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PRECIPE 334 PRAGMATSIM Pozzuoli was founded by the Greeks about 520 B. c, and became under Rome a great center of commerce. St. Paul landed here in the course of his journey to Rome. Pozzuoli was destroyed by the Goths more than once, rebuilt by the Byzantine Greeks, and finally devastated by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. It abounds in ancient ruins. The cathe- dral stands on the site of a temple of Augustus. A ruined temple of Serapis also remains, inclosed by 48 marble and granite columns. On an eminence be- hind the town stands the ruined amphi- theater, resting on three series of arches. In the neighborhood are Lake Avernus, the Grotto of the Sibyl, the baths of Nero, the ruins of Baiae and Cumae, etc. PR.fflCIPE, a writ commanding some- thing to be done, or demanding a reason for its non-performance. The term is now only used to denote the note of in- structions delivered by a plaintiff or his attorney to the officer of the court, who stamps the writ of summons. PRAED, MBS. CAMPBELL MACK- WORTH (ROSE CAROLINE MURRAY- PRIOR), an Australian novelist, born in Bromelton, Queensland, March 27, 1851. In 1876 she went to London. Her most popular works are: "An Australian Heroine" (1880); "Moloch" (1883); "The Head Station" (1885) ; "Outlaw and Lawmaker" (1893); "Nulma" (1897). In collaboration with Justin McCarthy, "The Right Honorable" (1886), and "The Ladies' Gallery" (1889), novels of polit- ical and social life. PRAED, WINTHROP MACK- WORTH, an English poet; born in Lon- don, July 26, 1802. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained for two years in suc- cession the chancellor's prize for an Eng- lish poem. He contributed both in prose and verse to "Knight's Quarterly Maga- zine." In 1829 he was called to the bar, and in 1830 and 1831 was returned for St. Germans to Parliament, where he op- posed the Reform Bill. He sat subse- quently as member for Yarmouth, and Aylesbury, and became ultimately re- corder of Barnstaple and deputy high- steward for the University of Cambridge. His poems are mostly of a light and ele- gant character, belonging to the class known as vers de societe. He died in London, July 15, 1839. PR.ffiFECT, a common name applica- ble to various Roman functionaries. The most important was the Prwfectus urhi, or warden of the city, whose office existed at an early period of Roman history, but was revived under Augustus, with new and greatly altered and extended author- ity, including the whole powers necessary for the maintenance of peace and order in the city, and an extensive jurisdiction civil and criminal. The Prsefectus prse- toHo was the commander of the troops that guarded the emperor's person. PRiBTOR, originally the official title of the Consuls at Rome. When the patricians were compelled to acquiesce in the consulship being thrown open to the plebeians, they stipulated that a new curule magistrate should be appointed from the patricians exclusively, to act as supreme judge in the civil courts. On this magistrate the title of praetor was bestowed. PR-ffiTORIAN GUARD, a body of permanent troops, established by Augus- tus as Imperial Life Guards. The prag- torian guards were kept up by successive emperors, and, being under special or- ganization and enjoying several privi- leges, they became in time so powerful that they were able to raise and depose emperors at their will. They were re- organized by Septimius Severus, and were finally suppressed by Constantine the Great. PRAGMATIC SANCTION, a rescript or answer of the sovereign delivered by advice of his council to some college, order, or body of people, on any case of their community. By the French the term was appropriated to certain stat- utes limiting the jurisdiction of the Pope, as in A. D. 1268 and 1438. Pope Leo X., in 1545, persuaded Francis I. to ex- change them for a concordat. Generally it is applied to an ordinance fixing the succession to a throne in a certain line. Thus, by the Pragmatic Sanction of Germany in 1439, the succession of the empire was made hereditary in the house of Austria, and in 1724 the Emperor Charles VI., being without male issue, published another, settling the succession upon his daughter, Maria Teresa and her issue. PRAGMATISM, a term used to desig- nate those who follow the system of thought marked out by Professor Wil- liam James of Harvard University. The central thesis of the philosophy is that objective truth can not be discovered by the intellect, but instead of worrying about discovering and disputing about matters that are no longer vital, the more useful task is to see what attitude will be most serviceable in solving the problems of today. A man reveals his philosophy by the way in which he works out the practical questions which every day confront him. The criterion then of the Tightness of wrongness of a given theory of philosophy is the question how