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

PHILIPPIDES. PHILIPPIDES. 269
a dissertation by F. F. Brisken, entitled Philinus et son of Philocles, is mentioned as one of the six
1iahnemannus, seu Veteris Sectae Empiricae cunm principal comic poets of the New Comedy by the
Hodierna Secta Homoeopathica Comprwactio, Berol. grammarians (Proleg. ad Aristoph. p. 30; Tzetz.
1834, 8vo. [W. A. G.] Proleq. ad Lycopljr. p. 257, with the emendation
PHILI'PPICUS, or more correctly PHILE'PI- of Athtnr7ri6Lhs for,IAILoriwv, see PHILIsTrON). AcCUS (lAlhl7rrLKAd or QLhAeTrKdS), emperor of Con- cording to Suidas, he flourished in the 111th Olymstantinople from December, A. D. 71 1, to the fourth piad, or B. C. 335, a date which would throw him
of June, 713. The account of his accession to the back rather into the period of the Middle Comedy.
throne is related in the life of the emperor Jus- There are, however, several indications in the fragtinian II. Rhinotmetus. His original name was ments of his plays that he flourished under the
Bardanes; he was the son of Nicephorus Patricius; successors of Alexander; such as, first, his attacks
and he had distinguished himself as a general during on Stratocles, the flatterer of Demetrius and Antithe reigns of Justinian and his predecessors; he gonus, which would place him between 01. 118 and
was sent into exile by Tiberius Absimarus, on the 122 (Plut. Demetr. 12, 26, pp. 894, c. 900, f.,
charge of aspiring to the crown. After having been Amator. p. 730, f.), and more particularly his ridiproclaimed by the inhabitants of Cherson and by cule of the honours which were paid to Demetrius
the army, with which lie was commanded to ex- through the influence of Stratocles, in B. c. 301
terminate those people by the emperor Justinian (Clinton, F. H. sub ann.); again, his friendship
II., he assumed the name of Philippicus, or, as ex- with king Lysimachus, who was induced by him
tant coins of him have it, Filepicus; Theophanes, to confer various favours on the Athenians, and
however, calls him Philippicus previous to his ac- who assumed the royal title in 01. 118. 2, B. c.
cession. After the assassination of the tyrant Jus- 306 (Plut. Demetr. 12); and the statements of
tinian, Philippicus ruled without opposition, though Plutarch (l. c.) and Diodorus (xx. 110), that he
not without creating much dissatisfaction through ridiculed the Eleusinian mysteries, into which he
his dissolute course of life, and his unwise policy in had been initiated in the archonship of Nicocles,
religious matters. Belonging to the sect of the B. C. 302. It is true, as Clinton remarks (F.H.
Monothelists, he deposed the orthodox patriarch vol. ii. introd. p. xlv), that these indications may
Cyrus, and put the heretic John in his stead. The be reconciled with the possibilily of his having flouwhole East soon embraced, or at least tended to- rished at the date given by Suidas; but a sounder
wards, Monothelism; the emperor brought about the criticism requires us to alter that date to suit these
abolition of the canons of the sixth council; and indications, which may easily be done, as Meineke
the names of the patriarchs, Sergius and Honorius, proposes, by chalging pia', 11 i, into pi1', 114, the
who had been anathematized by that council, were, latter Olympiad corresponding to B. C. 323 (Meion his order, inserted in the sacred diptychs. Phi- neke, Menzand. et Philem. Reliq. p. 44. Hist. Crit.
lippicus had scarcely arrived in his capital when Comn. Graec. p. 471; in the latter passage Meineke
Terbilis, king of Bulgaria, made his sudden appear- explains that the emendation of Suidas proposed
ance under its walls, burned the suburbs, and re- by him in the former, pict', was a misprint for pio').
tired with many captives and an immense booty. It is a confirmation of this date, that in the list above
During this time the Arabs took and burnt referred to of the six chief poets of the New CoAmrasia (712), and in the following year (713) medy, Philippides comes, not first, but after PhileAntioch in Pisidia fell into their hands. The em- mon, Menander, and Diphilus: for if the list had
peror did nothing to prevent these or further dis- been in order of merit, and not of time, Menander
asters; a plot, headed by the patricians Georgius, would have stood first. The mistake of Suidas
surnamed Boraphus, and Theodore Myacius, was may be explained by his confoundilig Philippides,
entered into to deprive him of his throne; and the the comic poet, with the demagogue Philippides,
fatal day arrived without Philippicus being in the against whom Hyperides composed all oration, and
least prepared for it. On the 3rd of June, 713, he who is ridiculed for his leanness )by Alexis, Aristocelebrated the anniversary of his death; splendid phon, and other poets of the Middle Comedy; an
entertainments were given in the hippodrome, the error into which other writers also have fallen, and
emperor with a brilliant cavalcade paraded through which Clinton (1. c.) has satisfactorily refuted.
the streets of Constantinople, and when the even- Philippides seems to have deserved the rank asing approached, the prince sat down with his signed to him, as one of the best poets of the New
courtiers to a sumptuous banquet. According to Comedy. ie attacked theluxuryand corruptions of
his habit, Philippicus took such copious libations his age, defended the privileges of his art, and made
that his attendants were obliged to put him to bed use of personal satire with a spirit approaching tothat
in a senseless state. On a given signal, one of the of the Old Comedy (see Meineke,Hist. C(it. pp. 437,
conspirators, Rufus, entered the bed-room, and, 47 1). Plutarch eulogizes him highly (Demetr. 1. c.).
with the assistance of his friends, carried the His death is said to have been caused by excessive
drunken prince off to a lonely place, where he was joy at an unexpected victory (Gell. iii. 15): similar
deprived of his eyesight. A general tumult ensued, tales are told of the deaths of other poets, as for
and the people, disregarding the pretensions of the example, Sophocles, Alexis, and Philemon. It
conspirators, proclaimed one of their own favourites, appears, from the passage of Gellius just quoted,
Anastasius II. Philippicus ended his life in ob- that Philippides lived to an advanced age.
scurity, but we have no particulars referring to the The number of his dramas is stated by Suidas at
time of his death. (Theophan. pp. 311, 316- forty-five. There are fifteen titles extant, namely:
321; Niceph. Const. p. 141, &c. ed. Paris, 1616, -'Ahwvcelaov'at,'Alspma'paos, AvavEciwo-s,'Apyvpioa
8vo.; Zonar. vol. ii. p. 96, &c. ed. Paris; Cedrenus, ad)avbYoors, AvAoli, Bauavl~oeAv'lsv, Aaclad3al, Maep. 446, &c.; Paul. Diacon. de Gest. Longob. vi. 31 -poro's,'OAv018a, 2vA7rAe'ovoat, or perhaps vUvec— 33; Suid. s.v. 4blarr-tc's; Eckhel, Doctr. Nzm. 7rAfEovoaia, qiceihApot, 4QAaOrjYalos, 4NAdp'yvpos,
vol. viii. pp. 229 230.) [W. P.] ihAapXos,,Nsevptnrisals. In the'AiLptdpaos we
PIIILI'PP1 DES (lnA7r7rsarqs), of Athens, the have one of those titles which show that the poets