and kneeling figures of the Magi. Certain figures in others of the panels are no less deeply imbued with classical feeling. The next important work of Niccola in date is the Arca di San Domenico, in the church at Bologna consecrated to that saint, who died in 1221. Only the main part, the actual sarcophagus covered with sculptured reliefs of St Dominic's life, is the work of Niccola and his pupils. The sculptured base and curved roof with its fanciful ornaments are later additions. This "Arca" Renaissance in Italy; A. Brach, Nicola und Giovanni Pisano und die Plastik des XIV. Jahrhunderts in Siena (Strassburg, 1904). PISANO, VITTORE (c. 1380-1456), commonly called PISANELLO, Italian medallist, was a native of San Vigilio sul Lago in the territory of Verona. Specimens of his work as a painter are still extant in Rome, Venice, Verona and Pistoia, and entitle him to a place of some distinction in the history of that art. The National Gallery in London possesses a very fine specimen of Pisanello's work-a panel painted with miniature-like delicacy. During the latter portion of his life he lived in Rome, where he enjoyed great repute. PISAURUM (mod. Pesaro, q.v.), an ancient town of Umbria on the Via Flaminia, 26 m. from Ariminum and 8 from Fanum Fortunae. A Roman colony was founded here in the territory of the Galli Senones in 184 B.C., at the mouth of the river Pisaurus (mod. Foglia; the sea has since then receded about half a mile). Whether it took the place of an earlier town or not, is not known: an important Gaulish cemetery has been discovered near the village of Novilara between Pisaurum and Fanum, but to which of these centres (if either) it belonged is uncertain (E. Brizio in Monumenti dei Lincei [1895], v. 85 sqq.). In 174 B.C. we hear that the censors built a temple of Jupiter here and paved a road. T. Accius, the counsel who opposed Cicero in the case when he defended Cluentius in a still extant speech, was a native of Pisaurum. Catullus refers to the town as decadent or unhealthy, but this may be merely malicious, and does not seem to be borne out The Adoration of the Magi, one of the panels in the pulpit of the by facts: for it is not infrequently mentioned by classical authors. sitha Pisan Baptistery, by Niccola Pisano. bot was made when St Dominic was canonized, and his bones translated; it was finished in 1267, not by Niccola himself, but by his pupils. The most magnificent, though not the most beautiful, of Niccola's works is the great pulpit in Siena cathedral (1268). It is much larger than that at Pisa, though somewhat similar in general design, being an octagon on cusped arches and columns. Its stairs, and a large landing at the top, with carved balusters and panels, rich with semi-classical foliage, are an addition of about 1500. The pulpit itself is much overloaded with sculpture, and each relief is far too crowded with figures. An attempt to gain magnificence of effect has destroyed the dignified simplicity for which the earlier pulpit is so remarkable. Niccola's last great work of sculpture was the fountain in the piazza opposite the west end of the cathedral at Perugia. This is a series of basins rising one above another, each with sculptured bas-reliefs; it was begun in 1274, and completed, except the topmost basin, which is of bronze, by Niccola's son and pupil Giovanni. Niccola Pisano was not only pre-eminent as a sculptor, but was also the greatest Italian architect of his century; he designed a number of very important buildings, though not which are attributed to him by Vasari. Among those now existing the chief are the main part of the cathedral at Pistoia, the church and convent of Sta Margherita at Cortona, and Sta T Trinità at Florence. The church of Sant' Antonio at Padua has also been attributed to him, but without reason. Unfortunately his architectural works have in most cases been much altered and modernized. Niccola was also a skilled engineer, and was compelled by the Florentines to destroy the great tower, called the Guardamorto, which overshadowed the baptistery at Florence, and had for long been the scene of violent conflicts between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. He managed skilfully so that it should fall without injuring the baptistery. Niccola Pisano died at Pisa in the year 1278, leaving his son Giovanni a worthy successor to his great talents both as an architect and sculptor. vd.bodail Though his importance as a reviver of the old traditions of beauty in art has been to some extent exaggerated by Vasari, yet it is probable that Niccola, more than any other one man, was the means of starting that new birth" of the plastic arts which, in the years following his death, was so fertile in countless works of the most unrivalled beauty. Both Niccola and his son had many pupils of great artistic power, and these carried the influence of the Pisani throughout Tuscany and northern Italy, so that the whole art of the succeeding generations may be said to have owed the greater part of its rapid development to this one family. See SCULPTURE, and general histories of Italian art; Symonds, It was occupied by Caesar in 49 B.C., and was made a colony under the second triumvirate. Hence it bears the name Colonia Julia Felix. We hear little of it under the