cos 



POLLAJUOLI, ANTONIO AND PIERO. 



POLLUX, JULIUS. 



906 



cause of bis death. ( Corniani, 'Secoli della Letteratura Italiaua ; ' 

 Eoscoe, ' Life of Lorenzo de' Medici.') 



The other works of Poliziano are 1, ' Panepistemon,' in which he 

 describes a category of all the various branches of human know- 

 ledge; 2, ' Sylvse,' odes, epigrams, and other short Latin poems ; 3, his 

 Italian poetry, especially his poem on the Giostra, or tournament of 

 Giuliano de' Medici, which is much admired. He also wrote the 

 ' Orfeo,' which is considered as the earliest specimen of the opera, or 

 Italian musical drama. His Latin works, including twelve books of 

 Letters, were published at Paris, folio, 1512. 



POLLA'JUOLI, ANTONIO AND PIERO, two distinguished Floren- 

 tine painters and sculptors of the 15th century ; they were the sons 

 of Jacopo del Pollajuolo. PJERO was the pupil of Andrea del Cas- 

 tagno ; ANTONIO was the more distinguished ; he was the pupil of 

 Lorenzo Ghiberti, and assisted him in the celebrated gates of the 

 baptistery of San Giovanni ; he became also a famous goldsmith, and 

 was as such without a superior in Florence; Maso Finiguerra was 

 his contemporary. The two brothers generally executed their paint- 

 ings together ; the best of them, says Vasari, is the ' Martyrdom of 

 St. Sebastian,' painted in 1475, in the church de' Servi at Florence : it 

 is engraved in the ' Etruria Pittrice ' of Lastri. Antonio is said to 

 have been the first artist who studied the dead subject for the pur- 

 poses of design. Antonio Pollajuolo was invited to Rome in 1484, 

 after the death of Sixtus IV., by Innocent VIII., and he made the 

 monuments of SUtus IV. and of Innocent VIII. ; that of Sixtus, in 

 1493, is now in the chapel of the Sacrament in St Peter's; the 

 monument of Innocent is also in St. Peter's. Antonio was also a 

 medalist, and he engraved three or four plates, which are extremely 

 scarce. The brothers both died in 1498 : Antonio in his seventy- 

 second year, and 1'iero aged sixty-five. 



POLLAJUOLO, SIMONE DEL, or SIMON MASI, a distinguished 

 architect, commonly called IL CRONACA, from his ability in relating 

 stories, was born at Florence in 1454. He was related to Antonio del 

 Pollajuolo, and lived with him some time at Rome. He is chiefly 

 distinguished for the Palazzo Strozzi, one of the most solid and im- 

 posing buildings of Florence ; it was commenced in 1489 by Benedetto 

 da Maiano, but was completed by Cronaca, and the great cornice or 

 entablature and the court in the interior are from the designs of 

 Cronaca. The iron-work and the beautiful lanterns are by Niccolo 

 Grosso, commonly called Caparra, a nickname which was given to 

 him by Lorenzo de' Medici on account of his always persisting in 

 being paid before he delivered his work ; Caparra signifies deposit or 

 advance-money. Grosso was the most celebrated smith of his time. 

 Cronaca built also the great council-hall for the Signoria of Florence, 

 which was afterwards enlarged and embellished by Vasari; the church 

 of San Miniato al Monte, the convent Dei Servi, and the Sacristy of 

 Santo Spirito. He was a follower of Savonarola : he died in 1509. 



PO'LLIO, CAIUS ASI'NIUS, was born B.C. 76, and appears to 

 have been descended from a family of no great consequence. (Veil. 

 Pater., ii. 128.) He is called by Catullus a Marruciuian, and was 

 probably a descendant of Herius Animus, who commanded the Mar- 

 rucini in the Manic war, and was killed in battle. (Livy, ' Epit.,' 73.) 



We first read of Pollio as the public accuser of C. Cato (B.C. 54), 

 who was acquitted through the influence of Pompey. (Tac., ' Dial, 

 de Orat.,' 34; Cic., 'Ad Att.,' iv. 15, 16,17.) On the breaking out 

 of the civil war between Ciesar and Pompey, Pollio took the side of 

 CcCsar, and accompanied him in the passage of the Rubicon. (Plut., 

 1 Cses.,' 32.) He was afterwards sent by Caesar, under the command 

 of Curio, to Sicily and Africa, and after the defeat of Curio by Juba, 

 be escaped with a few of the forces to the neighbourhood of Utica, 

 and thence passed over to Italy to join Csesar. (Appiao, ' De Bell. 

