cleitus in the human figure: he
established
a canon
(Steph.
(Steph.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
Had Alexander uniformly Diogenes Laërtius, ix.
20.
followed the advice of Parmenion, it is clear that 3. A grammarian and commentator, of whom
he would never have conquered Asia. (See we have fragments and notices in the Schol. Hom.
Arrian, Anab. i. 13, ii. 25 ; Plut. Alex. 16, 29, Od. 8. 242. n. S. 513, 1'. 424 ; Eustath. ad 11. ii.
Apophth. p. 180, b. ; Diod. xvii. 16, 54. )
p. 854 ; Schol. Eurip. Med. 10, 276, Troad. 222,
Three sons of Parmenion had accompanied 230, Rhes. 524; Et Mag, s. v. "Apew; Steph. Byz.
their father to Asia ; of these the youngest, s. vr. "Ados, "Epupa, peia. Hyginus, when speak-
Hector, was accidentally drowned in the Nile, ing (Poet. Astron. ii. 2, 13) of his history of the
B. c. 331. (Curt. iv. 8. $ 7. ) Nicanor was carried stars, probably refers to a lost coinmentary on
off by a sudden illness on the march into Hyr. Aratus. Varro (de L. L. x. 10) refers to him as
cania, and Philotas was put to death just before making the distinctive characteristics of words to
his father. We find also two of his daughters be eight in number. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i.
mentioned as married, the one to Attalus, the p. 518, vol. vi. p. 375 ; Vossius, De Hist. Graec.
uncle of Cleopatra, the other to the Macedonian p. 481, ed. Westermann. ), (W. M. G. )
officer, Coenus. (Curt. vi. 9. SS 17, 30. )
PA'RMENON (Tlapuévwv). 1. Of Byzantium,
2. One of the deputies from Lampsacus, who a choliambic poet, a few of whose verses are cited
appeared before the Roman legates at Lysimachia by Athenaeus (iii. p. 75, f. ; v. pp. 203, c. 221, a. ),
to complain against Antiochus, B. c. 196. (Polyb. by the scholiasts on Pindar (Pyth. iv. 97,) and
xviii. 35. )
Nicander (Ther. 806), and by Stephanus of By.
3. One of the ambassadors sent by Gentius, zantium (s. rv. Bovdivoi, ”piktov, Xitárn, reading
king of Illyria, to receive the oath and hostages of the last passage ſlapuévwv for Mevínto). These few
Perseus, B. c. 168. He afterwards accompanied fragments are collected by Meineke (Choliambica
the Macedonian ambassadors to Rhodes. (Polyb. Poesis Graecorum, Berol. 1845).
xxix, 2, 5. )
(E. H. B. ) 2. Of Rhodes, the author of a work on cookery
PARMÉNION (llapuevíwr), literary. 1. Of(uayelpush didackalla) quoted by Athenaeus (vii.
Macedonia, an epigrammatic poet, whose verses p. 308, f. )
were included in the collection of Philip of Thessa- 3. A grammarian, the author of a work repl
lonica ; whence it is probable that he flourishod in, Balé Twv (Ath. xi. p. 500, b. ) who is not impro-
or shortly before, the time of Augustus. Brunck bably the same person as the glossographer Par-
gives fourteen of his epigrams in the Anulecta NENION,
(P. S. )
1
## p. 128 (#144) ############################################
128
PARRHASIL'S.
PARRHASIUS.
PARMENSIS, CASSIUS. (Cassius PAR-|(Xen. Mem. iii. 10), and his being a younger
MENSIS. )
contemporary of Zeuxis: the date just given must,
PARMYS (Nápus), daughter of Smerdis, the however, be taken as referring rather to a late
bon of Cyrus. She became the wife of Dareius than to an early period of his artistic career; for
Hystaspis, and was the mother of Ariomardos. he had evidently obtained a high reputation before
(Herod. iii. 88, vii. 78. )
[C. P. M. ] the death of Socrates in B. C. 399.
