There are six other pyramids in Gizeh; others at Abou Roash, six miles to the northwest. In Nubia, the ancient Ethiopia, are several pyramids, the tombs of the monarchs of Meroë from 600 to 100 B. C., and of some of the Ethiopian conquerors of Egypt. They are higher in proportion to their base than the Egyptian pyramids, and generally have a sepulchral hall or propylon, with sculptures, which faces the east. Cleopatra's Needles were obelisks built for sepulchral use and are described under the topic OBELISK. See The Great Pyramid by R. A. Proctor; Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid, by C. Piazzi Smith; and A Miracle in Stone, by Joseph Seiss D.D.

Pyramus and Thisbe, two lovers whose tragical history is told by Ovid in the 4th book of his Metamorphoses. They were natives of Babylon, and tenderly attached to each other; but as their parents would not consent to their marriage, they had to content themselves with secret interviews by night. On one occasion they arranged to meet at the tomb of Ninus, where Thisbe, who was first at the trysting spot, was startled to discover a lion. She immediately ran away, but dropped her robe, which the fierce animal that had just torn an ox in pieces, covered with blood. Soon after Pyramus appeared, and seeing Thisbe's robe, concluded she had been murdered and killed himself. When Thisbe returned soon after, and saw her lover lying dead on the ground she immediately put an end to her own life.

Pyrenees,the mountain chain that divides France from Spain, stretches across from the Mediterranean to the southeast corner of the Bay of Biscay, a distance of 270 miles, the breadth of the system varying from 15 to 70 miles. The chain is divisible into three distinct portions-the western, the central and the eastern. On both north and south the mountains sink down to the plains in a series of terraces with precipitous faces, the general slope on the Spanish side being somewhat steeper than that on the French side. See Voyage aux Pyrénées, by Taine.

Pyrites (py-ri'-tees), a name employed by mineralogists to designate a large class of minerals which are compounds of metals with sulphur, or arsenic, or both. They are hard, brittle and frequently yellow. The kinds most usually mentioned are iron, copper and cobalt. Iron pyrites is often mistaken

PYTHAGORAS

for gold on account of its yellow color. It is much used in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, and sulphur is obtained from it by sublimation. It is also used for the manufacture of alum. Copper pyrites is the most abundant of all the ores of copper, and yields a large proportion of the copper used in the world. Cobalt pyrites is generally of a silverwhite color, and is a principal ore of cobalt. In addition to these three kinds of pyrites is the nickel pyrites, which is a compound of nickel and arsenic.

Pyrotechny. See FIREWORKS.

Pyrrhus (pir-us), King of Epirus, was born about 318 B. C. He became sole king of Epirus in 295 B. C., and in the following year increased his territories by the addition of the western parts of Macedonia. In the year 280 B. c. he engaged in a war against the Ro-mans, the first battle taking place on the banks of the River Siris in Lucania. After an obstinate and bloody contest Pyrrhus won the day by bringing forward his elephants, and thereby exciting the terror of the Romans. Pyrrhus' loss of soldiers was so great that after the fight he is said to have exclaimed: "Another such a victory, and I must return to Epirus alone." Hence the phrase, “Pyrrhic victory." After continuing the war another year without any substantial results, a truce was made between the belligerents, and Pyrrhus withdrew to Tarentum. In a second war with Rome a few years afterward, he was utterly defeated by the Consul Curius Dentatus near Beneventum, escaping to Epirus with only a few followers; but in less than a year after this he was induced to enter on a war with the Spartans. He marched a large force into the Peloponnesus, and tried to take their city, but was repulsed in all his efforts. He then proceeded against Argos, where he was killed by a tile hurled at him by a woman from the roof of a house.

Pythagoras (py-thag' -o-ras), a Greek philosopher, and founder of the Italic school of philosophy, was born on the island of Samos about 582 B. C., but his history has been so obscured by a mass of legend that it is very difficult to arrive at any thing certain in reference to his life. He is said to have been a disciple of Thales and other distinguished philosophers, and to have undertaken extensive travels for the purpose of acquiring knowledge. In the course of these travels, which

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continued nearly thirty years, we are told that he visited Egypt and the more important countries of Asia. We have every reason to believe that he visited Egypt at least, and learned from the priests of that country the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, which is one of the most famous tenets of his school. He is even said to have asserted that he had a distinct recollection of having himself passed through other stages of existence. On seeing a dog beaten and hearing him howl, he bade the striker desist, saying, "It is the soul of a friend of mine, whom I recognize by his voice." Pythagoras is said to have been the first to assume the title of philosopher (which means lover of wisdom") in place of the name soph08 (which means "a wise man"). We have good reason for believing that he was a man of much learning, especially in mathematics. His school taught that in number alone is certainty to be found; that number is the essence of all things; that in some mysterious way numbers are things themselves. The moral teaching of the Pythagoreans was of the purest and most spiritual kind; virtue was regarded as a harmony of the soul; self-restraint, sincerity and purity of heart were especially commended, and conscientiousness and uprightness would seem to have been their chief characteristics. Of the fate of Pythagoras different accounts are given, but he is generally supposed to have died at Metapontum 500 B. C., where his tomb was to be seen in the time of Cicero.

