Pise, and made him his astrologer. Thomas gave his daughter a learned education. The child having an hereditary brightness of mind, applied herself with diligence, and became remarkable, ere she reached womanhood, for her many acquirements. She was well acquainted with history, and equal to any of the scholars of the day in the Greek and Latin languages. She married, early in life, Stephen Castel, a gentleman of Picardy. Shortly after this, her father died; and, at the age of twenty-five, having also lost her husband, she was left destitute of all human support, having no relations in France. To add to her distress, the inheritance of her husband was litigated by some members of his family, and she had great difficulty to obtain a portion of it. Being a foreigner, she was obliged to rely entirely on her own energies; and she applied herself to a resource never before sought by a female. Christine de Pise was the first woman who used her literary abilities to support her household, and made her pen procure bread for her children. Louis, duke of Orleans, brother of Charles VI., was a prince of elegant tastes, and a patron of letters; he discerned the merit of Christine, and invited her frequently to his court, where she met with honourable attention. This unfortunate young man was, as is well known, assassinated by emissaries of the duke of Burgundy. After his death, and the confusion of parties that ensued, the insanity of the king, the invasion of France by the English, all these national misfortunes darkened the state of literature, and obstructed farther progress in social improvement.

Christine lived to an advanced age in the privacy of domestic life. She died in 1441. Some of her poems, which are full of tenderness, were printed in Paris, in 1529; others remain in manuscript, in the royal library. "The Life of Charles V.," written by desire of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, is considered her best prose performance. One of her first books was called, "A Hundred Stories of Troyes." She also wrote several long poems. She had three children, one of whom retired to a convent, where Christine passed the latter part of her life.

Henry IV. invited her to the English court; and she was every where received with that homage and veneration which her virtues and talents deserved. True feminine purity and refinement prevail throughout her writings. All her works are written in French.

PLACIDIA,

A DAUGHTER of Theodosius the Great, sister to Honorius and Arcadius, was born about the year 388, and was brought up in the palace of Constantinople. At the third siege and sack of Rome by Alaric, in 410, Placidia was one of the captives carried away by him; she was treated with the respect due her rank; and Ataulphus, Alaric's successor, married her in 414. She bore him a son who soon died. In 415, Ataulphus was murdered by Singeric, who usurped the Gothic throne, and treated the royal widow with great ignominy,

obliging her to walk twelve miles before his chariot. Singeric was soon after assassinated, and Placidia was ransomed by the Romans for 600,000 measures of wheat, and returned to Italy.

In 417, Honorius compelled Placidia to marry his general, Constantius, as a reward for his services. She became the mother of Valentinian III. and Honoria. By Placidia's instigation, Constantius urged Honorius to admit him to a partnership in the empire, by which elevation she obtained the title of Augusta; their titles, however, were not acknowledged at the court of Constantinople. Placidia again became a widow in 421. When her son, Valentinian III., was declared emperor, in 425, Placidia assumed the reins of government, during his minority. Her administration was neither wise nor vigorous. She died at Rome, in the year 450.

POLLA ARGENTARIA,

WIFE of Lucan, the Latin poet, who wrote a poem on her merits. This poem is now lost, but her name is immortalized by two other poets of that age, Martial and Statius. Lucan was condemned to death by Nero; but the tyrant allowed him to choose the way in which he would die. He chose the warm bath and an open artery; but entreated his wife to live, and transcribe his great poem, the "Pharsalia;" which she promised him to do. It is said that, after his mournful death, she shut herself up in a solitary retreat, with the bust of Lucan beside her, and there carefully revised the three first books of the "Pharsalia."

luted by so many vices; then turning to the people, and raising her hands and eyes heavenward, she exclaimed, "May the gods send me forth from this august palace, whenever I may be destined to leave it, even as I now enter it; and may the high destiny to which fortune now raises me leave me in possession of the same qualities with which I this day assume it."

