ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

PHILELPHUS (FRANCIS), a learned Italian, was born in 1898, at Tolentino, in the march of Ancona. He studied at Padua, where he made such progress, that at eighteen he became professor of eloquence. The fame of his talents having gained him an invitation to Venice, he was honoured with the rank of citizen, and was sent by the republic as secretary to their embassy at Constantinople in 1419, and he took advantage of this employment to make himself master of Greek. He there married Theodora, daughter of the learned Emmanuel Chrysoloras, about 1419. Becoming at length known to the emperor John Palæologus, he was sent on an embassy to Sigismund emperor of Germany, to implore his aid against the Turks. After this he taught at Venice, Florence, Siena, Bologna, and Milan, with astonishing success. He was not, however, without his defects. He wished to reign alone in the republic of letters, and could not bear contradiction without being extremely irritated. He would dispute on the most trivial points; and once wagered 100 crowns, on some minute question of grammar, against the beard of a Greek philosopher named Timotheus. Having won, no solicitation could prevail upon him to remit the fine, and he most unmercifully shaved his antagonist, in spite of very ample offers. To this presumptuous turn he joined a prodigality and a restlessness, which filled his life with uneasiness. Menage has accused him of destroying a copy of Cicero "De Gloria," the only one then existing, after having transfused the greater part of it into a treatise of his own; but it does not appear that this accusation was just. Other learned men have been also suspected; but all that is certain is, that the work was extant in the time of Petrarch, who mentions having a copy of it, which has since been utterly lost. Philelphus died at Florence July 31, 1481, being then 83. His works consist of odes, dialogues, orations, &c. of which the following editions are in most request: 1. "Orationes et nonnulla alia opera, Plutarchi apophthegmata, ab eodem e Græco in Latinum conversa," 4to. This is a very rare edition, and contains a letter from Philelphus to Maria Sforza, dated from Milan, 1481. There are reprints at Venice in 1482, 1491, 1492, &c. but of little value. 2. "Odæ," Brix. 1497, 4to. 3. "Satyrarum Hecatosticon prima decas (decades decem)," Milan, 1476, small folio, of uncommon rarity. 4. "Satyrarum decades decem," Ve

nice, 1502, 4to. 5. "Satyræ centum distinctæ decem decadibus Catholicis passim refertæ sententiis præmissa authoris vita ab Egid. Perrino Campano, &c." Paris, 1508. De Bure says, that the life announced in the title of this edition is not to be found in such copies as he has seen. 6. " Epistolarum familiarum libri triginta septem," Venice, 1502, folio. 7. "Fabulæ," Venice, 1480, 4to. In his letters are innumerable proofs of his arrogant and suspicious temper. His works, collected, were published

at Basle in 1739.

[ocr errors]

PHILEMON, an Athenian comic poet, contemporary with Menander, whose rival he was, and though inferior, was frequently successful against him by means of intrigue or the partiality of friends, was, by the account of Suidas, a Syracusan by birth; but Strabo says that he was born at Solæ, in Cilicia. He was some years older than Menander, and in the opinion of Quintilian fairly next to him in merit, though unfit to be preferred to him. Apuleius speaks still more favourably, saying only that he was fortasse impar; and adds, that there are to be found in his dramas "many witty strokes, plots ingeniously disposed, discoveries strikingly brought to light, characters well adapted to their parts, sentiments that accord with human life, jests that do not degrade the sock, and gravity that does not intrench upon the buskin." Philemon, who flourished 274 B. C. lived to the extraordinary age of 101 years, and composed ninety comedies. Menander, indeed, composed more, and in less time, but even this was extraordinary. His longevity was the result of great temperance, and a placid frame of mind. Frugal, to a degree that subjected him to the charge of avarice, he never weakened his faculties or constitution by excess: and he summed up all his wishes in one rational and moderate petition to heaven, which throws a most favourable light upon his character: "I pray for health in the first place; in the next, for success in my undertakings; thirdly, for a cheerful heart; and lastly, to be out of debt to all mankind." A petition which seems to have been granted in all its parts. As he lived in constant serenity of mind, so he died without pain of body; for, having called together a number of his friends to the reading of a play which he had newly finished, and sitting, as was the custom in that

1 Chaufepie.-Niceron, vol. VI.-Tiraboschi.-Roscoe's Lorenzo.

serene climate, under the open canopy of heaven, an unforeseen fall of rain broke up the company, just when the old man had got into the third act, in the very warmest interests of his fable. His hearers, disappointed by this unlucky check to their entertainment, interceded with him for the remainder on the day following, to which he readily assented; and a great company being then assembled, whom the fame of the rehearsal had brought together, they sat a considerable time in expectation of the poet, till wearied out with waiting, and unable to account for his want of punctuality, some of his intimates were dispatched in quest of him, who, having entered his house, and made their way to his chamber, found the old man dead on his couch, in his usual meditating posture, his features placid and composed, and with every symptom that indicated a death without pain or struggle. The fragments of Philemon are in general of a sentimental tender cast; and though they enforce sound and strict morality, yet no one instance occurs of that gloomy misanthropy, that harsh and dogmatizing spirit, which too often marks the maxims of his more illustrious rival. They were collected and published by Grotius, together with those of Menander; the greater part having been preserved by Stobæus. Several of them, as well as the fragments of the other Greek comic poets, have been translated by Mr. Cumberland in his "Observer," to which we refer our readers for further information. '

