god of shepherds' (1), and 'the giver of increase, of light, and of fruits' (11). In 1 ff. he is addressed as 'mighty Pan entire substance of the universe, the heaven, and the sea, and the earth, queen of all, and immortal fire.' He is also the father of all' (10), 'the ruler of the world' (11), 'for in thee the boundless soil of the earth is established, and to thee yield both the deep-sown water of the untiring sea, and Ocean, circling in waters about the earth'; cf! Serv. on Verg. Ecl. 2. 31. In each of these cases there is evident reference to the etymology of Pan, as suggested in Milton's epithet 'universal' (P. L. 4. 66). Isidorus, in Etymol. 8. 11. 81, says, 'Pan dictus est, id est, omne. Fingunt enim eum ex universali elemen torum specie.' Cf. C. N. 89. In Orph. Hy. 10. 4 Pan is 'enthroned with the Hours'; cf. P. L. 4. 267; see Hours and Graces. As Milton speaks of Pan asleep in P. L. 4. 707; Ep. Dam. 52, so in Theocritus (1. 16) the goatherd fears to disturb the god while he rests at noon, weary of the chase. PANDORA.-P. L. 4. 714. In revenge for the theft of the fire of Zeus for mortals by Prometheus, or Forethought, Zeus ordered Hephæstus and the other immortals to fashion a woman, godlike in mind and body. She was called Pandora, and was conducted by Hermes to Epimetheus, or Afterthought (called duaprivoos in Hes. Theog. 511), 'unwiser son' of Iapetus. He received her, and thus were engendered all the ills that flesh is heir to. The story is told by Hesiod in W. and D. 50 ff. PANOPE.-Lyc. 99. See Nymphs. PARTHENOPE.-C. 879. See Sirens. PEGASUS.-P. L. 7. 4, 17. See Bellerophon and Muses. PELOPS.-Pens. 99. Milton here refers to Pelops' line as the subject of ancient tragedy. The line of descent in this Argive family ran thus: Tantalus, Pelops, Atreus, Agamemnon, the last being the father of Orestes, Electra, and Iphigenia, and the brother of Menelaus (Eur. Or. 5–26). Three of the remaining tragedies of Eschylus, two of Sophocles, and five of Euripides deal with the stories of this house. Of these the most celebrated are the Agamemnon, the Choephora, and the Eumenides of Eschylus, the Electra of Sophocles, and the Orestes, the Iphigenia at Tauris, and the Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides. The family frequently went by the patronymic name Pelopidæ (Soph. El. 10). Plato mentions the sufferings of the Pelopida and the events of the Trojan war as subjects of tragedy (Rep. 2. 380 A). To one of their calamities Milton refers in P. L. 10. 688. The story of the Thyestean banquet is as follows: Atreus contended with his brother Thyestes for the throne of their father, but Thyestes seduced the wife of Atreus, and gained the power by dishonest means. In revenge Atreus slew the children of his brother, and served them before him at a banquet. The Sun could not endure this transgression, and turned his course for one day from west to east. A reference to the story is to be found in Eur. El. 714 ff. It appears in detail in the scholium on Eur. Or. 812, and in Hyg. Fab. 88. PHILLIS.-L'AI. 86. See Corydon. PHILOMEL.-Pens. 56. The name Philomel, meaning the nightingale, is a reference to the story of Tereus, the husband of Procne, who, preferring Procne's sister Philomela, violated the latter and cut out her tongue. According to the usual account, Philomela was changed to a swallow (Apollod. 3. 14. 8), but Hyginus says that she became a nightingale (Fab. 45; cf. Ov. Met. 6. 668). PHINEUS.-P. L. 3. 36. Phineus was a 'prophet old' who dwelt at Salmydessos in Thrace, and was visited by the Argonauts (Apollod. 1. 9. 21; Apollon. Rh. 2. 178 ff.). Because he prophesied, he was visited by the gods with blindness. He is described by Ovid as 'Perpetuaque trahens inopem sub nocte senectam' (Met. 7. 2). PHLEGETON.-P. L. 2. 580. See Rivers of Hell. PHLEGRA.-P. L. 1. 577. See Giants. PHOEBUS.-P. R. 4. 260; Pass. 23; C. 66, 190; Lyc. 77; Son. 13. 10. See Apollo. PHOENIX.-P. L. 5. 272; S. A. 1699. For his two accounts of the phoenix Milton draws upon several sources. According to Herodotus (2. 