Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/425

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PLETHO.
PLEXIPPUS.
413

with solemn dances and sacrifices, such as those 1 with which the first kings of his race had been | inaugurated. But he was accused of having tampered with the Pythian priestess to induce her to interpose for him, and his alleged impiety in this matter was continually assigned by his enemies as the cause of all Sparta's misfortunes in the war; and therefore it was that he used all his influence to bring about peace with Athens in B.C. 421. (Thuc. i. 114, ii. 21, iii. 26, v. 16, 19, 24; Arist. Nub. 849; Ephor. ap. Schol. ad loc; Plut. Per. 22, Nic. 28; Diod. xiii. 106.) [Cle- andridas; Pericles.] In the last-mentioned year he marched with an army into Arcadia, where he released the Parrhasians from their dependence on Mantineia, and destroyed the fortress which the Mantineans had built, to com- mand Laconia, at a place called Cypsela on the borders. (Thuc. v. 33.) In B.C. 418 he set forth at the head of the old men and boys to the assistance of his colleague, Agis II.; but, on his arrival at Tegea, he heard of the victory which Agis had just won at Mantineia, and, finding that his presence was not required, lie returned to Sparta. (Thuc. v. 75.) He died in B.C. 408, after a reign of 50 years, and was succeeded by his son Pausanias. (Diod. xiii. 75 ; Wess. ad loc.; comp. Clint. F. H. vol. ii. App. iii.) One saying of Pleistoanax is found in Plutarch's collection {Apoph. Lac), but it is hardly brilliant enough to deserve being recorded. [E. E.]

Q. PLEiMTNIUS, propraetor and logatus of Scipio Africanus, was sent in B.C. 205 against the town of Locri, in southern Italy, which still continued to be in the possession of the Cartha- ginians. He succeeded in taking the town, of which he was left governor by Scipio ; but he treated the inhabitants with the greatest cruelty, and not contented with robbing them of their private property, plundered even the temple of Proserpine. The Locrians accordingly sent an embassy to Rome to complain of his conduct ; and the senate, upon hearing their complaints, com- manded Pleminius to be brought back to Rome, where he was thrown into prison, B.C. 204, but died before his trial came on. According to another account preserved by Clodius Licinius, Pleminius endeavoured to set the city on fire, but being detected was put to death in prison by command of the senate. (Liv. xxix. 6 — 9, 16 — 22, xxxiv. 44; Val. Max. i. 1, § 21; Dion Cass. Frag. 64, ed. Reimar.; Appian, Annib. 55.)

PLEMNAEUS ( llKr,ixva1os a son of Peratus in Aegialeia, was the father of Orthopolis whom Demeter reared, all the other children of Plemnaeus having died immediately after their birth. He afterwards showed his gratitude by building a temple to her. (Paus. ii. 5. § 5, 11. § 2) [L. S ]

PLE'NNIUS, one of the chief legates of Sex. Pompeius in the war of the year B.C. 36, which ended in the defeat of the latter. Plennius was stationed near Lilybaeum to oppose Lepidus. (Appian, B. C. v. 97, &c., 122.)

PLESI'MACHUS (UArjaifxaxos), the writer of Noo-Tot (Plut. de Fluv. 18), is probably a false reading for Lysimachus, as the ancients frequently mention the Ndo-roi of the latter [Lysimachus, literary, No. 5], and the name of Plesimachus does not occur elsewhere.

PLETHO or GEMISTUS GEORGIUS. [Gemistus.]

PLEURATUS (UKeiparos). 1. Father of Agron, king of Illyria (Polyb. ii. 2), as well as in all probability of Scerdilaïdas also, though this is no where distinctly stated. (See Schweighäuser, ad Polyb. ii. 5. § 6.)

2. King of Illyria, son of Scerdilaïdas, and there- fore probably a grandson of the preceding. He appears to have been associated with his father in the sovereignty for some years before the death of the latter, whether as joint ruler, or as holding the separate command of some of the Illyrian tribes, is uncertain, but the last supposition seems the most probable. Livy, in one passage (xxvi. 24), calls him a Thracian prince, but this seems to be cer- tainly a mistake. His name was included, together with that of Scerdilaïdas in the treaty of alliance concluded by M. Valerius Laevinus with the Aetolians, B.C. 211, and the two were associated together on several occasions during the war with Philip, as well as in the peace concluded by P. Sempronius with that monarch in B.C. 204. (Liv. xxvi. 24, xxvii. 30, xxviii. 5, xxix. 12; Polyb. X. 41.) But after this period that of Pleuratus appears alone, and he seems to have become sole ruler. On the renewal of the war with Macedonia by the Romans (B.C. 201) he hastened to offer his assistance to the consul Sulpicius, but his services were declined for the moment, and were not sub- sequently called for. But though he rendered no active assistance, his fidelity to the Roman cause was rewarded by Flamininus at the peace of 196, by the addition to his territories of Lychnidus and the Parthini, which had been previously subject to Macedonia. (Liv. xxxi. 28, xxxiii. 34; Polyb. xviii. 30, xxi. 9, xxii. 4.) During the war of M. Fulvius in Aetolia, B.C. 189, he again came to the assistance of the Romans with a fleet of 60 ships, with which he laid waste the coasts of Aetolia, but did not effect any thing of moment. (Liv. xxxviii. 7.) The date of his death is unknown, but it must have occurred previous to B.C. 180, at which time we find his son Gentius already on the throne. (Id. xl. 42.)

3. A brother of Gentius, and son of the pre- ceding, who is called Plator by Livy, but Pleu- ratus by Polybius. He was put to death by Gen- tius, in order that the king might himself marry a daughter of Monunius who had been betrothed to his brother. (Polyb. xxix. 5; Liv. xliv. 30.)

4. A son of Gentius, king of Illyria, who was taken prisoner, together with his father, and car- ried captive to Rome. (Liv. xliv. 32.)

5. An Illyrian exile, of whose services Perseus, king of Macedonia, availed himself on his embassies to Gentius, king of Illyria, in B.C. 169. (Liv. xliii. 19, 20; Polyb. xxviii. 8, 9.) We after- wards find him mentioned as levying a force of Illyrian auxiliaries for the service of Perseus. (Liv. xliv. 11.) [E. H. B.]

PLEURON (Tlivf)(iv), a son of Aetolus and Pronoe, and brother of Calydon, was married to Xanthippe, by whom he became the father of Agenor, Sterope, Stratonice, and Laophonte. He is said to have founded the town of Pleuron in Aetolia, but he had a heroum at Sparta. (Apollod. i. 7. § 7; Paus. iii. 13. §5.) [L. S.]

PLEXAURE (nArj^oi//)!?), a daughter of Ocea- nus and Tethys (Hes. Theog. 353), or, according to others, of Nereus and Doris. (Apollod. i. 2. § 7.) [L. S.]

PLEXIPPUS (nmiimos). 1. A son of