Persĭcum mare, or Persicus sinus, a part of the Indian ocean on the coast of Persia and Arabia, now called the gulf of Balgora.

Persis, a province of Persia, bounded by Media, Carmania, Susiana, and the Persian gulf. It is often taken for Persia itself.

Aulus Persius Flaccus, a Latin poet of Volaterræ. He was of an equestrian family, and he made himself known by his intimacy with the most illustrious Romans of the age. The early part of his life was spent in his native town, and at the age of 16 he was removed to Rome, where he studied philosophy under Cornutus the celebrated stoic. He also received the instructions of Palemon the grammarian, and Virginius the rhetorician. Naturally of a mild disposition, his character was unimpeached, his modesty remarkable, and his benevolence universally admired. He distinguished himself by his satirical humour, and made the faults of the orators and poets of his age, the subject of his poems. He did not even spare Nero, and the more effectually to expose the emperor to ridicule, he introduced into his satires some of his verses. The torva mimalloneis implerunt cornua bombis, with the three following verses, are Nero’s, according to some. But though he was so severe upon the vicious and ignorant, he did not forget his friendship for Cornutus, and he showed his regard for his character and abilities by making mention of his name with great propriety in his satires. It was by the advice of his learned preceptor that he corrected one of his poems in which he had compared Nero to Midas, and at his representation he altered the words Auriculas asini Mida rex habet, into Auriculas asini quis non habet? Persius died in the 30th year of his age, A.D. 62, and left all his books, which consisted of 700 volumes, and a large sum of money, to his preceptor; but Cornutus only accepted the books, and returned the money to the sisters and friends of the deceased. The satires of Persius are six in number, blamed by some for obscurity of style and of language. But though they may appear almost unintelligible to some, it ought to be remembered that they were read with pleasure and with avidity by his contemporaries, and that the only difficulties which now appear to the moderns, arise from their not knowing the various characters which they described, the vices which they lashed, and the errors which they censured. The satires of Persius are generally printed with those of Juvenal, the best editions of which will be found to be by Hennin, 4to, Leiden, 1695, and by Hawkey, 12mo, Dublin, 1746. The best edition of Persius, separate, is that of Meric Casaubon, 12mo, London, 1647. Martial.—Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 1.—Augustine, de Magistro, ch. 9.—Lactantius.——A man whose quarrel with Rupilius is mentioned in a ridiculous manner by Horace, satire 7. He is called Hybrida, as being son of a Greek by a Roman woman.

Pertĭnax Publius Helvius, a Roman emperor after the death of Commodus. He was descended from an obscure family, and, like his father, who was either a slave or the son of a manumitted slave, he for some time followed the mean employment of drying wood and making charcoal. His indigence, however, did not prevent him from receiving a liberal education, and indeed he was for some time employed in teaching a number of pupils the Greek and the Roman languages in Etruria. He left this laborious profession for a military life, and by his valour and intrepidity, he gradually rose to offices of the highest trust in the army, and was made consul by Marcus Aurelius for his eminent services. He was afterwards entrusted with the government of Mœsia, and at last he presided over the city of Rome as governor. When Commodus was murdered, Pertinax was universally selected to succeed to the imperial throne, and his refusal, and the plea of old age and increasing infirmities, did not prevent his being saluted emperor and Augustus. He acquiesced with reluctance, but his mildness, his economy, and the popularity of his administration, convinced the senate and the people of the prudence and the justice of their choice. He forbade his name to be inscribed on such places or estates as were part of the imperial domain, and exclaimed that they belonged not to him, but to the public. He melted all the silver statues which had been raised to his vicious predecessor, and he exposed to public sale all his concubines, his horses, his arms, and all the instruments of his pleasure and extravagance. With the money raised from these he enriched the empire, and was enabled to abolish all the taxes which Commodus had laid on the rivers, ports, and highways through the empire. This patriotic administration gained him the affection of the worthiest and most discerning of his subjects, but the extravagant and luxurious raised their clamours against him, and when Pertinax attempted to introduce among the pretorian guards that discipline which was so necessary to preserve the peace and tranquillity of Rome, the flames of rebellion were kindled, and the minds of the soldiers totally alienated. Pertinax was apprised of this mutiny, but he refused to fly at the hour of danger. He scorned the advice of his friends who wished him to withdraw from the impending storm, and he unexpectedly appeared before the seditious pretorians, and without fear or concern, boldly asked them whether they, who were bound to defend the person of their prince and emperor, were come to betray him and to shed his blood. His undaunted assurance and his intrepidity would have had the desired effect, and the soldiers had already begun to retire, when one of the most seditious advanced and darted his javelin at the emperor’s breast, exclaiming, “The soldiers send you this.” The rest immediately followed the example, and Pertinax, muffling up his head, and calling upon Jupiter to avenge his death, remained unmoved, and was instantly dispatched. His head was cut off, and carried upon the point of a spear as in triumph to the camp. This happened on the 28th of March, A.D. 193. Pertinax reigned only 87 days, and his death was the more universally lamented, as it proceeded from a seditious tumult, and robbed the Roman empire of a wise, virtuous, and benevolent emperor. Dio Cassius.—Herodian.—Capitol.

Pertunda, a goddess at Rome, who presided over the consummation of marriage. Her statue was generally placed in the bridal chamber. Varro, in Augustine, City of God, bk. 6, ch. 9.

Perŭsia, now Perugia, an ancient town of Etruria on the Tiber, built by Ocnus. Lucius Antonius was besieged there by Augustus, and obliged to surrender. Strabo, bk. 5.—Lucan, bk. 1, li. 41.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 74.—Livy, bk. 9, ch. 37; bk. 10, chs. 30 & 37.

Pescennius. See: Niger.——A man intimate with Cicero.

Pessīnus (untis), a town of Phrygia, where Atys, as some suppose, was buried. It is particularly famous for a temple and a statue of the goddess Cybele, who was from thence called Pessinuntia. Strabo, bk. 12.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 17.—Livy, bk. 29, chs. 10 & 11.

Petălia, a town of Eubœa.

Petălus, a man killed by Perseus at the court of Cepheus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 115.

Petelia, or Petellia, a town. See: Petilia.

Petelīnus lacus, a lake near one of the gates of Rome. Livy, bk. 6, ch. 20.

Peteon, a town of Bœotia. Statius, Thebaid, bk. 7, li. 333.—Strabo, bk. 9.

