554
PliOTOGENEIA.
iv. 400 ; Virg. Georg. iv. 395). Any one wishing
to compel him to foretell the future, was obliged to
catch hold of him at that time ; he, indeed, had
the power of assuming every possible shape, in
order to escape the necessity of prophesying, but
whenever he saw that his endeavours were of no
avail, he resumed his usual appearance, and told
the truth (Horn. Od. iv. 410, &c. 455, &c. ; Ov,
Art. Am. . 7 61, Fast. i. 369 ; Philostr. Vit. Apoll.
i. 4). When he had finished his prophecy he re-
turned into the sea (Horn. Od. iv. 570). Homer
(^Od. iv. 365) ascribes to him one daughter, Eidothea,
but Strabo (x. p. 472) mentions Cabeiro as a second,
and Zenodotus {ap. Eiistalh. ad Horn. p. 1500)
mentions Eurynome instead of Eidothea. He is
sometimes represented as riding through the sea, in
a chariot drawn by Hippocampae. (Virg. Georg.
iv. 389.)
Another set of traditions describes Proteus as a
son of Poseidon, and as a king of Egypt, who had
two sons, Telegonus and Polygonus or Tmolus.
( Apollod. ii. 5. § 9 ; Tzetz. ad Lyn. 124.) Diodorus
however observes (i. 62), that only the Greeks
called him Proteus, and that the Egyptians called
him Cetes. His wife is called Psamathe (Eurip,
Hel. 7) or Torone (Tzetz. ad Lye. 115), and,
besides the above mentioned sons, Theoclymenus
and Theonoe are likewise called his children.
(Eurip. Hel. 9, 13.) He is said to have hos-
pitably received Dionysus during his wanderings
(Apollod. iii. 5. § 1), and Hermes brought to him
Helena after her abduction ( Eurip. //ie/. 46), or,
according to others, Proteus himself took her from
Paris, gave to the lover a pliantom, and restored the
true Helen to Menelaus after his return from Troy.
(Tzetz. a(ZZyc. 112,820; Herod, ii. 112,118.) The
story further relates that Proteus was originally an
Egyptian, but that he went to Thrace and there
married Torone. But as his sons by her used
great violence towards strangers, he prayed to his
father Poseidon to carry him back to Egypt,
Poseidon accordingly open^^d a chasm in the earth
in Pallene, and through a passage passing through
the earth under the sea he led him back into
Egypt. (Tzetz. ad Lye. 124 ; Eustath. ad Horn.
p. 686.) A second personage of the name of
Proteus is mentioned by Apollodorus (ii. 1. § 5)
among the sons of Aegvptus. [L. S.]
PROTHOE'NOR (npujMi'wp), a son of Arei-
lycus, was one of the leaders of the Boeotians against
Troy, where he was slain by Polydamas. (Horn.
//. ii. 495, xiv. 450, &c.) [L. S.]
PROTHOUS (npo0oos), a son of Tenthredon,
commander of the Magnetes who dwelt about
mount Pelion and the river Peneius, was one of
the Greek heroes at Troy. (Horn. IL ii. 758.)
There are three other mythical personages of this
name, one a son of Agrius (Apollod. i. 8. § 6), the
second a son of Lycaon (iii. 8. § 1 ), and a third a
son of Thestius and brother of Althaea. (Paus.
viii. 45. § 5, who calls him TlpoQovs.) [L. S.]
PROTOGENEIA {npu>Toyheia). 1. A daugh-
ter of Deucalion and Pyrrha. (Apollod. i. 7. § 2.)
She was married to Locrus, but had no children ;
Zeus, however, who carried her off, became by her,
on mount Maenalus in Arcadia, tiie father of
Opus. (Schol. ad Find. Ol. ix. 85 ; Schol. ad
ApoUon. Wiod. iv. 1780.) According to otliers she
was not the mother, but a daughter of Opus.
(Schol. ad Find. I.e.) Eiidymion also is called a
son of Protogeneia. (Conon, Narrat. 14.)
PROTOGENES.
. A daughter of Calydon and Aeolia. (Apollod.
i. 7. § 7.) [L. S.]
PROTO'GENES (Πρωτογένης) the chief instrument of the cruelties of the emperor Caligula, used to carry about him two books, one called the sword, and the other the dagger, in which were entered the names of the persons destined for death.
These books were found, after the emperor's death,
in his secret depositaries. They were burnt by order of Claudius, who likewise put Protogenes to death. (Dion Cass. lix. 26, Ix. 4 ; Suet. Cal. 27 ; Oros. vii. 5.)
PROTO'GENES {TlpuToyiv-ns), artists. 1.
One of the most celebrated Greek painters, lived
at the period of the greatest perfection of the art,
and was contemporary with Apelles, about 01. 1 12,
B. c. 332. Almost all we know of him is contained
in a passage of Pliny, the text of which is very
much corrupted, yet not so as to affect any essen-
tial point in the history of the artist or his works.
(Plin. H. N. XXXV. 10. s. 36. § 20.)
Protogenes was a native of Caunus, in Caria, a
city subject to the Rhodians.* (Comp. Paus. i. 3.
^ 4 ; Plut. Demetr. 22 : Suidas makes him a native
of Xanthus, in Lycia, s. v.) He resided at Rhodes
almost entirely ; the only other city of Greece
which he is said to have visited is Athens,
where he executed one of his great works in the
Propylaea. He appears to have been one of those
men, who, combining the highest genius with mo-
desty and contentment, only obtain by the exer-
tions of generous friends the reputation which they
have earned by their own merits. Up to his fiftieth
year he is said to hp.ve lived in poverty and in
comparative obscurit% supporting himself by paint-
ing ships, which at that period used to be deco-
rated with elaborate pictorial devices. His fame
had, however, reached the ears of Apelles, who,
upon visiting Rhodes, made it his first business to
seek out Protogenes. The interesting trial of
skill, by which the two artists introduced them-
selves to each other, has been related under Apel-
LKS. As the surest way of making the merits of
Protogenes known to his fellow-citizens, Apelles
offered him, for his finished works, on which Pro-
togenes himself had set a very insignificant price,
the enormous sum of fifty talents apiece {quinqua-
genis talentis), at the same time spreading the
report, that he intended to sell the pictures as his
own. The Rhodians were thus roused to an
understanding of what an artist they had among
them ; and Apelles at once confirmed the im-
pression, and made those who were anxious to
retain such valuable works in their country pay
for their previous indifference, by refusing to part
with them except for an advanced price. (Plin.
/. c. §13.)
We possess the record of another interesting scene
in the artisfs tranquil life. When Demetrius Po-
liorcetes was using every effort to subdue Rhodes,
he refrained from attacking the city at its most vul-
nerable point, lest he should injure the masterpiece
of Protogenes, his lalysus, which had been placed
- The words of Pliny, gentis Rhodiis subjectae,
which have given the critics nnich trouble, are now established as the true reading by the autho- rity oftheBamber MS., confirmed by historical testimonies as to the matter of fact. (See Janus's collation of the Bamberg MS. appended to Sillig'a edition of Pliny. ^
