PR^ESUS.
 

PP.AXITELLS.
 

 at its lofty situation, Praaneste was a cool ai d 1

 healthy residence in the great heats of summer i

 (frigidum Praneste, Hor., Carm., iii, 4, 22), and

 was therefore much frequented at that season

 by the wealthy Romans.  The remains of the

 ancient walls and  some other antiquities  are

 still to be seen at Palestrina.

   Vnmsuz [Hpalaog : llpalaiog), an inland town

 in the east of Crete, belonging to the Eteocre-

 tes, which was destroyed  by the neighboring

 town of Hicrapytna

   Pr-etoria Augusta    V,d Augusta, No. 4.

   [Pr-btuth, a people of Central Italy, who are

 often assigned to  Picenum, though they were

 of a different race from the Picentes.  Their ter¬

 ritory was fertile,  and celebrated for its  wine.

 The principal places in their land were  Inter-

 amna and Hadrm (now Atri) ]

   Pras (Jipug, gen. Hpavrbg:  Hpdvreg), a town of

 Thessaly, in the west of the district Phthiotis,

 on the northeastern slope of Mount Narthacius.

   PrasLe (Hpaatal: Hpantevg).   1. Or Prasia

 (Hpaala), a town of the Eleuthero-lacones, on

 the eastern coast of Laconia, was taken and de¬

 stroyed by the Athenians in  the second year of

 the  Peloponnesian war. — 2  (Now Prassa), a

 demus in Attica, south of Stina, belonging to

 the tribe Pandionis, with a temple of Apollo.

   Prasias Lacus (Upatrfac Xlpvn : now Takino),

 a lake in  Thrace,  between the Strymon and

 Nestus, and near the Strymonic Gulf, with silver

 mines in the neighborhood.

   Prasii,Pr^esii, and Parrhasii (npacrtot: San¬

scrit Prachinas, i.  e., people  of the Eastern coun¬

 try),  a great and powerful  people of India  on

 the Ganges, governed at the time of Seleucus

 I. by King  Sandrocottus   Their capital city

 was  Palibothra (now Patna); and the extent

 of the kingdom seems to  have embraced the

 whole valley of the Upper Ganges, at least as

 far down as that city.  At a later time the mon

 archy declined, so that in Ptolemy we only find

 the name as that of the inhabitants of a small

 district, called Prasiaca (HpaaiaKij),  about the

 River Soa.

   Prasodis  Mare  (Hpaadbi/^, xtaAaaoa or koX-

 ■irog), the southwestern part ofthe Indian Ocean,

 about the Promontory Prasum.

   Prasum (Hpdaov dnparripiov :  now Cape Del-

 gado), a  promontory on the  eastern coast of

 Africa, in  10J° south latitude, appears to have

 been the southernmost point to which the an¬

 cient knowledge of this eoast extended.

   Pratinas (Hparlvdg), one of the early tragic

 poets at Athens, whose comnined efforts brought

 the art to  its perfection, was a native of Phlius,

 and was therefore by birth a Dorian.  It is not

 stated at what time he went to Athens ,  hut he

 was older than Choarilus, and youngei than Ms-

 chylus, with both of whom he competed  for the

 prize about B.C 500.   The  step in the progress

 of the art which was ascribed to  Pratinas was

 the separation of the satyric from the tragic

 drama.  His plays were much esteemed.   Prat¬

 inas also  ranked  high among the lyric as well

 as the dramatic poets of his age.  He may, per¬

 haps, be considered to have  shared with his con¬

 temporary Lasus the honor of founding the Athe¬

 nian school of dithyrambic  poetry.   [The frag¬

 ments of Pratinas are contained in Wagner's

  Traric. Grasc  Fragm , p. 7-10.]

           45
 

  Praxagoras (Hpatjaybpag), a celebrated pn/si-

cian, was a native of tbe island of Cos, and lived

in the fourth century B.C.  He belonged to the

medical sect  of the Dogmatici, and was cele¬

brated for his knowledge of medical science in

general, and especially for his attainments in

anatomy and physiology.

  Praxias (npufmc), an Athenian  sculptor o'

the age of Phidias, but of the more archai

school  of Calamis, commenced the executio.i

of the  statues  in the pediments of the grea

temple of Apollo at Delphi, but died while he

was still  engaged upon  the  work.  His  date

may be placed about B C. 448 and onward.

  Praxidice (HpaitoiKn), i e , the goddess who

carries out the objects of justice,  or watches

that justice is done to men.  When Menelaus

i.-rived in Laconia, on his return from Troy, he

set  up a statue of Praxidice near Gytheum, not

far  from the spot where Paris, in carrying off

Helen, had founded a sanctuary of Aphrodite

(Venus) Migonitis   Near Haliartus, in Bceotia,

we  meet with  the worship of Praxidicae, in the

plural: they were here called  daughters of Ox

yges, and their names were Alalcomenia,Thelx-

incea, and Aulis.   In the Orphic poets Praxidice

seems to be a  surname of Persephone (Proser¬

pina)

  Praxilla (Hpbt;iX.Xa), of Sicyon, a lyric poet

ess, who flourished about B.C. 450, and was one

of the  nine poetesses who were distinguished

as the Lyric Muses. Her scholia were among tha

most celebrated compositions of that species.

She belonged  to the Dorian school of lyric po¬

etry, but there were also traces of ^Eolic influ¬

ence in her rhythms,  and even in  her dialect

[The fragments of her poems are given in Praz*

ilia Gracanica vatis qua extant residua, Upsala,

1826 ;  and are found also in the collections t,(

Schneidewin an-J Bergk.]

  Praxipb? nes (HpaS-itpdvng), a Peripatetic phi¬

losopher,  a  native either  of Mytilene or of

Rhodes, was a pupil of Theophrastus, and lived

about B.C. 322.   Epicurus is said to have beep

one of his. pupils.  Praxiphanes paid especial

attention  to grammatical studies, and is hence

named  along with Aristotle as the  founder and

creator of the science of grammar

   Praxiteles (npajireAw), one ofthe most dis¬

tinguished artists of ancient Greece, was both

a statuary in bronze and a sculptor in marble

We know nothing of his personal history, ex¬

cept that he  was a citizen, if not  a native, of

Athens, and that his career as an artist was in¬

timately connected with that city.  He  prob¬

ably flourished  about  B.C. 364 and onward

Pi axiteles stands, with  Scopas, at the head of

the later Attic school, so called in contradistinc¬

tion to the earlier Attic school of Phidias.  With¬

out attempting those sublime  impersonations

of  divine  majesty in which Phidias had been  sn

inimitably successful, Praxiteles  was unsur¬

passed  in the exhibition of the softer beauties

of  the  human form, especially in  the female

figure.  The most celebrated work of Praxit

eles was his  marble statue of Aphrodite (Vf-

 nus), which was distinguished from other stat

 uesof the goddess by the name ofthe Cnidkins,

 who purchased it.  It was always esteemed the

 most perfectly beautiful of the statues of tha

godf'ess.  Many made the voyage to Cnidus e*

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