Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 07.djvu/369

PONCE 303 PONIATOWSKI ishing blow to the similar victories of Crassus, and in 70 B. C. Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls. In the year 67 B. c, he destroyed the lawless bands infesting the coasts of the Medi- terranean; was made absolute dictator in the East, and superseded LucuUus in the command against Mithridates. The latter he completely routed in 66 B. c, and becoming master of Asia Minor, pur- sued his conquests through Syria and Palestine as far as the Red Sea. In 60 B. C. he joined Caesar and Crassus in the triumvirate, the former of whom gave him his daughter Julia in marriage. Succeeding events caused Pompey to draw closer to the senatorial party, and with him, as the representative of the patrician republic, went Cato, the hon- est enemy of the ambition of Caesar. In 54 B. C. Julia died ; in the year following, Crassus was slain in Asia; and now the hostility between C^sar and Pompey rap- idly developed itself. The former hav- ing applied for the consulship, refused to present himself in Rome as a private citizen, and a decree of the senate de- clared him a public enemy unless he re- signed his command. Instead of doing so, Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his troops, 49 B. c, and Pompey, accom- panied by Cato, Cicero, and other nobles of Rome, fell back on Greece, where the great battle of Pharsalia decided his fate. Pompey was advised to seek an asylum in Egypt, then ruled by a sov- ereign he had protected, Ptolemy XIV. He was received with pretended friend- ship, but treacherously murdered as soon as he had stepped ashore, 48 B. C, and his head being cut off, it was sent to Csesar, who turned away from it and could not restrain his tears. Pompey fell, and with him the republic of Rome. Cneius, son of Pompey, who endeavored to carry on the war against Caesar, was defeated and killed at Munda, 45 B. c. Sextus, the younger brother of Cneius, continued the war for 10 years, and ren- dered himself formidable as a naval com- mander; but he was at last defeated and killed by order of Antony, 35 B. c. PONCE, second largest city in the thickly populated island of Porto Rico. It is in the middle of the south coast, has no harbor, but only an open road- stead, and is connected with San Juan, directly opposite on the north coast, by a military highway, a splendid result of old-fashioned Spanish engineering. Pop. (1920) 41,561. It was the principal commercial city of the island before the conquest by America, being the ordinary port of call for Spanish ships. In 1918 the island suffered from two earth- quakes that made 600 families homeless. PONCE DE LEON, JUAN, the dis- coverer of Florida; born in San Servas, Spain, in 1460, served against the Moors, and in 1502 sailed with Ovando to His- paniola, and became governor of the E. part of the island. In 1510 he obtained the government of Porto Rico, and had conquered the whole island by 1512, when he was deprived of his post. He then, broken in health, set out on a quest for the fountain of perpetual youth, and on March 27, 1513, found Florida, land- ing a little to the N. of where St. Au- gustine now stands. After staying on his way back to drive the Caribs out of Porto Rico, he returned in 1521 to con- quer his new subjects; in this, however, he failed. He retired to Cuba, and died there in July from the wound of a poi- soned arrow. PONDICHERRY, the chief of the French settlements in Iidia; on the Cor- omandel coast; 53 mile5 S. W. of Madras city; is divided into two parts by a canal, White (European) town being next the sea. It has handsome streets, a government house, a college, a light- house, and cotton mills, besides native dyeing establishments. Pop. (1917) 47,321. Exports chiefly oil seeds. The French colony of Pondicherry has an area of 115 square miles. Pop. (1917) 166,793. The governor of Pondicherry is governor-general of the French pos- sessions in India. The French first set- tled here in 1674. The Dutch took the town in 1693, but restored it to the French in 1697. In 1748 Admiral Bos- cawen besieged Pondicherry for two months, but was compelled to raise the siege. Eyre Coote, however, took it in 1763. It was once more taken by the English under Sir Hector Monro in 1778, and once more given back in 1783. In 1793 the English again repossessed them- selves of it, but it was a third time re- stored to the French in 1816. PONIATOWSKI, JOSEPH, PRINCE, a Polish general; born in Warsaw, Po- land, in 1763, and when young entered the Austrian service, but when the Poles rose against Russia he quitted it, and joining his countrymen, fought with them under Kosciusko. On the defeat of this general, Poniatowski sought ref- uge in Vienna, till the French entered Warsaw in 1806, when he was appointed to the command of the Polish army which was to co-operate with the French against Russia. In 1812 Napoleon gave him the command of the 5th Corps of the Grand Army, which consisted al- most entirely of Poles. In the subse- quent battles he distinguished himself. Napoleon estimated his services so highly, that he created him a Marshal of France.