anciently called Eridanus, especially by the Greeks; a river famous for the fable of Phaeton (Ovid). It rises in Mount Velinus, in the Alpes Cottiae, from three springs, dividing the Cisalpine Gaul into the Transpadana and Cispadana, (Strabo); and swelled by other rivers falling into it on each side from the Alps and Apennines, it discharges itself with a course from west to east, at seven mouths, into the Adriatic (Mela). The lake through which it discharges itself into the sea, is called by the natives the Seven Seas. Now the Po.
a species of cherry. See PRUNUS, Botany Index.
PÆAN, among the ancient pagans, was a song of rejoicing sung in honour of Apollo, chiefly used on occasions of victory and triumph. See APOLLO.
PÆAN, in the ancient poetry, a foot consisting of four syllables; of which there are four kinds, the paean primus, fecundus, &c.
The paean primus consists of one long syllable and three short ones, or a trocheus and pyrrhichius, as temporious; the paean fecundus consists of a short syllable, a long, and two short, or an iambus and a pyrrhichius, as potentiæ; the paean tertius consists of two short syllables, a long and a short one, or a pyrrhichius and a trocheus, as animatus; the paean quartus consists of three short syllables and a long one, or a pyrrhichius and iambus, as celebritas.
PÆDEROSA, a genus of plants belonging to the pentandria clas, and in the natural method ranking under the 36th order, Coniferae. See Botany Index.
PÆDO BAPTISM: infant baptism, or that conferred on children; from παιδος, infant, and βαπτισμος, baptism. This has been the subject of great controversy in the church. See Anabaptists, Batists, &c.
PÆONIA, Piony, a genus of plants belonging to the polyandria clas, and in the natural method ranking under the 26th order, Multiflorae. See Botany Index.
PÆSTUM, called Posidonia by the Greeks, a town of Lucania, on the Sinus Petrinus; an ancient colony prior to the first Punic war, according to Livy; but later, according to Velleius. Pæstane rose were in great esteem, and produced twice a-year (Virgil, Ovid).