He was early initiated in the duties, and made acquainted with the
qualifications, of a statesman, by his father, who was a strong
supporter of the Achæan league, and under him Philopœmen was taught
the art of war. In Macedonia he distinguished himself by his valour
against the Romans, and when Perseus had been conquered, he was
carried to the capital of Italy as a prisoner of war. But he was not
long buried in the obscurity of a dungeon. Scipio and Fabius were
acquainted with his uncommon abilities as a warrior and as a man of
learning, and they made him their friend by kindness and attention.
Polybius was not insensible to their merit; he accompanied Scipio
in his expeditions, and was present at the taking of Carthage and
Numantia. In the midst of his prosperity, however, he felt the
distresses of his country, which had been reduced into a Roman
province, and, like a true patriot, he relieved its wants, and eased
its servitude by making use of the influence which he had acquired
by his acquaintance with the most powerful Romans. After the death
of his friend and benefactor Scipio, he retired from Rome, and passed
the rest of his days at Megalopolis, where he enjoyed the comforts
and honours which every good man can receive from the gratitude of
his citizens, and from the self-satisfaction which attends a humane
and benevolent heart. He died in the 82nd year of his age, about 124
years before Christ, of a wound which he had received by a fall from
his horse. He wrote a universal history in Greek, divided into 40
books, which began with the wars of Rome with the Carthaginians, and
finished with the conquest of Macedonia by Paulus. The greatest part
of this valuable history is lost; the five first books are extant,
and of the 12 following the fragments are numerous. The history
of Polybius is admired for its authenticity, and he is, perhaps,
the only historian among the Greeks who was experimentally and
professedly acquainted with the military operations and the political
measures of which he makes mention. He has been recommended in every
age and country as the best master in the art of war, and nothing
can more effectually prove the esteem in which he was held among the
Romans, than to mention that Brutus the murderer of Cæsar perused
his history with the greatest attention, epitomized it, and often
retired from the field where he had drawn his sword against Octavius
and Antony, to read the instructive pages which describe the great
actions of his ancestors. Polybius, however great and entertaining,
is sometimes censured for his unnecessary digressions, for his
uncouth and ill-digested narrations, for his negligence, and
the inaccurate arrangement of his words. But everywhere there is
instruction to be found, information to be collected, and curious
facts to be obtained, and it reflects not much honour upon Livy for
calling the historian, from whom he has copied whole books almost
word for word, without gratitude or acknowledgment, _haudquaquam
spernendus auctor_. Dionysius also, of Halicarnassus, is one of
his most violent accusers; but the historian has rather exposed his
ignorance of true criticism, than discovered inaccuracy or inelegance.
The best editions of Polybius are those of Gronovius, 3 vols., 8vo,
Amsterdam, 1670; of Ernesti, 3 vols., 8vo, 1764; and of Schweighæuser,
7 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb, 1785. _Plutarch_, _Philopœmen_, preface.
――_Livy_, bk. 30, ch. 45.――_Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 30.――――A freedman
of Augustus. _Suetonius._――――A physician, disciple, and successor of
Hippocrates.――――A soothsayer of Corinth, who foretold to his sons the
fate that attended them in the Trojan war.
=Polybœa=, a daughter of Amyclas and Diomede, sister to Hyacinthus.
_Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 19.
=Polybœtes.= _See:_ Polypœtes.
=Polybōtes=, one of the giants who made war against Jupiter. He was
killed by Neptune, who crushed him under a part of the island of
Cos, as he was walking across the Ægean. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 2.
――_Hyginus_, preface to fables.
=Polybus=, a king of Thebes in Egypt in the time of the Trojan war.
_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 22, li. 284.――――One of Penelope’s suitors.
_Ovid_, _Heroides_, poem 1.――――A king of Sicyon.――――A king of Corinth.
_See:_ Polybius.
=Polycāon=, a son of Lelex, who succeeded his brother Myles. He
received divine honours after death, with his wife Messene, at
Lacedæmon, where he had reigned. _Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 1, &c.――――A
son of Butes, who married a daughter of Hyllus.
