27) that the Romans had
never attempted to compose after the manner of the
iEsopic fables.
never attempted to compose after the manner of the
iEsopic fables.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
, 5, 91.
)--
V. A rock-fortress in Sogdiana, taken by Alexander.
(Quint. Curt. , 7, 11. ) It was also called Oxi Petra,
probably from its being near the river Oxus.
Pktk. -b\, one of the divisions of Arabia, so called,
not, as is commonly supposed, from its stony or rocky
character (nerpa, " a rock," " a stone"), but from its
celebrated emporium Petra. ( Vul. Petra, I. ) It was
bounded on the east by Arabia Dcserta, on the west
by Egypt and the Mediterranean, on'the south by the
Red Sea, which here divides and runs north in two
branches, and on the north by Palestine. This coun-
try contained the southern Edomites, the Amalckites,
the Cushites, who are improperly called the Ethiopi-
ans, the Hivites, &c. Their descendants are at pres-
ent known by the general name of Arabians; but it ia
of consequence to notice the ancient inhabitants as they
are mentioned in the text of Scripture. (Vid. Arabia. )
Petreius, Marcus, a Roman commander. He was
lieutenant to the consul C. Antonius, and was intrust-
ed by the latter, who feigned indisposition, with the
command of the Roman forces against the army cf
Catiline, whom he totally defeated. (Sail. , Bell. Cat. ,
c. 59, sea. ) Faithful to the cause of the republic, he
became one of Pompey'a lieutenants in Spain during
the civil contest, and endeavoured, in conjunction with
Afranius, to oppose the progress of Cesar in that coun-
? ? try. They were both, however, compelled to surren-
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? PETRONIUS.
PETRONIUS.
ry to Icate a world which he loved. He opened hia
rams and closed them again, at intervals losing a small
quantity of blood, then binding up the orifice, as his
own inclinations prompted. He conversed during the
whole time with his usual gayety, never changing his
habitual manner, nor talking sentences to show his
contempt of death He listened to his friends, who
endeavoured to entertain him, not with grave discour-
ses on tho immortality of the soul or the moral wisdom
of philosophers, but with strains of poetry, and verses
of a gay and natural turn. He distributed presents to
some of his servants, and ordered others to be chastised.
He walked out for his amusement, and even lay down
to sleep. In his last scene of life he acted with such
calm tranquillity, that his death, though an act of ne-
cessity, seemed no more than the decline of nature.
In his will, he scorned to follow tho example of others,
who, like himself, died under the tyrant's stroke: he
neither 8attered the emperor, nor Tigellinus, not any
of the creatures of the court; but having written, under
the fictitious names of profligate men and women, a nar-
rative of Nero's debauchery, and his new modes of vice,
he had the spirit to send to the emperor the tablets,
sealed with his own seal, which he took care to break,
that, after his death, it might not be used for the destruc-
tion of any person whatever. " (Tacitus, Ann. , 16,18,
eeqq. )--Some critics have thought that the Petronius
'. o whom this passage refers is not the same with the
author of the work that has come down to us, entitled
Satyricon. Their chief argument is, that the work
which, according to Tacitus, Petronius, when dying,
caused to be sent to Nero, was written on portable
tablets (codicilli), a circumstance that militates against
the idea of its being a production of any length. It is
urged, moreover, that the accomplices in the tyrant's
debaucheries and crimes were named in the work,
whereas the actors in the Satyricon bear fictitious
names. It is evident, indeed, that the Satyricon ia
not tho piece of which Tacit ? -nakes mention, and
that Nero caused the latter mi be destroyed; but it
would seem that the critics who advocate this opinion
go toe far when they deny also the identity of the wri-
ters. What is there to prevent our supposing that
Filroniiss, having now no measure to keep with the
world, amused himself with tracing on his testament-
ary tablets the scandalous lives of the individuals,
whose general manners he was content with depict-
ing in his larger work 1 Those critics, on the other
hand, who do not sec in the author of tho Satyricon
the friend and intimate companion of Nero, arc divided
in opinion as to the period when be lived. Some car-
ry him up as high as the era of Augustus, while others
place him under the Antonines, or even in the fourth
century. Both parties ground their respective argu-
ments on his style. The former discover in it the
purity of the golden age, while the latter find it mark-
ed with many low and trivial expressions, and with
many solecisms that indicate the decline of the language.
Without wishing to throw tho blame of some of these
faults on the manuscript itself, which is in so deplora-
ble a sUte that many passages remain incapable of be-
ing deciphered, notwithstanding all tho efforts of the
commentators, may we not suppose that these pretend-
ed solecisms have been purposely put by the author in
the mouths of individuals of the lower class, and that
the unusual words employed by him only appear such
to us, because we are unacquainted with the language of
? ? debauchery and intoxication among the Romans 1 --
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? PHi:
P HJE
or Pet onius, found, according to him, in the library
at St. Gall. (Repertoire de Litter. Arte. , vol. 1, p.
239. )--A poem in 295 verses, on the fall of the Ro-
man republic, forms a fine episode to the Satyricon of
Petronius. The Satyricon itself, it may be remarked,
in concluding, is admirable for the truth with which
the author delineates the characters of his personages.
It contains many pleasing pictures, full of irony; and
it is characterized by great spirit and gayety of man-
ner; but it is to be regretted that the author has cm-
ployed his abilities on a subject so truly immoral and
disgusting. The style is rich, picturesque, and ener-
gelic; but often obscure and difficult, cither from the
unusual words which we meet with in it, or by reason
of the corrupt state of the text. The best edition is
that of Burman, 4to, Ultra. ). , 1709; to which may be
added that of Reinesius, 1731, Svo, and that of C. G.
