Ponce,

He

siderable estates and influence, and there raised an army of three legions, with which he successfully opposed the forces of the Marian party, compelling them to quit the district, and effecting a junction with Sulla. During the rest of the war he behaved with great prudence and valor, and with such remarkable success, that, on the restoration of peace in Italy, the conduct of the war against the remains of the Marian faction in Africa and Sicily was intrusted to him. He speedily performed his commission, and on his return to Rome was honored with the name of MAGNUS (i.e., "the great"), and with a triumph, which, for one who had not yet held any public office, and was merely an eques, was an unprecedented distinction. His next exploits were the reduction of the followers of Lepidus, whom he drove out of Italy, and the extinction of the Marian party in Spain, led on by the brave Sertorius. This latter work was one of no small difficulty. Pompey suffered some severe defeats at the hands of Sertorius, and it was only after Sertorius had been assassinated that he was able to put an end to the war. In returning to Italy after an absence of five or six years in Spain, he fell in with and defeated the remnants of the army of Spartacus, and thus claimed the credit of concluding the Servile war. He was now the idol of the people, and though legally ineligible to the consulship, was elected to that important office for the year 70, the senate relieving him of his disabilities rather than provoke him to extremities. Hitherto Pompey had. belonged to the aristocratic party; but, as he had of late years been looked upon with suspicion by some of the leading men, he publicly espoused the people's cause. carried a law restoring the tribunician power to the people, and aided largely in introducing the bill of Aurelius Cotta (lex Aurelia), that the judices should for the future be taken from the senate, the equites, and the tribuni aerarii, instead of from the senate alone. In 67-66 B.C. Pompey performed a noble service to the republic in clearing the Mediterranean of the pirates who infested it in immense numbers; and during the next four years, 65-62, he conquered Mithridates, king of Pontus, Tigranes, king of Armenia, and Antiochus, king of Syria. At the same time he subdued the Jewish nation, and captured Jerusalem. On his return to Italy he disbanded his army, and entered Rome in triumph for the third time in 61 B.C. And now his star began to dim. Henceforward we find him distrusted by the aristocracy, and second to Cæsar in popular favor. After his return he was anxious that his acts in Asia should be ratified by the senate, and certain lands apportioned among his veteran soldiers. But the senate declined to accede to his wish, and he therefore formed a close intimacy with Cæsar, who promised to secure for him the accomplishment of his objects, if he in turn would assist Cæsar in the attainment of his aims. Crassus, who possessed enormous wealth, and who in consequence exercised a wide influence at Rome, was induced to forego his grudge to Pompey, and thus these three men formed among themselves that coalition which is commonly called "the first triumvirate," and which for a time frustrated all the efforts of the aristocratic party. This small oligarchy carried all before them; Pompey's acts in Asia were ratified; Cæsar's designs were all gained; his agrarian law, distributing land in Campania among the poorer citizens was passed, and thus, too, Pompey's promises to his troops were fulfilled. Cæsar's daughter, Julia, was given in marriage to Pompey, and private relationship was thus made to bind tighter the tie of political interest. And now, for some years following, Cæsar was reaping laurels in Gaul, and rising higher in popular esteem as a warrior and statesman, while Pompey was idly wasting his time and his energies at Rome. But Pompey could not bear a rival. Jealousies sprang up; Julia died in 54 B.C., and thus father-in-law and son-in-law were sundered by a yet wider gulf, which no bridge could span. Pompey now returned to his former friends, the aristocracy, whose great desire was to check Cæsar's views, and strip him of his command. Cæsar was ordered to lay down his office and return to Rome, which he consented to do, provided Pompey, who had an army near Rome, would do the same. The senate insisted on an unconditional resignation, and ordered him to disband his army by a certain day, otherwise he would be declared a public enemy. To this resolution two of the tribunes in vain objected; they therefore left the city and cast themselves on Cæsar for protection. It was on this memorable occasion that he crossed the Rubicon, and thus defied the senate and its armies, which were under Pompey's command. The events of the civil war which followed have been recorded in the life of Cæsar (q.v.). It remains only to mention, that after being finally defeated at Pharsalia in 48 B.C., Pompey escaped to Egypt, where, according to the order of the king's ministers, he was treacherously murdered by a former centurion of his own, as he was landing from the boat. His head was cut off, and afterward presented to Cæsar on his arrival in Egypt. But Cæsar was too magnanimous to delight in such a sight. The murderer of Pompey was, by his orders, put to death. The body lay on the beach for some time, but was at length buried by a freedman, Philippus, who had accompanied his master to the shore.

