Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/560

 534 P E R P E R, to devastate at pleasure, he led in person a powerful fleet against Peloponnesus, ravaged the coast, and destroyed the town of Prasije in Laconia. But the Athenians were greatly disheartened ; they sued for peace, and when their suit was rejected by Sparta they vented their ill-humour on Pericles, as the author of the war, by subjecting him to a fine. However, they soon repented of this burst of petulance, and atoned for it by re-electing him general l and placing the government once more in his hands. Further, they allowed him to legitimate his son by Aspasia, that his house might not be without an heir. He survived this reconciliation about a year, but his name is not again mentioned in connexion with public affairs. In the autumn of 429 he died. We may well believe that the philosophy which had been the recreation of his happier days supported and consoled him in the clouded evening of his life. To his clement nature it was a peculiar consolation to reflect that he had never carried political differences to the shed ding of blood. Indeed, his extraordinary, almost fatherly, tenderness for the life of every Athenian citizen is attested by various of his sayings. 2 On his deathbed, when the friends about him were telling his long roll of glory, rous ing himself from a lethargy into which he had fallen, he reminded them of his fairest title to honour : &quot;No Athenian,&quot; he said, &quot; ever put on black through me.&quot; He was buried amongst the great dead in the Ceramicus, and in after years Phormio, Thrasybulus, and Chabrias slept beside him. 3 In person he was graceful and well made, save for an unusual height of head, which the comic poets were never weary of ridiculing. In the busts of him which we possess, his regular features, with the straight Greek nose and full lips, still preserve an expression of Olympian repose. The chief, perhaps the only trustworthy, authority for the life of Pericles is the history of his contemporary Thucydides. The bio graphy by Plutarch is compiled from Thucydides, Ephorus, Ion, Stesimbrotus, Duns of Samos, Aristotle, Idomeneus, yEschines, and Hera clides Ponticus, together with the comic poets Cratinus, Teleclides, Hermippus, Plato, Eupolis, and L istophanes. Ephorus, a pupil of Isocrates, must have had plenty of means of ascertaining the facts, but how little his judgment is to be trusted is shown by his account of the origin of the Peloponnesian War, an account also followed by Diodorus Siculus, whose history adds nothing of importance to the narratives of Thucydides and Plutarch. Ion and Stesimbrotus were contemporaries of Pericles, but, as both were admirers of Cimon and opposed to the policy of Pericles, their accounts have to be received with caution. (J. G. FR. ) PERIDOTE, a name applied by jewellers to the green transparent varieties of olivine. When yellow, or yellowish- green, the stone is generally known as &quot; chrysolite.&quot; The colour of the peridote is never vivid, like that of emerald, but is usually some shade of olive-, pistachio-, or leek-green. Although sometimes cut in rose-forms and en cabochon, the stone displays its colour most advantageously when it is worked in small steps. Unfortunately the peridote is the very softest of gem-stones, its hardness being only about 6 5, or but little above that of glass ; hence the stone, when polished, rapidly loses its lustre, and readily suffers abrasion by wear. There is considerable difficulty in polishing the peridote ; the final touch is given on a copper wheel moistened with sulphuric acid, yet, curiously enough, the mineral is soluble in this medium. The peridote is a silicate of magnesium and iron, having a specific gravity of about 3 4, and crystallizing in the orthorhombic system (see fig. 468, MIXERALOGY, vol. xvi. p. 410). Good crystals, 1 There were ten generals at Athens annually elected by the votes of the people. They seem to have had civil as well as military duties, and the importance of tlie office must have increased in proportion to the degradation of the offices which were filled by lot. After the ostracism of Thucydides Pericles was elected to the office again and again. 2 Pint., Per., 18, 33, 38; Rey. et imp. Apopli. ; Prascept. c/er. Reip., xvii. 4. 3 Pausan., i. 29, 3 ; cp. Cic., De Fin., v. 2. however, are extremely rare, the mineral being usually found as rolled fragments. The localities for peridote and chrysolite are Egypt, Ceylon, Pegu, and Brazil, while the dull varieties of olivine enjoy a world-wide distribution in various eruptive rocks and in serpentine. Olivine is found also in meteorites. There can be little doubt that the ancient &quot; topazion &quot; was our peridote or chrysolite, and that the mineral now called topaz was unknown to ancient and media:val writers. The earliest mention of the word &quot; peridote &quot; is said to occur in the Wardrobe Book of 27 Edward I., where, among the jewels of the bishop of Bath and Wells which had escheated to the crown, mention is made of &quot;unus annulus auri cum pereditis.&quot; The origin of the word has given rise to much speculation, some authorities deriving it from TrepiSoTos, &quot;a wager,&quot; and others from Trepukros, &quot; banded,&quot; while others, again, refer it to an Arabic origin. For the history of the stone see King s Natural History, Ancient and Modern, of Prccioiis Stones, 1865. PERIGORD, an old province of France which formed part of the military government of Guienne and Gascony, and was bounded N. by Angoumois, E. by Limousin and Quercy, S. by Agenais and Bazaclais, and W. by Bordelais and Saintonge. It is now represented by Dordogne and part of Lot-et-Garonne. The capital was PERIGUEUX (&amp;lt;/* ) PERIGUEUX, formerly capital of Perigord, now chief town of the department of the Dordogne, France, situated on the slope of an eminence commanding the right bank of the Isle, one of the tributaries of the Dordogne. It is 310 miles by rail south-south-west of Paris and 79 miles east-north-east of Bordeaux. Perigueux is divided into three distinct parts. In the middle, on the slope of the hill, is the town of the Middle Ages, with narrow, crooked, and dirty streets, above which rises the cathedral of St Front ; higher up comes the modern town, its houses separated by gardens and public walks ; and at the foot of the hill and lying along the Isle are small houses of modern con struction, built on the fine ruins of the Roman town. Three bridges connect Perigueux with the left bank of the Isle, where stood Vesunna, the capital of the Petrocorii. Hardly a trace of this old Gallic oppiclum remains, but not far off, on the Plateau de la Boissiere, the rampart of the old Roman camp, 1970 feet long and half as wide, is still to be recognized. On the right bank of the Isle, in the Roman city, there have been discovered some baths of the 1st or 2d century, which had a frontage of 200 feet, and were supplied by an aqueduct 4 miles long, which spanned the Isle. In several places numerous mosaics have been found, some of which have been placed in the museum. A circular building, called the &quot; Tower of Vesunna,&quot; 68 feet in diameter and 89 feet in height, stands at what was formerly the centre of the city, where all the chief streets met. It is believed to have been originally the cella or main part of a temple, of which the peristyle has disappeared, prob ably dedicated to the tutelary deities of Vesunna. Of the amphitheatre there still remain huge fragments of wall built of pebbles and cement, staircases, vomitories, and partly uncovered vaults. The building, which held 40,000 spectators, had a diameter of 1312 feet, that of the arena being 876 feet ; judging from its construction it must be as old as the 3d or even the 2d century. The counts of Perigueux used it for their chateau, and lived in it from the 12th to the end of the 14th century. In 1644 it was given over by the town to the Order of the Visitation, and the sisters took from it the stones required for the con struction of their nunnery. At present it is private pro perty. The most remarkable, however, of the ruins of old Vesunna is the Chateau Barricre. It rests on stones of great size, and dates in part from a very remote period. Two towers date from the 3d or 4th century, and formed part