Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/770

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

746 P K I P = </?? fjusqni cst albi colon s (ib. 27). The ablative is joined to the nominative to express the instrument, the possession, the con sequence (sec above). It is used also with words of passive mean ing, e.g. , viduits pharetra, dignus mortc, and in comparisons (ib. 32). He then proceeds (in awkward language) to point out that the nominative which is joined to a verb remains unchanged, and either takes no oblique cases of another declinable word or only such as are construed with the verb, e.g., Terentius ambulat ; Ciesar vincit Pontjxium ; pater indulgct filio. But the nominative, which in consequence of the nature of the noun itself takes oblique cases, takes those cases, be its own case what it may ; e.g., victor Pompeii Ceesar interfectus cst a Bruto ; Victoria Pompeii Caesaris film fuit Julia; victori Pompeii Cxsari, &c. (ib. 35, 3(3). Similarly datives like curse, cordi, &c. , are used with all cases, e.g., cordi hominis for jucundi hominis (ib. 38; xi. 24). Priscian would have found it difficult to give an instance of this. The syntax of the verb follows. The infinite is taken first as the most general. Infinites are often joined to nouns, e.g., bonum cst legcre, and, by a beautiful figure, to adjectives, e.g., fort is bcllare; also to verbs and participles (xviii. 40-46). All verbs may be resolved into infinites, e.g., ambulo dico me ambulare, scribebam = scriberc cotpi. Hence avpit was sometimes omitted, e. g. , ego illud scdulo negare factum (ib. 48). Participials and supines have the same case as the verb ; verbal nouns in -dus have the same case as the nouns to which they are joined (ib. 61-63). All transitive verbs are joined either to a genitive or dative or accusative or ablative, e.g., egeo tui, insidior tibi, &c. Similarly participials or supines, e.g., miserendo tui moveor, nocitum tibi propero, nocitu tibi gaudct (ib. 61). An instance of the last would be hard to find. The uses of indicative, imperative, and optative moods are briefly treated. The subjunctive, which is the same in form as the optative (ib. 82), requires always to be joined to another mood or to another verb of the same mood. It is especially frequent with si, when expressing doubt and put for tdv (ib. 80). With the indica tive si used for ef shows confirmation and belief. In siqua id for - tuna vctabit, vetabit is put mctri gratia for vctet. The subjunctive expresses doubt or approval or possibility, e.g., doubt in eloquar an sileam, approval in si non pertsesum tJuilami tsedseque fuisset. where fuissct fftyovfi &pa. Ut and qui, qitse, quod, giving a reason or expressing a doubt, are often used with subjunctive (ib. 82-93). In discussing ut for Lva., his examples carefully give the same tense of the principal verb (whether indicative or subjunctive) as that of the dependent subjunctive, e.g. , doces ut jwoficias, doceres ut pro- ficcres, docuisti ut profeceris, docuisses ut prufccisses, docebis ut profcccris (future subjunctive). But he also notes that fecissem orfacerem are equally right with nisi impedires, and that faciam or fecero is used with either nisi impedias or impedires (ib. 101- 104). After then discussing the cases used after verbs according to the meaning of the verbs as transitive, passive, common, absolute (e.g., nibeo pudore), or expressing various affections of the body or mind (ib. 127-167), he proceeds to the long list of idioms spoken of above. Priscian s three short treatises dedicated to Symmaclius are on weights and measures, the metres of Terence, and some rhetorical elements. He also wrote De nomine, pronomine, et vcrbo (an abridg ment of part of his Institutiones), and an interesting specimen of the school teaching of grammar in the shape of complete parsing by question and answer of the first twelve lines of the sEneid (Par- titioncs xii. versuum JEneidos principalium). The metre is discussed first, each verse is scanned, and each word thoroughly and instruct ively examined. Its meaning, its form, its accent, its class, its other cases or tenses, its compounds and derivatives are all required from the pupil, as well as the rules to which they ought to conform. Such parsing, rarely, if ever, takes place in modern schools. A treatise on accents is ascribed to Priscian, but is rejected by modern writers on the ground of matter and language. He also wrote two poems, not in any way remarkable, viz., a panegyric on Anastasius in 312 hexameters with a short iambic introduction, and