Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/99

P I K P I L 89 and the vicinity of Constantinople in the south, but is absent in the Iberian Peninsula. The European species occurs also in North America, and is common in the eastern United States southwards to northern Ohio. But North America is tenanted by other species of pike besides, of which the largest is the Muskelunge or Maskinonge of the Great Lakes (Esox nobilior) ; it commonly attains to the large size which is exceptionally recorded of Esox Lucius. The other American pike are of smaller size, and generally named " Pickerel "; but opinions as to the distinction of the species differ widely among American ichthyologists. The European pike, like its brethren, is the most voracious of freshwater fishes ; it probably exceeds the shark, to which it has been compared by many writers, in the rela tive quantity of food it consumes. Ponds would soon be depopulated but for its cannibal propensities, no pike being safe from another of its own kind large enough to swallow it. To the young of water-fowl pike are most destructive, and large specimens will seize rats or rabbits when they take to the water, and are said to attack even foxes and small dogs. Individuals of from forty to fifty pounds are not scarce, but captures of much larger ones are on record. Pike are wholesome food, and much esteemed in inland countries, the smaller (of 20 to 24 inches in length) being preferred to the larger individuals. They are prolific, and not easily exterminated in a water in which they have been once allowed to spawn. Accord ing to season and climate they spawn in April or May, and sometimes as early as February. PIKL-PERCH (Lucioperca), freshwater fishes closely allied to the perch, but with strong canine teeth standing between the smaller teeth of the jaws and palate. As indicated by the name, these fishes show some slight resemblance to the pike in their elongate body and head, and like that fish they are most dangerous enemies to other freshwater fishes. Their acclimatization therefore in waters intended for the culture of valuable food fishes is not advisable, though they compensate in some measure for their destructiveness by the excellent flavour of their flesh. In Europe two species occur, the more celebrated being the " Zander " of North Germany or " Schiel " of the Danube (Lucioperca sandrci) ; strange to say, it is absent in the system of the Rhine. It prefers the quiet waters of large rivers and clear deep lakes, in which it reaches a weight of twenty -five or thirty pounds ; it does not thrive in small and confined waters. The second European species (Lucioperca wolgensis) is limited to rivers in southern Russia and Hungary. In North America several pike-perches have been described, but in the most recent works only two are distinguished, viz., Lucioperca americana, which grows to a weight of twenty pounds, and the much smaller Lucioperca canadensis ; both are abund ant in the Canadian lakes and upper Mississippi, and the latter also in the Ohio. PILATE, 1 PONTIUS, the fifth Roman procurator or " governor " (eTnVpoTro?, i^ye/xwv) of Judtea, Samaria, and Idumsea, succeeded Valerius Gratus in 26 A.D. By rank he was a Roman eques, possibly of Samnite extraction ; his official appointment he owed to the influence of Sejanus. His ordinary residence as procurator was- at Ciesarea, the capital, but from time to time he visited Jerusalem, especially at the greater feasts, and on these occasions he had his bema in the magnificent palace of Herod the Great, hence called the pradorium. Apart from the supreme (to him, likely enough, most trivial) incident in 1 I.e., Pilatus, either derived from pilmn, and thus analogous with the surname Torquatus, or a contraction of pileatus. The pileus was the badge of manumitted slaves, and if this etymology be accepted, the name probably indicates that Pilate was a libertus, or the descendant of a libertus, of a member of the Samnite gens of the Pontii. his life (" suffered under Pontius Pilate ") the few facts that are known of him indicate a somewhat exceptional recklessness about awakening Jewish fanaticism, and unscrupulousness as to the means used in quelling its manifestations. Not long after his appointment he allowed his soldiers to carry their eagles and other insignia to Jerusalem, and did not give way until an excited mob had stormed for five whole days and nights around his palace at Csesarea. At a later date, in order to provide for the completion of his aqueduct for bringing water to the city from the " Pools of Solomon," he appropriated funds from the Corban or sacred treasury; but, profiting by his former experience, when this conduct was resented by the popu lace he caused some of his. soldiers, disguised as Jewish citizens but armed with staves and daggers, to mingle in the crowd, when many casual spectators as well as rioters were trampled to death. For having hung up in Herod s palace certain gilt shields dedicated to Tiberius he was in vain remonstrated with by the Jews, but Tiberius, on being appealed to, ordered their transference to the temple of Augustus at Csesarea. Of the circumstanc.es under which he " mingled the blood " of certain Galilseans " with their sacrifices " nothing is known ; but his cruelty in causing a number of Samaritans to be attacked and massacred when assembled on Mount Gerizim led to a complaint being lodged with Vitellius the legate of Syria, and ultimately to his being deprived of his office early in 36 A.D. According to Eusebius (//. E., ii. 7) he was banished to Vienne in Gaul, where various misfortunes caused him at last to commit suicide ; the Chronicle of Malalas alleges, with less probability, that he was beheaded under Nero. Later legend (see, for example, the apocryphal Mors Pilati mentioned below) has a good deal more to say : his suicide was anticipatory of Caligula s sentence ; the body was thrown into the Tiber and there caused disastrous tempests and floods; it afterwards produced similar effects in the Rhine at Vienne, and finally had to be consigned to a deep pool among the Alps. Local tradition points to a little tarn on Mount Pilatus near Lucerne ; if anything is thrown into it the water is forthwith strangely agitated. The devil takes the body from the water on Good Fridays and sets it on a throne where it goes through the gesture of washing its hands. The fact that Pilate allowed Jesus to be crucified is by no means out of keeping with what we know of his indifference to the claims alike of justice and of mercy ; that he obviously wished to spare him if this could be done without too much inconvenience to himself has, however, gained him in some quarters very generous recognition; thus Tertullian speaks of him as "jam pro sua conscientia Christianum," the Copts regard him as a martyr, and the Abyssinian Church has given him a place in its calendar (June 25). This view is reflected in the spurious Paradosis Pilati. Pilate s wife, known to tradition as Procla or Claudia Procula, is repre sented as having been a proselyte of the gate and a secret disciple of Jesus. She is commemorated as a saint in the Greek Church (Oct. 27). There is a considerable body of apocryphal literature connected with the name of Pilate. The Ada Pilati, which forms part of the Evangdium Nicodemi, gives a copious account of the trial of Jesus, intermingled with legendary details of uncertain and very unequal value. It exists in a variety of texts, but in substance is supposed with most probability to date from about the middle of the 2nd century, and to be the work of a Jewish Christian, written for Jews. The Epistola Pilati, of which there are two differing forms, contains what purports to be Pilate s account to Tiberius of the resurrection of Jesus. The Paradosis Pilati relates his trial, con demnation, and execution at the emperor s command ; Pilate appeals in prayer to Jesus, and, along with Procla his wife, is received as a true penitent into the number of the faithful. The Mors Pilati relates the circumstances of his suicide, the casting of his body into the Tiber, its removal to Vienne (explained as "Via Gehenna;"), and the final disposal of it at "Losania." For all

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