Phocion's memory, but put his accusers to death. Phocion was an eloquent orator, as well as a prudent statesman. His speeches were clear, terse, and pithy. Many of his sayings have been preserved, and are characterized by wit as well as by sagacity.—J. T.
PHOCYLIDES, an Ionian poet of Miletus, born 560 b.c. He wrote epic poems and elegies, of which only a few fragments survive. Two fragments are in elegiac metre, the rest in hexameters. His reputation as a didactic writer seems to have been high; and therefore apocryphal verses sometimes bore his name. The fragments are printed in all the best editions of the lyric and gnomic poets, as Brunck's and Gaisford's.—S. D.
PHOTINUS, Bishop of Sirmium during the first half of the fourth century, was probably a native of Ancyra in Galatia. In the year 343 he broached strange opinions, affirming that the Holy Spirit is not a person, but only a divine attribute; maintaining the mere humanity of Christ, or that he only began to be when he was born of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost, and that the Word or Logos is neither substance nor person, but simply the divine understanding. He was condemned by a semi-arian council at Antioch in 345, by an orthodox council at Milan in 347, and by an Arian council at Sirmium in 351. Photinus was deposed, and died in exile in 372.—J. E.
PHOTIUS, the famous patriarch of Constantinople, was born of noble parents about the beginning of the ninth century. His mother's name was Irene, his father's is unknown. His mother's brother had married a sister-in-law of the emperor, and Photius was thus connected with the royal family. His abilities began to show themselves at an early period, and the youth was no mean proficient in grammar and philosophy, poetry and rhetoric. He collected, too, according to one of his eulogists, an "all-comprehensive library." A young man so richly endowed with talents, and no stranger to ambition, rose rapidly at the imperial court. He first held various secular offices, was proto-a-secretis or chief justice, and a captain of the guards. He was also employed in various embassies, still eagerly pursuing at every moment of leisure his literary studies. Suddenly he rose to the summit of ecclesiastical dignity, on the deposition and banishment of the patriarch Ignatius. Ignatius had excommunicated Bardas, uncle of the Emperor Michael, then a minor, and Bardas retaliated by sending the patriarch into exile and elevating Photius to his place. To qualify himself for the ecclesiastical honour, he summarily passed through all the inferior grades of office—becoming, in less than a week, monk, reader, sub-deacon, deacon, and presbyter. He was installed into the patriarchate on Christmas day, 858. This questionable and hasty procedure was confirmed by two councils. Ignatius would not consent to his own degradation, and the severities inflicted on him stirred up many friends on his behalf, so that in 862 Pope Nicolaus, during a dispute about jurisdiction, declared the election of Photius void, and anathematized him and all his adherents. Photius, however, retained his place, and the result was a schism between the Eastern and Western churches. Cæsar Bardas was assassinated by the emperor's orders in 866, and the emperor himself met the same fate in 867, and his murderer and successor, Basil I., exiled Photius, who, though he had consecrated him, refused for his crimes to admit him to the communion of the church. Basil at once recalled Ignatius, and at a council held at Constantinople in 869 his restoration was confirmed. Photius contrived, however, to regain the imperial favour, and on the death of Ignatius in 877 he resumed the patriarchate—an act ratified by the pope. Ecclesiastical intrigue was busy at work, and Photius spared no threats or bribes to fortify his second elevation. Leo succeeded Basil in 886, and he at once banished the restless patriarch on an accusation of conspiracy. He was sent to the monastery of Bordi in Armenia, and he remained there till his death, which took place, according to some, in 891. Photius was a scheming, clever, and rather unprincipled man. His machinery of self-advancement and defence belonged to the age in which he lived. He was ambitious and unscrupulous—jealously watched all his rivals, and lost no opportunity of promoting his own interests. It must be remembered at the same time that his life and acts have come down to us through the reports of his enemies, who lose no opportunity of traducing him. Baronius affirms that he was a eunuch, and the story or tradition is proof that his private life was not tainted with the pervading licentiousness of his time. Photius was an accomplished critic; amidst all his plots and political activities he must have been a hard student and a voracious reader. His "Myriobiblon," or Bibliotheca, is a review and epitome of ancient Greek literature in two hundred and eighty divisions, and contains notices of many rare and valuable works no longer in existence. Bekker's edition of it appeared at Berlin 1824-25. His "Nomo-canon" is a collection of the canons and constitutions recognized by the Greek church. His "Amphilochia" is a theological treatise in the form of question and answer. Homilies and commentaries in abundance may be added to the list, with numerous letters, many of which exist only in MS. Photius is also author of a Greek lexicon, first edited by Hermann in 1808, and latterly and far better by Porson, and published after his death in 1822.—(See Porson.) No collected edition of the works of Photius has appeared. Had he been a professional author he could scarcely have written more, and our wonder at his voluminous remains is increased by a review of that busy scheming life—that career so chequered—for he was at once diplomatist and ecclesiastic, courtier and patriarch, plotter and preacher, polemic and exile.—J. E.