empire. It was destroyed by the Goths in 539, and restored by Belisarius in 545. From the inscriptions, nearly 200 in number, an idea of the importance of the town may be gained. Among them are a group of cippi found on the site of a sacred grove of the matrons of Pisaurum, bearing dedications to various deities, and belonging probably to the date of the foundation of the colony. There are some remains of the town walls, and an ancient bridge over the Foglia. It was, like Ariminum, a considerable place for the manufacture of bricks and pottery, though the factories cannot always be precisely localized. PISCES (the fishes), in astronomy, the twelfth sign of the zodiac (q.v.), represented by two fishes tied together by their tails and denoted by the symbol H. It is also a constellation, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th century B.C.)and Aratus (3rd century B.C.); and catalogued by Ptolemy (38 stars), Tycho Brahe (36) and Hevelius (39). In Greek legend Aphrodite and Eros, while on the banks of the Euphrates, were surprised by Typhon, and sought safety by jumping into the water, where they were changed into two fishes. This fable, however, as in many other similar cases, is probably nothing more than an adaptation of an older Egyptian tale. a Piscium, is a fine double star of magnitude 3 and 4; 35 Piscium, is another double star, the components being a white star of the 6th magnitude and a purplish star of the 8th magnitude. Piscis australis, the southern fish, is a constellation of the southern hemisphere, mentioned by Eudoxus and Aratus, and catalogued by Ptolemy, who described 18 stars. The most important star is a Piscis australis or Fomalhaut, a star of the first magnitude. Piscis volans, the flying fish, is a new constellation introduced by John Bayer in 1603. PISCICULTURE (from Lat. piscis, fish). The species of fish which can be kept successfully in captivity throughout their lives from egg to adult is exceedingly limited in number. The various breeds of goldfish are familiar examples, but the carp is almost the only food-fish capable of similar domestication. Various other food-fishes, both marine and fresh-water, can be kept in ponds for longer or shorter periods, but refuse to breed, while in other cases the fry obtained from captive breeders will not develop. Consequently there are two main types of pisciculture to be distinguished: (1) the rearing in confinement of young fishes to an edible stage, and (2) the stocking of natural waters with eggs or fry from captured breeders. Fish-rearing. Of the first type of pisciculture there are few | tender, is still an unsolved problem, although recent work, examples of commercial importance." The pond-culture of carried out at the Plymouth laboratory of the Marine Biocarp is an important industry in China and Germany, and has logical Association, is at least promising. It has been found been introduced with some success in the United States, but possible to grow pure cultures of various diatoms, and by feeding in England it has long fallen out of use, and is not likely to be these to delicate larvae kept in sterilized sea-water, great sucrevived so long as fresh fish can be obtained and distributed so cesses have been attained. In fresh-water culture little advanreadily as is now the case. Other examples are to be found in tage, if any, has been found to result from artificial hatching, the cultivation of the lagoons of the Adriatic, and of the salt- unless this is followed by a successful period of rearing. Thus marshes of various parts of France. Here, as in ancient Greece the Howietown Fishery Company recommend their customers and Rome, it is the practice to admit young fish from the sea to stock their streams either with unhatched ova or with threeby sluices, into artificial enclosures or "viviers," and to keep month-old fry. Their experience is "that there is no half-way them there until they are large enough to be used. An in-house between ova sown in redds and three-month-old fry. teresting modification of this method of cultivation has been Younger fry may do, but only where ova would do as well, and introduced into Denmark. The entrances to the inner lagoons at half the cost." In marine hatcheries, on the other hand, of the Limfjord are naturally blocked against the immigration it is the invariable practice to hatch the eggs, although the of flatfish by dense growths of sea-grass (Zostera), although fry have to be put into the sea at the most critical period of the outer lagoons are annually invaded by large numbers of their lives. If it is a risky matter to plant out the robust small plaice from the North Sea. The fishermen of the dis- young fry of trout under an age of three months, it would seem trict consequently combined to defray the expenses of trans- to be an infinitely more speculative proceeding to plant out planting large numbers of small plaice from the outer waters the delicate week-old larvae of sea-fishes in an environment to the inner lagoons, where they were found to thrive far better which teems with predaceous enemies. than in their natural habitat. The explanation has been shown by Dr Petersen to be due to the abundance of food, coupled with the lack of overcrowding of the small fish. This transplantation of plaice in