=Polycarpus=, a famous Greek writer, born at Smyrna, and educated at
the expense of a rich but pious lady. Some suppose that he was St.
John’s disciple. He became bishop of Smyrna, and went to Rome to
settle the festival of Easter, but to no purpose. He was condemned
to be burnt at Smyrna, A.D. 167. His epistle to the Philippians is
simple and modest, yet replete with useful precepts and rules for the
conduct of life. The best edition of Polycarp’s epistle is that of
Oxford, 8vo, 1708, being annexed to the works of Ignatius.
=Polycaste=, the youngest of the daughters of Nestor. According to some
authors she married Telemachus, when he visited her father’s court in
quest of Ulysses.
=Polychăres=, a rich Messenian, said to have been the cause of the war
which was kindled between the Spartans and his countrymen, which was
called the first Messenian war.
=Polyclēa=, the mother of Thessalus, &c.
=Poly̆cles=, an Athenian in the time of Demetrius, &c. _Polyænus_, bk. 5.
――――A famous athlete, often crowned at the four solemn games of the
Greeks. He had a statue in Jupiter’s grove at Olympia. _Pausanias_,
bk. 6, ch. 1.
=Polyclētus=, a celebrated statuary of Sicyon, about 232 years before
Christ. He was universally reckoned the most skilful artist of his
profession among the ancients, and the second rank was given to
Phidias. One of his pieces, in which he had represented a body-guard
of the king of Persia, was so happily executed, and so nice and exact
in all its proportions, that it was looked upon as a most perfect
model, and accordingly called _the Rule_. He was acquainted with
architecture. _Pausanias_, bks. 2 & 6.――_Quintilian_, bk. 12, ch. 10.
――――Another, who lived about 30 years after.――――A favourite of the
emperor Nero, put to death by Galba.
=Polyclītus=, an historian of Larissa. _Athenæus_, bk. 12.――_Ælian_,
bk. 16, ch. 41.
=Polycrătes=, a tyrant of Samos, well known for the continual flow of
good fortune which attended him. He became very powerful, and made
himself master, not only of the neighbouring islands, but also of
some cities on the coast of Asia. He had a fleet of 100 ships of
war, and was so universally respected, that Amasis the king of Egypt
made a treaty of alliance with him. The Egyptian monarch, however,
terrified by his continued prosperity, advised him to chequer his
enjoyments, by relinquishing some of his most favourite objects.
Polycrates complied, and threw into the sea a beautiful seal, the
most valuable of his jewels. The voluntary loss of so precious a seal
afflicted him for some time, but in a few days after, he received as
a present a large fish, in whose belly the jewel was found. Amasis
no sooner heard this, than he rejected all alliance with the tyrant
of Samos, and observed, that sooner or later his good fortune would
vanish. Some time after Polycrates visited Magnesia on the Mæander,
where he had been invited by Orœtes the governor. He was shamefully
put to death, 522 years before Christ, merely because the governor
wished to terminate the prosperity of Polycrates. The daughter
of Polycrates had dissuaded her father from going to the house
of Orœtes, on account of the bad dreams which she had had, but
her advice was disregarded. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 14.――_Strabo_,
bk. 14.――_Herodotus_, bk. 3, ch. 22, &c.――――A sophist of Athens,
who, to engage the public attention, wrote a panegyric on Busiris and
Clytemnestra. _Quintilian_, bk. 2, ch. 17.――――An ancient statuary.
=Polycrēta=, or =Polycrīta=, a young woman of Naxos, who became the
wife of Diognetus the general of the Erythreans, &c. _Polyænus_,
bk. 8.――――Another woman of Naxos, who died through the excess of joy.
_Plutarch_, _de Mulierum virtutes_.
