POE 
738 
Florence, and the refpeft fliown to him in every city 
through which he travelled, as well as in his native city 
Utrecht. For, not long after his arrival, Rubens paid 
him a friendly vifit, and, having exprelfed a Angular plea- 
fure in examining his works, he purchafed feveral for his 
own cabinet, and befpoke others; by which generous 
conduct, fo fimilar to that of Apelles towards Protogenes 
of Rhodes, he inftru&ed the lovers of the art to eftimate 
the merit of Poelemburg as highly as they ought 5 and at 
the fame time advanced the fortune and the reputation 
of that artift. By king Charles I. he was invited to the 
court of London; where he painted many curious pic¬ 
tures, for which he was nobly recompenfed ; and that 
monarch endeavoured earneftly to induce him to continue 
in England ; but his fondnefs for his own country pre¬ 
vailed over all other confiderations, and he returned to 
Utrecht, where he acquired an affluent fortune, and lived 
in univerfal efteem. Several very eminent artifts procured 
him to paint the figures in their works, particularly 
Steenwyck and Kierings; and the excellent perfpeftives 
of the former are fometimes rendered ftill more eitimable 
by the pencil of Poelemburg. The genuine works of this 
mafter are exceeding fcarce; but his difciple, John Vander 
Lis, imitated his manner fo fuccefsfully, that the paint¬ 
ings of Lis are very often taken for the works of his maf¬ 
ter. FuJ'eli’s Pilkingion. 
PO'ELSBROECK, a town of Holland ; feven miles 
fouth-eall of Gouda. 
PO'EM,/. [poema, Lat. from vrom/xa, Gr.] The work of 
a poet; a metrical compofition.—A poem is not alone any 
work, or compofition of the poets in many or few verfes ; 
but even one alone verfe fometimes makes a perfect poem. 
B. Jonfon. —The lady Anne of Bretaigne, palling through 
the prefence of France, and efpying Chartier, a famous 
poet, fait alleep, killing him, laid, we mull honour the 
mouth whence fo many golden poems have proceeded. 
Peacham on Poetry. 
PCE'NA, in heathen mythology, the god who was fup- 
pofed to be the difpenfer of evil. 
PCE'NI, a name given to the Carthaginians. It feerns 
to be a corruption of the word Phceni or Phoenicians, as 
the Carthaginians were of Phoenician origin. 
PCENITEN'TES,/. in the church of Rome, a defigna- 
tion given to heretics, who, being admonilhed by the 
ecclefiaftical judge, have abjured their errors, and given 
fufficient fatisfaCtion to the bilhop or inquifition. Con- 
fifcationof goods is a punilhment common to all heretics ; 
but if they confefsand abjure of their own accord, without 
being formally profecuted, this part of their punilhment 
is ufually remitted. 
POENO'E,/. in botany. See Valeria. 
PCERIN'SII. See Safindus. 
POE'STON KILL', a river of the UnitedfStates, in New 
York, which runs into the Hudfon, fouth of Troy. 
Length twenty miles. 
POE'STUM, or Posido'nia, an ancient city of Grecia 
Magna, now part of the kingdom of Naples. It was foun¬ 
ded by one of thofe colonies from Greece which in the 
early ages eftablilhed themfelves in Italy; and itflourilhed 
before the foundation of Rome itfelf; fo that obfcurity 
hangs over not only the origin, but the general hiftory, 
of this city, though it has left fuch magnificent monu¬ 
ments of its exiftence. According to the learned Maz- 
zochi, Pceftum was founded by a colony of Dorians, from 
Dora, a city of Phoenicia. It was firft called Pcejlan or 
Pojian, which in the Phoenician language lignifies Neptune, 
to whom it was dedicated. It was afterwards invaded, 
and its primitive inhabitants expelled, by the Sybarites, 
which event is fuppofed to have taken place about 500 
years B.C. Under its new mailers Poeftum aflumed the 
Greek appellation Pojidonia, of the fame import as its 
Phoenician name, became a place of great opulence and 
magnitude, and is fuppofed to have extended from the 
prelent ruins fouthward to the hill, on which Hands the 
little town ftill called, from its ancient deftination, Acro- 
P O E 
poll. The Lucanians afterwards expelled the Sybarites, 
and checked the profperity of Pofidonia, which was in its 
turn deferted, and left to moulder away imperceptibly. 
