504 



PEWTER PHAETON. 



monastery of Tegemsee, borrowed and not returned 

 it. Such a mappa mundi in rotitlo was extant in 

 that convent, in 1502 ; and the Tabula Pcutinger- 

 iana at Vienna, is probably the same which 

 Wt'rinher, a poet, made or copied in 1190. Celtes 

 gave this map to Peutinger, who intended to publish 

 ft. After his death, it disappeared for many years, 

 until Marx Welser published fragments of it, under 

 the title of Fragmenta Tabulae antiquae ex Peutin- 

 gerorum Bibliotheca, (Venice, 1591). It was not 

 found entire, among Peutinger's manuscripts, until 

 the eighteenth century, when Scheyb published a 

 beautiful impression, with remarks, folio (Vienna, 

 1753). The manuscript of the map is at present in 

 the imperial library at Vienna. The characters 

 and figures show that the map is not the original. 

 Docen thinks that it belongs to the twelfth century. 

 A new impression of this ancient map was published 

 in Leipsic (1824), not entirely free from faults, with 

 a treatise by Mannert. A new edition, with com- 

 mentaries, has been announced by Dr Tross, of 

 Munster. Peutinger was the first who collected 

 Roman inscriptions on stone, in a small work, 

 Romance Vetustatis Fragmenta (Augsburg, 1505). 

 He wrote, besides, other valuable works on the 

 decline of the Roman empire. Peutinger long held 

 important public offices. 



PEWTER consists of tin alloyed with a quantity 

 of copper, or other metallic bodies, as the experience 

 of the workmen has shown to be the most conducive 

 to the improvement of its hardness and colour, such 

 as lead, zinc, bismuth, and antimony. The best 

 sort of pewter is formed from antimony seventeen 

 parts, tin 100 parts. The French add a little copper 

 to this kind of pewter. A very fine silver-looking 

 metal is composed of 100 pounds of tin, eight of 

 antimony, one of bismuth, and four of copper. 



PEY ROUSE, LA. See Laperouse. 



PFEFFEL, CHRISTIAN FREDERIC, a jurisconsult 

 and diplomatist, born at Colmar, in 1726, became 

 secretary to the ambassador from Saxony to France, 

 and was employed in several negotiations. In 1758, 

 he was sent to Ratisbon, during the diet, as chargS 

 d'affaires, and thence to the court of Bavaria, where 

 he remained until 1768, when he was recalled to 

 Versailles, and became jurisconsult to the king. In 

 1790, he was sent, by the French ministry, to Deux 

 Fonts, to treat of the indemnities of the German 

 princes, and was still there when he received his 

 dismission from his public functions ; his property 

 was confiscated, and he was placed on the list of 

 emigrants. He remained in the service of the duke 

 of Deux Fonts until 1795, when he retired to Nurem- 

 berg, and died in 1807. His principal works are 

 Abrtgt Chronologique de VHistoire, et du Droit 

 publique d 'Allemagne ; Recherches Historiques con- 

 ccrnant les Droits du Pape sur la Ville et VEtat 

 d' Avignon ; Etat de la Pologne ; Dissertations His- 

 toriques. 



PFEFFEL, GOTTLIEB CONRAD, a distinguished 

 German author, was born in Colmar, Alsatia, in 

 1736, of Protestant parents. He went to Halle in 

 his fifteenth year, to study law. In 1757, he became 

 blind. This misfortune he bore, for more than fifty 

 years, with wise cheerfulness, and became a most 

 useful citizen. In 1773, he established a Protestant 

 school at Colmar, with the approbation of the king 

 of France, in which he educated many excellent 

 scholars. The revolution put an end to the institu- 

 tion. In 1803, he was made president of the newly- 

 established Protestant consistory at Colmar, and 

 died May 1, 1809. He is one of the best poets of 

 Germany, in the department of the fable, and tales 

 in verse. His poetical works are collected in his 

 Poetische Fersuche, 10 vols., 2d edit (Tubingen, 



1817), and his prose writings in Prosaiche f'ersuche 

 (Tubingen, 1810, 8 vols.) His biography forms tlie 

 last volume. 



