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

PHILEMON. PH-ILEMON. 26i3
Arganthonian promontoryin the Propontis (Etymol. words, and which an inferior actor would havee
MIl. s. v.'ApyaOoW',); of Assos, Gargara, and An- murdered. (Arist. fRet. iii. 12. ~ 3.) [E. E.]
tandros (Macrob. /. c.); of Antheia, a Milesian PHILE'MON (,IAniAwv), literary. 1. The first
colony on the Propontis (Steph. Byz. s. v.); of in order of time, and the second in celebrity, of the
Andria, a Macedonian town (Steph. Byz. s. v.); Athenian comic poets of the New Comedy, was
of Thermopylae (Harpocrat. Phot. s. a.); of the the son of Damon, and a native of Soli in Cilicia,
Thesprotian Ambracia (Steph. Byz. s. v). Even according to Strabo (xiv. p. 671): others make
the coast of Italy was included in the work (Steph. him a Syracusan; but it is certain that he went at
Byz. s. v. V'Auoo). For a further account of this an early age to Athens, and there received the
writer, see Osann, Ueber den Geographoen Phileas citizenship (Suid. Eudoc. Hesych., Anon. de Co7n.
und sein Zeitalter, in the Zeitschrift fir die Alter- p. xxx.). Meineke suggested that he came to be
thituiswissenschaft, 1841, p. 635, &c. considered as a native of Soli because he went
2. Bishop of Thmuitae in Egypt, in the third there on the occasion of his banishment, of which
century of the Christian aera, and a martyr, wrote we shall have to speak presently; but it is a mere
a work in praise of martyrdom. (Hieronym. conjecture that he went to Soli at all upon that
Scrilpt. Ill. 78; Euseb. H. E. viii. 10; Niceph. occasion; and Meineke himself withdraws the sugvii. 9; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 306.) gestion in his more recent work (Frag. Conm. Graec.
PHI'LEAS (',iXias), an Argive sculptor, of un- vol. ii. p. 52).
known date, whose name is found, with that of There can be no doubt that Philemon is rightly
his son Zeuxippus, in an inscription on a statue- assigned to the New Comedy, although one authobase found at Hermione, in Argolis, rity makes him belong to the Middle (Apul. Flor.
~ 16), which, if not a mere error, may be explained
4IA~EA:SKAIZErT5IfllrlO.~44IAEAEUorI HIAN, by the well-known fact, that the beginning of the
i. e. lXe'as Kal Ze&trnros l'AEa 4arobloeav. (BiJckh, New Comedy was contemporary with the closing
Corp. Inscr. vol. i. p. 603, No. 1229; Welcker, period of the Middle. There is, however, nothing
Kunsthlatt, 1827, p. 330; R. Rochette, Letire a in the titles or fragments of Philemon which can
AM. Schlorn, p. 380.) [P. S.] be at all referred to the Middle Comedy. He was
PHILE'MENUS (,,X4tuevos), a noble youth of placed by the Alexandrian grammarians among the
Tarentum, who took a leading part in the con- six poets who formed their canon of the New
spiracy to betray that city into the hands of Han- Comedy, and who were as follows:-Philemon,
nibal, a. c. 212. Under pretence of pursuing the Menander, Diphilus, Philippides, Poseidippus, Apolpleasures of the chase, he used frequently to go out lodorus. (Anon. de Co017. p. xxx. Tos ai vias Kwof the city and return in the middle of the night, tyq4Las yeyoyvarr yv woLloTal &,', dtLoXoyCoJraToL b
and thus established an intimacy with some of the TOuTCOV ILA VcWV, MivavSpo, Aic(sioF, q tAtriios,,Ir,
gate keepers, so that they used to admit him on a oO'ei t7r7ros,'A7roAAXorapos; comp. Ruhnken, Hist.
private signal at any hour. Of this he availed Crit. Orat. Graec. p. xcv.) He flourished in the
himself on a night previously concerted with the reign of Alexander, a little earlier than Menander
Carthaginian general, and succeeded in seizing on (Suid.), whom, however, he long survived. IHe
one of the gates, by which he introduced a body of began to exhibit before the 11 3th Olympiad (Anon.
1000 African soldiers into the city, while Nicon 1. c.), that is, about B. C. 330. He was, therefore,
admitted Hannibal himself by another entrance the first poet of the New Comedy*, and shares
(Polyb. viii. 26-32; Liv. xxv. 8-10). When with Menander, who appeared eight years after
Tarentum was recovered by Fabius, B. c. 209, him, the honour of its invention, or rather of rePhilemenus perished in the conflict that ensued ducing it to a regular form; for the elements of the
within the city itself; but in what manner was New Comedy had appeared already in the Middle,
unknown, as his body could never be found. (Liv. and even in the Old, as for example in the Cocalus
xxvii. 16.) [E. H. B.] of Aristophanes, or his son Araros. It is possible
PHILE'MON (iA7tiywv), an aged Phrygian even to assign, with great likelihood, the very play
and husband of Baucis. Once Zeus and Hermes, of Philemon's which furnished the first example of
assuming the appearance of ordinary mortals, visited the New Comedy, namely the Ilypobolimnaeus, which
Phrygia, and no one was willing to receive the was an imitation of the Cocalus. (Clem. Alex.
strangers, until the hospitable hut of Philemon and Strom. vi. p. 267; Anon. de Vit. Arist. pp. 13,14.
Baucis was opened to them, where the two gods s. 37, 38.)
were kindly treated. Zeus rewarded the good old Philemon lived to a very great age, and died,
couple by taking them with him to an eminence, according to Aelian, during the war between Athens
while all the neighbouring district was visited with and Antigonus (ap. Suid. s. v.), or, according to the
a sudden inundation. On that eminence Zeus ap- more exact date of Diodorus (xxiii. 7), in 01. 129. 3,
pointed them the guardians of his temple, and B. c. 262 (see Wesseling, ad loc.), so that he may
granted to them to die both at the same moment, have exhibited comedy nearly 70 years. The
and then metamorphosed them into trees. (Ov. statements respecting the age at which he died
Met. viii. 621, &c.) [L. S.] vary between 96, 97, 99, and 101 years (Lucian,
PHILE'MON (i tX/4ocwv). 1. A person whom Macrob. 25; Diod. 1. c.; Suid. s. v.). He must,
Aristophanes attacks as not being of pure Athenian therefore, have been born about n. c. 360, and was
descent, but tainted with Phrygian blood. (Arist. about twenty years older than Menander. The
Av. 763.) manner of his death is differently related; some
2. An actor mentioned by Aristotle as having ascribing it to excessive laughter at a ludicrous insupported the principal part in the repovT-o0aetva cident (Suid. Hesych. Lucian, 1. c.; Val. Max. ix.
and the EveCess of Anaxandrides. The great 12. ext. 6); others to joy at obtaining a victory in a
critic praises him for the excellence of his delivery
and for the way in which he carried off by it pas- " Respecting the error by which Philippides is
sages which contained repetitions of the same placed before him, see PILIPPrrIEs.
s4