Character Sketches of Romance Volume Iii Part 75

=Pharaoh=, the t.i.tular name of all the Egyptian kings till the time of Solomon, as the Roman emperors took the t.i.tular name of Caesar. After Solomon's time, the t.i.tular name Pharaoh never occurs alone, but only as a forename, as Pharaoh Necho, Pharaoh Hophra, Pharaoh Shishak. After the division of Alexander's kingdom, the kings of Egypt were all called Ptolemy, generally with some distinctive after-name, as Ptolemy Philadelphos, Ptolemy Euergetes, Ptolemy Philopator, etc.--Selden, _t.i.tles of Honor_, v. 50 (1614).

_Pharaohs before Solomon_ (mentioned in the Old Testament):

1. Pharaoh contemporary with Abraham (_Gen._ xii. 15). This may be Osirtesen I. (dynasty xii.).

2. The _good_ Pharaoh who advanced Joseph (_Gen._ xli.). This was, perhaps, Apophis (one of the Hyksos).

3. The Pharaoh who "knew not Joseph" (_Exod._ i. 8). This may be Amen'ophis I. (dynasty xviii.). The king, at the flight of Moses, I think, was Thothmes II.

4. The Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea. As this was at least eighty years after the persecutions began, probably this was another king. Some say it was Menephthes, son of Ram'eses II., but it seems quite impossible to reconcile the account in _Exodus_ with any extant historical account of Egypt (_Exod._ xiv. 28). Was it Thothmes III.?

5. The Pharaoh who protected Hadad (1 _Kings_ xi. 19).

6. The Pharaoh whose daughter Solomon married (1 _Kings_ iii. 1; ix.

16). I think this was Psusennes I. (dynasty xxi.).

_Pharaohs after Solomon's time_ (mentioned in the Old Testament):

1. Pharaoh Shishak, who warred against Rehoboam (1 _Kings_ xiv. 25, 26; 2 _Chron._ xii. 2).

2. The Pharaoh called "So" king of Egypt, with whom Hoshea made an alliance (2 _Kings_ xvii. 4).

3. The Pharaoh who made a league with Hezekiah against Sennacherib. He is called Tirhakah (2 _Kings_, xviii. 21; xix. 9).

4. Pharaoh Necho, who warred against Josiah (2 _Kings_ xxiii. 29, etc.).

5. Pharaoh Hophra, the ally of Zedekiah. Said to be Pharaoh Apries, who was strangled, B.C. 569-525 (_Jer._ xliv. 30).

? Bunsen's solution of the Egyptian dynasties cannot possibly be correct.

_Pharaohs noted in romance:_

1. Cheops, or Suphis I., who built the great pyramid (dynasty iv.).

2. Cephrenes, or Suphis II., his brother, who built the second pyramid.

3. Mencheres, his successor, who built the most beautiful, though not the largest, of the pyramids.

4. Memnon, or A-menophis III., whose musical statue is so celebrated (dynasty xviii.).

5. Sethos I. the Great, whose tomb was discovered by Belzoni (dynasty xix.).

6. Sethos II., called "Proteus," who detained Helen and Paris in Egypt (dynasty xix.).

7. Phuoris or Thuoris, who sent aid to Priam in the siege of Troy.

8. Rampsinitus or Rameses Neter, the miser, mentioned by Herodotus (dynasty xx.).

9. Osorthon IV. (or Osorkon), the Egyptian Hercules (dynasty xxiii.).

=Pharaoh's Daughter.= The daughter of Pharaoh, who brought up Moses, was Bathia.

=Pharaoh's Wife=, Asia, daughter of Mozahem. Her husband cruelly tormented her because she believed in Moses. He fastened her hands and feet to four stakes, and laid a millstone on her as she lay in the hot sun with her face upwards; but angels shaded off the sun with their wings, and G.o.d took her, without dying, into Paradise.--Sale, _Al Koran_, lxvi.

note.

Among women, four have been perfect; Asia, wife of Pharaoh; Mary, daughter of Imran; Khadijah, daughter of Khowailed, Mahomet's first wife; and Fatima, Mahomet's daughter.--Attributed to Mahomet.

? There is considerable doubt respecting the Pharaoh meant--whether the Pharaoh, whose daughter adopted Moses, or the Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea. The tale suits the latter king far better than it does the first.

=Pharsa'lia= (_The_), a Latin epic in ten books, by Lucan, the subject being the fall and death of Pompey. It opens with the pa.s.sage of Caesar across the Rubicon. This river formed the boundary of his province, and his crossing it was virtually a declaration of war (bk. i.). Pompey is appointed by the senate general of the army to oppose him (bk. v.).