POMPEY, SEXTUS, B.C. 75–35; second son of Pompey the great, and called Pompey the younger; celebrated in Roman history for his resistance to Antony and Octavius. Hearing of the death of his father he fled, finally escaping to the borders of the Lacetani, and rallying in the mountain fastnesses a gang of banditti. He applied to the Roman senate for the restitution of his father's property which had been confiscated. He received a large sum of money from the public treasury and the title of commander of the seas. Marching southward he crushed all opposition, took possession of Botica,

and assumed the state and authority of a sovereign. When he learned, B.C. 43, that a second triumvirate was formed, and that he was among the proscribed, he resorted to piracy, his mariners boarded traffickers, and Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily fell into his power. Rome was reduced to the point of starvation by his interception of their cornships; the people compelled Antony and Octavius to negotiate a peace. A treaty was concluded advantageous to Sextus. Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and Achaia were given him, and he was promised the consulship the following year. But hostilities were soon resumed, and in 36 a Roman squadron under Agrippa destroyed his fleet off Naulochus. Pompey fled, but after a few months was overtaken by Titus, carried to Miletus, and put to death.

POMPEY'S PILLAR. The name of a celebrated column standing in the neighbor hood of Alexandria. It stands upon an eminence about 1800 ft. s. of the walls. It is a monolith of red granite, and of the Corinthian order, and stands upon a pedestal. Its total height is 98 ft. 9 in.; shaft, 73 ft.; 29 ft. 8 in. in circumference. The shaft is well executed. On the summit is a circular depression for the base of a statue, which in some old drawings is represented standing on it. The name popularly applied to it of Pompey's pillar is an erroneous appellation given by ancient travelers, who confess they do not know whence it was derived, and still retained. The inscription on the base, however, shows that it was erected by Publius, prefect of Egypt, in honor of the emperor Diocletian, who is styled upon it "the invincible;" and it is supposed to record the conquest of Alexandria by Diocletian, 296 A.D., and the suppression of the rebellion of the pretender Achilleus. It appears to have been in the vicinity of a circus, forum, or gymnasium. The obelisk stood upon some fragments of Egyptian monuments of remote antiquity, consisting of a piece with the name of a monarch of the 13th Egyptian dynasty, and another with that of Psammitichus I., the former of which is now in the British museum.-Wilkinson's Modern Egypt, i. p. 149 and foll.; White, Egyptiaca, p. 1, and foll.; Champollion-Figeac, L'Egypte, p. 472; Norden, i. p. 22. POMPONIUS MELA. See MELA.

PONANI, or PANIANI, a sea-port t. of British India, in the district of Malabar, on the s. side of an estuary of a river of the same name, about 600 m. s.e. from Bombay. The river is navigable only for canoes to the distance of 63 m. from the sea. The population is employed in fishing and in trade, having numerous patemars, or sea-going boats. Ponani was formerly a much more considerable place, until nearly ruined by the oppression of Tippoo sultan. Under the system of railways by which the Madras territories are traversed, the eastern and western coasts of this part of the peninsula have been united by a line from Ponani to Madras. Pop. 12,000.

PONCAS, a tribe of Dakota Indians, originally a part of the Omahas. They formerly lived on the Red River of the North, but were constantly attacked by the Sioux, who drove them from place to place, until greatly reduced in numbers, when they left the region of the Missouri and settled on the Ponca river, where they built a fortified village. In Mar., 1858, they sold their land to the government, a valuable tract lying between Iowa creek and White river. They removed to a reservation near the Yanktons; here they were again attacked by the Sioux, which disturbance, accompanied by the failures of their crops, caused them to become dissatisfied, and a new treaty was made in Mar., 1865, which gave them 756,000 acres of land near the mouth of the Niobrara river, from which they were afterward transferred to the Indian territory, where a majority now voluntarily remain and are increasing in numbers and prosperity.

