Phlius, (genitive, untis), a town in Peloponnesus, now Staphlica, in the territory of Sicyon.——Another, in Elis.——Another, in Argolis, now Drepano.
Phlœus, a surname of Bacchus, expressive of his youth and vigour. Plutarch, Quæstiones Convivales, bk. 5, qu. 8.
Phobētor, one of the sons of Somnus, and his principal minister. His office was to assume the shape of serpents and wild beasts, to inspire terror into the minds of men, as his name intimates (φοβεω). The other two ministers of Somnus were Phantasia and Morpheus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11, li. 640.
Phobos, son of Mars, and god of terror among the ancients, was represented with a lion’s head, and sacrifices were offered to him to deprecate his appearance in armies. Plutarch, Amatorius.
Phocæa, now Fochia, a maritime town of Ionia, in Asia Minor, with two harbours, between Cumæ and Smyrna, founded by an Athenian colony. It received its name from Phocus the leader of the colony, or from phocæ, sea calves, which are found in great abundance in the neighbourhood. The inhabitants, called Phocæi and Phocæenses, were expert mariners, and founded many cities in different parts of Europe. They left Ionia, when Cyrus attempted to reduce them under his power, and they came after many adventures into Gaul, where they founded Massilia, now Marseilles. The town of Marseilles is often distinguished by the epithet of Phocaica, and its inhabitants called Phocæenses. Phocæa was declared independent by Pompey, and under the first emperors of Rome it became one of the most flourishing cities of Asia Minor. Livy, bk. 5, ch. 34; bk. 37, ch. 31; bk. 38, ch. 39.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 17.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 3.—Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 165.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Horace, epode 16.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, li. 9.—Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 4.
Phocenses and Phocĭci, the inhabitants of Phocis in Greece.
Phocilides, a Greek poet and philosopher of Miletus, about 540 years before the christian era. The poetical piece now extant called νουθετικον, and attributed to him, is not of his composition, but of another poet who lived in the reign of Adrian.
Phocion, an Athenian, celebrated for his virtues, private as well as public. He was educated in the school of Plato and Xenocrates, and as soon as he appeared among the statesmen of Athens, he distinguished himself by his prudence and moderation, his zeal for the public good, and his military abilities. He often checked the violent and inconsiderate measures of Demosthenes, and when the Athenians seemed eager to make war against Philip king of Macedonia, Phocion observed that war should never be undertaken without the strongest and most certain expectations of success and victory. When Philip endeavoured to make himself master of Eubœa, Phocion stopped his progress, and soon obliged him to relinquish his enterprise. During the time of his administration he was always inclined to peace, though he never suffered his countrymen to become indolent, and to forget the jealousy and rivalship of their neighbours. He was 45 times appointed governor of Athens, and no greater encomium can be passed upon his talents as a minister and statesman, than that he never solicited that high, though dangerous, office. In his rural retreat, or at the head of the Athenian armies, he always appeared barefooted, and without a cloak, whence one of his soldiers had occasion to observe, when he saw him dressed more warmly than usual during a severe winter, that since Phocion wore his cloak it was a sign of the most inclement weather. If he was the friend of temperance and discipline, he was not a less brilliant example of true heroism. Philip, as well as his son Alexander, attempted to bribe him, but to no purpose; and Phocion boasted in being one of the poorest of the Athenians, and in deserving the appellation of the Good. It was through him that Greece was saved from an impending war, and he advised Alexander rather to turn his arms against Persia, than to shed the blood of the Greeks, who were either his allies or his subjects. Alexander was so sensible of his merit and of his integrity, that he sent him 100 talents from the spoils which he had obtained from the Persians, but Phocion was too great to suffer himself to be bribed; and when the conqueror had attempted a second time to oblige him, and to conciliate his favour, by offering him the government and possession of five cities, the Athenian rejected the presents with the same indifference, and with the same independent mind. But not totally to despise the favours of the monarch, he begged Alexander to restore to their liberty four slaves that were confined in the citadel of Sardis. Antipater, who succeeded in the government of Macedonia after the death of Alexander, also attempted to corrupt the virtuous Athenian, but with the same success as his royal predecessor; and when a friend had observed to Phocion, that if he could so refuse the generous offers of his patrons, yet he should consider the good of his children, and accept them for their sake, Phocion calmly replied, that if his children were like him they could maintain themselves as well as their father had done, but if they behaved otherwise he declared that he was unwilling to leave them anything which might either supply their extravagancies, or encourage their debaucheries. But virtues like these could not long stand against the insolence and fickleness of an Athenian assembly. When the Piræus was taken, Phocion was accused of treason, and therefore, to avoid the public indignation, he fled for safety to Polyperchon. Polyperchon sent him back to Athens, where he was immediately condemned to drink the fatal poison. He received the indignities of the people with uncommon composure; and when one of his friends lamented his fate, Phocion exclaimed, “This is no more than what I expected; this treatment the most illustrious citizens of Athens have received before me.” He took the cup with the greatest serenity of mind, and as he drank the fatal draught, he prayed for the prosperity of Athens, and bade his friends to tell his son Phocus not to remember the indignities which his father had received from the Athenians. He died about 318 years before the christian era. His body was deprived of a funeral by order of the ungrateful Athenians, and if it was at last interred, it was by stealth, under a hearth, by the hand of a woman who placed this inscription over his bones: Keep inviolate, O sacred hearth, the precious remains of a good man, till a better day restores them to the monument of their forefathers, when Athens shall be delivered of her frenzy, and shall be more wise. It has been observed of Phocion, that he never appeared elated in prosperity, or dejected in adversity, he never betrayed pusillanimity by a tear, nor joy by a smile. His countenance was stern and unpleasant, but he never behaved with severity; his expressions were mild, and his rebukes gentle. At the age of 80 he appeared at the head of the Athenian armies like the most active officer, and to his prudence and cool valour in every period of life his citizens acknowledged themselves much indebted. His merits were not buried in oblivion; the Athenians repented of their ingratitude, and honoured his memory by raising him statues, and putting to a cruel death his guilty accusers. Plutarch & Cornelius Nepos, Lives.—Diodorus, bk. 16.
