pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
PROLEPSIS, a figure in Rhetoric, by which we anticipate or prevent what might be objected by the adversary.
PROLEPTIC, an epithet applied to a periodical disease which anticipates, or whose paroxysm returns sooner and sooner every time; as is frequently the case in agues.
PROLOGUE, in dramatic poetry, a discourse addressed to the audience before the drama or play begins. The original intention was to advertise the audience of the subject of the piece, and to prepare them to enter more easily into the action, and sometimes also to make an apology for the poet.
PROME, a city of the Birman empire, in the province of Ava, situated on the eastern bank of the Irrawaddy River, in a fertile plain between the hills and the river. It was the original and natural boundary of the Birman empire to the south, before conquest had extended its dominion beyond it. It was formerly surrounded by two walls, constructed partly of brick and partly of timber. It is composed of the myo or fort, being a common square stockade, resembling that of Rangoon, but much larger; and of two suburbs, the one lying to the east and the other to the west of it, along the banks of the river. The first contains two streets running parallel to each other and to the river. The houses are few and scattered; and the principal space is occupied by gardens, or rather by patches of ground planted with fruit or ornamental trees, or coarse esculent vegetables, such as gourds, pumpkins, and cucumbers, the whole overgrown with rank weeds, and without order or neatness. Prome is, according to Mr Crawford, a thriving place; and he estimates its population at 10,000. It carries on a very considerable trade in grain, oil, wax, ivory, iron, lead, flagstones, and timber. The rains of the former city, which extend far beyond the modern town, contain the remains of a number of temples dedicated to Buddha. Adjacent to the town is a royal menagerie of elephants, consisting of two rows of lofty and well-built stables, in which these animals are lodged during the rains. Long. 95. E. Lat. 18. 50. N.
PROMETHEUS, the son of Japetus and Asia or Clymene, was the brother of Atlas, Epimetheus, and Menoctius. He was a prince of Mecone (the ancient name of Sicyon in the Peloponnesus), if we may trust the legend told by Hesiod. It is said that the inhabitants were debating with the gods which part of the animal ought to be offered to them in sacrifice, and that Prometheus recommended that the flesh and best parts should be covered with the caul, whilst the bones were enveloped in fat. Jupiter was then requested to make choice of the part he preferred; and, being deceived by the trick of Prometheus, he selected the bones, which were ever afterwards offered upon his altar. Indignant at this proceeding, he deprived men of the use of fire; but Prometheus is said to have again outwitted him, and drawn down fire from heaven, which he presented to man. This is explained by supposing that Prometheus was the first who discovered that fire could be extracted from two pieces of wood rubbed together. By another tradition, we find him making a man of clay, into which he conveys [7:18:659]the fire he had stolen from heaven, and for this daring invasion of his privileges, Jupiter orders Vulcan to chain Prometheus on Mount Caucasus, where he was visited daily by an eagle, which fed on his liver. Here he is said to have remained thirty thousand years, until Hercules accidentally visited him whilst in search of the Gardens of the Hesperides. He pointed out the way to him, and from gratitude Hcreules slew the eagle and released Prometheus. Another tradition represents him as having been released by Jupiter, in return for warning him against marrying Thetis, as it was fated that her son should be more illustrious than his father. He was the father of Deucalion by Clymene or Pandora.