PARNASSUS (Iapvagoós), a son of Cleo- Parrhasius belongs to that period of the history
pompus or Poseidon and the nymph Cleodora, is of Greek painting, in which the art may be said to
baid to have bern the founder of Delphi, the in. have reached perfection in all its essential ele-
ventor of the art of foretelling the future from the ments, though there was still room left for the
flight of birds, and to have given his name to display of higher excellence than any individual
Mount Parnassus. (Paus. X. 6. § 1. ) [L. S. ] painter had yet attained, by the genius of an
PARNETHIUS (napune. os), a surname of Apelies. The peculiar merits of Parrhasius con-
Zeus, derived from Mount Parnes in Attica, on sisted, according to Pliny, in accuracy of drawing,
which there was a bronze statue of the god. (Paus. truth of proportion, and power of expression. " He
i. 32. 8 2. )
(L. S. ) first (or above all) gave to painting true proportion
PARNO'PIUS (Nupvórios), i. e. the expeller (symmetriam), the minute details of the counte-
of locusts (Táprw), a surname of Apollo, under nance, the elegance of the hair, the beauty of the
which he had a statue on the acropolis at Athens. face, and by the confession of artists themselves ob-
(Paus. i. 24. $ 8. )
(L. S. ] tained the palm in his drawing of the extremities. "
PAROREUS (Tapwpeús), a son of Tricolonus, (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 9. 8. 36. & 5. ) His outlines,
and the reputed founder of the town of Paroria in according to the same writer, were so perfect, as to
Arcadia (Paus. vii. 35. $ 6. ) (L. S. ] indicate those parts of the figure which they did
PARRHA'SIUS (Tlappágios). 1. A surname of not express. The intermediate parts of his figures
Apollo, who had a sanctuary on Mount Lyceius, seemed inferior, but only when compared with his
where an annual festival was celebrated to him as own perfect execution of the extremities.
the epicurius, that is, the helper. (Paus. viii. 38. Parrhasius did for painting, at least in pictures
SS 2, 6. )
of gods and heroes, what had been done for sculp-
2. A son of Lycaon, from whom Parrhasia in ture by Pheidias in divine subjects, and by Poly-
Arcadia was believed to have derived its name.
cleitus in the human figure: he established a canon
(Steph. Byz. s. v. ) Some call him a son of Zeus, of proportion, which was followed by all the artists
and father of Arcas and Parus, from whom the that came after him. Hence Quintilian (xii. 10)
island of Paros derived its name. (Serv. ad Aen. calls him the legislator of his art; and it is no
xi. 31 ; Steph. Byz. 8. v. Ildpos. ) (L. S. ) doubt to this that Pliny refers in the words of the
PARRH A'SIÚS (Tlappaoios), one of the most above quotation (primus symmetriam picturae de
celebrated Greek painters, was a native of Ephesus, dit). Several interesting observations on the prin-
the son and pupil of Evenor (Paus. i. 28. $ 2; ciples of art which he followed are made in the
Strab. xiv. p. 642; Harpocr. s. v. ) He belonged, dialogue in the Memorabilia, already referred to.
therefore, to the Ionic school; but he practised his The character of Parrhasius was marked in the
art chiefly at Athens : and by some writers he is highest degree by that arrogance which often ac-
called an Athenian, probably because the Athe companies the consciousness of pre-eminent ability :
nians, who, as Plutarch informs him, held him in " Quo nemo insolentius sit usus gloria artis," says
high honour, had bestowed upon him the right of Pliny. In epigrams inscribed on his works he not
citizenship (Senec. Controv. v. 10; Acro, Schol
. ad only made a boast of his luxurious habits, calling
Horat. Carm. iv. 8 ; Plut. Thes. 4 ; Junius, Catal. himself 'Abpolaitos, but he also claimed the honour
Artif. s. v. ). With respect to the time at which of having assigned with his own hand the precise
he flourished, there has been some doubt, arising limits of the art, and fixed a boundary which was
from a story told by Seneca (I. c. ), which, if true, never to be transgressed. (See the Epigrams in
would bring down his time as late as the taking of Ath. xii. p. 543, d. ) He claimed a divine origin
Olynthus by Philip, in Ol. 108, 2, or B. C. 347. and divine communications, calling himself the de-
But this tale has quite the air of a fiction ; and it scendant of Apollo, and professing to have painted
js rejected, as unworthy of attention, by all the his Hercules, which was preserved at Lindus, from
authorities except Sillig and Meyer, the latter of the form of the god, as often seen by him in sleep.
