the left bank of the Elbe, 9 miles south-east of Dresden. | the Maremma, or maritime lowlands, from the valley of the Most of the houses are built of stone from the celebrated Ombrone in the province of Siena, and, after a tortuous uarries near the town. The principal public buildings course of about 40 miles in a western direction, enters the are the town-hall, the great church, which is one of sea by two mouths in the gulf of Vada, 22 miles south-east the finest specimens of Gothic architecture in the king- of Livorno. 4, A strip of land south of the mouths of the dom, with painted glass windows, and the convent church, Cecina, and extending along the sea-coast and between which belonged to the Dominican convent founded in that and the hills for about 12 miles, as far as the Torre S. 1301. The lyceum has been converted into a school. A Vincenzo. South of this point is the district of Piombino, Roman Catholic school was founded in 1822, and the which formerly made part of the province of Pisa, but has Roman Catholic church of St. Kunigunda was consecrated of late years been annexed to the Compartimento of Grosin 1823. An admirable orphan asylum was founded seto. To the east of Piombino is the district of Campiglia, in in 1813; and in 1830 a new school-house was built, which the valley of the Cornia, which has likewise been detached is one of the handsomest edifices of the kind in Saxony. from Pisa and annexed to Grosseto. 5, The island of Elba, On a high rock near the town, called the Sonnenstein, there which is attached to the administrative province of Pisa was formerly a strong fortress, which was dismantled by the 6, Several detached districts, or enclaves,' as the French Prussians in the Seven Years' war. It was afterwards fitted style them, situated to the north between the territories up as a lunatic asylum, but in 1813 Napoleon expelled the of Lucca, Modena, and Parma, but which belonged of old patients, and again fortified it. However the establishment to the grand-duchy of Tuscany, and are appurtenances to was restored in 1814, on an admirable plan, which may the administrative province of Pisa. These divisions are : serve as a model for similar institutions. There are flou- Barga, in the valley of the upper Serchio, between the rishing manufactures of cotton, linen, woollen cloths, stock-states of Lucca and Modena [GARFAGNANA]; Bagnone and ings, hats, leather, ironmongery, starch, &c. Calico- Fivizzano, in the valley of the Aulella, an affluent of the printing is carried on to a great extent. The inhabitants Magra at the foot of the Apennines, in the region called have a considerable trade in their own manufactures, and in Lunigiana, which is now divided between Modena, Tusthe natural productions of the country, among which the cany, and Sardinia [MODENA, DUCHY OF]; Pontremoli, Pirna sandstone holds an important place. There are nu- still farther north, near the sources of the Magra, and at merous quarries in the adjacent country, which furnish three the foot of the Apennines of La Cisa, which divide it from sorts of stone; the first is best suited for grindstones, the the valley of the Taro in the state of Parma. Pontremoli second for millstones, and the third for the use of the is a small town with a castle, which is mentioned in the hissculptor and statuary the last is exported to England. tory of the middle ages as commanding an important pass Pirna has 5560 inhabitants. (Hassel, Handbuch; Stein, from the plain of Lombardy to the shores of the MediterGeographisches Lexicon; Engelhardt, Das Königreich ranean. A road leads from Parma by Pontremoli to Sarzana. Sachsen, seventh edition, by W. E. A. v. Schlieben.) Lastly, the district of Pietrasanta, which lies along the sea-coast between the territories of Lucca and of Massa and Carrara, belongs also to the province of Pisa. It stretches from the sea to the foot of the Carrara Mountains, or Alpe Apuana, and is chiefly noted for its marble quarries at Serravezza, which are of the same description as those of Carrara. The area of the whole province of Pisa is about 1350 square miles, and the population in 1835 was 326,570. (Serristori, Statistica d'Italia.) It is divided into 15 districts, containing in all 53 communes. The districts are: Pisa, Livorno, Rosignano, Guardistallo, Pomarance, Peccioli, Pontedera, Lari, Vico Pisano, Barga, Bagnone, Fivizzano, Pontremoli, Pietrasanta, and Portoferrajo, or Elba. The principal towns are: PISA, LIVORNO, and Portoferrajo. [ELBA.] PIRO'N, ALEXIS, born at Dijon, in 1689, studied the law, took his degrees, and practised as an advocate in his native town, but he afterwards forsook the bar, and lived for a time in gay and dissipated society. Being distressed in his circumstances, he repaired to Paris, and employed himself as a copyist, and afterwards wrote for the stage. He produced several light comedies and farces, which succeeded very well, but he failed in his attempt