Pontus

“ As everywhere, so, too, in Pontus, the Greek, though subjected to harsh slavery, did not lose courage and hope, but by uniting the strength left him and taking courage anew, he endeavored, just in so far as he could, to render his living with his conquerors as endurable as possible, an attempt in which he succeeded by enlisting their sympathy and esteem whenever they made use of him for high positions, or in the arts and trades in which they needed his help. ”

“ Thither he therefore hastened, fearing lest these Arian dogmas should have infected the provinces of Pontus; and in order to counteract them, he founded several monasteries, diligently instructed the people in his own doctrines, and confirmed the faith of those whose minds were wavering. ”

“ I. Life.
I.—Parentage and Birth.
Under the persecution of the second Maximinus, [1] a Christian gentleman of good position and fair estate in Pontus [2] and Macrina his wife, suffered severe hardships. [3] They escaped with their lives, and appear to have retained, or recovered, some of their property. [4] Of their children the names of two only have survived: Gregory [5] and Basil. [6] The former became bishop of one of the sees of Cappadocia. The latter acquired a high reputation in Pontus and the neighboring districts as an advocate of eminence, [7] and as a teacher of rhetoric. ”

“ He has no deviations from classical syntax but those which were coming into fashion in his time (e.g. forsitan and quamvis with the indic., the dative of the agent with passive verbs, the ablative for the accusative of time, the infinitive after adjectives like certus, aptus, &c.) , and but few peculiarities in his vocabulary. It is only in the letters from the Pontus that laxities of construction are detected, which show that the purity of his Latin was impaired by his residence away from Rome, and perhaps by increasing carelessness of composition. ”

“ Mithradates V was king of Pontus, a state of Asia Minor. He is one of the most striking characters of Roman history. Possessed of a large and powerful frame, he was endowed also with a mind of great strength and alertness, indomitable courage, and consuming ambition. ”

“ Mithridates, flying in the same manner, left in Pontus the whole of the vast quantity of gold and silver, and of beautiful things which he had inherited from his ancestors, and which he himself had collected and brought into his own kingdom, having obtained them by plunder in the former war from all Asia. While our men were diligently occupied in collecting all this, the king himself escaped out of their hands. ”

“ It is strange that the two notable exceptions to this barrenness of eminent linguists which characterizes the classic times, Mithridates and Cleopatra, should both have been of royal rank. The former, the celebrated king of Pontus, long one of the most formidable enemies of the Roman name, is alleged to have spoken fluently the languages of all the subjects of his empire; an empire so vast, and comprising so many different nationalities as to throw an air of improbability over the story. ”

“ Nothing, however, in Pontus is so barbarous and sad as the fact that Marcion was born there, fouler than any Scythian, more roving than the waggon-life [18] of the Sarmatian, more inhuman than the Massagete, more audacious than an Amazon, darker than the cloud, [19] (of Pontus) colder than its winter, more brittle than its ice, more deceitful than the Ister, more craggy than Caucasus. Nay [20] more, the true Prometheus, Almighty God, is mangled [21] by Marcion’s blasphemies. Marcion is more savage than even the beasts of that barbarous region. ”

“ A time came when a number of sensible people began to shake off their intoxication and combine against him, chief among them the numerous Epicureans; in the cities, the imposture with all its theatrical accessories began to be seen through. It was now that he resorted to a measure of intimidation; he proclaimed that Pontus was overrun with atheists and Christians, who presumed to spread the most scandalous reports concerning him; he exhorted Pontus, as it valued the God's favour, to stone these men. Touching Epicurus, he gave the following response. ”

“ That the believer ought not to be punished for other offences, except for the name he bears.
In the Epistle of Peter to them of Pontus: “Nor let any of you suffer as a thief, or a murderer, or as an evil-doer, or as a minder of other people’s business, [1] but as a Christian.” ”

“ You have not been able, unless I am misinformed, to recognise the fact, [31] that the world, at all events, [32] even amongst your people of Pontus, is made up of a diversity of elements which are hostile to one another. [33] It was therefore your bounden duty first to have determined that the god of the light was one being, and the god of darkness was another, in such wise that you might have been able to have distinctly asserted one of them to be the god of the law and the other the god of the gospel. ”