whom makes the extraordinary mistake of bringing When conquered by Timanthes in a trial of skill,
down the life of Parrhasius as late as the time of in which the subject was the contest for the arms
Alexander the Great. On the other hand, the of Achilles, he observed that for himself he thought
statement of Pausanias (i. 28. $ 2), that he drew little of it, but that he sympathised with Ajax,
the outlines of the chasing on the shield of Phei- who was a second time overcome by the less
dias's statue of Athena Promachus, would place worthy. (Plin. l. c. ; Ath. l. c. ; Aelian. V. H. ix. ll;
him as early as Ol. 84, or B. C. 444, unless we ac- Eustath. ad Hom. Od. xi. 545. ) Further details
cept the somewhat improbable conjecture of Mul of his arrogance and luxury will be found in the
ler, that the chasing on the shield was executed above passages and in Ath. xv. p. 687, b. C Re-
several years later than the statue. (Comp. Mys, specting the story of his contest with Zeuxis, see
and Sillig, Cutal. Artif. 8. v. Mys. ) Now this ZEUXIS. The numerous encomiums upon his
date is probably too early, for Pliny places Parrha- works in the writings of the ancients are collected
sius's father, Evenor, at the 90th Olympiad, B. c. by Junius and Sillig.
420 (H. N. xxxv. 9. s. 36. § 1). According to Of the works of Parrhasius mentioned by Pliny,
this date Parrhasius himself must have flourished the most celebrated seems to have been his picture
about the 95th Olympiad, B. C. 400, which agrees of the Athenian People, respecting which the com-
with all the certain indications which we have of mentators have been sorely puzzled to imagine
his time, such as his conversation with Socrates how he could have exhibited all the qualities enu.
## p. 129 (#145) ############################################
PARTII ENIS.
3 29
PARTHENIUS.
3
.
merated by Pliny as belonging to his subject - Sappho (vii. 69. 7), where, however, the true
“ debebat namque varium, iracundum, injustum, reading of the name is doubtful: the best editions
inconstantem, eundem exorabilem, clementem, have Puntaenis.
(P. S. )
misericordem, gloriosum, excelsum, humilem, fero- PARTHE’NIUS, occurs in Juvenal (xii. 44) as
cem, fugacemque, et omnia pariter ostendere :” as the name of a silver-chaser, evidently of high re-
to how all these qualities were expressed Pliny putation at that time (comp. Schol. ). Sillig (Ap.
gives us no more information than is contained in pend. ad Catal. Artif. ) and the commentators on
the words argumento ingenioso. Some writers sup- Juvenal, take the name either as entirely fictitious,
pose that the picture was a group, or that it con- or as meaning only a Samian artist, from Par-
sisted of several groups ; others that it was a single thenia, the old name of Samos: but the same
figure; and Quatremère de Quincy has put forth name occurs, in a slightly different form, C. Oc-
the ingeniously absurd hypothesis, that the picture tavius Parthenio, with the epithet, Argjentarius, in
was merely that of an owl, as the symbol of Athens, an inscription (Gruter, p. dcxxxix. 5 ; R. Rochette,
with many beads of different animals, as the sym- Lettre à M. Schorn, pp. 376, 377, 2nd ed. Paris,
bols of the qualities enumerated by Pliny! The 1845).
