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 proxy was the authority by which the proctor or advocate appeared for either party to a suit. In the ecclesiastical courts a proxy is the warrant empowering a proctor to act for the party to a suit. Two proxies are usually executed, one authorizing the proctor to institute, the other to withdraw, proceedings. They are signed by the parties, attested by two witnesses, and deposited in the registry of the court (Phillimore, Ecclesiastical Law). In the convocations of the Church of England those who are absent are allowed to vote by proxy. “Proxies,” or “procurations,” were also by the canon law certain sums of money paid yearly by parish priests to the bishops or archdeacon ratione visitationis; originally the visitor demanded a proportion of meat and drink for his refreshment, and afterwards this was turned into a money “procuration”—ad procurandum cibum et potum. Marriage by proxy or deputy was a custom recognized either for reasons of state or ceremonial.

 PRUDENTIUS, AURELIUS CLEMENS (348-c. 410), the most remarkable of the earlier Christian poets in the West, was probably born at Tarraco, though Saragossa and Calagurris have also been claimed as his birthplace. The meagre autobiographical preface, which he affixed to the complete edition of his works when he was fifty-seven years old, makes it clear that he received a liberal education—being of noble family—practised as a lawyer and entered official life, and finally held some high office under Theodosius. At the age of fifty-seven he retired to a monastery, but died shortly afterwards.

Bentley calls Prudentius “the Horace and Virgil of the Christians,” but his diction is stilted and his metre often faulty. The list of his works given in the preface mentions the hymns, poems against the Priscillianists and against Symmachus and Peristephanon. The Diptychon or Dittochaeon is not mentioned. The twelve hymns of the Cathemerinon liber (“Daily Round”) consist of six for daily use, five for festivals, and one intended for every hour of the day. Prudentius shows Ambrose as his master here, but gives to Ambrose's mystic symbolism much clearer expression. The Apotheosis and Hamartigenia are polemic, the first against the disclaimers of the divinity of Christ, the latter against the gnostic dualism of Marcion and his followers. In them Tertullian is the source of inspiration. Of more historical interest are the two books Contra Symmachum, of 658 and 1131 hexameter verses respectively, the first attacking the pagan gods, the second directed against the petition of Symmachus to the emperor for the restoration of the altar and statue of Victory which Gratian had cast down. The Peristephanon consists of fourteen hymns to martyrs. These were mostly Spanish, but some were suggested to Prudentius by sacred images in churches or by the inscriptions of Damasus. This book, with the Cathemerinon liber and the Psychomachia, was among the most widely read books of the middle ages. Its influence on the iconography of medieval art was great. The Psychomachia is aesthetically inferior, but had the greatest influence of all of Prudentius's writings. In it he depicts the struggle of Christendom with paganism under the allegory of a struggle between the Christian virtues and the pagan vices. The Dittochaeon is a series of quatrains, probably intended to explain forty-nine pictures of a basilica. The work is more interesting for archaeology than for literature.

Prudentius's works were published by Giselin at Antwerp in 1564, and by F. Arevalo at Rome in 1788, with complete commentary. This last is the edition reprinted in J. P. Migne's Patralogia Latina, vols. lix.–lx. (Paris, 1847). More recent editions are by Obbarius (Tübingen, 1845) and A. Dressel (Leipzig, 1886), while a critical edition has been undertaken by J. Bergmann.

See also J. Bergmann, Lexicon prudentianum, fasc. i. [a-adscendo] (Upsala, 1894); M. Schanz, ''Gesch. d. röm. Lit. (Munich, 1904); A. Ebert, Allgem. Gesch. d. Lit. des Mittelalters'', vol. i. 2nd ed. Leipzig, 1889); M. Manitius, Gesch. d. christl. lat. Poesie (Stuttgart, 1891); T. R. Glover, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century (Cambridge, 1901); C. Brockhaus, Aur. Prud. Clem. in seiner Bedeutung f. d. Kirche seiner Zeit (Leipzig, 1872); A. Pnech, Prudence: étude sur la poésie latine chrét. au IVᵉ siècle (Paris, 1888); F. St John Thackeray, Translations from Prudentius (London, 1890); F. Maigret, Le Poète chrétien Prudentius (Paris, 1903); E. O. Winstedt, “The Double Recension in the Poems of Prudentius,” The Classical Review, vol. xvii. (1903).

