LITERATURE 



339 



Peg'asus. The winged horse which sprang from the ment had all been used Phaon returned to his former 

 blood of Medusa when her head was struck off by Perseus, condition, and Sappho, in despair, drowned herself 

 He was called Pegasus because he made his appearance Philocte'tes. The most celebrated archer in the 

 near the sources of Oceanus. Trojan War. He was the friend and armor-bearer of 



Pe'leus. King of the Myrmidons at Phthia. in Thes- Hercules, who bequeathed to him his bow and the pois- 

 saly. Having, in conjunction with his brother Tela- oned arrows, for having set fire to the pile on Mount USta^ 

 mon. murdered his half-brother Phocus, he was expelled | on which Hercules perished. 



by acus from .Egina. and went to Thessaly. He was i Philomela. A daughter of Pandion. King of Athens, 

 purified from the murder by Eurytion. who gave Peleus Her sister Procne had married Tereus, King of Thrace 

 his daughter Antigone in mamage, and a third part of and being separated from Philomela spent her time in 

 bis kingdom. great melancholy. Tereus treated Philomela with great 



Pe'llas. The name of the spear of Achilles, which cruelty. In poetry we frequently find the nightingale 

 was so large that none could wield it but the hero himself, alluded to as Philomela. 



Pe'li-on. A high mountain in Thessaly celebrated 

 in mythology. Near its summit was the cave of the 

 Centaur Chiron. The giants, in their war with the gods, 

 are said to have attempted to heap Ossa and Olympus 

 on Pelion, or Pelion and Ossa on Olympus, in order to 

 scale heaven. On Pelion the timber was felled with 

 which the ship Argo was built. 



Pe'lops. A Phrygian prince, grandson of Jupiter, 

 and son of Tantalus. Expelled from Phrygia, he came 

 to Elis, where he married Hippodamia, daughter of 

 (Enomaus. whom he succeeded on the throne. By means 



of the wealth he brought with him. his influence became 

 so great in* the peninsula that it was called after him 

 !>land of Pelops." 



Pena'tes. The Penates were also domestic or house- 

 hold gods, but they were not a distinct class by them- 

 selves, because the master of the dwelling was allowed 

 to select any deity according to his pleasure, to watch 

 over his family affairs, or preside over particular parts 

 of them. 



IVrirl'opo. The faithful wife of Ulysses, who being 

 importuned, during his long absence, by numerous suitors 

 for her hand, postpones making a decision among them 

 until she shall have finished weaving a funeral pal) for 

 her father-in-law, Lcertes. Every night she secretly 

 unravels what she has woven by day, and thus puts off 

 the suitors till Ulysses returns. 



IV ri. Peris are delicate, gentle, fairy-like beings of 

 Eastern mythology, begotten by fallen spirits. They 

 direct with a warn! the pure in mind the way to heaven. 

 These lovely creatures, according to the Koran, are under 

 the sovereignty of Eblis; and Mohammed was sent for 

 their conversion, as well as for that of man. 



Per'se. A daughter of Oceanus, and wife of Helios 

 (the sun), by whom she became the mother of Aeetes, 

 Circe, Pasiphae, and Perses. 



Perse'ls. A name given to Hecate, as the daughter 

 rses by Astoria. 



Perse nh'qne. The Greek name of Proserpine. 

 Homer describes her as the wife of Hades (Pluto), and 

 the formidable, venerable, and majestic queen of the 

 shades, who rules over the souls of the dead, along with 

 her husband. 



IVr'-eus. He was (.nc of the ino-t distinguished of 

 the early heroes. He was the son of Jupiter and Dame, 

 educated by Polydectus on the Island Seriphus. His 

 chief exploit was the destruction of the gorgon Medusa, 

 whose head he struck off with a sword given to him by 

 Vulcan. From the blood that fell, sprang the winged 

 horse Pegasus, on which Perseus afterwards passed over 

 many lands. Of his subsequent achievements, the most 

 remarkable were his changing King Atlas into a high 

 rock or mountain, by means of Medusa's head, and his 

 deliverance of Andromeda, when bound and exposed to 

 be devoured by the sea-monster. 



r I., i -lira. Daughter of Minos, and wife of Theseus, 

 who falsely accused her step-eon Hippolytus. 



I'll. i .ion. A .-on of Sol. or. according to most my- 

 thologistft, of Pho?hus and Clymene. Anxious to display 

 his skill in horsemanship, he was so presumptuous as to 

 request his father to allow him to drive the chariot of 

 the sun across the heavens for one day. Helios was 

 induced by the entreaties of his son and of Clymene 



to yield, hut the youth being tOO Weak 



hones, they rushed out of their usual track, the chariot 

 was upset, and caused great mischief; Libya was 

 parched into barren sands, and all Africa was more or 

 less injured, the inhabitants blackened, and 

 nearly destroyed. Zeus kill.-! him with : . tl.-^h 



ul hurled him down into t 



His sisters, the Helindn- <>r I'haethontiades, who I,:.. I 

 yoked the horses to the chariot, were metamorphosed 

 into poplars, and their tears into amber. 