 Civ.,' i. 45, 46.) He was present at the battle of Pharsalia (Plut., 

 'Pomp.,' 72) and two years afterwards (B.C. 46) he accompanied 

 Csesar into Africa and Spain, and on the return of Caesar to Italy 

 appears to have been made one of the fourteen praetors who were 

 appointed by Caesar at that time. (Drumann, ' Geschichte Roms.,' 

 vol. ii. p. 6. Pollio probably did not return to Italy with Csesar, since 

 we find him in the following year (B.C. 45) acting as Caesar's legatus 

 in Spain, where he carried on the war against Sextus Pompeius. (Dio., 

 xlv. 10; Veil Pater., ii. 73.) On the death of Caesar (B.C. 44), he 

 appears, if hu letters to Cicero contain his real sentiments ('Ad Fam.,' 

 x. 31, 32, 33), to have been inclined to support the senatorial party; 

 but after Octavianus united himself to Antony, Pollio no longer 

 hesitated to support the latter. He soon afterwards received from 

 Antony the government of the province of Gallia Transpadana, and 

 was nominated by the triumvirs as cue of the consuls for B.C. 40. 

 During hia consulship, Virgil addressed to him the fourth Eclogue. 

 In the following year Pollio was sent by Antony against the Dalma- 

 tians, whom he conquered, and obtained the honour of a triumph. 

 He appears to have retired about this time from public affairs. He 

 took no part in the war between Augustus and Antony, and when 

 asked by the former to accompany him to the Actiau war, he declined 

 doing to on account of his early friendship with Antony. He died 

 A.D. 4, at his Tusculan villa. (Clinton, ' Fast. Hell.') 



Pollio was a great patron of learning and the fine arts, and was 

 also the author of several works which were greatly praised by his 

 contemporaries. He appears to have possessed a fine collection of 

 ancient statues. (Pliuy, ' Hist. Nat.,' xxxvi. 4, 6.) He founded the 



first public library at Rome, in the Atrium Libertatis on Mount Aven- 

 tine. (Iid., ' Orig.,' vi. 5; Ovid, ' Trisfc.,' iii. 1, 71; Mart., 'Epig.,' 

 xii. 3, 5.) He lived on intimate terms with Virgil and Horace, the 

 latter of whom has dedicated to him the first ode of his second 

 book. He was a poet, an orator, and an historian, and his poetry, 

 and more especially his tragedies, if we can trust the suspicious testi- 

 mony of Virgil (' Eel.,' iii. 86; viii. 10) and Horace ('Carm.,'ii. 1, 

 9-12; 'Sat.,' i. 10,42), were far above the common standard. His 

 history of the civil wars, which was comprised in seventeen books, is 

 quoted or referred to by several of the ancient writers. (Plut., ' Cses.,' 

 46 ; Suet, ' Cses.,' 30 ; Appiau, ii. 82 : Tac., ' Ann.,' iv. 34.) His ora- 

 tions are frequently spoken of by Quintilian, but his style is con- 

 demned as deficient in clearness and ease. (Quint., 'Inst. Orat.,' 

 x.l; compare Tac., 'Dial, de Orat.,' 21; Senec., 'Ep.,' 16.) Pollio 

 also appears to have written criticisms on the works of most of his 

 contemporaries, and to have attacked them in a very severe manner. 

 He found great fault with the orations of Cicero (Quint., ' Inst. Orat.,' 

 xii. 1), and said that the ' Commentaries ' of Csesar were deficient in 

 historical accuracy. (Suet., 'Cscs.,' 56.) He remarked a kind of 

 Patavinity in the style of Livy (Quint., ' Inst. Orat.,' viii. 1 ; i. 5), and 

 appears to have censured Sallust for the use of ancient words and 

 modes of expression. (Suet., 'De Clar. Gram.,' c. 10.) All his 

 writings are lost, with the exception of a few letters to Cicero. 



