Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 77

Milton, _L'Allegro_ (1638).

_Phillis_, "the Exigent," asked "Damon thirty sheep for a kiss;" next day, she promised him thirty[TN-89] kisses for a sheep;" the third day, she would have given "thirty sheep for a kiss;" and the fourth day, Damon bestowed his kisses for nothing on Lizette.--C. Riviere Dufresny, _La Coquette de Village_ (1715).

=Philo=, a Pharisee, one of the Jewish sanhedrim, who hated Caiaphas, the high priest, for being a Sadducee. Philo made a vow in the judgment hall, that he would take no rest till Jesus was numbered with the dead.

In bk. xiii. he commits suicide, and his soul is carried to h.e.l.l by Obaddon, the angel of death.--Klopstock, _The Messiah_, iv. (1771).

=Philoc'lea=, one of the heroines in Sir Philip Sidney's "Arcadia." It has been sought to identify her with Lady Penelope Devereux, with whom Sidney was thought to be in love.

=Philocte'tes= (4 _syl._) one of the Argonauts, who was wounded in the foot while on his way to Troy. An oracle declared to the Greeks that Troy could not be taken "without the arrows of Hercules," and as Hercules at death had given them to Philoctetes, the Greek chiefs sent for him, and he repaired to Troy in the tenth and last year of the siege.

All dogs have their day, even rabid ones. Sorrowful, incurable _Philoctetes_ Marat, without whom Troy cannot be taken.--Carlyle.

=Philomel=, daughter of Pandion, king of Attica. She was converted into a nightingale.

=Philosopher= (_The_), Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the Roman emperor, was so called by Justin Martyr (121, 161-180).

Leo VI., emperor of the East (866, 886-911).

Porphyry, the Neoplatonist (223-304).

Alfred or Alured, surnamed "Anglicus," was also called "The Philosopher"

(died 1270).

=Philosopher of China=, Confucius (B.C. 551-479).

=Philosopher of Ferney=, Voltaire, who lived at Ferney, near Geneva, for the last twenty years of his life (1694-1778).

=Philosopher of Malmesbury=, Thomas Hobbs, author of _Leviathan_. He was born at Malmesbury (1588-1679).

=Philosopher of Persia= (_The_), Abou Ebn Sina, of Shiraz (died 1037).

=Philosopher of Sans Souci=, Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712, 1740-1786).

? Frederick, elector of Saxony, was called "The Wise" (1463, 1544-1554).

=Philosopher of Wimbledon= (_The_), John Horne Tooke, author of the _Diversions of Purley_. He lived at Wimbledon, near London (1736-1812).

(For the philosophers of the different Greek sects, as the Cynic, Cyrenaic, Eleac, Eleatic, Epicurean, Harac.l.i.tian, Ionic, Italic, Megaric, Peripatetic, Sceptic, Socratic, Stoic, etc., see _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_, 680-1.)

=Philosophers= (_The five English_): (1) Roger Bacon, author of _Opus Majus_ (1214-1292;[TN-90] (2) Sir Francis Bacon, author of _Novum Organum_ (1561-1626); (3) the Hon. Robert Boyle (1627-1691;[TN-91] (4) John Locke, author of a treatise on the _Human Understanding and Innate Ideas_ (1632-1704); (5) Sir Isaac Newton, author of _Princip'ia_ (1641-1727).

=Philosophy= (_The Father of_), (1) Albrecht von Haller, of Berne (1708-1777). (2) Roger Bacon is also so called (1214-1292).

_Philosophy_ (_The Father of Inductive_), Francis Bacon [_Lord Verulam_]

(1561-1626).

_Philosophy_ (_The Father of Roman_), Cicero, the orator (B.C.) 106-43).[TN-92]

_Philosophy_ (_The Nursing Mother of_). Mde. de Boufflers was so called by Marie Antoinette.

=Phil'ostrate= (3 _syl._), master of the revels to Theseus (2 _syl._) king of Athens.--Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night's Dream_ (1592).

=Philo'tas=, son of Parmenio, and commander of the Macedonian cavalry. He was charged with plotting against Alexander the Great. Being put to the rack, he confessed his guilt, and was stoned to death.

The king may doom to me a thousand tortures, Ply me with fire, and rack me like Philotas, Ere I will stoop to idolize his pride.

N. Lee, _Alexander the Great_, i. 1 (1678).

=Philot'ime= (4 _syl._, "_love of glory_"), daughter of Mammon, whom the money-G.o.d offers to Sir Guyon for a wife; but the knight declines the honor, saying he is bound by love-vows to another.--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, ii. 7 (1590).

=Philot'imus=, Ambition personified. (Greek, _Philo-timus_, "ambitious, covetous of honor.")--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, viii.

(1633).

_Philotimus_, steward of the house in the suite of Gargantua.--Rabelais, _Gargantua_, i. 18 (1533).

=Philpot= (_Senior_), an avaricious old hunks, and father of George Philpot. The old city merchant cannot speak a sentence without bringing in something about money. "He wears square-toed shoes with little tiny buckles, a brown coat with small bra.s.s b.u.t.tons.... His face is all shrivelled and pinched with care, and he shakes his head like a mandarin upon a chimney-piece" (act i. 1).

When I was very young, I performed the part of "Old Philpot," at Brighton, with great success, and next evening I was introduced into a club-room full of company. On hearing my name announced, one of the gentlemen laid down his pipe, and taking up his gla.s.s, said, "Here's to your health, young gentleman, and to your father's, too.

I had the pleasure of seeing him last night in the part of 'Philpot,' and a very nice, clever old gentleman he is. I hope, young sir, you may one day be as good an actor as your worthy father."--Munden.

_George Philpot._ The profligate son of old Philpot, destined for Maria Wilding, but the betrothal is broken off, and Maria marries Beaufort.

George wants to pa.s.s for a dashing young blade, but is made the dupe of every one. "Bubbled at play; duped by a girl to whom he paid his addresses; cudgelled by a rake; laughed at by his cronies; snubbed by his father, and despised by every one."--Murphy, _The Citizen_ (1757 or 1761).

=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.