(P. S. ]
truth seems to be that Pliny's words do not de- PÁRTHE’NIUS (Tapoévios), the chief cham-
scribe the picture, but its sulyject; the word debebat berlain (cubiculo pracpositus) of Domitian, took
indicates as much : the picture he does not appear an active part in the conspiracy by which that
to have seen ; but the character of the personified emperor perished, a. D. 96. After the death of the
Demos was to be found in the Knights of Aristo- tyrant he persuaded Nerva to accept the crown,
phanes, and in the writings of many other authors; but was himself killed shortly afterwards by the
and Pliny's words seem to express his admiration soldiers, together with the other conspirators
of the art which could have given anything like a against Domitian, whom Nerva had not the courage
pictorial representation of such a character. Pos- to protect. The soldiers cut off the genitalia of
sibly, too, the passage is merely copied from the Parthenius, threw them in his face, and then
unmeaning exaggeration of some sophist.
strangled him.
(Dion Cass. lxvii. 15, 17 ; Suet.
Another famous picture was his Theseus, which Dom. 16; Aurel. Vict. Epit. 11, 12 ; Eutrop. viii.
was preserved in the Capitol, and which appears 1 ; Mart. iv. 78, xi. 1. )
to have been the picture which embodied the canon PARTHE’NIUS (Tlap évios), literary. 1. Of
of painting referred to above, as the Doryphorus of Nicaea, or according to others, of Myrlea, but
Polycleitus embodied that of sculpture. This work, more probably of the former, since both Suidas
however, which was the masterpiece of Ionian art, (s. v. Néotwp) and Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. Nl-
did not fully satisfy the severer taste of the Hel- kaia) make him a native of that town, and the
ladic school, as we learn from the criticism of ancient grammarians generally speak of him as the
Euphranor, who said that the Theseus of Parrha- Nicaean. He was the son of Heracleides and
sius had ſed upon roses, but his own upon beef Eudora, or, as Hermippus stated, of Tetha ; and
(Plut. de Glor. Ath. 2).
Suidas further relates that he was taken prisoner by
The works of Parrhasius were not all, however, Cinna, in the Mithridatic war, was afterwards
of this elevated character. He painted libidinous manumitted on account of his learning, and lived
pictures, such as the Archigallus, and Meleager to the reign of Tiberius. The accuracy of this
and Atalanta, which afterwards gratified the pru- statement has been called in question, since there
rient taste of Tiberius (Plin. l. c. ; Suet. Tib. 44). were seventy-seven years from the death of Mithri-
A few others of his pictures, chiefly mythological, dates to the accession of Tiberius ; but if Par-
are enumerated by Pliny, from whom we also thenius was taken prisoner in his childhood, he
learn that tablets and parchments were preserved, might have been about eighty at the death of Au-
on which were the valuable outline drawings of gustus. His literary activity must at all events be
the great artist. He is enumerated among the placed in the reign of Augustus. He dedicated his
great painters who wrote upon their art. (P. S. ) extant work to Cornelius Gallus, which must,
PARTHAMASIRIS, king of Armenia. [AR- therefore, have been written before B. c. 26, when
SACIDAE, p. 363, a. )
Gallus died. We know, moreover, that Parthenius
PARTHIAMASPATES, king of Parthia (AR- taught Virgil Greek (Macrob. v. 17), and a line
SACES, p. 359, a), and subsequently king of in the Georgics (i. 437) is expressly stated both
Armenia. [ARSACIDAE, p. 363, a. )
by Macrobius (l. c. ) and A. Gellius (xiii. 26), to
PARTHAON. (PORTHAON. )
have been borrowed from Parthenius. He seems
PARTHENIA (napčevia). "1. That is, “ the to have been very popular among the distinguished
maiden,” a surname of Artemis and Hera, who, Romans of his time ; we are told that the emperor
however, is said to have derived it from the river Tiberius also imitated his poems, and placed his
Parthenius. (Callim.
followed the advice of Parmenion, it is clear that 3. A grammarian and commentator, of whom
he would never have conquered Asia. (See we have fragments and notices in the Schol. Hom.