Peteus, a son of Orneus, and grandson of Erechtheus. He reigned in Attica, and became father of Menestheus, who went with the Greeks to the Trojan war. He is represented by some of the ancients as a monster, half a man and half a beast. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 10.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 35.

Petilia, now Strongoli, a town of Magna Græcia, the capital of Lucania, built or perhaps only repaired by Philoctetes, who, after his return from the Trojan war, left his country Melibœa, because his subjects had revolted. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Livy, bk. 23, ch. 20.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 402.—Strabo, bk. 6.

Petilia lex, was enacted by Petilius the tribune to make an inquiry and know how much money had been obtained from the conquests over king Antiochus.

Petilii, two tribunes who accused Scipio Africanus of extortion. He was acquitted.

Petīlius, a pretor who persuaded the people of Rome to burn the books which had been found in Numa’s tomb, about 400 years after his death. His advice was followed. Plutarch, Numa.——A plebeian decemvir, &c.——A governor of the capitol, who stole away the treasures entrusted to his care. He was accused, but, though guilty, he was acquitted, as being the friend of Augustus. Horace, bk. 1, satire 4, li. 94.

Petosīrīs, a celebrated mathematician of Egypt. Juvenal, satire 6, li. 580.

Petra, the capital town of Arabia Petræa. Strabo, bk. 16.——A town of Sicily, near Hybla, whose inhabitants are called Petrini and Petrenses.——A town of Thrace. Livy, bk. 40, ch. 22.——Another of Pieria in Macedonia. Livy, bk. 39, ch. 26.—Cicero, Against Verres, bk. 1, ch. 39.——An elevated place near Dyrrachium, Lucan, bk. 6, lis. 16 & 70.—Cæsar, Civil War, bk. 3, ch. 40.——Another in Elis.——Another near Corinth.

Petræa, one of the Oceanides. Hesiod, Theogony.——A part of Arabia, which has Syria at the east, Egypt on the west, Palestine on the north, and Arabia Felix at the south. This part of Arabia was rocky, whence it has received its name. It was for the most part also covered with barren sands, and was interspersed with some fruitful spots. Its capital was called Petra.

Petreius, a Roman soldier who killed his tribune during the Cimbrian wars, because he hesitated to attack the enemy. He was rewarded for his valour with a crown of grass. Pliny, bk. 22, ch. 6.——A lieutenant of Caius Antonius, who defeated the troops of Catiline. He took the part of Pompey against Julius Cæsar. When Cæsar had been victorious in every part of the world, Petreius, who had retired into Africa, attempted to destroy himself by fighting with his friend king Juba in single combat. Juba was killed first, and Petreius obliged one of his slaves to run him through. Sallust, Catilinæ Coniuratio.—Appian.—Cæsar, bk. 1, Civil War.——A centurion in Cæsar’s army in Gaul, &c. Some read Petronius.

Petrĭnum, a town of Campania. Horace, bk. 1, ltr. 5, li. 5.

Petrocorii, the inhabitants of the modern town of Perigord in France. Cæsar, bk. 7, Gallic War, ch. 75.

Petronia, the wife of Vitellius. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 2, ch. 64.

Petrōnius, a governor of Egypt, appointed to succeed Gallus. He behaved with great humanity to the Jews, and made war against Candace queen of Æthiopia. Strabo, bk. 17.——A favourite of Nero, put to death by Galba.——A governor of Britain.——A tribune killed in Parthia with Crassus.——A man banished by Nero to the Cyclades, when Piso’s conspiracy was discovered. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 15.——A governor of Britain in Nero’s reign. He was put to death by Galba’s orders.——Maximus, a Roman emperor. See: Maximus.——Arbiter, a favourite of the emperor Nero, and one of the ministers and associates of all his pleasures and his debauchery. He was naturally fond of pleasure and effeminate, and he passed his whole nights in revels and the days in sleep. He indulged himself in all the delights and gaieties of life; but though he was the most voluptuous of the age, yet he moderated his pleasures, and wished to appear curious and refined in luxury and extravagance. Whatever he did seemed to be performed with an air of unconcern and negligence; he was affable in his behaviour, and his witticisms and satirical remarks appeared artless and natural. He was appointed proconsul of Bithynia, and afterwards he was rewarded with the consulship; in both of which honourable employments he behaved with all the dignity which became one of the successors of a Brutus or a Scipio. With his office he laid down his artificial gravity, and gave himself up to the pursuit of pleasure; the emperor became more attached to him, and seemed fonder of his company; but he did not long enjoy the imperial favours. Tigellinus, likewise one of Nero’s favourites, jealous of his fame, accused him of conspiring against the emperor’s life. The accusation was credited, and Petronius immediately resolved to withdraw himself from Nero’s punishment by a voluntary death. This was performed in a manner altogether unprecedented, A.D. 66. Petronius ordered his veins to be opened; but without the eagerness of terminating his agonies, he had them closed at intervals. Some time after they were opened, and as if he wished to die in the same careless and unconcerned manner as he had lived, he passed his time in discoursing with his friends upon trifles, and listened with the greatest avidity to love verses, amusing stories, or laughable epigrams. Sometimes he manumitted his slaves or punished them with stripes. In this ludicrous manner he spent his last moments, till nature was exhausted; and before he expired he wrote an epistle to the emperor, in which he had described with a masterly hand his nocturnal extravagances, and the daily impurities of his actions. This letter was carefully sealed, and after he had conveyed it privately to the emperor, Petronius broke his signet, that it might not after his death become a snare to the innocent. Petronius distinguished himself by his writings, as well as by his luxury and voluptuousness. He is the author of many elegant but obscene compositions still extant, among which is a poem on the civil wars of Pompey and Cæsar, superior in some respects to the Pharsalia of Lucan. There is also the feast of Trimalcion, in which he paints with too much licentiousness the pleasures and the debaucheries of a corrupted court and of an extravagant monarch; reflections on the instability of human life; a poem on the vanity of dreams; another on the education of the Roman youth; two treatises, &c. The best editions of Petronius are those of Burman, 4to, Utrecht, 1709, and Reinesius, 8vo, 1731.

Pettius, a friend of Horace, to whom the poet addressed his eleventh epode.

Petus, an architect. See: Satyrus.

Peuce, a small island at the mouth of the Danube. The inhabitants are called Peucæ and Peucini. Strabo, bk. 7.—Lucan, bk. 3, li. 202.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.