to write tragedy. At fifty years of age he composed his drama 'La Métromanie,' the best of his works, which established his reputation as a writer. He had been himself in his youth seized by a kind of mania for writing verse, and was therefore a competent judge on the subject. Piron had much ready wit and a great facility for repartee, and his epigrams were very celebrated in his time. He wrote also Tales, Odes, and other light poetry, most of them grossly licentious, according to the prevailing taste of his age, which was that of the reign of Louis XV. He may be considered as a representative of his time and country, witty, thoughtless, and licentious. He had however some attractive personal qualities, and he found friends among a higher order of men. Montesquieu obtained for Piron a pension from the king of 1000 livres; the count of Livry, Maurepas, the duke of Nevers, and other noblemen also patronised him. He married at a mature age a woman of mature years, and lived very happy with her till her death. Piron's sight was very weak, and a fall which he had in the park of the count of Livry hastened his death in 1773. His works were collected without discrimination, and published by Rigoley de Juvigny, 7 vols. 8vo. Piron however, before his death, had expressed his regret at the publication of some of his more obscene odes, which had proved a bar to his being received among the members of the Académie Française, an honour which he had sought, although he affected to disdain it in his writings. The following is his epitaph, written by himself: 'Ci gît Piron, qui ne fut rien Pas même Académicien. PISA. The Compartimento or Province of Pisa, one of the administrative divisions of Tuscany, is bounded on the north by the duchy of Lucca, on the east by the province of Florence, on the west by the sea, and on the south by the Compartimento of Grosseto, which has been detached from the province of Siena. [SIENA.] The province of Pisa comprises: 1, The lower part of the basin of the Arno, with a small part of that of the Serchio. 2, A hilly range, called Montenero, or Monti Livornesi, which bounds the basin of the Arno on the south, and runs close to the sea south-east of Livorno. 3. The basin of the Cecina, south of the hills Just mentioned. The river Cecina rises in the range of high lands, between 1000 and 1500 feet high, which divides PISA, one of the principal towns of Tuscany, and the handsomest next to Florence, is situated in a plain, through which flows the Arno, forty-five miles west of Florence, thirteen miles north by east of Livorno, and about four miles from the sea-coast. The town is divided by the river into two nearly equal parts, connected by three bridges, one of which is of marble. The circumference of the walls is about six miles; the quays along the Arno and several other streets are wide, well-paved, and lined with handsome buildings, but the town has an appearance of loneliness, and the grass grows in many of the streets. The population, which once exceeded 100,000, is now hardly 20,000. The four most remarkable buildings of Pisa, the cathedral, baptistery, belfry, and Campo Santo, are grouped near one another in a vast open place at the western extremity of the town. The duomo, or cathedral, begun in the eleventh century, is a splendid Gothic structure, cased externally with marble of various coiours, and ornamented with numerous relievos, inscriptions, and columns of various sizes, put together without much taste. The interior of the church is rather dark, the light coming in through small windows of painted glass; the nave is divided from the rest of the church by fine columns of granite; and the three bronze gates of the façade are ornamented with figures. The dome is one of the earliest constructions of the kind among the churches of Italy, though posterior to those of S. Vitale at Ravenna and St. Mark at Venice. The pulpit is enriched with valuable sculptures by Giovanni di Pisa; other statues and sculptures by the same, and by Giovanni da Bologna and other artists, are in various parts of the church. The paintings are by Andrea del Sarto, Razzi, called Il Sodoma, Salimbeni, Salvator Rosa, Roselli, Luti, Sorri, Riminaldi, Sogliani, and other masters. The pavement is of marble of various colours This magnificent temple was erected by the architect and mechanician Bus chetto and his successor Rainaldo. The baptistery, detached from the church, is round, and entirely cased with marble. It was built about the middle of the twelfth century, by the architect Diotisalvi of Pisa. It is ornamented by numerous sculptures; the pulpit in particular is considered a masterpiece of Nicola Pisano. [BAPTISTERY.] The belfry is a round tower, likewise cased with marble, 190 feet high, which deviates from the perpendicular line about fourteen feet. It was erected in the latter part of the twelfth century, by the architects William of Innspruck and Bonanno of