The people applauded her speech and seem always to have loved and revered her. And she proved herself worthy of this warm esteem. She was remarkable for the dignity of her deportment, and for the influence which her chaste example had on the morals of Roman society. Plotina loved tranquillity, and sought to incline her husband's heart to the arts of peace; but Trajan was a soldier, and his passion for military glory superseded to the last his wisdom and his discretion. As Plotina could not dissuade him from his last expedition into Africa and Asia, she accompanied him; was by his side when he passed the Tigris over a bridge of boats; and when he died she was beside him and received his last breath. Then, after she had, by her energy and influence, made her favourite Adrian emperor, she brought back the ashes of her husband to Rome; and still enjoyed all the honours and titles of a Roman empress under Adrian, who, by her means, had succeeded to the vacant throne. At her death, which occurred in the year 122, she was ranked among the goddesses, and received divine honours.

PONTHIEU,

ADELAIDE, a French lady whose adventures during the crusades under St. Louis, king of France in the 13th century, have furnished a subject for a romance, a tragedy, and an opera.

PRISCA,

A ROMAN lady, a convert to Christianity, was horribly tortured, and afterwards beheaded, for refusing to abjure her religion and to sacrifice to idols, under the emperor Claudius, about the year 275.

PROBA,

VALERIA FALCONIA, was the wife of Adolphus, the Roman proconsul, in the reigns of Honorius and Theodosius the Younger. She composed a Virgilian cento upon the books of the Old and New Testaments, which was printed at Frankfort, in 1541. She also wrote an epitaph on her hus

band.

PULCHERIA,

A DAUGHTER of Theodosius the Great, emperor of Rome, in 379. She was eminent for her piety, moderation, and virtue.

PULCHERIA ELIA,

BORN in 399, was the daughter of Arcadius, emperor of the East. She reigned conjointly with her brother, Theodosius, a mild and feeble prince. The vigorous wisdom of Pulcheria, though only two years the elder, compensated for his defects, and she maintained, by meekness and discretion,

that ascendency over him which a superior capacity always gives. Adorned with all the graces of beauty, at fifteen she took a vow of virginity, and persuaded her two younger sisters to do the same. She consecrated herself to the service of God and the state, and divided her time between prayer, charity, and the affairs of the empire. At sixteen, she took the name of Augusta, and as she had always the prudence to preserve her brother's honour, she governed in his name with great success. She gave him the credit of completing the destruction of idolatrous temples and worship, which was due to the spirit, firmness, and wise lenity of her measures. Pulcheria's great natural sagacity enabled her to discover at once how she ought to act, and she executed her purposes with promptitude and vigour.

The empire was agitated by factions, when first she stood at its helm; but it soon enjoyed a perfect peace under her wise administration; she taught her brother to respect the rights of property, saying, that "The more princes abstained from touching the wealth of their people, the greater would be their resources in the wants of the state.”

When Theodosius, weak and irresolute, neglected her advice, and suffered himself to be guided by his eunuchs, the empire soon felt and mourned the change. On his death, in 450, as he left but one child, a daughter, married to Valentinian III., Pulcheria became sole mistress of the empire. For political reasons she married Marcian, an old officer in the army, whom she made emperor. She lived four years after, till 454, maintaining the same exemplary character. Her loss was deeply regretted. She alone had sustained the imperial dignity, under the reign of her imbecile brother; and after his death, had placed the crown on a head worthy to wear it. During her life she was a mother to the poor, and she left them her possessions at her death.

R.

RADEGONDE, ST.,

DAUGHTER of Bertarius, king of Thuringia, was taken prisoner in 529, when only eight years old, by Clotaire, king of Normandy. Her childish grace and beauty made such an impression on Clotaire that he resolved to educate her for his wife. She was carefully taught, and, at the age of ten, she renounced paganism for Christianity, in consequence of the instructions of those by whom she was surrounded, and from that early age conceived an ardent desire to devote herself wholly to religion. She was so much opposed to the idea of becoming one of the wives of Clotaire, that when the time approached for that event, she fled, but was brought back to Soissons, and married in spite of her reluctance. Radegonde, to avoid as much as possible her new duties, became literally the servant of the poor and the sick. Having received as a marriage present, the royal domain of Atrés, she converted it into a hospital for indi

gent women, for whom she performed the most menial and repulsive services. She also passed a great part of her time in reading, or conversing with learned and pious men.

