The Theory of Moral Sentiments - Adam Smith [253]
Peter the Great (1672-1725), tsar of Russia from 1682 to his death; his reign witnessed military struggle with Charles XII of Sweden, expansion of Russian influence throughout the Baltic, and the emergence of Russia into European prominence.
Petrarca, Francesco (Petrarch, 1304-1374), Italian Renaissance poet and humanist famed for his love sonnets to Laura.
Phaedra, wife of the Athenian king Theseus and stepmother of Hippolytus; the story of her illicit love for her stepson and her ensuing guilt and suicide is recounted in extant tragedies by Euripides, Seneca, and Racine.
Philip of Castile (Philip I; 1478-1506), king of Castile from 1504 to his death, son of the Habsburg Maximilian I, husband of Joanna (see above), and father of Charles V.
Philip of Macedon (Philip II; 382-336 BC), king of Macedon and father of Alexander the Great, under whose rule the Macedonian Empire reached its height and asserted its supremacy in Greece.
Philoctetes, Greek tragic figure and the subject of a surviving tragedy by Sophocles that recounts his abandonment on the island of Lemnos because of an infected snakebite while en route to Troy.
Philopoemen (ca. 253-182 BC), Greek military commander and general of the Achaean Confederacy whose hard-line policies on Sparta provoked resentment and rebellion, which ultimately culminated in his capture and poisoning.
Phocion (402-318 BC), Athenian general and student of Plato who sought to preserve Athenian interests in the face of Macedonian aggression; executed following the democratic revolution of 318.
Plato (429-347 BC), Athenian philosopher, student of Socrates, and teacher of Aristotle; immensely influential on all fields of philosophy, Plato is in TMS principally a moral and political philosopher and author of Republic and Laws.
Pliny (Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Pliny the Younger; ca. AD 61-112), Roman statesman, orator, and author of a collection of Epistles renowned for their rhetorical sophistication.
Plutarch (ca. AD 50-120), prolific author of dialogues, moral essays, and histories, principally famous for his Parallel Lives; Smith draws on his biographical sketches of ancient figures but elsewhere calls him “as bad a critic in philosophy as in history.”
Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Pompey the Great; 106-48 BC), Roman statesman and commander whose foreign military career witnessed many successes but also accusations of seeking to steal glory from Crassus for defeating Spartacus and from Lucullus for defeating Mithradates; he was an early associate of Caesar in the First Triumvirate but ultimately struggled with Caesar until being defeated by him at Pharsalus.
Pope, Alexander (1688-1744), English poet, translator of Homer, and author of the Essay on Man (1734-35), a principal statement of Enlightenment ideals.
Pufendorf, Samuel (1632-1694), German philosopher of natural law, and author of numerous works on European political and ecclesiastical history in addition to his influential jurisprudential works, which include De Jure Naturae et Gentium (Of the Law of Nature and Nations, 1672) and De Officio Hominis et Civis (Of the Duty of Man and Citizen, 1673).
Pyrrhus (319-272 BC), Greek commander and king of Epirus; waged ambitious struggles with Rome, Macedonia and Sparta.
Pythagoras (ca. 6th c. BC), Greek philosopher and mathematician whose cosmological theories were grounded in theories of numerical harmony; his school was traditionally assumed to have been an important influence on Plato.
Quinault, Phillipe (1635-1688), French playwright and librettist; his play Astrate (1664) was particularly criticized by Boileau-Despréaux.
Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus; ca. AD 35-100), Roman orator and teacher; his Institutio Oratoria was an influential handbook of judgments on classical authors and the teaching and practice of rhetoric.
Racine, Jean (1639-1699), playwright, royal historiographer, and member of the Académie Française. His