Prometheus, in Ancient Astronomy, was the name of a constellation of the northern hemisphere, now called Hercules Eugonasin.
PROMISE, in ordinary cases, is a declaration of some intention to be put in execution; but in morals it is a solemn asseveration by which one pledges his veracity that he will perform,.or cause to be performed, the thing which he undertakes. As such a declaration excites expectations in the minds of those to whom it is made, and to frustrate such expectations might arouse indignation, and be followed by consequenecs injurious to the person, the character, or the interest of him who made it, it becomes a matter of prudence in the promiser to keep his word. And, farther, since a certain degree of confidence is found necessary to the very existence of civil society, and others may have acted upon the faith of such promise, it is now not a matter of prudence only to keep one’s word, but is a duty which every man owes to all who have spent their time, their money, or their labour, in consequence of those expectations which he has warranted them to entertain. It being, then, consonant to sound reason, necessary to the existence of civil society, and in general the interest of both the promiser and promisee, that the words of the promise should be fulfilled, it has become a maxim in morals, that a man is obliged to perform his promise. See Moral Philosophy.
PROMONTORY, in Geography, a high point of land or rock projecting into the sea, and the extremity of which is called a cape or headland. See Geography.
PROMPTER, in the drama, an officer posted behind the scenes, whose business it is to watch attentively the actors speaking on the stage, in order to suggest and put them forward when at a stand, and correct them when at fault in their parts.
PROMULGATED, or Promulged, something published or proclaimed, and generally applied to a law, to denote the publishing or proclaiming it to the people.
PRONAOS, in ancient architecture, a porch to a church, palace, or other spacious building.
PRONOUN, Pronomen, in Grammar, a declinable part of speech, which, being put instead of a noun, points out some person or thing.
PRONUNCIATION, in Grammar, the manner of articulating or sounding the words of a language.

Pronunciation forms the most difficult part of written grammar, in as much as a book expressing itself to the eyes, in a manner that wholly concerns the ears, seems next akin to that of teaching the blind to distinguish colours. Hence it is that there is no part so defective in grammar as that of pronunciation; for as the writer has frequently no term whereby to give the reader an idea of the sound he would express, so, for want of such a term, he often substitutes a vicious and precarious one. To give a just idea of the pronunciation of a language, it seems necessary to fix, as nearly as possible, all the several sounds employed in the pronunciation of that language. Cieero tells us, that the pronunciation underwent several changes amongst the Romans; and indeed it is more precarious in the living languages, being in these subservient to fashion and usage.

. Pronunciation is also used to indicate the fifth and last part of rhetoric, which consists in varying and regulating the voice agreeably to the matter and words, so as most effectually to persuade and touch the hearers.
PROOF, in Law and Logic, is that degree of evidence which carries conviction to the mind. It differs from demonstration, which is applicable only to those truths of which the contrary is inconceivable. It differs likewise from probability, which produces for the most part nothing more than opinion, whilst proof produces belief.
PROPERTIUS, Sextus Aurelius, a celebrated elegiac poet, who flourished between 31-15 b. c. The exact date of his birth is uncertain; but Mr Clinton brings forward satisfactory reasons for believing that it was about the year 51 b. c. , being thus fourteen years younger than Horace, and eight younger than Livy. The place of his birth has also been disputed; but he himself states that he was a native of Umbria, though whether of Merania, Ameria, Hispellum, or Assisium, is uncertain. He studied at Rome with the intention of devoting himself to the bar; but his love of poetry seduced him from the dry study of law, and he entirely withdrew from taking any share in the active business of life. He died at an early age, leaving behind him a collection of elegies divided into four books, of which the last is supposed to have been published by one of his friends after his death. Nobbe, a German critic, who has examined the subject with considerable care, thinks that the first book was published not before 29 b. c., and not after 27 b. e.; the second book not before 24 b. c.; the third not before 21 b. c.; the fourth not before 16 b. c.

