Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/146

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

130 P A D P A D till after the first outbreak of the revolutionary forces, in the tribunate of Tib. Gracchus, which led ultimately to the overthrow of the republic. His epitaph, said to -have been composed by himself, is quoted by Aulus Gellius, with a tribute of admiration to its " modesty, simplicity, and line serious spirit." " Adulescens, tarn etsi properas, te hoc saxum rogat Uti se aspicias, delude quod scriptum st legas. I lie sunt poetie Pacuvi Marci sita Ossa. Hoc volebam nescius lie esses. Vale." 1 Cicero, who frequently quotes passages from him, with great admiration, appears to rank him first among the Roman tragic poets, as Eunius among the epic, and C.tcilius among the comic poets (Cic., De Opt. Gen. Or., 1). If a rough parallel might be drawn between the three great original Greek tragic poets and their three Roman imitators, we might perhaps recognize in the imaginative mysticism and soldierly spirit of Ennius an affinity to ^Eschylus, in the mellow wisdom of Pacuvius to Sophocles, and in the oratorical talent and power of moving the passions attributed to Accius a nearer approach to the genius of Euripides. The office performed by the Roman tragic poets to Roman culture M as not only to familiarize their countrymen with the creations of Greek genius, and the heroes and heroines of Greek legend, but to be the moral teachers and moral philosophers of a time before the introduction of definite ethical speculation. The fragments of Pacuvius quoted by Cicero in illustration or enforcement of his own ethical teaching appeal, by the fortitude, dignity, and magnanimity of the sentiment expressed in them, to what was noblest in the Roman temperament. They are inspired also by that fervid and steadfast glow of spirit which underlay the strong self-control of the Roman character, and which was the most powerful element in Roman oratory. They reveal also a gentleness and humanity of sentiment which it was the highest office of the new drama to blend with the severe gravity of the original Roman character. So far too as the Romans were capable of taking interest in speculative questions, the tragic poets contributed to stimulate curiosity on such subjects, and they anticipated Lucretius in using the conclusions of specula tive philosophy as well as of common sense to assail some of the prevailing forms of superstition. Among the passages quoted from Pacuvius are several which indicate a taste both for physical and ethical speculation, and others which expose the pretensions of religious imposture, e.g. " Xam Isti qui linguam avium intelligunt, Plusque ex alieno jecore sapiunt quam ex suo, Magis audiendum quam auscultanduiK censeo." 2 These poets -aided also in developing that capacity which the Roman language subsequently displayed of being an organ of oratory, history, and moral disquisition. The literary language of Rome was in process of formation during the 2d century B.C., and it was in the latter part of this century that the series of great Roman orators, with whose spirit Roman tragedy has a strong affinity, begins. But the new creative effort in language was accompanied by considerable crudeness of execution, and the novel word-formations and varieties of inflexion introduced by Pacuvius exposed him to the ridicule of the satirist Lucilius, and, long after wards, to that of his imitator Persius. But, notwithstanding the attempt to introduce an alien element into the Roman language, which proved incompatible with its natural genius, and his own failure to attain the idiomatic purity of Nsevius, Plautus, or Terence, the fragments of his dramas are sufficient to prove the service which he rendered to the formation of the literary language of Rome, as well as to the culture and character of his contem poraries. The best account of Pacuvius is to be found in the Romische Tragodie of 0. Ribbeck, and the best collection of his Fragments " in the Tragicorum Latin- orum RtUquix of the same author. (W. Y. S.) PADANG. See SUMATRA. PADERBORN, an ancient town of Prussia, the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, is situated in the province of Westphalia and district of Minden, 60 miles to the south west of Hanover. It derives its name (Latin, Paderx Fontes) from the springs of the Pader, a small affluent of the Lippe, which rise in or close to the town under the cathedral to the number of nearly two hundred, and with such force as to drive several mills within a few yards of their source. The most