=Polycrĭtus=, a man who wrote the life of Dionysius the tyrant of
Sicily.――_Diogenes Laërtius._
=Polyctor=, the husband of Stygna, one of the Danaides. _Apollodorus_,
bk. 2, ch. 1.――――The father of Pisander, one of Penelope’s suitors.
――――An athlete of Elis. It is said that he obtained a victory at
Olympia by bribing his adversary Sosander, who was superior to him in
strength and courage. _Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 21.
=Polydæmon=, an Assyrian prince killed by Perseus. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, fable 3.
=Polydămas=, a Trojan, son of Antenor by Theano the sister of Hecuba.
He married Lycaste, a natural daughter of Priam. He is accused by
some of having betrayed his country to the Greeks. _Dares Phrygius._
――――A son of Panthous, born the same night as Hector. He was
inferior in valour to none of the Trojans, except Hector, and his
prudence, the wisdom of his counsels, and the firmness of his mind,
claimed equal admiration, and proved most salutary to his unfortunate
and misguided countrymen. He was at last killed by Ajax, after he had
slaughtered a great number of the enemy. _Dictys Cretensis_, bk. 1,
&c.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 12, &c.――――A celebrated athlete, son of
Nicias, who imitated Hercules in whatever he did. He killed a lion
with his fist, and it is said that he could stop with his hand a
chariot in its most rapid course. He was one day with some of his
friends in a cave, when on a sudden a large piece of rock came
tumbling down; and while all fled away, he attempted to receive the
fallen fragment in his arms. His prodigious strength, however, was
insufficient, and he was instantly crushed to pieces under the rock.
_Pausanias_, bk. 6, ch. 5.――――One of Alexander’s officers, intimate
with Parmenio. _Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 15.
=Polydamna=, a wife of Thonis king of Egypt. It is said that she gave
Helen a certain powder, which had the wonderful power of driving away
care and melancholy. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 4, li. 228.
=Polydectes=, a king of Sparta, of the family of the Proclidæ. He was
son of Eunomus. _Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 7.――――A son of Magnes, king
of the island of Seriphos. He received with great kindness Danae and
her son Perseus, who had been exposed on the sea by Acrisius. _See:_
Perseus. He took particular care of the education of Perseus; but
when he became enamoured of Danae, he removed him from his kingdom,
apprehensive of his resentment. Some time after he paid his addresses
to Danae, and when she rejected him, he prepared to offer her
violence. Danae fled to the altar of Minerva for protection, and
Dictys the brother of Polydectes, who had himself saved her from the
sea-waters, opposed her ravisher and armed himself in her defence.
At this critical moment, Perseus arrived, and with Medusa’s head
he turned into stones Polydectes, with the associates of his guilt.
The crown of Seriphos was given to Dictys, who had shown himself so
active in the cause of innocence. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5,
li. 242.――_Hyginus_, fable 63, &c.――――A sculptor of Greece. _Pliny._
=Polydeucēa=, a fountain of Laconia, near Therapne. _Strabo_, bk. 9.
=Polydōra=, a daughter of Peleus king of Thessaly, by Antigone the
daughter of Eurytion. She married the river Sperchius, by whom she
had Mnestheus. _Apollodorus._――――One of the Oceanides. _Hesiod._――――A
daughter of Meleager king of Calydon, who married Protesilaus. She
killed herself when she heard that her husband was dead. The wife
of Protesilaus is more commonly called Laodamia. _See:_ Protesilaus.
_Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 2.――――A daughter of Perieres.――――An island of
the Propontis near Cyzicus.
=Polydōrus=, a son of Alcamenes king of Sparta. He put an end to the
war which had been carried on during 20 years, between Messenia and
his subjects; and during his reign, the Lacedæmonians planted two
colonies, one at Crotona, and the other at Locri. He was universally
respected. He was assassinated by a nobleman, called Polemarchus. His
son Eurycrates succeeded him 724 years before Christ. _Pausanias_,
bk. 3.――_Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 204.――――A celebrated carver of Rhodes,
who with one stone made the famous statue of Laocoon and his children.
