961 



PRISCIANUS. 



PROCLUS. 



PBISCIA'NUS was a celebrated Roman grammarian, who is said 

 to have been born at Cassarea ; but we have hardly any particulars 

 respecting his life. It appears that he was appointed professor of 

 grammar at Constantinople in the reign of Justinian, about 525. 

 (Fabricii, ' Bibliotheca Latina,' vol. iii. p. 398, ed. Ernesti) ; and we 

 may infer from this circumstance, as well as from several passages in 

 bis works, that he was a Christian. He received instruction himself 

 from Theoctistus, whom he frequently mentions with great praise. 



Priscian' s work 'De Arte Qrammatica' is comprised in eighteen 

 books, and is dedicated to Julian, whom some modern writers have 

 erroneously supposed to be the emperor of that name. This work, 

 which is the most complete treatise on the Latin language that has 

 come down to us from antiquity, supplied the materials for most of 

 the Latin grammars published at the revival of learning; and the 

 estimation in which it was held at that time is shown by the fact 

 that five editions of it were published between the years 1470 and 

 1495. Modern scholars may still consult it with profit; it is parti- 

 cularly valuable for the number of quotations which it contains from 

 writers whose works have not come down to us. Besides this work 

 the following treatises of Priscian's are extant : ' De XII. Versibus 

 yEneidos principalibus ad Pueros,' ' De Accentibus," ' De Declinatione 

 Nominum,' 'De Versibus Comicis,' 'De Prtcexercitamentis Rhetoricoc/ 

 ' De Figuris et Nominibus Numerorum et de Numis ac Ponderibtis.' 

 The beat editions of Priscian arc by Putschius, in his ' Grammatical 

 Latino) Auctores antiqui,' 4to, Hanov., 1605, and by Krehl, 8vo, Lips., 

 1819-20. The ' Opera Minora ' were also edited by Lindemann, 8vo, 

 Lugd. Bat,' 1818. His treatise on Comic Metres is included in Gais- 

 i'orU's 'Scriptores Latini Rei Metrics,' Svo, Oxon., 1834. Priscian 

 also wrote a thort poem entitled 'Do Laude Imperatoris Anastasii,' 

 which waa published for the first time by Endlicher, Svo, Vindob., 

 1828. 



PROBUS, MARCUS AURE'LIUS, a native of Sirmium, served 

 early in the Roman army, and distinguished himself so much that he 

 was made tribune, whilst yet beardless, by the emperor Valerianus, 

 who had great esteem for him, and who recommended him in his letters 

 to his son Qallienus as a young man of great promise. Probus 

 continued to serve with distinction under Qallienus, Claudius II., 

 Aurelianus, and Tacitus. Several letters of these emperors, containing 

 encomiums of Probus, are quoted by Vopiscus. Tacitus, immediately 

 after his exaltation, wrote to Probus, saying that he considered him as 

 the main prop of the state, and at the same time he gave him the 

 command of all the legions in the East, with a large increase of emolu- 

 ment. Probus was beloved by his soldiers for the care which he took 

 of them, and the equal justice which he administered. He served in 

 almost every part of the Roman world beyond the Danube against 

 the Quadi and the Sarmatians, in Libya, in Egypt, where he erected 

 buildings, excavated canals, and made other improvements ; he fought 

 ngainat the Palmyrenians under Aureliau, and afterwards served in 

 Caul. When Tacitus died, six months after his assumption of the 

 empire, his brother Floriauus was proclaimed emperor in the West, 

 whilst Probus was proclaimed in the East; but in less than three mouths 

 Florianus was put to death by the soldiers, and Probus was acknow- 

 ledged universal emperor. He was then forty years of age. He 

 defeated several pretenders to the empire, Saturninus in the East, and 

 I'roculus and Bonosus in Gaul. He encouraged the cultivation of the 

 vine in Gaul and in Pannonia, as well as in Mcesia near Sirmium. He 

 is said to have incurred the displeasure of the soldiers by having said 

 that he hoped shortly that universal peace being established over the 

 empire, their services would no longer be required. An insurrection 

 having broken out in his camp near Sirmium, he took refuge in an 

 iron tower which ha had constructed as a watch-tower, but being fol- 

 lowed by the mutineers, he was killed, A.D. 282. He is compared by 

 Kutropiui with Aureliau for his military abilities, though he was 

 superior to him in refinement and humanity. Vopiscus (' Historia 

 Augusta ') has left a high eulogium of Probus. He reigned six years 

 and four months, and was succeeded by Carus. 



Coin of Trolras. 

 British Museum. Actual size. 



PROCACCI'NI, ERCOLE, the Elder, was the head of the celebrated 

 family of artists of that name. He was born in 1520, at Bologna, 

 where the greater number of his works dtill exist. Authors are divided 

 in opinion respecting his merit ; Baldinucci and Malvasia call him a 

 painter of moderate talent, while Lon izzo esteems him to be a happy 

 imitator of the colouring and grace < f Correggio. His design is too 

 minute, and his colouring too languid, but he possessed far more taste 

 than moat of his contemporaries, and precision free from mannerism, 

 which eminently qualified him for an instructor of youth. Several 

 eminent artista, among whom were Hammacchini, Sabbatini, Bertoja, 



and his own three sons, were his disciples. The time of his death is 

 uncertain, but he was living in 1591. 



