=Pho´cyas=, general of the Syrian army in the siege of Damascus. Phocyas was in love with Eudo´cia, daughter of Eu´menês, the governor, but when he asked the governor’s consent, Eumenês sternly refused to give it. After gaining several battles, Phocyas fell into the hands of the Arabs, and consented to join their army to revenge himself on Eumenês. The Arabs triumphed, and Eudocia was taken captive, but she refused to wed a traitor. Ultimately, Phocyas died, and Eudocia entered a convent.--John Hughes, _Siege of Damascus_ (1720). =Phœbe=, village girl seduced and afterward married by Barry Crittenden. He takes her to the cottage allotted him by his father, and introduces her to his mother and sisters. She tries diligently to adapt herself to her new sphere until she becomes jealous of a woman whom she imagines Barry once fancied, and now loves. Phœbe flees secretly to her mother’s cottage, taking her child with her, and refuses to return to her husband, until accident reveals the causelessness of her jealousy.--Miriam Coles Harris, _Phœbe_ (1884). =Phœbus=, the sun-god. =Phœbe= (2 _syl._), the moon-goddess.--_Greek Mythology._ _Phœbus’s Son._ Pha´ĕton obtained permission of his father to drive the sun-car for one day, but, unable to guide the horses, they left their usual track, the car was overturned, and both heaven and earth were threatened with destruction. Jupiter struck Phaeton with his thunderbolt, and he fell headlong into the Po. ... like Phœbus fayrest childe, That did presume his father’s fiery wayne, And flaming mouths of steeds unwonted wilde, Thro’ highest heaven with weaker hand to rayne; ... He leaves the welkin way most beaten playne, And, wrapt with whirling wheels, inflamed the skyen With fire not made to burne, but fayrely for to shyne. Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, i. 4, 10 (1590). _Phœbus._ Gaston de Foix was so called, from his great beauty (1488-1512). _Phœbus_ (_Captain_), the betrothed of Fleur de Marie. He also entertains a base love for Esmeralda, the beautiful gypsy girl.--Victor Hugo, _Notre Dame de Paris_ (1831). =Phœnix= (_The_), is said to live 500 (or 1,000) years, when it makes a nest of spices, burns itself to ashes, and comes forth with renewed life for another similar period. There never was but one phœnix. The bird of Arabye ... Can never dye, And yet there is none, But only one, A phœnix ... Plinni showeth al In his _Story Natural_, What he doth finde Of the phœnix kinde. J. Skelton, _Philip Sparow_ (time, Henry VIII.). =Phœnix Tree=, the raisin, an Arabian tree. Floro says: “There never was but one, and upon it the phœnix sits.”--_Dictionary_ (1598). Pliny thinks the tree on which the phœnix was supposed to perch is the date tree (called in Greek _phoinix_), adding that “the bird died with the tree, and revived of itself as the tree revived.”--_Nat. Hist._, xiii. 4.