Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/143

Rh PARYSATIS. character of Dareius threw the chief power into the hands of Parysatis ; whose administration was little else than a series of murdersi It was at her express instigation that Dareius put to death his two brothers Sogdianus and Arsites, as well as Ar- tuphius and Artoxares, the chief eunuch. All the family of Stateira, who was married to her son Artaxerxes, were in like manner sacrificed to her jealousy, and she was with difficulty induced to spare the life of Stateira herself. (Id. ib. 48 — 56.) She had been the mother of no less than thirteen children, of whom four only grew up to manhood. The eldest of these, Arsaces, who afterwards as- sumed the name of Artaxerxes, was born before Dareius had obtained the sovereign power, and on this pretext Parysatis sought to set aside his claims to the throne in favour of her second son Cyrus. Failing in this attempt, she nevertheless interposed after the death of Dareius b. c. 405, to prevent Artaxerxes from putting Cyrus to death ; and prevailed with the king to allow him to return to his satrapy in Asia Minor. (Ctes. Pers. 57 ; Plut. Ai-t. 1—3 ; Xen. Jnab. i. 1. §§ 1—3.) During the absence of Cyrus, she continued to favour his projects by her influence with Ar- taxerxes, whom she prevented from listening to those who would have warned him of the designs of his brother ; on which account she was loudly blamed by the opposite party at court as the real author of the war that ensued. Even after the battle of Cunaxa (b. c. 401), Parysatis did not hesitate to display her grief for the death of her favourite son, by bestowing funeral honours on his mutilated remains, as well as by acts of kindness to Clearchus, the leader of his Greek mercenaries, whose life she in vain attempted to save. It was not long before the weakness and vanity of Arta- xerxes, who was ambitious of being thought to have slain his brother with his own hand, enabled Parysatis to avenge herself upon all the real au- thors of the death of Cyrus, every one of whom successively fell into her power, and were put to death by the most cruel tortures. Meanwhile, the dissensions between her and Stateira, the wife of Artaxerxes, had been continually increasing, until at length Parysatis found an opportunity to elude the vigilance of her rival, and effect her de- struction by poison. (Ctes. 59 — 62 ; Plut. Art. 4, 6, 14—17, 19.) The feeble and indolent Artaxerxes, though he was apparently fully convinced of his mother's guilt, was content to banish her to Babylon ; and it was not long before he entirely forgot the past, and recalled her to his court, where she soon recovered all her former influence. Of this she soon availed herself to turn his sus- picions against Tissaphernes, whom she had long hated as having been the first to discover the designs of Cyrus to his brother, and who was now put to death by Artaxerxes at her instigation, b. c. 396. (Plut. Art. 1 9—23 ; Diod. xiv. 80 ; Polyaen. vii. 16. § 1.) This appears to have been the last in the long catalogue of the crimes of Parysatis ; at least it is the last mention that we find of her name. The period of her death is wholly un- known. The history of her intrigues and cruel- ties, the outline of which is above given, is very fully related by Plutarch {Artaxeroces)., who has followed the authority of Ctesias, a resident at the court of Persia throughout the period in question, and bears every mark of authenticity. PASICRATES. 131 The abstract of Ctesias himself, preserved to us by Photius, records the same events more briefly. 2. The youngest daughter of Ochus (Arta- xerxes III.), king of Persia, whom according to Arrian (Anab. vii. 4. § 5) Alexander the Great married at Susa, b. c. 325, at the same time with Barsine or Stateira, the daughter of Dareius. Arrian cites Aristobulus as his authority ; but this second marriage is not mentioned by any other author. [E. H. B.] PASCHASINUS, together with Lucentius, bishop of A senium, and Bonifacius, a presbyter, was despatched by Leo I. to represent him in the Council of Chalcedon, held a. d. 45 1 . Paschasinus, of whose previous history and position in life we know nothing, seems to have held the chief place among the three legates since he subscribed the acts of the council in the name of the pope before the two others. An epistle of Paschasinus, Z)e Quaestione Paschal^ is still extant, addressed to Leo in reply to some inquiries from the pontiff with regard to the calcu- lations for determining the festival of Easter. It will be found under its best form in the editions of the works of Leo, published by Quesnel and by the brothers Ballerini. [Leo.] (Schonemann, Biblioth. Patrum Lat. o. ii. §49; Bahr, G'es- chichte der R'6m. Litterat. Suppl. Band. 2te Abtheil. §166.) [W. R.J PA'SEAS. [Abantidas.] PA'SIAS, an eminent Greek painter, brother of the modeller Aegineta, and disciple of Erigonus, who had been originally colour-grinder to the painter Nealces (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 1 1. s. 40. § 41 ). He belonged to the Sicyonian school, and flourished about b. c. 220. [Aeginbta ; Erigonus ; Ne- alces.] [p. S.] PASI'CRATES (nao-i/cpaTTjs), prince of Soli in Cyprus, was one of those who submitted to Alex- ander, and repaired in person to meet the conqueror at Tyre, in B. c. 331, on which occasion he took a prominent part in the festivities and theatrical en- tertainments then celebrated on a scale of unparal- leled magnificence. (Plut. Aleoe. 29.) His son Nicocles accompanied the king throughout his cam- paigns in Asia. (Arr. Ind. 1 8.) He was succeeded by Eunostus, probably before B. c. 315. (See Athen. xiii. p. 576, e. ; Droysen, Hellenism, vol. i. p. 339, n.) [E. H. B.] PASI'CRATES {JlaaiKpartis), literary. 1. Of Rhodes, who wrote a lost Commentary on the Cate- gories of Aristotle. For the opinion that he wrote the second book of the Metaphysics of Aristotle, see EuDEMUs. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. pp. 211, 501.) 2. A servant of St. George of Cappadocia, to whom is attributed an account of his master's life, edited in Greek by Lipomann (in the Acta Sanc- torum, vol. iii.), and in Latin by Linus {vbi supra, p. 117) and by Surius (vol. ii. ad 23 April). This life, as well as the others of St. George, are universally admitted to be unworthy of credit. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. x. p. 229 ; Vossius, de Hist. Graec. p. 294, ed.Westermann.) [Georgius, No. 7, p. 248.] [W.M.G.] PASPCRATES (nao-i/cpoVrjs), a Greek phy- sician who appears to have given much attention to the preparation of surgical apparatus, as his name is several times mentioned by Oribasius in his book on that subject (De MaeUn. cc. 26, 29, 31, pp. 182, 183, 190, 192). He was the father of K 2