P L A 
P L A 
PLATYS'MA MYOI'DES, f. The thin ftraturn of 
snufcular fibres placed immediately under the (kin in the 
neck; the laliffimus colli. 
PLATYS'T ACUS,/. in ichthyology, a genus of ab¬ 
dominal fifties, inftituted by Dr. Bloch; but fo nearly 
allied to that of Silurus, that it has been thought fit to 
include them under that article. 
PLATYZO'MA, f. [from the Gr. wAarv?, broad, and 
a belt.] In botany, a genus of Alices, or fern, in 
Mr. Brown’s Prod. Nov. Holl. nearly allied to Gleichenia, 
from which the author fays he was induced to feparate it, 
rather on account of its undivided (talks, which in 
Gleichenia are forked, than for the flight difference in the 
fru£tification. The latter feems principally to confift in 
the revolute margins of the leaflets forming a fort of 
involucrum. The only fpecies mentioned is 
Platyzoma microphyllum : found in the tropical parts 
of New Holland. A fmooth fern, with a creeping fcaly 
root. Stalks undivided. Fronds pinnate; leaflets ex¬ 
tremely numerous, diftinft, orbicular, entire, minute, co¬ 
vered beneath with fulphur coloured powder. Capfules 
few together in each dot. Seeds rather large. Some 
fronds, from the fame root, are comprefled, nearly thread- 
(haped, and undivided. See Gleichenia. 
PLATZ (New), a townfliip of the United States, in 
Ulfter county, New York, on the weft fide of the Hudfon. 
Population 3999. 
PLAU, a town in the interior of Germany, principa¬ 
lity of Schwartzburg-Sonderftiaufen,on the Gera: fifteen 
miles foutli by weft of Erfurt. Population 1000. 
PLAU, a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of 
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, where the river Elde flows into 
a lake. Population 900. It is ten miles fouth-eaft of 
Goldberg. 
PLAU'DIT, or Plau'dite, J] [from the Latin, plau- 
dite, the demand of applaufe made by the player, when he 
left the ftage.] Applaufe.—She would fo ftiamefully fail 
in the laft aft, that, inftead of a plaudite, (lie would deferve 
to be hifled off the ftage. More.—Some men find more 
melody in difcord than in the angelick quires; yet even 
thefe can difcern mufick in a confort of plaudites , eulogies 
given themfelves. Decay of Chr. Piety. 
True wifdom mult our aftions fo direft, 
Not only the laft plaudit to expeft. Denham. 
PLAU'E, a town of the Pruflian province of Branden¬ 
burg, adjacent to a large lake and the river Havel. Po¬ 
pulation 800 : twenty-feven miles weft of Potfdam. 
PLAU'EN, a confiderable town of the weft of Saxony, 
and the capital of the Vogtland. It ftands in a beautiful 
valley, is furrounded with a wall, and has two churches, 
four hofpitals, a gymnafium, and 6100 inhabitants. It 
has large muflin manufactures and cotton printing-works. 
The former give employment to a great number of 
people, both in the town and its vicinity. Here is a 
caftle, inhabited formerly by the vogts of Plauen, and now 
the refidence of the chief Saxon magiftrates. It is feventy- 
five miles weft-fouth-weft of Drefden. 
PLAU'EN, a village of Saxony, about a mile from 
Drefden, fituated in a highly romantic and rugged valley, 
watered by the Weifleritz. 
PLAUSIBIL'ITY, f. [from plaujible."] Specioufnefs; 
fuperficial appearance of right.—It is a damnable plaufbi- 
lity fo to regard the vain approbation or cenfure of the 
beholders, as in the mean time to negleft the allowance or 
judgment of God. Junius's Sin Stigmatized, 1639.—Two 
pamphlets, called the management of the war, are written 
with fome plau/ibility, much artifice and direft falfehoods. 
Swift. 
PLAU'SIBLE, adj. [Fr. plaufibilis, from plaudo, Lat.] 