1

PHILIDOR (ANDREW), an eminent musician and chess-player, born at Dreux in 1726, was descended from a long line of musical ancestors, who, in different branches of the art, had been attached to the court ever since the time of Louis XIII. The family-name was Danican; and it is pretended that this monarch, himself a dilettante musician, occasioned the surname of Philidor, a famous performer on the hautbois, whom this prince had heard in his progress through France, to be given to Danican, whose instrument being the hautbois, when the king heard him perform, he cried out, "Here's another Philidor!" Andrew was educated as a page or chorister in the chapelroyal, under Campra, and in 1737 he produced his first anthem, which was performed in the. chapel, and complimented by the king as an extraordinary production for a

Vossius de Poet. Græc.-Cumberland's Observer.

child of eleven years old. On his change of voice, and quitting the chapel, he established himself at Paris, where he subsisted by a few scholars, and by copying music; but every year he went to Versailles with a new motet.

The progress which he had made at chess awakened in him a desire to travel, in order to try his fortune; and in 1745 he set out for Holland, England, Germany, &c: In these voyages he formed his taste in music upon the best Italian models. In 1753 he tried his strength as a musical composer in London, by new setting Dryden's ode on St. Cecilia's day. Handel is said, by his biographer, to have found his chorusses well written, but discovered a want of taste in his airs. As his time was more occupied by chess than music, he printed in London, by a large subscription, in 1749, his "Analysis of the Game of Chess." In 1754 he returned to Paris, in the month of November, and devoted his whole time to music. He had his "Laudæ Jerusalem" performed at Versailles; but it was found to be too Italian; and as the queen of Louis XV. disliked that style of music in the church, his hopes of obtaining, by this composition, a place of maître de chapelle, were frustrated.

In 1757 he composed an act of a serious opera; but Ribel, opera-manager, would not let it be performed, telling him that he would have no airs introduced in the scenes of that theatre. From this time, however, to 1779, he composed various operas for the French stage, that were much approved. In the last-mentioned year, he composed, in London, "The Carmen Seculare," of Horace," in the conduct of which, Philidor placed himself under the guidance of Baretti. The performance was attended, at Freemasons' Hall, by all persons of learning and talents, in expectation of a revival of the music of the ancients, and, by many, of its miraculous powers. To what kind of music the "Carmen Seculare" was performed at Rome, we pretend not to say; but in London, adds Dr. Burney, we could trace the composer's models for the chorusses in the oratorios of Handel, and the operas of Rameau; and for the airs, in his own comic operas, and the favourite melodies then in vogue in that theatre, many of which, with Italian words and Italian singing, particularly those of Gretry, would be elegant and pleasing music any where. Philidor, however, in setting the secular ode, it must be confessed, manifested his knowledge of counterpoint in the style of the old masters; and that, in spite of chess, he

had found time for the serious study of music. We believe that no one found himself much the wiser concerning the music of the ancients, after hearing this music performed to Latin words, than after hearing an oratorio of Handel, or an opera of Rameau. For the last two months of his life, he was kept alive merely by art, and the kind attentions of an old and worthy friend. To the last moment of his existence he enjoyed, though near seventy years of age, a strong retentive memory, which had long rendered him remarkable in the circle of his acquaintance in this capital. Mr. Philidor was a member of the chess-club near 30 years; and was a man of those meek qualities that rendered him not less esteemed as a companion than 'admired for his extraordinary skill in the intricate and arduous game of chess, for which he was pre-eminently distinguished. Not two months before his death he played two games blindfold, at the same time, against two excellent chess-players, and was declared the conqueror. What seemed most to have shook the poor old man's constitution, and to have precipitated his exit, was the not being able to procure a passport to return to France to visit his family, who were living there, before he paid the last debt of nature. But this refusal was rendered more bitter, on its being intimated that he was a suspected character, and had been one of those persons denounced by a committee of French informers. From the moment he was made acquainted with this circumstance, he became the martyr of grief: his philosophy forsook him; his tears incessantly flowed; and he sunk into the grave without a groan, on the 31st of August, 1795.'

PHILIPPI (HENRY), a learned Jesuit, was born at Luxemburg, in the vicinity of St. Hubert's, in the Ardennes, in 1575. He entered the society of the Jesuits at the age of twenty-one: and besides his other accomplishments, was distinguished for his knowledge of scriptural history and chronology. After taking the degree of doctor of divinity, he was employed, according to the usual practice of his order, in teaching philosophy, scholastic divinity, and biblical literature, in the universities of Gratz, Vienna, and Prague. He died at Ratisbon in 1636, about the age of 61, leaving, among other works of inferior importance, 1. "Chronologica Synopsis sacrorum Tempo

1 Burney, in Rees's Cyclopædia.-Account in the last edition of this Dic tionary,

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »