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

PH AEDRUS. PHAEMON, 231
Phaedrus and the Conovivium. It appears from book shows that this fable was written after the
these that he was a great admirer of Lysias and the death of Augustus.
other rhetoricians of his age. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. The prologue to the first book states that the fables
vol. ii. p. 717.) are Aesop's matter turned into iambic verse:2. An Epicurean philosopher, a contemporary of
Cicero, who became acquainted with him ill his Han ego polivi versibus senaris.
youth at Rome (Cic. ad Famr. xiii. 1. ~ 2). During
his residence in Athens (B. c. 80) Cicero renewed This prologue also adds that the object was to
his acquaintance with him. Phaedrus was at that amuse and to instruct. The prologue to the second
time an old man, and was the president of the book intimates a somewhat freer handling of the
Epicurean school (Cic. Phil. v. 5. ~ 13, de Nat. old fabulist's material. In the prologue to the
Deor. i. 33. ~ 93, de Fin. i. 5. ~ 16). He was also third book he still refers to Aesop as his model: —
on terms of friendship with Velleius, whom Cicero Librum exarabo tertium Aesopi stilo.
introduces as the defender of the Epicurean tenets
in the De Nat. Deor. (i. 21. ~ 58; comp. Madvig. There is no prologue to the fourth book; and in
ad Cic. de Fin. p. 35), and especially with Atticus the prologue to the fifth book he intimates that he
(Cic. de Fin. i. 5. ~ 16, v. 1. ~ 3, &c.). He occu- had often used the name of Aesop only to recompied the position of head of the Epicurean school mend his verses. Accordingly, many of the fables
till B. C. 70 (Phot. Cod. 97, p. 84, ed. Bekker), of Phaedrus are not Aesopian, as the matter clearly
and was succeeded by Patron [PATRON]. Cicero shows, for they refer to historical events of a much
especially praises his agreeable manners. He had later period (v. 1, 8, iii. 10). Many of the fables,
a son named Lysiadas. however, are transfusions of the Aesopian fables,
Cicero (ad Att. xiii. 39) mentions, according to or those which pass as such, into Latin verse. The
the common reading, two treatises by Phaedrus, expression is generally clear and concise, and the
4aiapov 7repieacsr et'EAAa'los. The first title is language, with some few exceptions, as pure and
corrected on MS. authority to rHpl aSeov. Some correct as we should expect from a Roman writer
critics (as Petersen) suppose that only one treatise of the Augustan age. But Phaedrus has not esis spoken of, rIepl seCV KaCl lahhAdlos. Others caped censure, when he has deviated from his Greek
(among whom is Orelli, Ononm. Tull. s. v. Phaedrus) model, and much of the censure is just. The best
adopt the reading et'EAAdaos, or at least suppose fables are those in which he has kept the closest to
that two treatises are spoken of. An interesting his original.
fragment of the former work was discovered at The MSS. of Phaedrus are rare, which circumHerculaneum in 1806, and was first published, stance, combined with a passage of Seneca (Consol.
though not recognised as the work of Phaedrus, in ad Polyb. 27), "that fable-writing had not been ata work entitled Her-culanensia, or Archaeological and tempted by the Romans," and an expression of N.
Philological Dissertations; containing a lManuscript Perotti, has led some critics to doubt their genuinefounzd among the ruins of Herculaneum, London, ness, and even to ascribe them to Perotti; an
1810. A better edition was published by Petersen opinion, however, which Perrotti's own attempts at
(Phaedri Epicurei, gulgo Anonyini Herculanensis, verse-making completely disprove.
de Nat. Deor. Fragm. Hamb. 1833). Cicero was Another collection of thirty-two fables, attributed
largely indebted to this work of Phaedrus for the to Aesop, has been published from a MS. of the
materials of the first book of the De NAtura Deorumn. same N. Perotti, who was archbishop of ManfreNot only is the development of the Epicurean doc- donia in the middle part of the fifteenth century.
trine (c. 16, &c.) taken from it, but the erudite This collection is entitled Epitome Fabularumn, and
account of the doctrines of earlier philosophers put in was first published at Naples, in 1809, by Cassitti.
the mouth of Velleius, is a mere translation from Opinions are much divided as to the genuinenes of
Phaedrus. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. iii. p. 608; Krische, this collection. The probability is, that the EpiForschungen af dem Gebiete der alten Phil. vol. i. tome is founded on genuine Roman fables, which,
p. 27, &c.; Preller, in Ersch and Gruber's En- in the process of transcription during many cencyklopiidie.) [C. P. M.] turies, have undergone considerable changes.
PHAEDRUS. Ninety-seven fables in Latin The first edition of the five books of fables of
iambic verse (ed. Orelli), distributed in five books, Phaedrus was by P. Pithou, 1596, 12mo., which
are attributed to Phaedrus. The first writer who was from a MS. that is supposed to belong to the
mentions Phaedrus is Avienus, unless one of tenth century. The last and only critical edition of
Martial's epigrams (iii. 20) alludes to him, and the fables is byJ. C. Orelli, Ziirich, 1831, 8vo., which
there is no sufficient reason for doubting that contains the Aratea of Caesar Germanicus. Orelli
the author of the fables is meant. The little has not always displayed judgment in his choice of
that is known of Phaedrus is collected or in- the readings. The last edition of the thirty-two
ferred from the fables. He was originally a slave, new fables is entitled Phaedri Fabulae Novae
and was brought from Thrace or Macedonia to XXXII. e codice Vaticano redintegratae ab Angelo
Rome, where he learned the Latin language. As 3lMaio. Supplenmentum Editionis Orellianae. Accethe title of his work is Phaedri Aug. Liberti Fa- dunt Publii Syri Codd. Basil. et Turic. antiquisz
bulae Aesopiae, we must conclude that he had be- simi cum Sententiis circiter XXX. nune primum
longed to Augustus, who manumitted him. Under editis, Ziirich, 1832. [G. L.]
Tiberius he appears to have undergone some per- PHAEINUS, astronomer. [METON.]
secution from Sejanuls, but the allusion to Sejanus PHAEMON (q aigscov). A treatise on the
in the prologue to Eutychus (lib. iii.) is very obscure, right management of dogs (KuvoO6dpLoy), was
and has been variously understood. It may be in- published without the name of the author, by
ferred from this prologue that the third book of the Nicolaus Rigaltius, Paris, 1619, in a collection
fables was not published until after the death of bearing the title, De Re Accipitraria et Venatica.
Sejanusi A passage in the tenth fable of the third But it- had been published in Greek and Latin,
q 4