a faithful translation into 1087 hexameters of Dionysius s Pcriegesis or geogra phical survey of the world. A few passages have, says Benihardy, been altered by Priscian on account of their heathen contents. , . ., . . . . PEISCILLIANISTS, an heretical sect which rose to some prominence in Spain towards the end of the 4th century and continued to subsist, in varying numbers, there and in Gaul, until after the middle of the Gth. Its founder was Priscillian, a wealthy and influential layman of considerable reading and ability who had devoted his life to a self-denying study of the occult sciences and the deeper problems of philosophy. In the course of his speculations he came under the influence of two teachers, Elpidius and Agape, Avho professed to have derived their views from a certain Marcus, a native of Egypt who had settled in Spain. The creed which Priscilliau now formu lated appears to have combined various features of Gnosti cism and Manichseism : he seems, for example, to have held the theory of emanations high in rank among these being the heavenly powers whom he called by the name of the twelve patriarchs, and brought also into close relation with the signs of the zodiac the doctrine of the demiurge, the pre-existence of souls, the eternity of the devil, the essen tial sinfulness of the flesh, the unlawfulness of procreation, and the like. He and his followers retained their con nexion with the Catholic Church, insisting, however, on fasting on Sundays, and refusing the bread in the sacra ment : but they also held separate meetings in private at which they were accused by their adversaries (with what truth is not known) of practising magic and indulg ing in licentious orgies. Many women joined the sect, and among the more prominent of its converts were two bishops, named Instantius and Salvianus. Bishop Hyginus of Cordova, who had been the first to raise the alarm against the new doctrines and practices, himself soon afterwards joined the sect ; but through the exer tions of Idacius of Emerita the leading Priscillianists, who had failed to appear before the synod of Spanish and Aquitanian bishops to which they had been summoned, were excommunicated at Saragossa in October 380. The same synod passed certain canons against the heresy, and Ithacius of Ossonuba was charged with the publication of its decisions. Meanwhile, however, Priscillian was made bishop of Avila, and the orthodox party found it necessary to appeal to the emperor (Gratian), who issued an edict threatening the sectarian leaders with banishment. Pris cillian, Instantius, and Salvianus now passed through Gaul to Italy with the object of enlisting the sympathies of Ambrose of Milan and Pope Damasus, but without result. They succeeded, however, by bribing the pro consul, it is said, in procuring the withdrawal of Gratian s edict, and the attempted arrest of Ithacius. With the murder of Gratian and accession of Maximus (383) the aspect of matters again changed ; Ithacius fled to Treves, and in consequence of his representations a synod was held (384) at Bordeaux where Instantius was deposed. Priscillian for his part appealed to the emperor, with the unexpected result that along with six of his companions he was condemned to death and executed at Treves in 385. This first instance of the application of the Theo- dosian law against heretics caused a profound sensation throughout the Catholic world ; it had the approval of the synod which met at Treves in the same j ear, but Ambrose of Milan and Martin of Tours can claim the glory of having lifted up their voices against it, and of having in some measure stayed the hand of persecution. The heresy, notwithstanding the severe measures taken against it, con tinued to spread in France as well as in Spain ; and the barbarian invasions of the 5th century appear to have helped its further diffusion. About 444 it attracted the attention of Leo I. at Rome, along with other forms of Manichseism, and something was done for its repression by a synod held at the pope s instance by Turribius of Astorga in 446 and by that of Toledo in 447; as an openly pro fessed creed it wholly disappeared after the second synod of Braga in 563. PRISHTINA, or PJUSTINA, a town of European Turkey, since 1877 at the head of a liwa in the vilayet of Kossovo, lies on an affluent of the Sitnitza, a subtribut- ary of the Morava, and gives its name to one of the stations on the Salonica-Uskub-Mitrowica Railway, which runs at a distance of 6 or 7 miles to the west of the town.

It stands at a height of 1700 feet above the sea on undu-