Peucestes, a Macedonian set over Egypt by Alexander. He received Persia at the general division of the Macedonian empire at the king’s death. He behaved with great cowardice after he had joined himself to Eumenes. Cornelius Nepos, Eumenes.—Plutarch.—Curtius, bk. 4, ch. 8.——An island which was visited by the Argonauts at their return from the conquest of the golden fleece.

Peucĕtia, a part of Magna Græcia in Italy, at the north of the bay of Tarentum, between the Apennines and Lucania, called also Mesapia and Calabria. It received its name from Peucetus the son of Lycaon, of Arcadia. Strabo, bk. 6.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 11.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 14, li. 513.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 13.

Peucīni, a nation of Germany, called also Basternæ. Tacitus, Germania, ch. 46.

Peucolāus, an officer who conspired with Dymnus against Alexander’s life. Curtius, bk. 6.——Another, set over Sogdiana. Curtius, bk. 7.

Pexodōrus, a governor of Caria, who offered to give his daughter in marriage to Aridæus the illegitimate son of Philip. Plutarch.

Phacium, a town of Thessaly. Livy, bk. 32, ch. 13; bk. 36, ch. 13.

Phacūsa, a town of Egypt on the eastern mouth of the Nile.

Phæa, a celebrated sow which infested the neighbourhood of Cromyon. It was destroyed by Theseus as he was travelling from Trœzene to Athens to make himself known to his father. Some suppose that the boar of Calydon sprung from this sow. Phæa, according to some authors, was no other than a woman who prostituted herself to strangers, whom she murdered and afterwards plundered. Plutarch, Theseus.—Strabo, bk. 8.

Phæācia, an island of the Ionian sea, near the coast of Epirus, anciently called Scheria, and afterwards Corcyra. The inhabitants, called Phæaces, were a luxurious and dissolute people, from which reason a glutton was generally stigmatized by the epithet of Phæax. When Ulysses was shipwrecked on the coast of Phæacia, Alcinous was then king of the island, whose gardens have been greatly celebrated. Horace, bk. 1, ltr. 15, li. 24.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, li. 719.—Strabo, bks. 6 & 7.—Propertius, bk. 3, poem 2, li. 13.

Phæax, an inhabitant of the island of Phæacia. See: Phæacia.——A man who sailed with Theseus to Crete.——An Athenian who opposed Alcibiades in his administration.

Phæcasia, one of the Sporades in the Ægean. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.

Phædĭmus, one of Niobe’s children. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 5.——A Macedonian general who betrayed Eumenes to Antigonus.——A celebrated courier of Greece. Statius, bk. 6.

Phædon, an Athenian put to death by the 30 tyrants. His daughters, to escape the oppressors and preserve their chastity, threw themselves together into a well.——A disciple of Socrates. He had been seized by pirates in his younger days, and the philosopher, who seemed to discover something uncommon and promising in his countenance, bought his liberty for a sum of money, and ever after esteemed him. Phædon, after the death of Socrates, returned to Elis his native country, where he founded a sect of philosophers called Elean. The name of Phædon is affixed to one of the dialogues of Plato. Macrobius, Saturnalia, bk. 1, ch. 11.—Diogenes Laërtius.——An archon at Athens, when the Athenians were directed by the oracle to remove the bones of Theseus to Attica. Plutarch, Theseus.

Phædra, a daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, who married Theseus, by whom she became mother of Acamas and Demophoon. They had already lived for some time in conjugal felicity, when Venus, who hated all the descendants of Apollo, because that god had discovered her amours with Mars, inspired Phædra with an unconquerable passion for Hippolytus the son of Theseus, by the Amazon Hippolyte. This shameful passion Phædra long attempted to stifle, but in vain; and therefore, in the absence of Theseus, she addressed Hippolytus with all the impatience of a desponding lover. Hippolytus rejected her with horror and disdain; but Phædra, incensed on account of the reception she had met, resolved to punish his coldness and refusal. At the return of Theseus she accused Hippolytus of attempts upon her virtue. The credulous father listened to the accusation, and without hearing the defence of Hippolytus, he banished him from his kingdom, and implored Neptune, who had promised to grant three of his requests, to punish him in some exemplary manner. As Hippolytus fled from Athens, his horses were suddenly terrified by a huge sea-monster, which Neptune had sent on the shore. He was dragged through precipices and over rocks, and he was trampled under the feet of his horses, and crushed under the wheels of his chariot. When the tragical end of Hippolytus was known at Athens, Phædra confessed her crime, and hung herself in despair, unable to survive one whose death her wickedness and guilt had occasioned. The death of Hippolytus, and the infamous passion of Phædra, are the subject of one of the tragedies of Euripides, and of Seneca. Phædra was buried at Trœzene, where her tomb was still seen in the age of the geographer Pausanias, near the temple of Venus, which she had built to render the goddess favourable to her incestuous passion. There was near her tomb a myrtle, whose leaves were all full of small holes, and it was reported that Phædra had done this with a hair-pin, when the vehemence of her passion had rendered her melancholy and almost desperate. She was represented in a painting in Apollo’s temple at Delphi, as suspended by a cord, and balancing herself in the air, while her sister Ariadne stood near to her, and fixed her eyes upon her; a delicate idea, by which the genius of the artist intimated her melancholy end. Plutarch, Theseus.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 22; bk. 2, ch. 32.—Diodorus, bk. 4.—Hyginus, fables 47 & 243.—Euripides, Hippolytus & Seneca, Phædra.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 445.—Ovid, Heroides, poem 4.

Phædria, a village of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 35.

Phædrus, one of the disciples of Socrates. Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 1.——An Epicurean philosopher.——A Thracian who became one of the freedmen of the emperor Augustus. He translated into iambic verses the fables of Æsop, in the reign of the emperor Tiberius. They are divided into five books, valuable for their precision, purity, elegance, and simplicity. They remained long buried in oblivion, till they were discovered in the library of St. Remi, at Rheims, and published by Peter Pithou, a Frenchman, at the end of the 16th century. Phædrus was for some time persecuted by Sejanus, because this corrupt minister believed that he was satirized and abused in the encomiums which the poet everywhere pays to virtue. The best editions of Phædrus are those of Burman, 4to, Leyden, 1727; Hoogstraten, 4to, Amsterdam, 1701; and Barbou, 12mo, Paris, 1754.

