Character Sketches of Romance Volume Iii Part 78

=Philtra=, a lady of large fortune, betrothed to Bracidas; but, seeing the fortune of Amidas daily increasing, and that of Bracidas getting smaller and smaller, she forsook the declining fortune of her first lover, and attached herself to the more prosperous younger brother.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, v. 4 (1596).

=Phineus= [_Fi'.nuce_], a blind soothsayer, who was tormented by the harpies. Whenever a meal was set before him, the harpies came and carried it off, but the Argonauts delivered him from these pests in return for his information respecting the route they were to take in order to obtain the golden fleece. (See TIRESIAS.)

Tiresias and Phineus, prophets old.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iii. 36 (1665).

=Phiz=, the pseudonym of Hablot K. Browne, who ill.u.s.trated the _Pickwick Papers_ (1836), _Nicholas Nickleby_, and most of Charles d.i.c.kens's works of fiction. He also ill.u.s.trated the Abbotsford edition of the _Waverley Novels_.

=Phleg'rian Size=, gigantic. Phlegra, or the Phlegrae'an plain, in Macedon, is where the giants attacked the G.o.ds, and were defeated by Hercules.

Drayton makes the diphthong _ae_ a short _i_:

Whose only love surprised those of the Phlegrian size, The t.i.tanois, that once against high heaven durst rise.

_Polyolbion_, vi. (1612).

=Phobbs.= Captain and Mrs. Phobbs, with Mrs. Major Phobbs, a widow, sister-in-law to the captain, in _Lend Me Five s.h.i.+llings_, by J. M.

Morton.

=Pho'cion=, husband of Euphra'sia, "the Grecian daughter."--A. Murphy, _The Grecian Daughter_ (1772).

=Pho'cyas=, general of the Syrian army in the siege of Damascus. Phocyas was in love with Eudo'cia, daughter of Eu'menes, the governor, but when he asked the governor's consent, Eumenes sternly refused to give it.

After gaining several battles, Phocyas fell into the hands of the Arabs, and consented to join their army to revenge himself on Eumenes. The Arabs triumphed, and Eudocia was taken captive, but she refused to wed a traitor. Ultimately, Phocyas died, and Eudocia entered a convent.--John Hughes, _Siege of Damascus_ (1720).

=Phbe=, village girl seduced and afterward married by Barry Crittenden.

He takes her to the cottage allotted him by his father, and introduces her to his mother and sisters. She tries diligently to adapt herself to her new sphere until she becomes jealous of a woman whom she imagines Barry once fancied, and now loves. Phbe flees secretly to her mother's cottage, taking her child with her, and refuses to return to her husband, until accident reveals the causelessness of her jealousy.--Miriam Coles Harris, _Phbe_ (1884).

=Phbus=, the sun-G.o.d. =Phbe= (2 _syl._), the moon-G.o.ddess.--_Greek Mythology._

_Phbus's Son._ Pha'eton obtained permission of his father to drive the sun-car for one day, but, unable to guide the horses, they left their usual track, the car was overturned, and both heaven and earth were threatened with destruction. Jupiter struck Phaeton with his thunderbolt, and he fell headlong into the Po.

... like Phbus fayrest childe, That did presume his father's fiery wayne, And flaming mouths of steeds unwonted wilde, Thro' highest heaven with weaker hand to rayne; ...

He leaves the welkin way most beaten playne, And, wrapt with whirling wheels, inflamed the skyen With fire not made to burne, but fayrely for to shyne.

Spenser, _Faery Queen_, i. 4, 10 (1590).

_Phbus._ Gaston de Foix was so called, from his great beauty (1488-1512).

_Phbus_ (_Captain_), the betrothed of Fleur de Marie. He also entertains a base love for Esmeralda, the beautiful gypsy girl.--Victor Hugo, _Notre Dame de Paris_ (1831).

=Phnix= (_The_), is said to live 500 (or 1,000) years, when it makes a nest of spices, burns itself to ashes, and comes forth with renewed life for another similar period. There never was but one phnix.

The bird of Arabye ... Can never dye, And yet there is none, But only one, A phnix ... Plinni showeth al In his _Story Natural_, What he doth finde Of the phnix kinde.

J. Skelton, _Philip Sparow_ (time, Henry VIII.).

=Phnix Tree=, the raisin, an Arabian tree. Floro says: "There never was but one, and upon it the phnix sits."--_Dictionary_ (1598).

Pliny thinks the tree on which the phnix was supposed to perch is the date tree (called in Greek _phoinix_), adding that "the bird died with the tree, and revived of itself as the tree revived."--_Nat. Hist._, xiii. 4.

Now I will believe That there are unicorns; that in Arabia There is one tree, the phnix' throne; one phnix At this hour reigning there.

Shakespeare, _The Tempest_, act iii. sc. 3 (1609).

=Phorcus=, "the old man of the sea." He had three daughters, with only one eye and one tooth between 'em.--_Greek Mythology._

This is not "the old man of the sea" mentioned in the _Arabian Nights_ ("Sindbad the Sailor").

=Phor'mio=, a parasite, who is "all things to all men."--Terence, _Phormio_.

=Phosphor=, the light-bringer or morning star; also called _Hesperus_, and by Homer and Hesiod _Heos-phoros_.

Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night, Sweet Hesper-Phosphor, double name.

Tennyson, _In Memoriam_, cxxi. (1850).

=Phos'phorus=, a knight called by Tennyson "Morning Star," but, in the _History of Prince Arthur_, "Sir Persaunt of India, or the Blue Knight."

One of the four brothers who kept the pa.s.sages to Castle Perilous.--Tennyson, _Idylls_ ("Gareth and Lynette"); Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 131 (1470).

? It is evidently a blunder to call the _Blue_ Knight "Morning Star,"

and the _Green_ Knight "Evening Star." In the old romance, the combat with the "Green Knight," is at dawn, and with the "Blue Knight" at nightfall. The error arose from not bearing in mind that our forefathers began the day with the preceding eve, and ended it at sunset.

=Phraortes= (3 _syl._), a Greek admiral.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

=Phry'ne= (2 _syl._), an Athenian courtezan of surpa.s.sing beauty.

Apelles's celebrated picture of "Venus Anadyomene" was drawn from Phryne, who entered the sea with hair dishevelled for a model. The "Cnidian Venus" of Praxiteles was also taken from the same model.

Some say Campaspe was the academy figure of the "Venus Anadyomene." Pope has a poem called _Phryne_.

=Phyllis=, a Thracian, who fell in love with Demoph'oon. After some months of mutual affection, Demophoon was obliged to sail for Athens, but promised to return within a month. When a month had elapsed, and Demophoon did not put in an appearance, Phyllis so mourned for him that she was changed into an almond tree, hence called by the Greeks _Phylia_. In time, Demophoon returned, and, being told the fate of Phyllis, ran to embrace the tree, which though bare and leafless at the time, was instantly covered with leaves, hence called _Phylla_ by the Greeks.

Let Demophoon tell Why Phyllis by a fate untimely fell.