Pisa. From the summit there is a splendid view of the plain, the surrounding mountains, and the sea. The Campo Santo, or cemetery, constructed in the thirteenth century, by Giovanni di Pisa, is a long parallelogram, 430 feet in length, with an arcade or cloister running all round the interior, the walls of which are covered with fresco paintings, chiefly by Giotto, Orgagna, and Memmi. The paintings are for the most part greatly damaged, and some are entirely obliterated. [NICOLA DI PISA.] A series of engravings of the paintings has been published. (Rosini, Pitture del Campo Santo di Pisa, con l'indicazione dei Monumenti di Belle Arti colà raccolti, 1816.) Several antient sculptures and other remains of antiquity are deposited in the Campo Santo. Among the tombs is that of the Countess Beatrice, the mother of Matilda, of Algarotti, Pignotti, and of the celebrated surgeon and professor Vacca, which last is the work of Thorwaldsen. The other remarkable buildings of Pisa are-1, the church of S. Stefano, belonging to the military order of that name, which was founded in 1561, by the grand duke Cosmo, for the purpose of crusading against the Barbary pirates; 2, that of S. Frediano, which is rich in paintings; 3, S. Nicola, with a handsome belfry, the work of Nicola Pisano; 4, S. Michele in Borgo contains the monument of Guido Grandi, a celebrated mathematician and antiquarian, and contemporary of Newton, whose MSS., in forty-four volumes, are in the university library; 5, S. Maria della Spina, a handsome church, with good paintings and sculptures. There are many other churches besides these. 6, The palaces of Lanfranchi and Lanfreducci; 7, the Torre della Fame, in which Ugolino and his children were starved to death; it now forms part of a structure called Palazzo dell' Orologio, on the Piazza dei Cavalieri; 8, the university buildings, the library, observatory, and botanical garden; 9, the great hospital; 10, the Loggia, or old Exchange. The Certosa, or Carthusian convent and church, is in a pleasant situation, about two miles east of Pisa. The vast farm and forest of S. Roisore, belonging to the grand-duke, three miles from Pisa, near the sea, is chiefly remarkable for the camels, about eighty in number, the original stock of which were brought to this spot in the time of the Crusades. The mineral baths, called di S. Giuliano, four miles from Pisa, at the foot of a mountain, have been restored on the remains of antient thermæ, which were frequented in the middle ages by the countess Matilda. The present buildings are of the last century. They are not so much frequented as they used to be, people resorting in preference to the baths of Lucca, the situation of which is more agreeable and healthy, especially in summer, when the air of Pisa and the neighbouring plain is not considered wholesome, though it is not so deleterious as it once was, owing to the drainings that have been made, and the improvements effected in cultivation of late years. During the winter the climate of Pisa is extremely mild though rainy, and is well suited to persons with weak lungs. History of Pisa.-The origin of Pisa was a matter of doubt even in the time of Cato, who acknowledged that he could not ascertain who were its original inhabitants before it came into the possession of the Etruscans. (Servius, x. 179.) Strabo and Pliny give it a Greek origin, and consider it to be a colony of Pisa in Elis, and Virgil (Æneid, x.) adopts the same tradition. Lycophron pretends that Pisa was taken by the Tyrrhenians from the original Ligurian inhabitants. Pisa was on the border between Etruria and the country of the Ligurians, and was probably colonised by the Etruscans when they extended their dominion from the Arno to the Macra. It is not reckoned among the twelve principal towns of the Etruscan confederation. It underwent the same vicissitudes as the rest of Etruria, and became subject to Rome about the middle of the fifth century of Rome, retaining, like most Etruscan towns, its municipal form of government. Livy (xl. 43) mentions that a Latin colony was sent to Pisa, at the request of the citizens, who offered a part of their territory to the colonists about 179 B.C. Nothing more is said concerning Pisa in Roman history, out we find that it had bishops at the beginning of the fourth century. Pisa passed successively under the dominion of the various conquerors of Italy, the Goths, the Longobards, and the Carlovingians. Under the last it governed itself, like most other Italian towns, as an independent community under a nominal allegiance to the emperors and their great feudatories the counts or marquises of Tuscany. In A.D. 874, the Pisans appeared in arms against the Saracen pirates from Africa, who were scouring the Mediterranean, and who, after having plundered the Roman coast, and made many prisoners, landed at S. Pietro in Grado, about three miles from Pisa. The Pisans attacked them by land whilst their