1005 



PUBLIUS, SYRUS. 



PUGET, PIERRE. 



1006 



and the consuls, with rich spoils and numerous captives, returned to 

 Borne in triumph. After this triumph, the new consuls for the 

 following year were elected, and Publicola soon afterwards died, or 

 according to Plutarch put an end to his own life. Niebuhr thinks 

 that, according to the original legend, Publicola died in the battle of 

 Regillus, B.C. 496. He was buried at the public expense, which must 

 be considered as an honourable distinction, and not, as Livy thinks, as 

 a proof of his poverty, and the Roman matrons mourned for him a 

 whole year, as they had done for Brutus. The citizens decreed that 

 the body should be interred within the city near the Velia, and that 

 the whole house of the Valerii should enjoy this same privilege, 

 for which however, in subsequent times, a symbolical ceremony was 

 substituted. 



The real history of Publicola is entirely disfigured, and has come 

 down to us in the garb and with all the embellishments of poetry. 

 The fact that Publicola is represented consul for three successive years, 

 together with the fact that he pulled down his house on the hill Velia, 

 and the extraordinary distinction granted to him and other members of 

 his house, have led Niebuhr to suppose that, after the banishment of 

 the Tarquins, the Valerian house for a time possessed the right of 

 exercising the kingly power, for and on behalf of the Titles, by one 

 of its members ; and he looks upon Publicola's taking up his residence 

 at the foot of the Velia as a pledge of his intention to exercise hia 

 royal authority as befitted a citizen. (Niebuhr, 'Hist, of Rome,' i. 

 p. 538.) 



PU'BLIUS, SYRUS, a native of Syria, was brought when a boy to 

 Rome as a slave, but he met with a kind master who took care of his 

 education, and eventually gave him his freedom. He excelled in 

 writing mimi, which were in great vogue at Rome in the latter times 

 of the republic. Publius lived in the time of Julius Csesar, who on a 

 public occasion gave him the preference over Laberius and other 

 contemporary mimographers. (Aulus Qellius, xvii. 14.) Publius 

 appears to have been more correct and moral in his writings than 

 authors of mimi generally were. St. Jerome (' Epistola ad Lsctam ') 

 says that the Romans used to read his works in their public schools. 

 His works are lost, but several of his moral apophthegms, which 

 have been preserved by Seneca, Gellius, and other ancient writers, 

 are remarkable for their laconic precision and justness of sense. 

 They have been collected and printed at the end of several editions of 

 Phicdrus. 



Pl'FFENDORF, SAMUEL, was born in 1632 at the small town of 

 Chemnitz in Saxony, in the neighbourhood of which place hia father 

 was settled as a Lutheran clergyman. He received the earliest rudi- 

 ments of his education at Qrimma, one of the three schools called 

 Prince's Schools, founded by the Elector of Saxony in 1550. Being 

 designed by his father for the Protestant ministry, he was removed 

 from Qrimma to the University of Leipzig, where he studied theology 

 for several years. Accident and the tendency of his mind led him 

 while at Leipzig to change his course of study, and about 1656 he 

 went to the University of Jena, where he devoted himself to the study 

 of mathematics under the tuition of Erhard Weigel, whose improve- 

 ments in the method of teaching natural philosophy had at that time 

 excited great attention in Germany. About the same time Puffendorf 

 appears to have first applied himself to the law of nature. 



About the time that he quitted Jena, his brother, who had been 

 employed by the Chancellor Uxenstiern in lucrative and confidential 

 offices under the Swedish government, arlvi.-ed him to seek his fortune 

 in foreign diplomacy, and with a view to this ultimate object he 

 obtained a situation as tutor to the son of the Swedish ambassador at 

 Copenhagen. He had scarcely joined the legation when a rupture 

 ensued between Denmark and Sweden, and the whole family and 

 attendants of the ambassador were detained as prisoners during eight 

 months at the Danish capital. Puffendorf employed the leisure which 

 thiit captivity afforded him in investigating and arranging the principles 

 of general law contained in the works of Grotius, Hobbes, and some 

 other political writers. These he reduced to writing, adding to them 

 such reflections and arguments as had occurred to his own mind. At 

 the time of its composition this work was not intended for publication, 

 but on visiting Holland shortly after his enlargement he was induced 

 by the advice of a friend to publish it, and it accordingly appeared at 

 the Hague hi 1660 under the title of 'Elementa Jurisprudentias 

 Universal!*.' This work, though crabbed in style and greatly 

 inferior in general merit to the treatise 'De Jure Naturae et Gentium," 

 exhibited much closeness of thought, and contained some enlarged 

 and original views upon the subject of jurisprudence; and the circum- 

 stance of its dedication to the Elector-Palatine Charles Louis, perhaps 

 more than its substantial merits, made it the foundation of the sub- 

 sequent fortunes of the author. The elector-palatine was desirous of 

 attracting attention to the University of Heidelberg, which had fallen 

 into decay ; and as one of the means to this object he founded a 

 professorship of the law of nature and nations, and placed Puffendorf 

 in the chair, intrusting him also in particular with the education of 

 his ton, the electoral prince. Puffendorf commenced his occupation as 

 professor at Heidelberg in 1661, and the numerous auditory attracted 

 by hi* lectures supplied him with pecuniary independence as well as 

 encouragement to persevere in his juridical studies. 



