hold where it narrows towards the bows, the fore-peak, or towards the stern, the after-peak, for the top corner of a sail extended by a gaff, or for the projecting end of the gaff itself, and for a pointed or conical top of a hill or mountain. The name of the high table-land district in Derbyshire is not to be connected with this word, but probably retains the name of an old English demon, Peac (see Peak, The).
PIKE-PERCH (Lucioperca), fresh-water fishes closely allied
to the perch, but with strong canine teeth standing between
the smaller teeth of the jaws and palate. They resemble the pike
in their elongate body and head, and they are also most dangerous
enemies to other fresh-water fishes, though they compensate
for their destructiveness by the excellent flavour of their flesh.
In Europe two species occur, the more celebrated being the “Zander” of North Germany or “Schuel” of the Danube
(Lucioperca sandra), strange to say, it is absent in the system
of the Rhine. It prefers the quiet waters of large rivers and clear deep lakes, in which it reaches a weight of 25 ℔
or 30 ℔. The second (Lucioperca wolgenses) is limited to rivers
in southern Russia and Hungary. In North America several pike-perches have been described, but in the most recent works only two are distinguished, viz. Lucioperca americana, which
grows to a weight of 20 ℔, and the much smaller Lucioperca canadensis, both are abundant in the Canadian lakes and
upper Mississippi, and the latter also in the Ohio.
PIKE’S PEAK, a famous peak of the Rampart range of the Rocky Mountains in El Paso county, Colorado, U.S.A., about 6 m. W. of Colorado Springs. Though surpassed in altitude (14,108 ft.) by many summits in the state, no other is so well
known. The commanding appearance of the peak is very fine. To the south are Cameron Cone (10,685 ft.), Mt Sachett, Mt Bald (13,974), Mt Rosa (11,427), and Mt Cheyenne (9407).
From the summit the magnificent Sangre de Cristo range is in
the foreground, while on a clear day not only its southernmost summit, Blanca Peak (14,390 ft.) is visible, but also the Spanish Peaks (12,708 and 13,623 ft) 100 m. to the south, and Long’s
Peak 100 m. to the north, and between them Mt Lincoln, Gray’s
Peak and other giants. At the base of the mountain are Manitou and Colorado Springs, whence tourists can make the ascent of the peak (in summer safe and relatively simple) on
horseback or by a cog-railway, 8.75 m. long (opened in 1891),
which makes a total ascent of 8100 ft. (maximum gradient 1 in 4) to the summit. In 1905 a powerful searchlight was erected on the summit.
Pike’s Peak was discovered in November 1806 by Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike. He attempted to scale it, but took the wrong path and found himself at the summit of Cheyenne Mountain. He pronounced the mountain unclimbable. In 1819 it was successfully climbed by the exploring party of Major S. H. Long.
PILASTER (Fr. pilaster, med. Lat. pilastrum, from pila, a
pillar), in architecture, an engaged pier projecting slightly from the wall, and employed to divide up and decorate a wall surface
or to serve as respond to a column. One of the earliest examples (c. 100 B.C.) exists in the propylaea at Priene in Asia Minor, where it tapers towards the top. Pilasters have bases
and capitals and are frequently fluted like columns. The Romans would seem to have preferred semi-detached columns,
but for their amphitheatres sometimes pilasters are employed,
as in the upper story of the Colosseum. In the revival of Classic architecture, and especially in Italy, architects seem
to have considered that no building was complete without a network of pilasters on every storey, and France and England
followed their example, and not only externally but inside the great cathedrals and churches the pilaster is adopted as the
simplest and best way of dividing the bays.
