writer's age. (Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. p. 439 ; Jacobs, Anih. Graec. vol. iii. pp. 146, 147, vol. xiii. p. 940.) [P. S.] PO'LLIO, artists. 1. A gem-engraver (Bracci, Praef. ad Comm. ii. p. 6). 2. C. Postumius, an architect, whose name occurs in an inscription in the cathedral at Terracina ; from which it may be inferred, with much probabi- lity, that he was the architect of the celebrated temple of Apollo at that place. From another in- scription it appears that C. Cocceius, the architect of the temple of Augustus at Pozzuoli, was the freedraan and disciple of this Postumius Pollio. (R. Rochette, Lettre a M. Scliorn^ pp. 440—441, 2nded.) [P.S.] PO'LLIO, A'NNIUS, was accused of treason (majestas) towards the end of the reign of Tibe- rius, but was not brought to trial. He was sul)- sequently one of Nero's intimate friends, but was