Anton, Lips. , 1781, 8vo. (Scholl, Hist. Lit. Rom. ,
vol. 2, p. 416, seqq. --B'ahr, Gcseh. Rom. Lit. , vol. 1,
p. 577, scqq. )
PgucK, a name applied to the land insulated by the
two principal arms of the Danube at its mouth. The
ancient appellation still partly remains in that of Pic-
ana. It was called Peuce from rrevKri, a pine-tree,
with which species of tree it abounded. From this
island the Peucini, who dwelt in and adjacent to it, de-
rived their name. We find them reappearing in the
Lower Empire, under the names of Piezinigcs and
Patzinaeiles. (Lucan, 3, 202-- Plin. , 4, 12 )
Peuce riv, a region of Apulia, on the coast, below
Daunia. The Peucetii, according to Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, derived their name from Peucetius, son
of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, who, with his brother CEno-
trus, migrated to Italy seventeen generations before
the siege of Troy. But modern critics have felt little
disposed to give credit to a story, the improbability of
which is so very apparent, whether we look to the
country whence these pretended settlers are said to
have come, or the state of navigation at so remote a
period. (Vreret, Mem. de VAcad. , dec. , vol. 18, p.
8J. ) Had the Peucetii and the CEnotri really been of
Grecian origin, Dionysius might have adduced better
evidence of the fact than the genealogies of the Arca-
dian chiefs, cited from Pherecydes. The most re-
spectable authority he could have brought forward on
this point would unquestionably have been that of An-
tiochus the Syracusan; but this historian is only quo-
ted by him in proof of the antiquity of the CEnotri, not
of their Grecian descent. (Dion. Hal. , 1, 2. --Strabo,
283. --Plin. , 3, 11. ) The Peucetii are always spoken
of in history, even by the Greeks themselves, as bar-
barians, who differed in no essential respect from
the Daunii, Iapygcs, and other neighbouring nations.
fCramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, p. 296. )
Pbuciki. Viil. Peuce.
Phacusa, a town of Egypt, on the Pelusiac arm of
the Nile. The ruins are found near the modern Tell
Phakus (hill of Phacusa). (Steph. Byz. , s. v. )
Phacussa, one of the Sporaces, now Gaiphonisi.
(Plin. , 4, 12. --Steph. Byz. , s. t>. ioKovoaa. )
Ph. *acTa, the Homeric name for the island of Cor-
eyra. (Vid. Corcyra. ) When visited by Ulysses, Al-
cinoiis was its king, and his gardens are beautifully
described by the poet. The Phaeacians are represent-
ed as an easy-tempered and luxurious race, but remark-
able for their skill in navigation. They were fabled
to have derived their name from Phajax, a son of Nep-
? ? tune. (Horn , Od. , 6, 1, scqq. --Id. ib. , 7, I, scqq. --
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? PILEDRUS.
PH. EDKUS
since liia retirement to the island of Capreae, was be-
come an object of general contempt, that Phaedrus
meant him, in the second fable of the first book, by
the log given to the frogs as their king. Bu', if Phae-
drus has indeed represented Tiberius under the alle-
gory of a log, the hydra, which takes its place, will in-
dicate the successor of the monarch, unless we sup-
pose Sejanus to be intended by the reptile: this inter-
pretation, however, appears extremely forced. Titze
thinks that Phxdrus may have been at first a favourite
? f Sejanus, and afterward involved in his disgrace;
and that Eutychus, in the reign of Caligula, had given
him hopes of a restoration to imperial patronage. This
theory, however, is contradicted by the prologue to the
third book of the fables (v. 41. --Titze, Inlroduct. in
Phadr. --Id. , it Phadri vita, scriplis, et vsu). --
Phssdrus composed five books of fables, containing, in
all, ninety fables, written in Iambic verse. He has the
merit of having first made the Romans acquainted with
the fables of /Esop; not that all his own fables are
merely translations of those of the latter, but because
the two thirds of them that appear original, or, at least,
with the originals of which we are unacquainted, are
written in the manner of . Esop. Phaedrus deserves
'. he praise of invention for the way in which he has ar-
ranged them; and he is quite as original a poet as
Fontaine, who, like him, has taken from other sources
besides the fables of vEsop the materials for a large
portion of hia own. He is distinguished for a precis-
ion, a gracefulness, and a naivete of style and manner
that have never been surpassed. The air of simplicity
which characterizes bis pieces is the surest guarantee
of their authenticity, which some critics have contest-
ed. His diction is at the same time remarkable for
its elegance, though this occasionally is pushed rather
too far into the regions of refinement. The manu-
scripts of Phsdrus are extremely rare. The one from
which Pithou (Pithceus) published, in 1596, the eduio
princeps of the fables, passed eventually, by marriage,
into the hands of the Lepelletier family; and is now
in the library of M. Lepelletier de Rosanbo {De Xi-
vrey, ad. Phadr. , p. 23, scqq. --Id. ib. , p. 40, nqq. ).
A second manuscript, which Rigalt used in his edition
of 1617, was destroyed by AYe at Rheims in 1774;
but we have remaining of this a very accurate colla-
tion. A third one, or, rather, the remains of one, is
now in the Vatican library, and is said to contain from
the first to the twenty-first fable of the first book.
'Noiit. Literar. de Codd. MSS. , Phadri, No. 3, de
Cod. Danielis. ) Thia rarity of manuscripts is one
cause of the doubts that have been entertained by some
respecting the authenticity of the fables ascribed to
him, and even the very existence of the poet. Some
other circumstances lend weight to these doubts: the
silence, namely, of the ancient writers concerning Phs-
drus, and the positive declaration of Seneca, who re-
marks {Contol. ad Polyb. , c.