Phædy̆ma, a daughter of Otanes, who first discovered that Smerdis, who had ascended the throne of Persia at the death of Cambyses, was an impostor. Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 69.

Phæmonōe, a priestess of Apollo.

Phænarēte, the mother of the philosopher Socrates. She was a midwife by profession.

Phænias, a peripatetic philosopher, disciple of Aristotle. He wrote a history of tyrants. Diogenes Laërtius.

Phænna, one of the two Graces, worshipped at Sparta, together with her sister Clita. Lacedæmon first paid them particular honour. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 35.

Phænnis, a famous prophetess in the age of Antiochus. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 15.

Phæsana, a town of Arcadia.

Phæstum, a town of Crete. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 3, li. 296.——Another of Macedonia. Livy, bk. 56, ch. 13.

Phaĕton, a son of the sun, or Phœbus and Clymene, one of the Oceanides. He was son of Cephalus and Aurora, according to Hesiod and Pausanias, or of Tithonus and Aurora, according to Apollodorus. He is, however, more generally acknowledged to be the son of Phœbus and Clymene. Phaeton was naturally of a lively disposition, and a handsome figure. Venus became enamoured of him, and entrusted him with the care of one of her temples. This distinguishing favour of the goddess rendered him vain and aspiring; and when Epaphus the son of Io had told him to check his pride, that he was not the son of Phœbus, Phaeton resolved to know his true origin, and at the instigation of his mother, he visited the palace of the sun. He begged Phœbus, that if he really were his father, he would give him incontestible proofs of his paternal tenderness, and convince the world of his legitimacy. Phœbus swore by the Styx that he would grant him whatever he required, and no sooner was the oath uttered, than Phaeton demanded of him to drive his chariot for one day. Phœbus represented the impropriety of such a request, and the dangers to which it would expose him; but in vain; and, as the oath was inviolable, and Phaeton unmoved, the father instructed his son how he was to proceed in his way through the regions of the air. His explicit directions were forgotten, or little attended to; and no sooner had Phaeton received the reins from his father, than he betrayed his ignorance and incapacity to guide the chariot. The flying horses became sensible of the confusion of their driver, and immediately departed from the usual track. Phaeton repented too late of his rashness, and already heaven and earth were threatened with a universal conflagration, when Jupiter, who had perceived the disorder of the horses of the sun, struck the rider with one of his thunderbolts, and hurled him headlong from heaven into the river Po. His body, consumed with fire, was found by the nymphs of the place, and honoured with a decent burial. His sisters mourned his unhappy end, and were changed into poplars by Jupiter. See: Phaetontiades. According to the poets, while Phaeton was unskilfully driving the chariot of his father, the blood of the Æthiopians was dried up, and their skin became black, a colour which is still preserved among the greatest part of the inhabitants of the torrid zone. The territories of Libya were also parched up, according to the same tradition, on account of their too great vicinity to the sun; and ever since, Africa, unable to recover her original verdure and fruitfulness, has exhibited a sandy country, and uncultivated waste. According to those who explain this poetical fable, Phaeton was a Ligurian prince, who studied astronomy, and in whose age the neighbourhood of the Po was visited with uncommon heats. The horses of the sun are called Phaetontis equi, either because they were guided by Phaeton, or from the Greek word (φαεθων), which expresses the splendour and lustre of that luminary. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 105.—Hesiod, Theogony, li. 985.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, fable 17; bk. 2, fable 1, &c.—Apollonius, bk. 4, Argonautica.—Horace, bk. 1, ode 11.—Seneca, Medea.—Apollodorus.—Hyginus, fable 156.

Phaĕtontiădes, or Phaetontides, the sisters of Phaeton, who were changed into poplars by Jupiter. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 346. See: Heliades.

Phaetūsa, one of the Heliades changed into poplars, after the death of their brother Phaeton. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 346.

Phæus, a town of Peloponnesus.

Phagesia, a festival among the Greeks, observed during the celebration of the Dionysia. It received its name from the good eating and living that then universally prevailed, φαγειν.

Phalacrine, a village of the Sabines, where Vespasian was born. Suetonius, Vespasian, ch. 2.

Phalæ, wooden towers at Rome, erected in the circus. Juvenal, satire 6, li. 589.

Phalæcus, a general of Phocis against the Bœotians, killed at the battle of Cheronæa. Diodorus, bk. 16.

Phalæsia, a town of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 35.

Phalanna, a town of Perrhæbia. Livy, bk. 42, ch. 54.

Phalanthus, a Lacedæmonian, who founded Tarentum in Italy, at the head of the Partheniæ. His father’s name was Aracus. As he went to Italy he was shipwrecked on the coast, and carried to shore by a dolphin, and from that reason there was a dolphin placed near his statute in the temple of Apollo at Delphi. See: Partheniæ. He received divine honours after death. Justin, bk. 3, ch. 4.—Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 10.—Horace, bk. 2, ode 6, li. 11.—Silius Italicus, bk. 11, li. 16.——A town and mountain of the same name in Arcadia. Persius, bk. 8, ch. 35.

Phălăris, a tyrant of Agrigentum, who made use of the most excruciating torments to punish his subjects on the smallest suspicion. Perillus made him a brazen bull, and when he had presented it to Phalaris, the tyrant ordered the inventor to be seized, and the first experiment to be made on his body. These cruelties did not long remain unrevenged; the people of Agrigentum revolted in the tenth year of his reign, and put him to death in the same manner as he had tortured Perillus and many of his subjects after him, B.C. 552. The brazen bull of Phalaris was carried by Amilcar to Carthage; but when that city was taken by Scipio, it was delivered again to the inhabitants of Agrigentum by the Romans. There are now some letters extant written by a certain Abaris to Phalaris, with their respective answers, but they are supposed by some to be spurious. The best edition is that of the learned Boyle, Oxford, 1718. Cicero, Against Verres, bk. 4; Letters to Atticus, bk. 7, ltr. 12; De Officiis, bk. 2.—Ovid, de Ars Amatoria, bk. 1, li. 663.—Juvenal, satire 8, li. 81.—Pliny, bk. 34, ch. 8.—Diodorus.——A Trojan killed by Turnus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 762.

Phalarium, a citadel of Syracuse, where Phalaris’s bull was placed.

Phalărus, a river of Bœotia, falling into the Cephisus. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 34.