_Pliny_, bk. 34, ch. 8.――――A son of Hippomedon, who went with the
Epigoni to the second Theban war. _Pausanias_, bk. 2.――――A son of
Cadmus and Hermione, who married Nycteis, by whom he had Labdacus
the father of Laius. He had succeeded to the throne of Thebes,
when his father had gone to Illyricum. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3.――――A
brother of Jason of Pheræ, who killed his brother and seized upon his
possessions. _Diodorus_, bk. 15.――――A son of Priam killed by Achilles.
――――Another son of Priam by Hecuba, or, according to others, by
Laothoe the daughter of Altes king of Pedasus. As he was young
and inexperienced when Troy was besieged by the Greeks, his father
removed him to the court of Polymnestor king of Thrace, and also
entrusted to the care of the monarch a large sum of money, and the
greatest part of his treasures, till his country was freed from
foreign invasion. No sooner was the death of Priam known in Thrace,
than Polymnestor made himself master of the riches which were in
his possession; and to ensure them the better, he assassinated young
Polydorus, and threw his body into the sea, where it was found by
Hecuba. _See:_ Hecuba. According to Virgil, the body of Polydorus was
buried near the shore by his assassin, and there grew on his grave
a myrtle, whose boughs dropped blood, when Æneas, going to Italy,
attempted to tear them from the tree. _See:_ Polymnestor. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bks. 3, 21, &c.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 12.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 3, li. 432.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 20.――_Dictys
Cretensis_, bk. 2, ch. 18.
=Polygius=, a surname of Mercury. _Pausanias._
=Polygnōtus=, a celebrated painter of Thasos, about 422 years before
the christian era. His father’s name was Aglaophon. He adorned
one of the public porticoes of Athens with his paintings, in which
he had represented the most striking events of the Trojan war. He
particularly excelled in giving grace, liveliness, and expression to
his pieces. The Athenians were so pleased with him, that they offered
to reward his labours with whatever he pleased to accept. He declined
this generous offer, and the Amphictyonic council, which was composed
of the representatives of the principal cities of Greece, ordered
that Polygnotus should be maintained at the public expense ♦wherever
he went.――_Quintilian_, bk. 12, ch. 10.――_Pliny_, bks. 33 & 34.
――_Plutarch_, _Cimon_.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 25, &c.――――A
statuary. _Pliny_, bk. 34.
♦ ‘whereever’ replaced with ‘wherever’
=Polygŏnus= and =Telegonus=, sons of Proteus and Coronis, were killed
by Hercules. _Apollodorus._
=Polyhymnia= and =Polymnia=, one of the Muses, daughter of Jupiter and
Mnemosyne. She presided over singing and rhetoric, and was deemed the
inventress of harmony. She was represented veiled in white, holding
a sceptre in her left hand, and with her right raised up, as if
ready to harangue. She had a crown of jewels on her head. _Hesiod_,
_Theogony_, lis. 75 & 915.――_Plutarch_, _Convivium Septem Sapientium_.
――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 1.――_Ovid_ _Fasti_, bk. 5, lis. 9 & 53.
=Polyidus=, a physician who brought back to life Glaucus the son of
Minos, by applying to his body a certain herb, with which he had seen
a serpent restore life to another which was dead. _See:_ Glaucus.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 3.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 43.――――A son
of Hercules by one of the daughters of Thestius. _Apollodorus._――――A
Corinthian soothsayer, called also _Polybius_.――――A dithyrambic poet,
painter, and musician.
=Polylāus=, a son of Hercules and Crathe, daughter of Thespius.
=Polymĕnes=, an officer appointed to take care of Egypt after it had
been conquered by Alexander. _Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 8.
=Polymēde=, a daughter of Autolycus, who married Æson, by whom she had
Jason. She survived her husband only a few days. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1,
ch. 13.
=Polymedon=, one of Priam’s illegitimate children.