PONCE DE LEON, FRAY LUIS, a celebrated Spanish poet, was b. in 1527, probably at Granada. In 1544 he entered the order of St. Augustine, at Salamanca, where he studied, took his degree in theology in 1560, and was appointed professor of the same in 1561. The reputation that he acquired as a learned commentator on the Bible induced some persons, who were envious of his success, to accuse him of having disregarded the prohibition of the church, inasmuch as, at the request of a friend, he made a new translation of the Song of Solomon, and brought out prominently, in his arrangement of the verses, the true character of the original-viz., that of a pastoral eclogue. This interpretation was not that adopted by the Catholic church, and Ponce de Leon was summoned, in 1572, before the formidable tribunal of the inquisition at Valladolid to answer the charges of Lutheranism, and of translating the sacred writings contrary to the decrees of the council of Trent. The first accusation he quickly disposed of-for he had in reality no inclination to a foreign Protestantism; but the second was undoubtedly true, and Ponce de Leon was imprisoned. After five years he was released through the intervention of powerful friends, and was even reinstated in his chair at the university with the greatest marks of respect. The numerous auditory that assembled to witness the resumption of his lectures were electrified when Ponce de Leon began with these simple words, "As we observed in our last discourse"-thus sublimely ignoring the cause and the duration of his long absence from his lecture-room. In 1580 Ponce de Leon published a Latin commentary on the Song of Solomon, in which he explained the poem directly, symbolically, and mystically; and, therefore, as obscurely, says Mr. Ticknor, "as the most orthodox could wish." Ponce de Leon lived 14 years after his restoration to liberty, but his terror of the inquisition never quite left him, and he was very cautious

Pongo.

in regard to what he gave to the world during his lifetime. He died in 1591. Ponce de Leon's poetical reputation was wholly posthumous, for though his De los Nombros de Christo (On the Names of Christ) (Salamanca, 1583-85), and La Perfecta Casada (The Perfect Wife) (Salamanca, 1583), are full of imagery, eloquence, and enthusiasm, yet they are in prose. His poetical remains were first published by Quevedo at Madrid in 1631, under the title, Obras Proprias, y Traduciones Latinas, Griegas, y Italianas: con la Paraphrasi de Algunos Salmos y Capitulos de Job, and have since been often reprinted. These consist of translations from Virgil's Eclogues and the Georgics; from the Odes of Horace, and other classical authors, and from the Psalms. His original poems are few, but they are considered among the most precious in the author's language, and have given Ponce de Leon a foremost place among the Spanish lyrists. According to Ticknor, "Luis de Léon had the soul of a Hebrew, and his enthusiasm was almost always kindled by the reading of the Old Testament. Nevertheless, he preserved unaltered the national character. His best compositions are odes composed in the old Castilian versification, with a classic purity and a vigorous finish that Spanish poetry had never till then known, and to which it has with difficulty attained since." See Nicholas Antonio, Bibliotheca His pana Nova; Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature; and Villemain, Essais sur la Poésie Lyrique.

PONCE DE LEON, JUAN, 1460-1521; b. Spain; belonged to an ancient family, and was a page to Ferdinand V., and also served in the wars against the Moors of Granada. He sailed with Columbus on his second voyage to Hispaniola in 1493, and became com. mander of the eastern province. In 1508 he sailed on an expedition to Porto Rico, and à year later, having conquered the island, became governor of it, and ruled with great rigor until his removal, which was effected through the influence of the family of Columbus. In 1512, advanced in years, but with his love of adventure still unquenched, he sailed from Porto Rico in search of the mythical fountain of youth, which was supposed to exist in the Bahamas, whither Ponce de Leon sailed, and having failed in find ing it, set sail for Florida, where he arrived on Easter Sunday. The banks were covered with beautiful foliage intermingled with flowers, and he took possession of the peninsula, in the name of his sovereign, and called it Florida. He still continued his search for the famous fountain along the coast, and also on the Tortugas, and finally returned to Porto Rico, leaving another to continue the search. He returned to Spain in 1513, and received the appointment of governor of Florida, and in 1521 undertook to colonize it, but being wounded by one of the natives, returned to Cuba, where he died.

PONCHO, an important article of male attire in Chili. It consists of a piece of woolen cloth, 5-7 ft. long, 3-4 ft. broad, having in the middle a slit through which the wearer passes his head, so that the poncho rests upon the shoulders, and hangs down before and behind. In the fashions of recent times, the poncho has been introduced in Europe.

