Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/376

SG4 PHY TON. marry her, and as he was prevented from keeping his word, Phyllis hung herself, but was meta- luorphosed into an almond-tree, just at the moment when at length Demophon came, and in vain embraced the tree (Lucian, De Saltat. 40 ; Tzetz. ad Lye. 495 ; comp. Hygin. Fab. 59 ; Serv. ad Virg. Edog. v. 10 ; Ov. Heroid. 2). In some of these passages we read the name of Acamas instead of Demophon. [L. S.] PHYLLIS, the nurse of Domitian, buried him after his assassination. (-Dion Cass. Ixvii. 18 ; Suet. Dom. 17.) PHYLLIS, musician. [Phillis.] PHYRO'MACHUS {'^vpo^'Kos), an Athenian sculptor of the Cephissean demiis, whose name occurs on an inscription discovered at Athens in 1835, as the maker of the bas-reliefs on the frieze of the celebrated temple of Athena Polias, which was built in 01. 91, B. c. 41 6—412 (Scholl, Arch'do- logische AIittheilu7igcn aus GriecJierdand., p. 123 ; K. Rochette, Letire a M. Scliorn, p. 386, 2d ed.). There are also passages of the ancient writers, in which mention is made of one or more artists under the names of Phylomachus, Phyromachus, and Py- romachus, three names which might evidently be easily confounded. It will be more convenient to examine these passages under the article Pvroma- CHUS, as that is the form in which most of them give the name, and as the above inscription is the only case in which we can be quite certain that Phyromachus is the right form. [P. S.] PHYSADEIA (*uo-a5€£a), a daughter of Da- naus, from whom the well of Physadeia near Argos, was believed to have derived its name. (Callim. Hymn, in Pall. 47.) [L. S.J PHYSCON. [Ptolemaeus.] PHYSSIAS {^vaalas an Elean citizen of dis- tinction who was taken prisoner by the Achaeans under Lycus of Pharae, when the latter defeated the allied forces of the Eleans and Aetolians under EuRiPiDAS, B. c. 217. (Polyb. V. 94.) [E.H.B.] PHYTALUS (4>wTaAos), an Eleusinian hero, who is said to have kindly received Demeter on her wanderings, and was rewarded l>y the goddess with a fig-tree (Pans. i. 37. § 2). To him the noble Athenian family of the Phytalidae traced their origin. (Plut. flies. 12, 22.) [L. S.] PH YTON (*uTw»'), a citizen of Rhegium, who was chosen by his countrymen to be their general, when the city was besieged by the elder Dionysius, B. c. 388. He animated the Rhegians to the most vigorous defence, and displayed all the qualities and resources of an able general, as well as a brave warrior ; and it was in great measure owing to liim that the siege was protracted for a space of more than eleven months. At length, however, the besieged were compelled by famine to surrender, and the heroic Pliyton fell into the hands of the tyrant, who, after treating him with the most cruel indignities, put him to death, together with his son and all his other relations (Diod. xiv. 108, 111, 112). Diodorus tells us that the virtues and un- happy fate of Phyton were a favourite subject of lamentation with the Greek poets, but none of these passages have come down to us. The only other author now extant who mentions the name of Phyton is Philostratus ( Vit. J poll. i. 35, vii. 2), who appears to have followed a version of his story wholly different from that of Diodorus. According to this, Phyton was an exile from Rhegium, who bad taken refuge at the court of Dionysius, aud PICTOR. enjoyed high favour with the tyrant, but on dis- covering his designs against Rhegium gave informa- tion of them to his countrymen, and was put to death by Dionysius in consequence. [E. H. B.] PHY'XIUS (*y|ios), i. e., the god whoprotects fugitives, occurs as a surname of Zeus in Thessaly (Schol. ad Apollon. lihod. ii. 1147, iv. 699 ; Pans. ii. 21. § 3, iii. 17. § 8), and of Apollo. (Philostr. Her. X. 4.) [L. S.] PICTOR, the name of a family of the Fabia Gens, which was given to them from the eminence which their ancestor obtained as a painter. [See below. No. 1.] 1. C. Fabius Pictor, painted the temple of Salus {aedem Salutis pinxil)., which the dictator C.Junius Brutus Bubulus contracted for in his censorship, B.C. 307, and dedicated in his dictatorship, B. c. 302. This painting, which must have been on the walls of the temple, was probably a representation of the battle which Bubulus had gained against the Samnites [Bubulus, No. 1]. This is the earliest Roman painting of which we have any record. It was preserved till the reign of Claudius, when the temple was destroyed by fire. Dionysius, in a passage to which Niebuhr calls attention, praises the great correctness of the drawing in this picture, the gracefulness of the colouring and the absence of all mannerism and affectation. (Plin. H.N. XXXV. 4. s. 7 ; Val. Max. viii. 14. § 6 ; Dionys. xvi. 6, in Mai's Exc; Cic. Tusc. i. 2. § 4 ; comp. Liv. x. 1 ; Niebuhr, Hist, of Rome., vol. iii. p. 356.) 2. C. Fabius Pictor, son of No. 1, was consul B.C. 269, Avith Q. Ogulnius Gallus. The events of his consulship are related under Gallus, p. 228. 3. N. (i. e. Numerius) Fabius Pictor, also son of No. 1, was consul b. c. 266 with D. Ju- nius Pera, and triumphed twice in this year, like his colleague, the first time over the Sassinates, and the second time over the Sallentini and Messapii (Fasti). It appears to have been this Fabius Pictor, and not his brother, who was one of the three ambassadors sent by the senate to Ptolemy Phila- delphus, in b. c. 276 (Val. Max. iv. 3. § 9, with the Commentators). For an account of this em- bassy see Ogulnius. Cicero says that N. Fabius Pictor related the dream of Aeneas in his Greek Annals (Cic. Div. i. 21). This is the only passage in which mention is made of this annalist. Vossius {de Hist. Latin, i. p. 14) and Krause ( Vitae et Fragm. Hist. Roman. p. 83) suppose him to be a son of the consul of B. c. 266, but Orelli {Onom. Tull. p. 246) and others consider him to be the same as the consul. One is almost tempted to suspect that there is a mistake in the praenomen, and that it ought to be Quintus. 4. Q. Fabius Pictor, the son of No. 2, and the grandson of No. 1, was the most ancient writer of Roman history in prose, and is therefore usually placed at the head of the Roman annalists. Thus he is called by Livy scriptorum antiquissimus (i. 44) and longe antiquissimus auctor (ii. 44). He served in the Gallic war, b. c. 225 (Eutrop. iii. 5 ; Oros. iv. 13 ; comp. Plin. //. N. x. 24. s. 34), and also in the second Punic war ; and that he enjoyed consi- derable reputation among his contemporaries is evident from the circumstance of his being sent to Delphi, after the disastrous battle of Cannae in b.o. 216, to consult the oracle by what means the Romans could propitiate the gods (Liv. xxii. 57, xxiii. 11 ; A)Yvxn, Annib. 27). We learn from