Radegonde spent six years in this way, during all which time, Clotaire obstinately refused to let her go into a convent. A brother of the young queen's had been taken prisoner at the same time, and as he grew up he showed so much of the pride | and temper of his race, that Clotaire had him put to death. This was too much for Radegonde to endure, and Clotaire, not wishing to be annoyed by her grief, allowed her to go to Médard, bishop of Noyon, whose reputation for sanctity had extended throughout all France, for consolation. When she arrived at Noyon, she found Médard in his cathedral, and she immediately exclaimed, "Priest of God! I wish to leave the world, and consecrate myself to the Lord." At these words the guard who accompanied her crowded around her, and protested against such an act. While Médard hesitated as to what course he should take, Radegonde fled to the sacristy, threw the dress of a nun over her royal apparel, and returning, said to Médard, "If you refuse to receive me, if you fear man more than God, you will have to answer for it before the Shepherd of the flock." These words put an end to the uncertainty of the bishop. He annulled, on his own authority, the forced marriage of the queen, consecrated her to God, and sent away the soldiers, who had not dared to offer any farther opposition. Radegonde went to Tours for greater safety, and when Clotaire, still ardently attached to her, sent to reclaim her, she fled to Poitiers. Here the energetic remonstrances of Germain, bishop of Paris, obliged him to leave her, and he allowed her to found a convent there, which she did about 550, where she passed the rest of her life. She was at first the abbess of this convent, but after it was firmly established, she gave up her authority to a lady younger than herself, whom she called Agnes, and lived for the remainder of her life as a simple

AGNES DU, was a very beautiful girl, the only daughter of a rich tradesman of Paris. Her father left her a handsome fortune, but at the age of eighteen she turned recluse, in the parish of St. Opertune, in 1403. Recluses built themselves a little chamber adjoining the walls of some church. The door of the cell was sealed with great pomp by the bishop, and never again opened. A little window was left, from whence the recluse heard the offices of the church, and received the necessaries of life. Agnes du Rochier lived to the age of ninety-eight.

RODHIA,

A MOORISH Spaniard of Cordova, the freedwoman of king Abdelrahman, who wrote many vol

BLANCHE DE, the wife of Battista de la Porta of Padua, was a noble, brave, and faithful woman, In 1237, during the war between the Ghibellines and Guelfs, she went with her husband, who was sent as commander of the forces to Bassano, to defend the city against the tyrant Ezzelino.

Blanche fought by the side of her husband in various skirmishes and upon the walls of the city, and often took the place of his aid-de-camp, when the man was exhausted by his duty. When the city fell into the hands of the enemy by treachery, Battista was killed at the head of his soldiers, fighting to the last. Blanche, tied with cords, was dragged before the conqueror. The tyrant, inflamed by her beauty, offered her liberty and wealth if she would consent to make his house her home. She refused indignantly, and threw herself out of the window-but, contrary to her expectation, she escaped unharmed, and was again brought before her enemy. She now had recourse to stratagem. She pretended to accept the tyrant's proposals, and made only one condition, that of seeing once more the body of her husband. The tyrant consented, and ordered his guards to accompany her to the grave. When they had arrived at it, and after the heavy stone had been removed, she jumped into the grave and caused the stone to fall upon and crush her. Thus died the noble wife of Battista.

