PITHOM, a city of Egypt, mentioned in Exod. i. 11, along with Rameses (g ’.v.).

one of the cities that the Israelites built for Pharaoh in Egypt, during the time of their servitude, Exod. i, 11.

PITHOU, Pierre (1539-1596), lawyer and scholar, was born at Troyes on November 1, 1539. His taste for literature was early seen, and his father, an advocate, cultivated it to the utmost. He first studied at Troyes, and afterwards went to Paris, where he completed his classical studies under Adrien Turnèbe and Pierre Galand. He next attended the lectures in law of Cujas at Bourges and Valence, and was called to the Paris bar in 1560. Here he achieved but little success as a pleader, but soon acquired a considerable practice as a consulting lawyer. On the outbreak of the second war of religion in 1567, Pithou, who was a Calvinist, withdrew to Sedan and afterwards to Basel, whence he returned to France on the publication of the edict of pacification. Soon afterwards he accompanied the Duc de Montmorency on his embassy to England, returning shortly before the massacre of St Bartholomew, in which he narrowly escaped with his life. Next year he followed the example of Henry of Navarre, to whose cause he was ardently attached, by abjuring the Protestant faith. Henry, shortly after his own accession to the throne of France, recognized Pithou’s talents and services by bestowing upon him various legal appointments. It was considerably after this date that Pithou achieved what was probably the most important work of his life, whether political or literary, by co-operating in the production of the powerful Satire Menippée (1593), which did so much to damage the cause of the League; the harangue of Daubray is usually attributed to his pen. He died at Nogent-sur-Seine on November 1,1596. His valuable library, specially rich in MSS., was for the most part transferred to what is now the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris....