A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

PARTTIENIS. PARTIIENIUS. 129
merated by Pliny as belonging to his subject — Sappho (vii. 69. 7), where, however, the true
"debebat namque varium, iracundum, injustuin, reading of the name is doubtful: the best editions
inconstantem, eundem exorabilem, clementem, have Pantaenis. [P. S.]
misericordem, gloriosum, excelsum, humilem, fero- PARTHE'NIUS, occurs in Juvenal (xii. 44) as
cem, fugacemque, et omnia parlter ostendere:" as the name of a silver-chaser, evidently of high reto how all these qualities were expressed Pliny putation at that time (comp. SchoI.). Sillig (Ad.
gives us no more information than is contained in pend. ad Catal. A rtif.) and the commentators on
the words arqgumento 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 Parsisted of several groups; others that it was a single thenia, the old name of Samos: but the same
figure; and Quatremere de Quincy has put forth name occurs, in'a slightly different form, C. Octhe ingeniously absurd hypothesis, that the picture tavius Parthenlio, with the epithet, A qentariuzs, inl
was merely that of an owl, as the symbol of Athens, an inscription (Gruter, p. dcxxxix. 5; R. Rochette,
with many heads of different animals, as the syml- Lettre a AI. 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- PARTHE'NIUS (Hlap8e'Vos), the chief chamscribe the picture, but its subject; the word debebat berlain (cubiculo praepositus) 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. n. 96. After the death of the
Demos was to be found in the IKnights 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 hadnot the courage
pictorial representation of suck 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 Doms. 1 6; Aurel. Vict. Epit. I 1, 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 (Iapevilos), 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. Nreoap) and Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. N/did not fully satisfy the severer taste of the Hel- iKala) 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
sins had fed upon roses, but his own upon beef. Eudora, or, as Hermippus stated, of Tetha; and
(Pllt. de Glo-. A tl. 2). Suidas further relates that he was taken prisoner by
The works of Parrhasius were not all, however, Cinna, il the Mithridatic war, was afterwards
of this elevated character. He painted libidinous manumnitted 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. 1. c.; Suet. Tib. 44). were seventy-seven years from the death of MithriA few others of his pictures, chiefly mythological, dates to the accession of Tiberius; but if Parare 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 Auon 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. [Ai- therefore, have been written before B. c. 26, when
SACIDAE, p. 363, a.] Gallus died. We know, moreover, that Parthenius
PARTHAMASPATES, king of Parthia [AR- taught Virgil Greek (MIacrob. v. 17), and a line
SACES, p. 359, a.], and subsequently king of in the Georgics (i. 437) is expressly stated both
Armenia. [ARSACIDA, p. 363, a.] by Macrobius (1. c.) and A. Gellius (xiii. 26), to
PARTHAON. [PoRTHAON.] have been borrowed from Parthenius. HIe seenms
PARTHE'NIA (IlapOsePa). I. 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. 1I/usen. in Dianl. 110; Schol. works and statues in the public libraries, alongo
ad Apollouz. Rliod. i. 187.) with the most celebrated ancient writers (Suet. Tib.
2. The wife of Samus, from whoml the island 70).
of Samos was anciently called Parthenia. (Schol. Suidas calls Parthenius an elegiac poet, and the
ad Apollon. Rhod. 1. c.) [L. S.] author of verses in various kinds of measures
PARTHENIA'NUS, AEMIM LIUS, the author (4Xesyeoeroto's Ka! EerpPWv buxpdpov ro01l77Ts); and
of an historical work, which gave an account of although his only extant work is in prose, it was
the various persons who aspired to the tyranny as a poet that he was best known in antiquity.
(Vulcat. Gallic. Avid. Cuss. 5), The following are the titles of his principal works:
PA'RTHENIS (lapOesvis), a female epigram- -1.'EAyee7a ecs'Agpo[fri`-q (Suid.) for which we
matist, who had a place in the Garsland of Meleager ought probably to read ie'Ayeial,'Acppo iTr, as two
(v. 31). None of her epigrams are extant, and separate works, and this conjectureis supported by
there is no other mention of her, unless she be the the way in which these works are quoted by the
samle as the poetess whom Martial comrpares with ancient writers (camp. Steph. Byz. s.v.'Atlfa.l'rrioY
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