(which, however, is not reprinted in the new edition of Buxtorfs Lexicon by Fischer, Leipsic, 1869-1874). In 1590 an enlarged edition, including references to the Zuhar, Baal Akeda, or Isaac Arama's philosophical work, entitled pn^"^ ^^P?> ^"'^l Ikkarim of Joseph Albo, was published at Vienna. Between sixty and seventy years afterwards the then famous rabbi Jacob Saspor- tas, whom subsequent Hebrew writers described as " most distinguished in the law and crowned with hu- mility," a native of Oran, in North Africa — who was successively chief rabbi of the Sephardim congregations at Leghorn, Hamburg, and Amsterdam — supplemented the work of Pesaro by a concordance of the passages of Scripture quoted and treated in the Jerusalem Talmud. This supplement the author called after his own name, npyi n-nbin, " the Offering of Jacob." The twofold work, as a whole, was first published at Amsterdam in 1652, then at Berlin in 1705. The Rev. Dr. Margoliouth, of London, has recently announced an English transla- tion, with editorial annotations and illustrations, in two volumes, of both Pesaro's and Sasportas's work. See Fiirst, Bibl. Jud. iii, 79 ; De Rossi, Dizionario storico degli autori Ebrei, p. 262 (Germ. transL by Hamburger); Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. i, 128 sq. ; iii, 80 sq. (B. P.)
Pesaro, Jechiel (also called Pisaurensis Je-
cuiel), of Florence, a Jewish convert to Christian- it}', is noted as a philosopher, phj'sician, and theologian. Having for some time heard the sermons of the inquis- itor Dionj'sius Costacciario, he repaired to Rome to re- nounce Judaism. Pope Gregory XIII, who then held the Papal See, was present at the speech Pesaro made before a numerous assembly in 1582, and received him, as he descended from the chair, with the words, " Bless- ed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Soon after Pesaro was baptized bj' this pontiff, and became a preacher. Some of his sermons which he preached be- fore and against the Jews at Florence were printed in the Italian language in 1585. See VWxst, Bibl. Jud. \\\, 79; Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. i, 576; Bartolocci, Bibl. Rabb. iv, 584 ; Adams, Hist, of the Jeu-s, ii, 79 (Boston, 1812) ; Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, p. 726 (Taylor's transl.) ; Kalkar, Israel u. d. Kirche, p. 71 (Hamb. 1869); Pick, Evangelical Review (Gettysburg, 1876), p. 367. (B. P.)
Pesaro, Niccolo Trometto, or Niccolo da,
an Italian painter of the 16th centur}', and a native of Pesaro, studied under Zuccaro, whose style he at first followed closely. He executed some works for the churches at Rome, the principal of which are the Na- tivity, in the Basilica ; a Pietii, in S. Francesca ; the Na- tivity and the Circumcision, in S. Maria da Aracaeli. Lanzi says his best piece is the Last Supper, in the church of the Sacrament at Pesaro. " It is a picture so well conceived and harmonized, and so rich in pictorial effect, that Lazzarini has descanted upon it in his lect- ures as one of the finest works in that city." It is said that Baroccio regarded this artist with esteem, and Ba- glioni commends him for his earlier works. He after- wards fell into a mannered, insipid style, which injured his reputation and fortune. He died at Rome in tho pontificate of Paul V, aged seventy years. See Spooner, Biog. Hist, of the Fine A)'ts, ii, 682.
Pescia, Mariano da, an Italian painter, was a na- tive of Pescia. His real name was Mai-iano O'ratiadei. He was born about 1520, and was a scholar of Ridolfn Ghirlandaio (not, as is said, of Domenico G., who died about 1493), whom he assisted in many of his works. He also painted some pictures from his own composi- tions, of which the princijial arc an altar-piece in the Capella della Signoria, in the Palazzo Vccchio at Flor- ence, and a picture of the Virgin and the Infant Jesus, iritk St. Elizabeth and St. John, in the Florentine gal- lery. It is agreed by all that Pescia died j-oung, but the time of liis birth and death is variously stated. Zaui savs he died in 1520; others that he was born
PESELLO
995
PESSIMISM
in 1520 or 1525, and died at Florence in 1550. See Spooner, Biog. Hist, of the Fine Arts, ii, 682.
Pesello, FuANCEsco, an Italian painter of the Florentine school, was born in 13.S(). lie studied with Filippo Lippi, and was a good imitator of his style. There is a line picture by him of the Epiphany in the ducal gallery. He died in 1457. See Spooner, Biog. Hist, of the Fine A rts, ii, G82.
Pesheth. See Flax.
Peshito, or rather Peshitto (Syr., as generally supposed, "simple," "faithlu),' sc. Version, or the "ex- plained," i. e. translated, Bible), is the name given to the authorized Syriac Version of the Old and the great- er part of the New Testament. This version holds among the Syrian Christians the same ])lace as the Vul- gate in the Roman and the " Authorized Version" in the English Church. Many are the traditions about its origin. Thus the translation of the Old Testament is supposed to date from the time of Solomon and Hi- ram ; or to have been done by Asa the priest ; or, again, that it belongs to the time of the apostle Thaddajus (Adffius), and Abgar, the king of Osrhoene, in the 1st centurj' after Christ. To the same period is also sup- posed to belong the translation of the New Testament, which is ascribed to Achreus, a disciple of Thaddaius, the first Edessian bishop and martyr. Recent investi- gation has not as yet come to any nearer result than to place the latter vaguely in the 2d, and the former in the 3d century, and to make Judaic-Christians the authors of both. Ephraem Sj'rus (([. v.), who wrote in the 4th century, certainly speaks of the Peshito as Om- Version, and thus early finds it necessary to explain some of its terms, which had become obsolete. Five books of the New Testament (the Apocah-pse and four of the Epis- tles) are wanting in all the MSS., having probably not yet formed part of the canon when the translation was made. The version of the Old Testament was made direct from the Hebrew, and by men imbued with the Palestinian mode of explanation. It is extremely faith- ful, and astonishingly free from any of those paraphras- tic tendencies which pervade more or less all the Tar- gums or Aramaic versions. Its renderings are mostly very happy, and coincide in many places with those of the Septuagint — a circumstance which has given rise to the supposition that the latter itself had been drawn upon. Its use for the Old Testament is more of an exegetical, for the New Testament more of a critical, nature. Anything like an edition of the Peshito wor- thy of its name is still as much a desideratum as is a critical edition of the Septuagint or the Targums, and consequently investigators have as yet been unable to come to anything but very hazy conclusions respecting some ver}' important questions connected with it. The editio p>rinceps of the New-Testament part dates Vienna, 1555; that of the Old Testament is contained in the Paris Polyglot of 1G45. — Chambers, s. v. See Syuiac Versions.