=Polymēla=, one of Diana’s companions. She was daughter of Phylas,
and had a son by Mercury. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 16.――――A daughter of
Æolus, seduced by Ulysses.――――A daughter of Actor. She was the first
wife of Peleus the father of Achilles.
=Polymnestes=, a Greek poet of Colophon. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 14.
――――A native of Thera, father of Battus, or Aristotle, by Phronima
the daughter of Etearchus king of Oaxus. _Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 150.
=Polymnestor=, a king of the Thracian Chersonesus, who married Ilione,
the eldest of Priam’s daughters. When the Greeks besieged Troy, Priam
sent the greatest part of his treasures, together with Polydorus,
the youngest of his sons, to Thrace, where they were entrusted to
the care of Polymnestor. The Thracian monarch paid every attention
to his brother-in-law; but when he was informed that Priam was dead,
he murdered him to become master of the riches which were in his
possession. At that time, the Greeks were returning victorious from
Troy, followed by all the captives, among whom was Hecuba the mother
of Polydorus. The fleet stopped on the coast of Thrace, where one of
the female captives discovered on the shore the body of Polydorus,
whom Polymnestor had thrown into the sea. The dreadful intelligence
was immediately communicated to the mother, and Hecuba, who
recollected the frightful dreams which she had had on the preceding
night, did not doubt but Polymnestor was the cruel assassin. She
resolved to revenge her son’s death, and immediately she called out
Polymnestor, as if wishing to impart to him a matter of the most
important nature. The tyrant was drawn into the snare, and was no
sooner introduced into the apartments of the Trojan princess, than
the female captives rushed upon him and put out his eyes with their
pins, while Hecuba murdered his two children who had accompanied
him. According to Euripides, the Greeks condemned Polymnestor to be
banished into a distant island for his perfidy. Hyginus, however,
relates the whole differently, and observes, that when Polydorus
was sent to Thrace, Ilione his sister took him instead of her son
Deiphilus, who was of the same age, apprehensive of her husband’s
cruelty. The monarch was unacquainted with the imposition; he looked
upon Polydorus as his own son, and treated Deiphilus as the brother
of Ilione. After the destruction of Troy, the conquerors, who wished
the house and family of Priam to be totally extirpated, offered
Electra the daughter of Agamemnon to Polymnestor, if he would destroy
Ilione and Polydorus. The monarch accepted the offer, and immediately
despatched his own son Deiphilus, whom he had been taught to regard
as Polydorus. Polydorus, who passed as the son of Polymnestor,
consulted the oracle after the murder of Deiphilus, and when he was
informed that his father was dead, his mother a captive in the hands
of the Greeks, and his country in ruins, he communicated the answer
of the god to Ilione, whom he had always regarded as his mother.
Ilione told him the measures she had pursued to save his life,
and upon this he avenged the perfidy of Polymnestor by putting out
his eyes. _Euripides_, _Hecuba_.――_Hyginus_, fable 102.――_Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 45, &c.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 13,
li. 430, &c.――――A king of Arcadia, succeeded on the throne by Ecmis.
_Pausanias_, bk. 8.――――A young Milesian who took a hare in running,
and afterwards obtained a prize at the Olympic games.
=Poly̆nīces=, a son of Œdipus king of Thebes by Jocasta. He inherited
his father’s throne with his brother Eteocles, and it was mutually
agreed between the two brothers, that they should reign each a year
alternately. Eteocles first ascended the throne by right of seniority;
but when the year was expired, he refused to resign the crown to his
brother. Polynices, upon this, fled to Argos, where he married Argia,
the daughter of Adrastus the king of the country, and levied a large
army, at the head of which he marched to Thebes. The command of this
army was divided among seven celebrated chiefs, who were to attack
the seven gates of the city of Thebes. The battle was decided by a
single combat between the two brothers, who both killed one another.
_See:_ Eteocles. _Aeschylus_, _Seven Against Thebes_.――_Euripides_,
_Phoenician Women_.――_Seneca_, _Œdipus_.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4.