“ But since from the likeness of the name, and the title of the books attributed to Gregory, persons are liable to confound very different parties, it is important to notice that Gregory of Pontus is a different person. He was a native of Neocæsarea in Pontus, of greater antiquity than the one above referred to, inasmuch as he was a disciple of Origen. ”

“ When a lad from Pontus was about to attend his lectures, and asked him what he required, the answer was, "Come with a new book, a new pen, and new tablets, if you have a mind to" (implying the need of brains as well) . [4] When someone inquired what sort of wife he ought to marry, he said, "If she's beautiful, you'll not have her to yourself; if she's ugly, you'll pay for it dearly." Being told that Plato was abusing him, he remarked, "It is a royal privilege to do good and be ill spoken of." ”

“ See AUGURS. PONTIFF, The Roman. The Pope is often alluded to as the Roman Pontiff, the term implying an analogy between his office and that of the Pontifex Maximus of the ancient Romans. PONTIFICAL INDICTIONS. See INDICTIONS. PONTUS. See MITHRIDATIC WARS. PONTUS EUXINUS, EUXINUS PONTUS. The Black Sea, as named by the Greeks. PONZA, Naval Battle of (1435) . See ITALY: A. D. 1412-1447. POOR LAWS, The English. "It has been often said and often denied that the monasteries supplied the want which the poor law, two generations after the dissolution of these bodies, enforced. ”

“ Pliny the younger, one of the most eminent advocates of Rome, and full of sprightliness and good-nature, when appointed a governor of Pontus and Bithynia, near the Black Sea, wrote to the Emperor Trajan in 101 this account of the Christians, who used to be charged before him for refusing to worship the Pagan gods. ”

“ I ventured in the German language. Without the quiver of an eyelash, he replied in the same language:
“Don't rejoice too soon The Pontus Euxinus has a very unstable disposition. When there is no wind sometimes it rages, from the very depths, seamen say.”
The first half of my supposition was correct, and evidently a part of the second. This “Pontus Euxinus” smelled strongly of the Professor's chair. ”

“ Archelaus, the former commander in Bœotia under Mithridates, who afterwards deserted him and accompanied the Romans, protested to Lucullus that, upon his bare coming, he would possess himself of all Pontus. But he answered, that it did not become him to be more cowardly than huntsmen, to leave the wild beasts abroad, and seek after sport in their deserted dens. ”

“ In the Epistle of Peter to them of Pontus: “For Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that ye may follow His steps; who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not, but gave Himself up to him that judgeth unrighteously.” [1] Also Paul to the Philippians: “Who, being appointed in the figure of God, thought it not robbery that He was equal with God; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, He was made in the likeness of man, and was found in fashion as a man. ”

“ And those in my conceit who say that housen without doors, and purses without strings, serve their masters in no stead, and yet in the meantime neither set hatch nor lock unto their mouths, but suffer them run out and overflow continually, like unto the mouth of the sea Pontus, these, I say, in mine opinion seem to make no other account of words than of the basest thing in the world ”

“ Timotheus found some people who had travelled in Pontus and learnt from them, that near a town called Sinope there was a temple, which had long been famous in the neighbourhood as the seat of Jupiter-Pluto,454 and near it there also stood a female figure, which was commonly called Proserpine. Ptolemy was like most despots, easily terrified at first, but liable, when his panic was over, to think more of his pleasures than of his religious duties. ”

“ Three Romans officers, Lucius Cassius the proconsul, Marcus Aquilius, and Quintus Oppius, opposed Mithridates with the troops of Bithynia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and Gallo-græcia. The army of these provinces, together with the Roman soldiers in Asia, amounted to 70,000 men and 6000 horse. The forces of the king of Pontus were greatly superior to these; he led 250,000 foot, 40,000 horse, and 130 armed chariots into the field of battle, under the command of Neoptolemus and Archelaus. His fleet consisted of 400 ships of war, well manned and provisioned. ”

“ How frightened and of what uneasy mind do you think was Clearchus, tyrant of Pontus, [439] every time he went into the market-place or theatre, or to a banquet or other public place? who, as it is written, was wont to sleep shut up in a chest. Or that other tyrant, Aristodemus the Argive? [440] who made a kind of prison of his bed: for in his palace he had a little room hung in air, and so high that it could be reached only by a ladder; and here he slept with one of his women, whose mother took away the ladder at night and replaced it in the morning. ”