Pythian Games, one of the four great national festivals of the Greeks, are said to have been instituted by Apollo after vanquishing the snaky monster Python. They were at first under the management of the Delphians; but about 590 B. c. the Amphictyons were entrusted with the conduct of them, after which they were held every five years. Some writers claim that they were not called Pythian till after this

PYTHON

date. Originally the contests were restricted to singing and eithern playing; but the Amphictyons added the flute, athletic contests and horse racing. By and by contests in tragedy and other kinds of poetry, in historical recitations and in works of art, were introduced and long continued a distinguishing feature of these games, which are believed to have lasted for three or four centuries after Christ. The prize was a laurel wreath and the symbolic palm branch.

Python, a large serpent very similar to the boa, but differing from it in having the plates on the under surface

of the tail double. Specimens 15 or 20 feet in length are very common, but it certainly attains a much larger size. It is rather brilliantly colored, its body being covered with gold and black finely intermixed. It feeds on deer and smaller animals, and the largest pythons are said to seize buffaloes, tigers and even elephants, and to crush them in their coils. In this there is perhaps some exaggeration; but there are well-. authenticated stories of snakes in the East Indies quite capable of killing at least the buffalo and the tiger.

Quadrant (a fourth part), literally a fourth part of a circle, or arc of 90°, but signifying in astronomy an instrument used for measuring angles. The quadrant consisted of a limb or arc of a circle equal to the fourth part of the whole circumference, graduated into degrees and parts of degrees. Picart was the first who applied telescopic sights to this instrument. Quadrants were adjusted in the same way as the mural circle. Various natural defects of the quadrant-such as the impossibility of securing exactness of the whole arc, perfect stability of the center-work, and that the center of motion should be the same with the center of division-led to its being set aside for the repeating circle, otherwise called the mural circle, which is a graduated circle, in the plane of the meridian, attached permanently to a perpendicular wall. But on shipboard, where nothing is stable, the quadrant is still used.

Quadrilateral, the name given in history to the four fortresses of North Italy-Mantua, Verona, Peschiera, and Legnago-which form a sort of outwork to the bastion of the mountains of the Tyrol, and divide the north plain of the Po into two sections by a most powerful barrier. They have figured in all the later wars that have been fought in North Italy, especially in the wars between Austria and the different Italian states. Russia has a similar combination of four fortresses in Poland, called the Polish Quadrilateral.

Quadruple Alliance, a league formed August, 1718, between England, France, Austria and Holland to counteract the ambitious schemes of Alberoni. It was made upon the basis of the Triple Alliance which was formed in January of 1717 between England, Holland and France, and by which the clauses in the treaty of Utrecht having reference to the accession of the House of Hanover in England, the renunciation by the Spanish king of his claims

on the French throne, and the accession of the House of Orleans to the French throne, should the young king, Louis XV., die without issue, were guaranteed. The Spanish fleet was destroyed by Byng off Cape Passaro, while the French crossed the Pyrenees and defeated the Spaniards several times; and at length Philip was compelled to dismiss his ambitious minister Alberoni, and accept the terms of the Quadruple Alliance.

Quæstor (kwes'-tor), was anciently the title of a class of Roman magistrates, reaching as far back, according to all accounts, as the period of the kings. The oldest quæstors were the quæstores parricidii (“investigators of murder," finally public accusers), who were two in number. Their office was to conduct the trial of persons accused of murder, and to execute the sentence that might be pronounced. They ceased to exist as early as 366 B. C., when their duties were transferred to the Triumviri Capitales. But a far more important though later office was the quæstores classici, to whom was intrusted the charge of the public treasury; They seem to have gained the name of classici from their having been elected originally by the centuries. At first they were only two in number, but in 421 B. C. two more were added. Shortly after the breaking out of the first Punic war the number was increased to eight; and as province after province was added to the Roman Republic they amounted in the time of Sulla to twenty and in the time of Cæsar to forty. At first only patricians could be quæstors; but after 421 B. c. the office was open to plebeians also.

Quagga, one of the three species of striped wild horses, or more properly wild asses, peculiar to Africa, of which the zebra is the type. Formerly found in great numbers south of the Vaal river, beyond which its range seldom extended, it is believed to be now quite extinct. The illustration repre