galleys came out to cut off the retreat of the Saracens, who escaped, leaving their prisoners behind them, whom the Pisans restored to Rome. In the year 926, Hugo of Provence came to Pisa, where he received the homage, of the great feudatories as king of Italy. In 965, Otho I., on his return from Rome, stopped at Pisa, and was so pleased with his reception that he granted various privileges to the town, and several noblemen of his retinue were so delighted with the country that they asked his leave to remain and settle there. This was the origin of seven noble families, which afterwards figured in the history of Pisa, namely, Casamatti, Orlandi, Ripafratti, Visconti, Verchionesi, Gusmani, and Duodi. From that time Pisa was considered one of the Italian cities most attached to the emperors. About A.D. 1003 the Pisans sent their galleys to the coast of Syria, against the Seljuk Turks, who had invaded the country, and who vexed the Christians of Palestine. In the following year began the long struggle between Pisa and Muscet, the Moorish king of Sardinia, which ended in the final conquest of that island by the united Pisans and Genoese, in the year 1022, after which the Pisans divided Sardinia into four provinces, or giudicati, namely, Cagliari, Torre or Sassari, Arborea, and Gallura, to which they appointed giudici, or governors, from the principal families of Pisa, who in the course of time became nearly independent. At this period Pisa was a republic, having its annual consuls, but it appears that the bishop had also a considerable share in the administration. The territory of Pisa extended on the side of Florence as far as Empoli, and along the coast to the south-east as far as Piombino. Lucca bordered it on the north, and frequent dissensions arose between it and Pisa. The harbour of Pisa was formed by a bay which is now filled up, at a place called Calambrone. [ARNO.] In the year 1030, the Pisans sent a fleet of 50 galleys to Carthage (so say the chroniclers, but perhaps they mean Porto Favina), and took the town from the Saracens, and in 1038 they likewise took possession of the island of Lipari. In the year 1050, the Moors of Barbary again invaded Sardinia, but the Pisans sent a large armament, and drove them away. The Pisans at the same time subjected, at least in part, the island of Corsica, and in 1089 or 1091, Pope Urban II. made a grant to the Pisans of the whole island as a fief of the Apostolic See. (Tronci, Memorie di Pisa.) In 1062, Pisa sent assistance to Robert Guiscard, the Norman duke of Apulia, against the Saracens. In 1063, the Pisans sailed to Palermo, which was occupied by the Saracens, and, after a sharp engagement, they entered the harbour, and carried away the shipping, with a rich booty, part of which was employed in building their splendid cathedral. The Pisans however did not retain possession of Palermo, which soon after fell, with the rest of Sicily, into the hands of the Normans. About the year 1070 began the wars between Genoa and Pisa, which continued, with various interruptions, for more than two centuries, and ended in the downfall of Pisa. Commercial jealousy, and the possession of Corsica, which the Genoese aimed at, were the causes of the war. The respective claims of the Genoese and Pisans upon Corsica have been a matter of much historical controversy (Tanucci, Dissertazione del Dominio Antico dei Pisani sulla Corsica; Flaminio del Borgo, Dissertazioni Pisane; Note agli Annali Genovesi'di Caffaro; Manno, Istoria della Sardegna.) In 1088, the two states, having made peace, joined their fleets, and, sailing to the coast of Barbary, took the town of Mahadiah, which is also called Africa by the chroniclers, on the eastern coast of Tunis, and which was then the capital of a considerable Saracen state. They obliged the king to pay a large sum of money, to release all his Christian slaves, and to promise never more to cruise 'Qui pergit Pisas, videt illic monstra marina; Hæc urbs Paganis, Turchis, Lybicis, quoque Parthis It was in this period of their prosperity that the Pisans completed their splendid monuments of art, the cathedral, the belfry, baptistery, and Campo Santo. The Pisans sent a fleet of 120 sail to the first crusade, and their soldiers and sailors assisted at the taking of Nicæa, and afterwards at that of Antioch, as a reward for which they obtained a street of that city to establish a factory in. In 1099 the Pisans were at the taking of Jerusalem. In the following year they sailed into the sea of Marmara, and obliged the emperor Alexius to sign a treaty, by which he allowed them to establish a factory at Constantinople, with ample privileges. The Pisan fleet returned home in triumph, and their city was then entirely surrounded by walls. In 1114, the Pisans sent a large armament, the largest that had ever sailed from their coast, to the conquest of the Balearic Islands, which were in possession of the Moors, and which