Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/83

* PISISTRATTJS. 61 PISTACIA. the most significant being that of the water sup- ply. He purified Delos, the great shrine of the Ionian race, bj' removing all bodies buried with- in the sacred precinct. lie made the Athenian religious festivals, in particular the great Pana- thenaic festival, more magnificent than they had ever been before. He had a new edition of the Homeric poems prepared by poets and scholars resident at his court. PI'SO. A Roman family of the plebeian gens Calpurnia. The agnomina of the family were Frugi and Ctesonius. Its more important mem- bers are named below: Luciis Calpurnius Piso Fkugi, in B.C. 149, as tribune of the plebs, brought up the first law against extortion {Lex Calpurnia de Repetundis) ; in 133 was consul, and fought in the Servile War in Sicily, and was censor in 120. He opposed the reforms of the Gracchi. He is best known as author of an annalistic history of Rome down to his own time, of which a few fragments are publish- ed in Peter's nistoricorum Romanormn Re- liquice, vol. i. (Leipzig, 1870). — Lucius Cal- PURNius Piso C.esoninus was the father-in-law of Julius C.-Bsar, and in 58 became consul as a tool of the triumvir. He supported C'lodiiis against Cicero, banished the latter, and was twice vehemently attacked by him for vicious administration of the Province of Macedonia. Having become censor in .50. Piso attempted to mediate between Cicsar and the aristocratic party, but was unsuccessful, and failing to join Csesar in the Civil War, now won Cicero's hearty approbation. After Ca'sar's murder Piso seems to have sided with Antony. — His son, who bore the same name ( B.C. 48-a.d. 32 ), was high in the favor of Augustus and Tiberius : held the consulship (B.C. 1.5), and as prefect of the city (A.D. 17) was highly praised by Velleius Pa- terculus. — Gn-EUs Calpurnus Piso was consul with Tiberius (B.C. 7), and became his tool to check and harass Germanicus in the East, re- ceiving the command of Syria (■.D. 18). He and his wife, Plancina, were suspected of poison- ing Germanicus; Piso was abandoned by Ti- berius, on whose orders he had acted, and in A.D. 20 committed suicide. — G.'Vius Calpurxius Piso, a brilliant and popular young man. was robbed (A.D. 37) of his new'ly married wife by Caligula and banished by that Emperor. ITndcr Nero he joined a conspiracy to murder the tyrant ; on its discovery he opened his veins and died. He may he the Piso addressed in the paneg^•ric De Laiide Pisonis. — The last Piso to attain fame was Lucius Calpurxius Piso Licinianus, an adopted member of the family, who was named by Galba as his suc- cessor to the Empire, and was killed when Otho came to the throne (a.d. 09). PISSARO, pe'sa'nV. Camille (c.1830-1903). A French landscape and figure painter and etcher, born in Normandy, and the pupil of Melbye and Corot. He was already well known as a painter of Normandy landscape when the 'Impressionist' movement began, about IS74. He joined the in- novators and went with Monet to England, where he was infiuenced by Turner. Kor a time he was head of the off-shoot from the ■Impressionists,' called the 'Possibilistes,' but afterwards his style became more general again. Like Monet, he is a painter of simshine, and by preference sunshine in Normandy, and. like Millet, he is the painter of the peasant end the field. Afterwards, he also painted the boulevards and the Parisians, always bathed in light and fresh with vibrant color. His works in the Luxembourg include "Les toils rouges," "Potagers," "Chemin montant i> travers champs," "La brouette," "La moisson," ■■('lieniins sous bois." and "Le lavoir." PISSELEU, pes'le', A.XNE DE, Duchess d'Es- tanipe™ I or Ktampes). See Estampes. PISTACHE, pis-tash'. A genus of trees. See PiSTAl lA. PISTACIA (Lat., from Gk. TrurrdKTj, pistake, pistacliio-tree. from Pers. pistu, pistachio-nut). A genus of trees of the natural order Anacardia- ceae, having dicecious flowers without petals and a dry drupe with a bony stone which splits into two valves when ripe, exposing the bright green oleaginous kernel, which is used to flavor culi- nary preparations, ices, etc. The pistacia or pistachio tree (Pistacia vera), a native of Persia and Syria, but now cultivated in Southern Eu- rope and Northern Africa, and in many places naturalized, attains a height of about 20 feet, has pinnate leaves, flowers in racemes, ovate fruit about the size of an olive. In the south of Eu- rope and in the East, pistachio-nuts, sometime* pisTACHio-miTS (Pistacia). called green almonds, are much esteemed, and are exported to some extent, although they very readily become rancid. Oil is expressed from them for culinary and other uses. In cultivation one male tree is allowed to five or six fertile ones. The mastic tree, or lentisk (Pistacia lentiscus), yields the gum resin called mastic (q.v.). It is a native of the countries around the Mediter- ranean. The turpentine tree (Pistacia tercbin- thns) yields the turpentine (q.v.) known in com- merce as Cyprus turpentine. Chian turpentine, or Seio turpentine, which resembles honey in consistency, is greenish yellow, pleasant- smelling and mild-tasting, and in its properties resembles the turpentine of the pines, but lacks acridity. The tree is about 30 or 35 feet in height, has pinnate leaves, of about three pairs of leaflets and an odd one; flowers in compound racemes; and nearly globular fruit. The kernel of the fruit is oleaginous and plea.sant. The batouni tree (Pistacia athintioi), a round-headed tree of about 40 feet in height, a native of (be north of Africa, produces a fruit much used by the Arabs, and a gum resin of pleasant aromatic smell and agreeable taste. This is chewed to clean the teeth and sweeten the breath. The fragrant oil of the kernels of Pistacia oleosa, a