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

PHILOLAUS. PHILOMELUS. 30,3
different cities of Italy something like their old the work is quoted by Nicomachus (Ilarmon. i.
organization. The statements that Philolaus was p. 17,) as o' 7rpcorov u)vorcv, and the passage
the instructor of Gorgias, and a disciple of Lysis, for quoted by him is said by Stobaeus (Ecl. i. 22. ~ 7.
the purpose of paying sepulchral honours to whom p. 454) to be iK rog 4@hAoA'dou rep1 KdO'touo. It
he came to Thebes (Olympiodorus ad Plat. Phaed. appears, in fact, from this, as well as from the exap. Wryttenbach ad Phaed. p. 130, who mentions tant fragments, that the first book of the work
him instead of Theanor), are of no authority. Ac- contained a general account of the origin and arcording to Diogenes Lairtius (viii. 46), Phanton rangement of the universe. The second book apof Phlius, Xenophilus, Echecrates, Diodes, and pears to have borne the title IIepl pu'rrEws, and to
Polymnestus of Phlius were disciples of Philolaus. have been an exposition of the nature of numbers,
Biickh (1. c. p. 15) places no reliance whatever on which in the Pythagorean theory are the essence
the story that Philolaus was put to death at Cro- and source of all things (Bickh, 1. c. p. 27, &c.).
tona on account of being suspected of aiming at It is no doubt from the third book that a passage is
the tyranny; a story which Diogenes Lairtius has quoted by Stobaeus (Ecl. i. 21. ~ 2. p. 418) as
even taken the trouble to put into verse (Diog. being 4v'r 7rep! vuX's; and from other sources it
Laert. viii. 84; Suid. s. v. 6rroolta, 4LhAo'aos). appears that the third division of the treatise did,
Pythagoras and his earliest successors do not in reality, treat of the soul.
appear to have committed any of their doctrines to There is no satisfactory evidence that any other
writing. According to Porphyrius (Vit. Pytl. writings of Philolaus were known except this work.
p. 40) Lysis and Archippus collected in a written More than one author mentions a work by Philoform some of the principal Pythagorean doctrines, laus, entitled the BdtKxal. But from the nature of
lwhich were handed down as heir-looms in their the references to it, it appears all but certain that
families, under strict injunctions that they should this is only another name for the above-mlentioned
not be made public. But amid the different and work in three books, and to have been a collective
inconsistent accounts of the matter, the first public- name of the whole. The name was very likely
ation of the Pythagorean doctrines is pretty uni- given, not by Philolans himself, but by some adformly attributed to Philolaus. He composed a mirer of him, who regarded his treatise as the
work on the Pythagorean philosophy in three fruit of a sort of mystic inspiration, and possibly
books, which Plato is said to have procured at the in imitation of the way in which the books of
c:,st of 100 minae through Dion of Syracuse, who Herodotus were named. (Bickh, 1. c. p. 34, &c.)
purchased it from Philolaus, who was at the time Several important extracts from the work of
in deep poverty. Other versions of the story re- Philolaus have come down to us. These have been
present Plato as purchasing it himself from Philo- carefully and ably examined by BJckh (I'Plilolaos des
laus or his relatives when in Sicily. (Diog. Laert. Pythagoreers Lelhren, nebst den Brulclstiicken seines
viii. 15, 55, 84, 85, iii. 9; A. Gellius, N.A. iii. 17; Werkes, Berlin, 1819). As the doctrines of Philolaus,
Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth. 31. p. 172; Tzetze', Chiliad. x. generally speaking., coincided with those that were
792, &c. xi. 38, &c.) Out of the materials which regarded as genuine doctrines of the Pythagorean
he derived from these books Plato is said to have school, and our knowledge of many features in the
composed his Timaeus. But in the age of Plato latter consists only of what we know of the former,
the leading features of the Pythagorean doctrines an account of the doctrines of Philolaus will more
had long ceased to be a secret; and if Philolaus fitly come in a general examination of the Pythataught the Pythagorean doctrines at Thebes, he gorean philosophy. The reader is accordingly rewas hardly likely to feel much reluctance in pub- ferred on this subject to PYTHAGORAS. (Fabric.
lishing them; and amid the conflicting and impro- Bibl. Grace. vol. i. p. 862, vol. iii. p. 61). [C.P.M.]
biable accounts preserved in the authorities above PHILO'MACHUS, artist. [PHvROMACHUS].
referred to, little more can be regarded as trust- PHILOME'LA (ItlAoXcxa). 1. A daughter
worthy, except that Philolaus was the first who of king Pandion in Attica, who, being dishonoured
published a book on the Pythagorean doctrines, by her brother-in-law Tereus, was metamorphosed
and that Plato read and made use of it. (BMickh, into a nightingale or swallow. (Apollod. iii. 14.
1. c. p. 22.) Although in the Plaedon and the ~ 8; comp. TEREUS.)
Goryias Plato expresses himself as if he had derived 2. The mother of Patroclus (HyI-Igin. Fab. 97),
his knowledge of the doctrines of Philolaus from though it should be observed that she is commonly
hearsay, yet, besides that such a representation called Polymele. (Schol. ad Hornm. Od. iv. 343,
would be the more natural and appropriate as put xvii. 134.)
in the mouth of Socrates, who nvas not a great 3. A daughter of Actor, and the wife of Peleus,
reader, the minuteness and exactitude with which by whom she is said to have been the mother of
the doctrines of Philolaus are referred to, and the Achilles. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rlhod. i. 558; comp.
obvious allusions to the style in which they were PELEUS.)
expressed, show clearly enough that Plato derived 4. One of the daughters of Priam. (Hygin.
his acquaintance with them from writings; and Fab. 90.) [L. S.]
the accordance of the extant fragments of Philolaus PHILOMELEIDES (4'lhou7hXie71), a king in
with what is found in Plato points to the same Lesbos who compelled his guests to engage with
result. him in a contest of wrestling, and was conquered
In one passage (viii. 85) Diogenes La'rtius by Odysseus (Hom. Od. iv. 343, xvii. 134). Some
speaks of the work of Philolaus as one book commentators take this name to be a metronymic.
(,3eAlov e). Elsewhere (iii. 9, viii. 15) he speaks derived from Philomela, No. 2. [L. S.]
of three books, as do A. Gellius and Iamblichus. PHILOME'LUS (xoJ,/u7XAos), a son of Iasion
In all probability, what Philolaus had written was and Demeter, and brother of Plutos, is said to have
comprised in one treatise, divided into three books, invented the chariot when Boites was placed
though this division was doubtless made not by among the stars by his mother. (Hygin. PIoe.
the author, but by the copyists. The first book of Astr. ii. 4.) [L. S.]
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