Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/187

Rh P L A P L A 177 of that renowned Venetian printer. He was now in a position to spare no expense in printing his books with all the cave he deemed necessary; and his editions of the Bible in Hebrew, Latin, and Dutch, his Corjms Juris, Latin and Greek classics, and many other works produced at this period are renowned for their beautiful execution and accuracy. A much greater enterprise was planned by him in those years the publication of a Jiiblia Polyglotta, which should fix the original text of Old and New Testaments on a scientific basis. In spite of clerical opposition he was supported by Philip II. king of Spain, who sent him the learned Benedictus Arias Montanus to take the leading part in the work of editorship. With his zealous help the work was finished in five years (1569-73, 8 vols. fol.). Plan tin earned much renown by it, but little profit, or rather less than none ; but in compensation he received the privilege of printing all liturgical books for the states of King Philip, and the office of &quot;prototypo- graphus regius,&quot; which carried with it the oversight over all printers in the Netherlands, a charge of which Plantin seems to have acquitted himself indifferently. This need not surprise us, when we know that Plantin, though out wardly a faithful son of the church, was till his death the partisan of a mystical sect of heretics; and it is now proved that many of their books published without the name of a printer came from his presses together with the missals, breviaries, etc., for the Roman Catholic Church. Besides the polyglott Bible, Plantin published in those years many other works of note, such as editions of St Augustine and St Jerome, the botanical works of Dodomeus, Clusius, and Lobelius, the description of the Netherlands by Guicciardini, itc. In 1575 his printing- office reckoned more than twenty presses and seventy-three workmen, besides a similar number that worked for the uffice at home. But soon there came bad times for Antwerp. In November 1576 the town was plundered and in part burnt by the Spaniards, and Plantin had to pay an exorbitant ransom. A great many inhabitants of the once flourishing city emigrated, and Plantin also thought of settling elsewhere. He established a branch of his office in Paris ; and when in 1583 the states of Holland sought a typographer for the newly erected university at Leyden, and invited him to occupy this place, he left his much reduced business in Antwerp to his sons- in-law John Moerentorf (Moretus) and Francis van Ravel- inghen (Raphelengius), and settled at Leyden. But he could not thrive, it seems, in Holland. When in 1585 Antwerp was taken by the prince of Parma and affairs became there more settled, he left the office in Leyden to Raphelengius and returned to Antwerp, excusing himself for having served the states of the revolted provinces by the difficulties of his situation. In Antwerp he laboured till his death on the 1st July 1589. His son-in- law, John Moretus, and his descendants continued to print many works of note &quot; in officina Plantiniana,&quot; but from the second half of the 17th century the house began to decline. It continued, however, in the possession of the Moretus family, which religiously left all the old things in the office untouched, and when in 1876 the town of Antwerp acquired the old buildings with all their contents, for 1,200,000 francs, the authorities were able with little trouble to create one of the most remarkable museums in existence (Musee Plantin, opened 19th August 1877). See Max Rooses, Christophc Plantin imprimcur Anvcrsois, Antwerp, 1882 ; Aug. de Backer and Ch. Ruelens, Annalcs dc Vimprimcrie Plantinienne, Brussels, 1865; Degeorge, La maison Plantin, 2d cd., Brussels, 1878. (P. A. T.) PLANTING. See ARBORICULTURE. PLASENCIA, a city of Spain and an episcopal see, in the north of the province of Caceres (Estremadura), is pleasantly situated on the right bank of the Xerte or Jerte, a sub-tributary of the Tagus, and at the foot of the sierras of Bejar and Vera, continuations of the Guadarrama range. Industrially and commercially insignificant, the place has some interest for the artist and ecclesiologist on account of its fine walls, built in 1197 by Alphonso VIII. of Castile, and of its cathedral, begun in 1498, which is a favourable specimen of the ornate Gothic of its period, and also shows good examples of the workmanship of Berruguete, Aleman, and other artists. The population of the ayuntamiento was 7090 in 1877. The Hieronymite convent of Yuste, the scene of the last years of the emperor Charles V., lies about 24 miles to the westward, and is most conveniently reached from Plasencia. PLASTER OF PARIS. See GYPSUM. PLATA, LA. See ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. PLATA, RIO DE LA. See PLATE RIVER, p. 187. PLATyEA, or PLATES, a celebrated city of ancient Greece, lay at the foot of the northern slope of Mount Cithaoron in Bouotia, about 6| miles by road south of Thebes, or a little over 5 geographical miles in a direct line. Its territory was separated from that of Thebes by the river Asopus. The Thebans claimed to have founded Plataia, but, however this may have been, Plata-a was always at feud with its more powerful neighbour. In 519 B.C. the Platseans, being hard pressed by Thebes, applied for help to the Spartan king Cleomenes, who advised them to place themselves under the protection of Athens. They did so, and Athens and Platsea were thenceforward fast friends. It was perhaps on this occasion that the Plataeans were granted that restricted citizenship of Athens which we know that they enjoyed at a later time. When Athens faced the Persians alone at Marathon, the Platieans to a man marched out to their help and shared in the victory (490 B.C.). From that day the names of Athens and Plattea were always associated in solemn prayers at Athens. Though dwellers in an inland town, and therefore ignorant of seamanship, the Platieans helped to man the Athenian ships at the sea fight with the Persians off Artemisium (480). In revenge the Persians burned Plataja. The great battle of Plateea, which finally secured the freedom of Greece against the Persians, was fought on the uneven and broken ground to the east and north of the town (September 479). After the battle the Greeks declared the city and territory of Platiea to be independent and inviolable. The Platseans undertook to bring annual offerings of food and raiment to the graves of those who had fallen in the battle ; and a festival of liberation (Eleutheria) was celebrated every fifth year. These offer ings continued to be brought, and the festival to be held, as late as the 2d century of our era. With the spoils of the Persian wars the Plateaus raised a temple of Athene the Warlike. 1 The Peloponnesian War began with an attempt of the Thebans to seize Platsea (431 B.C.). The attempt failed, but in 427, after a siege of about two years, the city was taken by the Peloponnesians and the garrison put to the sword. The bulk of the population had previously taken refuge in Athens. A year afterwards the Thebans razed the city to the ground, and built a large hospice close to the old temple of Hera, to whom they erected a new temple 100 feet long. In 421 the surviving Plateaus received from the Athenians the town of Scione in Macedonia as a residence, but they had no doubt to quit it at the end of the war (404). When the peace of Antalcidas was concluded between Greece and Persia (387) Platsea was restored, but a few years afterwards it was surprised and destroyed, except the temples, by the Thebans (about 373). The Platieans were again received 1 It was built, according to Plutarch (Arist. 20), after the battle of Platrea; accordiugto Pausanhs (ix. 4, 1), after the battle of Marathon.