ROSSI,

PROPERZIA DE. It is uncertain when this illustrious artist was born, but various reasons in

of Epigrams, an "Elegy on her Husband's Death," and other poems; besides which she wrote many things in prose.

duce us to fix the date towards 1495. The cities of Bologna and Modena still dispute the honour of having produced her; and such is the cloud that rests upon her early days, that it has never been ascertained who were her parents-and some have even been uncertain whether she was a married or single woman-whether the name of Rossi descended to her from a father, or was given by a husband. The latter doubt is entirely set to rest by Georgio Vasari, who, in his biography of celebrated artists, calls Properzia "a virtuous maiden,

possessing every merit of her sex, together with science and learning all men may envy."

She began her progress in the arts by learning to draw of Raimondi-but as the predilection of the age was for sculpture, she soon turned all her attention to that art. Many of her works are still extant and admired. In possession of the Grassi family, at Bologna, is a sculptured representation of our Saviour's passion, where eleven figures are introduced as spectators, each with a characteristic expression, and the whole carved on a peachstone. She also assisted in the sculptures that adorn the three gates of the façade of St. Petroneus. There is also a very fine figure, in marble, of count Guido di Pepoli, unquestionably her production. She died February 24th, 1530, and George Vasari thus writes: "The lovely maiden was this day made perfect." All the Bolognese mourned her death, for she was considered a miracle of nature. The following epitaph was written by Vincenzo of Bonaccorso Pitti:

Fero splendor di due begli occhi accrebbe
Già marmi a marmi; e stupor nuovo e strano
Ruvidi marmi delicta mano

Fea dianzi vivi, ahi! morte invidia n' ebbe.

RUFINA,

CLAUDIA, a noble British lady, who lived about the year 100, wife of Aulus Rufus Pudens, a Bononian philosopher, and one of the Roman equestrian order. She is said to have been an intimate associate of the poet Martial, who, in many places, highly extols her for beauty, learning, and virtue. Of her poetic writings, Balæus mentions a book

S.

SABINA,

JULIA, grand-niece and heiress of Trajan, and wife of Adrian, emperor of Rome, is celebrated for her private as well as her public virtues. Adrian had married Sabina chiefly through the favour of the empress Plotina; he never loved her, and treated her with the greatest asperity; and the empress was so irritated by his unkindness, that she boasted in his presence that she had disdained to make him a father, lest his children should be more odious and tyrannical than he himself was. The behaviour of Sabina at last so ex

asperated Adrian, that he poisoned her, or, according to some, obliged her to destroy herself. Divine honours were paid to her memory. She died about 138, after she had been married to Adrian

thirty-eight years. It is difficult to assign any motive less unworthy than the base passion of envy for the cruel treatment Sabina endured from her husband. Adrian did not feel flattered by the means which had placed him on the greatest throne in the world. He owed it to.Plotina-a woman; and though he was never ungrateful to her, yet Sabina, the niece of Trajan, was really, in birth, above him; and he never forgave her for this suseemed his first desire. He set spies about her to periority. To implicate her in some plot or crime, watch her conduct, and even had the meanness to intercept and read all her letters. death of her aunt Plotina, he overwhelmed Sabina with his contempt and calumny. One of the historians of his reign says that he engaged "les personnes de sa cour à lui faire éprouver les plus sanglantes mortifications, et la maltraita tellement qu'elle finit par se donner la mort." And this

After the

SABINA,

POPPEA, was a daughter of Titus Ollius. She married a Roman knight, Rufus Crispinus, by whom she had a son. Her beauty captivated Otho, one of Nero's favourites, and afterwards the eighth emperor of Rome. He took her from her husband, and married her; but Nero, who had seen her, and heard her accomplishments extolled, soon took possession of her, and sent Otho to preside over one of the Roman provinces. Nero then repudiated his wife, Octavia, on pretence of barrenness, and married Poppæa, who had Octavia banished and put to death. Nero soon began to treat Poppea with barbarity, and she died of a kick she received from him during her pregnancy, about the year 65. Her funeral was performed with great pomp, and statues were raised to her memory. She left one son by Nero. She was so anxious to preserve her beauty, that five hundred asses were kept to afford her milk, in which she bathed daily; and from their milk she invented a kind of pomatum, called Poppaanum.

