PLATONIC LOVE PLEBEIANS. 



585 



though he was defeated at Grodno, and obliged to 

 retire into the interior, he returned during the re- 

 treat of the enemy from Moscow, and, with twenty 

 regiments of Cossacks, he harassed them in their 

 flight, and contributed greatly to the advantages 

 gained over them. In 1813, after the battle of Leip- 

 sic, lie entered France, and was at Paris with the 

 emperor Alexander, whom he accompanied to Eng- 

 land. At London, he was the object of popular ad- 

 miration, and a magnificent sabre was presented to 

 him. In 1815, he commanded the Cossacks destined 

 for the second invasion of France, and again made 

 his appearance at Paris. After the restoration of 

 peace, he retired to Tcherkash, on the river Don, 

 where he died in February, 1818. 



PLATONIC LOVE. See Plato. 



PLATTE.oR LA PLATTE RIVER, in Missouri 

 Territory, rises in the Rocky mountains, and flows 

 east into the Missouri. It is of great length, and is 

 (jQO yards wide at its mouth. 



PLATYPUS (ornithoryncus). This extraordinary 

 animal, which is peculiar to New Holland, almost 

 appears to be a link between the aquatic birds and 

 the mammalia. It is about a foot lung, having a 

 flattened body like that of the otter, covered with a 

 thick soft fur, moderately dark brown above, and 

 whitish beneath. The muzzle is elongated, enlarged 

 and flattened, resembling the beak of a duck, like 

 which its edges are armed with transversal plates. 

 The teeth are situate in the back part of the mouth, 

 two on each side, with flat tops and no roots. The 

 feet are furnished with a membrane uniting the toes, 

 and in the anterior feet extending beyond the nails. 

 The tail is flat and obtuse. From the form of this 

 animal it is fitted to reside in the water, and it must 

 feed on soft food, as the structure of the beak will 

 not enable it to grasp any thing firmly. From the 

 accounts of travellers, it seems probable that these 

 animals produce eggs ; if so, their alliance to birds 

 becomes still greater ; this fact, however, is not sub- 

 stantiated. The platypus is armed with a spur on 

 each hind leg, having a canal in it similar to that in 

 the poison-fang of venomous serpents, and, like this, 

 also, furnished with a gland at base, secreting a 

 fluid ; hence it is likely that wounds produced by 

 them would be dangerous. They have no external 

 ear, and their eyes are very small. There is a genus 

 closely resembling the platypus, also peculiar to 

 New Holland, viz. echidna, or spinous ant-eater, 

 which, however, is not amphibious. See Memoirs 

 on the anatomy of this animal, by Sir E. Home, 

 Meckel, Cuvier, St Hilaire, &c. 