27) that the Romans had
never attempted to compose after the manner of the
iEsopic fables. (" Non audco te usque eo produccre, ut
fabcltas quoque et Aisopcos logos, inlentalum Romanis
ingeniis opus, solita tibi venustatc conncclas. ") An-
other argument on this same side of the question is as
follows: Nicolas Perotti, who, about the middle of
the 15th century, was archbishop of Manfredonia, and
one of the patrons of Greek literature in Italy, cites
in his Cornu Copia a fable which he aays he took in
his early days from the fables of Avienus. (" Allusit
? ? ad fabulam, quam nos ex Avieno in fabcllas nostras
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? P HA
PHALARIS.
Vagi. Bad. , 1727, -Ito. and 1745, 8vo; that of Bent-
ley, at the end of his Terence, Cantab. , 1726, 4to,
and Anut. , 1727, 4to; that of Brotier, Paris, 1783,
12mo; that of Schwabe, Brunsv. , 1806, 2 vols. 8vo;
that of Gail, in Lemairc's collection, Paris, 1826, 2
vols. 8vo; and that of Orelli, Turici, 1831, 8vo.
(Schbll, Hist. Lit. Rom. , vol. 2, p. 343, scqq. --Bdhr,
Gesch. Rom. Lit. , vol. 1, p. 308, seqq. )
Phaethon (4>ae0ov), son of Helios and the Ocean-
nymph Clymene. His claims to a celestial origin
being disputed by Epaphus, son of Jupiter, Phaethon
journeyed to the palace of his sire, the sun-god, from
whom he extracted on unwary oath that he would
grant him whatever he asked. The ambitious youth
instantly demanded permission to guide the solar char-
iot for one day, to prove himself thereby the undoubted
progeny of the sun. Helios, aware of the conse-
quences, remonstrated, but to no purpose. The youth
persisted, and the god, bound by his oath, reluctantly
committed the reins to his hands, warning him of the
dangers of the road, and instructing him how to avoid
them. Phaethon grasped the reins, the flame-breath-
ing steeds sprang forward, but, soon aware that they
were not directed by the well-known hand, they ran
out of the course; the world was set on fire, and a
otal conflagration would have ensued, had not Jupiter,
at the prayer of Earth, launched his thunder, and hurled
the terrified driver from his seat. He fell into the river
Eridanus. His sisters, the Heliades, as they lament-
ed his fate, were turned into poplar-trees on its banks,
and their tears, which still continued to flow, became
amber as they dropped into the stream. Cycnus, the
friend of the ill-fated Phaethon, also abandoned him-
self to mourning, and at length was changed into a
? wan (kvkvoc). {Chid, Met, 1, 750, seqq. --Hygin. ,
fab. , 152, 154. --Nonnus, Dionys. , 38, 105, 439. --
Apoll. Rhod,A, 597, seqq. -- Virg, A3n. , 10, 190 --
la. , Kelog. , 6, 62. ) This story was dramatized by
iEschylus, in the Heliades, and by Euripides in his
Phaethon. Some fragments of both plays have been
preserved. Ovid appears to have followed closely the
former drama. --The legend of Phaethon is regarded
by the expounders of mythology at the present day
as a physical myth, devised to account for the origin
of the electron, or amber, which seems to have been
brought from the Baltic to Greece in the very earliest
times. The term fjtoKTpov, as Welcker observes,
resembles jjUnrup, an epithet of the sun. In the
opinion of this last-mentioned writer, the story of
Phaethon is only the Greek version of a German le-
gend on the subject. The tradition of the people of
the country was said to be (Apoll. Rhod. , 4, 611),
that the amber was produced from the tears of the sun-
god. The Greeks made this sun-god the same with
their Apollo, and added that he shed these tears when
he came to the land of the Hyperboreans, an exilo from
heaven on account of his avenging upon the Cyclops
the fate of his son ^Esculapius. But, as this did not
accord with the Hellenic conception of either Helios
or Apollo, the Heliades were devised to remove the
inconsistency. The foundation of the fable lay in the
circumstance of amber being regarded as a species of
resin, which drops from the trees that yield it. That
part of the legend which relates to the Eridanus, con-
founds the Po with the true Eridanus in the north of
Europe. (Welcker, Msch. Trilogie, p. 566, seq. --
Keightley's Mythology, p. 57, seq. )
? ? Phakthontiades or Phaethontides, the sisters of
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? 1'H A
T HA
1 pjice iinonj royal or noble authors, Bentley exam-
ines certain other reputed pieces of antiquity, such as
the Letters of Themistocles, of Socrates, and of Eu-
ripides; all which he shows not to be the productions
of the individuals whose names they bear, but forgeries
of some sophists many centuries later. The publica-
tion of this writ excited a sensation in the literary
and academical circles that was without example.