had become a nest of Mohammedan pirates. The fleet consisted of 300 ships of various sizes, having on board 35,000 men and 900 horses. A great part of the troops consisted of mercenaries and also of contingents sent from the Pisan possessions in Sardinia. The archbishop of Pisa, Pietro Moriconi, himself commanded the expedition, of which we have an account in a curious Latin poem written by his own secretary, Laurentius Varnensis Diaconus, and published by Ughelli. Several of the descriptions in this poem bear so striking a resemblance to some in Tasso's Gerusalemme,' that suspicions have arisen that the Italian poet may have been acquainted with the MS. of the deacon. In April, 1117, the Pisans, in conjunction with Raymundo IV., count of Barcelona, accomplished the conquest of the Baleares, took the son of the Moorish king prisoner and brought him to Pisa, where he afterwards became a Christian. Unfortunately for the correct understanding of all those important transactions in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, we have no history of Pisa properly speaking. Whilst Genoa, Venice, and Florence have had accomplished historians, Pisa has nothing but partial chronicles and detached memoirs, although numerous authentic documents must exist in the archives, from which a history of Pisa might be written. Pisa rose early to importance, but she also fell at an earlier period than her rivals, which may account for her history having been neglected. their ships escaped into the harbour. They lost 3000 men killed or drowned, and 13,000 were carried prisoners to Genoa, where they were confined in chains, and where most of them died. Hence a proverb became curren throughout Italy-Those who want to see Pisa must go to Genoa.' The Genoese would have restored the prisoners, if Pisa had agreed to give up Sardinia to Genoa; but it is said that the prisoners themselves declared that they would not purchase freedom at such a price. The women of Pisa who went to Genoa to see their unfortunate husbands or brothers were told by the jailers that their countrymen were dying thirty or forty a-day, and their bodies were thrown into the sea, and that such would be the fate of all the Pisans.' In 1290, Conrad Doria attacked the Porto Pisano, destroyed its towers, and sunk ships filled with stones at the entrance. (Giov. Villani, Cronaca, b. vii., ch. 141.) From that time Pisa completely lost its rank as a maritime power, after a glorious career of four centuries, and Venice and Genoa were left alone to dispute for the naval supremacy in the Mediterranean. In the meantime Pisa was distracted by domestic feuds. Florence, at the head of the Guelphs of Tuscany, assailed it by land, and in their distress the Pisans appointed as their captain-general, for ten years, Ugolino Count Gherardesca, a Guibeline feudal baron, but allied by marriage to the Guelphs. Ugolino acted as a tyrant. In order to keep himself in power, he favoured alternately Guelphs and Guibelines, while he proscribed the more independent leaders of both parties. He was opposed by the archbishop Ruggiero degli Ubaldini, a staunch Guibeline; and in 1288, being accused of betraying his country into the hands of the Guelphs of Florence and Lucca, an insurrection broke out against him, headed by the archbishop. Ugolino, being overpowered, was confined, with two of his sons and two of his grandsons, the latter mere boys, in a tower near the Arno, the key of which was entrusted to the archbishop, who after a short time threw it into the river, and left the wretched prisoners to die of hunger. This catastrophe has furnished Dante with the subject of one of his most powerful and appalling descriptions. The Pisans then appointed Guido da Montefeltro their captain-general. He recovered by force the strongholds which Ugolino had put into the hands of the Guelphs of Florence and Lucca, and his troops, armed with crossbows, became the terror of Tuscany. Peace was made in 1293, and in 1299 Pisa made peace with Genoa also. Pisa continued attached to the Guibeline party, and at the death of the emperor Henry VII., in 1313, found herself exposed to the attack of all the Guelphs of Tuscany. The Pisans gave the chief command to Uguccione della Faggiuola, a captain of some renown, who took Lucca, in 1314, and afterwards defeated the Florentines in the battle of Montecatino. Uguccione however acted as a tyrant both to Lucca and Pisa, until an insurrection broke out simultaneously in both cities, in April, 1316. Pisa resumed its republican form of government, and in 1322 exiled fifteen of the Guibeline nobles, and made peace with the Guelphs. In the following year a general massacre of the Pisans took place in Sardinia, and the insurgents offered the island to Alfonso, the son of James II., king of Aragon. Pisa made a last effort to preserve Sardinia, but was obliged to give it up to the Aragonese, in 1326. In 1328 Castruccio Castracani, the