The original city then recovered its firft name, and not 
long after was taken, and at length colonized, by the Ro¬ 
mans, U.C. 4.80. From this period Poeftum was mention¬ 
ed almoft folely by the poets, who, from Virgil to Clau- 
dian, feem all toexpatiate with delight amidft its gardens, 
and grace their compofitions with the bloom,the fweetnefs, 
and the fertility, of its rofes. But unfortunately the 
flowery retreats, Vidturia rofaria Pcejii, feem to have had 
few charms in the eyes of "the Saracens, and, if poffible, 
ftill fewer in thofe of the Normans, who, each in their 
turn, plundered Pceftum, and at length compelled its few 
remaining inhabitants to abandon their ancient feat, and 
take fhelter in the mountains. 
Since that time Pceftum has been in ruins; and thefe ruins 
were unknown till they were difcovered in the following 
manner : “ In the year 1755 (fays the author of the Anti¬ 
quities, Hiftory, and Views, of Pceftum), an apprentice to a 
painter at Naples,who was on a vifit to his friends atCapac- 
cio, by accident took a walk to the mountains which fur- 
round the territory of Pceftum. The only habitation Ihe 
perceived was the cottage of a farmer, who cultivated the 
belt part of the ground, and referved the reft for pafture. 
The ruins of the ancient city made a part of this view, and 
particularly ftruck the eyes of the young painter; who, 
approaching nearer, faw with aftonilhment, walls, towers, 
gates, and temples. Upon his return to Capaccio, he 
confulted the neighbouring people about the origin of 
thefe monuments of antiquity. He could only learn, 
that this part of the country had been uncultivated and 
abandoned during their memory; that about ten years 
before, the farmer, whofe habitation he had noticed, efca- 
bliffled himfelf there; and that, having dug in many pla¬ 
ces and fearched among the ruins that lay round him, he 
had found treafures fufficient to enable him to purchafe 
the whole. At the painter’s return to Naples, he infor¬ 
med his mafter of thefe particulars, whofe curiofity was 
fo greatly excited by the defcription, that he took a jour¬ 
ney to the place, and made drawings of the principal 
views. Thefe were Ihown to the king of Naples, who 
ordered the ruins to be cleared, and Pceftum arofe from 
the obfcurity in which it had remained for upwards of 
700 years, as little known to the neighbouring inhabitants 
as to travellers.” 
The edifices which ftill fubfift owe their origin, as it is 
moft reafonably fuppofed, to the Dorians; and their form 
feems to indicate that they are the oldeft fpecimens of 
Grecian architecture now in exiftence. In fad the tem¬ 
ples of Pceftum, Agrigentum, and Athens, appear to be 
inftances of the commencement, the improvement, and 
the perfection, of the Doric order. The firft temple that 
prefents itfelf to the traveller from Naples is the fmalleft; 
it confifts of fix pillars at each en,d, and thirteen at each 
fide, counting the angular pillars in both directions. The 
architrave is entire, as are alfo confiderable remains of the 
pediments at the weft and eaft ends. The cella occupied 
more than one third of the length, and had a portico of 
two rows of columns, the fhafts and capitals of which, 
now overgrown with grafs and weeds, encumber the pave¬ 
ment, and almoft fill the whole area of the temple. The 
fecond temple has fix columns at each end, and fourteen 
on each fide, including thofe of the angles; the whole 
entablature and pediments are entire. The cella, the in¬ 
terior of which is adorned by a double row of columns, 
fupporting each another row of fmall pillars, had two en¬ 
trances, one at each end, with' a portico formed of two 
pillars and two antte. The whole of the foundation and 
part of the wall of this cella ftill remain : under it was a 
vault. The third edifice is the largeft: it has nine pillars 
at the ends, and eighteen on the fides, including, as be¬ 
fore, the angular columns. A row of pillars extending 
from the middle pillar at one end to the middle pillar at 
the other, divides it into two equal parts, and isconfidered 
as 
