(passus, from pando, I extend), the unit of itinerary measure among the Romans, consisting of 5 Roman feet. The passus, or double step, was distinguished from the gradus, or single step, in not being the distance from heel to heel when the feet are at their ordinary extension in walking, but the distance from the point which the heel leaves to that in which it is again set down. A thousand of such paces formed the mille passus, or Roman mile. The word passus was sometimes applied to the distance formed by the extension of the arms in the same straight line (the Greek ὁρίζων), which accounts for Pauction's derivation of the word a passis manibus, instead of a passis pedibus. The Roman "pace" was equal to about 58-1 English inches, or 4'8416 feet.

PACHECO, FRANCISCO, an eminent Spanish painter and historian of art, was born at Seville in 1571. His first lessons were received from Luis Fernandez; and from that time he was a busy and zealous student. He pored over the history of painting to learn the precepts and artistic usages of the ancient masters; the stray prints of Raphael that fell in his way were taken as models; and it became his custom never to execute a picture before making two or three studies of the heads and figures. The first engagements of the young artist were in decorative painting. In 1594 he adorned with figures and heraldic bearings the banners of the fleets of New Spain and the mainland; and in 1598 he executed in distemper some of the paintings on the monument erected on the occasion of the funeral honours of Philip II. By this time the peculiar style of Pacheco was beginning to appear and to be appreciated. His composition, though deficient in spirit and vigour, was simple and correct; his colouring, in spite of its harshness and dryness, was never glaringly unnatural; and if among the various provinces of art which he tried he did not shine in any, he made a respectable appearance in all. Accordingly, in the midst of other engagements, he was employed to paint some incidents from the life of St Raymond for the convent of Mercy in 1600, and the fable of Daedalus and Icarus for the palace of the Duke of Alcalá in 1603. It was not long after this that the busiest part of Pacheco's life began. Opening an academy of painting, he was soon engrossed with numerous pupils. At the same time he was expending great labour and patience on his masterpiece, "The Last Judgment," an immense work, which was completed in 1612. Nor did his appointment in 1618 to the office of inquisitor of art, by giving him new employments, lessen his old. More commissions poured in upon him