Pha'on. A boatman at Mit \ i,-r,.-. is said to have been 

 Originally an ugly old man; but having earned \phro- 

 dite (Venus) across the sea without accepting i 

 the goddess gave him a box of ointment, w.ti 



anointed himself, he grew so beautiful that 



Phce'be. The goddess of the moon, and sister of 

 Phoebus; a name of Diana. See Diana. 



Ph 03'bus. The god of archery, prophecy, and music ; 

 was the son of Jupiter and Latona, and brother of Diana 

 (Artemis). He was god of the sun, as Diana, his sister, 

 was the goddess of the moon. 



Phrenix. A fabulous bird described as being as large 

 as an eagle; its head finely crested with a beautiful 

 plumage, its neck covered with gold-colored feathers, its 

 tail white, and its body purple or crimson. 



Phyl'Ils. (1) A daughter of King Si thon of Thrace, who 

 hung herself, thinking that she was deserted by her lover, 

 and was changed by the gods into an almond tree. (2) 

 A country girl in Virgil's third and fifth Eclogues; hence, 

 a rustic maiden in general. 



PIre'ne. A celebrated fountain of Corinth, at which 

 Bellerophon is said to have caught the horse Pegasue. 

 It gushed forth from the rock in the Acrocorinthus. was 

 conveyed down the hill by subterraneous conduits, and 

 fell into a marble basin, from which the greater part of 

 the town was supplied with water. The poets frequently 

 used Pirenis in the general sense of Corinthian. 



IMei ades. Means the "sailing stars," because the 

 Greeks considered navigation safe at the return of the 

 Pleiades, and never attempted it after those stars dis- 

 appeared. The Pleiades were the seven daughters of 

 Atlas and Pleione, named Electra, Alcyone, Celjrno. 

 Maia, Sterope, Taygete. and Merope. They were trans- 

 formed into stars, one of which (Merope). is invisible 

 out of shame, because she alone married a human being. 

 Some call the invisible star "Electra," and say she hides 

 herself from grief for the destruction of the city and royal 

 race of Troy. 



Pluto. He was a second brother of Jupiter, and re- 

 ceived, as his portion in the division of empire, the in- 

 fernal regions, or the world of shades. Under this idea 

 the ancients imagined the existence of regions situated 

 down far below the earth. The chief incident in the 

 history of Pluto is his seizure and abduction of Proser- 

 pine, who thereby became his wife, and the queen of the 

 lower world. 



Plu'tus. The god of riches, was probably of allegori- 

 cal rather than mythical origin, since his name in Greek 

 is but the common term for wealth. 



Pluvius. "The sender of ram." a surname of Jupiter 

 among the Romans, to whom sacrifices were offered 

 during long-protracted droughts. 



Podall riiis. The son of .-Esculapitis. and brother of 

 Maehaon. with whom he led the Thessalians of Tricca 

 against Troy. He was, like his brother, skilled in the 

 medical art. 



Pol'las. Meaning "the goddess protecting the <. 

 a surname of Athena at Athens, where she was wor- 

 shiped as the protecting divinity of the acropolis. 



Poll'tes. A son of Priam and He. -ul>a. and father of 

 Priam the younger, was slain by l'\ irhu-. 



Pol'lux. A son of Jupiter and Leda, brother to 

 Castor. 



Polydo'rus. (1 ) King of Thebes, son of Cadmus and 

 Harmonia, husband of Nycteis. and father of Labdacus. 

 (2) Son of Priam and Hecuba. When Ilium was on the 

 l> ..i nt of falling into the hands of the Greeks, Priam in- 

 trusted Polydorus and a large sum of money to 1'olv- 

 mestoror Polymnettor, King of the Thracian Cnersonesua. 



Polyhym'nla. Daughter of Jupiter and Mnemoi 

 One of the MUMS, who presided over singing 



rheton,-. 



Pol'y-phr'miiK. A son of Neptune, and one of the 



Oydopi, who dwelt IB BtaUy. n. > .- - mil aoa bv, 



of immense site and strength, and had but one eye. which 



he middle of his forehead. He dwelt in a cave 



:ir M.xmt 1 .tna. and fed his flocks upon the mountain. 



He fell m l>ve 



le.-tisl him for 



him ui 



he, with twelve of his 



nymph Galatea, but as she re- 



when he 



Sappho l.eram 



of him; but when the nun- tation 



he. with twelve of his companions, got 



by the t 



tation of the same fate, but their cunmru 



"*** rats, 



7?5' D H5: 