 PRUD'HON, PIERRE (1758–1823), French painter, born at Cluny on the 4th of April 1758, was the third son of a mason. The monks of the abbey undertook his education, and by the aid of the bishop of Mâcon he was placed with Devosges, director of the art school at Dijon. In 1778 Prud'hon went to Paris armed with a letter to Wille, the celebrated engraver, and three years later he obtained the triennial prize of the states of Burgundy, which enabled him to go to Rome, where he became intimate with Canova. He returned to Paris in 1787, and led for some time a precarious existence. The illustrations which he executed for the Daphnis and Chloe published by Didot brought him into notice, and his reputation was extended by the success of his decorations in the Hôtel de Landry (now Rothschild), his ceiling painting of “Truth and Wisdom” for Versailles (Louvre), and of “Diana and Jupiter” for the Gallery of Antiquities in the Louvre. In 1808 he exhibited “Crime pursued by Vengeance and Justice” (Louvre, engraved by Royer which had been commissioned for the assize courts, and “Psyche carried off by Zephyrs” (engraved by Massard). These two remarkable compositions brought Prud'hon the Legion of Honour; and in 1816 he entered the Institute. Easy as to fortune, and consoled for the misery of his marriage by the devoted care of his excellent and charming pupil, Mlle Mayer, Prud'hon's situation seemed enviable; but Mlle Mayer's tragical suicide on the 26th of May 1821 brought ruin to his home, and two years later (Feb. 16, 1823) Prud'hon followed her to the grave. Mlle Mayer (1778–1821) was his ablest pupil. Her “Abandoned Mother” and “Happy Mother” are in the Louvre.

Voiart, “Notice historique de la vie et oeuvres de P. Prud'hon,” in ''Arch. de l'art français''; Qu. de Quincy, ''Discours prononcé sur la tombe de Prud'hon, Fév. 1823; Eugène Delacroix, Rev. des deux mondes, 1846; Charles Blanc, Hist. des peintres français''.

 PRUNE (adapted in various forms, e.g. prunne, proyne, &c., from Fr. prune, Med. Lat. pruna, Lat. prunum, Gr., earlier , plum), the name generally given to the fruit of various species of plums, dried, and used either stewed as a dish or plain as a dessert fruit. The finest dessert prunes, known as “French plums,” are produced from the St Julien plum-tree and are dried and exported from the valley of the Loire in France. California now produces a fine quality of “prune.” In scientific nomenclature, Prunus is the name of a genus of rosaceous trees, the type of the tribe pruneae, of which the plum, apricot, peach, cherry, &c., are species (see further under ). From this word must be distinguished “to prune,” (1) to cut or trim superfluous growth from a shrub or tree in order to encourage fresh growth and bring into regular form, &c., and (2) to trim or dress the feathers with the bill, used of a bird “preening” itself. In the first sense the word is an adaptation (16th century) of the Old French proigner, the second sense appears in the end of the 14th century but is not found in French.

 PRURITUS, an ailment characterized by intense itching of the surface of the body. It may occur in connexion with other morbid conditions, such as jaundice, diabetes, digestive disorders, &c., or as the result of the irritation produced by skin parasites. The most serious form is pruritus senilis, which affects old persons, and is often a cause of great suffering, depriving the patient of sleep. In such cases it is probably due to atrophic changes in the skin. No eruption is visible, except such marks as are produced by scratching. The treatment consists in the removal of any apparent cause, and measures to strengthen the system, such as the use of quinine, iron, &c. Soothing lotions composed of solutions of alkalis conjoined with chloral, opium, hydrocyanic acid, &c., may be applied to the affected skin at bedtime.

 PRUSSIA (Ger. Preussen; Lat. Borussia), a kingdom of Germany, and the largest, most populous and most important state of the German Empire. (For map see .) It is bounded on the N. by the Baltic, Mecklenburg, Denmark and the North Sea, on the E. by Russia, on the S. by Austria, the kingdom of Saxony, the Thuringian states, Bavaria and