lated from Leo Africanus. In 1612 he delivered to the historian Thuanus in Paris ten books of MS. commentaries on Elizabeth's reign, sent over by Sir E. Cotton. He was secretary to the colony of Virginia from 1619 to 1621, and we again find him there in 1623. The date of his death is unknown.—W. J. P.
POSIDONIUS, a Stoic philosopher, was born at Apamia in Syria, about 135 b.c. He went to Athens and studied under Panætius. After the death of his preceptor he went to Spain, Italy, Sicily, and the neighbouring islands. He also visited Dalmatia and Illyricum, proceeded to Gaul, and returning to the east, took up his abode in Rhodes, where he presided over the Stoic school. While occupied with philosophy he took part in public affairs. Hence he was sent to Rome as ambassador, 86 b.c. He seems to have acquired great reputation, and to have been visited by distinguished men, as Marius, Cicero, and Pompey. He died soon after removing to Rome, 51 b.c., aged eighty-four, according to Lucian. Posidonius was a man of great abilities and acquirements. His thirst for knowledge was ardent and insatiable. He was well acquainted with science, a good geometer and geographer. Natural philosophy and astronomy were his favourite pursuits. None of his works are extant. They were numerous and varied, including a large history in about fifty books, treatises on the gods, divination, fate, heroes and demons, meteors, ethics, &c., &c. All the fragments were gathered and published by Bake, Leyden, 1810.—S. D.
POSSEVINO, Antonio, a learned and accomplished jesuit, was born at Mantua in 1533. On the close of his preparatory studies, he went to Rome as tutor to the nephew of Cardinal Gonzaga, and was admitted into the order of Jesus in 1559. His superior then sent him on an embassy to the duke of Savoy to persuade him to allow the Jesuits to settle in his dominions, and to employ rigorous measures against the Waldenses. His second mission was from Gregory XIII. to the king of Poland and the czar, whose disputes he contrived to settle. Sweden and Germany were next the theatre of his diplomatic abilities. The interest he took in the reconciliation of Henry IV. of France to the holy see offended the pope, and led to his suspension from public business. He died at Ferrara in 1611. Among his works may be mentioned his "Muscovia" in 1586; "Bibliotheca Selecta" in 1593; and his "Apparatus Sacer" in 1603-6.—His elder brother, Giovanni Battista, was also a man of letters—born in 1520; died at Rome in 1549.—Another of his own name was a nephew and a physician. He wrote "Gonzagarum Mantuæ et Montis-Ferrati Ducum historia," 1617.—J. E.
POSTLETHWAYT, Malachi, a writer on commerce and finance, born about 1707; died in 1767. He published in 1751-56, "The Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce," translated from the French of Savary, with large additions and improvements of an English kind. Postlethwayt's English version has the same faults as the French original, but is entitled to notice as one of the earlier books of the class. There is a list in Watt of his other works, among them being a "History of the Public Revenue from the Revolution of 1688 to Christmas, 1758."—F. E.
POSTUMUS, M. Cassianus Latinius, nominated by Valerian to be governor of Gaul, of which he was a native, was of humble origin. During the reign of Gallienus, in 258, he raised the standard of rebellion, and assumed the titles of Imperator and Germanicus Maximus. His rule was firm and just, but his subjects became weary of him, and he was put to death by a body of soldiers under Lollianus in 267, having refused to allow them to plunder Mayence.—D. W. R.
POTAMO or POTAMON, a philosopher of Alexandria, who flourished about the close of the second century. He was either the master or the disciple of Plotinus. In order to reconcile conflicting statements some have supposed there were two or even three philosophers of this name. Laertius states that shortly before his time, Potamo founded an eclectic school. His system has been investigated by Glöckner in a treatise published at Leipsic in 1745. It was a combination of various doctrines taken from the Platonic, Stoic, and Aristotelian schools, with the addition of certain original views.—D. W. R.