great Guibeline stored it to freedom. In 1341 the Pisans, who still retained much of their martial spirit, defeated the Florentines, and took possession of Lucca, and kept it till 1369, when the emperor Charles IV. obliged them to restore Lucca to its independence. In the year 1137, the Pisan fleet went to the coast of Naples to aid the pope and emperor against the Normans, and took the town of Amalfi, where it is reported that they found a copy of the Pandects, from which all other copies made in Italy were derived. This assertion however has been much controverted. (Fanucci, Dissertazione Istorico-Critica sul Ritrovamento delle Pandette, in his Storia dei tre celebri Popoli Marittimi del' Italia, Pisa, 1821.) In the war between Frederic Barbarossa and the Lom-leader, took Pisa by surprise, but his death soon after rebard cities, Pisa sided with the emperor, and afterwards sent a fleet of fifty galleys to accompany him to the Levant on his crusade. In the following century the Pisans, as Guibelines, took the part of Frederic II. against the pope. In 1258, peace was made between Genoa and Pisa, through the mediation of Pope Alexander IV. In 1282 began the fourth war between Pisa and Genoa. Oberto Doria, the first naval officer of the age, commanded the Genoese. In the year 1284 he sailed out of Genoa direct for the port of Pisa with 58 galleys, and was joined off the rocky island of Meloria, which lies opposite Leghorn, by 30 more gaileys, under Benedetto Zaccaria, which he ordered to conceal themselves behind the island. The Pisan fleet came out, having on board the flower of the fighting men of Pisa. The galley of Doria, supported by another Genoese galley, attacked and took the admiral ship of Pisa, which bore the great flag of the republic. At the same time the thirty galleys which lay concealed behind the island of Meloria appeared, and attacked the Pisans in flank and rear. The Pisans fought desperately till night, when a few only of Pisa was now distracted by internal feuds between the democratic party, at the head of which was a merchant family of the name of Gambacorta, supported by Florence, and the Guibeline nobles and their adherents, whose party was called the Raspanti, and who were assisted by the Visconti lords of Milan. The Raspanti, having for a time the upper hand, exiled their antagonists, and began to annoy the Florentine merchants, who had settled at Pisa and in its port, as well at Livorno, which was already frequented as a port. Upon this the Florentines removed their counting houses to Telamone, a port in the Maremma of Siena Another revolution soon broke out at Pisa, and the party of the Gambacorta was restored; but Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milan, caused Pietro Gambacorta to be murdered by his own secretary Jacopo Appiano, who made himself master of Pisa, A.D. 1392. After the death of Jacopo, bi, his son sold the city to Gian Galeazzo, in February, 1399, reserving to himself and his descendants the principality of Piombino. Pisa, as well as Genoa, Lucca, Siena, Perugia, and Bologna, was thus annexed to the dominions of the Visconti. At the death of Gian Galeazzo, in 1403, his natural son Gabriello Maria had Pisa for his share, but not feeling himself secure, he placed himself under the protection of Charles VI. of France, whose representative Marshal Boucicault had occupied Genoa, giving up to him Porto Pisano and Livorno. Boucicault thought of nothing but making the most of this piece of good luck. He sold Livorno to the Genoese for 26,000 golden ducats; and in 1405, he offered to sell Pisa to the Florentines for the sum of 400,000 florins, to be divided between him and Gabriello Maria. The Pisans however, being informed of this negotiation, rose against Gabriello Maria and his French auxiliaries, and obtained possession of the gates of their city, but they failed in their attack on the citadel. Boucicault then offered to give to the Florentines the citadel and the other strongholds which he had in the territory of Pisa for 206,000 florins, which the Florentines paid him, and were put in possession of the citadel, A.D. 1405. Gabriello Maria demanded his share of the purchase money, but Marshal Boucicault rid himself of his importunities by having him beheaded as a traitor to the French king. The Florentines had the citadel of Pisa, but not the town, and the citizens soon retook the citadel also. They now asked peace of the Florentines, offering to repay them the money which they had paid to Boucicault, and in order to facilitate the negotiation, they recalled from exile Giovanni Gambacorta, whose family had always been favourable to the Florentine connection, and named him their captaingeneral. The Florentines however would hear of no proposal except the surrender of Pisa; but the citizens were not yet sunk so low as to yield to such a demand; they considered themselves the oldest republic of Tuscany, and they