Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/555

Rh PROETUS. former seeks to deter him from the path of virtue hy urging the difficulty of it ; the latter calls at- tention to the unnatural character of enjoyment which anticipates the need of it, its want of the liighest joy, that arising from noble deeds, and the consequences of a life of voluptuousness, and how she herself, honoured by gods and men, leads to all noble works, and to true well-being in all cir- cumstances of life. Hercules decides for virtue. This outline in Xenophon probably represents, in a very abbreviated form, and with the omission of all collateral references, the leading ideas of the original, of which no fragments remain (comp. Welcker, p. 469, &c., who also shows that the amplifications in Dio Chysostomus and Themistius belong to these rhetoricians, and are not derived from the florae of Prodicus, p. 488, &c. Re- specting the numerous imitations of this narrative in poets, phlosophers, rhetoricians, and in works of art, see, in like manner, Welcker, p. 467, &c.). In another speech, which treated of riches, and the substance of which is reproduced in the dia- logue Eryjcias, Prodicus had undertaken to show that the value of external goods depends simply upon the use which is made of them, and that virtue must be learnt. (Welcker endeavours to point out the coincidence of the former doctrine with that of Socrates and Antisthenes, p. 493, &c.) Similar sentiments were expressed in Pro- dicus's Praise of Agriculture (Themist. Oral. 30, p. 349 ; comp. Welcker, p. 496, &c.). His views respecting the worthlessness of earthly life in diiferent ages and callings, and how we must long after freedom from connection with the body in the heavenly and cognate aether, are found repre- sented in the dialogue Aociochus, from a lecture by Prodicus ; as also his doctrine that deatli is not to be feared, as it affects neither the living nor the departed (comp. Stob. &rra. xx. 35). Whether the appended arguments for immortality are borrowed from him, as Welcker (p. 500) endeavours to show, is doubtful. The gods he regarded as personifica- tions of the sun, moon, rivers, fountains, and what- ever else contributes to the comfort of our life (Sext. Emp. adv. Math. i. 52 ; Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 42), and he is therefore, though hastily, charged with atheism (ib. 55). [Ch. A. B.) PRODO'RUS, one of the statuaries mentioned by Pliny as of some celebrity, but not distinguished by any of their works. (//. iV. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. § 25.) [P.S.] PROETUS {TlpotTos). 1. A son of Abas and Ocaleia, and a twin-brother of Acrisius. In the dispute between the two brothers for the king- dom of Argos, Proetus was defeated and expelled (Pans. ii. 25. § 6 ). The cause of this quarrel is traced by some to the conduct of Proetus towards Danae, the daughter of Acrisius (Apollod. ii. 4. § 1), and Ovid {Met. v. 238) represents Acrisius as expelled by Proetus, and Perseus, the grandson of Acrisius, avenges his grandfather by changing Proetus into a block of stone, by means of the head of Medusa. But according to the com- mon tradition, Proetus, when expelled from Argos, fled to Jobates or Amphianax in Lycia, and mar- ried his daughter Anteia or Stheneboea (Hom. //. vi. 160; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 630, &c. ; comp. Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. vi. 48). Jobates, thereupon, restored Proetus to his kingdom by armed force. Tirynth was taken and fortified by the Cyclopes (SchoL ad Eurip. Orest. 953 ; Paus. ii. 16. § 4), PROMACHUS. 543 und Acrisius then shared his kingdom with his brother, surrendering to him Tirynth, i. e. the Heraeum, Midea and the coast of Argolis (Paus. ii. 16. § 2). By his wife Proetus became the father of three daughters, Lysippe, Iphinop, and Iphia- nassa (Servius, /. c, calls the two last Hipponoeand Cyrianassa, and Aelian, V.H. iii. 42, mentions only two daughters, Elege and Celaene). When these daughters arrived at the age of maturity, they were stricken with madness, the cause of which is differently stated by different authors ; some say that it was a punishment inflicted upon them by- Dionysus, because they had despised his worship (Apollod. /. c. ; Diod. iv. 68), and according to others, by Hera, because they presumed to consider themselves more handsome than tlie goddess, or because they had stolen some of the gold of her statue (Serv. ad Virg. Ed. vi. 48). In this state of madness they wandered through. Peloponnesus. Melampus promised to cure them, if Proetus would give him one third of his kingdom. As Proetus re- fused to accept these terms, the madness of his daughters not ojily increased, but was communicated to the other Argive women also, so that they mur- dered their own children and ran about in a state of frenzy. Proetus then declared himself willing to listen to the proposal of Melampus ; but the latter now also demanded for his brother Bias an equal share of the kingdom of Argos. Proetus consented (Herod, ix. 34 ; Schol. ad Find. Nem. ix. 30), and Melampus liaving chosen the most robust among the young men, gave chase to the mad women, amid shouting and dancing, and drove them as far as Sicyon. During this pursuit, Iphinoe, one of the daughters of Proetus, died, but the two others were cured by Melampus by means of purifications, and were then married to Melampus and Bias. There was a tradition that Proetus had founded a sanc- tuary of Hera, between Sicyon and Titane, and one of Apollo at Sicyon (Paus. ii. 7. § 7, 12. § 1). The place where the cure was effected upon his daughters is not the same in all traditions, some mentioning the well Anigros (Strab. viii. p. 346), others the well Cleitor in Arcadia (Ov. Met. xv. 325), or Lusi in Arcadia (Paus. viii. 18. § 3). Some even state that the Proetides were cured by Ascle- pius. (Pind. Pyth. iii. 9Q.) Besides these daughters, Proetus had a son, Megapenthes (Apollod. ii. 2. § 2 j comp. Mega- PENTHES). When Bellerophontes came to Proetus to be purified of a murder which he had committed, the wife of Proetus fell in love with him, and in- vited him to come to her : but, as Bellerophontes refused to comply with her desire, she charged him before Proetus with having made improper pro- posals to her. Proetus then sent Bellerophontes to Jobates in Lycia, with a letter in which Jobates was desired to murder Bellerophontes. (Hom. //. vi. 157, &c. ; Apollod. ii. 3. § 1 ; Tzetz. ad Lye. 17 i comp. HiPPONOus.) 2. A son of Thersander and father of Maera. (Paus. x. 30. ; Schol. ad Od. xi. 325.) [L.S.] PROMACHORMA {Upofxaxopfxa), i. e. " the protectress of the bay," was a surname of Athena, under which she had a sanctuary on mount Bu- porthmos near Hermione. (Paus. ii. 34. § 9.) [L. S.] PRO'MACHUS (npofxaxos). 1. One of the Epigoni, was a son of Parthenopaeus. (Apollod. iii. 7. § 2 ; Paus. x. 10. § 4.) 2. A son of Aeson, was killed by Pelias. (Apol- lod. i. 9. § 7 J comp. Pelias.)