Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 07.djvu/363

POLONAISE 297 POLYCRATES lation of the "Travels of Marco Polo" was published by William Marsden, the Orientalist, in 1817 and it has often been reprinted. POLONAISE, a Polish national dance, which has been imitated, but with much rariation, by other nations. The polo- naise, in music, is a movement of three crotchets in a bar, characterized by a seeming irregularity of rhythm, produced by the syncopation of the last note in a bar with the first note of the bar follow- ing, in the upper part or melody, while the normal time is preserved in the bass. POLTAVA, or PTJLTAWA, a province of Russia, bounded by Czernigov, Khar- kov, Ekaterinoslav, Kherson, and Kiev; area 19,265 square miles; pop. about 4,000,000. It is one of the most fertile and best cultivated portions of the Rus- sian empire, and grows large quantities of grain. Live stock and bee rearing are important branches of the rural economy. Both manufactures and trade are of very limited extent. Poltava, the capital, at the confluence of the Poltava with the Worskla, has straight and broad streets, a cathedral, etc. As a place of trade Poltava derives importance from the great fair held each year. Wool is the great staple of trade. Horses, cattle, and sheep are likewise bought and sold in great numbers. It contains a monu- ment to Peter the Great, who here de- feated Charles XII. in 1709. Pop. about 85,000. POLYANDRY, the marriage of one woman to several men at once. The cus- tom is still widely spread in the East. Caesar found it in Britain on his arrival. Tacitus has been cited as an authority that the ancient Germans practiced polyandry. POLYANTHUS, a beautiful and favor- ite variety of the common primrose (Primula vulgaris), a native of most parts of Europe, growing in woods and eopses in a moist clayey soil. POLYBASIC ACIDS, acids which pos- sess more than one hydrogen atom capable of being replaced by a metal equivalent. POLYBIUS, a Greek historian; born in Megalopolis, Greece, probably about 204 B. C. He was the son of Lycortas, who succeeded Philopcemen as general of the Achaean League, and he profited both by the example and instructions of Phi- lopcemen. In the funeral procession of the latter from Messene to Megalopolis, Polybius bore the urn containing the ashes of his friend. He was one of the 1,000 Achaeans carried to Italy in 168, on the charge of not having assisted the Romans against Perseus. He lived in the house of ^Emilius Paulus, and be- came the intimate friend of his son Scipio; returned with his fellow exiles to Greece, in 151; accompanied Scipio to the siege of Carthage. His great work is a general history of the affairs of Greece and Rome from 220 B. c. to 146 B. c, the epoch of the fall of Corinth, prefaced by a summary view of early Roman history. Five only of its 40 books are now extant, with some frag- ments of the rest, but these are among the most important literary remains of antiquity. He died at the age of 82. POLYCARP, ST., one of the apostoli- cal fathers of the Church, and a Chris- tian martyr who, according to tradition, was a disciple of the Apostle John, and by him appointed Bishop of Smyrna. He made many converts, enjoyed the friendship of Ignatius, and opposed the heresies of Marcion and Valentinus; but during the persecution of the Christians under Marcus Aurelius he suffered mar- tyrdom wtih the most heroic fortitude, A. D. 166. His short "Epistle to the Phil- ippians" is the only one of his writings that has been preserved. POLYCHROMY, the art of coloring statuary to imitate nature, or particular buildings in harmonious, prismatic, or compound tints. POLYCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS, those plants of which the embryos have more than two cotyledons or seed lobes. POLYCRATES, a ruler of the island of Samos from about 536 to 522 B. c. He conquered several islands on the Asi- atic mainland, waged war successfully against the inhabitants of Miletus, and defeated their allies, the Lesbians, in a great sea fight. His intimate alliance with Amasis, King of Egypt, proves the importance in which this daring island- prince was held even by great monarchs. According to Herodotus, Amasis dreaded the misfortunes that the envious gods must be preparing for so lucky a mor- tal, and wrote a letter to Polycrates, earnestly advising him to throw away the possession that he deemed most valu- able, and thereby avert the stroke of the spleenful gods. Polycrates, in compli- ance with this friendly advice, cast a signet-ring of marvelous workmanship into the sea, but next day a fisherman presented the tyrant with an unusually big fish and in its belly was found the identical ring. It was quite clear to Amasis now that Polycrates was a doomed man, and he immediately broke off the alliance. When Cambyses in- vaded Egypt (525) Polycrates sent him a contingent of 40 ships, In which he