Soon after bis establishment at Heidelberg he directed his attention 

 to the constitution of the body termed the Germanic empire ; and 



struck with the absurdities and incongruities of this strange compound 

 of princes, small republics, prelates, and knights, each of whom exercised 

 within his respective territory a degree of sovereign authority, he com- 

 posed a treatise exhibiting in rather strong colours the usurpations 

 and defects of the system, and pointing out practical remedies for the 

 grievous abuses which it had occasioned. As the existing order of 

 things in Germany was criticised in this work with considerable 

 freedom and severity, Puffendorf did not venture to publish it in hia 

 native country, or with his own name; but sent it to his brother 

 Isaiah Puffendorf, who was at that time the Swedish ambassador in 

 France, who, after showing it to Mezeray, directed it to be published 

 at Geneva under the title of ' Severini de Mozambano, De Statu Imperil 

 Germanicl' This work excited very general attention in Europe, being 

 translated into German, English, and French, and not only involved 

 Puffendorf for several years in an active controversy with German 

 civilians, but exposed him to the indignation of eome of the more 

 powerful constituents of the [Germanic body, and especially of the 

 Austrian government. To avoid the possible consequences of the 

 commotion his work had occasioned, he gladly accepted in 1670 an 

 invitation from Charles XI. of Sweden to become professor of the law 

 of nations at the University of Lunden, then recently founded. 

 About two years after his removal to Lunden he published the great 

 work upon which his reputation at the present day is principally 

 founded, entitled 'De Jure Naturse et Gentium.' It is a very careful 

 and accurate digest of the law of nature, and being arranged on a 

 much more scientific principle than the work of Grotius, ' De Jure 

 Belli et Pacis," is more useful to the student. Grotius has inverted 

 the natural order of treating the subject by considering at once the 

 artificial states of peace and war and the law of nations, without first 

 tracing the original principles of the science as they are found in 

 human nature. Puffendorf, on the other hand, commences with the 

 law of nature, then considers the subject as applied to the conduct of 

 individuals, and lastly investigates the difficult and complicated 

 questions which arise in the intercourse of nations. 



In consequence of some of the new views contained in this work it 

 was virulently assailed by contemporaries, and involved the author a 

 second time in angry controversy ; but at the same time it raised the 

 reputation of Puffeudorf to a great height throughout Europe, and a 

 few years after its appearance the king of Sweden removed him to 

 Stockholm, making him his historiographer, and giving him the title 

 of counsellor of state. In his official character he composed and pub- 

 lished in Latin a ' History of Sweden, from the Expedition of Gustavus 

 Adolphus into Germany until the death of Queen Christine;' but 

 although a promising theme for an historian, Puffeudorf has not 

 availed himself of tho rich materials which were placed at his disposal 

 in the archives of the Swedish government in such a manner as to 

 render his narrative attractive or complete. In 1688 the Elector of 

 Brandenburg, Frederick William, invited him to Berlin, with the 

 consent of the King of Sweden, and" employed him in writing the 

 history of his life and reign. The elector also bestowed upon him the 

 title of counsellor of state, with an annual pension of 2000 crowns. 

 In obedience to this engagement he wrote and published, in nineteen 

 books, ' Commeutarii de Rebus Gestis Frederici Willielmi Magui, 

 Eloctoris Brandenburgici,' a work which neither experienced nor 

 deserved greater success than his previous historical performance?. 

 His employment in Berlin was considered to be merely temporary, 

 and he intended to return to Stockholm as soon as he had completed 

 his engagement with the Elector of Brandenburg ; indeed the King of 

 Sweden always continued his esteem for him, and a few years only 

 before his death, and during his residence at Berlin, raised him to the 

 dignity of a baron. He died however in Berlin in October 1694. A 

 complete catalogue of the voluminous writings of Puffendorf, and an 

 account of the various editions of each, will be found in a note to the 

 article under his name in the ' General Dictionary,' and also in the 

 ' Biographie Universelle." 



PUGET, PIERRE, who has been called the Michel Angelo of 

 France, from his ability in painting and architecture, as well as in 

 sculpture, and perhaps also on account of a kindred enthusiasm and 

 decision of character, was born in 1622 at Marseille, where his father 

 practised as an architect and sculptor. It was from him that he 

 received his first instructions in art, after which he was placed under 

 a shipwright, or builder of gallejs, to learn to carve the ornaments 

 used in such vessels. Disgusted with the drudgery of such workman- 

 ship, he set out for Italy, and passed a considerable time at Florence, 

 where he pursued his studies as a sculptor with great success. He 

 next repaired to Rome, whither he was attracted by the fame of Pietro 

 de Cortona ; and not only did he become the pupil of that artist, but 

 made such progress under him that he accompanied him to Florence 

 as his assistant in painting the ceilings of the Pitti palace. Instead 

 however of remaining there, he suddenly resolved upon returning to 

 France, and he was then only twenty-one. On hia arrival at Marseille 

 he was very well received, and was shortly afterwards commissioned 

 to design a vessel of extraordinary magnificence, named La Heine, in 

 honour of Anne of Austria. That princess being desirous of obtaining 

 accurate drawings of all the ancient monuments at Rome, the person 

 commissioned by her to procure them thought that he could not do 

 better than take Puget with him for the purpose of executing them. 

 Puget accordingly proceeded a second time to Rome, and there spout 