Many of his elegies are addressed to his mistress Cynthia, to whom he remains constant, though he suffers much from her cruelty. The language is powerful, and the structure of the verse correct, though not without some peculiarities; as, for example, the close of the pentameter line with a word of several syllables. In comparing the elegies of Propertius with those of Tibullus, we perceive that there is less of tenderness and softness, less of that simplicity for which Tibullus is so eminently distinguished; but, on the other hand, there is more spirit, a greater reach of thought, and more power of expression. He possesses much of the spirit of the lyrie poet, and had talents which fitted him for things of greater moment than those upon which he bestowed them. Propertius was a close imitator of the Greek writers; Callimachus and Philetas were the poets whom he more particularly followed, so that he was sometimes, called the Roman Callimachus. Like Callimachus, he is fond of displaying his learning, and has frequent allusion to mythological subjects; but this at times is the eāuse of some obscurity, and detracts from that simplicity which is the soul of true elegaie poetry. The best separate edition is that of Lachmann, with notes, Leipzig, 1816, but they are generally published along with Catullus and Tibullus.
PROPHECY is a word derived from πvοφnitia, and in its original import signifies the prediction of future events. As God alone can perceive with certainty the future actions of free agents, and the remote consequences of those laws of nature which he himself established, prophecy, when clearly fulfilled, affords the most convincing evidence of an intimate and supernatural communion between God and the person who uttered the prediction. Hence this, together with the power of working miracles, is indeed the only evidence which can be given of such a communion. See Theology.
PROPHET, in general, a person who foretells future events; but it is particularly applied to such inspired persons amongst the Jews as were commissioned by God to declare his will and purposes to that people. Amongst the canonical books of the Old Testament we have the writings of sixteen prophets, four of whom are denominated the greater prophets, viz. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, being so called from the length and extent of their writings, which exceed those of the others, viz. Hosea, Joel, Amos. Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, who are called the lesser prophets, from the shortness of their writings. The Jews do not place Daniel amongst the prophets, because, they say, he lived the life of a courtier rather than that of a prophet.
PROPITIATION, in Theology, is a sacrifice offered up to God to assuage his wrath and render him propitious. Amongst the Jews there are both ordinary and public sacrifices, as holocausts, and the like, offered by way of thanksgiving; and extraordinary ones, offered by particular persons guilty of any crime, by way of propitiation. The church of Rome believes the mass to be a sacrifice of propitiation for the living and the dead. The reformed churches allow of no propitiation but that one offered up by Jesus Christ on the cross. See Theology.
PROPONTIS, or Sea of Marmora, a part of the Mediterranean, dividing Europe from Asia. It has the Hellespont, or Canal of the Dardanelles, to the south-west, whereby it communicates with the Archipelago, and the ancient Bosphorus of Thrace, or Strait of Constantinople, to the north-east, communicating with the Black or Euxine Sea. It has two castles; that on the Asiatic side is on a cape, where formerly stood a temple of Jupiter. The Castle of Europe is on the opposite cape, and had anciently a temple of Serapis.
PROPORTION, the identity or similitude of two ratios. Hence quantities that have the same ratio between them are said to be proportional. Thus, if A be to B as C to D, or 8 be to 4 as 30 to 15; A, B, C, D, and 8, 4, 30, and 15, are said to be in proportion, or are simply called proportionals. Proportion is frequently confounded with ratio; yet have the two in reality very different ideas, which ought by all means to be distinguished. Ratio is properly the relation or habitude of two things, which determines the quantity of one from the quantity of another, without the intervention of any third. Thus we say the ratio of 5 and 10 is 2, the ratio of 12 and 24 is 2. Proportion is the sameness or likeness of two such relations; thus the relations between 5 and 10 and 12 and 24 being the same, or equal, the four terms are said to be in proportion. Hence ratio exists between two numbers, but proportion requires at least three. Proportion, in fine, is the habitude or relation of two ratios when compared together; as ratio is of two quantities.

Proportion, Harmonical or Musical. This subject, as usually treated, has little or no practical nor even theoretical utility. Enough regarding the ratios of musical sounds and intervals will be fbund under the articles Music and Temperament. Arithmetical and Geometrical Proportion. See Progression. Inordinate Proportion is where the order of the terms compared is disturbed or irregular. As, for example, in two ranks of numbers, three in each rank, namely, in one rank 2, 3, 9, and in the other 8, 24, 36, which are proportional, the former to the latter, but in a different order, viz 2: 3:: 24: 36, and 3: 9:: 8: 24.

Then, casting out the mean terms in each rank, it is concluded that 2: 9:: 8: 36, that is, the first is to the third in the first rank as the first is to the third in the second rank.
PROPORTIONAL, relating to proportion. Thus we say, proportional compasses, parts, scales, spirals, and the like.

Proportionals, in Geometry, are quantities, either linear or numeral, which bear the same ratio or relation to each other.
PROPOSITION, in Logic, part of an argument, in which some quality, either negative or positive, is attributed to a subject.