Phalcidon, a town of Thessaly. Polyænus, bk. 4.

Phaleas, a philosopher and legislator, &c. Aristotle.

Phalēreus Demetrius. See: Demetrius.

Phaleria, a town of Thessaly. Livy, bk. 32, ch. 15.

Phalēris, a Corinthian who led a colony to Epidamnus from Corcyra.

Phalēron, or Phalerum, or Phalera (orum), or Phalerus portus, an ancient harbour of Athens, about 25 stadia from the city, which, for its situation and smallness, was not very fit for the reception of many ships.——A place of Thessaly.

Phalērus, a son of Alcon, one of the Argonauts. Orpheus.

Phalias, a son of Hercules and Heliconis daughter of Thestius. Apollodorus.

Phallĭca, festivals observed by the Egyptians in honour of Osiris. They receive their name from φαλλος simulachrum ligneum membri virilis. The institution originated in this: After the murder of Osiris, Isis was unable to recover among the other limbs the privities of her husband; and therefore, as she paid particular honour to every part of his body, she distinguished that which was lost with more honour, and paid it more attention. Its representation, called phallus, was made with wood, and carried during the sacred festivals which were instituted in honour of Osiris. The people held it in the greatest veneration; it was looked upon as an emblem of fecundity, and the mention of it among the ancients never conveyed any impure thought or lascivious reflection. The festivals of the phallus were imitated by the Greeks, and introduced into Europe by the Athenians, who made the procession of the phallus part of the celebration of the Dionysia of the god of wine. Those that carried the phallus, at the end of a long pole, were called phallophori. They generally appeared among the Greeks, besmeared with the dregs of wine, covered with skins of lambs, and wearing on their heads a crown of ivy. Lucian, de Syria Dea.—Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 2.

Phalysius, a citizen of Naupactum, who recovered his sight by reading a letter sent him by Æsculapius. Pausanias, bk. 10, final chapter.

Phanæus, a promontory of the island of Chios, famous for its wines. It was called after a king of the same name, who reigned there. Livy, bk. 36, ch. 43.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 98.

Phanaræa, a town of Cappadocia. Strabo.

Phanas, a famous Messenian, &c., who died B.C. 682.

Phanes, a man of Halicarnassus, who fled from Amasis king of Egypt, to the court of Cambyses king of Persia, whom he advised, when he invaded Egypt, to pass through Arabia. Herodotus, bk. 3, ch. 4.

Phaneta, a town of Epirus. Livy, bk. 32, ch. 28.

Phanŏcles, an elegiac poet of Greece, who wrote a poem on that unnatural sin of which Socrates is accused by some. He supported that Orpheus had been the first who disgraced himself by that filthy indulgence. Some of his fragments are remaining. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, bk. 6.

Phanodēmus, an historian who wrote on the antiquities of Attica.

Phantasia, a daughter of Nicarchus of Memphis, in Egypt. Some have supposed that she wrote a poem on the Trojan war, and another on the return of Ulysses to Ithaca, from which compositions Homer copied the greatest part of his Iliad and Odyssey, when he visited Memphis, where they were deposited.

Phanus, a son of Bacchus, who was among the Argonauts. Apollodorus.

Phaon, a boatman of Mitylene in Lesbos. He received a small box of ointment from Venus, who had presented herself to him in the form of an old woman, to be carried over into Asia, and as soon as he had rubbed himself with what the box contained, he became one of the most beautiful men of his age. Many were captivated with the charms of Phaon, and, among others, Sappho the celebrated poetess. Phaon gave himself up to the pleasures of Sappho’s company; but, however, he soon conceived a disdain for her, and Sappho, mortified at his coldness, threw herself into the sea. Some say that Phaon was beloved by the goddess of beauty, who concealed him for some time among lettuces. Ælian says that Phaon was killed by a man whose bed he was defiling. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 12.—Ovid, Heroides, poem 21.—Palæphatus, de Incredibilia, ch. 49.—Athenæus.—Lucian, Dialogi Mortuorum, bk. 9.

Phara, a town of Africa, burnt by Scipio’s soldiers.

Pharacĭdes, a general of the Lacedæmonian fleet, who assisted Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily against the Carthaginians. Polyænus, bk. 2.

Pharæ, or Pheræ, a town of Crete.——Another in Messenia. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 30. See: Pheræ.

Pharasmănes, a king of Iberia, in the reign of Antoninus, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 6, ch. 33.

Pharax, a Lacedæmonian officer, who attempted to make himself absolute in Sicily.——A Thessalian, whose son, called Cyanippus, married a beautiful woman, called Leuconoe, who was torn to pieces by his dogs. Parthenius.

Pharis, a town of Laconia, whose inhabitants are called Pharitæ. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 30.——A son of Mercury and Philodamea, who built Pharæ in Messenia. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 30.

Pharmecūsa, an island of the Ægean sea, where Julius Cæsar was seized by some pirates. Suetonius, Cæsar, ch. 4.——Another, where was shown Circe’s tomb. Strabo.

Pharnabāzus, a satrap of Persia, son of a person of the same name, B.C. 409. He assisted the Lacedæmonians against the Athenians, and gained their esteem by his friendly behaviour and support. His conduct, however, towards Alcibiades, was of the most perfidious nature, and he did not scruple to betray to his mortal enemies the man whom he had long honoured with his friendship. Cornelius Nepos, Alcibiades.—Plutarch.——An officer under Eumenes.——A king of Iberia.

Pharnăce, a town of Pontus. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 4.——The mother of Cinyras king of Pontus. Suidas.

Pharnăces, a son of Mithridates king of Pontus, who favoured the Romans against his father. He revolted against Mithridates, and even caused him to be put to death, according to some accounts. In the civil wars of Julius Cæsar and Pompey, he interested himself for neither of the contending parties; upon which Cæsar turned his army against him, and conquered him. It was to express the celerity of his operations in conquering Pharnaces, that the victorious Roman made use of these words, Veni, vidi, vici. Florus, bk. 3.—Suetonius, Cæsar, ch. 37.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 55.——A king of Pontus, who made war with Eumenes, B.C. 181.——A king of Cappadocia.——A librarian of Atticus. Cicero, Letters to Atticus.

Pharnapātes, a general of Orodes king of Parthia, killed in a battle by the Romans.

Pharnaspes, the father of Cassandra the mother of Cambyses.