The society of Christ-Church was thrown into a per-
fect fsrment, and the task of inflicting a full measure
of liurary chastisement upon the audacious offender
was assigned to the ablest scholars and wits of the
J college. The leaders of the confederacy wore Atter-
bury and Smalridge, but the principal share in the at-
tack fell to the lot of the former. In point of classi-
cal learning, however, the joint stock of the coaliton
bore no proportion to that of Bentley: their acquaint-
ance with several of the books on which they comment
appears only to have been begun upon this occasion;
and sometimes they are indebted for their knowledge
of them to the very individual whom they attack, and
compared with whose boundless erudition their learn-
ing was that of schoolboys, and not always sufficient
to preserve them from distressing mistakes. But
profound literature was at that period confined to
few; while wit and raillery found numerous and
eager readers. The consequence was, that when
the reply of the Christ-Church men appeared, this
motley production of theirs, which is generally known
by the name of " Boyle against Bentley," it met with
a reception so uncommonly favourable as to form a
kind 01 paradox in literary history. But the triumph
of his opponents was short-lived. Bentley replied in
his enlarged Dissertation, a work which, while it ef-
fectually silenced his antagonists, and held them up to
ridicule as mere sciolists and blunderers, established
on the firmest basis his own claims to the character of
a consummate philologist. (Monk's Life of P'. nllcy,
p. 49, sc/q. )
Ph aleron, the most ancient of the Athenian ports;
b:. '. which, after the erection of the docks in the Piras-
us, ceased to be of any importance in a maritime point
of view. It was, however, enclosed within the forti-
fications of Themistocles, and gave its name to the
southernmost of the long walls, by means of which it
was connected with Athens. Phalcron supplied the
Athenian market with abundance of the little fish
named Aphysj, so often mentioned by the comic
writers. (Aristoph. , Acharn. , 901. --Id. , Av. , 96. --
Athcn. , 7, 8. --Arislot. , Hist. An , 6, 15. ) The lands
around it were marshy, and produced very fine cab-
bages. (Ilesych. , s. v. QaXnpticat. --Xcn. , (Earn. , c.
1P ) The modern name of Phaleron is Porto Fanari.
"Phaierum," says Hobhouse (vol. 1, p. 301, Am. ed. ),
"is of an elliptical form, smaller than Munychia; and
the remains of the piers on each side of the narrow
mouth are still to be seen. The line of its length is
from east to west, that of its breadth from north to
south. On the northeast side of the port, the land is
high and rocky until you come to the fine sweep of the
bay of Phaierum, perhaps two miles in length, and ter-
minated on the northeast by a low promontory, once
that of Colias. The clay from this neighbourhood was
preferred to any other for the use of the potteries. "
Phana, a harbour of the island of Chios, with a
temple of Apollo and a palm-grove in its vicinity.
Near it also was a promontory of the same name.
? ? (Strabo, 645-- Lb. , 36, 43-- Id. , 44, 28 ) Phanaj
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? PHA
fhA
oliere he was (lain by tome of his own followers.
lApptan, Bell. Mitkrad. , c. 120. --Dio Can. , I. c. )
Ph aknacia, a city of Pontus, on rhe seacoasl, and
in the territory of the Mosynogci. It is erroneously
confounded with Cerasus by Arrian (Peripl. , p. 17),
while the anonymous geographer, though in this in-
stance he copies that writer, yet afterward places Ccra-
tus 530 stadia farther to the east (p. 13). It should
be observed, also, that Strabo says that Cotyorum, and
not Cerasus, had contributed to the foundation of
Pharnacia {Strabo, 648); and he afterward names
Cerasus as a small place distinct from that town and
nearer Tra^zus. Pliny, moreover, distinguishes Phar-
nacia and Cerasus, and he besides informs us that the
former was 100 miles from Trapezus (6, 4). Xeno-
phon and the Crocks were three days on their march
from Trapezus to Cerasus, a space of time too short
to accomplish a route of 100 miles over a difficult
country. {Anab. , 5, 3, 5. ) It is apparent, therefore,
that the Cerasus uf Xenophon is not to be identified
with Pharnacia, though it might be thought so in Arri-
an's time; and it is remarkable that this erroneous
opinion should have prevailed so strongly as to leave
the name of Keresoun to the site occupied by the an-
cient Pharnacia. With respect to this latter place, it
appears to have been founded by Pharuaces, grandfa-
ther of Mithradates the Great, though we have no pos-
itive authority for the fact. We know only that it ex-
isted in the time of the last-mentioned monarch, since
it is spoken of in Plutarch's Life of Lucullus. Man-
ntrt is inclined to think, that Phamacia was founded on
the site of a Greek settlement named Chcerades, which
Scylax places in this vicinity (p. 33). It is also no-
ticed by Stephanus of Byzantium as a town of the
Mosynosci, on the authority of Hecatasus (s v. Xotpu-
ttr. --Manner! , Gcogr. , vol. 6, pt. 2, p. 386. --Cra-
mtr'tAsia Minor, vol. 1, p. 281).
Pharos, I. a small island in the bay of Alexandres,
it the entrance of the greater harbour, upon which was
built, in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, a cele-
brated tower, to serve as a lighthouse. The architect
wa i Sostratus, sort of Dexiphanes. This tower, which
waj also called Pharos, and which passed for one of
tne seven wonders of the world, was built with while
marble, and could be seen at a very great distance.
It bad several stories raised one above another, adorn-
ed with columns, balustrades, and galleries, of the
finest marble and workmanship. On the lop, fires were
kept lighted in the night season, to direct sai'ors in the
bay, which was dangerous and diffic lit (( a< cess.
Th<< building of this tower cost the Egyptian moi. arch
800 talents, about 850,01)0 dollars. According to
Strabo, there was on the lower ihe following inscrip-
tion, cut into the marble, 2QZTPATOZ KNIAI02
AEHl*ANOT2 9EOI2 ZQTHPZIK TIIEP TON
nAUlZOMENON ("Sostratus the Cnidian, son of
Dexiphanes. to the gods the preset vers, for the benefit
of mariners''). Pliny also speaks of the magnanimity
of Ptolemy, in allowing the name of Sostratus, and not
his own, to be inscribed upon the tower. (Strab. , 791.
--Pliit. , 36, 12. ) Lucian, however, telis. a different
story. According to that writer, Sostratus, wishing to
enjov in after ages all the glory of the work, cut the
above inscription on the stones, and then, covering
them over with cement, wrote upon the latter another
inscription, which assigned the honour ol having erect-
ed this structure to the author of the work, King Ptol-
? ? emy. The cement, however, having decayed through
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? PH A
quities at Pl. arsalus. The name of Pharta alone re
mains to show what it once was.