Such as gains approbation ; fuperficially pleafing or ta¬ 
king; fpecious; popular; right in appearance.—Judges 
ought to be more reverend than plaujible, and more 
advifed than confident. Bacon. —No treachery fo plaufible, 
as that which is covered with the robe of a guide. L’E- 
639 
ft range. —The cafe is doubtful, and may be difputed with 
plaujible arguments on either fide. South. 
PLAU'SIBLENESS, f. Specioufnefs; (how of right.— 
The notion of man’s freewill, and the nature of fin, bears 
with it a commendable plainnefs and plau/iblenefs. More. 
PLAU'SIBLY, ado. With fair (how; fpecioufly.—They 
could talk plavfibly about that they did not underftand, 
but their learning lay chiefly in flourifti. Collier. 
Thou canft plaufibly difpute, 
Supreme of feers, of angel, man, and brute. Prior. 
With applaufe. Not in ufe. —I hope they will plaufibly 
receive our attempts, or candidly correft our mifconjec- 
tures. Browns Vulg. Err. 
PLAU'SIVE, adj. [from plaudo, Lat.] Applauding: 
Let plaufive refignation rife, 
And banifli all complaint. Young's Refgn. 
Plaufible. Not now in ufe. 
His plaufive words 
He fcatter’d not in ears, but grafted them 
To grow there, and to bear. Shakefpeare's All's Well. 
PLAUTIA'NUS (Fulvius), an African of mean births 
who was baniftied from Rome for feditious behaviour- 
In his baniftiment, Plautianus formed an acquaintance 
with Severus, who, fome years after, afcended the imperial 
throne. This was the beginning of his profperity ; Se¬ 
verus paid the greateft attention to him; and, if we believe 
fome authors, their familiarity and intercourfe was car¬ 
ried beyond the bounds of modefty and propriety. Plau¬ 
tianus was invefted with as much power as his patron ; 
and, indeed, he wanted but the name of emperor to be 
his equal. When he walked in the public ftreets he 
received the moft diftinguiflied honors, and a number of 
criers ordered the moft noble citizens to make way for 
the favourite, and not to fix their eyes upon him. He 
was concerned in all the rapine and deftruftion which 
was committed through the empire, and he enriched 
himfelf with the pofleflions of thofe who had been facri- 
ficed to the emperor’s cruelty or avarice. To complete 
his triumph, and to make himfelf ftill greater, Plautianus 
married his favourite daughter Plautilla toCaracalla, the 
fon of the emperor. The marriage of Caracalla with 
Plautilla was attended with ferious confequences. The 
fon of Severus had complied with great reluftance ; and, 
though Plautilla was amiable in her manners, and of a 
beautiful countenance, yet the young prince often threat¬ 
ened to punifli her imperious behaviour as foon as he fuc- 
ceeded to the throne. Plautilla reported the whole to 
her father; and, to fave his daughter from the vengeance 
of Caracalla, Plautianus confpired againft the emperor 
and his fon. The confpiracy was difcovered ; and Seve¬ 
rus forgot his attachment to Plautianus, and the favours 
he had heaped upon him, when he heard of his perfidy. 
The wicked minifter was put to death ; and Plautilla 
baniftied to th$ ifland of Lipari, with her brother Plautius, 
where, feven years after, (lie was put to death by order 
of Caracalla, A.D. an. Plautilla had two children}; a 
fon, who died in his childhood, and a daughter, whom 
her father (Caracalla) murdered in the arms of her mo¬ 
ther. 
PLAU'TUS (Marcus Accius), a celebrated Latin 
writer of comedy, was a native of Sarfina, a fmall town in 
Umbria. He was probably of mean parentage, and fome 
fuppofe him to have been the fon of a (lave. Of the cir- 
cumftances of his life very little is known. He came to 
Rome, and obtained not only fame but emolument from 
his dramatic compofitions, which were reprefented about 
the middle of the fixth century from the foundation of 
the city. Aulus Gellius relates, from the authority ot 
Varro, that Plautus, having acquired property, was 
tempted, in order to increafe it, to engage in trade; and 
that his fpeculations fucceeded fo ill, that he was reduced, 
in a time of general fcarcity, to hire himfelf as a labourer 
to grind at a mill. His mind, however, remained unde- 
p reded. 