Denmark has been annually repeated for several years with the most successful results, and a suitable subvention to the cost is now an annual charge upon the government funds. As a result of the international North Sea fishery investigations, it has been proposed to extend the same principle for the development of the deep sea fishery in the neighbourhood of the Dogger Bank. Experiments with labelled plaice, carried out in 1904 by the Marine Biological Association, showed that small plaice transplanted to the Dogger Bank in spring grew three times as rapidly as those on the inshore grounds, and the same result, with insignificant variations, has been obtained by similar experiments in each succeeding year. In this case the deep water round the Dogger Bank acts as a barrier to the emigration of the small plaice from the shores. It has consequently been proposed that the small plaice should be transplanted in millions to the Bank by well vessels every spring. It is claimed, as a further result of the experiments, that from May to October the young fish would be practically free on the shallow part of the Bank from the risk of premature capture by trawlers, and that the increased value of the fish, consequent upon their phenomenal growth-rate, would greatly exceed the cost of transplantation. The methods of oyster- and mussel-culture are similar in principle to those just described. A breeding stock is maintained to supply the ground, or the " collectors," with spat, and the latter, when sufficiently grown, is then transplanted to the most favourable feeding-grounds, care being taken to avoid the local over-crowding which is so commonly observed among shell-fish under natural conditions. Fish-hatching. The second, and more familiar, type of pisciculture is that known as fish-hatching, with which must be associated the various methods of artificial propagation. The fertilization of the spawn is very easily effected. The eggs are collected either by "stripping" them from the mature adult immediately after capture, or by keeping the adults alive until they are ready to spawn, and then stripping them or by keeping them in reservoirs of sea-water and allowing them to spawn of their own accord. In the two former cases a little milt is allowed to fall from a male fish into a vessel containing a small quantity of water-fresh or salt as requiredand the eggs are pressed from the female fish into the same vessel. In fresh-water culture the eggs thus fertilized may be at once distributed to the waters to be stocked, or they may be kept in special receptacles provided with a suitable stream of water until the fry are hatched, and then distributed, or again they may be reared in the hatchery for several months until the fry are active and hardy. The hatching of eggs, whether of fresh-water or salt-water fishes, presents no serious difficulties, if suitable apparatus is employed; but the rearing of fry to an advanced stage, without serious losses, is less easy, and in the case of sea-fishes with pelagic eggs, the larvae of which are exceedingly small and Objects and Utility of Fish-hatcheries.—The earlier advocates of artificial propagation and fish-hatching seem to have been under the impression that the thousands of fry resulting from a single act of artificial propagation meant a corresponding increase in the numbers of edible fish when once they had been deposited in suitable waters; and also that artificial fertilization ensured a greater proportion of fertilized eggs than the natural process. For the second of these propositions there is no evidence, while the first proposition is now everywhere discredited. It is recognized that the great fertility of fishes is nature's provision to meet a high mortality-greater in sea-fishes with minute pelagic eggs than in fresh-water fishes with larger-yolked eggs, partly because of the greater risks of marine pelagic life, and partly because of the greater delicacy of marine larvae at the time of hatching. Artificially propagated eggs and fry after planting must submit to the same mortality as the other eggs and fry around them. Consequently it is useless to plant out eggs or fry unless in numbers sufficiently great to appreciably increase the stock of eggs and fry already existing. The It is this, combined always with the suitability of the external conditions, which accounts for the success of the best known experiments of American pisciculturists. The artificially propagated eggs of the shad from the eastern rivers of the United States were planted in those of California and the Mississippi, where the species did not naturally occur. conditions were suitable, and the species became at once acclimatized. Similarly reservoirs and streams can be stocked with various kinds of fish not previously present. But in the case of indigenous species the breeding stock must be very seriously reduced before the addition of the eggs or fry of a few score or hundreds of fish can appreciably increase the local stock. do. braude STE In the case of sea-fishes it is becoming increasingly recognized that the millions of cod fry which are annually turned out of the American, Newfoundland and Norwegian hatcheries are but an insignificant fraction of the billions of fry which are naturally produced. A single