Caesar retreats to Thessaly; Pompey follows (bk. vi.), and both prepare for war. Pompey, being routed in the battle of Pharsalia, flees (bk.

vii.), and seeking protection in Egypt, is met by Achillas, the Egyptian general, who murders him, cuts off his head, and casts his body into the sea (bk. viii.). Cato leads the residue of Pompey's army to Cyrene, in Africa (bk. ix.); and Caesar, in pursuit of Pompey, landing at Alexandria, is hospitably entertained by Cleopatra (bk. x.). While here, he tarries in luxurious dalliance, the palace is besieged by Egyptians, and Caesar with difficulty escapes to Pharos. He is closely pursued, hemmed in on all sides, and leaps into the sea. With his imperial robe held between his teeth, his commentaries in his left hand, and his sword in his right, he buffets the waves. A thousand javelins are hurled at him, but touch him not. He swims for empire, he swims for life; 'tis Caesar and his fortunes that the waves bear on. He reaches his fleet; is received by his soldiers with thundering applause. The stars in their courses fought for Caesar. The sea-G.o.ds were with him, and Egypt with her host was a by-word and a scorn.

? Bk. ix. contains the account of the African serpents, by far the most celebrated pa.s.sage of the whole poem. The following is a pretty close translation of the pa.s.sage in question. It would have occupied too much room to give their onslaught also:--

Here all the serpent deadly brood appears; First the dull Asp its swelling neck uprears; The huge Hemor'rhos, vampire of the blood; Chersy'ders, that pollute both field and flood; The Water-serpent, tyrant of the lake; The hooded Cobra; and the Plantain snake; Here with distended jaws the Prester strays; And Seps, whose bite both flesh and bone decays; The Amphisbaena with its double head, One on the neck, and one of tail instead; The horned Cerastes; and the Hammodyte, Whose sandy hue might balk the keenest sight; A feverish thirst betrays the Dipsas' sting; The Scytala, its slough that casts in spring; The Natrix here the crystal streams pollutes; Swift thro' the air the venomed Javelin shoots; Here the Pareas, moving on its tail, Marks in the sand its progress by its trail; The speckled Cenchris darts its devious way, Its skin with spots as Theban marble gay; The hissing Sibila; and Basilisk, With whom no living thing its life would risk, Where'er it moves none else would dare remain, Tyrant alike and terror of the plain.

E. C. B.

In this battle Pompey had 45,000 legionaries, 7000 horse, and a large number of auxiliaries. Caesar had 22,000 legionaries, and 1000 horse.

Pompey's battle cry was _Hercules invictus!_ That of Caesar was _Venus victrix!_ Caesar won the battle.

=Phebe= (2 _syl._), a shepherdess beloved by the shepherd Silvius. While Rosalind was in boy's clothes, Phebe fell in love with the stranger, and made a proposal of marriage; but when Rosalind appeared in her true character, and gave her hand to Orlando, Phebe was content to accept her old love, Silvius.--Shakespeare, _As You Like It_ (1600).

=Phedre= (or PHaeDRA), daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and wife of Theseus. She conceived a criminal love for Hippolytos, her step-son, and, being repulsed by him, accused him to her husband of attempting to dishonor her. Hippolytos was put to death, and Phaedra, wrung with remorse, strangled herself.

This has been made the subject of tragedy by Eurip'ides in Greek, Sen'eca in Latin, Racine in French (1677). "Phedre" was the great part of Mdlle. Rachel; she first appeared in this character in 1838.

(Pradon, under the patronage of the d.u.c.h.ess de Bouillon and the duc de Nevers, produced, in 1677, his tragedy of _Phedre_ in opposition to that of Racine. The duke even tried to hiss down Racine's play, but the public judgment was more powerful than the duke; and, while it p.r.o.nounced decidedly for Racine's _chef d'uvre_, it had no tolerance for Pradon's production.)

=Phelis= "the Fair," the wife of Sir Guy, earl of Warwick.

=Phid'ias= (_The French_), (1) Jean Goujon; also called "The Correggio of Sculptors." He was slain in the St. Bartholomew Ma.s.sacre (1510-1572).

(2) J. B. Pigalle (1714-1785).

=Phil= (_Little_), the lad of John Davies, the old fisherman.--Sir W.

Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

=Philaminte= (3 _syl._), wife of Chrysale, the bourgeois, and mother of Armande, Henrietta, Ariste, and Belise.--Moliere, _Les Femmes Savantes_ (1672).