V. A rock-fortress in Sogdiana, taken by Alexander.
(Quint. Curt. , 7, 11. ) It was also called Oxi Petra,
probably from its being near the river Oxus.
Pktk. -b\, one of the divisions of Arabia, so called,
not, as is commonly supposed, from its stony or rocky
character (nerpa, " a rock," " a stone"), but from its
celebrated emporium Petra. ( Vul. Petra, I. ) It was
bounded on the east by Arabia Dcserta, on the west
by Egypt and the Mediterranean, on'the south by the
Red Sea, which here divides and runs north in two
branches, and on the north by Palestine. This coun-
try contained the southern Edomites, the Amalckites,
the Cushites, who are improperly called the Ethiopi-
ans, the Hivites, &c. Their descendants are at pres-
ent known by the general name of Arabians; but it ia
of consequence to notice the ancient inhabitants as they
are mentioned in the text of Scripture. (Vid. Arabia. )
Petreius, Marcus, a Roman commander. He was
lieutenant to the consul C. Antonius, and was intrust-
ed by the latter, who feigned indisposition, with the
command of the Roman forces against the army cf
Catiline, whom he totally defeated. (Sail. , Bell. Cat. ,
c. 59, sea. ) Faithful to the cause of the republic, he
became one of Pompey'a lieutenants in Spain during
the civil contest, and endeavoured, in conjunction with
Afranius, to oppose the progress of Cesar in that coun-
? ? try. They were both, however, compelled to surren-
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? PETRONIUS.
PETRONIUS.
ry to Icate a world which he loved. He opened hia
rams and closed them again, at intervals losing a small
quantity of blood, then binding up the orifice, as his
own inclinations prompted. He conversed during the
whole time with his usual gayety, never changing his
habitual manner, nor talking sentences to show his
contempt of death He listened to his friends, who
endeavoured to entertain him, not with grave discour-
ses on tho immortality of the soul or the moral wisdom
of philosophers, but with strains of poetry, and verses
of a gay and natural turn. He distributed presents to
some of his servants, and ordered others to be chastised.
He walked out for his amusement, and even lay down
to sleep. In his last scene of life he acted with such
calm tranquillity, that his death, though an act of ne-
cessity, seemed no more than the decline of nature.
In his will, he scorned to follow tho example of others,
who, like himself, died under the tyrant's stroke: he
neither 8attered the emperor, nor Tigellinus, not any
of the creatures of the court; but having written, under
the fictitious names of profligate men and women, a nar-
rative of Nero's debauchery, and his new modes of vice,
he had the spirit to send to the emperor the tablets,
sealed with his own seal, which he took care to break,
that, after his death, it might not be used for the destruc-
tion of any person whatever. " (Tacitus, Ann. , 16,18,
eeqq. )--Some critics have thought that the Petronius
'. o whom this passage refers is not the same with the
author of the work that has come down to us, entitled
Satyricon. Their chief argument is, that the work
which, according to Tacitus, Petronius, when dying,
caused to be sent to Nero, was written on portable
tablets (codicilli), a circumstance that militates against
the idea of its being a production of any length. It is
urged, moreover, that the accomplices in the tyrant's
debaucheries and crimes were named in the work,
whereas the actors in the Satyricon bear fictitious
names. It is evident, indeed, that the Satyricon ia
not tho piece of which Tacit ? -nakes mention, and
that Nero caused the latter mi be destroyed; but it
would seem that the critics who advocate this opinion
go toe far when they deny also the identity of the wri-
ters. What is there to prevent our supposing that
Filroniiss, having now no measure to keep with the
world, amused himself with tracing on his testament-
ary tablets the scandalous lives of the individuals,
whose general manners he was content with depict-
ing in his larger work 1 Those critics, on the other
hand, who do not sec in the author of tho Satyricon
the friend and intimate companion of Nero, arc divided
in opinion as to the period when be lived. Some car-
ry him up as high as the era of Augustus, while others
place him under the Antonines, or even in the fourth
century. Both parties ground their respective argu-
ments on his style. The former discover in it the
purity of the golden age, while the latter find it mark-
ed with many low and trivial expressions, and with
many solecisms that indicate the decline of the language.
Without wishing to throw tho blame of some of these
faults on the manuscript itself, which is in so deplora-
ble a sUte that many passages remain incapable of be-
ing deciphered, notwithstanding all tho efforts of the
commentators, may we not suppose that these pretend-
ed solecisms have been purposely put by the author in
the mouths of individuals of the lower class, and that
the unusual words employed by him only appear such
to us, because we are unacquainted with the language of
? ? debauchery and intoxication among the Romans 1 --
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? PHi:
P HJE
or Pet onius, found, according to him, in the library
at St. Gall. (Repertoire de Litter. Arte. , vol. 1, p.
239. )--A poem in 295 verses, on the fall of the Ro-
man republic, forms a fine episode to the Satyricon of
Petronius. The Satyricon itself, it may be remarked,
in concluding, is admirable for the truth with which
the author delineates the characters of his personages.
It contains many pleasing pictures, full of irony; and
it is characterized by great spirit and gayety of man-
ner; but it is to be regretted that the author has cm-
ployed his abilities on a subject so truly immoral and
disgusting. The style is rich, picturesque, and ener-
gelic; but often obscure and difficult, cither from the
unusual words which we meet with in it, or by reason
of the corrupt state of the text. The best edition is
that of Burman, 4to, Ultra. ). , 1709; to which may be
added that of Reinesius, 1731, Svo, and that of C. G.