female cod liberates, according to its size, from one to five million eggs in a single season. Yet the annual output of fry from each of these hatcheries rarely exceeds 200 millions, i.e. the natural product of a few hundred cod at most. In Britain marine hatcheries have been established by the Fishery Board for Scotland in the bay of Nigg, near Aberdeen, by the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Committee at Peel, and by the government of the Isle of Man at Port Erin. These establishments have been principally devoted to the hatching of the eggs of plaice. But again the maximum output of fry from any one of these establishments has not exceeded 40 millions in any single year. As a single female plaice produces about 200,000 eggs per annum, this output does not exceed the natural produce of a few hundred fish. Under these circumstances the probable utility of the operations could be admitted only if the fry were sedentary and could be planted in suitable localities where young fish were naturally scarce. But the fry drift with the currents as helplessly as the eggs, and the a priori objections to the utility of the operations have in no case been met by evidence of tangible results. The plaice fry hatched in the Scottish establishment have been distributed for many years in the waters of Loch Fyne. Yet in this area, according to the investigations of Mr Williamson (Report of the Scottish Fishery Board for 1898), nearly 500 millions of plaice eggs are naturally produced in one spawning season. Evidence is still lacking as to whether the 20 to 30 million fry annually added from the hatchery have appreciably increased the quantities of young plaice on the surrounding shores. Supposing this could be established, the question would still remain whether the same result could not be obtained at far less expense by dispensing with the hatching operations and distributing the eggs directly after fertilization. In the United States the utility of the cod-hatching operations has been constantly asserted by representatives of the Bureau of Fisheries, but practically the only evidence adduced is the occasional appearance of unusual numbers of cod in the neighbourhood. It has not been established that the fluctuations in the local cod fisheries bear any fixed relation to the extent of the hatching operations, while the earlier reports of the Commissioners of Fisheries contain evidence that similar fluctuations occurred before the hatching of "fish commission cod" had begun. The situation may be summed up in the words of Mr Fryer, H.M. Superintending Inspector of Fisheries, who critically examined the evidence bearing upon the operations of the Newfoundland Hatchery at Dildo (Reports x.-xii. of the Inspectors of Sea Fisheries, E. & W.): "Where the establishment of a hatchery, even on the smallest scale, is followed by an increased take of fish, there is a tendency to connect the two as cause and effect on insufficient evidence, and without any regard to the many conditions which have always led to fluctuations in the case of any particular kind of fish." The most exact investigations bearing upon this problem are those which have been recently undertaken in Norway in connexion with the cod-hatching operations at Arendal under Captain Dannevig. Four fjords were selected in the south coast of Norway in proximity to the hatchery, and the usual number of fry (10-30 millions) were planted in the spring in alternate fjords, leaving the intermediate fjords unsupplied. The relative number of young cod in the various fjords was then carefully investigated throughout the succeeding summer and autumn months. It was found that there was no relation between the abundance of young fish and the presence or absence of "artificial" fry. In 1904, 33 million fry were planted in Sondelefjord and young fish were exceptionally abundant in the following autumn (three times as abundant as in 1903 when no fry were planted). But their abundance was equally striking in other fjords in which no fry had been planted, while in 1905 all the fjords were deficient in young cod whether they had been planted with fry from the hatchery or not. For a summary of these investigations see papers on Artificial Fish-hatching in Norway," by Captain Dannevig and Mr Dahl, in the Report of the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Laboratory for 1906 (Liverpool, 1907). It would thus seem clear that the attempts hitherto made to increase the supply of sea-fish by artificial hatching have been unsuccessful. The experience gained has doubtless not been wasted, but the direction to be taken by future work is plain. The energy and money devoted to hatching operations should be diverted to the serious attempt to discover a means of rearing on a large scale the just-hatched fry of the more sedentary species to a sturdy adolescence. When that has been done (it has been achieved by the present writer in the case of the sea fish Cottus with demersal eggs,) it would be possible to deposit the young fish in suitable localities on a large scale, with a reasonable prospect of influencing the local abundance of the species of fish in question. the Marketable Marine Fishes of the British Islands (London, 1896); PISCINA, a Latin word first applied to a