POND, ENOCH, D.D., b. Mass., 1791; graduated at Brown university, 1813; studied theology with Dr. Emmons; was ordained in 1814, and settled as pastor of the Congregational church at Auburn, Mass., where he remained until 1828, when he became con ductor of the Spirit of the Pilgrims, a monthly religious magazine in Boston. In 1832 he was elected professor of theology in the seminary at Bangor, Me.; in 1856 became president of the institution, professor of ecclesiastical history, and lecturer on pastoral duties. Dr. P. published reviews of Judson on Baptism; Monthly Concert Lectures; Memoirs of President Davies; Memoir of Susanna Anthony; Memoir of Count Zuizendorf; Memoir of John Wickliffe; Morning of the Reformation; No Fellowship with Romanism; The Young Pastor's Guide; The Mather Family; The World's Salvation; Pope and Pagan, or Middleton's Celebrated Letters; Swedenborgianism Reviewed; Plato: his Life, Works, Opinions, and Influence; Review of Bushnell's God in Christ; The Ancient Church; Memoir of John Knox; Lectures on Christian Theology; Lectures on Pastoral Theology; Sermons; and numerous articles in the Bibliotheca Sacra, Biblical Repository, and many other periodicals. He d. 1882.

POND, JOHN, 1767–1836; studied at Maidstone grammar-school, and Trinity coll., Cambridge. Having, on account of ill-health, spent several years abroad, he settled on his return at Westbury, near Bristol, where he remained till 1807. While here he made observations proving that the quadrant then at Greenwich for the determination of declinations had changed its form since the time of Bradley in 1750, a result which Troughton verified by actual measurement. In 1807 he returned to London, and in 1811 succeeded Dr. N. Maskelyne as astronomer royal. He is the inventor of the method of observing in groups, and was the first astronomer who advocated what is now the universal practice of depending on masses of observations for all fundamental data. In 1833 he completed a standard catalogue of 1113 fixed stars. His works are the volumes of the Greenwich observatory, published during his astronomership; various papers in the Transactions of the royal and royal astronomical societies; translation of the Système du Monde of Laplace. He received a pension in 1835.

PONDICHERRY, the chief of the French settlements in India, situated in the district of South Arcot, in the Madras presidency. The other French establishments are Mahé in Malabar, Karikal (q.v.) in Tanjore, Yanaon in Godavari, and Chandernagore (q.v.) in

Bengal. The extent of the united territories is given by M. Block at 188 sq.miles. Pondicherry is situated on the Coromandel coast in 11° 56' of n. lat., and 79° 54' of e. long., and is 88 m. from Madras. The territory of Pondicherry is divided into three districts-Pondicherry, Vellenore, and Bahour-has an area of 107 sq.m., and comprises 92 villages. The total population of the French establishments in India in 1840 was reckoned at 171,217; in 1880 it amounted to 283,022. The population of the town of Pondicherry is about 50,000. Its exports (indigo, cotton, skins, nuts, oils, etc.) and imports amount in value to about £600,000 annually. Pop. of district of Pondicherry about 90,000. The town stands on a sandy plain, and is divided by a canal into a European and a native town. It has a handsome square, where are the governor-general's house, the Catholic cathedral, and the bazaar. In Pondicherry is the high court for the French possessions in Asia, a European college, and an Indian school. The open roadstead is defended by a citadel, and possesses a light-house; and from it mail steamers sail for Europe, Madras, etc. The governor of Pondicherry is governor-general of the French possessions in India. The spinning of cotton and the fabrication of cotton-thread are the chief manufactures in French establishments.