Anton, Lips. , 1781, 8vo. (Scholl, Hist. Lit. Rom. ,
vol. 2, p. 416, seqq. --B'ahr, Gcseh. Rom. Lit. , vol. 1,
p. 577, scqq. )
PgucK, a name applied to the land insulated by the
two principal arms of the Danube at its mouth. The
ancient appellation still partly remains in that of Pic-
ana. It was called Peuce from rrevKri, a pine-tree,
with which species of tree it abounded. From this
island the Peucini, who dwelt in and adjacent to it, de-
rived their name. We find them reappearing in the
Lower Empire, under the names of Piezinigcs and
Patzinaeiles. (Lucan, 3, 202-- Plin. , 4, 12 )
Peuce riv, a region of Apulia, on the coast, below
Daunia. The Peucetii, according to Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, derived their name from Peucetius, son
of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, who, with his brother CEno-
trus, migrated to Italy seventeen generations before
the siege of Troy. But modern critics have felt little
disposed to give credit to a story, the improbability of
which is so very apparent, whether we look to the
country whence these pretended settlers are said to
have come, or the state of navigation at so remote a
period. (Vreret, Mem. de VAcad. , dec. , vol. 18, p.
8J. ) Had the Peucetii and the CEnotri really been of
Grecian origin, Dionysius might have adduced better
evidence of the fact than the genealogies of the Arca-
dian chiefs, cited from Pherecydes. The most re-
spectable authority he could have brought forward on
this point would unquestionably have been that of An-
tiochus the Syracusan; but this historian is only quo-
ted by him in proof of the antiquity of the CEnotri, not
of their Grecian descent. (Dion. Hal. , 1, 2. --Strabo,
283. --Plin. , 3, 11. ) The Peucetii are always spoken
of in history, even by the Greeks themselves, as bar-
barians, who differed in no essential respect from
the Daunii, Iapygcs, and other neighbouring nations.
fCramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2, p. 296. )
Pbuciki. Viil. Peuce.
Phacusa, a town of Egypt, on the Pelusiac arm of
the Nile. The ruins are found near the modern Tell
Phakus (hill of Phacusa). (Steph. Byz. , s. v. )
Phacussa, one of the Sporaces, now Gaiphonisi.
(Plin. , 4, 12. --Steph. Byz. , s. t>. ioKovoaa. )
Ph. *acTa, the Homeric name for the island of Cor-
eyra. (Vid. Corcyra. ) When visited by Ulysses, Al-
cinoiis was its king, and his gardens are beautifully
described by the poet. The Phaeacians are represent-
ed as an easy-tempered and luxurious race, but remark-
able for their skill in navigation. They were fabled
to have derived their name from Phajax, a son of Nep-
? ? tune. (Horn , Od. , 6, 1, scqq. --Id. ib. , 7, I, scqq. --
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? PILEDRUS.
PH. EDKUS
since liia retirement to the island of Capreae, was be-
come an object of general contempt, that Phaedrus
meant him, in the second fable of the first book, by
the log given to the frogs as their king. Bu', if Phae-
drus has indeed represented Tiberius under the alle-
gory of a log, the hydra, which takes its place, will in-
dicate the successor of the monarch, unless we sup-
pose Sejanus to be intended by the reptile: this inter-
pretation, however, appears extremely forced. Titze
thinks that Phxdrus may have been at first a favourite
? f Sejanus, and afterward involved in his disgrace;
and that Eutychus, in the reign of Caligula, had given
him hopes of a restoration to imperial patronage. This
theory, however, is contradicted by the prologue to the
third book of the fables (v. 41. --Titze, Inlroduct. in
Phadr. --Id. , it Phadri vita, scriplis, et vsu). --
Phssdrus composed five books of fables, containing, in
all, ninety fables, written in Iambic verse. He has the
merit of having first made the Romans acquainted with
the fables of /Esop; not that all his own fables are
merely translations of those of the latter, but because
the two thirds of them that appear original, or, at least,
with the originals of which we are unacquainted, are
written in the manner of . Esop. Phaedrus deserves
'. he praise of invention for the way in which he has ar-
ranged them; and he is quite as original a poet as
Fontaine, who, like him, has taken from other sources
besides the fables of vEsop the materials for a large
portion of hia own. He is distinguished for a precis-
ion, a gracefulness, and a naivete of style and manner
that have never been surpassed. The air of simplicity
which characterizes bis pieces is the surest guarantee
of their authenticity, which some critics have contest-
ed. His diction is at the same time remarkable for
its elegance, though this occasionally is pushed rather
too far into the regions of refinement. The manu-
scripts of Phsdrus are extremely rare. The one from
which Pithou (Pithceus) published, in 1596, the eduio
princeps of the fables, passed eventually, by marriage,
into the hands of the Lepelletier family; and is now
in the library of M. Lepelletier de Rosanbo {De Xi-
vrey, ad. Phadr. , p. 23, scqq. --Id. ib. , p. 40, nqq. ).
A second manuscript, which Rigalt used in his edition
of 1617, was destroyed by AYe at Rheims in 1774;
but we have remaining of this a very accurate colla-
tion. A third one, or, rather, the remains of one, is
now in the Vatican library, and is said to contain from
the first to the twenty-first fable of the first book.
'Noiit. Literar. de Codd. MSS. , Phadri, No. 3, de
Cod. Danielis. ) Thia rarity of manuscripts is one
cause of the doubts that have been entertained by some
respecting the authenticity of the fables ascribed to
him, and even the very existence of the poet. Some
other circumstances lend weight to these doubts: the
silence, namely, of the ancient writers concerning Phs-
drus, and the positive declaration of Seneca, who re-
marks {Contol. ad Polyb. , c.
