PHALLUS 



PHARISEES 



105 



when Mythology (q.v. ) was universally considered 

 to contain the teaching of ancient sages couched in 

 the form of allegory, and everything in mythology 

 was considered to be ' symbolical ' of some profound 

 and hidden truth, phallic worship was naturally 

 conceived to conceal some esoteric teaching as to 

 the mystery of tlie transmission of life. But this 

 view of mythology is dissipated by an examination 

 of the manner of life and mode of thought of those 

 savage peoples in whom the scientific observer 

 recognises primitive man. The savage leads not a 

 speculative but a practical life, and his rites and 

 ceremonies are practical. He lives in the midst of 

 dangers, which as a practical man he wishes to 

 avert ; he has a variety of needs, which as a practi- 

 cal man he wishes to satisfy. Amongst the most 

 important of his needs -whether he be in the pas- 

 toral or the agricultural stage is the need of fruit- 

 ful Hocks, of fertile fields. Amongst the meanswhich 

 he employed to secure fertility were some which we 

 -linuld discriminate as magical, though probably to 

 him they originally seemed to be not more super- 

 natural or less rational than ploughing. Thus, it 

 has been proved to demonstration by Mannhardt 

 that one of the beliefs most widely spread amongst 

 primitive men is the belief in a spirit of vegetation. 

 The tree is regarded first as having life like a man, 

 then as being the abode of a spirit, and finally the 

 spirit ceases to lie permanently attached to the tree. 

 The savage has special means for promoting the 

 vigour, for preventing the decay, for averting the 

 displeasure of these spirits on wfiom the fertility of 

 his crops depends. These various means are usually 

 of the nature of what has been termed ' sympathetic 

 magic.' Even civilised man, if he is abroad and is 

 ignorant of the language of the country, acts what 

 he wishes to have done. In a somewhat similar 

 way the savage performs or mimics the things 

 which he wishes the spirit of vegetation, say, to 

 bring about. When he wishes a spirit to make his 

 flocks multiply, his 'sympathetic magic ' inevitably 

 takes the form of a ritual which to us seems olwcene, 

 but is to him as harmless and necessary as the act 

 of generation itself. Finally, let it be noticed that, 

 if by ' worship ' is meant 'adoration,' then phallic 

 worship is unknown to primitive man ; phallic rites 

 and phallic objects are but the means by which, 

 according to his notions, he incites or constrains 

 the spirits to bring about the results he wishes ; 

 they are not the symbols of any esoteric mysteries. 

 Phallus, a genus of fungi. See Fuxcu. 



PlialsboiirK, or PFAI,ZBI;RO, a town of Lor- 

 raine, stands on the north-west shoulder of the 

 Vosges, '2.') miles N\V. of Straslmrg. It was fortified 

 by Vauban in 1880; invested, but not taken, by 

 the Allies in 1814-15; and bombarded and taken 

 !>y the Germans in 1870, after which they razed 

 the fortifications. It was the birthplace of Erck- 

 niann, and is widely known through Le Ii/>a-n.t 

 and others of the Erckrnann-Chatrian novels. Pop. 



Mm 



Phnnariots. See KANAKIOTS. 



Phnm-rogaillia C^r. fi/imieros, 'manifest,' 

 '/<//'/, ' marriage ')are those plants which bearflowen 

 and produce seeds. But, for the differences and the 

 resemblances between the flowering and seeding of 

 Phanerogams and the reproduction of Cryptogams, 

 see C'RYi'TiicAMiA. FI.OWKR, GYMXOSPERMS, SEED. 



The griinii includes the following sets of plants : A. 

 Kymriosperms (q.v.), with naked ovules e.g. coni- 

 fers; B. Angiosperms (q.v.), with ovules enclosed 

 in ovaries: (1) Monocotyledons (q.v.), with one 

 cotyledon e.g. lilies, grasses, orchids; (2) Dicoty- 

 ledons ( q. v. ), with two cotyledons e.g. buttercups, 

 MM, 



I'liaraoll. the English spelling of the name 

 given by the Hebrews to the monarch ruling in 



Egypt at the time, sometimes as if it were a proper 

 name, though really an official title (from the 

 Egyptian Peraa or'Phonro). The greatest diffi- 

 culties have been encountered in attempting to 

 determine the particular monarchs who pass under 

 this name in the Scriptures. See EGYPT. 



Pharisees (Perushlm, 'separated'), a so-called 

 'Jewish sect,' more correctly a certain Jewish 

 school, which probably dates as a distinct body 

 or party from the time of the Syrian troubles, and 

 whose chief tendency it was to resist all Greek or 

 other foreign influences that threatened to under- 

 mine the sacred religion of their fathers. They 

 most emphatically took their stand upon the Law, 

 together with those inferences drawn from its 

 written letter which had, partly from time imme- 

 morial, been current as a sacred tradition among 

 the people. They originated .as the Chasidim (q.v.), 

 and became known as Pharisees in the time of 

 John Hyrcanus (see MACCABEES). Principally 

 distinguished by their most scrupulous observance 

 of certain ordinances relating to things clean and 

 unclean, they further adopted among themselves 

 various degrees of purity, the highest of which, 

 however, was scarcely ever reached by any member 

 of their community. For every decree a special 

 course of instruction, a solemn initiation, and a 

 novitiate was necessary ; all of which, together 

 with a certain distinction in dress, seems to have, 

 been imitated from them by the Essenes (q.v.). 

 The name of Pharisees or Perftshim was probably 

 at first bestowed upon them in derision by the 

 Sadducees or Zadokites, the priestly aristocracy 

 and their party, who differed from them politi- 

 cally, and to some extent also in religious matters. 

 The Pharisees had no articles of creed different from 

 the whole liody of Jews. The Bible, as interpreted 

 by the traditional Law, was their only code. 

 Ol>edience to this Law, strictest observance of all 

 religious and moral duties, submission to the 

 Divine will, full confidence in the wisdom and 

 justice of Providence, firm belief in future reward 

 and punishment, chastity, meekness, and forbear- 

 ance these were the doctiines inculcated in their 

 schools. They were, in fact, nothing more nor less 

 than the educated part of the people, who saw in 

 the rigid adherence to the ancient religion, such as 

 it had developed itself in the course of centuries, 

 the only means of saving and preserving the com- 

 monwealth, notwithstanding all its internal and 

 external troubles. Hence they wished the public 

 affairs, the state and all its political doings, to be 

 directed and measured by the standard of this same 

 Divine Law ; without any regard for the priestly 

 and aristocratic families, the Sadducees (q.v.), and 

 the heroes and sagacious statesmen, who had 

 brought the Syrian wars to a successful issue, and 

 had, by prudent negotiations witli other courts, 

 restored the nation to its former greatness. The 

 latter held that religion and state were two totally 

 different things; that God had given man the 

 power of taking his matters into his own hands ; 

 and that it was foolish to wait for a supernatural 

 interference, where energy and will were all that 

 was required. 



Naturally enough, the political difference 

 between the two parties by degrees grew into 

 a religious one. And the more the Sadducees 

 lost their influence (the people siding with the 

 Pharisees), the more the religious gulf must have 

 widened between them ; although the divergence 

 between them, as far as our authorities (Joseplms, 

 the New Testament, and the Talmud) go, does 

 not seem to have been of so grave a nature as 

 is often assumed. Thus, the Pharisees assumed 

 the dogma of immortality ; while the Saddu- 

 cees held that there was nothing in the Scrip- 

 ture to warrant it, and, above all, that there 



