and careful striving. The one seeks to deter him from the path of virtue by urging the difficulty of it ; the other calls attention to the unnatural character of en- joyment which anticipates the need of it, its want of the highest joy, that arising from noble deeds, and the consequences of a life of voluptuousness, and how she herself, honored by gods and men, leads to all noble works, and to true well-being in all circumstances of life. Hercules decides for virtue. This outline in Xen- ophon probably represents, in a very abbreviated form, and with the omission of all collateral references, the leading ideas of the original, of which no fragments re- main (comp. Welcker, p. 469, etc., who also shows that the amplifications in Dio Chysostomus and Themistius belong to these rhetoricians, and are not derived from' the Horce of Prodicus, p. 488, etc. Respecting the nu- merous imitations of this narrative in poets, philoso- phers, rhetoricians, and in works of art, see, in like manner, Welcker, p. 467, etc.). In another speech, which treated of riches, and the substance of which is reproduced in the dialogue Eryxias, Prodicus undertook to show that the value of external goods depends sim- ply upon the use which is made of them, and that vir- tue must be learned. (Welcker endeavors to point out the coincidence of the former doctrine with that of Soc- rates and Antisthenes, p. 493, etc.) Similar sentiments were expressed in Prodicus's Praise of Agriculture (Themist, Orat. 30, p. 349; comp. Welcker, p. 490, etc.). His views respecting the worthlessness of earth- ly life in different ages and callings, and how we must long after freedom from connection with the body in the heavenly and cognate rether, are found represented in the dialogue Axiochus, from a lecture by Prodicus; as also his doctrine that death is not to be feared, as it affects neither the living nor the departed (comp. Stob. Serm. xx, 35). Whether the appended arguments for immortality are borrowed from him, as Welcker (p. 500) endeavors to show, is doubtful. The gods he regarded as personifications of the sun, moon, rivers, fountains, and whatever else contributes to the comfort of our life (Sext. Emp. Adv. Math, i, 52; Cicero, De Nat. Deor. i, 42), and he is therefore, though hastily, charged with atheism (ibid. 55). Prodicus declared death to be de- sirable as an escape from the evils of life. His moral consciousness therefore certainly lacked philosophical basis and depth. See, besides the authorities already quoted, Hummel, De Prodico Sophista (Leyden, 1847) ; Cougny, De Prodico Ceio, Socratis magistro (Paris, 1858) ;' Diemer, De Prod. Ceio (Corbach, 1859) ; Kra- mer, Die Alleyorie des Prodikvs v. der Traum des Luli- anos, in the Neue Jahrbiicher fur Phil. u. Pddagogilc, xciv (1866), 439-443; Blass, Die alie Beredsamkeit (Leips. 1868), p. 29 sq. ; Ueberweg, Hist, of Philosophy, i, 78; and especially the article in Smith, Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Biog. and Mythol. s. v., which we have frecly used.
Prodicus (2). See Pkodicians.
Prodigies. Wonderful appearances which were supposed among the ancient heathens to betoken some impending misfortune or calamity. These being re- garded as marks of the anger of the gods, they were considered as calling for prayers and sacrifices. When- ever prodigies were seen, the pontitices, or priests, pro- ceeded to perform certain public rites by way of expia- tion. The fall of meteoric stones was accounted a prodigy, and almost all the others might be explained by peculiar natural phenomena which in those ancient times were not understood. — Gardner, Faiths of the World, s. v.
Prodymna (or Pradymea or Pradyumna) was. in the Indian mythology, an avatar of Kama (q. v.), the I love-god.
Proedri (-n-potcpoi, Lat. prcesides, prcesidentes) is J one of the titles which were given in the ancient Church to the bishops, and was used in close connection with I the word 7rpE<rj3vr£pog. See Presbyter. It is de-
PROEDROSIA
626
PROFKSTI DIES
rived from the irpoeSpia, the elevated seat which the bishop occupied in the synod and in the religious as- semblies of the people. See Coleman, Ancient Chris- tianity Exemplified I Phila. 1856, 8vo), p. 131, and the references quoted on p. 601; Siegel, Christlicki AUer- thiimer (see Index in vol. iv); Kiddle. Christ. Antiqui- ties, p. 211.
Proedrosia, sacrifices, or, as some allege, a festival offered to Demeter or Ceres at seed-lime, with tbe view of securing a bountiful harvest.— Gardner, Faiths of the World,s.v.
Proestos (Trpotnrwc), one of the names by which the early Church distinguished the teachers or preach- ers from the " brethren'* (1 Tim. v. 17). Justin Martyr uses the term as synonymous with lepapxric, when he speaks of the Trpotarwg as the person whose duty it is to consecrate the elements in the administration of the Lord's Supper < Apolog. ii, 67). a duty subsequently per- formed only by the bishop except in Ins absence. (Pe- pin- decree, A.l>. 755, is as follows: "Nullus presbyter prsesumnt missas celebrare sine jussione episcopi in cujus parocliiaest." The Council of Aries laid similar restric- tions upon deacons [canon 15].) The title Proestos was translated into Latin by Propositus, whence the English word Provost (q. v.). See Coleman, A ncii nt i 'hristianity Exemplified, p. 102 et al. ; Siegel, Christl. Alterthumet (sec Index in vol. iv) ; Riddle, t hrist. A ntiquities, p. 211.