fish-pond, and later used for any pool of water for bathing, &c., either natural or artificial, and also for a tank or reservoir. In ecclesiastical usage the term was given to a shallow stone basin (the French cuvette) placed near the altar in a church, with drains to take away the water used in the ablutions at the mass. "Piscinae " scem at first to have been mere cups or small basins, supported on perforated stems, placed close to the wall, and afterwards to have been recessed therein and covered with niche heads, which often contained shelves to serve as aumbries. They are rare in England till the 13th century, after which there is scarcely an altar without one. They frequently take the form of a double niche, with a shaft between the arched heads, which are often filled with elaborate tracing. PISEK, a town of Bohemia, 55 m. S. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900), 13,608, mostly Czech. It lies on the right bank of the Wottawa, which is here crossed by an interesting stone bridge of great antiquity. The most prominent buildings are the church of the Nativity, the town-hall, and a castle dating from the 15th century. The industries are iron and brass founding, brewing, and the manufacture of shoes, paper, cement and Turkish fezes. Feldspar, quartz and granite are quarried in the environs. The name of Pisek, which is the Czech for sand, is said to be derived from the gold-washing formerly carried on in the bed of the Wottawa (1571-1621). In 1619 it was captured by the imperialist general, Karl Bonaventura de Longueval, Graf von Buquoy, and suffered so severely that the citizens opened their gates to his opponent, Ernst von Mansfeld. This was punished in October of the following year, when Duke Maximilian of Bavaria sacked the town and put nearly all the inhabitants to the sword. Pisek was one of the chief centres of the Hussites. It was occupied by the French in 1741. PISIDIA, in ancient geography, the name given to a country in the south of Asia Minor, immediately north of Pamphylia by which it was separated from the Mediterranean, while it was bounded on the N. by Phrygia, on the E. by Lycaonia, Isauria and Cilicia, and on the W. and S.W. by Lycia and a part of Phrygia. It was a rugged and mountainous district, comprising some of the loftiest portions of the great range of Mt Taurus, together with the offshoots of the same chain towards the central table-land of Phrygia. Such a region was naturally occupied from a very early period by wild and lawless races of mountaineers, who were very imperfectly reduced to subjection by the powers that successively established their dominion in Asia Minor. The Pisidians are not mentioned by Herodotus, either among the nations that were subdued by Croesus, or among those that furnished contingents to the army of Xerxes, and the first mention of them in history occurs in the Anabasis of Xenophon, when they furnished a pretext to the younger Cyrus for levying the army with which he designed to subvert his brother's throne, while he pretended only to put down the Pisidians who were continually harassing the neighbouring nations by their lawless forays (Anab. i. 1, 11; ii. 1, 4, &c.). They are afterwards mentioned frequently by later writers among the inland nations of Asia Minor, and assume a more prominent part in the history of Alexander the Great, to whose march through their country they opposed a determined resistance. In Strabo's time they had passed under the Roman dominion, though still governed by their own petty chiefs and retaining to a considerable extent their predatory habits (giving rise to such wars as that carried on by Quirinius, about 8-6 B.C.). The boundaries of Pisidia, like those of most of the inland provinces or regions of Asia Minor, were not clearly defined, and appear to have fluctuated at different times. This was especially the case on the side of Lycia, where the upland 1. LUCIUS CALPURNIUS PISO CAESONINUS, Roman statesman, was the father-in-law of Julius Caesar. In 58 B.C., when consul, he and his colleague Aulus Gabinius entered into a compact with P. Clodius, with the object of getting Cicero out of the way. Psio's reward was the province of Macedonia, which he administered from 57 to the beginning of 55, when he was recalled, perhaps in consequence of the violent attack made upon him by Cicero in the senate in his speech De provinciis consularibus. On his return Piso addressed the senate in his defence, and Cicero replied with the coarse and exaggerated invective known as In Pisonem. Piso issued a pamphlet by way of rejoinder, and there the matter dropped, Cicero being afraid to bring the district of Milyas was sometimes included in Pisidia, at other times assigned to Lycia. Some writers, indeed, considered the Pisidians as the same people with the Milyans, while others regarded them as descendants of the Solymi, but Strabo speaks of the language of the Pisidians as distinct from that of the Solymi, as well as from that of the Lydians. The whole of Pisidia is an elevated region of table-lands or upland valleys in the midst of the ranges of Mt Taurus which descends abruptly on the side of Pamphylia. It contains several small lakes, and two of large size, Bey-Sheher Lake, the ancient Karalis, and the double lake now called the