Pharnus, a king of Media, conquered by Ninus king of Assyria.

Pharos, a small island in the bay of Alexandria, about seven furlongs distant from the continent. It was joined to the Egyptian shore with a causeway by Dexiphanes, B.C. 284, and upon it was built a celebrated tower, in the reign of Ptolemy Soter and Philadelphus, by Sostratus the son of Dexiphanes. This tower, which was called the tower of Pharos, and which passed for one of the seven wonders of the world, was built with white marble, and could be seen at the distance of 100 miles. On the top, fires were constantly kept to direct sailors in the bay, which was dangerous and difficult of access. The building of this tower cost the Egyptian monarch 800 talents, which were equivalent to above 165,000l. English, if Attic, or if Alexandrian, double that sum. There was this inscription upon it, King Ptolemy to the Gods the saviours, for the benefit of sailors; but Sostratus the architect, wishing to claim all the glory, engraved his own name upon the stones, and afterwards filled the hollow with mortar, and wrote the above-mentioned inscription. When the mortar had decayed by time, Ptolemy’s name disappeared, and the following inscription then became visible: Sostratus the Cnidian, son of Dexiphanes, to the Gods the saviours, for the benefit of sailors. The word Pharius is often used as Egyptian. Lucan, bk. 2, li. 636; bk. 3, li. 260; bk. 6, li. 308; bk. 9, li. 1005, &c.—Ovid, Ars Amatoria, bk. 3, li. 635.—Pliny, bk. 4, chs. 31 & 85; bk. 36, ch. 13.—Strabo, bk. 17.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.—Pliny, bk. 13, ch. 11.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 4.—Flaccus, bk. 2.—Statius, bk. 3, Sylvæ, poem 2, li. 102.——A watch-tower near Capreæ.——An island on the coast of Illyricum, now called Lesina. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.——The emperor Claudius ordered a tower to be built at the entrance of the port of Ostia, for the benefit of sailors, and it likewise bore the name of Pharos, an appellation afterwards given to every other edifice which was raised to direct the course of sailors, either with lights, or by signals. Juvenal, satire 11, li. 76.—Suetonius.

Pharsălus, now Farsa, a town of Thessaly, in whose neighbourhood is a large plain called Pharsalia, famous for a battle which was fought there between Julius Cæsar and Pompey, in which the former obtained the victory. In that battle, which was fought on the 12th of May, B.C. 48, Cæsar lost about 200 men, or, according to others, 1200. Pompey’s loss was 15,000, or 25,000 according to others, and 24,000 of his army were made prisoners of war by the conqueror. Lucan, bk. 1, &c.—Plutarch, Pompey & Cæsar.—Appian, Civil Wars.—Cæsar, Civil War.—Suetonius, Cæsar.—Dio Cassius.——That poem of Lucan, in which he gives an account of the civil wars of Cæsar and Pompey, bears the name of Pharsalia. See: Lucanus.

Pharte, a daughter of Danaus. Apollodorus.

Pharus, a Rutulian killed by Æneas. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 322.

Pharusii, or Phaurusii, a people of Africa, beyond Mauritania. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 4.

Pharybus, a river of Macedonia, falling into the Ægean sea. It is called by some Baphyrus.

Pharycadon, a town of Macedonia, on the Peneus. Strabo, bk. 9.

Pharyge, a town of Locris.

Phasēlis, a town of Pamphylia, at the foot of mount Taurus, which was long the residence of pirates. Strabo, bk. 14.—Lucan, bk. 8, ch. 251.—Cicero, On the Agrarian Law, bk. 2, ch. 19.

Phasiana, a country of Asia, near the river Phasis. The inhabitants called Phasiani, are of Egyptian origin.

Phasias, a patronymic given to Medea, as being born near the Phasis. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 7.

Phasis, a son of Phœbus and Ocyroe.——A river of Colchis, rising in the mountains of Armenia, now called Faoz, and falling into the east of the Euxine. It is famous for the expedition of the Argonauts, who entered it after a long and perilous voyage, from which reason all dangerous voyages have been proverbially intimated by the words of sailing to the Phasis. There were on the banks of the Phasis a great number of large birds, of which, according to some of the ancients, the Argonauts brought some to Greece, and which were called on that account pheasants. The Phasis was reckoned by the ancients one of the largest rivers of Asia. Pliny, bk. 10, ch. 48.—Martial, bk. 13, ltr. 62.—Strabo, bk. 11.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 19.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 44.—Orpheus.

Phassus, a son of Lycaon. Apollodorus.

Phauda, a town of Pontus.

Phavorīnus, a writer, the best edition of whose Greek Lexicon is that in folio, Venice, 1712.

Phayllus, a tyrant of Ambracia.——The brother of Onomarchus of Phocis, &c. See: Phocis. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 2.

Phea, or Pheia, a town of Elis. Homer, Iliad, bk. 7.

Phecadum, an inland town of Macedonia. Livy, bk. 31, ch. 41.

Phegeus, or Phlegeus, a companion of Æneas, killed by Turnus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 9, li. 765.——Another, likewise killed by Turnus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 12, li. 371, &c.——A priest of Bacchus, the father of Alphesibœa, who purified Alcmæon of his mother’s murder, and gave him his daughter in marriage. He was afterwards put to death by the children of Alcmæon by Callirhoe, because he had ordered Alcmæon to be killed when he had attempted to recover a collar which he had given to his daughter. See: Alcmæon. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 9, li. 412.

Phellia, a river of Laconia. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 20.

Phelloe, a town of Achaia near Ægira, where Bacchus and Diana each had a temple. Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 26.

Phellus, a place of Attica.——A town of Elis, near Olympia. Strabo.

Phemius, a man introduced by Homer as a musician among Penelope’s suitors. Some say that he taught Homer, for which the grateful poet immortalized his name. Homer, Odyssey.——A man who, according to some, wrote an account of the return of the Greeks from the Trojan war. The word is applied by Ovid, Amores, bk. 3, li. 7, indiscriminately to any person who excels in music.

Phemonoe, a priestess of Apollo, who is supposed to have invented heroic verses. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 6.

Phenēum, a town of Arcadia, whose inhabitants, called Pheneatæ, worshipped Mercury. Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 3.

Pheneus, a town with a lake of the same name in Arcadia, whose waters were unwholesome in the night and wholesome in the daytime. Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 3, ch. 22.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 165.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 15, li. 332.——A son of Melas, killed by Tydeus. Apollodorus.

