G21 
PER 
ding to Zonaras, becaufe “ always on the road,” going 
from one quarter to another, to keep the people in their 
duty. Hence Gregory of Theffalonica calls them ambu- 
lantes, “walkers.” Balfatnon calls them exarcha; by 
which name they are known among the Greeks at this 
day. 
PERIOD'IC, or Periodical, adj. [periodiqne, Fr. 
from period.'] Circular; making a circuit; making a re¬ 
volution.—Was the earth’s periodic motion always in the 
fame plane with that of the diurnal, we (hould mifs of 
thofe kindly increafes of day and night. Derham. —Four 
moons perpetually roll round the planet Jupiter, and are 
carried along with him in his periodical circuit round the 
Sun. Watts on the Mind. —Happening by revolution at 
fome ftated time.—Aftrological undertakers would raife 
men out of fome (limy foil, impregnated with the influ¬ 
ence of the (tars upon fome remarkable and periodical 
conjunctions. Bentley. —Regular; performing fome ac¬ 
tion at ftated times.—The confufion of mountains and 
hollows furniftied me with a probable reafon for thofe 
periodical fountains in Switzerland, which flow only at 
fuch particular hours of the day. Addifon. —Relating to 
periods or revolutions.—It is implicitly denied by Arif- 
to-tle in his politics, in that difcourfe againft Plato, who 
meafured the viciflitude and mutation of ftates by a peri¬ 
odical fatality of number. Brown. 
PERIODICALLY, adv. At ftated periods.—The three 
tides ought to be underftood of the fpace of the night 
and day ; then there will be a regular flux and reflux 
thrice in that time, every eight hours, periodically. Broome. 
PERIOD'ICALNESS, J'. The ftate of being periodical. 
PERICE'CI, /. [from the Gr. wspi, about, and otx w, to 
dwell.] Such inhabitants of the globe as have the fame 
latitudes, but oppofite longitudes, or live under the fame 
parallel, and the fame meridian, but in different femicir- 
des of that meridian, or oppofite points of the parallel. 
Thefe have the fame common feafons throughout the 
year, and the fame phenomena of the heavenly bodies ; 
but their hours, or times of the day, are oppofite to each 
other; i. e. when with the one it is mid-day, with the 
other it is midnight. 
PE'RION, or Per'rion (Joachim), a learned French 
BenediCtine, was born at Connery in the Touraine, about 
the year 1500. At the age of feventeen he entered the 
monaftery at his native place; and afterwards diftin- 
guifhed himtelf among the divines of his time. He par¬ 
ticularly excelled in writing and fpeaking Latin with 
purity. He tranflated into that language feveral of the 
writings of the ancient philofophers and fathers, with 
notes ; but his verfions are entitled more to the praife of 
elegance than of fidelity ; and for his deficiency in criti¬ 
cal (kill, he has been feverely handled by Baillet, Jofeph 
Scaliger, and other learned men. He was admitted to 
the degree of doCtor by the faculty of theology at Paris; 
and during feveral years explained the Scriptures in that 
city with great applaufe, having among his auditors fome 
of the moft illuftrious cliaraCters of his time. By a par¬ 
ticular decree of the Univerfity, he was appointed to de¬ 
fend Ariftotleand Cicero againft Ramus; and difcharged 
that taflc with great fuccefs. In the eftimation of Henry 
II. he flood fo high, that the monarch frequently fent 
for him, to enjoy the pleafure and benefit ot his conver- 
fation. He died at his monaftery about the year 1559, 
■when he was near the age of fixty. His printed works 
are, 1. De DialeCta, lib. iii. 2. Hiftoria Abdiae Babylo- 
nii. 3. Topicorum Theologicorum, lib. ii. 4. De Ori- 
gine Linguae Gallicae, et ejus Cognatione cum Graeca. 
5. Liber de fandtorum Virorum qui Patriarchae ab Ecclefia 
appellantur, rebus geftis ac Vitis. 6. De Vita Rebufque 
Jefu Chrifti, and De Vita Virginis et Apoftolorum ; in 
both of which the Scripture-hiftory is debated by the in¬ 
termixture of abfurd fabulous legends. 7. De Romano- 
rum et Graecorum Magiftratibus, lib. iii. 8. An edition 
of Ariftotle, w’ith a Commentary. 9. Dionyfii Areopa- 
gitae Opera. 10. Ignatii et Polycarpi Epiftolae. 11. Juf- 
P E R 
tini Martyris Opera, cum Obfervationibus S. dementis 
de VitaS. Petri, &c. 12. Exaemeri, et Platonis Axiochi, 
cum Annotationibus. 13. Orations, in Latin. 14. 
