Parviz (“victorious”), surname of Khosrou II. of Persia. He kept 15,000 female musicians, 6000 household officers, 20,500 saddle-mules, 960 elephants, 200 slaves to scatter perfumes when he went abroad, and 1000 sekabers to water the roads before him. His horse, Shibdiz, was called “the Persian Bucephălus.”
The reigns of Khosrou I. and II. were the golden period of Persian history.
Parzival, the hero and title of a metrical romance, by Wolfram v. Eschenbach. Parzival was brought up by a widowed mother, in solitude, but when grown to manhood, two wandering knights persuaded him to go to the court of King Arthur. His mother, hoping to deter him, consented to his going if he would wear the dress of a common jester. This he did, but soon achieved such noble deeds that Arthur made him a knight of the Round Table. Sir Parzival went in quest of the Holy Graal, which was kept in a magnificent castle called Graalburg, in Spain, built by the royal priest Titurel. He reached the castle, but having neglected certain conditions, was shut out, and, on his return, the priestess of Graalburg insisted on his being expelled the court and degraded from knighthood. Parzival then led a new life of abstinence and self-abnegation, and a wise hermit became his instructor. At length he reached such a state of purity and sanctity that the priestess of Graalburg declared him worthy to become lord of the castle (1205).
*** This, of course, is an allegory of a Christian giving up everything in order to be admitted a priest and king in the city of God, and becoming a fool in order to learn true wisdom (see 1 Cor. iii. 18).
Pasquin, a Roman cobbler of the latter half of the fifteenth century, whose shop stood in the neighborhood of the Braschi palace near the Piazza Navoni. He was noted for his caustic remarks and bitter sayings. After his death, a mutilated statue near the shop was called by his name, and made the repository of all the bitter epigrams and satirical verses of the city; hence called pasquinades (3 syl.).
Passamonte (Gines de), the galley-slave set free by Don Quixote. He returned the favor by stealing Sancho’s wallet and ass. Subsequently he reappeared as a puppet-showman.—Cervantes, Don Quixote.
Passatore (Il), a title assumed by Belli´no, an Italian bandit chief who died 1851.
Passel´yon, a young foundling brought up by Morgan la Fée. He was detected in an intrigue with Morgan’s daughter. The adventures of this amorous youth are related in the romance called Perceforest, iii.
Passe Rose, fair orphan girl, warm of heart and single of purpose. Ingenuous as a babe, and made strong by love. Her adventures are the theme of the novel bearing her name.—Arthur Sherburne Hardy, Passe Rose (1889).
Passetreul, the name of Sir Tristram’s horse.