determined on resistance. The Florentines blockaded Pisa for about a year, and when the inhabitants were reduced to the greatest distress for want of provisions, Giovanni Gambacorta secretly treated with the Florentines, and agreed to open to them the gates for 50,000 florins and the country of Bagno, which he did on the night of the 8th November, 1406. Gino Capponi, the commissioner of Florence, behaved with great humanity; he maintained the strictest discipline among his troops, and he introduced into the town, together with his soldiers, a number of waggon-loads of bread which he distributed gratis to the famished inhabitants. But the pride of Pisa was too much hurt to be reconciled to the yoke. The principal families emigrated to Sardinia and Sicily, and most of the young men sought their fortune in the companies of mercenaries which were then scattered about Italy. Thus ended the career of Pisa as an independent state. After eighty-eight years of Florentine dominion, when Charles VIII. of France came to Italy, in 1494, and showed himself hostile to Florence, the people of Pisa, headed by Simone Orlandi, rose in arms, drove away the Florentines, and restored their republican government under the protection of France. In 1499, after the French had left Italy, the Florentines besieged Pisa, but were repulsed, the women themselves assisting their townsmen in repairing the fortifications. In 1504 the Florentines resumed the siege, but they failed again. At last, in 1509, they formed a close blockade round the town, and Pisa was obliged to surrender through famine. A second emigration then took place, the wealthier families preferring exile to the loss of independence. Since that time Pisa has remained subject to Florence or to the rulers of Florence and of the rest of Tuscany. The university of Pisa has been the chief means of maintaining some life in the town. It is divided into three faculties, theology, law, and medicine; it reckons among its professors several distinguished men, and is attended by about four hundred students. In 1839 Pisa was chosen for the place of a general assembly of men of science from all parts of Italy. Above 400 came, besides several foreigners. They were classed into six sections, each of which had its separate meetings. Memoirs were read, and prizes offered for the next annual assembly, which was appointed to take place at Turin in 1840. PISA (Zoology). [MAIIDE, vol. xiv., p. 297.] PISCES (the Fishes), the last constellation of the old zodiac. There is in the mythological stories (which are unworthy of note) a confusion between this constellation and P. C., No. 1126. nis notes on Aratus.) The constellation consists of two Piscis Australis presently to be noticed. (See Grotius, in fishes linked by a string attached to their tails: they are not close together, the upper one being close to Andromeda, the lower one under the wing of Pegasus. The rectangular figure mentioned in PEGASUS will be a guide to the position of the two fishes: the line of a Andromeda and y Pegasi being parallel to the body of one fish, and that of Pegasi and a Pegasi to the body of the other. The principal stars are as follows: PISI DIUM. [PISUM. (Zoology.)] PISCI COLA, one of the names for the Hirudo Piscium | for at least three miles through a part of the city, whicn (Hamocharis, Sav., Icthyobdella, Blainv.), which infests was one pile of temples, theatres, and buildings, vying with fish, especially the Cyprinidæ. [LEECHES, vol. xiii., p. 382.] each other in splendour.' He also states that he could PISI'DIA (Пoidia) formed the northern part of the scarcely guess the number of temples or columned buildSyrian and Roman provinces of Pamphylia. [PAMPHYLIA.] ings in the town, but that he certainly traced fifty or sixty; The name of Pamphylia was confined to a narrow slip of and in places where there were no remains above the surland along the sea-coast; while the mountainous country face he frequently saw vast arched vaults, similar to those inland was called Pisidia. In these mountains, which forming the foundation of great public buildings. formed a part of Mount Taurus, the Pisidians maintained PISI DIA. [PORCELLANIANS.] their independence under the Persian empire. (Xen., Anab., i. 9, § 14; ii. 5, § 13; iii. 2, § 23.) Neither the Syrian kings nor the Romans were able to subdue them, though the latter obtained possession of some of their towns, as for instance, of Antiocheia, where a Roman colony possessing the Jus Italicum was founded. (Dig., 50, tit. 15, s. 8, § 10; Plin., Hist. Nat., v. 24.) In the time of Strabo the Pisidians were governed by petty chiefs, and principally supported themselves by plundering their neighbours. (Strabo, xii., p. 570.) We know very little of the physical geography of Pisidia, or of the situation of its towns. Mr. Fellows, who visited the western part of the country in 1838, informs us (Excursion in Asia Minor, p. 165) that the rocks are