Egerdir Geul, of which the ancient name was Limnai. The latter is a fresh-water lake of about 30 m. in length, situated in the north of Pisidia on the frontier | father-in-law of Caesar to trial. At the outbreak of the civil of Phrygia, at an elevation of 3007 ft. Karalis is a larger body, also of fresh water, and at a distinctly higher level above the sea. The only rivers of importance are the Cestrus and the Eurymedon, both of which take their rise in the highest ranges of Mt Taurus, and flow down through deep and narrow valleys to the plain of Pamphylia, which they traverse on their way to the sea. Notwithstanding its rugged and mountainous character, Pisidia contained in ancient times several considerable towns, the ruins of which have been brought to light by the researches of recent travellers (Arundell, Hamilton, Daniell, G. Hirschfeld, Radet, Sterrett, Lanckoronski, Ramsay, &c.), and show them to have attained under the Roman Empire to a degree of opulence and prosperity far beyond what we should have looked for in a country of predatory mountaineers. The most important of them are Termessus, near the frontier of Lycia, a strong fortress in a position of great natural strength and commanding one of the principal passes into Pamphylia; Cremna, another mountain fortress, north of the preceding, impending over the valley of the Cestrus; Sagalassus, a little farther north, a large town in a strong position, the ruins of which are among the most remarkable in Asia Minor; Selge, on the right bank of the Eurymedon, surrounded by rugged mountains, notwithstanding which it was in Strabo's time a large and opulent city; and Antioch, known for distinction's sake as Antioch of Pisidia, and celebrated for the visit of St Paul. This was situated in the extreme north-east of the district immediately on the frontier of Phrygia, between Lake Egerdir and the range of the Sultan Dagh and was reckoned in the Greek and earlier Roman period, e.g. by Strabo, as a city of Phrygia. Besides these there were situated in the rugged mountain tract west of the Cestrus Cretopolis, Olbasa, Pogla, Isinda, Etenna and Comama. Pednelissus was in the upper valley of the Eurymedon above Selge. The only place in the district at the present day deserving to be called a town is Isbarta, the residence of a pasha; it stands at the northern foot of the main mass of Mt Taurus, looking over a wide and fertile plain which extends up to the northern chain of Taurus. North of this and immediately on the borders of Phrygia stood Apollonia, called also Mordiaeum. Large estates in Pisidia and the adjoining parts of Phrygia belonged to the Roman emperors; and their administration has been investigated by Ramsay and others. We have no clue to the ethnic character and relations of the Pisidians, except that we learn from Strabo that they were distinct from the neighbouring Solymi, who were probably a Semitic race, but we find mention at an early period in these mountain districts of various other tribes, as the Cabali, Milyans, &c., of all which, as well as the neighbouring Isaurians and Lycaonians, the origin is wholly unknown, and the absence of monuments of their languages must remain so. A few short Pisidian inscriptions have been published by Ramsay in Revue des études anciennes (1895, pp. 353-362). No inscriptions in these other languages are known. (W. M. RA.) PISO, the name of a distinguished Roman plebeian family of the Calpurnian gens which continued in existence till the end of the 2nd century A.D. Nearly fifty of its members were prominent in Roman history, but the following deserve particular mention. war Piso offered his services as mediator, but when Caesar marched upon Rome he left the city by way of protest. He did not, however, definitely declare for Pompey, but remained neutral, without forfeiting the respect of Caesar. After the murder of the dictator he insisted on the provisions of his will being strictly carried out, and for a time opposed Antony. Subsequently, however, he became one of his supporters, and is mentioned as taking part in an embassy to Antony's camp at Mutina with the object of bringing about a reconciliation. 2. LUCIUS CALPURNIUS PISO, surnamed Frugi (the worthy), Roman statesman and historian, was tribune in 149 B.C. He is known chiefly for his lex Calpurnia repetundarum, which brought about the system of quaestiones perpetuae and a new phase of criminal procedure. As praetor (136) and consul (133) Piso fought against the slaves in Sicily. He energetically opposed Gaius Gracchus, especially in connexion with his corn law. See ANNALISTS; C. Cichorius in Pauly-Wissowa's Real encyclopädie (1897), vol. iii., pt. 1; H. Peter, Historicorum romanorum trans.), § 132, 4. On the lex Calpurnia, Corpus inscr. latinarum, 1., reliquiae (1870), vol. i.; Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Lit. (Eng. No. 198, with Mommsen's commentary; A. H. J. Greenidge, Hist. of Rome, 133-104 B.C. (1904). 