73) there lived but one phoenix at a time. It resembled the eagle, and had wings of gold and ruby. Once in five hundred years it flew from its home in Arabia to the temple of the Sun in Egypt, bearing the remains of the parent bird enclosed in myrrh. Milton's authority for saying that the phoenix flew to Thebes is not in the classical writers. These all agree that the bird visited Heliopolis. Ovid (Met. 15. 391 ff.) describes the pyre of incense which the phoenix erects for itself. From the ashes of the old bird the young one is born. In S. A. 1703 the new phoenix is not represented as a young bird, but as the old one rejuvenated by the fire. Pomponius Mela tells the legend in the same way (De Situ Orbis 3. 8). As Raphael descends to earth (P. L. 5. 269 ff.), 'to all the fowls he seems A phoenix' as it flies to Egypt. This may have some relation to the narrative found in Achilles Tatius 3. 25, who says that a company of other birds flies with the phoenix toward Egypt as a bodyguard, and he is like a king departing from his own country.' The brilliant plumage suggested by Herodotus, and elaborated by Pliny (N. H. 10. 2. 2), helps to establish the connection between Milton's figure and Raphael. S. A. 1707 is an adaptation of Met. 15. 395: 'Hæc ubi quinque suæ complevit secula vitæ.' As Milton speaks of the sole bird' (P. L. 5. 272), so Ovid says 'unica avis' (Am. 2. 6. 54). Cf. Ep. Dam. 187 ff. The adjective occurs also in Claud. 22. 417 and Lactantius, De Ave Phan. 31, 32. PLEIADES.-P. L. 7. 374; 10. 674. The Pleiades are mentioned as daughters of Atlas in Hesiod (W. and D. 383; cf. P. L. 10. 674), who adds that their rising was the sign of the beginning of summer. The fact is repeated in Aratus, Phan. 254-267, and their genealogy and number are discussed by Athenæus (11. 489, 490), who mentions the story that they were transferred to heaven to save them from Orion. Cf. Hyg. Astr. 2. 21. They were originally seven in number. PLUTO.-P. L. 4. 270; 10. 444; L'AI. 149; Pens. 107. Plato says, 'Pluto is concerned with hovтos, and means the giver of wealth, because wealth comes out of the earth beneath. People in general use the term as a euphemism for Hades' (Crat. 403 A). The adjective' Plutonian' in P. L. 10. 444 is used in a general sense of that which belongs to the Lower World. 'Plutonian hall' suggests the 'domus Plutonia' of Horace (C. I. 4. 17). See Ades. In connection with P. L. 4. 270 see Ceres, and on L'Al. 149 and Pens. 107 see Orpheus. POMONA.-P. L. 5. 378; 9. 393. In both cases Milton's representation of Pomona is drawn from Ovid (Met. 14. 623 ff.). She was a beautiful maiden, more skillful than any of the Hamadryads of Latium in caring for the trees and vines. She enclosed her little orchard with a wall to shut out her many suitors, but the god Vertumnus often found his way to her in disguise, unsuccessfully pleading his own cause, until at length he captivated her by appearing in his own splendor. Pomona is mentioned by Servius (on Verg. Æn. 7. 190) as 'pomorum dea,' the goddess of fruits. PROMETHEUS.-S. A. 500. See Pandora, Tantalus. PROSERPINA.-P. L. 4. 269; 9. 896. See Ceres. PROTEUS.-P. L. 3. 604. See Sea-gods. PSYCHE.-C. 1005. See Cupid. PYGMIES.-P. L. 1. 576,780. Homer speaks of the pygmies in I. 3. 6 as meeting the cranes in battle, but does not name their dwelling-place. In placing them 'be yond the Indian mount' Milton follows Pliny (N. H. 7. 2. 2), who also describes them as 'ternas spithamas longitudine, hoc est, ternos dodrantes non excedentes,' the equivalent of twenty-seven inches in length, and says that they live 'extrema in parte montium.' Just what mountains Pliny meant is uncertain, though he intimates that they were 'ad extremos fines Indiæ ab oriente circa fontem Gangis.' This seems to indicate the range of Imaus. In 6. 19. 22 he speaks of a report that the pygmies live in Maleus, a mountain of the interior. PYRRHA.-P. L. 11. 12. See Deucalion. PYTHON.-P. L. 10. 