Arrian, Anab. i. 13, ii. 25 ; Plut. Alex. 16, 29, Od. 8. 242. n. S. 513, 1'. 424 ; Eustath. ad 11. ii.
Apophth. p. 180, b. ; Diod. xvii. 16, 54. )
p. 854 ; Schol. Eurip. Med. 10, 276, Troad. 222,
Three sons of Parmenion had accompanied 230, Rhes. 524; Et Mag, s. v. "Apew; Steph. Byz.
their father to Asia ; of these the youngest, s. vr. "Ados, "Epupa, peia. Hyginus, when speak-
Hector, was accidentally drowned in the Nile, ing (Poet. Astron. ii. 2, 13) of his history of the
B. c. 331. (Curt. iv. 8. $ 7. ) Nicanor was carried stars, probably refers to a lost coinmentary on
off by a sudden illness on the march into Hyr. Aratus. Varro (de L. L. x. 10) refers to him as
cania, and Philotas was put to death just before making the distinctive characteristics of words to
his father. We find also two of his daughters be eight in number. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i.
mentioned as married, the one to Attalus, the p. 518, vol. vi. p. 375 ; Vossius, De Hist. Graec.
uncle of Cleopatra, the other to the Macedonian p. 481, ed. Westermann. ), (W. M. G. )
officer, Coenus. (Curt. vi. 9. SS 17, 30. )
PA'RMENON (Tlapuévwv). 1. Of Byzantium,
2. One of the deputies from Lampsacus, who a choliambic poet, a few of whose verses are cited
appeared before the Roman legates at Lysimachia by Athenaeus (iii. p. 75, f. ; v. pp. 203, c. 221, a. ),
to complain against Antiochus, B. c. 196. (Polyb. by the scholiasts on Pindar (Pyth. iv. 97,) and
xviii. 35. )
Nicander (Ther. 806), and by Stephanus of By.
3. One of the ambassadors sent by Gentius, zantium (s. rv. Bovdivoi, ”piktov, Xitárn, reading
king of Illyria, to receive the oath and hostages of the last passage ſlapuévwv for Mevínto). These few
Perseus, B. c. 168. He afterwards accompanied fragments are collected by Meineke (Choliambica
the Macedonian ambassadors to Rhodes. (Polyb. Poesis Graecorum, Berol. 1845).
xxix, 2, 5. )
(E. H. B. ) 2. Of Rhodes, the author of a work on cookery
PARMÉNION (llapuevíwr), literary. 1. Of(uayelpush didackalla) quoted by Athenaeus (vii.
Macedonia, an epigrammatic poet, whose verses p. 308, f. )
were included in the collection of Philip of Thessa- 3. A grammarian, the author of a work repl
lonica ; whence it is probable that he flourishod in, Balé Twv (Ath. xi. p. 500, b. ) who is not impro-
or shortly before, the time of Augustus. Brunck bably the same person as the glossographer Par-
gives fourteen of his epigrams in the Anulecta NENION,
(P. S. )
1
## p. 128 (#144) ############################################
128
PARRHASIL'S.
PARRHASIUS.
PARMENSIS, CASSIUS. (Cassius PAR-|(Xen. Mem. iii. 10), and his being a younger
MENSIS. )
contemporary of Zeuxis: the date just given must,
PARMYS (Nápus), daughter of Smerdis, the however, be taken as referring rather to a late
bon of Cyrus. She became the wife of Dareius than to an early period of his artistic career; for
Hystaspis, and was the mother of Ariomardos. he had evidently obtained a high reputation before
(Herod. iii. 88, vii. 78. )
[C. P. M. ] the death of Socrates in B. C. 399.
