[Philemon, Epistle to], a short letter by Paul to a member of the Church at Colossæ on behalf of a slave, Onesimus, who had deserted his service, gone off with some of his property, and taken refuge in Rome, but had been converted to Christ, and whom he begs not to manumit, but simply to receive back as a brother for his sake.
[Philemon and Baucis], in the Greek mythology a pair of poor people who, in fond attachment to each other, lived in a small cottage in Phrygia by themselves and gave hospitality to gods in disguise when every other door was shut against them, and to whom, in the judgment that descended upon their inhospitable neighbours, the gods were propitious, and did honour by appointing them to priesthood, when they would rather have been servants, in a temple metamorphosed out of their cottage. Here they continued to minister to old age, and had but one prayer for themselves, that they might in the end die together; when as they sat at the door of the temple one day, bent with years, they were changed, he into an oak and she into a linden. This is Ovid's version of the story, to which he adds as the moral of it, "Those who piously honour the gods are themselves held in honour."
[Philip], an Indian chief whose father had been a staunch friend of the Pilgrim settlers, was himself friendly to the colonists, till in 1671 their encroachments provoked him to retaliation; after six years' fighting, in which many colonists perished and great massacres of Indians took place, he was defeated and slain, 1676.
[Philip of Macedon], the father of Alexander the Great, usurped the kingdom from the infant king Amyntas, his nephew and ward, in 360 B.C.; having secured his throne, he entered on a series of aggressive wars, making expeditions into Thrace and Thessaly; the siege of Olynthus brought him into conflict with Athens, the two cities being allies, and occasioned some of the most brilliant orations of Demosthenes; the successive appeals for his aid against their enemies by the Thebans and the Argives led him into Greece and into the Peloponnesus; in 339 B.C. a council of Greek cities appointed him commander-in-chief of their leagued forces in a projected war against the Locrians, but the Athenians and Thebans opposed his coming; the defeat of their armies at Chæronea, 338 B.C., placed all Greece at his feet; his next project was an expedition against Persia, but while preparations were on foot he was assassinated at Ægæ; a man of unbridled lust, he was an astute and unscrupulous politician, but of incomparable eloquence, energy, and military skill (382-336 B.C.).
[Philip II.], Philip-Augustus, king of France, shared the throne with his father, Louis VII., from 1179, and succeeded him as sole ruler in 1180; marrying Isabella of Hainault, he united the Capet and Carlovingian houses; his grand aim was to secure to himself some of the English possessions in France; his alliance with Richard of England in the third crusade ended in a quarrel; returning to France he broke his oath to Richard by bargaining with John for portions of the coveted territory; an exhausting war lasted till 1119; on Richard's death Philip supported Arthur against John in his claim to Anjou, Maine, and Touraine; after Arthur's murder, the capture of Château Gaillard in 1204 gave him possession of these three provinces with Normandy and part of Poitou; the victory of Bouvines 1214 secured his throne, and the rest of his reign was spent in internal reforms and the beautifying of Paris (1165-1223).
[Philip IV.], the Fair, king of France, succeeded his father Philip III. in 1285; by his marriage with Joanna of Navarre added Navarre, Champagne, and Brie to his realm; but the sturdy valour of the Flemish burghers at Courtrai on the "Day of Spurs" prevented the annexation of Flanders; his fame rests on his struggle and victory over the papal power; a tax on the clergy was condemned by Boniface VIII. in 1296; supported by his nobles and burghers Philip burnt the papal bull, imprisoned the legate, and his ambassador in Rome imprisoned the Pope himself; Boniface died soon after, and in 1305 Philip made Clement V. Pope; kept him at Avignon, and so commenced the seventy years' "captivity"; he forced Clement to decree the suppression of the Templars, and became his willing instrument in executing the decree; he died at Fontainebleau, having proved himself an avaricious and pitiless despot (1268-1314).
[Philip VI.], of Valois, king of France, succeeded Charles IV. in 1328; Edward III. of England contested his claim, contending that the Salic law, though it excluded females, did not exclude their male heirs; Edward was son of a daughter, Philip son of a brother, of Philip IV.; thus began the Hundred Years' War between France and England, 1337; the French fleet was defeated off Sluys in 1340, and the army at Crécy in 1346; a truce was made, when the war was followed by the Black Death; the worthless king afterwards purchased Majorca (1293-1350).
[Philip II.], king of Spain, only son of the Emperor Charles V.; married Mary Tudor in 1554, and spent over a year in England; in 1555 he succeeded his father in the sovereignty of Spain, Sicily, Milan, the Netherlands, Franche-Comté, Mexico, and Peru; a league between Henry II. of France and the Pope was overthrown, and on the death of Mary he married the French princess Isabella, and retired to live in Spain, 1559. Wedding himself now to the cause of the Church, he encouraged the Inquisition in Spain, and introduced it to the Netherlands; the latter revolted, and the Seven United Provinces achieved their independence after a long struggle in 1579; his great effort to overthrow Protestant England ended in the disaster of the Armada, 1588; his last years were embittered by the failure of his intrigues against Navarre, raids of English seamen on his American provinces, and by loathsome disease; he was a bigot in religion, a hard, unloved, and unloving man, and a foolish king; he fatally injured Spain by crushing her chivalrous spirit, by persecuting the industrious Moors, and by destroying her commerce by heavy taxation (1527-1598).
[Philip V.], grandson of Louis XIV., first Bourbon king of Spain; inherited his throne by the testament of his uncle Charles II. in 1700; the rival claim of the Archduke Charles of Austria was supported by England, Austria, Holland, Prussia, Denmark, and Hanover; but the long War of the Spanish Succession terminated in the peace of Utrecht, and left Philip his kingdom; after an unsuccessful movement to recover Sicily and Sardinia for Spain he joined England and France against the Emperor, and gained the former island for his son Charles III.; he died an imbecile at Madrid (1683-1746).
[Philip the Bold], Duke of Burgundy, was the fourth son of John the Good, king of France; taken captive at Poitiers 1356; on his return to France he received for his bravery the duchies of Touraine and Burgundy; on his brother's accession to the French throne as Charles V. he exchanged the former duchy for the hand of Margaret of Flanders, on the death of whose father he assumed the government of his territories; his wise administration encouraged arts, industries, and commerce, and won the respect and esteem of his subjects; he was afterwards Regent of France when Charles V. became imbecile (1342-1404).