generally of marble, and some of common limestone with veins of marble running through them in all directions. Mr. Fellows states that the most singular features in this district are the mountains of volcanic dust, which he saw at 10 miles distant, looking as if they were smoking; this appearance being caused by the sand, which with every little wind is blown into clouds, and carried into the air and along the valleys. Out of these hills rise jagged points of marble rocks, each of which forms a nucleus of the drifting sand. The whole of this light sand or dust is tufa, the dust of the pumice-stone, and a volcanic production; the decomposed lime has in many parts mixed with this tufa and formed hills of Roman cement.' The chief towns of Pisidia were Antiocheia, Sagalassus, and Selge. Antiocheia, which, as already mentioned, was a Roman colony, was situated in the north-western part of the country. It was founded by a colony from the Magnesians on the Mæander. (Strabo, xii., p. 577.) It was visited by St. Paul and Barnabas, and it appears from the narrative in the Acts of the Apostles (xiii., 14-51) to have been a place of considerable importance. Its site is uncertain. South-west of Antiocheia was Sagalassus, which is spoken of by Arrian (i. 28) as a considerable city. Strabo (p. 569. Casaub.) says it is also called Selgessus, and is a day's journey from Apameia: he adds that from the acropolis to the town is a descent of near 30 stadia. The ruins of Sagalassus, according to Mr. Fellows (p. 167), are very extensive, consisting of seven or eight temples, and three other long buildings, ornamented with cornices and columns, and with rows of pedestals on each side. Mr. Fellows also saw there a most beautiful and perfect theatre on the side of a higher hill than the rest of the ruins, and remarks that 'the whole town is a pile of superb public buildings, arranged in excellent taste both for seeing and being seen. The town has no trace of walls, but its tombs are to be seen carved in the rocks for miles around, with much architectural ornament.' These ruins are called by the Turks Boodroom, and were visited by Lucas (i., 180). PISCIS AUSTRALIS or AUSTRI’NUS, or NOTIUS (the Southern Fish), one of the old constellations situated directly under Aquarius: the stream from the water-pot of the latter constellation finishes at the mouth of this fish. It contains a remarkable star of the first magnitude, Fomalhaut, which only just rises above the horizon in these latitudes; when on the meridian, it is nearly in the same vertical circle with a and ẞ Pegasi. The principal stars are as follows: PISISTRATIDE. Hippias and Hipparchus were the two sons of Pisistratus, after whose death Hippias, the elder, succeeded to the rule. Thucydides tells us that the general opinion in his time was, that Hipparchus succeeded his father; this however he asserts to be a mistake, although in the same chapter (Thucyd., vi. 54) he observes incidentally that Hipparchus was not unpopular in his government, thereby implying that he had some share therein.* South-east of Sagalassus was Selge, the most important town in Pisidia. Selge is said to have been first founded by Calchas and afterwards by the Lacedæmonians, and in consequence of its good government soon became a large and flourishing town. Strabo says (xi., p. 570) that at one time it contained a population of 20,000 inhabitants. When Alexander marched through Pisidia, the inhabitants of Seige sent ambassadors to him, and obtained favourable terms from him. (Arrian, i. 28.) The territory of Selge, though mountainous, was, according to Strabo, very fertile. Thucydides gives the brothers a character for encouraging It produced abundance of oil and wine, and afforded pastu- manly virtue and cultivation (a' perǹv rai xúverty), for success rage for great numbers of cattle. The forests supplied a in war, for piety, and for lenity in taxation. He says they great number of timber-trees, of which the styrax was only levied a rate of five per cent. on produce (rà yɩyvóμeva), reckoned the most valuable. Mr. Fellows visited the ruins and that they rather interfered in the appointments to of a large city, situated about 10 miles north-east of the vil-offices than with the administration of the laws themselves. lage of Boojak, which are in all probability those of Selge. Mr. Fellows describes these ruins as situated at the end of a ridge of mountains of white marble, which terminated abruptly in a deep and rich valley, and having only one side accessible, the other three rising perpendicularly perhaps 1000 feet. Mr. Fellows says (p. 172), ' that he rode He gives Pisistratus, son of Hippias, as one among others of the family (aúτwv) who served the office of archon. Hipparchus, the younger son, lost his life by a conspiracy during the rule of his brother. He made offers of a deIn the famous song to Harmodius and Aristogeiton, the person killed u called rúpavvos. |