PARNASSUS (Iapvagoós), a son of Cleo- Parrhasius belongs to that period of the history
pompus or Poseidon and the nymph Cleodora, is of Greek painting, in which the art may be said to
baid to have bern the founder of Delphi, the in. have reached perfection in all its essential ele-
ventor of the art of foretelling the future from the ments, though there was still room left for the
flight of birds, and to have given his name to display of higher excellence than any individual
Mount Parnassus. (Paus. X. 6. § 1. ) [L. S. ] painter had yet attained, by the genius of an
PARNETHIUS (napune. os), a surname of Apelies. The peculiar merits of Parrhasius con-
Zeus, derived from Mount Parnes in Attica, on sisted, according to Pliny, in accuracy of drawing,
which there was a bronze statue of the god. (Paus. truth of proportion, and power of expression. " He
i. 32. 8 2. )
(L. S. ) first (or above all) gave to painting true proportion
PARNO'PIUS (Nupvórios), i. e. the expeller (symmetriam), the minute details of the counte-
of locusts (Táprw), a surname of Apollo, under nance, the elegance of the hair, the beauty of the
which he had a statue on the acropolis at Athens. face, and by the confession of artists themselves ob-
(Paus. i. 24. $ 8. )
(L. S. ] tained the palm in his drawing of the extremities. "
PAROREUS (Tapwpeús), a son of Tricolonus, (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 9. 8. 36. & 5. ) His outlines,
and the reputed founder of the town of Paroria in according to the same writer, were so perfect, as to
Arcadia (Paus. vii. 35. $ 6. ) (L. S. ] indicate those parts of the figure which they did
PARRHA'SIUS (Tlappágios). 1. A surname of not express. The intermediate parts of his figures
Apollo, who had a sanctuary on Mount Lyceius, seemed inferior, but only when compared with his
where an annual festival was celebrated to him as own perfect execution of the extremities.
the epicurius, that is, the helper. (Paus. viii. 38. Parrhasius did for painting, at least in pictures
SS 2, 6. )
of gods and heroes, what had been done for sculp-
2. A son of Lycaon, from whom Parrhasia in ture by Pheidias in divine subjects, and by Poly-
Arcadia was believed to have derived its name.
cleitus in the human figure: he established a canon
(Steph. Byz. s. v. ) Some call him a son of Zeus, of proportion, which was followed by all the artists
and father of Arcas and Parus, from whom the that came after him. Hence Quintilian (xii. 10)
island of Paros derived its name. (Serv. ad Aen. calls him the legislator of his art; and it is no
xi. 31 ; Steph. Byz. 8. v. Ildpos. ) (L. S. ) doubt to this that Pliny refers in the words of the
PARRH A'SIÚS (Tlappaoios), one of the most above quotation (primus symmetriam picturae de
celebrated Greek painters, was a native of Ephesus, dit). Several interesting observations on the prin-
the son and pupil of Evenor (Paus. i. 28. $ 2; ciples of art which he followed are made in the
Strab. xiv. p. 642; Harpocr. s. v. ) He belonged, dialogue in the Memorabilia, already referred to.
therefore, to the Ionic school; but he practised his The character of Parrhasius was marked in the
art chiefly at Athens : and by some writers he is highest degree by that arrogance which often ac-
called an Athenian, probably because the Athe companies the consciousness of pre-eminent ability :
nians, who, as Plutarch informs him, held him in " Quo nemo insolentius sit usus gloria artis," says
high honour, had bestowed upon him the right of Pliny. In epigrams inscribed on his works he not
citizenship (Senec. Controv. v. 10; Acro, Schol
. ad only made a boast of his luxurious habits, calling
Horat. Carm. iv. 8 ; Plut. Thes. 4 ; Junius, Catal. himself 'Abpolaitos, but he also claimed the honour
Artif. s. v. ). With respect to the time at which of having assigned with his own hand the precise
he flourished, there has been some doubt, arising limits of the art, and fixed a boundary which was
from a story told by Seneca (I. c. ), which, if true, never to be transgressed. (See the Epigrams in
would bring down his time as late as the taking of Ath. xii. p. 543, d. ) He claimed a divine origin
Olynthus by Philip, in Ol. 108, 2, or B. C. 347. and divine communications, calling himself the de-
But this tale has quite the air of a fiction ; and it scendant of Apollo, and professing to have painted
js rejected, as unworthy of attention, by all the his Hercules, which was preserved at Lindus, from
authorities except Sillig and Meyer, the latter of the form of the god, as often seen by him in sleep.
