Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/139

PARMENION. The death of Paimenion, at the age of seventy years, almost the whole of which period had been spent in the service of the king himself or of his father, will ever remain one of the darkest stains upon the character of Alexander. Nothing can be less probable than that the veteran general who, on two occasions, had been the first to warn the king against the real or supposed designs of his enemies (Arr. Anah. i. 25, ii. 4 ; Curt. iii. 6. § 4, vi. 10. § 33 ; Plut. Alex. 19), should have now himself engaged in a plot against the life of his sovereign. Indeed it is certain even if we admit the very questionable evidence that Philotas was really concerned in the conspiracy of Dimnus, that with that plot at least Parnienion had no connection. (Curt, vi, 11. § 33.) The confessions extorted from Pliilotas on the rack amounted only to some vague and indefinite projects said to have been entertained by his father at the suggestion of Hegelochus, and which, if they were not alto- gether a fiction, had probably been no more than a temporary ebullition of discontent. (Id. ib. § 22 — 29.) Yet on this evidence not only was Parmenion condemned unheard, but the mode of his execution, or rather assassination, was marked by the basest treachery. But however unjust was the condemnation of Parmenion, and great as were the services really rendered by him to Alexander, it is certain that his merits are unduly extolled by Quintus Curtius, as well as by some modern writers ; and the assertion of that author that the king had done nothii^g great without his assistance {multa sine rege p?-ospere, rex sine illo nihil maynae rei gesserat, vii. 2. § 33) is altogether false. On the contrary, many of the king's greatest successes ■were achieved in direct opposition to the advice of Parmenion ; and it is evident that the prudent and cautious character of the old general rendered him incjipable of appreciating the daring genius of his young leader, which carried with it the assurance of its own success. Had Alexander uniformly followed the advice of Parmenion, it is clear that he would never have conquered Asia. (See Arrian, J?2a6. i. 13, ii. 25; l^Xnt. Alex. 16, 29, Apophth. p. 180, b. ; Diod. xvii. 16,54.) Three sons of Parmenion had accompanied their father to Asia ; of these the youngest. Hector, was accidentally drowned in the Nile, B.C. 331. (Curt. iv. 8. § 7.) Nicanor was carried off by a sudden illness on the march into Hyr- cania, and Philotas was put to death just before his father. We find also two of his daughters mentioned as married, the one to Attains, the uncle of Cleopatra, the other to the Macedonian officer, Coenus. (Curt. vi. 9. §§ 17, 30.) 2. One of the deputies from Lampsacus, who appeared before the Roman legates at Lysimachia to complain against Antiochus, B. c. 196. (Polyb. xviii. 35.) 3. One of the ambassadors sent by Gentius, king of lllyria, to receive the oath and hostages of Perseus, B.C. 168. He afterwards accompanied the Macedonia;n ambassadors to Rhodes. (Polyb. XXIX. 2, 5.) [E. H. B.] PARME'NION (TLapniVMu), literary. 1. Of Macedonia, an epigrammatic poet, whose verses ■were included in the collection of Philip of Thessa- lonica ; whence it is probable that he flourished in, or shortly before, the time of Augustus. Brunck gives fourteen of his epigrams in the Analecta PARMENON. 327 (vol. ii. pp. 201 — 203), and one more in the Lediones (p. 177; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. ii. pp. 184 — 187). Reiske refers to him one of the anonymous epigrams (No, cxxi.), on the ground of the superscription Uapixevovros in the Vatican MS., but that is the name, not of the author of the epigram, but of the victor who dedicated the statue to which it Forms the inscription, as is clear from the epigram itself (comp. Brunck, Led. p. 265 ; Jacobs, Animadv. in Anth. Graec. vol. iii. pt. 1. p. 356). The epigrams of Parmenion are charac- terized by brevity, which he himself declares {Ep. ] ) that he aimed at ; unfortunately, they want the body, of which brevity is said to be the soul, — wit. 2. A grammarian and glossographer {yXuaao- ypd(pos who is quoted in the Venetian Scholia on Homer. (//. i. 591.) [P. S.] PARME'NION. {Uap/xepiwv), an architect, who was employed by Alexander the Great in the building of Alexandria. He was entrusted with the superintendence of the works of sculpture, es- pecially in the temple of Serapis, which came to be called by his name Farmenionis. (Jul. Valer. i. 35.) Clemens Alexandrinus, however, ascribes the great statue of Serapis to Bryaxis {Protrep. p. 14, Sylburg). [P. S.] PARMENISCUS {Tlapix^vicrKos). 1. A partner of Dionysodorus, against whom Demosthenes pleaded in the speech Kara £i.iovva6Zwpov. (Dem. pp. 1282—1298, ed. Reisk.) 2. Of Metapontum, who probably lived about the middle of the fifth century b. c. lamblichus ( Vit. Pytlmgor. c. 36) calls him (according to the common reading) Uap/j.iaKos, and ranks him among the celebrated Pythagorean philosophers. Athenaeus, (who, iv. 1 56, c, &c., gives a quotation from a letter of a man of this name, containing an account of a Cynic banquet,) narrates (xiv. p. 614, a. b.) an incident in his life, connected with a descent into the cave of Trophonius, and calls him rich and high born. He is also mentioned by Diogenes Laertius, ix. 20. 3. A gram.marian and commentator, of whom we have fragments and notices in the Schol. Horn. Od. S'. 242, Jl. ^'. 513, A'. 424 ; Eustath. ad II. ii. p. 854 ; Schol. Eurip. Med. 10, 276, 7?-oa</. 222, 230, lihes. 524 ; El. Mag. s. v. "Apeca ; Steph. Byz. s. vv. Ao';,E(pvpa, ^6ia. Hyginus, when speak- ing {Poet. Astron. ii. 2, 13) of his history of the stars, probably refers to a lost commentary on Aratus. Varro {de L. L. x. 10) refers to him as making the distinctive characteristics of words to be eight in number. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. i. p. 518, vol. vi. p. 375 ; Vossius, De Hist. Graec. p. 481, ed. Westermann.) [W. M, G.] PA'RMENON {UapjuLeyuy). 1. Of Byzantium, a choliambic poet, a few of whose verses are cited by Athenaeus (iii. p. 75, f. ; v. pp. 203, c. 221, a.), by the scholiasts on Pindar {Pyth. iv. 97,) and Nicander {Ther. 806), and by Stephanus of By- zantium (s. vv. BovSiuoi, ^p'lKiov, XiTuirn, reading the last passage Ylapp.ei'uv for Mfuiirircp). These few fragments are collected by Meineke {Choliamhica Poesis Graecorum, Berol. 1845). 2. Of Rhodes, the author of a work on cookery (fxayeipiKT^ diSaa-KoAia) quoted by Athenaeus (vii. p. 308, f.) 3. A grammarian, the author of a work irepl dia€KTwu (Ath. xi. p. 500, b.) who is not impro- bably the same person as the glossographer Par- menion. [P'S.J