Notes on the Harangues of Livy. 15. A Latin Verfion 
of the Commentary of Origen upon Job, &c. Gen. Bing. 
PERIOPHTHAL'MIUM,/. [from the Gr. vip, about, 
and oipSaApcoj, eye.] A thin (kin which birds can draw 
over their eyes to defend them, without (hutting their 
eye-lids; otherwife called the nictitating membrane. 
PERJORE'E, a town of Bengal: ten miles weft of 
Curruckdeah. 
PERIOS'EEUM, f. [from theGr. ?rep, about, and oriov, 
a bone.] The membrane that encompafles the bones.— 
All the bones are covered with a very fenlible membrane, 
called the periofteum. Cheyne's Philof. Prin. 
PERIPATET'IC, f. [from the Gr. wspt, about, and 
ora.Tia, to walk.] One of the followers ot Ariftotle; fo 
called, becaufe they ufed to teach and difpute in the 
Lyceum at Athens, walking about : 
Thofe 
Surnam’d Peripatetics, and the feCt 
Epicurean, and the Stoic fevere. Milton's P. R. 
Ludicroufly ufed for one who is obliged to walk, who 
cannot afford to ride-—The horfes and (laves of the rich 
take up the whole ftreet, while we peripatetics are very 
glad to watch an opportunity to whilk crcfs a paflage, 
very thankful that we are not run over for interrupting 
the machine that carries in it a perfon neither more 
handfome, wife, or valiant, than themeaneftof us. Tatler, 
N° 144. 
Cicero tells us, that Plato left two excellent difciples, 
Xenocrates and Ariftotle, who founded two feCts, which 
only differed in name 5 the former taking the appellation 
of Academics , who were thofe that continued to hold 
their conferences in the academy, as Plato had done be¬ 
fore; the others, who followed Ariftotle, were called Pe¬ 
ripatetics ; from yrtfivralw, I walk; becaufe they difputed 
walking in the Lyceum ; this was a grove in the fuburbs 
of Athens, which had previoufly been ufed for military 
exercifes. 
Ammonius derives the name Peripatetic from Plato 
himfelf, who only taught walking; and adds, that the 
difciples ofAriftotle, and thofe of Xenocrates, were equally 
called Peripatetics; the one Peripatetics’of the Academy, 
the other Peripatetics of the Lyceum; but that, at length, 
the former quitted the title Peripatetic, for thatof Acade¬ 
mic, on occafion of the place where they affembled ; and 
the latter retained fimply that of Peripatetic. 
The greateft and beft part of Ariftotle’s philofophy he 
borrow'ed from his mafter Plato: Serranus affirms confi¬ 
dently, and fays he is able to demonftrate it, that there is 
nothing exquifite in any part of Ariftotle’s philofophy, dia¬ 
led ics, ethics, politics, phyfics, ormetaphyfics, but is found 
in Plato. And of this opinion are many of the ancient au¬ 
thors, as Clemens Alexandrinus, See. Gale endeavours to 
(how, that Ariftotle borrowed a good deal of his philofo¬ 
phy, both phyfical, about the firft matter, and metaphyfi- 
cal, about the firft being, his affections, truth, unity, 
goodnefs, &c. from the facred books ; and adds, from 
Clearchus, one of his (Ariftotle’s) fcholars, that he made 
ufe of a certain Jew, who affifted him therein. 
Ariftotle, when he withdrew to Chalcis, was fucceeded 
in the fchool of the Lyceum by one of his favourite pu¬ 
pils, Theophraftus, whom he appointed to this office in 
the 2d year of the 114th olympiad, B. C. 323. Under 
his conduft, the Peripatetic fchool maintained fuch high 
reputation, that he had about 2000 fcholars. Theophraf¬ 
tus w'as fucceeded by Strato of Lampfacus, who under¬ 
took the charge of it in the 3d year of the 123d olympiad, 
B. C. 286. After his death, this fchool was continued, 
in fucceffion, by Lycon of Troas, who enjoyed the friend- 
(liip of Attalus and Eumenes, and filled the chair till the 
138th olympiad; by Arifto, of the ifland of Coos, whom 
Cicero characterizes as more diftinguilhed for the ele¬ 
gance 