27) that the Romans had
never attempted to compose after the manner of the
iEsopic fables. (" Non audco te usque eo produccre, ut
fabcltas quoque et Aisopcos logos, inlentalum Romanis
ingeniis opus, solita tibi venustatc conncclas. ") An-
other argument on this same side of the question is as
follows: Nicolas Perotti, who, about the middle of
the 15th century, was archbishop of Manfredonia, and
one of the patrons of Greek literature in Italy, cites
in his Cornu Copia a fable which he aays he took in
his early days from the fables of Avienus. (" Allusit
? ? ad fabulam, quam nos ex Avieno in fabcllas nostras
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? P HA
PHALARIS.
Vagi. Bad. , 1727, -Ito. and 1745, 8vo; that of Bent-
ley, at the end of his Terence, Cantab. , 1726, 4to,
and Anut. , 1727, 4to; that of Brotier, Paris, 1783,
12mo; that of Schwabe, Brunsv. , 1806, 2 vols. 8vo;
that of Gail, in Lemairc's collection, Paris, 1826, 2
vols. 8vo; and that of Orelli, Turici, 1831, 8vo.
(Schbll, Hist. Lit. Rom. , vol. 2, p. 343, scqq. --Bdhr,
Gesch. Rom. Lit. , vol. 1, p. 308, seqq. )
Phaethon (4>ae0ov), son of Helios and the Ocean-
nymph Clymene. His claims to a celestial origin
being disputed by Epaphus, son of Jupiter, Phaethon
journeyed to the palace of his sire, the sun-god, from
whom he extracted on unwary oath that he would
grant him whatever he asked. The ambitious youth
instantly demanded permission to guide the solar char-
iot for one day, to prove himself thereby the undoubted
progeny of the sun. Helios, aware of the conse-
quences, remonstrated, but to no purpose. The youth
persisted, and the god, bound by his oath, reluctantly
committed the reins to his hands, warning him of the
dangers of the road, and instructing him how to avoid
them. Phaethon grasped the reins, the flame-breath-
ing steeds sprang forward, but, soon aware that they
were not directed by the well-known hand, they ran
out of the course; the world was set on fire, and a
otal conflagration would have ensued, had not Jupiter,
at the prayer of Earth, launched his thunder, and hurled
the terrified driver from his seat. He fell into the river
Eridanus. His sisters, the Heliades, as they lament-
ed his fate, were turned into poplar-trees on its banks,
and their tears, which still continued to flow, became
amber as they dropped into the stream. Cycnus, the
friend of the ill-fated Phaethon, also abandoned him-
self to mourning, and at length was changed into a
? wan (kvkvoc). {Chid, Met, 1, 750, seqq. --Hygin. ,
fab. , 152, 154. --Nonnus, Dionys. , 38, 105, 439. --
Apoll. Rhod,A, 597, seqq. -- Virg, A3n. , 10, 190 --
la. , Kelog. , 6, 62. ) This story was dramatized by
iEschylus, in the Heliades, and by Euripides in his
Phaethon. Some fragments of both plays have been
preserved. Ovid appears to have followed closely the
former drama. --The legend of Phaethon is regarded
by the expounders of mythology at the present day
as a physical myth, devised to account for the origin
of the electron, or amber, which seems to have been
brought from the Baltic to Greece in the very earliest
times. The term fjtoKTpov, as Welcker observes,
resembles jjUnrup, an epithet of the sun. In the
opinion of this last-mentioned writer, the story of
Phaethon is only the Greek version of a German le-
gend on the subject. The tradition of the people of
the country was said to be (Apoll. Rhod. , 4, 611),
that the amber was produced from the tears of the sun-
god. The Greeks made this sun-god the same with
their Apollo, and added that he shed these tears when
he came to the land of the Hyperboreans, an exilo from
heaven on account of his avenging upon the Cyclops
the fate of his son ^Esculapius. But, as this did not
accord with the Hellenic conception of either Helios
or Apollo, the Heliades were devised to remove the
inconsistency. The foundation of the fable lay in the
circumstance of amber being regarded as a species of
resin, which drops from the trees that yield it. That
part of the legend which relates to the Eridanus, con-
founds the Po with the true Eridanus in the north of
Europe. (Welcker, Msch. Trilogie, p. 566, seq. --
Keightley's Mythology, p. 57, seq. )
? ? Phakthontiades or Phaethontides, the sisters of
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? 1'H A
T HA
1 pjice iinonj royal or noble authors, Bentley exam-
ines certain other reputed pieces of antiquity, such as
the Letters of Themistocles, of Socrates, and of Eu-
ripides; all which he shows not to be the productions
of the individuals whose names they bear, but forgeries
of some sophists many centuries later. The publica-
tion of this writ excited a sensation in the literary
and academical circles that was without example.