History.-The first settlement of the French in India was at Surat, in 1668. The chief of the French East India company at that time was Carou. Subsequently he took Trincomalee from the Dutch; but they were not long in repossessing themselves of it. Carou then turned to the Coromandel coast. In 1672 he took from the Dutch St. Thomé, a Portuguese town (now a suburb of Madras); but two years later the Dutch retook this place also. It was then that François Martin collected about 60 Frenchmen and settled them in Pondicherry, which, in 1674, he had purchased, with the surrounding territory, from Giugee, who had the supervision of all Sivaje's conquests in the country. The Dutch took the town in 1693; but by the treaty of Ryswick it was restored to the French in 1697. Chandernagore was ceded to the French in 1688 by Aurungzebe. In 1727 they obtained the cession of Mahé; in 1739 they purchased Karikal from the king of Tanjore; and in 1752 Yanaon was ceded to them. Dupleix was governor of Pondicherry when war broke out between France and England, and in 1746 La Bourdonnais took Madras. In 1748 admiral Boscawen besieged Pondicherry, but two months later, was compelled to raise the siege. In the same year occurred the peace of Aix la Chapelle; but it did not put an end to hostilities in India till some time later. In 1757 war recommenced. In 1758 count de Lally became governor-general, and attacked the English settlement of fort St. David, which surrendered, and was totally destroyed. In 1761 Eyre Coote took Pondicherry. By the peace of Paris Pondicherry was restored to the French in 1763 with reduced territory, and also Mahé, Karikal, and Chandernagore. Pondicherry was again taken by the English under sir Hector Monro in 1778, and restored in 1783. In 1793 the English again repossessed themselves of it, but the treaty of Amiens in 1802 again restored it, but only till the following year. From this time it was held by the English till, by the treaties of 1814 and 1815, it was for the last time restored to France, reduced to the narrow limits assigned by the treaty of 1783.

Annexed is a statement exhibiting some particulars relative to such of the present French possessions in India subordinate to Pondicherry as are not noticed separately in this work:

YANAON, in the Godavari district, in 16° 43′ n. lat., and 83° 11′ 16" e. long., about 24 m. s. of Rajahmundry. The area is about 13 sq.miles.

MAHÉ in the Malabar district, in 11° 42′ n. lat., and 75° 36′ 16" e. long. The area is only about 24 sq.miles.

POND LILY. See WATER LILY.

PONDWEED, Potamogeton, a genus of plants of the natural order naiades, having hermaphrodite flowers, sessile upon a spike or spadix, which issues from a sheathing bract or spathe, a perianth of four scales, four sessile anthers opposite to the scales of the perianth, four pistils, which become four small nuts, and a curved embryo. The species abound chiefly in the rivers, lakes, and ditches of Britain and continental Europe, but they are found also in other parts of the world, and some of them in New Holland. They often present a beautiful appearance in clear streams and ponds, where they protect the spawn of fish and harbor aquatic insects, their seeds also affording food to aquatic birds. The roots are a favorite food of swans. Some of the species have. the leaves all submersed, others have some of their leaves floating, and considerably different in form from the submersed leaves.

PONGO, Simia or Pithecus Wormbi, an ape of the same genus with the orang (q.v.), but of much larger size, 6 ft. or more from the heel to the crown of the head, and ccvered with black hair, with which dark red hair is mingled. It is a native of Borneo, Sumatra, and probably of other neighboring islands, inhabiting the deepest recesses of the forests, and much more rarely seen by man than its congener the orang, which was at one time supposed by the most eminent naturalists to be the same species in a younger state. It is sometimes called the black orang. It has a very prominent muzzle, a large mouth, the face nearly naked, except the lower part, which has a beard. Little is yet known of the habits of the pongo. It is believed to feed chiefly on fruits. It possesses great strength, and, like the orang, is evidently adapted by its conformation for moving chiefly among the boughs of trees.

Pontiac.