Proposition, in Mathematics, is either some truth advanced and shown to be such by demonstration, or some [7:18:664] operation proposed and its solution explained. If the proposition be deduced from several theoretical definitions compared together, it is called a theorem ; if from a praxis, or series of operations, it is called & problem.
PROPREFECT, amongst the Romans, the prefect’s lieutenant, or an officer whom the prefect of the praetorium commissioned to do part of his duty in his stead.
PROPRETOR, or Propraetor, a Roman magistrate, who, having discharged the office of praetor at home, was sent, into a province to command there with his former praetorial authority. It was also an appellation given to those who, without having been praetors at Rome, were sent extraordinarily into the provinces to administer justice with the authority of praetors.
PRO RATA, in commerce, a term sometimes used by merchants for in proportion ; as, each person must reap the profit or sustain the loss pro rata to his interest, that is, in proportion to his stock.
PROROGATION, the act of prolonging, or adjourning, or putting off to another time. The difference between a prorogation and an adjournment of parliament is, that by prorogation the session is ended, and such bills as passed in either house, or both houses, and had not the royal assent, must at the next assembly begin again.
PROSE, the natural language of mankind, loose and unconfined by poetical measures or restraints; and in this sense it stands opposed to verse. The word prose comes from the Latin prosa, which some have derived from the Hebrew ρoras, which signifies expendit ; whilst others deduce it from the Latin prorsa, of prorsus, going forwards, by way of opposition to versa, or turning backwards, as is necessary in writing. 1
PROSERPINE, in fabulous, history, the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, who was carried off by Pluto as she was gathering flowers with her companions. Ceres, disconsolate for the loss of her daughter, after having long sought her, heard where she was, and entreated Jupiter to permit her to return from hell. This request Jupiter granted, on condition that she had not tasted anything in Pluto’s dominions. Ceres, therefore went to fetch her; but when her daughter was preparing to return, Ascalaphus gave information that he had seen Prosperine eat some grains of a pomegranate she had gathered in Pluto’s garden; on which she was sentenced to continue in Tartarus in quality of Pluto’s spouse, and the queen of those gloomy regions: but, to mitigate the grief of Ceres for her disappointment, Jupiter granted that her daughter should only spend six months in hell together with her husband, and the other six on earth with her mother. Some mythologists imagine that the latter part of the fable alludes to the corn, which must remain all the winter hidden in the earth, in order to sprout forth in the spring, and produce the harvest.
PROSEUCHE, . in Antiquity, properly signifies prayer ; but it is taken for the places of prayer of the Jews, and was pretty nearly the same as their synagogues. But the synagogues ' were originally in the cities, and were covered places; whereas, for the most part, the proseuches were out of ⅛e cities, and on the banks of rivers, having no covering except perhaps the shade of some trees or covered galleries. The word is Greek, οτgοσευχη, prayer.
PROSLAMBANOMENOS (Greek, τrgοσ ∖ αμβανομεwς, the term τtgο<s ∖ αμβανομενη being found as an exception in Bryennius only) signifies a lower string (χogδη) or sound (<ρΑγγος) added to what was previously the lowest sound of the ancient Greek system of conjunct and disjunct tetrachords. For example, to the sounds BCDE, EFG¢z, forming two conjunct tetrachords in the lowest part of the scale, was added A, an octave below the last of the sounds above named. This formed a series of sounds similar to that of our minor scale when its 6th and 7th are made minor; thus, ABCDEFGa, ascending diatonically from A in the lowest space of the stave with bass-clef, to A upon the highest line of the stave with same clef. In this place we may mention, that the ancient Perfect System, or Immutable System of the Greeks, as it is described by Greek writers on music, appears to have consisted of fifteen sounds comprehended within two octaves, reckoning from the Proslambanomenos above described, up to a sound two octaves higher. The order of these sounds, and their ancient Greek names and modern literal names, ascending, are as follows: Proslambanomenos A, Hypate-hypaton B, Parypate-hypaton C, Lichanos-hypaton D, Hypate-meson E, Parypate-meson F, Lichanos-meson G, Mese a, Paramese b, Trite-diezeugmenon c, Paranete-diezeugmenon d, Nete-diezeug~ menon e, Trite-hyperbolaeon f, Paranete-hyperbolaeon g, Nete-hyperbolaeon a. Some of these strings or sounds were called Apyeni, Baropyeni, Mesopyeni, Oxypyeni. Some, too, were fixed, and others moveable. For various observations upon Greek scales, and upon certain oriental scales and ecclesiastical scales, see the article Music, and Appendix to Graham’s Essay on the Theory and Practice of Musical Composition, 1838.