“ How impassable was the plain, had we failed to conquer their cavalry! how insurmountable the mountains already traversed by us, with all their peltasts in hot pursuit at our heels! Nay, when we have safely reached the sea, the Pontus will present a somewhat formidable gully, when we have neither vessels to convey us away nor corn to keep us alive whilst we stop. But we shall no sooner be there than we must be off again to get provisions. Surely it is better to fight to-day after a good breakfast than to-morrow on an empty stomach. ”

“ ARIOBARZANES, the name of three ancient kings or satraps of Pontus, and of three kings of Cappadocia and a Persian satrap.
Of the Pontic rulers two are most famous, (1) The son of Mithradates I., who revolted against Artaxerxes in 362 B.C. and may be regarded as the founder of the kingdom of Pontus (q.v.) . According to Demosthenes he and his three sons received from the Athenians the honour of citizenship. (2) The son of Mithradates III., who reigned c. ”

“ He has ordered a second synod of bishops of Galatia and Pontus to be assembled at Nyssa. [7] They have submitted, have met, and have sent to the Churches a man of whose character I do not like to speak; but your reverence can well understand what sort of a man he must be who would put himself at the disposal of such counsels of men. ”

“ Pontia, a Roman matron who committed adultery with Sagitta, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 12.――A mother infamous for her cruelty. Martial, bk. 1, ltr. 34.――A surname of Venus at Hermione. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 34.――A woman condemned by Nero as guilty of a conspiracy. She killed herself by opening her veins. She was daughter of Petronius and wife of Bolanus. Juvenal, satire 6, li. 637.――An island in the Tyrrhene sea, where Pilate, surnamed Pontius, is supposed to have lived. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 6.—Ptolemy, bk. 3, ch. 1. See: Œnotrides.
Pontĭcum mare, the sea of Pontus, generally called the Euxine. ”

“ Mithridates V., king of Pontus, assassinated, 186. Mithridates VI., king of Pontus, early life, 186; conquests and alliances, 187-8; orders a massacre of Romans and Italians in the cities of Asia, 188; defeated by L. Valerius Flaccus and by Sulla, 188-9; obtains peace on hard conditions, 189; defeats Murena on the Halys, 205; makes peace with Rome, and evacuates Cappadocia, 205; renews the war with Rome, 206; overruns Bithynia, and defeats Cotta, 200; retreats before Lucullus into Pontus, 207; defeated by Lucullus at Cabira, and takes refuge in Armenia, 207; defeats Fabius and Triarius, 208 ”

“ That D. L. is working in two passages of Timaeus, in the second of which the first is not pre-supposed, is an obvious suggestion.↑ Fr. 112. 4 D.↑ Fr. 42 D.↑ In the list of the writings of Heraclides of Pontus (see v. 86 sqq.) occurs Περὶ τῶν ἐν ᾅδου, a dialogue on a similar subject, if not actually identical, with Περὶ τῆς ἄπνου. In the latter Pausanias was one of the characters; see next note.↑ ἀντέλεγε. The imperfect tense is convincing proof that D. L. (or his source) is drawing upon the dialogue, and not narrating facts as a historian ”

“ As you have not made me your confidant, I know not all your friends—but if you are aware of none other to whom so precious a charge can be conveyed, involving your father’s, your own, and my fortunes, then place the papers in the hands of his majesty—he is no match for the cardinal or Fontrailles either—but he has pledged himself to Monsieur De Pontis, and his faith is good though his courage be poor. ”

“ In full account and vertue, Pontius dare not,
Much less to out-live what is good, and flatter.
Aeci. I want a name to give thy vertue Souldier,
For only good is far below thee Pontius,
[Pg 70] The gods shall find thee one; thou hast fashion'd death
In such an excellent, and beauteous manner,
I wonder men can live: Canst thou speak once more,
For thy words are such harmony, a soul
Would choose to flye to Heaven in.
Pon. A farewel:
Good noble General your hand, forgive me,
And think what ever was displeasing you,
Was none of mine: ye cannot live. ”