Pheræ, a town of Thessaly, where the tyrant Alexander reigned, whence he was called Pheræus. Strabo, bk. 8.—Cicero, bk. 2, de Officis.—Ovid, Ibis, li. 321.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 9, ch. 13.——A town of Attica.——Another in Laconia in Peloponnesus. Livy, bk. 35, ch. 30.

Pheræus, a surname of Jason, as being a native of Pheræ.

Pheraules, a Persian whom Cyrus raised from poverty to affluence. He afterwards gave up all his possessions to enjoy tranquillity in retirement. Xenophon, Cyropaedia.

Pherĕclus, one of the Greeks during the Trojan war. Ovid, Heroides, poem 15.——A pilot of the ship of Theseus, when he went to Crete. Plutarch, Theseus.

Pherēcrătes, a comic poet of Athens, in the age of Plato and Aristophanes. He is supposed to have written 21 comedies, of which only a few verses remain. He introduced living characters on the stage, but never abused the liberty which he had taken, either by satire or defamation. He invented a sort of verse, which from him has been called Pherecratian. It consisted of the three last feet of an hexameter verse, of which the first was always a spondee, as for instance, the third verse of Horace’s bk. 1, ode 5, Grato Pyrrha sub antro.——Another, descended from Deucalion. Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes.

Pherecȳdes, a philosopher of Scyros, disciple of Pittacus, one of the first who delivered his thoughts in prose. He was acquainted with the periods of the moon, and foretold eclipses with the greatest accuracy. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul was first supported by him, as also that of the metempsychosis. Pythagoras was one of his disciples, remarkable for his esteem and his attachment to his learned master. When Pherecydes lay dangerously ill in the island of Delos, Pythagoras hastened to give him every assistance in his power, and when all his efforts had proved ineffectual, he buried him, and after he had paid him the last offices, he retired to Italy. Some, however, suppose, that Pherecydes threw himself down from a precipice as he was going to Delphi, or, according to others, he fell a sacrifice to the lousy disease, B.C. 515, in the 85th year of his age. Diogenes Laërtius.—Lactantius [Placidus].——An historian of Leros, surnamed the Athenian. He wrote a history of Attica, now lost, in the age of Darius Hystaspes.——A tragic poet.

Pherendates, a Persian set over Egypt by Artaxerxes.

Pherephate, a surname of Proserpine, from the production of corn.

Pheres, a son of Cretheus and Tyro, who built Pheræ in Thessaly, where he reigned. He married Clymene, by whom he had Admetus and Lycurgus. Apollodorus.——A son of Medea, stoned to death by the Corinthians, on account of the poisonous clothes which he had given to Glauce, Creon’s daughter. See: Medea. Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 3.——A friend of Æneas, killed by Halesus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 413.

Pheretias, a patronymic of Admetus son of Pheres. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 291.

Pheretīma, the wife of Battus king of Cyrene, and mother of Arcesilaus. After her son’s death, she recovered the kingdom by means of Amasis king of Egypt, and to avenge the murder of Arcesilaus, she caused all his assassins to be crucified round the walls of Cyrene, and she cut off the breasts of their wives, and hung them up near the bodies of their husbands. It is said that she was devoured alive by worms, a punishment which, according to some of the ancients, was inflicted by Providence for her unparalleled cruelties. Polyænus, bk. 8.—Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 204, &c.

Pherinum, a town of Thessaly.

Pheron, a king of Egypt, who succeeded Sesostris. He was blind, and he recovered his sight by washing his eyes, according to the directions of the oracle, in the urine of a woman who had never had any unlawful connexions. He tried his wife first, but she appeared to have been faithless to his bed, and she was burnt with all those whose urine could not restore sight to the king. He married the woman whose urine proved beneficial. Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 111.

Pherūsa, one of the Nereides. Apollodorus, bk. 1.

Phiăle, one of Diana’s nymphs. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3.——A celebrated courtesan. Juvenal, satire 10, li. 238.

Phialia, or Phigalia, a town of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 3.

Phiălus, a king of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 3.

Phicores, a people near the Palus Mæotis. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 19.

Phidias, a celebrated statuary of Athens, who died B.C. 432. He made a statue of Minerva, at the request of Pericles, which was placed in the Pantheon. It was made with ivory and gold, and measured 39 feet in height. His presumption raised him many enemies, and he was accused of having carved his own image and that of Pericles on the shield of the statue of the goddess, for which he was banished from Athens by the clamorous populace. He retired to Elis, where he determined to revenge the ill-treatment he had received from his countrymen, by making a statue which should eclipse the fame of that of Minerva. He was successful in the attempt; and the statue he made of Jupiter Olympius was always reckoned the best of all his pieces, and has passed for one of the wonders of the world. The people of Elis were so sensible of his merit, and of the honour he had done to their city, that they appointed his descendants to the honourable office of keeping clean that magnificent statue, and of preserving it from injury. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 4.—Cicero, On Oratory.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Quintilian, bk. 12, ch. 10.—Plutarch, Pericles.

Phidilē, a woman. See: ♦Phidyle.

♦ ‘Phidyle’ not referenced in the text.

Phidippĭdes a celebrated courier, who ran from Athens to Lacedæmon, about 152 English miles, in two days, to ask of the Lacedæmonians assistance against the Persians. The Athenians raised a temple to his memory. Herodotus, bk. 6, ch. 105.—Cornelius Nepos, Miltiades.

Phiditia, a public entertainment at Sparta, where much frugality was observed, as the word (φειδιτια, from φειδομαι, parco) denotes. Persons of all ages were admitted; the younger frequented it as a school of temperance and sobriety, where they were trained to good manners and useful knowledge, by the example and discourse of their elders. Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 5, ch. 34.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 10.

Phidon, a man who enjoyed the sovereign power at Argos, and is supposed to have invented scales and measures, and coined silver at Ægina. He died B.C. 854. Aristotle.—Herodotus, bk. 6, ch. 127.——An ancient legislator at Corinth.

Phidy̆re, a female servant of Horace, to whom he addressed bk. 3, ode 23.

Phigalei, a people of Peloponnesus, near Messenia. They were naturally fond of drinking, and negligent of domestic affairs. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 39.