PFYFER, Louis, born at Lucerne, in 1715, 

 entered the French military service at an early age, 

 distinguished himself in the campaigns from 1734 to 

 1747, in 1748 was made major-general, and, in 170;5, 

 lieutenant-general. At Lucerne is still shown a 

 plan, in relief, of a part of the interior of Switzer- 

 land, executed by him. It is remarkable for its 

 minute accuracy and truth of presentation. 



PH^EDON, of Elis; a scholar of Socrates, and 

 founder of a school of philosophy in Elis. The 

 dialogue of Plato, on the immortality of the soul, 

 which contains the last conversation of Socrates 

 with his scholars, while he was in prison, also bears 

 this name. Mendelssohn has given the same title 

 to his conversations on the same subject ; but the 

 dialogues written by Phaedon himself are lost. 



PH/EDRA ; in fabulous history, daughter of Mi- 

 nos, king of Crete and of Pasiphae, sister of Ariadne 

 and wife of Theseus. Happening to meet Hippo- 

 lytus, her step-son, whom she had never before seen, 

 an9 whom she did not know to be the son of The- 

 seus, she was inflamed with an ardent passion for 

 the beautiful youth. He would not reciprocate her 

 passion, and, to satisfy her revenge, she accused him 

 to her husband of a criminal attempt upon her hon- 

 our. The father cursed his son, and Neptune soon 

 carried his execrations into effect by bringing upon 

 Hippolytus a violent death. When this event was 

 known in Athens, Phaedra repented of her crime, 

 and hanged herself. According to some, she was 

 killed by'Theseus. Sophocles and Euripides, two of 

 the most celebrated poets of antiquity, have taken 

 Phaedra as the subject of their tragedies, which are 

 now lost. Racine has followed their example. 



PHJEDRUS ; a Latin fabulist, born in Thrace. 

 He was probably brought to Rome as a slave, at a 

 tender age, and entered the service of Augustus, 

 who liberated him. Nothing is known of his life, 

 except that he suffered much from the tyranny of 

 Sejanus under the reign of Tiberius ; spent his days 

 probably in moderate circumstances, and died at an 

 advanced age. He wrote five books of fables in 

 iambic verse, which are distinguished for their pu- 

 rity and elegance of expression, and for their sim- 

 plicity and instructive thought. He borrowed his 

 materials in part from ^Esop, and mixed with them 

 his own inventions. The work of Phaedrus is no 

 where mentioned among the ancients, and Seneca 

 goes so far as to say the Romans had no fables in 

 the manner of ^Esop. The moderns knew nothing 

 of his writings till 1595, when a copy was found by 

 Francis Pithou, in the library of St Remi at Rheims. 

 He sent it to his brother Peter, who gave it to the 

 world. The best editions are by Burmann (2 vols., 

 Leyden, 1727, 4to), and the most complete by 

 Schwabe (Brunswick, 1806). Christ first doubted 

 the genuineness of the fables of Phaedrus. Several 

 modern philologists regard them as spurious, and the 

 work of a later age. This is certain in regard to 

 thirty-two new fables, first published by Cassitti at 

 Naples, under the name of PAcedrus, but made 

 known previously to the learned Burmann by Dor- 

 ville from Perotti's manuscript. These fables have 

 been several times reprinted since 1812. 



PHAETON; in heathen mythology, the offspring 

 of the sun and Clymene, and brother of the Heli- 

 ades. To please his unfortunate mother, and to 

 satisfy those who doubted whether the sun were his 

 father, he desired the latter to grant him a favour. 

 Phoebus imprudently promised it, unconditionally, 

 and swore by the Styx that he would, at all events, 

 keep his word. Phaeton now asked permission to 