581. According to Ovid the Python was engendered during the new creation which followed the flood. The story runs as follows (Met. I. 434-440): 'When therefore the Earth, covered with mud by the late deluge, was thoroughly heated by the ethereal sunshine and a penetrating warmth, she produced species of creatures innumerable. She indeed might have been unwilling, but then she produced thee as well, thou enormous Python; and thou, unheard-of serpent, wast a source of terror to this new race of men, so vast a part of a mountain didst thou occupy'. Accounts do not say that this took place in the Pythian vale, as Milton says, though it was there that Apollo slew the Python with arrows soon after. The story is first told in Hom. Hy. to Pyth. Ap. 122 ff. Ovid and others say that in memory of this deed Apollo established the Pythian games, which in historic times were celebrated near Delphi in his honor. Cf. Hyg. Fab. 140; P. L. 2. 530. In the Reason of Church Government, P. W. 2. 505, the story is worked into a simile of the pestiferous contagion of prelaty, with evident reference to the interpretation given in Macrobius (1. 17. 57), who says that the myth typifies the sun dispelling the mists, and his rays are the arrows. Cf. Prolusions, ed. Symmons, 6. 152. RHEA.-P. L. 1. 513; 4. 279; 10. 584; Arc. 21. Cybele is the Phrygian name of gods, according to Strabo 10. 469, 470. Rhea, the revered mother of divinity Milton speaks of 'the towered Cybele, Mother of a hundred His words seem to be based principally on Verg. gods' (Arc. 21). En. 6. 785-788: qualis Berecynthia mater Invehitur curru Phrygias turrita per urbes Servius makes the following comment on this passage: 'Berecynthia est terra, quæ urbes sustinet.' Ovid says, however, that she wears a crown of towers, because she gave towers to the Phrygian cities. That this was also Vergil's idea seems probable in the light of Æn. IO. 252: Alma parens Idæa Deum, cui Dindyma cordi, Cf. Eleg. 1. 65, 74; 5. 62. Το Rhea is applied the ephithet πυργοφόρος (Suidas). Hesiod (Theog. 453 ff.) says that Rhea was the mother of Istia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. She was well known as 'the mother of gods and mortal men,' or simply as the mother.' Cf. Orph. Hy. 13. 9; 40. 1; 26. 1; Ov. Fast. 4. 202, 250, 259, 263; Anth. Pal. 6. 220. The story of the jealous Rhea, as related in P. L. 4. 275 ff., is taken from Diodorus Siculus (3. 68–70), the only ancient authority for this version of the Dionysus myth. Diodorus cites Thymœtes, ‘a contemporary of Orpheus,' as his authority, and says that Ammon first took Rhea to wife, but afterward met the beautiful Amalthea, who bore him a son, 'a wonder of beauty and strength.' Milton calls the boy 'florid.' In fear of Rhea's jealousy Ammon sent the child Dionysus to the distant Nysa, which lies in an island 'girt with the river Triton' (P. L. 4. 276). Here, safe from the wiles of Rhea, the boy was reared in a cave under the guardianship of Athene. untρviá (Diod. 3. 70) may have suggested the epithet stepdame' (P. L. 4. 279). The Latin goddess Ops was identified with Rhea, as in Macrobius (Sat. 1. 10. 19). Thus Milton speaks of Rhea and Cronus as Ops and Saturn in P. L. 10. 584. See Eurynome. RIVERS OF HELL.-P. L. 1. 239; 2, 506, 574-586, 604, 875; 3. 14; 10. 453; L'AI. 3; C. 182, 604. In the passage P. L. 2. 574-586 Milton names and describes the five rivers of the Lower World as they were known to the ancients. He assigns to them the attributes which classical tradition generally gave them, and which it connected with their etymology. A good illustration is Porphyry's quotation of Apollodorus, cited by Stobæus (Ecl. Phys. 1. 52. 46), where Styx is connected with the root orvy, to hate; Acheron with axos, sorrow, pain; Cocytus with Kwкvεw, to lament; and Phlegethon with phyɛola, to burn with a flame. Milton speaks of 'fierce Phlegeton' and its 'waves of torrent fire.' So in Vergil, round about Tartarus 'rapidus flammis ambit torrentibus amnis' (Æn. 6. 550). Lethe is so called because it is the river of forgetfulness. The fact is mentioned by Lucian (De Luctu 5). Cf. P. L. 2. 604 ff.; Plat. Rep. 10. 621; Verg. Æn. 6. 714. In this last passage the souls of the blessed drink the 'securos latices et longa oblivia.' Cf. also Ov. Met. 11. 602 ff. In C. 603 mention is made of the griesly legions that troop Under the sooty flag of Acheron. |