POTEMKIN, Gregory Alexandrovitch, the celebrated favourite of Catherine II., empress of Russia, was born in 1736 at a country house about twenty versts from Smolensk. Being destined for the church, he studied theology at Moscow; but an opportunity of entering the army being offered him, he eagerly seized it. Even as a subaltern he indulged his passions without control. Handsome in form and feature, he did not escape the notice of the voluptuous Catherine when she was yet but grand-duchess. The revolution which she accomplished in 1762, by which she was enabled to mount the throne, and the great services then rendered to her by the Orloffs, cast the attractive Potemkin into the shade. Rewarded with the rank of colonel for an act of gallantry shown to Catherine as she rode at the head of the troops on the night of her husband's flight, he was nevertheless removed from the presence of the empress by being sent on a mission to Sweden, The Orloffs were always jealous of his influence, but with all their authority could not prevent the growth of that favour which enabled Potemkin to supplant them. The latter boldly made love to his sovereign with all the ardour of his passionate nature. The czarina was not insensible to his wooing. She made her lover chamberlain, but shortly afterwards sent him away again to the army engaged in a war with the Turks. Returning to court on the first opportunity with the news of a victory, he was dismayed to find that Gregory Orloff had gratified Catherine with another favourite. Spite of his gracious reception, Potemkin quitted Petersburg with the avowed intention of making himself a monk. Catherine in her turn was alarmed and sent encouraging messages to the wilful lover, who returned to the palace more glorious and powerful than ever. He now set himself energetically to the direction of state affairs, exhibiting a capacity that astonished and subdued the empress. There was a wild tinge of extravagance in his ideas and projects that was not displeasing to his able and enterprising mistress. When the king of England sought to bribe the Russian government to his interests by offering the possession of Minorca, the imagination of Potemkin was excited. "I will make of Minorca," he said, "a pillar raised to the glory of the empress in the midst of the Mediterranean sea!" The diary of Lord Malmesbury is full of matter illustrating the extraordinary character of Potemkin. His boundless prodigality ministered to Catherine's love of magnificence, and his subtle though ill-informed mind held together all the threads of political intrigue at home and abroad. The Orloffs occasionally left their retirement to attempt the removal of their hated rival. But in vain; his power over Catherine continued long after the decay of her attachment to his person. Providing her with favourites who acknowledged their dependence on him, he continued to rule the empire till his death. His greatest feat of arms was the capture by assault of Otchakoff, 16th December, 1788, and the conquest of the Crimea. His arrogance had disgusted the higher nobility of the empire, and began to weary even the empress, when Potemkin died on the road between Jassy and Nicolaieff, on the 15th October, 1791. He had come from a stormy interview with Prince Repnin, who though his second in command, had, after a victory over the Turks, and with the secret sanction of the empress, concluded a treaty with the sultan without consulting him.—R. H.
POTHIER, Robert Joseph, one of the most celebrated jurisconsults France has produced, was born at Orleans in 1699, and received his education in the university of that city under the auspices of the jesuits. He applied himself with undivided energy to the study of Roman jurisprudence, and in 1749 was called by D'Aguesseau to fill the chair of French law in the university of his native city. In 1748 appeared the first volume of the great work which placed him at the head of all previous law-writers, the "Pandectæ Justinianæ in Novum Ordinem Digestæ," &c., the two remaining volumes appearing successively in 1749 and 1752. Turning his attention now to the exposition of the old French law, Pothier produced many voluminous treatises on points which had remained comparatively obscure. These treatises have been collected into one work, and published under the title, "Traités sur Differents Matières de Droit Civil appliquées a l'Usage du Barreau et de la Jurisprudence Française," four volumes' quarto; Orleans, 1781. With all this private labour he was unremitting in the active duties of his profession. The most complicated cases were daily submitted to him, patiently heard, and impartially decided. His private character was distinguished by exemplary virtue and piety, and his death in 1772 was mourned by all Europe. Pothier's treatises have been so extensively used by the framers of the civil code under Napoleon, that they may almost be called the foundation of modern French law.—W. J. P.
* POTT, August Friedrich, an eminent German philologist, was born at Nettelrede, 14th November, 1802, and received his education at Hanover and Göttingen, where he devoted