――_Hyginus_, fable 68, &c.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 20; bk. 9, ch. 5.
――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 5.
=Polynoe=, one of the Nereides. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 2.
=Polypēmon=, a famous thief, called also _Procrustes_, who plundered
all the travellers about the Cephisus, and near Eleusis in Attica.
He was killed by Theseus. Ovid calls him father of Procrustes, and
Apollodorus of Sinus. _See:_ Procrustes. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 38.
――_Ovid_, _Ibis_, li. 409.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4.――_Plutarch_, _Theseus_.
=Polyperchon=, or =Polysperchon=, one of the officers of Alexander.
Antipater, at his death, appointed him governor of the kingdom of
Macedonia, in preference to his own son Cassander. Polyperchon,
though old, and a man of experience, showed great ignorance in the
administration of the government. He became cruel, not only to the
Greeks, or such as opposed his ambitious views, but even to the
helpless and innocent children and friends of Alexander, to whom he
was indebted for his rise and military reputation. He was killed in a
battle 309 B.C. _Curtius._――_Diodorus_, bk. 17, &c.――_Justin_, bk. 13.
=Polyphēmus=, a celebrated Cyclops, king of all the Cyclops in
Sicily, and son of Neptune and Thoosa the daughter of Phorcys. He
is represented as a monster of strength, of tall stature, and one
eye in the middle of the forehead. He fed upon human flesh, and kept
his flocks on the coasts of Sicily, when Ulysses, at his return from
the Trojan war, was driven there. The Grecian prince, with 12 of his
companions, visited the coast, and were seized by the Cyclops, who
confined them in his cave, and daily devoured two of them. Ulysses
would have shared the fate of his companions, had he not intoxicated
the Cyclops, and put out his eye with a firebrand while he was asleep.
Polyphemus was awaked by the sudden pain; he stopped the entrance
of his cave, but Ulysses made his escape by creeping between the
legs of the rams of the Cyclops, as they were led out to feed on the
mountains. Polyphemus became enamoured of Galatæa, but his addresses
were disregarded, and the nymph shunned his presence. The Cyclops
was more earnest, and when he saw Galatæa surrender herself to the
pleasures of Acis, he crushed his rival with a piece of a broken
rock. _Theocritus_, poem 1.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 13, li. 772.
――_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 19.――_Euripides_, _Cyclops_.――_Hyginus_,
fable 125.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 619, &c.――――One of the
Argonauts, son of Elatus and Hippea. _Hyginus_, fable 14.
=Polyphonta=, one of Diana’s nymphs, daughter of Hipponus and Thraosa.
=Polyphontes=, one of the Heraclidæ, who killed Cresphontes king of
Messenia, and usurped his crown. _Hyginus_, fable 137.――――One of the
Theban generals, under Eteocles. _Aeschylus_, _Seven Against Thebes_.
=Polypœtes=, a son of Pirithous and Hippodamia, at the Trojan war.
_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2.――_Pausanias_, bk. 10, ch. 26.――――A son
of Apollo by Pythia.――――One of the Trojans whom Æneas saw when he
visited the infernal regions. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 484.
=Polysperchon.= _See:_ Polyperchon.
=Polystrātus=, a Macedonian soldier, who found Darius after he had been
stabbed by Bessus, and gave him water to drink, and carried the last
injunctions of the dying monarch to Alexander. _Curtius_, bk. 5, ch.
13.――――An epicurean philosopher who flourished B.C. 238.
=Polytecnus=, an artist of Colophon, who married Ædon the daughter of
Pandarus.
=Polytion=, a friend of Alcibiades, with whom he profaned the mysteries
of Ceres. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 2.
=Polytimētus=, a river of Sogdiana. _Curtius_, bk. 6, ch. 4.
=Polyphron=, a prince killed by his nephew Alexander the tyrant of
Pheræ.
=Polytrŏpus=, a man sent by the Lacedæmonians with an army against the
Arcadians. He was killed at Orchomenus. _Diodorus_, bk. 15.