3. GNAEUS CALPURNIUS PISO, Roman statesman, was consul in 7 B.C., and subsequently governor of Spain and proconsul of Africa. In A.D. 17 Tiberius appointed him governor of Syria, with secret instructions to thwart Germanicus, to whom the eastern provinces had been assigned. The indignation of the people at the death of Germanicus, and the suspicion that Piso had poisoned him, forced Tiberius to order an investigation. Piso committed suicide, though it was rumoured that Tiberius, fearing incriminating disclosures, had put him to death. See H. Schiller, Geschichte der römischen Kaiserzeit (1883), vol. i. 4. GAIUS CALPURNIUS PISO, Roman statesman, orator and patron of literature in the 1st century A.D., is known chiefly for his share in the conspiracy of A.D. 65 against Nero (q.v.). He was one of the most popular men in Rome, partly for his skill in poetry and music, partly for his love of luxury and generosity. It is probably the last-named who is referred to by Calpurnius Siculus under the name of Meliboeus, and he is the subject of the panegyric De laude Pisonis. PISSARRO, CAMILLE (1831-1903), French painter, was born at St Thomas in the Danish Antilles, of Jewish parents of Spanish extraction. He went to Paris at the age of twenty, and, as a pupil of Corot, came into close touch with the Barbizon masters. Though at first he devoted himself to subjects of the kind which will ever be associated with the name of Millet, his interest was entirely absorbed by the landscape, and not by the figures. He subsequently fell under the spell of the rising impressionist movement and threw in his lot with Monet and his friends, who were at that time the butt of public ridicule. Like Monet, he made sunlight, and the effect of sunlight on the objects of nature, the chief subjects of his paintings, whether in the country or on the Paris boulevards. About 1885 he took up the laboriously scientific method of the pointillists, but after a few years of these experiments he returned to a broader and more attractive manner. Indeed, in the closing years of his life he produced some of his finest paintings, in which he set down with admirable truth the peculiar atmosphere and colour and teeming life of the boulevards, streets and bridges of Paris and Rouen. He died in Paris in 1993. J part; these arts, as they existed in Tuscany before the time of anywhere else; nor is the city less rich in the later works produced Niccola Pisano, can perhaps be better studied in Pistoia than by the school of sculptors founded by Niccola. In the 14th century Pistoia possessed a number of the most skilful artists in silver-work, a wonderful specimen of whose powers exists now in the cathedral-the great silver altar and frontal of St James, originally made for the high altar, but now placed in a chapel on the south side. The cathedral is partly of the 12th century, with a porch and façade with small arcades-in black and white marble, as is the case with several other churches of Pistoiabut was remodelled in the 13th century, and modernized inside in the worst taste. Besides the silver altar it contains many fine works of sculpture; the chief are the monument of Cino da Pistoia, lawyer and poet, Dante's contemporary (1337), by Cellino di Nese, surrounded by his scholars, and Verrocchio's finest work in marble, the monument to Cardinal Forteguerra (1474), with a large figure of Christ, surrounded by angels, in PISTACHIO NUT, the fruit of Pistacia vera (natural order Anacardiaceae), a small tree which is a native of Syria and generally cultivated in the Mediterranean region. Although a delicious nut and much prized by the Greeks and other Eastern nations, it is not well known in Britain. It is not so large as a hazel nut, but is rather longer and much thinner, and the shell is covered with a somewhat wrinkled skin. The pistachio nut is the species named in Gen. xliii. 11 (Heb. 192, DAr. botm) as forming part of the present which Joseph's brethren took with them from Canaan, and in Egypt it is still often placed along with sweetmeats and the like in presents of courtesy. The small nut of Pistacia Lentiscus, not larger than a cherry stone, also comes from Smyrna, Constantinople and Greece. P. Lentiscus is the mastic tree, a native of the Mediterranean region, forming a shrub or small tree with evergreen pinnately-high relief. The clay model for it is in the South Kensington compound leaves with a winged stalk. "Mastic" (from masticare, to chew) is an aromatic resinous exudation obtained by making incisions in the bark. It is chiefly produced in Asia Minor and is used by the Turks as a chewing gum. It is also used as a varnish for pictures. P. Terebinthus, the Cyprus turpentine tree, a native of southern Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa, yields turpentine from incisions in the trunk. A gall is produced on this tree, which is used in dyeing and tanning. 