ST. CECILIA,

THE patroness of music, is said to have been a Roman lady, born of noble parents, about the year 235. Her story, as related by the Roman Catholics, is, that her parents married her to a young pagan nobleman, Valerianus. Cecilia told him, on her wedding-night, that she was visited nightly by an angel. Valerianus desired to see the angel; and his bride told him that it would be impossible, unless he would become a Christian. This he consented to, and was baptized by pope Urban I.; after which, returning to his wife, he found her at prayer, and by her side a beautiful young man, clothed with brightness. Valerianus conversed with the angel, who foretold his martyrdom, and that of his brother, Tiburtius.

In

a few years, Valerianus and Tiburtius were beheaded. Cecilia was offered her life, if she would sacrifice to the idols; but she refused, and was thrown into a caldron of boiling water. St. Cecilia is said to have excelled so greatly in music, as to have drawn the angel from the celestial regions by her melody.

SAINTE DES PREZ,

A PUPIL of Agnes de Bragelongne de Planey, lived in the thirteenth century. She was a French poetess. At the age of twelve, she fell in love with Seymour, an English gentleman, who was then thirty, and who did not reciprocate her affection till ten years after, when he married her; but she died soon. Guillebert d'Erneville, a celebrated troubadour, was one of her suitors.

SALOME,

ONLY daughter of Antipater, a man of eminence in Idumea, and of Cypron, an Arabian lady of illustrious descent, was sister to Herod, afterwards

and intriguing woman, and conceived a strong dislike to Mariamne, Herod's wife, because Mariamne reproached her with the meanness of her family, in comparison with the royal race of the Asmoneans, from whom she herself was descended. She therefore accused Mariamne to Herod of too great intimacy with Joseph, who was both the uncle and husband of Salome, but whom she was willing to sacrifice, to revenge herself on her innocent sister-in-law. Herod, enraged, had Joseph immediately put to death; but his great love for Mariamne induced him to spare her. Some time after, Salome again accused Mariamne of infidelity, and an attempt to poison Herod, which so exasperated him, that he ordered his wife to be executed. When the two sons of Mariamne, Aristobulus and Alexander, were grown up, Salome, envious of their popularity, and fearing lest they should revenge their mother's death, resolved on their destruction, notwithstanding that Aristobulus had married her daughter, Berenice. She succeeded so well in embittering Herod against them, that he accused them before Cæsar of conspiring against him. But they were acquitted. She made two or three other attempts to effect the same object; but failing in them, and losing the confidence of Herod, she resolved to marry Syllæus, prime minister to Obodas, king of Arabia. But when Syllæus found that he would have to conform to the Jewish faith, he declined the proposal. Salome still continued in love with Syllaus; but Herod compelled her to marry Alexas, a friend of his. She afterwards used her influence against Antipater, Herod's eldest son and heir, who had procured the death of his half-brothers, Aristobulus and Alexander; and Antipater was executed. After Herod's death, Salome, by her intrigues, caused dissensions between his two remaining sons, Archelaus and Antipas; but these were settled by Cæsar, who gave to Salome the royal palace at Askelon, besides the cities of Jamnia, Azotus, and Phasaelis, and a large sum of money, which was left her by her brother. She seems to have passed the rest of her life in tranquillity.

SALOME,

THE daughter of Herodias and Herod Philip. She so delighted her uncle and mother's husband, Herod Antipas, by her dancing, that he promised her whatever she asked. At her mother's instigation, she requested the head of John the Baptist. Salome married her uncle, Herod the Great; and afterwards Aristobulus, son of Herod, king of Chalcis, by whom she had several children.

SALOME,

WIFE of Zebedee, and mother of James the Greater, and John the Evangelist. She was one of those holy women who attended and administered to our Saviour in his journeys. She requested of Jesus that her two sons might sit one on his right, and the other on his left hand. Mark xv. 40. She followed Christ to Calvary, and did not forsake him at the cross. She was one