Chapter Phalanx to Pharos of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Phalanx to Pharos

Phalanx The close order of battle in which the heavy-armed troops of a Grecian army were usually drawn up. Hence, any number of people distinguished for firmness and solidity of union.

Phalaris The brazen bull of Phalaris. Perillos, a brass-founder of Athens, proposed to Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, to invent for him a new species of punishment; accordingly, he cast a brazen bull, with a door in the side. The victim was shut up in the bull and roasted to death, but the throat of the engine was so contrived that the groans of the sufferer resembled the bellowings of a mad bull. Phalaris commended the invention, and ordered its merits to be tested by Perillos himself.
   The epistles of Phalaris. Certain letters said to have been written by Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, in Sicily. Boyle maintained them to be genuine, Bentley affirmed that they were forgeries. No doubt Bentley is right.

Phaleg in the satire of Absalom and Achitophel, by Dryden and Tate, is Mr. Forbes, a Scotchman.

Phantom Ship (See Carmilhan .)

“Or of that phantom ship, whose form
Shoots like a meteor through the storm;
When the dark scud comes driving hard,
And lowered is every topsail yard ...
And well the doomed spectators know
`Tis harbinger of wreck and woe.”
Sir Walter Scott: Rokeby, ii. 11.

Phaon A young man greatly ill-treated by Furor, and rescued by Sir Guyon. He loved Claribel, but Philemon, his friend, persuaded him that Claribel was unfaithful, and, to prove his words, told him to watch in a given place. He saw what he thought was Claribel holding an assignation with what seemed to be a groom, and, rushing forth, met the true Claribel, whom he slew on the spot. Being tried for the murder, it came out that the groom was Philemon, and the supposed Claribel only her lady's maid. He poisoned Philemon, and would have murdered the handmaid, but she escaped, and while he pursued her he was attacked by Furor. This tale is to expose the intemperance of revenge. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, ii. 4, 28.)

Pharamond King of the Franks and a knight of the Round Table. He is said to have been the first king of France. This reputed son of Marcomir and father of Clodion, is the hero of one of Calprenède's novels.

Pharaoh (2 syl.). The king. It is the Coptic article P and the word oure (king). There are eleven of this title mentioned in Holy Scripture:-
   i. Before Solomon's time.
   (1) The Pharaoh contemporary with Abraham (Gen. xii. 25).
   (2) The good Pharaoh who advanced Joseph (Gen. xli.).
   (3) The Pharaoh who "knew not Joseph” (Exod. i. 8).
   (4) The Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea (Exod. xiv. 28); said to be Menephthes or Meneptah, son of Rameses II.
   (5) The Pharaoh that protected Hadad (1 Kings xi. 19).
   (6) The Pharaoh whose daughter Solomon married (1 Kings iii. 1; ix. 16).
   ii. After Solomon's time.
   (7) Pharaoh Shishak, who warred against Rehoboam (1. Kings xiv. 25, 26).
   (8) Pharaoh Shabakok, or “So,” with whom Hoshea made an alliance (2 Kings xvii. 4).
   (9) The Pharaoh that made a league with Hezekiah against Sennacherib, called Tirhakah (2 Kings xviii. 20; xix. 9).
   (10) Pharaoh Necho, who warred against Josiah (2 Kings xxiii. 29, etc.).
   (11) Pharaoh Hophra, the ally of Zedekiah (Jer. xliv. 30); said to be Apries, who was strangled B.C. 570. (See King.)
    After Solomon's time the titular word Pharaoh is joined to a proper name.
   iii. Other Pharaohs of historic note.
   (1) Cheops or Suphis I. (Dynasty IV.), who built the great pyramid.
   (2) Cephrenes or Suphis II., his brother, who built the second pyramid.
   (3) Mencheres, his successor, who built the most beautiful pyramid of the three.
   (4) Memnon or A-menophis III. (Dynasty XVIII.), whose musical statue is so celebrated.
   (5) Sethos I., the Great (Dynasty XIX.), whose tomb was discovered by Belzoni.
   (6) Sethos II., called Proteus (Dynasty XIX.), who detained Helen and Paris in Egypt.
   (7) Phuoris or Thuoris, who sent aid to Priam in the siege of Troy.
   (8) Rampsinitus or Rameses Neter, the miser (Dynasty XX.), mentioned by Herodotos.
   (9) Osorthon IV. or Osorkon (Dynasty XXIII.), the Egyptian Hercules.

Pharaoh in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, means Louis XIV. of France.

“If Pharaoh's doubtful succour he [Charles II.] should use,
A foreign aid would more incense the Jews [English nation].”

Pharaoh who Knew not Joseph Supposed to be Menephtah, son of Rameses the Great. Rider Haggard adopts this hypothesis. After Rameses the Great came a period of confusion in Egypt, and it is supposed the Pharaoh who succeeded was a usurper. No trace of the destruction of