1 PISTIL, a term in botany for the female or seed-bearing organ of a flower (q.v.). The Lat. pistillum (diminutive from pinsere, pistum, to pound), a pestle, a club-headed instrument used for crushing or braying substances in a mortar (q.v.), was taken as the name for this organ from its similarity in shape, and thence adapted in Fr. pistil about the middle of the 18th century. In its complete form a pistil consists of three parts ovary, at the base, containing the bodies which become seeds, style (Gr. arλos, pillar), and stigma (Gr. σriyμa, mark, aričev, to brand), the part which in impregnation receives the pollen. PISTOIA, or PISTOJA (anc Pistoriae), a town and episcopal see of Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Florence, from which it is 21 m, N.W. by rail. Pop. (1906), 27,127 (town); 68,131 (commune). It is situated on a slight eminence (210 ft.) near the Ombrone, one of the tributaries of the Arno. It is on the site of the Roman Pistoriae, which is hardly mentioned in ancient times, except for the destruction of Catiline's forces and the slaughter of their leader near it in 62 B.C., and as a station on the road between Florentia and Luca; and earlier still by Plautus, but only with, jesting allusion to the similarity of the name to the word pistor (baker). Hardly any inscriptions of the ancient town have been found; but excavations in 1902 (see G. Pellegrini in Notizie degli Scavi, 1904, p. 241) in the Piazzo del Duomo led to the discovery of a large private house, which belonged to the end of the 1st century B.C. Some mosaic pavements were found, belonging perhaps to the 3rd century A.D., while the house appears to have fallen into ruin at the beginning of the 5th. Remains of four subsequent periods were discovered above it. It was found that the tradition that the cathedral occupied the site of a temple of Mars was ground-ally manufactures of glass, silk, macaroni, woollens, olive oil, less; for the house appears to have extended under it. Ammianus Marcellinus (5th century) mentions Pistoriae as a city of Tuscia Annonaria. During the middle ages Pistoia was at times a dangerous enemy to Florence, and the scene of constant conflicts between the Guelphs and Ghibellines; it was there that the great party struggle took place which resulted in the creation of the Bianchi and Neri factions (see Dante, Inferno, xxiv. 121 to end). In 1302-06 it was besieged and eventually taken by the armies of Florence and Lucca, in it became subject to Castruccio of Lucca. In 13,51 nt was obliged to surrender to Florence, and thenceforth shared its fate. D " The city is still surrounded by walls, dating from shortly after the siege of 1302-06; while two inner lines of streets represent two earlier and inner lines of wall, In the early development of architecture and sculpture Pistoia played a very important Museum. The monument has unfortunately been altered. The octagonal baptistery is by Cellino di Nese (1339). Among the earlier churches the principal is Sant' Andrea, enriched with sculpture, and probably designed by Gruamons and his brother Adeodatus in 1136; in the nave is Giovanni Pisano's magnificent pulpit, imitated from his father's pulpit at Pisa. Other churches of almost equal interest are S. Giovanni Fuorcivitus (so called because it was outside the line of the earliest, pentagonal, enceinte of the middle ages), with one of the long sides elaborately adorned with small arcades in the Pisan style, in black and white marble, also with sculpture by Gruamons (1162) on the façade. Within is a beautiful group of the Visitation by Luca della Robbia. There is also a fine pulpit by Fra Guglielmo dell' Agnello of Pisa (1270). S. Bartolomeo in Pantano is an interesting basilica of 1167. San Francesco al Prato is a fine church of the end of the 13th century with interesting frescoes of the school of Giotto. San Domenico, a noble church, begun in 1294, contains the beautiful tomb of Filippo Lazari by Bernardo and Antonio Rossellino (1462-1468). In addition to its fine churches, Pistoia contains many noble palaces and public buildings. The Palazzo del Commune, and the Palazzo Pretorio, once the residence of the podestà, are both fine specimens of 14th-century domestic architecture, in good preservation. The quadrangle of the latter contains many well-painted armorial bearings of the podestàs. The Ospedale del Ceppo, built originally in the 13th century, but remodelled in the 15th, is remarkable for the reliefs in enamelled and coloured terra-cotta with which its exterior is richly decorated. Besides various medallions, there is a frieze of figures in high relief extending along the whole front, over its open arcade. The reliefs consist of a series of groups representing the Seven Works of Mercy and other figures; these were executed by Giovanni Della Robbia between 1514 and 1525, and, though not equal to the best work of Luca and Andrea, are yet very fine in conception and modelling, and extremely rich in their general decorative effect. The last on the right was added in 1585 by Paladini. The industries of Pistoia include iron and steel works, especi ropes, paper, vehicles and fire-arms. The word "pistol" is derived (apparently through pistolese, a dagger-dagger and pistol being both small arms) from Pistoia, where that weapon was largely manufactured in the middle ages. PISTOIA, SYNOD OF, a diocesan synod held in 1786 under the presidency of Scipione de' Ricci (1741-1810), bishop of Pistoia, and the patronage of Leopold, grand-duke of Tuscany, with a view to preparing the ground for a national council and a reform of the Tuscan Church. On the 26th of January the grand-duke issued a circular letter to the Tuscan bishops suggesting certain reforms, especially in the matter of the restoration of the authority of diocesan synods, the purging of the missals and breviaries of legends, the assertion of episcopal as against papal authority, the curtailing of the privileges of the monastic orders, and the better education of the clergy. |