The texts of the ancient Greek writers upon music are so corrupted, and so obscure in many respects, and contain so little of a really practical or useful nature, that we have purposely refrained from inserting in this work many old Greek theoretical terms, of which the exact signification is now lost. Attempts to explain these could end in nothing better than vague and useless conjectures. Those who feel any particular interest in the very obscure subject of ancient Greek music, may consult the Greek writers edited by Meibomius and Wallis, and various other ancient writers who treat of music expressly or incidentally; also Hawkins, Burney, Forkel, and others.
PROSODY, that part of grammar which treats of the quantities and accents of syllables, and the manner of making verses.
PROSOPOPOEIA, a figure in oratory, by which we raise qualities of things inanimate into persons.
PROSTYLE, in Architecture, means a range of columns in the front of a temple.
PROSZNITZ, a city of the Austrian province of Moravia, in the circle of Olmutz. It is the capital of the principality of Lichtenstein, being situated on the river Rumza, in a fertile district, and contains 540 houses, with 8500 inhabitants, who are occupied in extensive distilleries, and in making woollen goods of a fine quality, besides some linens.
PROTAGORAS, a celebrated sophist of Abdera,*was the son of Artemon or Maeandrios, and flourished 444 b. c. His poverty had compelled him to adopt the humble trade of a wood-carrier, when some circumstance attracted the notice of his countryman Democritus, and he was admitted as one of his pupils. After he had profited sufficiently by the instruction of Democritus, he proceeded to Athens, where he opened a school, which was attended by all the most illustrious men of the age. Amongst others, Pericles is said to have been his pupil. Protagoras is said to have been the first who set a price on his instruction, and by this means he was enabled to amass a large fortune. Plato, who was his avowed opponent, is willing to allow that Protagoras possessed a lively and fertile imagination, a wonderful memory, and great eloquence; but he was vain, impudent, and presumptuous; he spoke of his rivals with contempt, and of himself with a degree of confidence which excited the admiration of the vulgar. In the Theaetetus of Plato we have a summary of the doctrines of this philosopher. Protagoras having in one of his works declared that he could not argue on the nature of the gods, because he was not certain of their existence, he was accused of impiety, and condemned to suffer death, or, according to others, banishment.. On his passage to Sicily he suffered [7:18:665]shipwreck, and was drowned. His works were collected by order of the magistrates, and condemned to the flames. See Hardion, Dissertation sur V Origine et les Progrès de la Rhétorique, in the fifteenth volume of the Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions, p. 148.
PROTASIS, in the ancient drama, the first part of a comic or tragic piece, in which the several persons arc announced, their characters intimated, and the subject of the piece proposed and entered upon.
PROTESTANT, a name first given in Germany to those who adhered to the doctrine of Luther, because, in 1529, they protested against a decree of the Emperor Charles V. and the Diet of Spires, declaring that they appealed to a general council. The same name has now become a common denomination for all those of the reformed churches.
PROTHONOTARY, a term which properly signifies first notary, and which was anciently the title of the principal notaries of the emperors of Constantinople.

Prothonotary is with us an officer in the court of king’s bench and in that of common pleas, the former of which has one, and the latter three. The prothonotary of the king’s bench records all civil actions sued in that court, as the clerk of the crown-office does all criminal causes. The prothonotaries of the common picas enter and enrol all declarations, pleadings, assizes, judgments, and actions; make out all judicial writs, except writs of habeas corpus and distringas jurator, enter recognizances acknowledged, and all common recoveries; and make exemplifications of records, &c.

In the court of Rome there is a college of twelve prelates, called apostolical prothonotaries, empowered to receive the last wills of cardinals, to direct all informations and proceedings necessary for the canonization of saints, and to attend on the pope whenever he performs any extraordinary ceremony out of Rome.
PROTO, a Greek term, frequently used in composition, and signifying priority.