PONT1FEX New Orleans. He at last made a stand in the Illinois country, where for a time he had the active cooperation of the French fur traders ; but even his more immediate followers fell away from him, and he then accepted the peace which the English offered. From this time he had no importance, and in 1766 he formally submitted to the English rule. He was killed I by an Illinois Indian at Cahokia, opposite St. ' Louis, while drunk. See u History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac," by Francis Parkman (Boston, 1851). PONTIFEX, in ancient Eome, the title of a priest. The office of pontifex is said to have been created by Numa. The pontifices were not attached to the worship of any particular divinity, but were a college of priests superior to all others, and superintended the whole public worship. In 300 B. 0. the plebeians obtained the privilege of representation in the college, and the whole number was increased to 9. The number was further increased by Sulla to 15, and by Caesar to 16. The pontifices held office for life. On the death of a pontifex a successor was chosen, originally by the col- lege of priests, but in 104 B. 0. this election was given to the people by the lex Domitia, though the confirmation by the college was still requi- site as a matter of form. The college of priests had the superintendence of religion, kept the books of ritual ordinances, and were required to give information to any one who might consult them on sacred matters. It was their duty to guard against irregularity in the ob- servance of religious rites, and to determine everything in relation to burials, and how the manes of the departed should be appeased. Over all classes they had the power of judicial decision and punishment in matters of religion, could make new laws and regulations, and were themselves entirely irresponsible. The pontifex maximus was the president of the college, and acted in its name. He was obliged to live in a domus publica, and was not allowed to leave Italy. This latter law was first vio- lated in 131 B. 0., and afterward was never very strictly observed. A pontifex might hold any other office, civil, military, or priestly, provided it did not interfere with his pontifical duties. There are several instances in which the offices of pontifex maximus and consul were held in conjunction. The office was as- sumed by Augustus, and was held by all his successors until Gratian, who declined it. The title appears on some of the coins of the em- perors. The college of pontifices existed until the final overthrow of paganism, though it had retained in its latter years but very little of its ancient power or respect. PONTIFICAL STATES. See PAPAL STATES. PONTIGNY, a village of France, in the de- partment of Yonne, about 18 m. S. E. of Aux- erre; pop. about 800. It is celebrated for a magnificent abbey, originally Cistercian, found- ed 'in 1150 by Thibaud, count of Champagne. It became the asylum of Thomas a Becket in PONTINE MARSHES 703 1164, of Stephen Langton and the principal English bishops in 1208, and about 1239 of Archbishop Edmund Rich, who spent two years there, and whose shrine was visited by numbers of pilgrims during the middle ages. The abbey and church were burned by the Huguenots in 1568. Of the former one side of the cloister still remains, with vast under- ground apartments. It has been repaired and enlarged, and is now occupied by the Domin- icans. The church, a Gothic building of the 14th century, is 360 ft. long, 73 wide in the nave and 150 in the transept, with an inte- rior height of 70 ft. Around the apse are 11 chapels, all of which formerly contained richly sculptured tombs. It was partially re- stored in 1615, ranks as a national monument, and is undergoing a complete restoration at the expense of the government. Of late years Pontigny has once more become a resort of Roman Catholic pilgrims from England, 300 of whom, under Archbishop Manning, visited the church together on Sept. 3, 1874. PONTINE MARSHES, a low marshy plain, in the S. part of the Campagna of Rome, extend- ing 28 m. along the Mediterranean coast from Cisterna to Terracina. Its breadth varies from 4 to 11 m. These marshes are formed by the stagnation of the waters of the numerous streams which flow down the Volscian moun- tains or take their rise in springs at their foot, and are prevented from finding an outlet to the sea by the low level of the plain and the accumulation of sand upon the coast. The name of the marshes was derived from Suessa Pometia, a Volscian town on their borders, which about 500 B. C. disappeared from his- tory, and the position of which is not now known. Various attempts were made by the Romans to drain the marshes. As early as 312 B. 0. the Appian way was carried through this district, and with it a canal from Appii Forum to Terracina, In 160 B. C. a part of them was drained with apparent success by the consul Cornelius Cethegus; but the tract soon reverted to its original condition. Its drainage was again projected by Julius Caesar, and Augustus made some temporary improve- ments. Trajan restored the Appian way. Du- ring the wars preceding the downfall of the Roman empire the marshes were neglected. Boniface VIII. drained the district about Sez- ze and Sermoneta by a large canal; and in 1417 Martin V. had a canal, called the Rio Martino, dug to within a mile of the sea, but the project was abandoned at his death. The district was granted by Leo X. to the Medici, upon the condition of their draining it, and it remained in their hands 69 years, during which time scarcely anything was done toward its improvement. A large canal, called the Fiume Sisto, was dug during the reign of Sixtus V. ; but after his death in 1590 the dams gave way, and the country was again flooded. Pius VI. directed his attention to draining the marshes, and from 1777 to 1796 he expended $2,000,000