PO'LLIO, TREBE'LLIUS. [AUGUSTA HISTORIA,] 



POLLOK, ROBERT, was boru at Muirhouse, in the parish of 

 Eaglesham, in Renfrewshire, in 1799. He studied at the university of 

 Glasgow, and afterwards followed the course of theological education 

 necessary to fit him for a charge in the United Secession Church, of 

 which he became a licentiate in 1827. Just before he received his 

 licence, he had finished the poem on which his literary reputation 

 rests, ' The Course of Time.' A work so ambitious, from the hands 

 of a country student attached to a small body of dissenters, was not 

 likely to find a patron among publishers. It happened to be shown to 

 Professor Wilson, of Edinburgh, as a curiosity, and he recognising in 

 it great poetic power, it was published on his recommendation by Mr. 

 Blackwood, of Edinburgh, and speedily passed through several editions. 

 It was a novelty in the class of evangelical religious literature to which 

 it belonged, and besides pleasing those who are partial to that class of 

 religious literature, it was a boon to many who are inclined to read 

 religious books, but are repulsed by their general dryness and insi- 

 pidity, while it was warmly admired by the literary world at large. 

 Mr. Pollok's partial admirers expected for him a place on a level with 

 Milton. After the novelty of such a phenomenon had however passed 

 off, the book became neglected by purely literary readers ; and at this 

 day it may be said that it is estimated too highly by the religious, and 

 perhaps too insignificantly by the literary world. It is a work of 

 great power, but meagre fancy. It has a considerable amount of sen- 

 timent deeply tinged with religious asceticism. Many sentiments are 

 spun out or repeated, and the interest frequently flags. Pollok's 

 mind was evidently imbued with ' Paradise Lost,' and he follows 

 Milton often to the verge of direct imitation. Before the publication 

 of hia poem this interesting young man had undermined his constitu- 

 tion by excessive mental labour, and he scarcely lived to see its 

 success. On the recommendation and through the assistance of his 

 friends he was preparing for a journey to Italy. The disease had 

 however made too great progress to admit of his leaving Britain, and 

 he died near Southampton on the 15th of September, 1827. 



Pollok's earliest productions 'Helen of the Glen," 'Ralph Gemmell," 

 and ' The Persecuted Family ' were in prose, and were issued anony- 

 mously. They have been republished with his name in one volume, 

 entitled 'Tales of the Covenanters,' and have passed through four 

 editions. A very inadequate memoir of Pollok, by his brother, with 

 extracts from his correspondence, has been published by Messrs. 

 Blackwood, who have also just issued (1857) a beautifully-illustrated 

 edition (the twenty-first) of the ' Course of Time.' 



POLLUX, JU'LIUS, whose real name is Polydeuces (UoAi/SEwojs), 

 a celebrated grammarian and teacher of rhetoric, was born at Naucratis 

 in Egypt, about the middle of the 2nd century of the Christian era. 

 He was well educated by his father, and afterwards received instruc- 

 tion from Adrian the sophist. He was a favourite with M. Aurelius 

 and his son Comiuodus, by the latter of whom he was appointed 

 teacher of rhetoric at Athens. He died at the age of fifty-eight. 



Pollux wrote several works, all of which have been lost except his 

 ' Onomasticon." The ' Onomasticon," or Dictionary of Greek words, is 

 not arranged in alphabetical order, but is divided according to subjects, 

 and gives the different Greek words which belong to each subject. 

 Thus all the words relating to agriculture are classed by themselves, 

 and in the same way all words belonging to ships, carriages, houses, 

 &c., nre treated of separately. The work is not merely a dry list of 

 words, but contains numerous quotations from the different Greek 

 writers, and supplies us with much information relating to antiquity, 

 of which we must otherwise have been ignorant. It is divided into 

 ten books, and was dedicated to Commodus during the life-time of 

 Aurelius. The first edition was published at Venice, in 1502. The 

 best editions are by Hemsterhusius, who has annexed a valuable Com- 

 mentary, Amst., 1706, 2 vols. folio; Dindorf, Leipzig, 1824, 5 vols. 

 8vo ; and Bekker, Berlin, 1840, 



There was also another writer of the name of Julius Pollux, who 