whom makes the extraordinary mistake of bringing When conquered by Timanthes in a trial of skill,
down the life of Parrhasius as late as the time of in which the subject was the contest for the arms
Alexander the Great. On the other hand, the of Achilles, he observed that for himself he thought
statement of Pausanias (i. 28. $ 2), that he drew little of it, but that he sympathised with Ajax,
the outlines of the chasing on the shield of Phei- who was a second time overcome by the less
dias's statue of Athena Promachus, would place worthy. (Plin. l. c. ; Ath. l. c. ; Aelian. V. H. ix. ll;
him as early as Ol. 84, or B. C. 444, unless we ac- Eustath. ad Hom. Od. xi. 545. ) Further details
cept the somewhat improbable conjecture of Mul of his arrogance and luxury will be found in the
ler, that the chasing on the shield was executed above passages and in Ath. xv. p. 687, b. C Re-
several years later than the statue. (Comp. Mys, specting the story of his contest with Zeuxis, see
and Sillig, Cutal. Artif. 8. v. Mys. ) Now this ZEUXIS. The numerous encomiums upon his
date is probably too early, for Pliny places Parrha- works in the writings of the ancients are collected
sius's father, Evenor, at the 90th Olympiad, B. c. by Junius and Sillig.
420 (H. N. xxxv. 9. s. 36. § 1). According to Of the works of Parrhasius mentioned by Pliny,
this date Parrhasius himself must have flourished the most celebrated seems to have been his picture
about the 95th Olympiad, B. C. 400, which agrees of the Athenian People, respecting which the com-
with all the certain indications which we have of mentators have been sorely puzzled to imagine
his time, such as his conversation with Socrates how he could have exhibited all the qualities enu.
## p. 129 (#145) ############################################
PARTII ENIS.
3 29
PARTHENIUS.
3
.
merated by Pliny as belonging to his subject - Sappho (vii. 69. 7), where, however, the true
“ debebat namque varium, iracundum, injustum, reading of the name is doubtful: the best editions
inconstantem, eundem exorabilem, clementem, have Puntaenis.
(P. S. )
misericordem, gloriosum, excelsum, humilem, fero- PARTHE’NIUS, occurs in Juvenal (xii. 44) as
cem, fugacemque, et omnia pariter ostendere :” as the name of a silver-chaser, evidently of high re-
to how all these qualities were expressed Pliny putation at that time (comp. Schol. ). Sillig (Ap.
gives us no more information than is contained in pend. ad Catal. Artif. ) and the commentators on
the words argumento ingenioso. Some writers sup- Juvenal, take the name either as entirely fictitious,
pose that the picture was a group, or that it con- or as meaning only a Samian artist, from Par-
sisted of several groups ; others that it was a single thenia, the old name of Samos: but the same
figure; and Quatremère de Quincy has put forth name occurs, in a slightly different form, C. Oc-
the ingeniously absurd hypothesis, that the picture tavius Parthenio, with the epithet, Argjentarius, in
was merely that of an owl, as the symbol of Athens, an inscription (Gruter, p. dcxxxix. 5 ; R. Rochette,
with many beads of different animals, as the sym- Lettre à M. Schorn, pp. 376, 377, 2nd ed. Paris,
bols of the qualities enumerated by Pliny! The 1845).
