PUNCHINELLO 



6403 



PUNIC WARS 



Punchinello, as he 



appeared on the 



old Italian stage 



Punchinello. Older form of the 

 name Punch in the Punch and Judy 

 show. It is adapted, probably, 

 MEET: ' through the 



influence of 

 the old word 

 punch, short 

 and fat, from 

 Fr. Polichin- 

 elle or Ital. 

 Policinella, 

 more com- 

 monly Pulcin- 

 ella. This 

 character ap- 

 pears in the 

 Italian Com- 

 media dell' 

 Arte (q.v.) 

 about the be- 

 ginning of the 

 1 7th century, 

 and origin- 

 ated in the 

 neighbour- 

 hood of Naples. Traditionally re- 

 presented with a black mask and 

 a hooked nose, he is a boastful 

 country clown, the hero of ridicu- 

 lous and rascally exploits, and not 

 Devoid of wit. Pulcinella ap- 

 parently means little chicken, 

 though the origin of the name has 

 been much debated. The character 

 was soon transferred from the 

 theatre to the puppet show, and in 

 this form was adopted by the 

 French, who made him dwarfish 

 and hunch-backed, and the mouth- 

 piece of much raillery and satire. 

 The English Punchinello, whose 

 role was long much less restricted 

 than that of the conventionalised 

 Punch, resembles his French 

 original in his unfailing impudence 

 and hilarity. 



Punctuation (Lat. punclum, 

 point). Method of dividing written 

 words by a system of conventional 

 marks, called points or stops, into 

 sentences and clauses. It is done 

 for the quicker apprehension of 

 their meaning by the eye, and the 

 avoidance of misunderstanding of 

 their purport, and as a guide to 

 intonation in reading aloud. Aldus 

 and Paulus Manutius (q.v.), the 

 16th century printer-publishers of 

 Venice, were the first to introduce 

 systematised punctuation into 

 printed books, and the advantages 

 of the device speedily conquered 

 the world. In non-inflexional 

 languages, such as English, where 

 position chiefly determines the 

 relation of words, long sentences 

 would be almost unintelligible 

 without some such assistance. 



Four principal marks are in use : 

 the full point, or period (.), mark- 

 ing the end of a sentence ; the 

 colon (:), marking a shorter pause, 

 properly placed where the sense 

 is continued independently of 



grammatical construction, and 

 best employed only to introduce a 

 formal statement ; the semi-colon 

 (;), denoting a still shorter pause 

 and separating the conjunct 

 members of a sentence ; and the 

 comma (,) marking the shortest 

 division of a sentence and indi- 

 ' eating the shortest pause in read- 

 ing aloud. In addition, the notes 

 of interrogation (?) and of exclam- 

 ation (!) indicate a question and 

 admiration or surprise respectively. 

 Quotation marks (" ") of ten called 

 " inverted commas," mark the 

 beginning and end of a quotation 

 or passage of dialogue in narrative ; 

 and the dash ( ) is used to 

 suggest hesitation, or to introduce 

 a word or thought supplementary 

 to something said just previously. 



Pedants have raised punctuation 

 to the dignity of a mystery. 

 Theoretical rules for its applica- 

 tion are of little use. Common- 

 sense, reinforced by the ear, is the 

 best guide for the author, and 

 printers generally follow rules laid 

 down in their respective establish- 

 ments. See Colon , Comma, etc. 



Pundit (Hindi pandit, learned 

 man). Designation of teachers, 

 especially of Sanskrit and Hindu 

 scholars. The term is also applied 

 to skilled native topographical 

 surveyors, some of the earliest 

 having been schoolmasters. In 

 the old supreme court of India the 

 Hindu adviser of the British judges 

 was called the pundit. 



Pungue. River in Portuguese 

 E. Africa, rising in the Inyanga 

 range in Mashonaland, Rhodesia, 

 and falling into the Indian Ocean 

 at Beira. It is navigable for about 

 100 m. by small steamers. It was 

 first explored by Sir L. S. Jame- 

 son and Frank Johnson. 



Punic Wars. Series of wars 

 fought between the Romans and 

 the Carthaginians, or Poeni, for 

 the mastery of the western Medi- 

 terranean. In the first Punic War 

 (264-241 B.C.) the cockpit of the 

 struggle was Sicily, the largest 

 portion of which was in the hands 

 of the Carthaginians. The Romans, 

 who were not a seafaring people 

 and had no fleet, were at a serious 

 disadvantage against Carthage. 



By 260, however, the Romans 

 had built themselves a fleet, and by 

 the use of boarding bridges gained 

 under Duilius a great victory at 

 Mylae, on the N.E. coast of Sicily. 

 In the fighting in Sicily, the Ro- 

 mans had the advantage of the co- 

 operation of Hiero of Syracuse, 

 while the greatest asset of the 

 Carthaginians was the skilful 

 generalship of Hamilcar Barca, 

 who with a comparatively small 

 force held the Roman armies at 

 bay over a long period. In 256 the 



Romans attempted to create a di- 

 version by sending an expedition 

 to Africa under Regulus (q.v. ). 



At first successful, the army of 

 Regulus was eventually completely 

 defeated in 255, and the struggle 

 again centred in Sicily. The Ro- 

 mans captured Panormus in 254, 

 and defeated the Carthaginians in 

 battle near that town in 251, but 

 the war dragged on, and it was not 

 until 242 that success finally 

 passed to the Romans by another 

 great naval victory near the 

 Aegates Insulae off the W. coast of 

 Sicily. The defeated Carthaginians 

 were unable to continue to send 

 supplies to their stronghold of 

 Litybaeum, which had been be- 

 sieged by the Romans for ten years. 

 With the fall of Lilybaeum, the 

 Carthaginians were forced to give 

 up Sicily, and the two belligerents 

 were glad to make peace. 



In the Second Punic War (218- 

 201 B.C.) the scene of the first 

 fighting was Spain, where the Car- 

 thaginians, endeavouring to carve 

 out a new dominion for themselves 

 to compensate for the loss of Sicily, 

 came into conflict with the Ro- 

 mans, who had also been extending 

 their dominion in the same quarter. 

 In 218 B.C. Hannibal conceived the 

 idea of carrying the war into Italy. 

 Leading an army across the 

 Pyrenees, and across the still more 

 formidable barrier of the Alps, he 

 descended into the valley of the 

 Po, and after victories at Lake 

 Trasimenus, 217, and Cannae, 216, 

 seemed to have Rome at his mercy. 

 The Greek cities of S. Italy joined 

 him, and Syracuse changed sides. 

 The central Italian states, however, 

 stood firm for Rome. 



A skilful general was found 

 in Quintus Fabius Maximus, sur- 

 named Cunctator (Delayer) on 

 account of his non-forward policy. 

 Fabius resisted all temptation to 

 risk a pitched battle, contenting 

 himself with harassing Hannibal 

 on every possible occasion, hi the 

 belief that he would thus wear 

 down his strength. These tactics 

 were successful, and the Romans 

 secured a breathing space hi which 

 to recover their strength. In 207 

 the decisive battle of the war, 

 reckoned as one of the decisive 

 battles of the world, was fought. 



Hasdrubal, brother of Hannibal, 

 who had had charge of the Cartha- 



finian forces in Spain, outwitted 

 cipio, the Roman general opposed 

 to him there, and made his way to 

 Italy, with reinforcements. Before 

 he could effect a junction with his 

 brother, however, he was defeated 

 and slain at the battle of the 

 Metaurus. Henceforward Hannibal 

 was doomed. In 206 Scipio decided 

 to carry the war into the enemy's 