Phocis, a country of Greece, bounded on the east by Bœotia, and by Locris on the west. It originally extended from the bay of Corinth to the sea of Eubœa, and reached on the north as far as Thermopylæ, but its boundaries were afterwards more contracted. Phocis received its name from Phocus, a son of Ornytion, who settled there. The inhabitants were called Phocenses, and from thence the epithet of Phocicus was formed. Parnassus was the most celebrated of the mountains of Phocis, and Delphi was the greatest of its towns. Phocis is rendered famous for a war which it maintained against some of the Grecian republics, and which has received the name of the Phocian war. This celebrated war originated in the following circumstances:—When Philip king of Macedonia had, by his intrigues and well-concerted policy, fomented divisions in Greece, and disturbed the peace of every republic, the Greeks universally became discontented in their situation, fickle in their resolutions, and jealous of the prosperity of the neighbouring states. The Amphictyons, who were the supreme rulers of Greece, and who at that time were subservient to the views of the Thebans, the inveterate enemies of the Phocians, showed the same spirit of fickleness, and, like the rest of their countrymen, were actuated by the same fears, the same jealousy and ambition. As the supporters of religion, they accused the Phocians of impiety for ploughing a small portion of land which belonged to the god of Delphi. They immediately commanded that the sacred field should be laid waste, and that the Phocians, to expiate their crime, should pay a heavy fine to the community. The inability of the Phocians to pay the fine, and that of the Amphictyons to enforce their commands by violence, gave rise to new events. The people of Phocis were roused by the eloquence and the popularity of Philomelus, one of their countrymen, and when this ambitious ringleader had liberally contributed the great riches he possessed for the good of his countrymen, they resolved to oppose the Amphictyonic council by force of arms. He seized the rich temple of Delphi, and employed the treasures which it contained to raise a mercenary army. During two years hostilities were carried on between the Phocians and their enemies, the Thebans and the people of Locris, but no decisive battles were fought; and it can only be observed, that the Phocian prisoners were always put to an ignominious death, as guilty of the most abominable sacrilege and impiety, a treatment which was liberally retaliated on such of the army of the Amphictyons as became the captives of the enemy. The defeat, however, and death of Philomelus for a while checked their successes; but the deceased general was soon succeeded in the command by his brother, called Onomarchus, his equal in boldness and ambition, and his superior in activity and enterprise. Onomarchus rendered his cause popular, the Thessalians joined his army, and the neighbouring states observed at least a strict neutrality, if they neither opposed nor favoured his arms. Philip of Macedonia, who had assisted the Thebans, was obliged to retire from the field with dishonour, but a more successful battle was fought near Magnesia, and the monarch, by crowning the head of his soldiers with laurel, and telling them that they fought in the cause of Delphi and heaven, obtained a complete victory. Onomarchus was slain, and his body exposed on a gibbet; 6000 shared his fate, and their bodies were thrown into the sea, as unworthy of funeral honours, and 3000 were taken alive. This fatal defeat, however, did not ruin the Phocians; Phayllus, the only surviving brother of Philomelus, took the command of their armies, and doubling the pay of his soldiers, he increased his forces by the addition of 9000 men from Athens, Lacedæmon, and Achaia. But all this numerous force at last proved ineffectual; the treasures of the temple of Delphi, which had long defrayed the expenses of the war, began to fail; dissensions arose among the ringleaders of Phocis; and when Philip had crossed the straits of Thermopylæ, the Phocians, relying on his generosity, claimed his protection, and implored him to plead their cause before the Amphictyonic council. His feeble intercession was not attended with success, and the Thebans, the Locrians, and the Thessalians, who then composed the Amphictyonic council, unanimously decreed that the Phocians should be deprived of the privilege of sending members among the Amphictyons. Their arms and their horses were to be sold, for the benefit of Apollo; they were to pay the annual sum of 60,000 talents till the temple of Delphi had been restored to its ancient splendour and opulence; their cities were to be dismantled, and reduced to distinct villages, which were to contain no more than 60 houses each, at the distance of a furlong from one another, and all the privileges and the immunities of which they were stripped, were to be conferred on Philip king of Macedonia, for his eminent services in the [♦]prosecution of the Phocian war. The Macedonians were ordered to put these cruel commands into execution. The Phocians were unable to make resistance, and 10 years after they had undertaken the sacred war, they saw their country laid desolate, their walls demolished, and their cities in ruins, by the wanton jealousy of their enemies, and the inflexible cruelty of the Macedonian soldiers, B.C. 348. They were not, however, long under this disgraceful sentence; their well-known valour and courage recommended them to favour, and they gradually regained their influence and consequence by the protection of the Athenians, and the favours of Philip. Livy, bk. 32, ch. 18.—Ovid, bk. 2, Amores, poem 6, li. 15; Metamorphoses, bk. 5, li. 276.—Demosthenes.—Justin, bk. 8, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 16, &c.—Plutarch, Demosthenes, Lysander, Pericles, &c.—Strabo, bk. 5.—Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 5.
[♦] ‘prosetion’ replaced with ‘prosecution’