Phila, the eldest daughter of Antipater, who married Craterus. She afterwards married Demetrius, and when her husband had lost the kingdom of Macedonia, she poisoned herself. Plutarch.——A town of Macedonia. Livy, bk. 42, ch. 67; bk. 44, chs. 2 & 34.——An island called also ♦Phila.

♦ ‘Phla’ replaced with ‘Phila’

Philadelphia, now Alahasher, a town of Lydia. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 29.——Another, in Cilicia,——Arabia,——-Syria.

Philadelphus, a king of Paphlagonia, who followed the interest of Marcus Antony.——The surname of one of the Ptolemies, king of Egypt, by antiphrasis, because he destroyed all his brothers. See: Ptolemæus II.

♦Philæ, a town and island of Egypt, above the smaller cataract, but placed opposite Syene by Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 9. Isis was worshipped there. Lucan, bk. 10, li. 313.—Seneca, Quæstiones Naturales, bk. 4, ch. 2.——One of the Sporades. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 12.

♦ ‘Phile’ replaced with ‘Philæ’

Philæni, two brothers of Carthage. When a contest arose between the Cyreneans and Carthaginians, about the extent of their territories, it was mutually agreed that, at a stated hour, two men should depart from each city, and that, wherever they met, there they should fix the boundaries of their country. The Philæni accordingly departed from Carthage, and met the Cyreneans, when they had advanced far into their territories. This produced a quarrel, and the Cyreneans supported that the Philæni had left Carthage before the appointment, and that therefore they must retire or be buried in the sand. The Philæni refused, upon which they were overpowered by the Cyreneans, and accordingly buried in the sand. The Carthaginians, to commemorate the patriotic deeds of the Philæni, who had sacrificed their lives that the extent of their country might not be diminished, raised two altars on the place where their bodies had been buried, which they called Philænorum aræ. These altars were the boundaries of the Carthaginian dominions, which on the other side extended as far as the columns of Hercules, which is about 2000 miles, or, according to the accurate observations of the moderns, only 1420 geographical miles. Sallust, Jugurthine War, chs. 19 & 79.—Silius Italicus, bk. 15, li. 704.

Philænis, or Phileris, a courtesan. See: Phileris.

Philæus, a son of Ajax, by Lyside the daughter of Coronus, one of the Lapithæ. Miltiades, as some suppose, was descended from him.——A son of Augeas, who upbraided his father for not granting what Hercules justly claimed for cleaning his stables. See: Augeas. He was placed upon his father’s throne by Hercules. Apollodorus, bk. 2.

Philammon, a celebrated musician, son of Apollo and Chione.——A man who murdered Arsinoe, and who was slain by her female attendants.

Philanthus, a son of Prolaus of Elis, killed at the Olympic games. Pausanias, bk. 5, ch. 3.

Philarchus, a hero who gave assistance to the Phocians when the Persians invaded Greece.

Philēmon, a Greek comic poet, contemporary with Menander. He obtained some poetical prizes over Menander, not so much by the merit of his composition, as by the intrigues of his friends. Plautus imitated some of his comedies. He lived to his 97th year, and died, as it is reported, of laughing, on seeing an ass eat figs, B.C. 274.——His son, who bore the same name, wrote 54 comedies, of which some few fragments remain, which do not seem to entitle him to great rank among the Greek comic writers. Valerius Maximus, bk. 9, ch. 12—Quintilian, bk. 10.—Plutarch, de Cohibenda Ira.—Strabo, bk. 14.——A poor man of Phrygia. See: Baucis.——An illegitimate son of Priam.

Philēne, a town of Attica between Athens and Tanagra. Statius, Thebaid, bk. 4, li. 102.

Philēris, an immodest woman, whom Philocrates the poet lampooned. Martial, bk. 7.

Philĕros, a town of Macedonia. Pliny.

Philesius, a leader of the 10,000 Greeks after the battle of Cunaxa.

Philetærus, a eunuch made governor of Pergamus by Lysimachus. He quarrelled with Lysimachus, and made himself master of Pergamus, where he laid the foundations of a kingdom called the kingdom of Pergamus, B.C. 283. He reigned there for 20 years, and at his death he appointed his nephew Eumenes as his successor. Strabo, bk. 13.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 8.——A Cretan general who revolted from Seleucus, and was conquered, &c. Polyænus, bk. 4.

Philētas, a grammarian and poet of Cos, in the reign of king Philip, and of his son Alexander the Great. He was made preceptor to Ptolemy Philadelphus. The elegies and epigrams which he wrote have been greatly commended by the ancients, and some fragments of them are still preserved in Athenæus. He was so small and slender, according to the improbable accounts of Ælian, that he always carried pieces of lead in his pockets, to prevent being blown away by the wind. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 9, ch. 14.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 1, poem 5.—Propertius, bk. 3, poem 1.——An historian.

Philetius, a faithful steward of Ulysses, who, with Eumeus, assisted him in destroying the suitors, who had not only insulted the queen, but wasted the property of the absent monarch. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 20, &c.

Philĭdas, a friend of Pelopidas, who favoured the conspiracy formed to expel the Spartans from Thebes. He received the conspirators in his own house.

Philides, a dealer in horses in the age of Themistocles. Plutarch, Themistocles.

Philinna, a courtesan, mother of Aridæus, by Philip the father of Alexander.

Philīnus, a native of Agrigentum, who fought with Annibal against the Romans. He wrote a partial history of the Punic wars. Cornelius Nepos, Hannibal.—Polybius.

Philippei, or Phillippi, certain pieces of money coined in the reign of Philip of Macedonia, and with his image. Horace, bk. 2, ltr. 1, li. 284.—Livy, bk. 34, ch. 52; bk. 37, ch. 59; bk. 39, chs. 5 & 7.

Philippi, a town of Macedonia, anciently called Datos, and situate at the east of the Strymon on a rising ground, which abounds with springs and water. It was called Philippi after Philip king of Macedonia, who fortified it against the incursions of the barbarians of Thrace, and became celebrated for two battles which were fought there in October, B.C. 42, at the interval of about 20 days, between Augustus and Antony, and the republican forces of Brutus and Cassius, in which the former obtained the victory. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 15, li. 284.—Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 45.—Florus, bk. 4, ch. 7.—Paterculus, bk. 2, ch. 7, &c.—Appian, bk. 2, Civil Wars.—Plutarch, Antonius.—Virgil, Georgics, bk. 1, li. 490.—Suetonius, Augustus, ch. 2.