of

PONIATOWSKI, a celebrated princely family of Poland, is of Italian origin, being directly descended from the family of the Torelli, whose ancestors were counts of Guastalla. One of the Torelli family having settled in Poland, assumed the name of Poniatowski from his wife's estate of Poniatow in that country. Those of the Poniatowski family who make a figure in history are PRINCE STANISLAS PONIATOWSKI, who, in the war of succession to the kingdom of Poland, joined Charles XII. of Sweden in supporting Stanislas Lesczynski; his sons, Stanislas-Augustus, the last king of Poland (q.v.), and ANDREW, who rose to great distinction in the Austrian service; and Andrew's son, JOSEPH-ANTONY, PRINCE PONIATOWSKI, the celebrated Polish chief in the army Napoleon. Joseph-Antony was born at Warsaw, May 7, 1762, and at the age of 16 entered the Austrian army, with which he made the Turkish campaign of 1787, and rose to the rank of col. of dragoons. In 1789 he returned to Poland, and was named commander-in-chief of the army of the south, having under him Kosciusko, Wielhorski, Lubomirski, and other celebrated leaders. His army, though much inferior in numbers to that of Russia, which, in 1792, invaded the country, gained the brilliant victories of Polonné and Zielencé; but Poniatowski's uncle, king Stanislas, by agreeing to the convention of Targowitz (q.v.), put an end to the contest in 1793. The prince then resigned his command, and went into voluntary exile; but returned in the following year to aid Kosciusko, now dictator, in his fruitless opposition to the third partition of Poland. On the proposal of Napoleon to reconstitute the kingdom of Poland, Poniatowski joined the French (1800) at the head of a Polish army, and did good service against the Russians at the battles of Golymin, Dantzic, and Friedland; but the French emperor, by the treaty of Tilsit, handed over Poland to its enemies, and only the duchy of Warsaw (nominally subject to the king of Saxony) was left intact. Poniatowski was appointed generalissimo and commander-in-chief for the duchy; and so zealously did he labor for the development of its military resources, that, in 1809, when the war between France and Austria was resumed, he was able to drive the Austrians out of the Polish territory, and overrun a considerable part of Galicia. He continued to administer the military affairs of the duchy till 1812, when he joined the French army, destined to invade Rus sia, with a Polish army of 100,000 men. But, to his intense disgust, the greater part of his army was broken up into detachments, which were incorporated with the various French legions, and Poniatowski was left with not more than 30,000 men under his direct command. At the head of this division, which always composed the extreme right of the French army, Poniatowski gathered innumerable laurels on the battle-field, and at the storming of the Russian fortresses; but he was so severely injured at Smolensko during the retreat that he was obliged to return to Warsaw (Dec., 1812). In the following autumn he resumed his old place in the French army, and on Oct. 16, received from the emperor the dignity of marshal of France, an honor, in his own estimation, much inferior to that of "generalissimo of the Poles," which he already possessed. After the defeat at Leipsic.(q.v.), Poniatowski was left with the remnant of his Polish division to protect the French retreat, which he accomplished by keeping the Prussians in check for several hours; at last, when his force was reduced to 300 men with 30 horses, and himself severely wounded, he retreated over the Pleisse, swimming his horse through the river; but, in attempting similarly to cross the Elster, exhausted nature could no longer bear up, and he sank to rise no more, Oct. 19, 1813. His body was recovered six days after, and was embalmed and carried to Warsaw, whence it was afterward removed to Cracow, and placed beside the ashes of Sobieski and Kos ciusko.

PONSARD, FRANCIS, 1814-67. A French dramatist b. in Vienna; educated for the bar, with tastes for poetical literature. In 1837 he translated Byron's Manfred into French, but it found few readers. While residing several years in Vienna he contributed to the Revue de Vienne. His first approved production was Lucrèce, which was hawked through Paris to find a reader among the literary judges for the stage in 1843, and finally in 1853 got a hearing through the friendship of Charles Renaud. Theatrical rivalries aided to secure it a brilliant reception, and it has since maintained its place among the best productions for the French stage. In 1846 he produced Agnes de Méranie, which was coldly received; in 1850 Charlotte Corday, which was popular; and followed that by a comedy entitled Horace et Lydie, which was completely successful. In 1853 his L'Honneur et l'Argent was brought out at the Odéon and had an unexampled run of popularity. It was remarked as forming an era in Parisian taste that a piece so pure and high in its tone should have a reception so continuously warm-it having run more than 100 consecutive nights without losing interest with the public. The poetic talent displayed in it is not of a high order; but in grace of diction, sustained interest, and intense sympathy created with the moral of the play, it is remarkable. In 1856 he produced the comedy of La Bourse, an excellent satire on the rage for speculation then just reaching fever heat in Paris; in 1866 the Lion Amoroux; and in 1867, shortly before his death, Galilée. Ponsard was made a member of the academy in 1855 soon after the pronounced success of L'Honneur et l'Argent.

PONT-À-MOUSSON, a t. of France, department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, on the railway from Nancy to Metz, 20 m. n.n.w. of the former of these towns. The Moselle flows through the town, which is situated in a fruitful valley. There is a fine Gothic church