PERSUASION, goddess of, see Pitho.
PHA′ETON. A son of Sol, or, according to most mythologists, of Phœbus
and Clymene. Anxious to display his skill in horsemanship, he was
allowed to drive the chariot of the sun for one day. The horses soon
found out the incapacity of the charioteer, became unmanageable, and
overturned the chariot. There was such great fear of injury to heaven
and earth, that Jove, to stop the destruction, killed Phaeton with a
thunderbolt.
“Now Phaeton, by lofty hopes possessed,
The burning seat with youthful vigour pressed.”
“The breathless Phaëton, with flaming hair,
Shot from the chariot like a falling star
That in a summer’s evening from the top
Of heaven drops down, or seems at least to drop.”