now the Po, anciently called Eridanus, especially by the Greeks; a river famous for the fable of Phaeton (Ovid). It rises in Mount Vesulus, in the Alpes Cottiae, from three springs, dividing the Cisalpine Gaul into the Transpadana and Cispadana, (Strab.) 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 months, into the Adriatic (Mela). The lake through which it discharges itself into the sea, is called by the natives the Seven Seas.

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 pecan primus, secundus, &c.

The pecan primus consists of one long syllable and three short ones, or a trochaean and pyrrhichius, as temporibus; the pecan secundus consists of a short syllable, a long, and two short, or an iambus and a pyrrhichius, as potentia; the pecan tertius consists of two short syllables, a long and a short one, or a pyrrhichius and a trochaean, as animatus; the pecan quartus consists of three short syllables and a long one, or a pyrrhichius and iambus, as celeritas.

PÆDEROTA, a genus of plants belonging to the pentandria class, and in the natural method ranking under the 30th order, Contortae. See Botany Index.

PÆDO BAPTISM; infant baptism, or that conferred on children: from anus, infant, and baptizare, baptism. This has been the subject of great controversy in the church. See Anabaptists, Baptists, &c.

PÆONIA, Piony, a genus of plants belonging to the polyandra class, and in the natural method ranking under the 26th order, Multisiliquae. See Botany Index.

PÆSTUM, called Posidonia by the Greeks, a town of Lucania, on the Sinus Positanus; an ancient colony prior to the first Punic war, according to Livy; but later, according to Velleius. Pestane rose were in great esteem, and produced twice a-year (Virgil, Ovid.)