PROMISSORY NOTE PROPERTIUS. 



721 



cunning, as it had been revealed to him by Themis 

 and Earth, that cunning, and not force, would be 

 victorious. But they neglected his advice, and 

 Prometheus went over to the side of Jupiter, who 

 became victorious through his counsels. Jupiter, 

 who despised poor mortals, determined to extirpate 

 them, and create a new race. But Prometheus 

 prevented him, by secretly bestowing on men the 

 fire which had been concealed by Jove, and teach- 

 ing them the arts. To punish this offence, Jupiter 

 sent down Pandora, who brought all kinds of 

 diseases into the world. He caused Prometheus 

 himself to be chained by Vulcan on a rock of the 

 Caucasus (the eastern extremity of the world, 

 according to the notions of the earlier Greeks), 

 where his liver, which was renewed every night, 

 was torn by a vulture or an eagle. But Prome- 

 theus, knowing that from lo's race would spring a 

 man (Hercules), who, after having encountered 

 innumerable hardships, would deliver him from his 

 chains, suffered with heroic firmness : he was even 

 acquainted with the future fate of Jove, which was 

 unknown to the god himself. When the irresistible 

 enemy of Jupiter, generated by himself and Thetis, 

 should appear, then Prometheus was to find a ter- 

 mination of his sufferings. Jupiter must then be 

 reconciled to him, because his fall could only be 

 prevented by the counsels of Prometheus. These 

 are evidently two traditions united by ^Eschylus. 

 The cause of Jupiter's anger against mortals, and 

 determination to destroy them, is thus related by 

 Hesiod. The gods once attempted to make an 

 agreement with men at Mecone, the object of 

 which was to determine what honours the gods 

 should enjoy, and what duties men should owe 

 them for their protection. Prometheus appeared 

 for men, that the gods might not impose too bur- 

 densome duties upon them, in return for their pro- 

 tection. A bull was brought as an offering, from 

 which the gods were to select what portion they 

 chose for their share. After it was cut up, Prome- 

 theus formed two heaps ; in the one he placed the 

 flesh and the fat entrails, wrapped in the skin of 

 the bull, and covered with the stomach ; in the 

 other pile he placed the bones, artfully concealed 

 in the fat. Jupiter, who did not see through the 

 trick, chose for the gods, and selected the fat, in 

 which he was indignant to find only the bones. 

 Hesiod adds, that from that time it became the 

 custom to offer to the gods bones without flesh. 

 In Lucian's dialogue, called Prometheus, Prome- 

 theus is accused not only of this division of the 

 flesh, and of stealing the fire, but also of having 

 created man. According to Apollodorus, he formed 

 man of clay and water, and bestowed on him fire, 

 by kindling dry wood at the sun. Plato relates 

 that the gods had made the rages of animals from 

 earth and fire, but that they left to Prometheus and 

 his brother, Epimetheus (the husband of Pandora), 

 to arrange the proportion in which these materials 

 should be assigned to each. Epimetheus had dis- 

 tributed the best powers among the irrational 

 animals, and Prometheus, that man might not be 

 left altogether helpless, obtained for them by 

 stealth, from Vulcan and Minerva, the arts of fire. 

 Others, poets as well as philosophers, have modi- 

 fied this mythus, according to their particular 

 object. See Welcker's Die jEschylische Trilogie 

 und die Kabirenweihe zu Lemnos. 



PROMISSORY NOTE. See Bill of Exchange. 



PRONOUN (pronomen) ; a word which stands 

 instead of another word, or of a sentence, and the 

 use of which is tb prevent repetition. Pronouns 

 ure of several sorts. Personal pronouns indicate 

 directly a person or thing, as /, thou, he, it ; demon- 



strative are those which relate to a present subject, 

 as this, that ; relative refer to some subject pre- 

 viously mentioned, as who, which : interrogative 

 refer to some unknown subject : possessive indicate 

 possession, as mine, his. Other divisions, as recip- 

 rocal, indefinite, &c., are sometimes made. 



PRONUBA. See Juno. 



PROOF. See Evidence. 



PROOF IMPRESSION. See Impression, Avant 

 la Lettre. 



PROPAEDEUTICS (^ovailtva, to prepare for 

 instruction) ; a term used by the Germans to indi- 

 cate the knowledge which is necessary or useful 

 for understanding or practising an art or science, 

 or which unfolds its nature and extent, and the 

 method of learning it. It is applied, therefore, 

 not only to special introductions to particular 

 branches of study, but also to auxiliary sciences, 

 logic, philology, &c., and the encyclopaedic views 

 of particular branches of science which facilitate 

 an insight into the relations of the parts. Such a 

 survey can be presented only by one who has 

 studied a science in all its ramifications. The term 

 propaedeutics is often, of course, merely relative : 

 thus philology belongs to the propaedeutics of his- 

 tory, while it is itself the main study of a certain 

 class of scholars. The term, however, in its com- 

 mon use, is generally restricted to the body of 

 knowledge, and of rules necessary for the study of 

 some particular science rules which originate in 

 the application of the general laws of science or art 

 to a particular department. Thus we find in the 

 catalogues of lectures to be delivered in German 

 universities, medical propaadeutics, &c., enume- 

 rated. 



PROPAGANDA ; a name generally given to 

 those institutions by which Christianity is propa- 

 gated in heathen countries, more particularly to 

 those which were established in the seventeenth 

 century, and especially that erected by the papal 

 court, for the extension of its own power and the 

 Catholic religion among those who were not Chris- 

 tians or Catholics. It was called the congregatio 

 de propaganda fide (society for propagating the 

 faith), and was founded by Gregory XV., in 1622. 

 It consisted of eighteen cardinals and some papal 

 ministers and officers of the college ; and its object 

 was to arrange and direct all measures relating 

 to the extension of the Catholic faith and the extir- 

 pation of heretics. Connected with this was the 

 collegium sen seminarium de propaganda fide, insti- 

 tuted by Urban VIII., 1627, for the education of 

 missionaries. Each society met once a week, in 

 the presence of the pope, in a palace built for the 

 purpose. Converts to the Catholic church, who 

 had come to Rome, were instructed and supported 

 by them . Bishops, and other clergy who had been 

 expelled, were also received and supported. The 

 Roman propaganda had a press celebrated for the 

 numerous works which issued from it. Thence 

 breviaries and missals were sent to all parts. Mis- 

 sionary societies for the propagation of the Christian 

 religion have been formed in Protestant countries 

 on this model. (See Missions.) In the time of 

 the French revolution, secret societies, whose object 

 was the propagation of democratical principles, 

 were called propaganda. Propaganda has there- 

 fore come to signify any kind of institution for 

 making proselytes. 



PROPER NAMES. See Names 



PROPERTIUS, SKXTOS AURELIUS, a Latin 

 elegiac poet, born at Mevania. in Umbria, was the 

 son of a Roman knight, who had been banished by 

 Augustus, on account of his attachment to Antony. 

 He did not possess the natural ease ami grace of 

 2z 