The society of Christ-Church was thrown into a per-
fect fsrment, and the task of inflicting a full measure
of liurary chastisement upon the audacious offender
was assigned to the ablest scholars and wits of the
J college. The leaders of the confederacy wore Atter-
bury and Smalridge, but the principal share in the at-
tack fell to the lot of the former. In point of classi-
cal learning, however, the joint stock of the coaliton
bore no proportion to that of Bentley: their acquaint-
ance with several of the books on which they comment
appears only to have been begun upon this occasion;
and sometimes they are indebted for their knowledge
of them to the very individual whom they attack, and
compared with whose boundless erudition their learn-
ing was that of schoolboys, and not always sufficient
to preserve them from distressing mistakes. But
profound literature was at that period confined to
few; while wit and raillery found numerous and
eager readers. The consequence was, that when
the reply of the Christ-Church men appeared, this
motley production of theirs, which is generally known
by the name of " Boyle against Bentley," it met with
a reception so uncommonly favourable as to form a
kind 01 paradox in literary history. But the triumph
of his opponents was short-lived. Bentley replied in
his enlarged Dissertation, a work which, while it ef-
fectually silenced his antagonists, and held them up to
ridicule as mere sciolists and blunderers, established
on the firmest basis his own claims to the character of
a consummate philologist. (Monk's Life of P'. nllcy,
p. 49, sc/q. )
Ph aleron, the most ancient of the Athenian ports;
b:. '. which, after the erection of the docks in the Piras-
us, ceased to be of any importance in a maritime point
of view. It was, however, enclosed within the forti-
fications of Themistocles, and gave its name to the
southernmost of the long walls, by means of which it
was connected with Athens. Phalcron supplied the
Athenian market with abundance of the little fish
named Aphysj, so often mentioned by the comic
writers. (Aristoph. , Acharn. , 901. --Id. , Av. , 96. --
Athcn. , 7, 8. --Arislot. , Hist. An , 6, 15. ) The lands
around it were marshy, and produced very fine cab-
bages. (Ilesych. , s. v. QaXnpticat. --Xcn. , (Earn. , c.
1P ) The modern name of Phaleron is Porto Fanari.
"Phaierum," says Hobhouse (vol. 1, p. 301, Am. ed. ),
"is of an elliptical form, smaller than Munychia; and
the remains of the piers on each side of the narrow
mouth are still to be seen. The line of its length is
from east to west, that of its breadth from north to
south. On the northeast side of the port, the land is
high and rocky until you come to the fine sweep of the
bay of Phaierum, perhaps two miles in length, and ter-
minated on the northeast by a low promontory, once
that of Colias. The clay from this neighbourhood was
preferred to any other for the use of the potteries. "
Phana, a harbour of the island of Chios, with a
temple of Apollo and a palm-grove in its vicinity.
Near it also was a promontory of the same name.
? ? (Strabo, 645-- Lb. , 36, 43-- Id. , 44, 28 ) Phanaj
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? PHA
fhA
oliere he was (lain by tome of his own followers.
lApptan, Bell. Mitkrad. , c. 120. --Dio Can. , I. c. )
Ph aknacia, a city of Pontus, on rhe seacoasl, and
in the territory of the Mosynogci. It is erroneously
confounded with Cerasus by Arrian (Peripl. , p. 17),
while the anonymous geographer, though in this in-
stance he copies that writer, yet afterward places Ccra-
tus 530 stadia farther to the east (p. 13). It should
be observed, also, that Strabo says that Cotyorum, and
not Cerasus, had contributed to the foundation of
Pharnacia {Strabo, 648); and he afterward names
Cerasus as a small place distinct from that town and
nearer Tra^zus. Pliny, moreover, distinguishes Phar-
nacia and Cerasus, and he besides informs us that the
former was 100 miles from Trapezus (6, 4). Xeno-
phon and the Crocks were three days on their march
from Trapezus to Cerasus, a space of time too short
to accomplish a route of 100 miles over a difficult
country. {Anab. , 5, 3, 5. ) It is apparent, therefore,
that the Cerasus uf Xenophon is not to be identified
with Pharnacia, though it might be thought so in Arri-
an's time; and it is remarkable that this erroneous
opinion should have prevailed so strongly as to leave
the name of Keresoun to the site occupied by the an-
cient Pharnacia. With respect to this latter place, it
appears to have been founded by Pharuaces, grandfa-
ther of Mithradates the Great, though we have no pos-
itive authority for the fact. We know only that it ex-
isted in the time of the last-mentioned monarch, since
it is spoken of in Plutarch's Life of Lucullus. Man-
ntrt is inclined to think, that Phamacia was founded on
the site of a Greek settlement named Chcerades, which
Scylax places in this vicinity (p. 33). It is also no-
ticed by Stephanus of Byzantium as a town of the
Mosynosci, on the authority of Hecatasus (s v. Xotpu-
ttr. --Manner! , Gcogr. , vol. 6, pt. 2, p. 386. --Cra-
mtr'tAsia Minor, vol. 1, p. 281).
Pharos, I. a small island in the bay of Alexandres,
it the entrance of the greater harbour, upon which was
built, in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, a cele-
brated tower, to serve as a lighthouse. The architect
wa i Sostratus, sort of Dexiphanes. This tower, which
waj also called Pharos, and which passed for one of
tne seven wonders of the world, was built with while
marble, and could be seen at a very great distance.
It bad several stories raised one above another, adorn-
ed with columns, balustrades, and galleries, of the
finest marble and workmanship. On the lop, fires were
kept lighted in the night season, to direct sai'ors in the
bay, which was dangerous and diffic lit (( a< cess.
Th<< building of this tower cost the Egyptian moi. arch
800 talents, about 850,01)0 dollars. According to
Strabo, there was on the lower ihe following inscrip-
tion, cut into the marble, 2QZTPATOZ KNIAI02
AEHl*ANOT2 9EOI2 ZQTHPZIK TIIEP TON
nAUlZOMENON ("Sostratus the Cnidian, son of
Dexiphanes. to the gods the preset vers, for the benefit
of mariners''). Pliny also speaks of the magnanimity
of Ptolemy, in allowing the name of Sostratus, and not
his own, to be inscribed upon the tower. (Strab. , 791.
--Pliit. , 36, 12. ) Lucian, however, telis. a different
story. According to that writer, Sostratus, wishing to
enjov in after ages all the glory of the work, cut the
above inscription on the stones, and then, covering
them over with cement, wrote upon the latter another
inscription, which assigned the honour ol having erect-
ed this structure to the author of the work, King Ptol-
? ? emy. The cement, however, having decayed through
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? PH A
quities at Pl. arsalus. The name of Pharta alone re
mains to show what it once was.