PROCACCI'NI, CAMILLO, sou of Ercole Procaccini, was born in 

 1546. He received his first instruction in the school of his father, and 

 afterwards visited Rome, where some biographers say that he studied 

 the works of Michel Angelo and Raffaelle. His works evidently show 

 that he had been charmed by Parmegiano. He combined a simplicity 

 and spirit by which his works always charm the eye, though they are 

 too often deficient in the higher power of impressing the mind and 

 moving the affections; which indeed we can hardly expect when we 

 consider the prodigious number of his works in Bologna, Ferrara, 

 Ravenna, Reggio, Piaceuza, Parma, and Genoa. Sometimes lie allowed 

 himself more time, and then his works have less of the mannerist. 

 His St. Rocco at Reggio deterred Annibale Caracci from painting 

 a companion to it. At Piacenza he had less success in painting 

 against Ludovico ; yet his picture occupies the principal place. He 

 died in 1626. 



PROCACCI'NI, GIULIO CESARE, the best artist of the family, 

 was born in 1648. He renounced sculpture, in which he had made 

 considerable progress, for painting, which he studied in the school of 

 the Caracci. The works of Correggio were the principal object of his 

 studies, and many judges are of opinion that no painter ever approached 

 nearer to the style of that great artist. In some of his easel pictures 

 and works of confined composition, he has been mistaken for Correggio. 

 A Madonna of his, at San Luigi de Franzesi, has been engraved as the 

 work of that master ; and some paintings still more closely approxi- 

 mating to this style are in the palace of Sanvitali at Rome and in that 

 of Carrega at Genoa. Of his altar-pieces, that at Santa Afra in 

 Brescia is perhaps moat like the style of Correggio ; it represents the 

 Virgin and Child amidst a smiling group of saints and angels, in which 

 dignity seems as much sacrificed to grace as iu the mutual smile of 

 the Virgin and the Angel in the Nuuziata at San Antonio of Milan. 

 He is sometimes blameable for extravagance of attitude, as in the 

 Executioner of San Nazario, which is otherwise a picture full of beauties. 

 Notwithstanding the number and extent of his works, his design is 

 correct, his forma and draperies select, his invention varied, and the 

 whole together has a certain grandeur and breadth, which he either 

 acquired from the Caracci, or, like them, derived from Correggio. He 

 died in 1626, aged seventy-eight. 



PROCACCI'NI, CARLO ANTONIO, brother of Camillo and Giulio, 

 was born at Bologna, and learned the art from his father. Not having, 

 like his brother, sufficient genius and invention to attain eminence in 

 historical composition, he devoted himself to landscape, in which he 

 acquired considerable reputation, as well as by fruit and flowers, which 

 he designed after nature. The exact time of his birth and death is 

 unknown : his best pictures in the Milan gallery were painted about 

 1605. 



PROCACCPNI, ERCOLE, called the Younger, was born in 1596, 

 at Milan. He was the son of Carlo" Antonio, and studied under his 

 uncle Giulio Cesare. He frequently painted history and landscapes, 

 but his chief excellence appeared in his flower-pieces, which he 

 painted with great taste and perfection. He died in 1676, at the age 

 of eighty. 



PRO'CI'DA, GIOVANNI DI. [ANJOU, DUKES AND COUNTS or, 

 vol. i. coL 222.] 



PROCLUS, a celebrated Neo-Platonisfc, was born at Constantinople, 

 on the 8th of February, A.D. 412. His parents, who were people of 

 wealth and consideration, resolved to give him the best possible educa- 

 tion, and with this view sent him to Xanthus in Lycia, where he was 

 taught reading, writing, and grammar ; thence to Alexandria, where 

 he attended the lectures of all the most eminent teachers of philosophy 

 and mathematics ; and finally to Athens, where he became a disciple of 

 Plutarchus and Syrianus, two distinguished philosophers of that school. 

 Proclus was the last rector of the Neo-Platonic school at Athens, and 

 died there, on the 17th of April 485, i.e. as his successor and bio- 

 grapher Marinus defines it, 124 years after the reign of Julian. 

 (Marinus, ' Vita Procli,' c. 36.) As the successor of Syrianus, he is 

 sometimes called Diadochus. 



The works of Proclus, which are very numerous, consist principally 

 of commentaries on older writers; of these the best known are his 

 commentaries on the ' Timseus ' and ' Parmenides ' of Plato, the latter 

 of which has been printed as an appendix to Stallbaum's bulky edition 

 of the dialogues. He wrote also commentaries on Hesiod's ' Works 

 and Days ; ' on Ptolemy's ' Astrology ; ' aud on the first book of 

 Euclid's Elements, in two books. His original works, besides a few 

 hymns of doubtful merit, are a treatise ' On the Sphere,' published by 

 Bainbridge, London, 1520 (which however is mostly taken from 

 Geminus), aud ' Eighteen Arguments against the Christians,' in which 

 he endeavours to prove that the world is eternal. 



In this style Proclus is much more perspicuous and iutelligiblo than 

 his predecessor Plotinus ; indeed he is on the whole a good writer, 

 and occasionally is almost eloquent. But the matter of his works has 

 not much to recommend it : bis propensity to allegorise everything, 

 even the plainest and simplest expressions in the authors on whom he 

 comments, must deduct largely from his merits as an expounder of 

 other men's thoughts ; and but for the interest which attaches to him 

 as the last of a school of philosophy, it is not much to be regretted 

 that hia works have slumbered so long in tho duat of libraries, and 



