approach to it being defended by quarries, in which tombs of all periods have been discovered. The auditorium of the small theatre is well preserved, though nothing of the stage remains. Close to it are ruins of other buildings, which bear, without justification, the names Naumachia, Odeum (perhaps a bath establishment) and Palace of Hiero. The water supply was obtained by subterranean aqueducts. In the cliffs of the Monte Pineta to the south are other tomb chambers, and to the south again are the curious bas-reliefs called Santoni or Santicelli, mutilated in the 19th century by a peasant proprietor, which appear to be sepulchral also. Near here too is the necropolis of the Acrocoro della Torre, where many sarcophagi have been found. Five miles north lies Buscemi, near which a sacred grotto has been discovered; and also a church cut in the rock and surrounded by a cemetery.[1]
See G. Judica, Antichità di Acre (Messina, 1819). (Baron Judica’s collection of antiquities was dispersed after his death.) J. Schubring, Jahrbuch für Philologie, Suppl. IV., 662–672.
PALE (through Fr. pal, from Lat. palus, a stake, for paglus, from the stem pag- of pangere, to fix; “pole” is from the same original source), a stake, particularly one of a closely set series driven into the ground to form the defensive work known as a “palisade”; also one of the lighter laths or strips of wood
set vertically and fastened to a horizontal rail to form a “paling.”
Used as an historical term, a pale is a district marked off from
the surrounding country by a different system of government
and law or by definite boundaries. The best known of these
districts was the “English Pale” in Ireland, dating from the
reign of Henry II., although the word “pale” was not used in
this connexion until the latter part of the 14th century. The
Pale varied considerably, according to the strength or weakness
of the English authorities, and in the time of Henry VIII. was
bounded by a line drawn from Dundalk to Kells, thence to
Naas, and from Naas E. to Dalkey, embracing, that is, part
of the modern counties of Dublin, Louth, Meath, and Kildare.
The Pale existed until the complete subjugation of Ireland under
Elizabeth; the use of the word is frequent in Tudor times.
There was an “English Pale” or “Calais Pale” also in France
until 1558, extending from Gravelines to Wissant, and for a
short time under the Tudors an English Pale in Scotland.
In heraldry a “pale” is a band placed vertically in the centre of a shield, hence “in pale” or “to impale” is used of the marshalling of two coats side by side on a shield divided vertically.
“Pale,” in the sense of colourless, whitish, of a shade of colour lighter than the normal, is derived through O. Fr. palle, mod. pále, from Lat. pallidus, pallor, pallere; and in that of a baker’s shovel, or “peel” as it is sometimes called, from Lat. pala, spade, probably connected with the root of pandere, to spread out.
PALEARIO, AONIO (c. 1500–1570), Italian humanist and reformer, was born about 1500 at Veroli, in the Roman
Campagna. Other forms of his name are Antonio Della Paglia,
A. Degli Pagliaricci. In 1520 he went to Rome, where he
entered the brilliant literary circle of Leo X. When Charles
of Bourbon stormed Rome in 1527 Paleario went first to Perugia
and then to Siena, where he settled as a teacher. In 1536 his
didactic poem in Latin hexameters, De immortalitate animarum,
was published at Lyons. It is divided into three books, the
first containing his proofs of the divine existence, and the
remaining two the theological and philosophical arguments for
immortality based on that postulate. The whole concludes with
a rhetorical description of the occurrences of the Second Advent.
In 1542 a tract, written by him and entitled Della Pienezza,
sufficienza, et satisfazione della passione di Christo, or Libellus
de morte Christi, was made by the Inquisition the basis of a
charge of heresy, from which, however, he successfully defended
himself. In Siena he wrote his Actio in pontifices romanos
et eorum asseclas, a vigorous indictment, in twenty “testimonia,”
against what he now believed to be the fundamental error of
the Roman Church in subordinating Scripture to tradition,
as well as against various particular doctrines, such as that of
purgatory; it was not, however, printed until after his death
(Leipzig, 1606). In 1546 he accepted a professorial chair at
Lucca, which he exchanged in 1555 for that of Greek and Latin
literature at Milan. Here about 1566 his enemies renewed their
activity, and in 1567 he was formally accused by Fra Angelo
the inquisitor of Milan. He was tried at Rome, condemned
to death in October 1569, and executed in July 1570.