PLAUTUS, MARCOS Accius, one of the oldest 

 Roman comic writers, was born at Sarsina, in Um- 

 bria, and flourished, about B. C. 200, as the manager 

 of a company of players in Rome. Aulus GelKus 

 fells us that, for some time, he was in a very destitute 

 condition, and was compelled to earn his livelihood 

 by turning a mill. . He must have possessed an in- 

 exhaustible fund of gayety, since, even in a condi- 

 tion so unfavourable to poetry, he seems to have 

 composed some comedies. About twenty of them, 

 principally entire, have come down to us. The 

 names are either borrowed from the persons of the 

 piece, as Amphitryon (the husband of Alcmena, 

 mother of Hercules), Curculio (Corn- Worm, the 

 name of a sponger), Epidicus, Pseudolus, Stichus 

 (names of slaves), Bacchides (name of two frail 

 fair ones), Menaechmi (the name of a pair of twins), 

 Miles Gloriosus (the Braggart Soldier), Captivi (the 

 Two Captives), Mercator (the Merchant), Poenulus 

 (the Carthaginian), Persa (the Persian), Trnculentus 

 (the Fierce), or from something which serves as a 

 foundation of the play, as Aulularia, Cistellaria, 

 Mostellaria, sc. Fabula (the Pot or the Treasure, the 



Casket, the Ghost.) Piautus's merit consists in hav- 

 ing introduced into the Latin language the plays of 

 Diphilus, Epicharmus and others, by translations or 

 imitations, and by this means contributed to improve 

 and enrich it. The ancients praise his pithy, antique 

 language ; and, according to Varro, the Muses, if 

 they had spoken Latin, would have used the lan- 

 guage of Plautus. The wit and sententiousness of 

 the old comedian were no less admired. Much may 

 be learned from Plautus of the language of conver- 

 sation and common life, although much of it is obso- 

 lete and not to be imitated. Much, too, is vulgar, 

 the jests often low, and sometimes obscene. The 

 subject of his pieces is frequently an obscene story, 

 humorously treated. In general, his dialogue has 

 more merit than his plots and dramatic action. An 

 excellent edition of the comedies of Plautus was is- 

 sued by Ernesti (Leipsic, 1760, 2 vols.). A later 

 edition, with a running commentary, appeared at 

 Bipont in 1788 (3 vols.) ; another by Schmieder 

 (Gottingen, 1804 to 1805, 2 vols.) ; and the latest 

 by Bothe (Berlin, from 1809 to 1811), in four 

 volumes. There is an English translation, by 

 Thornton, in five volumes (1769). 



PLAYFAIR, JOHN ; a distinguished natural philo- 

 sopher and mathematician, was born at Bervie, near 

 Dundee, in Scotland, in 1748. His father was a 

 parochial clergyman of the Scottish church. Having 

 finished his education at the university of St An- 

 drew's, he received ordination, and succeeded to his 

 father's benefice in 1772. After holding it some 

 years, he resigned it, and, going to Edinburgh, ob- 

 tained the mathematical chair in that university. In 

 1778, he published, in the Philosophical Transac- 

 tions, a paper On the Arithmetic of Impossible 

 Quantities ; and on the establishment of the royal 

 society of Edinburgh, lie was appointed one of the 

 Secretaries. To the first volume of its Transactions 

 lie contributed an Account of the Life and Writings 

 of Matthew Stewart, Professor of Mathematics at 

 Edinburgh, and an essay On the Causes which affect 

 the Accuracy of Barometrical Measurements ; and 

 several other communications from him appeared in 

 the subsequent volumes. Professor Playfair devoted 

 much time to the study of geology; and, in 1816, 

 visited the Alps, for the purpose of making geologi- 

 cal observations on the structure of those mountains. 

 He adopted the opinions of doctor James Hutton, 

 which he defended in his Illustrations of the Hut- 

 ton inn Theory of the Earth (4to). His death took 

 place at Edinburgh, July 19, 1819. Besides the 

 productions already noticed, he was the author of 

 Elements of Geometry (8vo); Outlines of Natural 

 Philosophy, (2 vols. 8vo) ; and of a dissertation 

 on the Progress of the Mathematical and Physical 

 Sciences since the Revival of Letters (first published 

 in the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, 

 reprinted separately in Boston, 1 vol., 8vo). His 

 works, collected in four volumes, with a memoir 

 prefixed, appeared in Edinburgh in 1822. Professor 

 Playfair's literary and domestic character has been 

 admirably drawn by Lord Jeffrey. His brother, 

 WILLIAM PLAYFAIR, was an ingenious mechanic 

 and miscellaneous writer, chiefly on the passing 

 politics of the day. He died at London, in 1823, 

 aged sixty-four. 



PLEBEIANS (plebs,) among the Romans; the 

 people, or that class of citizens which did not belong 

 to the senators (see Patricians) or knights (see 

 Equestrian Order] ; in the later ages of the repub- 

 lic, all those who had no public station, but lived as 

 private individuals on their own resources, and, in 

 general, all whose fortunes did not amount to at 

 least 400,000 sesterces ; they were mechanics, mer- 

 chants, soldiers, &c. The poorer classes in particu- 