PILATE, PONTIUS, the Roman governor of Judaea under whom Jesus Christ suffered crucifixion. Of equestrian rank, his name Pontius suggests a Samnite origin, and his cognomen in the gospels, pileatus (if derived from the pileus or cap of liberty), descent from a freedman. In any case he came in A.D. 26 from the household of Tiberius, through the influence of Sejanus, to be procurator over part of the imperial province
of Syria, viz. Judaea, Samaria and Idumea. He ruled ten years, quarrelled almost continuously with the Jews—whom Sejanus, diverging from the Caesar tradition, is said to have disliked and in A.D. 36 was recalled. Before he arrived Tiberius died, and Pilate disappears from history. Eusebius relates (Hist. eccl. ii. 7)—but three centuries later and on the authority of earlier writers unnamed—that he was exiled to Gaul and committed suicide at Vienne.
Pilate kept the Roman peace in Palestine but with little understanding of the people. Sometimes he had to yield, as when he had sent the standards, by night, into the Holy City, and was besieged for five days by suppliants who had rushed to Caesarea (Jos. Ant. 31; B. J. ii. ix. 2, 3); and again when he hung up inscribed shields in Jerusalem, and was ordered by Tiberius to remove them to the other city (Philo ad Gaium 38). Sometimes he struck more promptly; as when the mob protested against his using the temple treasure to build an aqueduct for Jerusalem, and he disguised his soldiers to disperse them with clubs (Jos. Ant. xviii. 3, 2); or when he “mingled the blood” of some unknown Galileans “with their sacrifices” (Luke xiii. 1); or slew the Samaritans who came to Mt Gerizim to dig up sacred Vessels hidden by Moses there (Jos. Ant. xviii. 4, 1)—an incident which led to his recall. Philo, who tells how any suggestion of appeal by the Jews to Tiberius enraged him, sums up their view of Pilate in Agrippa’s words, as a man “inflexible, merciless, obstinate.”
A more discriminating light is thrown upon him by the New Testament narratives of the trial of Jesus. They illustrate the right of review or recognitio which the Romans retained, at least in capital causes; the charge brought in this case of acting adversus majestatem populi romani; the claim made by Jesus to be a king, and the result that his judge became convinced that the claimant was opposed neither to the public peace nor to the civil supremacy of Rome. The result is explained only by the dialogue, recorded exclusively in John, which shows the accused and the Roman meeting on the highest levels of the thought and conscience of the time. “I am come to bear witness unto the truth . . . Pilate answered, What is truth?" Estimates of Pilate’s attitude at this point have varied infinitely, from Tertullian’s, that he was “already in conviction a Christian”—jam pro sua conscientia Christians— to Bacon’s “jesting Pilate,” who would not stay for a reply. We know only that to his persistent attempts thereafter to get his proposed verdict accepted by the people, came their fatal answer, “Thou art not Caesar’s friend,” and that at last he unwillingly ascended the bema (in this case a portable judgment seat, brought for the day outside the Praetorium), and in such words as Ibis ad crucem “delivered Him to be crucified.”
Pilate’s place in the Christian tragedy, and perhaps also in the Creed, stimulated legend about him in two directions, equally unhistorical. The Gospel of Nicodemus, written by a Christian (possibly as early, Tischendorf thought, as the middle of the 2nd century), repeats the trial in a dull and diluted way; but adds not only alleged evidence of the Resurrection, but the splendid vision of the descensus ad inferos—the whole professing to be recorded in the Acta Pilati or official records of the governor. The Epistola Pilati gives Pilate’s supposed account to Tiberius of the Resurrection; and the Paradosis Pilati relates how Tiberius condemned him and his wife Procla or Procula, both Christian converts. All this culminates in Pilate being canonized in the Abyssinian Church (June 25), and his wife in the Greek (Oct. 27). On the other hand the Mors Pilati tells how when condemned by the emperor he committed suicide; and his body, thrown first into the Tiber and then the Rhone, disturbed both waters, and was driven north into “Losania,” where it was plunged in the gulf near Lucerne and below Mt Pilatus (originally no doubt Pileatus or cloud-capped), from whence it is raised every Good Friday to sit and wash unavailing hands.