(P. S. ]
truth seems to be that Pliny's words do not de- PÁRTHE’NIUS (Tapoévios), the chief cham-
scribe the picture, but its sulyject; the word debebat berlain (cubiculo pracpositus) of Domitian, took
indicates as much : the picture he does not appear an active part in the conspiracy by which that
to have seen ; but the character of the personified emperor perished, a. D. 96. After the death of the
Demos was to be found in the Knights of Aristo- tyrant he persuaded Nerva to accept the crown,
phanes, and in the writings of many other authors; but was himself killed shortly afterwards by the
and Pliny's words seem to express his admiration soldiers, together with the other conspirators
of the art which could have given anything like a against Domitian, whom Nerva had not the courage
pictorial representation of such a character. Pos- to protect. The soldiers cut off the genitalia of
sibly, too, the passage is merely copied from the Parthenius, threw them in his face, and then
unmeaning exaggeration of some sophist.
strangled him.
(Dion Cass. lxvii. 15, 17 ; Suet.
Another famous picture was his Theseus, which Dom. 16; Aurel. Vict. Epit. 11, 12 ; Eutrop. viii.
was preserved in the Capitol, and which appears 1 ; Mart. iv. 78, xi. 1. )
to have been the picture which embodied the canon PARTHE’NIUS (Tlap évios), literary. 1. Of
of painting referred to above, as the Doryphorus of Nicaea, or according to others, of Myrlea, but
Polycleitus embodied that of sculpture. This work, more probably of the former, since both Suidas
however, which was the masterpiece of Ionian art, (s. v. Néotwp) and Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. Nl-
did not fully satisfy the severer taste of the Hel- kaia) make him a native of that town, and the
ladic school, as we learn from the criticism of ancient grammarians generally speak of him as the
Euphranor, who said that the Theseus of Parrha- Nicaean. He was the son of Heracleides and
sius had ſed upon roses, but his own upon beef Eudora, or, as Hermippus stated, of Tetha ; and
(Plut. de Glor. Ath. 2).
Suidas further relates that he was taken prisoner by
The works of Parrhasius were not all, however, Cinna, in the Mithridatic war, was afterwards
of this elevated character. He painted libidinous manumitted on account of his learning, and lived
pictures, such as the Archigallus, and Meleager to the reign of Tiberius. The accuracy of this
and Atalanta, which afterwards gratified the pru- statement has been called in question, since there
rient taste of Tiberius (Plin. l. c. ; Suet. Tib. 44). were seventy-seven years from the death of Mithri-
A few others of his pictures, chiefly mythological, dates to the accession of Tiberius ; but if Par-
are enumerated by Pliny, from whom we also thenius was taken prisoner in his childhood, he
learn that tablets and parchments were preserved, might have been about eighty at the death of Au-
on which were the valuable outline drawings of gustus. His literary activity must at all events be
the great artist. He is enumerated among the placed in the reign of Augustus. He dedicated his
great painters who wrote upon their art. (P. S. ) extant work to Cornelius Gallus, which must,
PARTHAMASIRIS, king of Armenia. [AR- therefore, have been written before B. c. 26, when
SACIDAE, p. 363, a. )
Gallus died. We know, moreover, that Parthenius
PARTHIAMASPATES, king of Parthia (AR- taught Virgil Greek (Macrob. v. 17), and a line
SACES, p. 359, a), and subsequently king of in the Georgics (i. 437) is expressly stated both
Armenia. [ARSACIDAE, p. 363, a. )
by Macrobius (l. c. ) and A. Gellius (xiii. 26), to
PARTHAON. (PORTHAON. )
have been borrowed from Parthenius. He seems
PARTHENIA (napčevia). "1. That is, “ the to have been very popular among the distinguished
maiden,” a surname of Artemis and Hera, who, Romans of his time ; we are told that the emperor
however, is said to have derived it from the river Tiberius also imitated his poems, and placed his
Parthenius. (Callim.