prominent building is the cathedral, 1 " Young man, though thou art in haste, this stone entreats thee to look at it, and then to read what is written. Here are laid the bones of the pot M. Pacuvius. This I desired to be not unknown to thee. Farewell. " 3 For they who understand the notes of birds, and derive their wisdom more from examining the livers of other beings than from their own (wit), I think should be rather heard than listened to." the western part of which dates from the llth, the central part from the 12th, and the eastern part from the 13th century. The exterior is imposing, but heavy, and marred by a want of harmony arising from the successive stages of its construction. Among other treasures of art it contains the silver coffin of St Liborius, a substitute for one which was coined into dollars in 1622 by Duke Christian of Brunswick. The externally insignificant chapel of St Bartholomew ranks among the most interest ing buildings in Westphalia, dating as it does from 1017, and possessing the characteristic features of the architec ture of that early period. The old Jesuit church and the chapel of the convent of Abdinghof are also interesting. The town-hall is a picturesque edifice of the Renaissance. Paderborn formerly possessed a university, with the two faculties of theology and philosophy, but it was closed in 1819. The Roman Catholic gymnasium, however, enjoys a considerable reputation, and there are several other schools, hospitals, and religious endowments, as well as an historical and antiquarian society. The manufactures of Paderborn are unimportant, but the trade in grain, cattle, fruit, and wool has attained considerable dimensions since the opening of the Westphalian railway. The popu lation in 1880 was 14,689 (12,602 Roman Catholics). Paderborn is indebted for its development to Charlemagne, who discerned the favourable situation of the village of Patrisbrunnen, and made it the capital of a bishopric. He frequently visited it, receiving the conquered Saxons heTe at a diet in 777 and at a later period the Saracen ambassadors from Saragossa and the suppliant Pope Leo III. Several diets were also held here by the Saxon emperors. About the year 1000 the town was enlarged by Bishop Meinwerk and surrounded with walls. It afterwards joined the Hanseatic League, received many of the privileges of a free imperial town, and endeavoured to assert its independence of the bishops. The citizens gladly embraced the doctrines of the Refor mation, but the older faith was re-established by Bishop Theodore, who took the town by force in 1604. The ecclesiastical princi pality of Paderborn, which had an area of close on 1000 square miles, was secularized in 1803 and handed over to Prussia. The bishop, however, was allowed to retain his spiritual jurisdiction. From 1807 to 1814 the territory was included in the kingdom of Westphalia. PADIHAM, a township of Lancashire, is situated in a wild and dreary district on the precipitous banks of the Calder, and on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, 5 miles south-east from Whalley and 4 north-east from Accrington. It possesses large cotton mills, and both stone and coal are wrought in the immediate neighbour hood. The church of St Leonard, founded before 1451, was frequently altered before it was rebuilt in 1866-68, in the Perpendicular style, at a cost of ,11,000. There is a national school connected with a very old endowment. Padiham in 1251 was a manor in the possession of Edmund de Laci. The population of the urban sanitary district of Padiham and Hapton (area 950 acres) in 1871 was estimated at 7361, and in 1881 it was 8974. PADILLA, JUAN LOPEZ DE, insurrectionary leader in the " guerra de las comunidades " in which the commons of Castile made a futile stand against the arbitrary policy of Charles V. and his Flemish ministers, was the eldest son of the commendator of Castile, and was born in Toledo towards the close of the 15th century. After the cities, by their deputies assembled at Avila, had vainly demanded the king s return, due regard for the rights of the cortes, and economical administration, to be entrusted to the hands of Spaniards, it was resolved to resort to force, and the " holy junta" was formed, with Padilla at its head. An attempt was first made to establish a national government in the name of the imbecile Joanna, who was then residing at Tordesillas ; with this view they took possession of her person, seized upon the treasury books, archives, and seals of the kingdom, and stripped Adrian of his regency. But the junta soon alienated the nobility