PHRANZA or PHRANZES, Georgius, a Greek historian, born in 1401, was keeper of the wardrobe in the Byzantine court. He became a monk, and died in 1491 , leaving a chronicle of Byzantine and Peloponnesian affairs in his own time to 1457. This work was printed at Venice in 1733, but is best known by the Latin abridgment of Jacob Pontanus. It is not very accurate nor dignified.—B. H. C.
PHREA or FREE, John, an ecclesiastic of Bristol, was eminent for his learning in the fifteenth century. He translated Diodorus Siculus and many pieces of Xenophon into Latin. He was under the patronage of Gray, the learned bishop of Ely, and of Tiptoft, earl of Worcester. His epistles to these friends are preserved in Balliol college, Oxford. The Italians rendered a merited homage to the excellence of his Latinity, by requesting him to compose a new epitaph in Latin elegiacs for the tomb of Petrarch. He was nominated by Pope Paul II. to the bishopric of Bath and Wells, but died before his consecration in 1464.—(Warton's English Poetry, ii. 555-57.)
PHRYNICHUS, a tragic poet of Athens, was regarded as the successor of Thespis, and one of the chief founders of the classical drama. He flourished from about 511 to 476 b.c. To him is ascribed the change of the Athenian tragedy, from a rude Bacchanalian vintage-song to nearly the same form which we find in Æschylus. On one occasion he was fined one thousand drachms by the Athenians, for having too painfully excited their feelings by his play entitled the "Capture of Miletus," in which he had depicted with remarkable spirit and pathos the miseries of an Ionian city sacked by barbarians. The beauty of his lyric choruses is celebrated by Aristophanes. Æschylus is said to have borrowed much from Phrynichus in his tragedy of the Persæ.—G.
PHRYNICHUS, an Athenian poet of the old comedy, was contemporary with Aristophanes, who frequently alludes to him. His comedies were highly popular with his countrymen, and his reputation seems to have been deserved, as the few fragments which remain of his works are distinguished by the elegance and vigour of their style.—G.
PHRYNICHUS, an Athenian general, was sent with two other generals and forty ships, 412 b.c., to convey an Athenian force to Asia Minor. They landed at Miletus, and gained a victory over the Milesians and their allies; but upon the arrival soon after of a strong Peloponnesian fleet, Phrynichus induced the Athenian armament to return home, in which he is praised by Thucydides for having acted prudently. He was subsequently, however, censured for this behaviour by his countrymen, and deprived of his command. In 411 b.c. we find Phrynichus conducting some very complicated intrigues against Alcibiades, and shortly afterwards he joined the oligarchical party who were labouring to acquire the ascendancy at Athens, and took a leading part in the revolution which for a time established the government of the Four Hundred. He was soon after assassinated in the Agora by a young Athenian of the democratic party. Phrynichus was a man of eminent talents, and brought to the side of Antiphon and Theramenes a contriving head not inferior to theirs, coupled with daring and audacity even superior.—G.
PIAZZI, Giuseppe, a celebrated astronomer, was born at Ponte in the Valteline, on the 16th of July, 1746, and died at Naples on the 22nd of July, 1826. He was educated at Milan; studying rhetoric under Tiraboschi, and mathematics and philosophy under Beccaria. In 1762 he became a monk of the
