454 



PELIDES PELOPONNESUS. 



lous assertions of antiquity. Its flesh is very gener- 

 ally disliked. 



PKLIDES; sonofPeleus. (q. v.) See also Achilles. 



PELIOM. See Mite. 



PELION (now Sagari) ; a high mountain in Thes- 

 stly, producing various medicinal herbs. On one of 

 its summits stood a temple of Jupiter. In the neigh- 

 bourhood we find the grotto of the centaur Chiron. 

 In the war of the Titans with the gods, the former, 

 say the poets, piled Ossa upon Pelion, to aid them in 

 climbing to the dwellings of the latter. 



PELLAGRA. The pellagra of the Lombardo- 

 Venetian plains, a horrible malady, or complication 

 of maladies, has only been observed during the last 

 sixty or eighty years, and is rapidly increasing. A 

 sixth or seventh of the population are affected in 

 those parts of the country where it is most prevalent. 

 It begins by an erysipelatous eruption on the skin, 

 which breaks out in the spring, continues till the 

 autumn, and disappears in the winter, chiefly affect- 

 ing those parts of the surface which are habitually 

 exposed to the sun or air, is accompanied or preced- 

 ed by remarkable lassitude, melancholy, moroseness, 

 hypochondriasis, and not seldom a strong propensity 

 to suicide. With each year, the disorder becomes 

 more aggravated, with shorter and shorter intervals 

 in the winter. At length the surface ceases to clear 

 itself, and becomes permanently enveloped in a 

 thick, livid, leprous crust, somewhat resembling the 

 dried and black skin of a fish. By this time, the 

 vital powers are reduced to a very low ebb, and not 

 seldom the intellectual functions. The miserable 

 victim loses the use of his limbs, more particularly 

 of the inferior extremities ; is tormented with violent 

 colic, headache, nausea, flatulence and heartburn, 

 the appetite being sometimes null, at others vora- 

 cious. The countenance becomes sombre and melan- 

 choly, and totally void of expression. But the most 

 distressing phenomenon of all is a sense of burning- 

 heat in the head and along the spine, from whence it 

 radiates to various other parts of the body, but more 

 especially to the palms of the hands and soles of the 

 feet, tormenting the wretched victim day and night, 

 and depriving him completely of sleep. He fre- 

 quently feels as if an electric spark darted from the 

 brain and flew to the eyeballs, the ears, and the 

 nostrils, burning and consuming those parts. To 

 these severe afflictions of the body are often added 

 strange hallucinations of the mind. The victim of 

 pellagra fancies that he hears the incessant noise of 

 millstones grinding near him, of hammers resounding 

 on anvils, of bells ringing, or the discordant cries of 

 various animals. The disease, when advanced, takes 

 the form of many other maladies, as tetanus, convul- 

 sions, epilepsy, dropsy, mania, and marasmus, the 

 patient ceasing, at last, to exist and to suffer, when 

 reduced to the state and appearance of a mummy. 

 It is by no means uncommon that the wretched 

 being anticipates the hand of death, in a paroxysm of 

 suicidal mania, very often by drowning. It is almost 

 confined to those who reside in the country, leading 

 nn agricultural life, and to the lowest orders of so- 

 ciety. It is not bounded by any age, being frequent- 

 ly seen in the youngest children. The whole of the 

 flat country on both sides of the river Po, but more 

 especially the fertile and level plains between that 

 river and the Alps, are the theatre and head-quarters 

 of pellagra. 



The cause of this frightful endemic has engaged 

 the pens of many learned doctors ; but it is just as 

 inscrutable as the causes of hepatitis on the coast of 

 Coromandel, elephantiasis in Malabar, berriberi in 

 Ceylon, Barbadoes Ly in Antibes, goitre among the 

 Alps, the plica in Poland, cretinism in the Valais, or 

 malaria in the Campagna cli Roma. The general 



opinion among the medical men of the Milanese is, 

 ttiat the pellagra results from the extreme poverty, 

 and low, unwholesome diet, of the peasantry. See 

 doctor Johnson's Autumnal Excursion through 

 France, Steitzerland, and Italy. 



PELOPIDAS; son of Hippocles, a Theban gen- 

 eral, friend and contemporary of Epaminondas, who 

 lived till B. C. 364. To him belongs the honour of 

 having freed his country from a tyrannical faction, 

 and from the Lacedaemonian yoke. Having been 

 banished from Thebes witli several other patriots, he 

 retired to Athens. Animated with an ardent love 

 of liberty, he disguised himself, and went to Thebes 

 with a few conspirators, put to death the tyrants at 

 a banquet where they were all assembled, and gave 

 the signal for the expulsion of the Lacedaemonians, 

 who hail taken possession of the citadel in a time of 

 peace. Pelopidas then served under Epaminondas 

 with distinguished courage, and contributed much to 

 the victory over the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra. He 

 was afterwards commander-in-chief in three cam- 

 paigns against Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, in Thes- 

 saly, who had once imprisoned him without any just 

 cause; but, having pursued the prince too far, he 

 was surrounded by the enemy, and fell. 



PELOPONNESUS; a celebrated peninsula, which 

 comprehends the most southern part 'of Greece. It 

 received this name from Pelops, who settled there, 

 as the name, the island (tna-oi) of Pelops, indicates. 

 It had been called before sEgialea, Apia, Pelasgia, 

 and Argos. Its present name is Morea, (q. v.). 

 Peloponnesus was divided into six provinces, Mes- 

 senia, Laconia, Elis, Arcadia, Achaia, and Argolis, 

 to which some add Sicyon. The Peloponnesus was 

 conquered some time after the Trojan war, by the 

 Heraclidfc, or descendants of Hercules, who had 

 been forcibly expelled from it. 



Peloponnesian War; a war carried on for twenty- 

 seven years by Sparta and most of the Peloponnesian 

 cities against Athens, who had long provoked the 

 vengeance of the Greeks by the oppression of her 

 allies. Athens herself hastened the commencement 

 of hostilities, by aiding Corcyra in a contest with 

 Corinth, and, on a new opportunity, engaged in new 

 acts of violence against the latter: Corinth, there- 

 fore, invited Sparta, already jealous of the power of 

 Athens, to take part in the war. The Spartans pre- 

 pared for the contest; but, to save appearances, they 

 made proposals of peace humiliating to Athens, 

 which produced no result. A destructive war now 

 broke out, B. C. 431. All the people of Pelopon- 

 nesus, except the Argives and Achseans, took the 

 side of the Spartans ; but the Grecian cities on the 

 coasts of Asia, those in Thrace, and on the Helles- 

 spont, favoured the cause of the Athenians, who had 

 the advantage in point of strength; for although the 

 Spartans could bring into the field a more numerous 

 land force than their enemies, they were deficient in 

 fortifications, money, and ships. Led by their king 

 Archidamus, 60,000 Spartans marched into Attica, 

 and laid waste the country with fire and sword. 

 Pericles (q. v.), at the head of the Athenians, sailed 

 to the Spartan shores, and ravaged them in the same 

 manner. Thus the war was carried on for several 

 years, with mutual devastations, till the Athenians 

 were overcome. A pestilence now broke out, which 

 carried off Pericles among others ; and, after ten 

 years of constant warfare, the parties were permit- 

 ted to enjoy a peace, which, however, was but tem- 

 porary. By the advice of Alcibiades, the Athenians 

 undertook a campaign against Syracuse, which was 

 unsuccessful. Alcibiades, who was in the mean 

 time banished from Athens, and had fled to Sparta, 

 advised the Spartans to send troops to the assistance 

 of the people of Syracuse, which gave rise to a re- 