An edition of his works (Ant. Palearii Verulani Opera), including four books of Epistolae and twelve Orationes besides the De immortalitate, was published at Lyons in 1552; this was followed by two others, at Basel, and several after his death, the fullest being that of Amsterdam, 1696. A work, entitled Benefizio di Cristo (“The Benefit of Christ’s Death”), has been attributed to Paleario on insufficient grounds. Lives by Gurlitt (Hamburg, 1805); Young (2 vols., London, 1860); Bonnet (Paris, 1862).
PALENCIA, an inland province of Spain, one of the eight into
which Old Castile was divided in 1833; bounded on the N. by
Santander, E. by Burgos, S. by Valladolid, and W. by Valladolid
and Leon. Pop. (1900), 192,472; area, 3256 sq. m. The
surface of the province slopes gradually S. to the Duero (Douro)
valley. The principal rivers are the Pisuerga and the Carrion,
which unite at Dueñas and flow into the Duero at Valladolid.
The chief tributaries of the Pisuerga within the province are
the Arlanzon, the Burejo, the Cioza, and the united streams
of the Buedo and Abanades; the Carrion is joined on the right
by the Cueza. The north is traversed by the Cantabrian
Mountains, the highest summit being the culminating point of
the Sierra del Brezo (6355 ft.). There are extensive forests in
this region and the valleys afford good pasturage. The remainder
of Palencia, the “Tierra de Campos,” belongs to the great
Castilian table-land. In the south is a marsh or lake, known
as La Laguna de la Nava. The mountainous district abounds
in minerals, but only coal and small quantities of copper are
worked. The province is crossed in the south-east by the
trunk railway connecting Madrid with France via Irun, while
the line to Santander traverses it throughout from north to
south; there are also railways from the city of Palencia to
Leon, and across the north from Mataporquera in Santander
to La Robla in Leon. A branch of the Santander line gives
access to the Orbo coal-fields. The main highways are good;
the other roads often bad. The Canal de Castilla, begun in
1753, and completed in 1832, connects Alar del Rey with
Valladolid. Wheat and other cereals, vegetables, hemp and
flax are extensively grown, except in the mountainous districts.
Flour and wine are made in large quantities, and there are
manufactures of linen and woollen stuffs, oil, porcelain, leather,
paper and rugs. Palencia rugs are in great demand throughout
Spain. The only town with more than 5000 inhabitants is
Palencia (q.v.).
For the history, inhabitants, &c., see Castile.
PALENCIA, an episcopal city, and the capital of the Spanish province of Palencia; on the left bank of the river Carrion, on the Canal de Castilla, at the junction of railways from Leon and Santander, and 7 m. N. by W. of Venta de Baños on the Madrid-Irun line. Pop. (1900), 15,940. Palencia is built in the midst of the level plains called the Tierra de Campos, 2690 ft. above sea-level. Three bridges across the Carrion afford access to the modern suburbs on the right bank. The older and by far the more important part of the city is protected on the west by the river; on the other sides the old machicolated walls, 36 ft. high by 9 ft. in thickness, are in fairly good preservation, and beautified by alamedas or promenades, which were laid out in 1778. The cathedral was begun in 1321, finished in 1504, and dedicated to St Antolin; it is a large building in the later and florid Gothic style of Spain. The site was previously occupied by a church erected by Sancho III. of Navarre and Castile (1026–1035) over the cave of St Antolin, which is still shown. The cathedral contains some valuable paintings, old Flemish tapestry, and beautiful carved woodwork and stonework. The church of San Miguel is a good and fairly well-preserved example of 13th-century work; that of San Francisco, of the same date, is inferior and has suffered more from modernization. The
- ↑ P. Orsi in Notizie degli Scavi (1899), 452–471; Römische Quartalschrift (1898), 624–631.
